Chapter 308 - Strange, new land

I don't know what is the cause behind all the unfortunate coincidences that are happening to me. Is this some kind of playground for the god, who just wants to throw me into more and more trouble for me to power-level through this game of his? Or maybe I have some hidden luck stat that remained as low as my initial intelligence?

How is this possible for me to visit a random island somewhere in the world and time it perfectly with some sort of battle?!

Despite noticing the ongoing fight, I still decided to go out on the land instead of hiding in the shallow waters. In the end, even if it was hard to notice me, just one curious look of commander or distracted soldier would be enough to notice the peculiar character sitting in the water barely a few meters from the steady shore!

While I initially wanted to just come out, approach the battle and just wait for its conclusion, only the first half of my plan was executed successfully.

As soon as I closed the gap between me and two small armies, a small group from the party closest to me noticed my approach and detached themselves from the battle. Be it the eagerness to avoid the ongoing slaughterhouse or just caution to not let any potential enemy attack them from the back, they had some reason to brandish their weapons and charge at me.

Normally, a sight of over ten men running into my direction with fierce looks on their faces would be enough to scare anyone off, but upon noticing how slow their movements were, I was actually more puzzled than terrified.

Not willing to escalate the misunderstanding, I deployed a fair number of barriers while simultaneously raising my hands in common gesture. I didn't care if they thought that I was surrendering. The only important part was to show them that I didn't hold my weapon!

Despite that, they didn't slow down!

Even after reaching the direct, close combat distance, instead of breaking their dash to attempt apprehending me, they just lashed on me with their weapons!

Clang!

As the crude iron blades hit my barriers, I was surprised to realise that they didn't manage to shatter even a single one of them! Upon closer inspection, they didn't even put a dent in it!

With more and more people from the both sides of the battle noticing the small commotion with me in its centre, a number of people actually bothering to fight the battle swiftly decreased, just as if everyone was more interested in watching how many people it would take to break through my defences than deciding the victor of their own struggle!

The whole situation was quite surprising for me because despite how weak the attacks of those people were, I could clearly feel quite a dominant aura from their bodies! What's more, while their moves were quite coordinated and swift, they lacked the element of alignment with the essence of the world, making them just a fancy swings and slashes instead of proper fighting techniques!

Sadly, with how their numbers were only escalating, there was no way for me to pick a single one of them to safely pull him inside a new barrier to test out what was really going on with them. Unable to sate my curiosity, I simply moved forward, pushing them out just by moving the barrier along with me!

I could only guess that after noticing lack of any interest or enmity from me, not to speak about how useless their attacks were, they simply decided to give it up. I was actually wondering whether or not would they return back to their battle, but I didn't really have the time to linger around any longer.

Freeing myself from the crowd of the people was easier than stealing a lollipop from the kindergarten kid, not like I ever did it back on earth!

As I moved through the grass fields, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful this island was. Not only was there an ample amount of farmable land, but the forest was also there to provide both wood and meat from the beast inhabiting it.

Thinking about it, I even had an idea to set up permanent and stable teleportation to this place, using the tower only as my private stronghold while acting as a local overlord on this island!

But that was just a simple and short idea, that I dismissed as quickly as it appeared in my head. Even if those people that I left behind as I stepped into the forest were too weak to pose any threat to me, I couldn't imagine this place to be lacking experts!

Just by taking a few steps inside the woods, I located an insane amount of valuable herbs, both familiar and completely foreign to me, proving that this place had enough resources to nourish a few generations of powerfull cultivators right away!

While the sight of so many treasures just growing at the edge of the forest was quite tempting, I decided to refrain from picking them up. I could very well do it on my way back, and I was actually quite interested in what kinds of valuables would the deeper areas hold!

But instead of finding some kind of natural treasure, I stumbled upon a big group of people in tattered rags, camping out in the woods!

Just from the fact that I could enter right into their campsite without anyone stopping me even despite the fact that I didn't try to hide my presence at all, it was quite obvious that they were refugees!

Just a single look at this gathering of women and frail children was enough to grip my heart with pity as I observed their skin bodies, yet I didn't dare to stop.

I didn't want to enter any local power struggle, nor did I have any food to share with those famished people. The only thing that I managed to notice, was that this group shared some traits similar to the losing side of the battle I just spectated!