The next morning, Leon headed to the building, where he would reunite with his teammates. Since the more they worked, the more coins they would get; everyone was already outside of the building and ready to leave at 06:50 AM.
The number of soldiers was quite high, but Leon was aware that a few dungeons were nearby so that those survivors would be divided into several groups. Although Leon was quite the average Joe, he was standing out in the group because he had no equipment whatsoever.
"Whatever, it would be weird if I had bought something in the market after telling me that I lost everything when the horde ambushed my group."
The number of warriors was high; sixty percent of the soldiers were warriors. While thirty-five percent were archers... aside from those, there were only four mages, Leon was one of them. Although magic was supposed to be hard to learn and tomes rarely dropped, it wasn't impossible to find them.
Surprisingly, Paul and Jess were two of the four who would lead the one hundred soldiers there. Jess clicked her tongue when she saw Leon, but Paul immediately selected him to his team.
"Hey, welcome aboard." Paul approached Leon after selecting the twenty-four soldiers who would work with him that day. "Usually, newcomers tend to relax for a while before looking for challenges."
"Is that so?" Leon asked. "Well, I want to practice my magic, and I also want to raise my rank as soon as possible. So, I chose this job."
Paul frowned when he heard that, he couldn't understand why Leon was in a hurry. Although the organization was only a few months old and had big goals, no one was in a hurry. Regardless, Paul knew very well how skillful and talented Leon was.
Several trucks were parked near that building, and the soldiers would be transported in them. There was no traffic, so the trip was quite smooth while they were inside the city, but after they left, things got quite bumpy since they didn't have the means to repair roads. They could use earth magic, but it wasn't worth the hassle since they didn't have the ways to fix, not even the path until the dungeons.
"Today, we will fight in the Desert Wolves' dungeon," Paul explained. "They are fast and strong, so don't separate from each other. If they bite you in the wrong place, you will die. Everyone who had a melee weapon will accompany me and block the monsters' advance, we will attack, but we will mostly focus on defense. Archers and the mage will be the ones who will cause damage."
There was only one mage, and he didn't look that reliable. Although Leon was feeling bothered by the stares, it was quite troublesome since he wanted to be friendly in order to get information. Regardless, Paul looked to be friendly enough, and it seems like he was one of the first members of the organization so that he could obtain information from him.
"Hey, Leonard," Paul said while driving the truck. "Can you make something sharper to attack? You have the power to stun them, but it would be better if you could kill them as soon as possible."
"I can don't worry," Leon said.
There were four dungeons nearby New York, and all of them appeared when earthquakes occurred and opened holes in the ground. Looking at the hole and the perfect ramp that led to an underground cave, Leon couldn't help but think that the earthquake had been human-made. However, such an idea was beyond ridiculous. How could someone make earthquakes happen? How could perfect dungeons be formed thanks to the destruction of such a phenomenon?
Regardless, like the other dungeons, the survivors installed those stones that absorbed mana from the ambient and illuminated the dungeon. As soon as they arrived, they saw the group that worked during the night. Surprisingly, their numbers were quite small, and they only fought against the monsters that tried to leave the dungeon.
Like the Frost Dire Wolves' hide, the Desert Wolves' hide could be used to manufacture defensive gear. But unlike those ice type monsters, the desert wolves' hid decreased the power of earth-based attacks. It would be a pain to transport those, but Leon noticed several carts that would be used to that kind of work.
"All right, guys," Paul said. "We have a few new members today, so let's just hunt nearby the entrance in order to make them gain some combat experience."
Some people clicked her tongues, and some nodded in agreement. Some extra coins never bothered anyone, but Leon was sure that greed made many die. According to what he heard yesterday from the blonde receptionist, the jobs weren't easy; the danger would always be there. But unfortunately, some people couldn't understand that the more the newcomers get used to the combat, the chances of anyone dying would decrease. Thus, giving them more opportunities to fight and obtain more coins.
Regardless, Desert Wolves weren't that much of a threat. They had the power, the weight, and the speed to overwhelm any of the warriors, but when Leon attacked their eyes with his fake Earth Arrows, the monsters became quite meek and an easy target. For some reason, the wolves were smaller than the ones Leon saw in Japan, and their fangs were longer.
"Perhaps they are wolves from a different world?"
It was a bit surreal that the monster's world would have a single climate, so those wolves might have been from a different species that lived in the same world. However, considering that Leon saw a world that had only slimes and harpies, it wasn't that improbable.