Chapter 239: Revenge expedition.

At the sunrise there was another attack, and once again from both sides – the jungle and sea. Insects were cleaned up as quickly as last night, except the encounter wasn’t followed by rain and people had to wash themselves with the sea water. No one went for a swim, though.After eavesdropping during the night, Lee got to know that the insects swarmed over two times a day – at sunrise and sunset. It was supposed to be connected to their life cycle and hatching speed, and at first Lee had hard time understanding why the humans didn’t simply burn down their nests. Obviously, nothing could be done about the bugs living in the sea, but the jungle could be cleaned up, even if it meant burning it down.

As it turns out, even if they cut or burned down the jungle, they would need to repeat it every other day. The speed the trees grew at was mind blowing, and the insects bred even faster. And the main reason for not eliminating them for good was simple – this place was a farm. The whole world, Skalara, was a spark farm.

It was as big as the one belonging to the Celestial Abyss, but even a larger power, Lee wasn’t sure which, controlled it. Around the world they had ten farming centers like the one Lee had arrived to, and elemental masters worked there, employed as freelance mercenaries.

Since Lee arrived on his own, basically trespassing, he had no clue on what conditions the others were employed. And to him it didn’t really matter. What he was interested in was the largest group that formed during the night – the one that was supposedly going to go hunt in two days.

The camp had two main groups that took turns in going out to hunt. Every hunting expedition lasted for around twenty – twenty five days during which the hunters quickly became rich. From the outside, or rather – the other world, new blood was regularly sent in to replace the lost and retired hunters, and the group rotation never stopped.

This was what everyone came here for, but sadly not all could take part in the next hunting expedition.

The following morning a meeting was held where the best candidates were invited to join the main group. A bunch of people were left out and, understandably, were dissatisfied with the decision, but when the skills of a few were tested, it became clear why they weren’t particularly reliable.

More importantly, it turned out that twenty four were only at elemental warrior’s level, and had arrived testing their luck. Lee guessed this situation wasn’t anything new with how expertly Elred and a couple of others pointed them out. These guys almost had something like a sixth sense regarding it, as if they were capable of seeing right through the abilities of others.

Elemental warriors were tasked to stay back and protect the settlement in exchange for a small reward. It was their choice whether they wanted to leave when the next rift was opened, but they had over a month of time to figure it out.

Out of twenty four elemental warriors, all twenty four were upset with the situation. From what Lee understood, they had greased quite a few hands to get here, and only by hanging around in the camp would suffer financial loss. Apparently there was some kind of corruption on the other side, a scheme that allowed few bureaucrats to scam the ignorant ones, promising riches and fame for a fee.

The discontent of the elemental warriors probably wouldn’t matter if the things went as planned. Everything changed when later that evening the previous expedition returned – or rather – the remnants of it. Only forty three people came back, all injured and few crippled, and considering that hundred and fifty departed, the losses were catastrophic.

Lee didn’t hear the report of the returning party, but after the regular evening battle against the insects, he overheard few discussions.

Turns out the group was already on their way back when they found an enormous centipede. Judging from the described size, it clearly was at least behemot level creature, but hundred and fifty elemental masters should’ve been capable of easily defeating it.

The problem was – the thing didn’t even fight. It dived under a mountain, causing a huge rockslide, at the same time disturbing a hive of flying insects. The losses the hunters experienced were form the rockslide and not from fighting, and now everyone was set on getting revenge.

The moment Lee heard the idea of revenge, he immediately grew wary. He experienced firsthand how self-destructive such endeavor could become. Fortunately, the main actors of the camp remained calm and collected – it was likely the whole revenge

thing was repeatedly brought up only to appease the minds of the crippled colleagues.

When the following morning was announced that everyone could join the expedition to help seek revenge, Lee’s alarms were triggered again. The obvious reasoning was that the group needed cannon fodder and the relatively useless elemental warriors were perfect for the role.

If Lee could think of it, so could the rest, therefore the leader of the group, a guy named Vaerin, immediately explained that their task would be to make sure no third parties would disturb the hunt and as the reward everyone could keep the sparks they collected.

Lee would’ve loved for a greater conspiracy to be there, but unfortunately, no matter how he wrecked his brains, everything looked straight forward. The centipede clearly wasn’t an old god, but a creature of earth affinity, likely at a behemot level. All facts about it were public and the veterans from the previous expedition gladly shared everything they knew.

Lee decided to join the group nevertheless. First of all, he needed to explore the place anyway, and secondly – hanging out with the people who had spent months or years hunting here could give him a lead on where to find an actual old god.

***

Besides the injured, only around thirty people were left in the settlement. Surprisingly, most of them were experienced hunters, but they didn’t hide their reluctance to go along this time. The group of two hundred and fifty was simply too big.

According to them, the potential gains that had to be shared with the others, after paying taxes to their employers, were not worth the effort. It was better to take a month long vacation and relax while stretching their limbs twice a day fighting against the insect swarms, especially considering the fact that this particular expedition was organized to hunt only one particular creature.

The large group departed, but they didn’t go into the jungle. They spent half a day traveling along the beach, at fast pace. Once again Lee was confused by the lack of supplies the hunters brought along. The upside was that it allowed him to not stand out despite the fact that the only item he had in hand was the same hatched he picked up on the first day.

When the sun was at the highest point, the group finally turned towards the jungle. The long roundabout allowed the group to avoid several larger insect colonies, but besides battling through the jungle, the group had to fight off constant insect ambushes as well.

They didn’t come in large groups, though, and were easily dealt with – even the ones with sparks. And when after battling through the jungle for the whole afternoon the group arrived at rockier area, Lee finally understood why this place was considered a spark farm. Even he picked up a couple of sparks, without trying to stand out, but the guys in the front of the expedition had collected dozens of them.

Any jungle Lee would consider regular housed endless amounts of insects, except they were also of a regular size. In Skalara’s jungle the creatures varied in size from a large dog, to a bull or even larger. They were aggressive and the place was swarming with them, and quite a few had ignited a spark. Obviously most sparks were of low quality, but the quantity easily compensated for that.