Chapter 1163: Investigation
Sam didn't know the answer to the questions he had in mind. But it is not time to ponder about these trivial things. Because they met with some interesting information and that is currently the two forces they should be dealing with one by one, the Myriad beast sect and the Fiend Tribe are currently in a war.
Sam and Arkiv exchanged a look at this piece of information.
The war appeared too coincidentally and it started exactly two months ago. Sam is willing to bet that this has something to do with the rest of the players.
After all, even though Arkiv noticed the presence of all the other players in the puppet realm, they soon disappeared after Sam arrived. Kumar and Noah tried but they still gave up soon after. As for Akhil and Donner, they are nowhere to be seen.
So, Sam is willing to bet that the rest of the players might have been the reason for the war. While Sam and Arkiv are claiming the puppet organization for themselves and Dayus was getting his ass kicked, they worked on these two organizations.
After they got this information, Sam and the team spent the next week investigating it more. It didn't too much effort and they managed to get decent information. Currently, the war is not hot yet. It just turned from cold to warm.
It all started with some deaths of the young masters of the fiend tribe in the territory of the Myriad Beast sect and then it slowly escalated.
Even though in the current state, everything is normal, the two organizations are trying their best to take over each other's properties in the neutral planets.
Currently, the main forces are not involved and the remaining three organizations are sitting on the side watching the show.
Both sides employed mercenaries and other stray cultivators as they attacked each other's organizations' resources and destroyed businesses.
If the mercenaries finished the missions given by the organization they are working for and give these resources or the results of the destroyed businesses to them, they would gain rewards.
At the moment, Sam and his team are in the city governed by an organization other than the two targets and this is a city with a lot of crystal mines. Crystals that have enhancing effects when they were added to weapons while forging and such.
Many people gather here and search for the gems and make it big by selling it. Even Astral Plane cultivators come and search for them. This also leads a lot of merchants to this place. Even some from the other organizations occupying this realm.
This is one of the most bustling cities on this planet so they can get a lot of information from these merchants.
In wartime, particularly a war such as this which is going completely undercover is the time when merchants hold most information.
This is the perfect time for them to make a fortune that might last them for a lifetime. That is the current situation. So, Sam started buying the information from these merchants.
They paid a high price to get as much information regarding the Fiend tribe and the Myriad beast sect as possible.
The information he mostly looked for is about mercenaries. Particularly human mercenaries.
If his guess is right, the players must be the cause of this war and even if they weren't, if Sam was in their place, he would become a mercenary and join a side to create some heavy destruction on the opposite side.
This will make the opposite side's retaliation equally ruthless and if the players have an alliance then another side will also have someone who could fuel the chain of hatred.
So, he looked for this particular information regarding any notable human mercenaries and also the information regarding any possible attacks in the nearby area.
After three more days, they got as much information as they can and gathered to discuss their next tactics.
"We need to get in touch with one of the two organizations, but before that, we need to keep the players in check. We also need to find out if all the players are here or not."
Sam said as he looked at Arkiv who nodded in agreement and spoke.
"From the information I got, the next attack might be on the Marshlands nearby. A village focused on pisciculture. A merchant group who is a regular in this city, the Marsh village and another city came here and they already canceled their trip to the Marsh village.
The information came that a mercenary group led by a young human with staff is going to attack the Marsh Village."
"How sure are you that is Akhil?"
"Very sure. The staff user acted rashly and fought like there is no tomorrow. That is what the merchant said. He didn't even care to keep the secret that he is going to attack Marsh Village.
Of course, he didn't openly proclaim that he is working for the Myriad Beast sect, instead, he said that he felt like eating fish for the next few days, so he would be taking over the Marsh Village."
Arkiv went on to explain as he chuckled.
Sam is sure that this is Akhil. Only he would behave like this. He is the only one who is daring and reckless enough.
"So, did you get any information on how the Marsh Village is preparing?"
"There was no news on that." Arkiv shook his head.
Sam then laid down the map of the surrounding cities and villages. He questioned his team about different cities and marked them on the map.
After some time, he said.
"From the looks of it, the best choice for the Fiend Tribe would be to destroy the Marsh Village and set up some trap for the coming mercenaries, so that they would die along with the village."
Everybody was surprised and confused on why Sam came to such a conclusion. So, Sam went on to explain.
"There are three areas closest to the Marsh Village. One of them is this city, the other one is the city under the control of the Fiend tribe and the last city is the one where Akhil is currently at.
If the fiends want to protect the village, the best course of action would be to send people from their city. But the north and east of the city belong to the Myriad Beast sect and they are separated by the forest which would be the territory of the Beasts, if they send their troops here, they would be in big trouble from the other side.
In fact, I think the whole provocation might even the part of the plan.
If the fiends take the place they would be leaving their city a bit bare. And I think they wouldn't be thinking of mobilizing the forces from the headquarters of this planet for a small village.
After all, from the information we gathered, the space gates are only located at the headquarters and they are only connected to different continents, not for the cities within the same continent. And even if they have, I doubt a low-level resource point like Marsh village has one.
So, they either have to take the bait or they have to leave the Marsh Village while killing them."
Sam explained as he looked at the map. He is thinking a lot of things at the moment.
"Currently, we don't have the concrete information on the other cities and attacks. Most of them are speculations and we would need to gamble. But since we know about this, Akhil is the perfect breaking point to contact the rest of the players.
So, let us go and greet him."
With that, Sam started explaining the plan and the whole team made the move that very night. They didn't delay any longer.
They moved across the forest to reach the Marshlands and finally they were near the outskirts of the Marsh Village by dawn.
However, this place is not really suitable for a camp and Sam doesn't want to camp outside. He mounted the lightning divine dimension on a ring and gave it to Kiran. Kiran changed his appearance and Markan Joined him along with Tamas. The rest of the team went into the Lightning divine dimension as they formed a team.
After a few hours after the sunrise. The three of them appeared at the Marsh Village.
They arrived at the village but they were not granted entry. Apparently, they were already aware of the attack that is about to happen. So, they asked the guard to inform the village chief to meet them and made sure to emphasize that they are not enemies.
The Village chief is one of the fiend tribe who is a pure-blooded fiend. When the trio looked at him, they couldn't help but feel surprised a bit.
A fiend has a humanoid appearance, but they have a completely different skin color. There are supposedly two small horns that are completely covered with the hair. They have fangs and even though they have five-fingered palms, they have claws. Their eyes are dark red in color. It is on the darker side of the blood-red.
The village chief is a water elemental fiend and he has blue skin and blue hair. When he arrived, he looked at the three of them with a cautious gaze and asked.
"I was told you wanted to meet me. Please state your business."