< Ramphil, the Vagabond (Part 1) >
The Reavers brought a huge amount of chips in their junkwagons to ease the anger of the Wargrave. All the chips they brought became Zins.
And Zin didnt finish there.
400 chips. Thats pretty good as a prepayment. Make sure you have the rest of the payment ready at the Slaughterhouse.
What?
What, you dont like it?
Oh, no, no, Mr. Hunter! Of course well have it ready for you!
The Reavers had their 400 chips taken away by Zin, and once the request was completed, they were going to get another 400 chips taken away. However, since they were right in front of the Wargrave fortress, they had to listen to whatever they were told to do.
Good. Then, let me ask you some questions. Make sure you answer them accurately.
Zin started asking about the location of the Slaughterhouse and the other group of Reavers, and the Reavers answered what they knew. The Reavers were extremely nervous, as Zin looked like he was ready to kill them if they lied to him.
Zin didnt look like an ordinary hunter.
Ramphil began speaking as he watched the Reavers dragged their junkwagons away that were now out of fuel.
I didnt expect to receive a request from the Reavers.
If they are willing to gift me, why wouldnt I receive it? Zin was all about earning chips. Zin assumed that the Reavers were innocent, but Zin and Ramphil did not trust the Reavers.
Do you think they are innocent? I feel like they are making things up and lying. Ramphil questioned the truthfulness of the Reavers, and Zin nodded.
I cant fully trust the Reavers, but theres something that I wanted to verify.
Verify?
Its strange that someone is using the strategy of killing someone using others help.
What do you mean?
The Reavers are known for using this strategy frequently.
In the past, the Reavers attracted monsters in order to raid Wargrave transportation units. The Reavers would use this strategy in order to defeat foes that were stronger than them. Zin wanted to verify if there was indeed another group of Reavers that was using this strategy.
It was a possibility, and Zin thought it was worth investigating it.
So you are saying that there are two groups of Reavers in Harbin?
Possibly. Zin thought that there was an existing Slaughterhouse, and another group of Reavers who were trying to take over the area around Harbin. It was not hard for Zin to investigate the group of Reavers who had settled into the Slaughterhouse.
However, the other group of Reavers was most likely hiding in different places, and Zin would need to thoroughly search the area.
Ramphil and Zin were getting involved in a power struggle between two groups of Reavers, and it was clear that Ramphil and Zin would have to search and eradicate the group of Reavers responsible for attacking their armored vehicle.
The existing group of Reavers are left-hand collectors, while the new group isnt displaying their territoriality in a specific way. They will probably get rid of the Left Hands and then start displaying territoriality with their own symbol. The two groups have not engaged in a war yet, but it seems like that theyve encountered one another. The new group of Reavers is somewhere in Harbin
We will have to search for their base.
Right. Zin was not able to classify the unknown Reavers. The existing Slaughterhouse was located on the northern bank of the Songhua River. The Reavers were using an apartment building as their Slaughterhouse.
This meant that the Reavers had greater influence on the northern side of the Songhua River. In fact, the raid had happened on the southern side of the River, near the bridge.
Ramphil was going through his memories to figure out what happened before. Hmm If the Left Hand were going to attack us, it would have been better for them to attack us when we were on the bridge.
Correct, Ramphil confirmed. There was a strategic advantage in isolating an enemy on top of the bridge. The attackers set up iron wires in order to stop Zins group from crossing the bridge.
If the attackers were from the Left Hand, they would have set up the iron wires at the other end of the bridge, and trapped the vehicle on the bridge. If the Reavers lied about the story, it would mean that they had also tried to raid the vehicle at a less optimal location.
Zin and Ramphil were able to derive that the Left Hand Reavers were not the attackers, and get some extra clues.
The new group of Reavers is probably based on the southern side of the river, and they are probably cautious about advancing to the northern side. That explains why they attacked us when we were still on the southern part of the bridge, Ramphil said thoughtfully.
Zin nodded at Ramphils conclusion. The Left Hand Reavers, who had no intention of interfering with the armored vehicle, noticed the new group of Reavers raiding the vehicle, and pursued the attackers, killed them, and brought them to the Wargrave fortress.
The Left Hand Reavers were obviously desperate to maintain a good relationship with the Wargrave fortress.
We need to head south, Zin said, Ramphil agreed, and both were happy that they were able to narrow down the search area.
—
I dont understand, why they would target Harbin? Ramphil asked, as he crossed the bridge that connected the southern and northern banks of the Songhua River.
Well there are many refugees moving into the bigger cities. The Reavers hunt people all the time, and it was a smart decision to set up a base in the ruins.
There was around 150 Left Hand Reavers who had come to the fortress. It meant that the Reavers had a bigger group. The Reavers who spoke to Ramphil acted like the leader of the whole Reavers group, but he was probably not the leader.
The Left Hand probably has at least 500 members. If they sent out 150 Reavers for forgiveness, it means that they are actually much larger in size.
Thats pretty big, Ramphill agreed.
I dont know if Harbin is that good of a city to take over As Ramphil questioned the motive of the other Reavers group, Zin also was not sure if taking over Harbin would be worth for any Reavers group.
As soon as Zin and Ramphil reached the southern part of Harbin, they started walking around the city. Harbin had many buildings that were still in good condition.
Can we track them somehow?
It was tough searching through a big city. Zin got ticked off as Ramphil asked the question. Do you think that Im a jack of all trades?
Hmm, I thought a devil hunter would have a solution.
And unfortunately I do have a solution.Zin smiled, and Ramphil started to realize that Zin was not simply a cold-hearted devil hunter, but a goofy hunter as well. But I will need your help, is that okay?
Help?
Do you think my solution is anything special? Zin shrugged. If they are hiding, we need to drag them out.
Zin went inside a random building, and brought out a piece of cloth. The cloth looked so dirty that it did not seem like a good idea to wear it. Zin started to speak.
Take off your clothes.
Hold on, I dont understand what you are trying to do.
For this point on, you are a vagabond.
Ramphil was upset, but Zin stood there ready to put the piece of dirty cloth on him.
—
After an hour, a man with dirty clothes was walking down the road through Harbin under the scorching sun. He had long hair, and black lines of sweat coming down his face. At first sight, he looked like a terrible beggar.
Zin had Ramphil take off all his clothes except his underwear, and made him roll in the mud. After rolling in the mud, Ramphil looked exactly like a beggar, and he then put on the piece of cloth. It made him look even more like a vagabond and an actual beggar.
Zin didnt want Ramphil to appear too crappy, so he gave Ramphil an aluminum pole to use as a walking aid.
Ramphil had given all his weapons to Zin, and only had his radio hidden under his hair.
Although Ramphil was a handsome young man, at the moment he looked so bad that anybody would run away from him.
Hunter, I dont understand why I have to go through all this
Ramphil murmured in a calm voice.
[Doesnt it make sense for the stronger man who can withstand ordinary ammunition to be the target?]
I dont know exactly, but I heard that you have a body strengthened by a boneframe procedure as well.
When Ramphil first saw Zin fight against the devil, he thought that Zin was not an ordinary human, but someone who received the boneframe procedure.
[Unfortunately, I have a low energy level, and I cant even survive a single bullet. Why do you think I asked you?]
Well, I cant trust you even more. Ramphil gnashed his teeth as Zin talked with an evil laugh.
[When would you experience such a thing as a Wargrave executor? Just enjoy the moment.]
If you were to smell this foul stench once, you would not be saying what you just said.
The rotting smell was unbearable, and the dirty cloth smelled very bad. The mud that Ramphil rolled over earlier was not a simple mud. It was mud mixed with monsters vomit and dung.
Ordinary people would get infected with CP just by touching the nasty mud. However, Ramphil had a megaframe body and was not affected by the mud, so he could not refuse being disguised as a vagabond. He was in a better condition to do the job, and was the first one to ask what to do.
Ramphil would not have complained too much if he knew that Zins solution was a way to attract the Reavers. Ramphil was walking down the road, and Zin followed him from a distance.
A vagabond was a ticking bomb that could turn into a monster at any given moment. The best course of action was to get rid of a vagabond if one appeared.
If the vagabond was left alone, it would become a disaster if the vagabond turned into a dangerous monster. Zins solution was to have a fake vagabond walk down through the territory of the Reavers, so that they would have to attack the fake vagabond.
Ramphil was not in a good mood with the nasty outfit. When the first attacker appeared, he yanked out the attackers arm and crushed the head of the attacker.
Hey Im attracting weird things.
[Monsters are more sensitive to odors. Thats probably why.]
Ramphil looked at the headless ratman lying down on the street and sighed.
The stench from Ramphil was probably attracting monsters around the area. Instead of Reavers, there were now many monsters surrounding Ramphil.
Zst Zst! Zst!
The group of ratmen surrounded Ramphil, and started to attack him. The ratmen were monsters as swift as a rat. They were powerful enough to rip out a humans head off their body.
However, Ramphil smacked the head of the incoming ratman, and punched another ratman closing in.
Pow!
Ramphil threw a light punch, but the upper body of the ratman blew up as the punch connected.
Most cyborg soldiers become complacent after gaining enormous power and agility. They were mesmerized by their own strength, and became lazy.
But in the case of Ramphil, as soon as he received the megaframe procedure, he trained even harder to surpass his limits.
Pow! Crack!
With a swift punch, the ratmans head was crushed and spilled out its brain.
Ramphil continuously thought how he could overcome the limits of the megaframe. He taught himself how to improve his battle skills utilizing the megaframe procedures. There was a reason why the Warlord of Harbin praised Ramphil as the strongest Wargrave soldier.
Ramphil used every part of his body as a killing weapon. He used his hands and feet to crush five ratmen to dead meat, and then sighed as he was covered with fresh blood and gore.
[Your disguise even looks better now.]
Im hating this, Ramphil grumbled and continued to walk down the road.
[But be careful. If you appear to look like a Vegabond, you might scare away the Reavers.]
Zins words irked Ramphil. Ramphil felt that Zin was jokingly mocking him, but Zin was actually saying all the right things.