Fate Online: Shadow

"That's really great! By then, our village could truly make a living with the monsters roaming this land"

"Yeah, but our true enemy is the cold weather, as long as we don't fix this curse that plagues this land, it's useless how many people come here"

Michael turned towards the two hunters when he heard what they said, and he replied, "What you two said is right, but doing something is better than doing nothing right? Besides, what we're doing right now is the first step in the rejuvenation of the village"

"In the future, the village, this land where it was built, the land where you guys were born and grew up at would eventually open to all the people in the continent like it did hundreds of years ago as long as we don't give up with our goal"

When the three hunters what Michael had said, their faces quickly lit up in excitement at the thought of their village getting bigger, all of them already imagining the day where people would come and go from the gates of their village.

And all of them living a modest life where they didn't need to worry food every day or monsters threatening their safety, and what Michael had just said to them gave them that little hope that what he said would happen one day.

Because of that, their morale skyrocketed that they even went to the front of the group and took the lead.

Half an hour of continuous trekking in the snow, the group of five people suddenly heard the sound of monsters roaring, yelling and explosions happening in the distance in front of them.

"Roar!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Michael and the others quickly stopped in their tracks and looked at each other.

"Let's go check it out," Michael said as he quickly led the way with Miya following behind, and the three hunters gave each other a brief glance before hurriedly following behind the two.

"It's them?" Michael said the moment he spotted the figures in the distance.

"You know them?" Miya said the moment she caught up to him.

Over three hundred meters in front of them, there are multiple figures in furred cloaks fighting a group of at least thirty monsters who has the same appearance of an Orc with huge tusk in their mouths.

But the only difference is that their skin that should've have been green in color is actually grey, and some are even pale white.

"Grey Orcs!"

Michael was about to reply to Miya's question when three different voices exclaimed in fear from behind them.

"Impossible! Why is there are a group of Grey Orcs here?" Carter exclaimed like he was seeing right now is not something that should be even happening.

Miya and the others quickly crouched down on the ground, and then she turned behind her and said, "Isn't it normal that monsters would roam around? Why are you three so shock seeing them?"

Carter shook his head and said, "From what the Baron had said before we departed, then this direction that we're trekking to are leading outside of this place, then we are currently at the edge of Everwinter, while Snow Village is located just a couple of kilometers away from the middle section of the land, and Grey Orcs are one of the largest tribes in this land and should only be found past the middle section, where our Ancestors had called it as the Wildlands"

"Because that place is where the most dominant and savage creatures in Everwinter lives. So, encountering a group of Grey Orcs in this place is weird, and something must have happened in that place"

Hearing what he said, Miya felt that a situation that they never expected had just cropped up when Michael has just taken control of Snow Village, and now, they are facing a problem that they don't know anything about.

Michael turned towards Carter and said, "But are they dangerous?"

"Not when they are traveling in a small group. In fact, they are one of the weaker monsters in this place, and they are only strong because they reproduce really fast, they aren't any different from us in terms of strength" answered Gus, who is a long-haired man whose hair is almost reaching his waist.

"So us seeing them here is bad news then?" Miya said.

"Of course, seeing one or two of them stumbling around here wouldn't have been a problem, but seeing a group of more or less thirty Grey Orcs is a problem because there might be a bigger force around here"

"But we shouldn't worry, it's probably just the Ice Trolls and Grey Orcs waging war against each other" Anri carefully explained.

"Waging war?"

Hearing the word war quickly piqued Michael's interest.

"Yes, the Ice Trolls are one of the most dominant tribes in the middle section and had always wanted venture in the Wildlands, but they were always stopped by the tribe of Grey Orcs who resided in the border of the Wildlands," Carter said.

"For someone who had been living behind the walls of the village, you guys sure sounds you know a lot about what's happening in Everwinter" Miya eyed the three of them with curiosity.

The three hunters scratched the back of their heads in embarrassment.

"Actually, we only learned these things from Lady Sonya, so you could say that she's the only one who knows what's truly happening in this land"

"Well, that explains it. After all, she's a Druid, I wouldn't be surprised if she's friends with some of the more intelligent monsters living in this land" Miya shrugged her shoulders, seemingly not very interested anymore when she heard that it was actually Sonya who told them this kind of information and isn't something they learned and experience by themselves.

"Hey, aren't we going to help them?"

Miya then turned towards Michael and asked when she saw him just watching the battle from their position with no intention of going over to lend some help.