Chapter 9

The morning sun rose lazily, and the thin mist left over from the early hours of the morning instantly dissipated, as if it were a holy maiden in a game who had just been conquered by the protagonist and, before she could even let out a low moan, turned into tears and flowed away.

"Look..."

Lal pointed to a dark shadow in the distance with a proud expression. "That's our destination, the main base of the human Dark Continent, Rogue Encampment."

I looked at the dark shadow in the distance. Goodness, it was still half a day's journey away, and I could already see its outline from such a distance. Its size was unimaginable; it must house hundreds of thousands of people. Could this really be called a camp? It could easily be called a castle.

"Ah, I forgot you're also from the Rogue Encampment, hahaha~"

Lal laughed heartily, as if he had just realized his mistake.

Just like someone who, despite knowing it's your hometown, can't help but point it out and tell you, "Look, that's my hometown, isn't it grand and magnificent?" It's a sense of pride in belonging.

"You'll soon be able to see your family, right? You've been out for over a month (I lied and said I had been out for over half a month when I met them). Your family must miss you a lot."

"I don't have a family anymore," I said with a gloomy expression, thinking of my home in another world, which was truly my real home.

"I'm sorry, Wu, I sincerely apologize to you."

Lal looked guilty, as in this chaotic world, orphans and widows were far too numerous.

When the sun rose to our heads, I finally saw the edge of the Rogue Encampment. Two people in leather clothing, holding longbows, approached from the front. I only glanced at them briefly but immediately judged that they were the so-called Rogues. Whether from the game or from what Lal and the others had said, these two fit the standard template of Rogues: medium height, slender and graceful figures, handsome appearances, and unique clothing. They held the longbows they were skilled with. Upon closer inspection, if not for their ears being the same as normal humans, they would look very similar to the legendary Elven race.

"Great Barbarian Lord Doug, Lord Gauv, and Holy Knight Lord Lal, welcome back. And this respected lord is...?"

The two looked at me with confusion. Although the Rogue Encampment housed hundreds of thousands of people, there were only a few thousand job changers, and they had memorized them thoroughly. So, the unfamiliar face before them was undoubtedly a job changer.

"Jin Druid, Wu Fan."

Lal shrugged and said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, noble Druid, Lord Wu Fan. Please allow me, El (I Dek), to express my highest respect to you."

The two placed their right hands on their chests, bowed, and said in unison, their faces solemn. A job changer was a significant event, representing an increase in the strength of the entire Rogue Encampment. Therefore, they were so happy and humble.

Although I had already learned from Lal and the others that my Druid status was highly respected, I was still a bit at a loss when receiving such respect for the first time, having lived in a world of equality.

"Alright, alright, don't scare the young man."

Lal patted my shoulder and said to the two Rogues without surprise.

"Has anything happened in the past few months?"

On the way, Lal asked casually.

"Nothing special. Last month, a group of Fallen Ones accidentally wandered into this area, but fortunately, they were discovered in time and did not cause any casualties."

Dek replied. Their job was to patrol the outer perimeter of the Rogue Encampment. There were thousands of teams of Rogues like them, divided into three shifts to protect the entire encampment day and night. If they encountered lone Fallen Ones or corpses, a few Rogues could handle them. If it was a large group of monsters, they would wisely choose to avoid them and immediately report the situation. With thousands of job changers and tens of thousands of Rogue archers, even if several large groups of monsters attacked, it would be a piece of cake for the Rogue Encampment.

Before long, the entire structure of the Rogue Encampment became increasingly clear in my eyes.

Is this the Rogue Encampment? I stared at the fence, not because it was too magnificent, but because... it was really too simple. The main defensive structure, the wall, was indeed just like in the game, made of countless logs of roughly the same size, no more than 5 meters high. Although the stakes were firmly driven into the ground and wouldn't be blown over by a gust of wind, the entire wall was built with great care, almost airtight. The top of the wall was also sharpened, looking very sharp.

However, no matter how I looked at it, compared to stone walls, it still lacked a sense of security.

"Looking at this wooden fence, do you think it doesn't match the scale of a place with hundreds of thousands of people?"

Lal seemed to have read my confusion and said with a smile.

I nodded.

"Actually, I felt the same way at first. Later, I couldn't help but ask Sister Akara."

Akara, the blind nun who worships the Great Eye, Akara? I thought to myself. It seems she holds a very high status in the Rogue Encampment.

What did Sister Akara say? I couldn't help but ask, driven by curiosity.

Lal smiled and seemed to immerse himself in the past.

"One reason for using a simple wooden fence is that the people in the Rogue Encampment are very mobile, so the fence often needs to be expanded."

At this point, Lal seemed like a great military strategist, pointing out the landscape, but Doug immediately told me that he was just repeating Akara's words verbatim.

Lal glared at Doug and continued.

"Secondly, the Rogue Encampment is located in the Blood Moor, where the Hell invasion force is small, so the monsters here are generally not very intelligent. Therefore, there's no need to worry about organized attacks, and a wooden fence is sufficient."

"What if Andariel personally leads a large army to attack?"

"Hehe, that's a good question. The fact that you can think of Andariel shows that you have some strategic awareness, but it's also a very silly question," Lal said without regard for my feelings.

"Given the distance from the tomb to our Rogue Encampment, as long as we discover it in time, we can set up various traps and ambushes along the way. Whether Andariel's army can safely reach the Rogue Encampment is a question. To be honest, I would welcome its attack; it would mean a lot of experience."

Lal cruelly licked his lips, looking like a bloodthirsty killer.

"What is Andariel's greatest advantage? It excels in group battles, and its lair is narrow, generally only allowing a few job changers to fight it. If it dares to come out, I guarantee it will be killed to the point of leaving no trace."

"If Andariel is so weak, why is it still alive? Hasn't anyone killed it?"

As soon as I said this, I knew it was a bad idea. Not only did Lal and the others look at me in shock, but even the Rogue archers leading the way turned around to look at me as if I were an alien...

This awkward atmosphere lasted for a while before Lal shook his head.

"I don't know which wild mountain you came from, but how can you not know such basic knowledge?"

"Never mind, I'll tell you what your damned master should have. We job changers need to advance further, and we must go to Lut Gholein, where powerful enemies await us."

Lal stroked his spiky beard and continued.

"And only by killing Andariel will we gain the qualification to go to Lut Gholein. Therefore, Andariel is not impossible to kill; on the contrary, it has been killed countless times. It just comes back to life shortly after being killed."

"Killed and then brought back to life, how can we win this long war against Hell? Isn't it impossible to win?" I asked, shocked.

Lal seemed to have given up on me, covering his forehead. "Ugh~~, dear Wu, this is a bit complicated. You should go and have Sister Akara explain it to you when you have time. She likes to talk a lot. Oh, my head, damn it, your damned master, I hope I never meet him..."

Fortunately, Lal attributed my ignorance to the non-existent master.

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