Chapter 147: Arrival
"What's happening here? Where are the other groups? And what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to sneak in and steal the loot?"
Turning, Vincent saw Nor standing there with a confused expression.
Soon, Nira, along with S'an, also arrived.
"What's happening?" Nira's attention eventually turned to the loot items around Vincent.
"Woah, the weak human found a lot of useful loot!" S'an, the Nervewalker, said in a surprised tone.
Later, Ruoruo also arrived.
"Nira, there's something wrong with your plan. I couldn't find them—" Ruoruo was interrupted by the scene in front of them.
Vincent ignored their questions and simply checked the loot around him. With a quick scan, he set aside almost everything except the Origin Energy recovery potion and the Tier 2 Shield.
Ruoruo then approached and asked him, "What's going on here?"
After shrugging his shoulders, he replied, "I don't know. When I came here, these items were already there, and I couldn't find those groups that were fighting…"
He simply made a quick lie. Even if he told them that he forced those groups into quitting, they wouldn't believe him.
Who would believe that a mere Peak Tier 1 like him could scare away three groups of Peak Tier 2 Origin Warriors with his strength?
No one.
And it would cause a long question-and-answer session again, which he never liked.
Hence, it was better to make up a lie.
Needless to say, no one believed him when he said these items just revealed themselves in front of him. However, no matter how skeptical they were, they couldn't understand it.
Thus, they could only accept it as it was.
Soon, there were only 20 groups remaining, and the safe zone had already shrunk to half the size of the original battlefield.
Along the way, Vincent's group encountered a special device that allowed them to predict the location of the safe zone.
And they were heading toward it now.
Three 10-minute marks had cut the safe zone circle in half again.
His group had barely encountered another group along the way, and all of them eventually leveled up their looted items.
However, it also meant the other groups were already equipped with better items too!
At this moment, they were fiercely engaged with one of the remaining groups, a group of Agisaurs.
Vincent didn't find it strange as the Tower of Speed was technically dominated by Agisaurs.
It was needless to say that with Nor, S'an, and Nira only fighting against the five Peak Tier 2s, Vincent and Ruoruo were supporting them from the back.
As per Nira's assigned roles, Vincent only had to stand at the back and support them by handing out potions and medkits, while Ruoruo's role was to buff them with her rare-grade skill that could increase the group's attack and movement speed while also doubling their stamina recovery speed.
However, just by a simple glance, Vincent knew that they were at a disadvantage. The Agisaurs were physically stronger and faster than the Cheetrals, Nira and Nor.
They had been able to fight with the group of Agisaurs until now by abusing the special traits of S'an.
The Nervewalkers had the ability to make themselves invulnerable for a certain period of time. As absurd as it sounds, it had a huge drawback.
It would quickly exhaust the Nervewalkers and put them in a prolonged weakened state if used for too long.
At this moment, they had been fighting for over five minutes! The safe zone circle had once again started shrinking.
It was also important to note that it wasn't just S'an who was getting exhausted but also Ruoruo, who was constantly buffing them while also attacking the Agisaurs promptly.
Fortunately, despite their physical advantage, the Agisaurs had no one like Ruoruo in their party, making them fall into exhaustion at a much faster rate than Vincent's group.
Naturally, Nira noticed this.
"They are already exhausted!" she exclaimed, notifying them.
Nor didn't respond but increased his attacks, while S'an exclaimed, "I'm S'an the strongest!"
He was truly proud to defeat a group of Agisaurs dominating the Tower of Speed.
"Let's end this, Nor!" Nira commanded.
"Understood!"
On the other hand, the Agisaurs, who were already exhausted, started feeling agitated when Vincent's group became more intense.
"Fuck these yellow cats! And this fucking ghost! Why are we getting beaten like this? Where the fuck is that human?!" thought Agus, the group leader of the Agisaurs, in frustration.
Just as Agus thought about that, the presence of a new group suddenly appeared behind Vincent's group.
At this moment, Vincent and the others also noticed the sudden arrival of a new group.
Soon, it was followed by a familiar arrogant voice.
"I've finally found you, Vincent."
The voice was filled with hate and rage.
Naturally, Vincent also recognized the voice, as he had just encountered it earlier. With a quick glance behind him, he saw the young master of the Boltor Clan, Clark Boltor, accompanied by four more Origin Warriors from other races who were not human.
At this moment, Ruoruo also noticed that Clark was human. She retreated closer to Vincent and asked, "Is he your friend?"
Vincent smiled wryly and replied, "I'll never befriend a toad."
His voice was loud enough to be heard by Clark.
At the mention of the toad, Clark immediately grew enraged, recalling the moment when he was mocked by Ellie and others right to his face, though he didn't understand it at first.
"Vincent! I'm going to kill you!"
The next second, Clark summoned a disc device and tossed it to the ground. It transformed into a huge transparent barrier that covered a 100-meter radius.
"Haha, none of you are going to survive this place now!" Clark exclaimed loudly.
"You might not know this because you're nothing but a mere Tier 1. This is a Restriction Disc. No one within its area of effect will be able to leave this barrier by any means other than me. So, even if you have special items or Escape Tower tokens, they won't work. Haha!"
Clark broke into laughter, feeling so proud of himself. However, what others didn't know was that the Restriction Disc wasn't his; it was lent to him by Axl Swift.
Upon hearing Clark's proclamation, aside from Vincent, his teammates furrowed their brows deeply, obviously worried.
At this moment, the exhausted Agisaurs managed to retreat and regrouped with Clark's group.
With a serious expression, Nira approached Vincent, but before she could ask him about Clark's identity, Nor's frustrated voice cut through.
"You are already a deadweight to this group, and now you've even brought your own enemy to us and put us in this situation! What are you going to do now?!"
"Nor—"
"Shut up, Nira. I won't listen to you this time. I told you, we should have already kicked this guy out in the first place! If you had just let me do it, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
Nira fell silent. As much as she wanted him to calm down, everything he had said was true. But then she snapped out of it.
"There's no use getting angry over spilled water. We have to do something, and being angry at him won't change anything."
However, Nor thought otherwise.
"I don't know about that, but just based on that guy's tone, he's going to do anything to kill that weak human."
"What are you trying to say—"
"Let me handle this in my own way this time."
After saying that, Nor turned to Clark's group and specifically looked at Clark.
"I want to make a deal!"
At the same time, Vincent and Ruoruo wondered what Nor was trying to do.
At this moment, Clark stood with his back straight and his arms crossed, looking down at them arrogantly.
"Who are you to deal with me?"
Nor frowned, displeased, but chose to hide it.
"I'm Nor, and we have nothing to do with this guy! Let us go, and you can have him!"
As soon as he said that, Nira and Ruoruo's expressions immediately changed to stunned disbelief.
"What are you saying, Nor?!" Nira exclaimed.
While Ruoruo was speechless. "You…"
Vincent only smirked at him but didn't say anything.
On the other hand, Clark burst into laughter.
"Haha! I like you, Nor. It seems you're the only one intelligent enough to actually understand your situation. How about this: if you personally hand me Vincent, I'll spare your life. I can also spare your girlfriend's life."
Nor fell silent upon hearing Clark's condition.
"However, my patience is short, so you better act quickly," Clark continued.
At this moment, Nira pulled Nor to face her.
"What are you doing, Nor? Are you trying to save your own ass? Is that how an honorable warrior of the Whitefang Tribe should act?!"
"You don't understand, Nira. I'm doing this to save us!"
"No, you're the one who doesn't understand me. You're not the same Nor I've known all my life... If you really want to do it, go ahead, but you'll have to fight me."
"Don't do this, Nira. Please, listen to me just once."
Instead of being convinced, Nira took a stance, ready to fight Nor.
Nor was obviously disappointed by her reaction. His eyes darkened as he heaved a sigh of resignation.
"Please don't blame me, Nira. You'll understand later."
As soon as he said that, he instantly appeared behind her and struck her neck, rendering her unconscious.
He carefully laid Nira on the grass, softly gazing at her as he caressed her face. "Forgive me for doing this..."
Nor stood up and glared in Vincent's direction, but Ruoruo immediately stepped in to block him.
"Heh, so you're just like the savages you hate—a hypocrite!" Ruoruo exclaimed.
"Shut up, woman. Get out of the way if you don't want to get hurt!"
"I dare you!"
At this moment, the innocent S'an stood at a loss. He couldn't understand what was happening. Why were his teammates fighting each other…