A different world game? A different world game!

The continent of Taril is vast and extremely dangerous.

This was only the first batch of the expedition team.

This group is the most dangerous and busiest, but once they reap the rewards, they will definitely be the first to take the plunge.

This is why so many people flock to it.

Because the price they pay could very well bring enormous rewards, and they could write their own legends that will be passed down through the world, just like the history of exploration by various countries in the past.

The young ranger Martha and her party, including the human warrior Karl, the halfling scout Pik, and the young stone giant apprentice Stonedum, are struggling through the E-3 block known as the "Glowing Vine Path".

The task was supposed to be a relatively simple one: clearing out the "Stinger Scorpions"—a mutated arthropod monster that likes to ambush people from under dense, fluorescent vines.

However, the reality is far from that.

After all, this is the continent of Taril, a place so dangerous due to war that it's even more terrifying than the legends of the past.

From beginning to end, every task takes into account the possibility of more dangerous accidents, so the actual difficulty of each task has been increased by one level.

This is the respect that the continent of Taril deserves.

"Damn it! This isn't a scorpion nest!" Karl smashed a fist-sized scorpion with his shield, which had sprung out from the side vines.

There were already quite a few of these little creatures' corpses piled up on the ground.

"The threat marked on the map is... a huge swarm of scorpions? This is a 'scorpion nest'! A nest magnified and distorted by chaos!"

In the center of the dimly lit forest clearing ahead, there was a huge, writhing nest made of putrid mud, hardened fluorescent slime, and countless stinging scorpion tail bones.

In the center of the nest, a scorpion queen, her body swollen to the size of a calf, covered with a purplish-black chitinous carapace, with three pairs of compound eyes and a pair of huge venomous pincers, was constantly expelling sticky egg sacs and fist-sized worker scorpions.

The surrounding ground was covered with holes of all sizes, from which worker scorpions kept emerging.

No, what scorpion looks like that?

Isn't this the behavior of ants?

Why would ants and scorpions mix together and become such a despicable creature?
It is an evil, chaotic force, unlike any evil god found in the outside world.

Complaining is one thing, cursing is another.

You still have to do what you're supposed to do.

"Martha! There are too many of them! Pick's insect repellent powder isn't enough!"

In a panic, Shidun smashed the scorpion that lunged at him with his huge stone fist. His clumsy movements caused him to be stung in the thigh by a poisonous stinger that shot out from a tricky angle.

The stone-like skin does not affect the sharpness of these scorpion stingers.

"Ugh!" Shi Dun groaned, a strong numbing sensation instantly spreading from his legs.

His experience, gleaned from data, allowed him to make a judgment immediately.

This toxin has been certified as having a detrimental effect.

Otherwise, even if you punched a hole in him, it wouldn't affect his movement.

Carl immediately held him off, but more worker scorpions surged in like a black tide.

Just as Martha's team was surrounded, Stone Tower's mobility was greatly reduced, and Karl's shield swing speed was slowed down due to the large protective range, at this critical moment...

Martha suddenly remembered the "powerful swarm-dispelling alchemical explosive" in the potion packs issued to her by the Night's Watch.

Commonly known as the "big bomb".

"Pique! Ten-second delay on the fuse!"

"Target: Center of the mother's nest! Everyone else, cover! Stone block!"

Use Carl's spare shield as a splint against your injured leg, and don't move!

Without hesitation, Pique, like a nimble mole dodging a scorpion's claws, rushed close enough to pull out the explosive that looked like a metal honeycomb briquette, pulled the safety, set the time, and precisely threw it into the writhing central opening of the nest!
He wouldn't care even if he got stung by a scorpion. As for poisoning, his blood volume was still healthy. He could just drink a potion. Although he wasn't this extravagant before, it didn't matter now.

"retreat!"

Martha shouted.

boom! ! !
A muffled but incredibly powerful explosion erupted, and a pungent but highly dispersing yellow smoke instantly burst forth from inside the nest, engulfing the entire scorpion colony area.

The intense, irritating smoke had a fatal nerve-dispelling effect on all low-level crustacean monsters. The mother monster emitted a sharp, painful hiss, and her egg sacs and newly hatched worker scorpions instantly stiffened, paralyzed, and died, as if boiling water had been poured on ants.

The adult worker scorpions also acted chaotically, as if drunk, and lost their ability to coordinate as a group.

Clearly, they have evolved an ability similar to cluster thinking.

It's unimaginable how many of these monstrous things have existed in this godforsaken place over the past thousand years.

In particular, the chaos has intensified in recent years, and this year's energy has been the result of its convergence.

"Now! Focus fire on the Mother!"

Martha fired her longbow in rapid succession, the enchanted arrows gleaming coldly as they shot straight at the mother's compound eyes.

Karl roared, shield raised, and charged like a battering ram toward the Mother, whose movements were slowed by pain and smoke.

Despite his leg being numb, Shidun gritted his teeth, grabbed a stone the size of a washbasin, and smashed it with all his might against the mother's huge abdominal carapace.

Finally, under the cover of smoke and with the Night Watch's specially made alchemical explosives tearing through the defenses, Martha's command and her teammates' desperate fight brought down the Scorpion Nest Mother with a devastating blow from Karl.

With the crisis averted, Shi Dun immediately received an antidote, and his complexion gradually improved.

They cleaned up the mess, still shaken but with even more determined eyes—mission accomplished.

Thanks to those "gold-refining honeycomb briquettes".

From now on, we'll have to keep this on hand.

And what they were about to do were just some minor tasks on the task panel that weren't too dangerous.

These task sheets covered the entire task panel like snowflakes.

Another area.

The stench of the swamp was almost tangible.

Hogg and Wolf, the orc duo who initially disliked each other but forged a friendship on the ship, were now wading through waist-deep, sticky, putrid mud, surrounded by three enormous "Bone-Eating Pangolins".

These monsters were the size of rhinoceroses, covered with thick, yellowish-brown bone plates, and had claws like a miner's rock drill.

They have amazing resistance to Wolf's bites and Hogg's slashes, and what's more troublesome is that they move swiftly in the swamp.

One of them suddenly flipped over, its huge tail hammer, carrying foul-smelling mud, slammed into Wolf's side where he couldn't dodge in time.

"Ouch!"

Wolf let out a painful howl as he was thrown backward, crashing heavily into the deeper mud. He may have broken a few bones and struggled to get up.

I'm still not quite used to this strange feeling of my body protesting in pain, yet my body seems completely unaffected.

This is a project that you have to experience after datafication.

For example, if there's a large hole in your thigh, it's impossible to stand up under such circumstances, and the pain is expressed in the same way, but there are strange situations where you can still stand up.

I've heard that this kind of confrontation is the highest priority in the Night's Watch recruit training. If you can't handle it naturally, you can't become a true Night's Watchman.

"Stupid dog!!"

Hogger flew into a rage and slammed his giant axe down on the joint of a pangolin's neck bones, sending sparks and bone fragments flying, finally forcing it back.

But another one charged in from the side, its huge, drill-like claws aimed straight for his weak spot.

Hogg caught a glimpse of Wolf, stuck in the mud, and the third monster lurking in the shadows, and his heart sank.

This creature's hide was thicker than anyone could have imagined; the neutralizing agent provided in the quest seemed to have limited effect on it. Just as the pangolin's claws were about to pierce Hogg, the ferocious orc did not retreat; instead, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he made a desperate gamble.

He suddenly pulled two items from the potion compartment behind his waist: a bottle of sticky corrosion neutralizer provided for the mission, and a bottle of "sealing solvent" that he had exchanged for himself from the Night Watch logistics using extra contribution points.

This thing was originally used to level the surrounding environment and deal with stubborn big rocks.

However, it was later discovered that it was particularly effective against certain beasts with extremely high defensive capabilities, especially those whose shells had similar characteristics and mineral structures.

"Give me a little something to whet my appetite!"

Hogg roared and smashed the two bottles of potion together with their mouths facing each other, shattering them with a "crack".

The pungent, bluish-purple liquid instantly boiled and began to smoke.

Ignoring the excruciating pain from his burned palms, he violently splashed the entire tube of the still-reacting mixture onto the pangolin's gaping maw and vulnerable oral cavity as it lunged at him.

God knows where he learned this usage.

An unknown Night Watch apothecary sneezed.

"Hiss—Awooo!!!!!"

An indescribable scream of pain erupted instantly, and the pangolin's huge body convulsed violently. Its tough bony armor failed to protect its fragile mouth and esophagus.

The terrifying mixed acid instantly corroded and dissolved its internal soft tissue, causing the giant monster to writhe and thrash in the mud in agony, splashing up towering waves of mud.

This sudden turn of events caused the other two pangolins to momentarily falter.

It was that moment of gasping for breath.

"Great opportunity! Wolf! Can it still move?!"

Hogg roared toward the still-floating mud.

"Yes...yes!"

Despite the excruciating pain, Wolf struggled to his feet again, the powerful regenerative abilities granted by his werewolf bloodline allowing him to gleam with an eerie green light in his eyes.

He saw the flaw revealed by the other pangolin's miserable state.

The inner deck joint of the hind leg!
Wolf, like a black lightning bolt, used the floating rotten wood for leverage, and his sharp claws precisely grabbed the leg of the distracted pangolin, piercing the relatively thin connecting flesh.

At the same time, Hogg abandoned the precious solvent, roared and swung his giant axe, using unparalleled brute force to slam into the neck wound of the pangolin that had been temporarily crippled.

Blood, screams, and mud splattering!
Hogg's desperate gamble and Wolf's precise and fatal blow in the face of adversity finally tore a path to survival in what seemed like an unsolvable predicament.

In the chaos, they managed to kill the last two monsters together, and the two men stood back to back in the bloody mud, panting heavily.

Looking at the carcasses of giant beasts scattered on the ground, his eyes were weary but filled with the arrogance of victory. Hogg shook his slightly burned hand and grinned, cursing, "Damn it! Next time I'm definitely getting a siege hammer!"

On the other side, at the forefront of pioneering the highest-level mission.

A gale swept through the dark, rugged entrance to the canyon, and flying sand and stones struck the heavy power armor with a soft "crackling" sound.

The Iron Wolf mercenary convoy was forced to stop here. Several massive, mangled wolf carcasses lay on the edge of the makeshift fortifications, killed by automated turrets. But the atmosphere was unusually tense.

Commander Victor stood beside the makeshift, medium-sized energy shield generator, which was still flashing and being tested, his face grim as he watched the images transmitted back by the automated reconnaissance doll.

They were ordered to develop Block F (Black Rock Pass) with the goal of establishing an outpost.

However, the canyon passage planned to lead to the foundation of the pre-designated fortress is now blocked by a moving thicket of thorns made of sharp, deep purple crystals!
He knew that the initial task given by the Night's Watch would not be easy to complete.

If it were so easy to carry, the Night's Watch would have taken it down easily, and there would have been no need to delegate these pioneering tasks.

The matters that were left to be dealt with were all troublesome, and the Night Watchmen disdained to waste too much time on them.

But for the Night Watch, it was just a time-wasting hassle; for mercenary groups like theirs, it was a real challenge.

"Detection revealed that these are 'Crystal Shattered Thorns,' and there are a large number of them."

The alchemist in charge of environmental monitoring spoke urgently, “They can absorb the chaotic magic in the vicinity and grow wildly, connecting with each other to form ‘crystal walls’.”

"Physical attacks are extremely inefficient, and it seems that some kind of creature is controlling them in the core area! The threat level has been automatically upgraded to 'High Risk+'."

To make matters worse, the map showed that the alternative detour would take two more days and the terrain was rugged and difficult to traverse, making it unsuitable for their ground vehicles transporting heavy equipment.

Time is money!!!

"Physical efficiency is too low? Then let's try energy! Magic cannons, prepare!"

The adjutant gave the order.

boom! boom!
Two makeshift Night Watchman-supported automatic magic cannons opened fire fiercely on the crystal wall.

However, when the energy beam struck the deep purple crystal, most of the energy seemed to be absorbed, only making the crystal turn bright red and hot, but it did not shatter immediately.

The overheat warning lights on the turret began to flash, and the crystal wall seemed to be stimulated, showing a tendency to expand outwards.

Seeing that the plan was about to be delayed, Victor's eyes turned cold, and he made up his mind.

"We can't delay! Activate contingency plan B."

"Engineering team, get the 'corrosion vein probe' up!" He pointed to a specific spot—behind a crack in the rock wall on the side of the thickest part of the crystal wall, where the energy spectrum showed it to be a major energy node gathering point of the crystal vines.

The engineering team immediately opened the equipment compartment on a specially modified transport vehicle in the convoy.

Inside were several metal probes, thicker than an arm, covered with intricate runes.

These were not special items on the Night's Watch's support list, but rather things they bought from the Night's Watch through connections.

"Deep interference erosion probe".

The engineers skillfully connected the probe's tail to the vehicle's onboard energy core. Without these cores, they would have to supply the magic power, which wouldn't be safe.

Then, under the cover of armored soldiers, braving the sporadic flying crystal fragments, they slammed the heavy probe deep into the crevice in the rock wall designated by Victor.

A dangerous red light illuminated at the probe's tail.

"start up!"

Om-! ! !
A dull tremor, so intense it almost stopped your heart, came from beneath your feet, and an invisible, massive shockwave spread wildly along the rock strata and the root network of the crystal vines.

The enormous, deep purple crystal vines seemed to be struck hard by an invisible giant hammer, emitting a mournful sound like shattering glass.

The crystal wall at the core node instantly cracked, revealing a spiderweb-like pattern of cracks.

"Now! Full firepower! Clear the way!"

Victor seized the opportunity and roared!

Sizzle! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The automatic magic cannons concentrated their fire on the crack nodes, while the shield generator temporarily focused its energy on the direction the probes were fired, stabilizing the fractured area.

The crystal wall was finally blasted open, creating a huge gap large enough for a large vehicle to pass through.

Through the flying crystal dust, Victor could even see behind the gap the pre-planned fortress foundation, a flat area backed by a solid rock wall!
"Target area opened! Construction team, advance immediately! Begin anchoring modules according to the blueprints! Hurry!"

Victor showed no joy of victory, only a cold, hard push forward.

Braving the gale and the remaining fragments of crystal vines, the pioneers of the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group, like a torrent of steel bursting its banks, drove their engineering vehicles swiftly through the forcibly torn passage, roaring towards their target point to begin the crucial construction of the fortress's foundation.

They had no time to celebrate; every step of their pioneering efforts was inseparable from the Night's Watch's "cheating tools" and their own decisiveness and execution.

That pre-planned foundation will be their future base; once they hold onto it, they will possess a portion of the power over this area.

The Night's Watch will give them the reward they deserve.

The premise is that they can defend it.

And this is all they've gotten to now. (End of Chapter)