Several days later.

Ned’s group finally reached the gathering point.

Standing in front of the other twelve groups, Ned gave a signal to his people before leaving them to talk with other leaders and discuss their plans.

As soon as Ned left them, water porters released a tired sigh and sat to the ground, resting and relaxing their tired limbs.

Though they were trained, water porters couldn’t be compared to scouts like Raimund, Robert, Ainz, and others who could easily travel long distances.

As soon as Nora and other water porters eased up, Theo noticed scouts didn’t follow their example and continued to hold their bows without stopping to throw cautious glances at the surrounding groups. Other groups also returned the favor, making the atmosphere tense.

Of course, it didn’t take long for Nora and other water porters to notice that.

“Shouldn’t we rest and relax here at the gathering point? Why is there such a tense atmosphere in the air?” asked Leonardo as he moved his glance to the archer from the nearest group. Scouts didn’t react to his question except for the Ainz that turned at him.

“In theory, it should be safe, but in reality, nobody knows for real. We - ex-adventurers have instinct, telling us about the potential danger, and right now these instincts are pointing at many people here at the hill,” said Ainz. “In fact, you never know what might happen when many adventurers and mercenaries gather, such gatherings have the same success rate of ending peaceful or ending with battle.”

“What about those few groups with military uniforms?” asked Robin, joining the conversation.

“They are our supervisors and leaders in the coming operation. They know we won’t attack them if we want to get 2nd half of our pay. So, they are the only people here that give a damn about any grudges between adventurers and mercenaries.”

“Are they so deep that you can’t even be in the same place?” asked Leonardo, with a curious expression on his face. As soon as he asked, Raimund turned and looked at him.

“Monk, you can’t even imagine how serious it is. Adventurers and mercenaries are violent competitors. We struggle for many contracts and suitable areas with plenty of work. To be frank, we - adventurers want to get access to Chaos lands while mercenaries want to increase their influence here at the north where our guild is superior.” said Raimund as he approached Leonardo.

“Sounds complicated.” To his words, Raimund smiled.

“It is. Anyway, you don’t need to get into this crap, “Monk”, if you ever get to go to Chaos lands, just don’t say that you are an adventurer. Believe me, it will save you from many problems."

In such a way, Ned’s group continued to chat, killing their time, and soon when Ned appeared in the distance, one hour has already passed.

...

..

.

Half an hour ago.

Ned drank a glass of water as their captain continued to explain their plan.

In short, their twelve groups of 200 people were supposed to harass any naga supply caravans. Other similar groups in different places would also do the same. This hill will serve as their temporary base of operation till they move to the next one. Besides, their captain explained their tactics and strategies. Scouts shouldn’t fight with nagas but concentrate on destroying carriages and only fight when it’s necessary.

“What about their shamans?” asked a scout with a badge of the Mercenary Union. He was the member with the highest hierarchy in the Union and other mercenaries listened to him carefully. His name was Mason, and he was the leader of other mercenary captains.

“Depends on the situation,” said the captain in the Roland family uniform. He was Ulrick, scout, well-accustomed to the surrounding landscape because of his former service at the patrol. “They are second on the priority list. Try to snipe them when you can, you will get extra for their heads. But, retreat if you feel the need to. We are deep at the enemy territory and your lives are much more precious for us here.” Mason nodded to his words and continued to sharpen his sword.

“What about our supplies? Nagas attacked my group along the way and we last of them in the process when my comrade was killed.” Asked another scout whom Ned recognized as a fellow adventurer, looking at the colored bracelet at his hand. It was Mark. Ulrick nodded to himself when he heard him.

“I know that some of you lost their supplies along the way. You can come to me later, I will transfer to you a thousand arrows and provide food for a week. Just don’t lose them again.’ said Ulrick with a warning glance.

Such a scene continued for some time as group leaders continued to ask Ulrick many questions.

Only after answering around thirty of them, Ulrick released a sigh, announcing the end of today’s gathering.

“Since, we have already discussed our tactics and strategy, return and prepare your people, we have our first aim to complete.” Ulrick watched as his new subordinates nodded and left him one by one.

Only when all of them left him, his adjutant, that stayed silent during the entire conversation, asked him.

“Captain, are sure we can trust them?” Ulrick smiled at his question.

“Don’t worry, these people will easily complete the aim. They differ from us, professional scouts, but they have much more experience in ravaging than us. Believe me, they will still show themselves.” Adjutant nodded to his words.

“By the way, tell our group to prepare. We will help them if our intel is wrong.” His adjutant saluted him and moments later disappeared.

...

..

.

Several carriages, filled with fresh supplies, slowly traveled towards the swamps. There were weapons, food, and other supplies inside. Several small groups of nagas with tridents accompanied them, but just a glance at those nagas was enough to realize that they were relaxed and didn’t expect any ambushes. Besides, most of those nagas were inexperienced youngsters. They failed in the challenge and lost the honor to become warriors. So, they could only join supply caravans.

A young naga continued to move, yawning from time to time when he turned and looked at his comrade, the one who he knew since childhood.

Both nagas wanted to become warriors, passed many hardships, and finally reached the challenge where they failed, losing their dream. But, unlike many other nagas, they tried their luck as supply caravan members, not wanting to become craft workers.

“So, what do you think will happen at the front lines?” asked the youth in the naga language, growling and showing his tongue from time to time. His friend was also bored and didn’t mind spending some time talking.

“I think the war will end soon. You know, the chief’s brother joined the front lines with his elite army, helping our brothers in the trouble.” Growled the naga, smiling as he spoke. “Soon, there will be many human skull pyramids, decorating the swamps.” A smile also appeared on his comrade’s face when he heard him.

“I wish I was there. You can’t even imagine how strongly I miss the feeling of blood at my hands.” said the youth. His comrades made an understanding expression as he patted his friend.

“We will get a chance, friend. Soon, we will reach the swamps and I am sure we will have enough opportunities to hunt a bit while we follow the main army.”

“Yeah. Ture.” said the youth as he smiled and made an impatient expression on his face.

Just as he finished his phrase, another naga approached them.

Noticing him, both nagas quickly adjusted their postures, raising their chests and tightly gripping their tridents as their captain approached them.

The naga captain smiled and growled softly.

“Easy, boys. I just wanted to chat a bit.” said the naga captain and patting them on the shoulders.

Soon, three nagas started chatting as they followed the carriage.

They talked about different topics, starting from careers, women, and interesting stories.

In such a manner, half an hour passed when the supply caravan approached an area with many hills.

If these nagas stayed cautious and didn’t relax, they would have tensed a bit as soon as they entered this area because it was just too good for the ambush. There were two high hills from both sides with many bushes and even stones, but nagas didn’t pay attention to that and just continued to move along the road.

Just as the youth finished telling a funny story and three nagas were busy laughing, an unexpected event happened.

A quick-flying arrow appeared out of nowhere, hitting the naga captain in the skull, killing him in a moment.

Several moments later, many other arrows followed the first, and the once peaceful picture of a traveling caravan turned into the massacre. There was a loud, scary noise that appeared, following the arrows, contributing to the chaos in the naga ranks.

The youth that has just come back to his senses after the death of his captain turned toward his comrade he was just talking to several moments ago.

Turning his head, his trident fell from his hand when he saw his friend dead with an arrow in his heart, with a smile on his lips. He was still smiling, not realizing what happened when he died.

Such scenes happened all over the caravan. There were many similar nagas among the supply caravan.

Only after another five seconds, the youth came back to his senses as he approached a near carriage and hid behind it, looking for any old members who could command them now when their captain was dead.

He wasn’t the only one who looked for other old members, but most of them failed to find even one because most of them were already dead.

Enemies were killing such nagas first.

However, some survived and tried to take the situation under control.

“You, damned lizards, gather your courage and attack, bastards. The more you hide, the faster we die!” cried one of the old nagas.

Hearing his words, some young nagas recovered from the shock and moved out toward the hills.

The youth also followed them and several minutes later they were already at the top of the hills, finding no enemies and only noticing several dots of quickly disappearing humans behind the nearest hills.

Only now they have realized that their supply caravan with around 400 nagas was afraid of twice the small group of enemies. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

Only the burning carriages and around a hundred dead bodies behind them was an inevitable fact of things that happened with them.

Recovering from another shock, part of the nagas entered the chase after the enemy, following him while others stayed with their destroyed cargo, trying to save as much as they could.

However, regardless of all their efforts, they had little water with them and couldn’t stop the fire in the carriages and could only helplessly look at them.

This was the end, not only for their supply caravan but even for those nagas that chased after the enemy.

Realizing that it was futile to save the cargo, some old nagas attracted the attention of others.

“We should return and report about it to the chief. Enemy scouts are already here, and it’s no longer safe to send supplies, using human roads.” Many nagas nodded to his words, agreeing with his logic, and tightly wrapped their tridents, preparing for the return journey. The youth was also among them and didn’t take long for around a hundred nagas to start their return journey, living the dead and the injured behind with the cargo. They believed that another group that chased after the enemy will return and take care of them.

Unfortunately for them, that group was already destroyed, trapped in another ambush, and killed with the hands of scouts that poured them with arrows from several sides.

Finishing with the enemy, Ned nodded to his group and gave a signal to move out to their next position.

“Okay, move to the last part of the plan.” His scouts nodded to his words as they joined other scouts.

At the same time as Ned and other scouts were approaching the enemy from the rear, nagas entered another surprise, prepared by the Ulrick.

The youth and other nagas didn’t even realize what happened when they approached the exit from this area when many human figures appeared ahead of them and ballista-like arrows appeared at the battlefield.

They couldn’t even react when some nagas were already dead and more figures started appearing from the other two sides.

Realizing what was happening, nagas gathered all their courage and jumped in the enemy's direction, preparing to storm their way out, noticing that there were only a few humans ahead of them and much more at the sides.

This was an enemy trap and when nagas passed half of the territory, more humans appeared in front of them, leaving only one way for survival, to run back and try their chances there.

The youth who has just seen several nagas die from the ballista-like arrows lost all his composure when he looked at the pained and shocked expression on the nearest naga.

Realizing the situation, he was among the first who turned and ran to save his life. Soon, more than half of the surviving nagas followed his example.

However, their fate was already sealed when Ned, Robert, Raimund, Ainz, Riko, Miko, and other scouts appeared in front of them, pouring them with arrows.

this was the last hit, nagas could take, and half an hour later, an auxiliary supply caravan, mainly composed of the youngsters, disappeared from existence.

Right now, they were like insects, trapped at the net of the spider, and the more they moved the deeper they entered the trap, losing their last chances with slowly decreasing numbers.