System's POV
chapter-523

Like everyone else, Thirteen also looked at his Status Page and skimmed through the contents of their first mission.

——-

Trial of Courage [Part 1]

This mission is a chain quest. In order to clear it, you will need to clear three missions first.

— Find the Stronghold of Wenpolis located on the west of the land called "Fractured Heaven," and overthrow the Tyrant ruling it.

Time Limit: None

Note: You have already arrived at your destination, all you need to do now is defeat the Tyrant that had taken over the Stronghold.

After you defeat the Tyrant, you will need to enter the One-Way Portal to continue your next mission.

——-

"Defeat the tyrant, huh? I almost forgot about this part," Erica commented. "I wonder how strong that Tyrant is?"

Thirteen also wondered about the exact same thing, but he temporarily brushed it aside. He took the small red flag at the side of his wagon and raised it high in the air.

"Captains, assemble!" the Wanderers shouted after seeing the flag in Thirteen's hand, passing the message behind the red flag across the entire caravan.

The teenage boy had taught the Wanderers various means of communication, and one of them was waving flags of different colors to inform everyone what they needed to do.

The red flag meant that there would be an emergency meeting among all the captains within their group.

A few minutes later, all the captains gathered in front of Thirteen and were waiting for him to start the meeting.

"Our destination is within our sights, but the last hurdle remains," Thirteen said. "As you may already know, we need to first defeat the Tyrant that is inside the Stronghold before we can enter the one-way portal safely.

"For the time being, all of you will stay here and rest, while I scout ahead to check the current situation. If the Tyrant isn't as strong as I was expecting, I will move in to eliminate it alongside Erica and the other Apostles.

"They will also come with me on this scouting mission, and all of you will stay here and wait for our return."

The Captains nodded in understanding. But not long after, there was one Captain who raised his hand, the sight of which made Thirteen smile.

"Yes, Sean?" Thirteen asked.

"I want to go as well," Sean replied. "Please give me permission to accompany you, Commander."

Thirteen eyed the Scion of the Cygni Faction before nodding his head. "Very well. You may come with me. Feel free to bring Heidi with you. However, only the two of you can accompany us in this scouting mission."

"Thank you." Sean smiled.

Thirteen then shifted his attention to Erica and David, who were also waiting for his orders.

"Gather the Apostles, and prepare to depart in fifteen minutes," Thirteen ordered. "The rest of the Captains will inform everyone that we are on Level 3 Alert. Stay in your positions, and be on guard. If something unexpected happens inside the Wenpolis Stronghold, I want everyone to mobilize the moment they see the signal."

"""Yes, Sir!"""

After giving out a series of orders, the various commanders made their move and hurried back to their own respective squads to tell them about the contents of the meeting.

Fifteen minutes later, the Scouting Party departed the Caravan in order to check the level of danger inside the Wenpolist Stronghold.

Drazzat decided to accompany Zion and the others, so before leaving, he ordered his subordinates to keep watch and protect the humans while he was away.

Since the Lizardmen had abandoned the stronghold, it was highly possible that a monster had taken over it during the past few years.

Thirteen's team was composed of twenty people, including Drazzat.

Their group could be considered a sizable fighting force and could handle a Rank 6 Sovereign as long as they all worked together.

Before they entered the stronghold, Thirteen had already sent Rocky to investigate.

But according to his report, aside from a few Rank 2 and Rank 3 Monsters inside the Stronghold, he didn't sense any strong monsters inside of it.

Even so, the Rocky Bal-boa remained on standby just in case something unexpected happened.

The moment Thirteen's group reached their destination, the teenage boy immediately ordered the Apostles to cripple the monsters in the surroundings but not kill them.

He planned to let Sherry, Sean, and Heidi land the killing blow since they would benefit from killing Rank 2 and Rank 3 Monsters the most.

The majority of the Monsters inside the Stronghold were Spiders of different sizes.

The Rank 3 Spiders were as big as cars, while the Rank 2 Spiders were as big as motorcycles.

There were dozens of them inside the Stronghold, but with Drazzat, Erica, and the other Apostles around, all the other Monsters were easily kept at bay, while Sherry, Sean, and Heidi went for the kill.

"Don't let your guard down," Thirteen said as he observed the surroundings. "Prepare for any unexpected event that might happen."

Thirteen tightened his grip on his bow and lightly pulled back the nocked arrow as he eyed the surroundings like a hawk.

Tiona was also slithering around, checking the surroundings for any monsters who might launch a sneak attack in their direction.

Nearly half an hour later, Thirteen's team had managed to kill all the Spiders in the immediate surroundings.

Gathering once again, Thirteen asked everyone to accompany him to do a sweep of the Stronghold and eliminate all the threats inside of it.

Only after he was certain that there were no more signs of danger would he let the other Wanderers enter the Stronghold.

An hour later, they finally arrived at the One-Way Portal which was as big as an entire house.

It was located at the Northern corner of the Stronghold, guarded by six Rank 3 Monsters which was easily defeated by Thirteen's party.

Thirteen approached the one-way portal and thoroughly inspected it. After seeing that there was nothing wrong with it, he looked at his teammates and started to give out a series of orders.

"Only the Western area is left," Thirteen said. "After we clear that part, we will divide into two teams and do one last sweep of the Stronghold. There's a possibility that some of the monsters escaped, so we will do a pincer sweep to ensure that we eliminate those remaining monsters."

As Thirteen was busy talking, somewhere inside the stronghold, eight gray eyes opened at the same time.

It had sensed that several creatures had infiltrated its domain and killed a huge number of its subordinates.

But just as it was about to move, it noticed a black snake looking up at it from the ground.

The spider, who had a camouflage ability, casually swiped at the black snake with its razor-sharp legs, splitting it in half.

With its death, the black snake erupted into a purple blood mist, but the spider jumped away from it and landed nimbly on the ground.

Despite its size, it was able to move quickly and land like it only weighed a feather.

It once again activated its stealth ability and started looking for the perfect place to set up an ambush so that the intruders, who had entered its domain, would not be leaving it alive.