The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family-Chapter 415: Caravan in the Crosshairs (3)

Reidar had prepared a lie. "I heard there were powerful monsters in this region. I came here to hunt and hopefully level up."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Hunt? The monsters here aren't that strong compared to you." She paused, studying him with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. "I have to say, I don't even understand how you were able to reach that level."

Reidar paused.

"While not all monsters are strong enough to be worthwhile for me to hunt them, there are still pretty strong monsters in the area, so it's better than nothing." He kept his voice casual.

"Plus, I was curious about what's going on here. I've been traveling for a while, so I'm kind of out of the loop... Things move pretty fast these days… With the apocalypse and everything else going on."

Kara seemed to accept that explanation, or at least she didn't push further. "Well, you picked an interesting time to show up. The region's been chaotic for months."

"How so?"

"The monsters are getting stronger and more numerous because of the portals. People are still trying to figure out why and how those portals open, but so far we have no clue."

That was weird. <Wasn't common knowledge that the church opened them?> Though Reidar said nothing since he didn't know if the woman was affiliated with them somehow.

"Most of the monsters coming out of the portals are around level 400 now, though there are some exceptions." She counted them off on her fingers. "Three monsters at level 600 that we know of are in the area. They've carved out territories and attack anyone who gets close. And then there's the big one."

"The World-Carver Behemoth?"

Kara's expression darkened. "You've heard of it."

"Hard not to. What's its level now?"

"Higher than 700, last I heard. No one knows exactly because anyone who gets close enough to see it dies." She shook her head.

"The Aegis Phalanx is trying to lure it away from Kingsgate, but the damn thing heads back there as soon as it gets too far, forcing the Aegis Phalanx to start all over. It seems to be obsessed with the city for some reason."

"Why? A meal should still be a meal. It doesn't make a difference if it is because of summons, aliens, or humans, so what the Aegis is doing should probably be feeding that thing regardless. Besides, the Aegis Phalanx is a far better meal than the average human."

"I would lie if I said I understand monsters, and whoever says they know is probably lying too. No one knows, I can assure you. Some people theorized it can sense the concentration of humans there. Others think there's something in the city that attracts it, some kind of mana source or artifact. All we know is that it wants to get to that city."

Reidar filed that information away. A level 700+ monster was a threat to him. Even if he managed to kill monsters 50 levels higher than him, the world-carver behemoth was out even of his army's league.

"What about the Aegis Phalanx?" he asked. "What are they doing?"

Kara shrugged. "Aside from luring that thing away? Hard to say. Communications with Kingsgate are cut off because there were too many monsters around the city to get through, and as you know, technology still doesn't work, so we don't know since they are the only ones with the technology, and they only talk among themselves. But I've heard rumors they're training people east from here, setting up camps, and teaching survivors how to fight."

"East?"

"Other regions. Velia, in particular, it looks like a lot of their troops are there, but I didn't go there myself to check. You know, I would probably die on the way." She paused. "Why? Are you looking to join them?"

"No. I'm just curious. It's been a while since I talked to people. I mostly stayed in the forest, you know…"

"Not that I can blame you," the woman said. "I've learned on my skin that humans are the real monsters. At least those mutated animals still follow instincts. They kill you at best, and if they do, it is to eat. But humans? Sometimes they do it just for the sake of doing it."

They walked in silence for a moment, the only sounds being the crunch of gravel beneath their boots and the calls of mutated birds in the canopy above.

Reidar considered his next question carefully, turning it over in his mind before speaking. This was the part of the entire situation that confused him the most, the piece of the puzzle that didn't seem to fit with everything else he had learned.

"Earlier, you said the church wanted to save Kingsgate," he said. "But the church and the Aegis Phalanx are enemies. That doesn't make sense."

Kara's expression shifted. She looked uncomfortable, as if the question touched on something she didn't fully understand herself.

"It's complicated," she said. "Everything changed about three months ago."

"Three months ago? Why, what happened?"

"A new portal appeared near the region's borders. A big one." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "The church sent a huge contingent of troops to deal with it. We're talking about thousands of their strongest fighters. They thought they could clear it out and claim the area."

That seemed awfully familiar…

"And?"

"They got decimated. The monsters that came through that portal were different. The church lost most of its combat-capable people in a single day."

However, Reidar didn't understand. He had been quite a while at the border, and no portal appeared aside from the one that brought him to the Ignis world. Plus, Kara said it happened three months earlier, and if that was true, it would mean it was around the time he was attacking the church.

Neither Silas nor Mara would have left something like that unchecked; plus, they were the ones opening the portals, so it didn't even make sense for them to send people there.

The problem was that if what the woman said was true; it meant a portal that spawned monsters strong enough to wipe out the church's forces had opened. That suggested something at level 400 or higher, maybe multiple creatures working together.

The problem was that if Kara said they were strong, since she was used to monsters at level 400, it meant they were even worse than that.

"What day is today?" Reidar asked.

"The 14th. Why?"

"What month?"

That question puzzled the woman.

"August." She paused, noticing the look of shock on Reidar's face. "Is there something wrong?"