Frago and his men arrived near the inn about an hour later. They encountered many people going around, some hunting monsters and some…were foraging?

He and his men were confused. They had never seen this density of people in the danger zone unless they were fighting against mobs and were hunting as a team.

However, it was clearly not the case here. They could recognize some wearing mercenary uniforms on one area, and obvious adventurers not far from them, all harmoniously gathering random plants while a few others—it didn’t matter which team—would deal with the monsters that came their way.

“Very peculiar…” Frago said and then he looked at some of his men, giving a silent gesture. Just to be safe, they went farther to the edge with fewer people.

Their stats were already lessened, which was why they were looking for a resting spot at all, so it was better to handle things quietly for now.

On cue, the men headed out and found the most isolated individuals. The man rudely grabbed the collar of the nearest person, who had been foraging and holding some plants on hand just a second ago.

“HEY!” he yelled.

This was Zachary. Seeing the unfriendly faces, the people next to him, Ren and Aaron, immediately took out their weapons.

If they hadn’t seen the enemy’s levels, they would’ve attacked. Ren held Aaron back, and the raven-haired young man stared deeply at the newcomers.

Still, the posture of ‘weaklings’ caused the arrogant men—all of whom were much stronger—to move. For example, the one holding Zachary gestured to hold his neck instead.

However, how could Zachary actually just stand there? By instinct, he retaliated, using a skill to reinforce his fist, hitting the man smack on the face.

Unfortunately, the difference between the peak awakened and the peak toughened level was a gorge, and he did no damage except annoy the man.

SLAM!

In a flash, Zachary flew smack against the tree, and the other two went to Zachary to see his state. While relieved he was okay, the two glared at the men, prepared to fight regardless of level differences.

Before a fight exploded, another voice from the sound sounded. “WAIT!”

They turn to see a couple who were also not strong.

This was Remus and Maria, who were sweating buckets from rushing here and also from the tension. They had just arrived from nearby, and they pondered calling others first, but when they saw that a fight was about to happen, they ended up intervening.

It was a bit stupid, considering how weak they were, but they could only deal with the challenge in front of them.

This small group of people was at least at the height of toughened level, many of them were fortified level. Just their presence was enough to intimidate their small group of mostly awakened-level fighters.

These people were naturally arrogant, as if everyone else was below them. One of them even sneered at them, eyes sticking to Maria before making a disgusted expression. “Eh, scarred woman, disgusting. It’s hurting my eyes.”

Remus’ eyes reddened; his previous temperament of trying to calm things down immediately switched to one of anger. “You—”

Remus gestured to attack again, and so did the trio, and Maria felt a million alarms going in her head.

If they really fought, at least half of them were going to die.

The toughened-level and fortified-level people were either in the extension or within the inn, resting. Right now, the majority of the people outside the barrier were at the awakened level.

And this was up to them now.

Maria took a deep breath and held her husband’s arm, while her eyes looked at the men. She made sure not to make eye contact with them. One, because they were really intimidating, and another to show her succumbing to them.

Men who liked power would always prefer this, loosening the hostility.

“Are you here for the inn?” she asked, and sure enough, the enemies’ eyebrows rose. “If you let us go, we can take you there, even pay for your room.”

Remus frowned and looked at her. “Maria—”

She gripped her arm, asking him to shut up.

The other men looked at her lecherously, as if her offer to pay for the room included the services of her body. They found her face disgusting, but what if the body was okay? To them, anyone with a hole, except for those old women who were like raisins, was fine to vent on.

“How do we know we can trust you? What if you lead us to a trap?”

“You can let us go ahead.”

The men looked at each other and then at Frago, who was also curious about the Inn. Anyway, these awakened-level people, compared to them, along with the newfound power source, would be obliterated within seconds if they wanted them to.

“You better not pull any tricks, or you will die—horrible deaths.”

They had no idea that those words would come back to them, extremely soon, too.

…

The group moved forward. After a few minutes, they encountered more and more people. After so long, the regulars normally would greet each other, but they saw the expressions of their friends and acquaintances, and knew that things were not normal right now.

Many of them sensed the tension and narrowed their eyes at the people following right after them. They paled a bit, feeling the differences in power, but many of them were prepared to move forward in case the others needed help.

However, Remus and Maria shook their heads, signalling for them to stay put and that they could handle it.

They also signalled for them to head inside. It would be troublesome if any of them were caught outside the barrier at this point. Fortunately, many people were in the extension so there was plenty of space in the main inn right now.

Soon, the marking posts entered their line of sight, and Maria and the others’ steps hastened just a bit, excited to finally near safety, but also stopped themselves from running because that would be too suspicious.

It was only when they passed this threshold did they breathe. They were not entirely relieved yet, but at least their chances of survival increased by a few points.

Frago and the rest of them frowned when screens appeared, listing rules and regulations they must follow, or else be blacklisted.

Frago sneered, looking at Maria and the rest, and many others entered the barrier too, surrounding them.

“So this is why you insisted on coming here,” Frago laughed, cackling. “You think these messages will safeguard you?”

There was no such thing as automatic implementation of rules in this world. They thought it was just a text and a warning, and considering it had a barrier, it was not a surprise that there were rules.

Maria and Remus did not falter. Remus, though, with eyes that gave the man who insulted his wife a bad look. “We recommend accepting the rules,” they said. “The rules here are quite strict.”

Fargo and his team wondered where these weaklings were getting their confidence from, but they did not like it.

They looked at the barrier with interest. This was a high-quality barrier they had not seen before.

Immediately, greed overflowed their eyes, and they began looking around as if they were about to get a new property. People saw this, and they wanted to punch the arrogance on their faces, but they needed to time this well.

Tension was palpable, as if a massacre could happen at any time.

At some point, a little fluffy and odd creature appeared in the circle, with some people giving way. He was followed by two children, but they were stopped from approaching closer, carried by adults.

Fargo and his team got even more confused. Why would children even be in the middle of the danger zone?

Still, his focus was on the bipedal creature. Frago’s eyes sparked with interest. As a person who liked power and status symbols, owning a unique creature was naturally attractive.

Fargo was about to lean down to grab it, but Remus blocked his way. “Please don’t touch Pang—” he said, though he was mostly afraid that an actual fight would really happen. With Pang here, he didn’t believe they could lose, but there would be many collateral damage.

This thought was not appreciated by the arrogant newcomers. Everyone was annoyed, but one of Frago’s henchmen immediately snapped to action. “You dare—”

The force of a peak toughened level man emanated, scaring a few people. However, this posture was quickly slapped down when a sudden force from above descended.

BUZZ!

The man flinched as he felt a burst of electricity flow through him, stopping his movements. “Ah! What was that!?” His eyes were twitching. It didn’t injure him, but it was painful!

Because few people made trouble nowadays, even Finn had forgotten the existence of the [Thrower Sprite] who sent out bolts of electricity against threats inside and outside, though mostly effective against awakened-level threats only.

It was usually used against enemies outside, causing monsters to pause and making them more convenient to deal with; it was just that the fighters didn’t notice it because things tended to happen quickly. When they encountered danger, and the monster suddenly slowed down, they would likely just assume that they got lucky somehow.

Regardless, the underappreciated sprite’s ‘attack’ definitely annoyed the man and his team, and they leaned down, prepared to attack.

Unexpectedly, the small, fluffy creature jumped up and slapped the man on the face.

Slap!

And someone’s tooth fell out!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep