System's POV
chapter-489-1

Just as he expected, the Lizardmen were forced to move their camp to somewhere easier to defend.

The recent attacks of the Ratmen had been fierce and cost them many lives.

At this moment, there were only a little over than five hundred Lizardmen remaining in the camp who could still fight.

A few hundred were injured, and they would be unable to fight for many days until they recovered from their injury.

Thirteen, who had asked Drazzat to give him control over the other humans, managed to convince the Commander that the humans would be able to fight better under his command.

Drazzat thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea, especially since Thirteen had helped them overcome their dire situation as soon as he arrived.

The number of humans in his army was only around twenty anyway, so letting Zion command them wouldn't affect the bigger picture.

At least, that was what Drazzat thought when he made the decision.

These Wanderers were more than happy to become part of Thirteen's group because they recognized him the moment he appeared in their camp.

All in all, the number of Wanderers who were now under Thirteen's command was nearly a hundred.

While the Lizardmen were doing their business, Thirteen gathered all the Wanderers for a meeting.

"According to the Commander, there are at least two thousand Ratmen in the Fangiss Swamp," Thirteen stated. "However, that number is still growing by the day because they are constantly receiving new reinforcements from the other Ratmen Clans. I will be honest with you, guys—I think this outpost will not be able to hold out for long."

Thirteen believed that telling the truth to the Wanderers would help them understand how perilous their current situation was.

With this knowledge, he wanted them to listen to his every word as if their lives depended on it.

"Are you telling us that we are going to die here?" Leon asked.

"You will but only if you don't listen to me," Thirteen answered. "My goal is to ensure that many of you will survive. Of course, I am not a God, so I cannot guarantee all of your safety. However, if you wish for at least a chance to live, you should follow my orders without fail no matter how ridiculous it may seem."

The teenage boy then scanned the faces of the Wanderers who all looked at him with grim expressions on their faces.

"Who wants to return to Pangea?" Thirteen asked. "Raise your right hand."

All Wanderers raised their hands without batting an eye.

Even Leon, who was always at odds with Sean and Thirteen, raised his hand because he wanted to live.

"Very well. All of you should rest for now, while I survey the surroundings," Thirteen said. "I'll look for an escape route we could take just in case the Ratmen manage to break past our defenses.

"Eat up and rest up. Sherry, assign watchmen. The Ratmen can return anytime, so make sure to rest as much as you can to recover from the fatigue from our long journey."

After giving out his orders, Thirteen climbed the highest tree he could find, allowing him to get a better view of the surrounding area.

The Fangiss Swamp was advantageous to the Lizardmen at the beginning because they could move faster in it compared to the Ratmen.

But after the water source had been corrupted by the enemies, the Lizardmen had no choice but to retreat and were even forced to fight the enemy on land.

Although they had no problem in doing this, fighting in the swamp granted them mobility and flexibility when it came to choosing their battles.

With Tiona's and Rocky's help, Thirteen was able to understand the general layout of the land and began to formulate an escape route that they could use to flee if things were to go south.

He was already thinking about escaping because he understood that the Lizardmen might not be able to hold out for long.

Of course, he only planned to escape at the last minute when things were truly dire. His other problem was how he'd convince the Lizardman Commander, Drazzat, to flee with him when the time was right.

Lizardmen were prideful monsters, and Thirteen's Overlord Beetle could only control Rank 4 Monsters and below.

Since Drazzat was a Rank 5 Alpha Monster, Gwenn would be unable to forcefully make him obey him using mind control.

'Rocky, make sure to create pitfalls for now,' Thirteen ordered the Magma Bal-Boa to dig at the escape route he had chosen. 'The more the better.'

Rocky obeyed his Master and began to dig as instructed.

With their escape route being prepared, Thirteen asked Tiona to summon her clone to do a scouting mission on enemy territory.

Since the corruption of the swamp wouldn't affect Tiona's clone, it could easily swim on the corrupted waters without any problems.

When it came to war, information was key.

He needed to know how strong the Ratmen's Commander was, and if there were any High-Ranking Officers whom he could dominate using Gwenn's Mind Control.

Three hours later, Tiona's Clone finally made its report.

Since Tiona and her Clone could communicate with each other over long distances, there was no problem sharing information in real-time.

But the information that Thirteen obtained wasn't something that made him happy.

In fact, it made him realize how terrifying the force that they were about to face the next time the Ratmen attacked.

'Two Rank 5 Alpha Monsters and fifty Rank 4 Monsters,' Thirteen mused. 'This is bad. Really bad.'

The Varesti tribe also had Rank 4 Monsters, but they only numbered less than twenty.

The majority of their forces were peak Rank 1 and Rank 2 Monsters who had only been able to hold out because Drazzat always fought in the front lines, preventing his weaker soldiers from dying easily.

But that would no longer be possible because the Ratmen's reinforcements just arrived, and it was led by another Rank 5 Alpha Monster whom Thirteen believed was the one who would kill Drazzat in battle.

The Commander of the Varesti Tribe was a cannon fodder, and he was fated to die to become a stepping stone.

Of course, Thirteen didn't want this to happen.

If only he could wrest control of the Lizardmen from Drazzat, he would be able to come up with a way on how they would be able to survive the upcoming raid.

As he pondered on what to do, he sensed a movement in the distance away, making him narrow his eyes.

Hundreds of meters away from him, something was moving under the cover of the trees.

'It might be a Ratman scout,' Thirteen thought. 'I'll eliminate it first.'

The teenage boy then descended from the tree and ran in the direction where he saw the figure wearing a black robe that covered their body.

They were currently at war, and any suspicious individual must be captured or eliminated to ensure that his people would not suffer from being stabbed in the back.

When Thirteen was only dozens of meters from his target, he immediately felt something dangerous in his surroundings, so he took evasive action.

A second later the place where he was standing was hit by something, making the ground burst from the impact.

Understanding that his opponent was well-versed in detecting the presence of people around them, he decided to take out his bow and arrow.

His goal wasn't to kill but to hinder his opponent from attacking him until he got close enough to verify their identity.

From that simple exchange, he understood that the chances of this robed individual being a human were high.

First and foremost, they didn't have a tail.

With this knowledge in mind, Thirteen needed to ensure that he wouldn't accidentally kill his target before he got a chance to interrogate them.