After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

They were dropped on the third day of travel, just outside of Mount Rushless, which meant that they were still about a thousand kilometers away from Bleuelle.

Now that they were trekking—on a mountain range, no less—it was estimated they’d take another day or two to get to Bleuelle, maybe more if since they encountered a lot of troublesome mobs on the way.

From this trip, Helios ended up learning a lot from veteran Mercenaries. Although he did have a lot of survival training, and learned a lot in the months they had been here, there were still a lot of things to consider when traveling in Xeno wilderness.

For example, he learned how to look at the trees and see which areas had recently seen big mobs and big monsters. The big monsters also had deep footprints.

Sometimes there would be random depressions with plants growing in them, and later he realized they were monster footprints that had plants growing on them because of the high regeneration rates of the flora here.

He also learned that very high-level monsters were big and had a specific sound to them. They were deep and reverberating that it’d send shivers down the spine, and he better run as fast as he could if he heard it.

”Level 40 monsters and above—although rare—would require level 50s to deal with it,” Raz told him. ”Their physique is very different from the level before it, and even dozens of humans of the same level may not stand a chance.”

”Fortunately, they are extremely rare. If they are sighted, the strongmen tend to be called to deal with it,” he said. ”They would usually be within 5 levels of the monster though, otherwise even they might not bother.”

Helios nodded in understanding. It must be hard to level up past 40 if the monsters were so rare. Similarly, why would these strongmen risk their necks going against a strong monster if they couldn’t get any EXP from it anymore?

In any case, the next leg of the journey proved to be much more dangerous and the weakest mob they encountered was Level 15.

Helios, the customer, really didn’t fight much. He had just passed Level 11. What could he do against level 15 monsters? Level 15 humans were fine, monsters were totally a different league. He didn’t have to, either. For weaker mobs, the mercenaries took care of them with relative ease.

Helios was still intrigued by the monsters though so he took a lot of notes and remembered their weaknesses.

At the same time, he also watched the mercenaries’ movements, particularly those who were using swords. They had a few skills, though they were mostly using brute force.

They also had very different styles. For instance, Raz had a more graceful style, almost like fencing, while Puto used his broadsword as a force in and of itself.

Eventually, the mob cleared out and they continued moving forward. They were using Enok’s map this time.

Although most of them had been to Bleuelle before, it was only Enok who had been to Mount Rushless. This meant that the paths from their current spot to the City were not a black fog, and they could actually plan their routes properly.

”So, you plan on forming a mercenary team soon?” Enok asked as he led the team. They were following the gentle slopes, avoiding the steep and dangerous ones if they went on a straight line.

Helios nodded. ”When my village turns to a Level 2 Town, yes,” he said.

The mercenaries looked at him, a little surprised before nodding. Helios didn’t think much about it, though in reality, the mercenaries were wondering why he would wait that long.

A village upgrading to a level 2 town would take several years, maybe decades. But then they remembered his level and realized it would make sense to do so. He was too weak to be out of a village so often, anyway.

If Helios knew what they were thinking, he’d be quite annoyed. He would tell them that he got to his current level only after a few months! In less than a decade, he could bet: He’d have caught up with them!

They traversed the mountain for a few more hours, dealing with a manageable mob every so often. Helios would also take in some loose plants he encountered to bring back.

He wasn’t very familiar with plants nor would he know which ones he hadn’t seen before, but every plant sold in the Village Center had some value. If it was a plant that was relatively uncommon in Alterra, then they would not just be paid with money—they could also be paid with contribution points!

When he found his woman, assuming he could take her with him, then he’d need all the contribution points he could get.

The first half day was manageable, though it had a lot to do with their current pathway. However, not long before dusk, this streak was broken when they encountered a predominantly level 20 mob.

The strongest one was actually a level 29, which was a challenge even to Enok and it would take him a while of his full attention before he could actually get rid of it.

Enok took care of the strongest beast while Shim handled the monsters near Helios, virtually serving as his guard. Helios naturally had his weapons out too, prepared to defend himself as needed. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually step forward and look for a fight himself, however.

At least not yet.

Senson, on the other hand, easily jumped up a tree and served as the support to everyone. The dude was really lightweight, which was an advantage to him virtually having no fat at all.

Puto was the main force against the mob, swinging his axe around with impressive strength and control. They did get injured a bit, but they were all minor. The monsters were only level 20 and 21 and it would be a shame for them—mercenaries level 30s and above—to get killed at this juncture.

Soon, the minor mobs were dealt with, leaving only a handful and—of course—the battle with the biggest one.

After another couple of minutes, Enok finally managed to land a deep shot at the level 29 beast. Rather than weaken though, it went berserk. With a swing of its tusk, Enok was hurled to the side.

BANG!

ROARRRR!

”Watch out!” Enok yelled as he tried to get himself up on time. However, it was too fast and went barrelling to his teammates!

Shim and Puto had no choice but to work together to handle it, using much of their strengths to control it. At this point, all the minor mobs had been killed so they could focus on the monster on hand.

It was definitely at the last breadth of life, but it was still strong. In the end, it also pushed the two to nearby trees, one of which was where Senson was, causing him to fall down as well.

ROAAAAARRR!!!

Helios’ eyes widened as the monster went straight to him, and he knew he couldn’t go directly against it.

Was he too rash, after all? What happened to love conquers all?