80. The Stranger in the Swamp
David slowly rose from behind the tree roots. One hand clutched his thigh, where the crossbow bolt was still embedded fairly deeply. He glanced at the wound, gritted his teeth, then grabbed the shaft of the bolt and yanked it out in one motion.
“ARGH!”
Blood immediately began flowing from the open wound.
“Damn it...”
Andre, who was still holding the crossbow, winced at the sight.
“You okay, bro?”
David raised his head and stared sharply at Andre. But a moment later, his expression changed.
He understood.
The sentence Andre had just spoken sounded perfectly clear to his ears. The language that had previously sounded foreign when he overheard it from a distance could now be understood without difficulty.
The Pioneer-to-Pioneer translation system.
Rangga remained at a distance, his bow still trained on him.
“Who are you?”
David turned toward him.
His mind immediately began working quickly. He had come to find competent Pioneers who might potentially be recruited by his country. This encounter had clearly gotten off to a bad start, but there was no point in making things worse.
His sharp gaze slowly softened into a friendlier expression.
“My name is David.”
“A Pioneer from the Bald Eagle Nation.”
Rangga frowned, the name seeming familiar. A few seconds later, he remembered.
“Oh... Number three?”
This time, David frowned, while Andre looked at him in confusion.
“Number what, bro?”
Major Deri answered while still holding his sword and shield.
“When the global chat first opened, there were five Pioneers who joined almost simultaneously.”
He pointed at David with the tip of his sword.
“He was the one busy deciding who was first, second, third, and so on.”
Andre immediately understood.
“Ohhh.”
David, however, studied Major Deri more closely.
“You were there too?”
“Yeah.”
Major Deri lowered his sword slightly.
“I’m Deri, a Pioneer from the Garuda Nation.”
He then pointed at Andre.
“He’s Andre. Also a Garuda Pioneer.”
After that, Deri turned toward Rangga, who had still been holding his bow and immediately flashed a grin.
“I’m Rangga... A Garuda Pioneer.”
He paused for a moment.
“The first person you were looking for in the chat back then.”
David’s expression immediately changed, his eyes widening slightly.
“Rangga?”
Rangga nodded casually.
“Yep.”
David fell silent.
Rangga. A Garuda Pioneer. The first person to enter the global chat. And the name that had been specifically mentioned by the government of the Bald Eagle Nation that morning.
The highest-priority target, whom he had been ordered to recruit with the best offer his country could provide.
David looked at the three of them again.
Rangga had not only already reached a three-star island. He was even exploring it alongside two other Pioneers from his own country.
All three wore armor and carried different weapons suited to their respective roles.
They shared information, divided combat positions, and even helped one another develop their fighting abilities.
David frowned.
“I didn’t expect the Garuda Pioneers to already be working together like this to explore the island.”
Rangga clicked his tongue.
“Believe whatever you want.”
His bow remained raised.
“Now I’m asking the questions.”
“Why were you following us while hiding and covering yourself in mud like that?”
David did not answer immediately.
Seeing that blood was still pouring from David’s thigh, Andre interrupted.
“Bro Rangga.”
“Shouldn’t we treat his wound first?”
David pressed harder against the wound.
“It’s nothing.”
He then looked at Rangga.
“I only wanted to introduce myself to you... You looked very competent in battle. So I followed you to make sure before approaching.”
Rangga immediately shook his head.
“No...”
David fell silent.
“I don’t wanna meet someone who comes sneaking around.”
Rangga pulled his bowstring back slightly again.
“Now leave, or I’ll put an arrow through you.”
The atmosphere immediately became tense. David studied Rangga for a moment, then Major Deri, then Andre.
Three people, all fully armed. And after seeing their ability to deal with the Baryonyx firsthand, forcing contact now would not be a sensible decision.
David finally exhaled.
“Fine.”
He nodded.
“I apologize. I went about this the wrong way.”
David slowly turned around.
“But I hope we can introduce ourselves again under better circumstances.”
He began limping away.
“Hey.”
David immediately stopped and turned around as something was thrown toward him. His hand moved instinctively.
Tap!
David caught the object. A clump of red moss.
Blood Moss.
Rangga pointed at the wound on his thigh.
“Use that on your wound.”
David looked at the red moss in his hand, then back at Rangga.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah.”
Rangga waved his hand.
“Now get lost.”
Then his expression turned serious again.
“Don’t follow us again.”
David nodded.
He turned around and began walking away with a limp, pressing the Blood Moss against his injured thigh.
Rangga, Deri, and Andre continued watching him until his figure gradually disappeared among the swamp trees.
Andre kept watching in the direction David had gone until the man completely disappeared. After making sure he wasn’t coming back, he turned toward Rangga, who had begun checking his equipment.
“Why’d you kick him out like that, bro?”
Major Deri answered first.
“That was for the best.”
He sheathed his sword, but kept his shield in hand.
“He approached us without our knowledge. It’s unlikely that his only intention from the beginning was simply to introduce himself.”
Rangga immediately nodded in agreement.
“Obviously.”
He returned the arrow he had prepared to shoot to its quiver.
“Why would someone who just wants to meet us sneak around like that?”
Andre thought for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
He then remembered his encounter with Major Deri the previous day.
“Yesterday on the Savanna, we met Lucas from the Brown Bear Nation. He didn’t sneak around, right, Major?”
“That’s right.”
Major Deri walked closer to the two of them.
“Lucas approached us openly. Even under those circumstances, he immediately helped us deal with the mechanical creature there.”
Deri glanced at Rangga.
“He was also the one who warned us about the Mechanical Ankylosaurus and showed us the location of a mine that was likely to contain vanadium.”
Rangga immediately pointed at Major Deri.
“Exactly! See?”
He then looked toward the place where David had been hiding.
“Then all of a sudden, some guy covered in mud shows up and secretly follows us.”
“Who wouldn’t be suspicious?”
Andre nodded.
“Fair enough.”
Rangga stopped thinking about David. He opened his inventory and checked their haul from the hunt so far. After counting the Bio Filtration Membranes they had collected, his face fell slightly.
“Whatever. Let’s keep looking.”
Rangga closed his inventory.
“We’ve only got three.”
Andre immediately turned toward him.
“Huh?”
Rangga started walking.
“I still need seventeen more.”
Andre stared at his back in disbelief.
“Bro...”
“What?”
“So we have to kill seventeen more?”
Rangga stopped and turned around.
“Who knows... Maybe we’ll get two from one kill.”
Andre fell silent.
“Oh, right.”
“That’s why you should keep moving.”
Major Deri merely smiled faintly before taking the lead position again. The three of them resumed their previous formation, with Rangga positioned not far behind Deri while Andre maintained his distance with his crossbow.
Before following the other two, Andre glanced once more in the direction David had gone.
“Next time, don’t hide, bro.”
He raised his crossbow and muttered to himself.
“You made me mistake you for a crocodile.”
“Andre!”
“Yes, Major!”
Andre immediately jogged to catch up.
The three of them continued their journey through the swamp. The Baryonyx hunt was not over yet, and along the way they continued gathering Blood Moss, Cinchona Bark, and swamp rice, while also hunting the Simosuchus they encountered.
Now they also had one more thing to watch out for. It wasn’t just mechanical creatures hiding among the swamps.
Other Pioneers could be nearby without them even realizing it.