《And (N)one Shall Remain》 1 - Alissa in Wonderland(?) And she thought that the day had started so nicely, too¡­ It was a pleasant summer day, where the sun shone overhead and the dry heat made one sweat vigorously, but Alissa O¡¯Connor didn¡¯t hate such days. In fact, she welcomed the warm sunshine over the humid rainy days, much less the cold winter days, but then again, that might have just been the model student-slash-sport scholarship nominee in her speaking. At eighteen years of age, and in her final year of high school, she looked pretty much like a textbook stereotypical southern Texan belle. Alissa was tall - some called her too tall, but she did gain that nomination for sports scholarship from playing basketball, after all - and slender, yet at the same time filled with toned, wiry muscles from her active lifestyle, with flaxen blonde hair and piercing sky blue eyes. That she typically dressed in jeans and shirts and had an affectation for cowboy hats and boots made the image go even further. Despite the age-old joke about blondes and their intelligence - or lack thereof - Alissa was a straight-A student on top of being one of the top players in her high school¡¯s women¡¯s basketball team, and while some likely envied her, most of the kids in her grade either looked up to her or liked her sincerely, as she was generally kind to others, even befriending some of the kids that others had shunned or bullied and helped them out of their rut. It was precisely the door to the home of one such friend that she had been knocking at for the past five minutes. One of her friends and classmates, Esperanza Gonzalez-Cabrera, had been absent for the whole week for unknown reasons, and since it was Friday, and school was over for the week, Alissa chose to visit her house to lend the girl her notes and to check on her well-being at the same time. She found the house dark and the door locked, however, and neither ringing the doorbell nor her knocks were answered. ¡°Zaza, you there? It¡¯s me, Alissa!¡± she asked more loudly, using the affectionate nickname she usually called the other girl with as she knocked on the wooden door some more. She could hear water running from within the house, so there should be someone in there. Maybe they were sleeping and didn¡¯t hear her knocks? ¡°Maybe they¡¯re out and about?¡± asked Ethan from next to her as he frowned and crossed his burly, hairy arms over his chest. Ethan Greene was Alissa¡¯s childhood friend and neighbor, and they¡¯d been friends since before she was even in pre-school since their parents were also friendly with each other. He had at times hinted that he wished that they could be more than friends, but Alissa had not felt comfortable going into a relationship while she was still in school. The boy himself looked almost like someone brought a stereotypical jock archetype from a TV drama to life, tall, big, and like all muscles, star of their school¡¯s football team and even trying to grow the sparse mustache that had begun to darken his upper lips. Unlike his very jock-like exterior though, Alissa knew that the big boy was one of the nerdiest kids she had ever met. After all, Ethan was the very guy who got her into video games of all sorts, though she never really shared his particular love for those JRPGs of his. His figure collection - from all sorts of anime girls in skimpy outfits to half a dozen different kinds of robots of various sorts - would probably have made a japanese otaku proud, for that matter, but she liked him for being the big dork he was. ¡°What Ethan said. It would appear that none of the Cabreras are home, miss O¡¯Connor. Maybe our time would be better spent elsewhere,¡± said Joshua Smith, the Class President rather snidely as he fixed the position of his glasses at the bridge of his nose with one finger. Unlike Ethan, who was at least somewhat friendly to Esperanza, Joshua had always been on the cold side and ignored the latina girl when he could get away with it. ¡°I never understood why you bother associating with the likes of Ez Cabrera anyway,¡± he added, drawing out the nickname most of the class used for Esperanza that it almost sounded like ¡®Easy¡¯. A typical bible belt boy from a well-to-do family, there were a bunch of kids like him in the class, who tended to stick to their own and looked condescendingly at others from poorer birth when they thought nobody was looking. Of course, since their parents were rich and likely donated the most to the school board, any complaints towards them would just go unheeded. He maintained a veneer of civility to Alissa since she was one of the model students, but neither of them liked the other, and they preferred to keep it that way. The only reason he was even present was because it involved a student who had been absent without leave for a whole week, and he was there to check on her on the school¡¯s behalf. Alissa was just about to retort with more scathing words at the jerk when all of a sudden, the world seemed to spin around her, and everything seemed distorted in her vision. Everything went dark as she tried to open and close her eyes to no avail, only for the darkness to suddenly be replaced by a blinding light that forced her to close her eyes with a scream of surprise. Then she started to hear voices in her head and wondered if she was going crazy. Candidate Detected¡­ Checking¡­ System Integration Initiated¡­ Stolen novel; please report. 17/9738 Processing¡­ No, rather than a voice, the noise seemed to reverberate from inside her very self. The voice was monotone, completely and utterly devoid of emotion, much like the voice of a machine that just read what it was given to read. Desirable Qualities Detected¡­ [Hero] Class Granted¡­ General Skill [Respawn: EX] Granted¡­ General Skill [Language Understanding: Level 1] Granted¡­ Class Skill [Weather The Storm: EX] Granted¡­ Processing Completed¡­ Transfer in Progress¡­ Oddly enough, the words that the voice said reminded her a lot of that series of novels Ethan was crazy about of late, the sort where people died and then got transported to another world, where usually they get to live any which way they wanted. She had not seen the appeal of those stories, but had read a couple on his insistence so she was at least somewhat familiar with the idea. Was that what happened to her just now? Transferred to another world? As ludicrous as it sounded, the way her body kept feeling weightless as if she was falling from a very high place made her wonder if she had a fatal stroke or something when she was visiting Zaza¡¯s place earlier and caused this. Alissa felt like she was falling for what seemed to be ages, or it might also be mere moments - it was difficult to tell how much time had passed, before she finally felt like she could feel herself once more. When she opened her eyes and looked around, she immediately realized the oddity of her surroundings. She was definitely not in front of the Cabrera¡¯s place anymore, as her present location was instead inside a large room that looked more like an ancient roman or greek temple from her history books, painted in a glaring white shade which reflected the sunlight that streamed in from the open sides of the building. Neither had she missed the clearly ritualistic patterns carved on the ground, the patterns which surrounded her, since she knelt in the very center of it. Something within her mind told her that she should be panicking more about her situation, but somehow Alissa managed to remain calm as she took in her surroundings further. There were armed men and women - dressed almost like roman legionnaires of old, with leather skirts and chestplates that were either carved in the forms of either a muscular man¡¯s or a buxom woman¡¯s chests with crested helmets on their heads, along with long spears and large shields in their hands - that stood guard at the four corners of the ¡°temple¡±. However, her attention was mostly given to the one unarmed figure who stood tall and proud before her, a woman clad in a flowing gown of white fabric that somehow seemed to both billow with the wind and cling like a second skin to the woman¡¯s body, the color at times giving hints of skin yet not, like something designed entirely to tease others with the body of the woman in question. ¡°Welcome, O Chosen Hero of the Gods,¡± said the woman with a pleasant, almost hypnotic voice as she offered a hand to Alissa. The warmth from the woman¡¯s hand as Alissa grasped it and stood up - she noticed that she was dressed just the way she remembered it last, though for some reason her shoes were missing - made things feel more real to her. Granted, she had also already discreetly pinched herself to make sure she was not dreaming in the first place before that. ¡°I know you must have many questions, Chosen One, but please allay them for the moment, as we need to clear the array to allow the other Chosen to arrive as well,¡± said the woman as she gently guided Alissa to stand beside her, from where she could view the whole ritualistic pattern on the floor. ¡°From how calmly you have accepted things as they come, I believe that you must be our [Hero] and savior sent by the gods, are you not?¡± ¡°Hero? What do you mean?¡± asked Alissa as she finally gathered her thoughts after the unexpected incident. ¡°You must be confused, but worry not. Please try to say the term [Status] out loud in your mind, and you will be able to learn more from there while we wait for the others.¡± As silly as the idea sounded, Alissa tried it anyway, as she intoned the word out loud in her mind. To her surprise, what looked suspiciously like a HUD interface not unlike what she had seen in Ethan¡¯s games seemed to pop up out of thin air before her, half-transparent, and from the looks of it, only visible to herself. She took a deep breath and checked it out. Name : Alissa Faith O¡¯Connor Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Hero Lvl1]/???/???/???/??? Stats : - Strength : 11 - Dexterity : 15 - Constitution : 13 - Intelligence : 12 - Perception : 11 - Wisdom : 10 - Willpower : 11 - Intuition : 12 - Sanity : 10 Skills: Class 1: [Hero] General Skills: It really had looked much like the screen from one of Ethan¡¯s games, even came with her full name - nobody other than her late mother had even ever called her by her middle name - and all on it. All the question marks naturally gave her questions in turn, but before long, she noticed that she could focus on a specific part of the interface and it would display an explanation of what things were, so she did just that with the skills she saw. [Weather The Storm] Legendary Skill Level EX No matter the storm life throws your way, you find a way to weather it. The user will always manage to retain their rationality regardless of the situation they faced, no matter how dangerous or life-threatening it was. Effectiveness increases with skill level. Level EX: Able to remain calm before a world-ending situation. That explained why she hadn¡¯t panicked or thought that she¡¯d gone crazy already, at least. The next skill in line surprised her even more, though. [Respawn] Ultimate Skill Level EX Death is but a temporary nuisance. Allows the user to return to life ten minutes after death at either their last location or the nearest temple of the gods. Number of uses increases with level. Level EX: Unlimited uses. It was only the voice of the shrine maiden (?) that pulled her out from her musings about all the horrible implications of the skill that she had just read about. ¡°Ah, the second hero has arrived! Praise be to the gods for their mercy in our time of need!¡± said the shrine maiden-like woman. Over the patterns on the floor, Alissa could see how a portal had formed, and from within the portal, dropped a figure who fell on his knees in the middle of the patterns on the floor. A figure that Alissa knew all too well. 2 - Everything Will (Not) be All Right ¡°Ethan? Is that you?¡± asked Alissa with mounting excitement as she noticed the familiar burly form of her oldest friend emerge from within the portal. Ethan was worryingly quiet for a moment, before he shifted and lifted his head, using one hand to shove away the tresses of golden-brown hair that fell in front of his face - he always liked to keep his hair longer than school regulations - before he looked around. ¡°Allie?¡± he asked as his amber eyes found hers. Those same eyes then took in his surroundings, much like Alissa had done earlier, before some sort of realization seemed to have dawned upon him. Then the widest grin Alissa had ever seen formed on Ethan¡¯s face as he grinned like a fool while he turned in place and took another look around. ¡°Oh shit oh god holy fucking shit¡­ Allie, hit me, quick! Got to make sure I ain¡¯t dreaming all this!¡± Without a word, Alissa just sighed exasperatedly at the excited, goofy look on her childhood friend¡¯s face. Then her hand moved to the side of his waist, pinched the bit of skin she could with her fingers, and twisted, hard. ¡°Ow ow owowowow! Okay, okay, enough! Confirmed that I ain¡¯t dreaming!¡± yelled Ethan as he almost leapt in place from the sudden pain. While he didn¡¯t have much to pinch - the guy always kept himself so fit it wasn¡¯t funny, being a frequent sight at the gym - Alissa¡¯s hand could really pinch someone painfully, and all her practice at the basketball court only helped with that. ¡°We got fucking isekai¡¯ed! Whoo! Dream come true, baby!¡± ¡°Ise-what?¡± asked Alissa with obvious incredulity in her voice, enough to pull Ethan out of his reverie, at least. ¡°Isekai, you know, like getting transported over to another world! Like in those novels!¡± explained her childhood friend with obvious enthusiasm. ¡°There¡¯s many different kinds though¡­ So lemme make sure first¡­ What¡¯s the situation around here, Priestess-lady? Demon king on the rise you need putting down? Tyrant that needs overthrowing?¡± ¡°I¡­ see that the Chosen one is well-versed in situations like these,¡± said the shrine maiden-like woman after she gathered herself. Ethan¡¯s excessive enthusiasm at the situation had flummoxed even her for a while, which made Alissa breathe a sigh in relief as at least she was not alone in that. ¡°To answer your question, it is more akin to this¡­ ¡®demon king¡¯ situation you mentioned, though if I may suggest, we should wait until all the Chosen are gathered before we explain it in detail.¡± ¡°Gotcha, right, understandable¡­ now for what that voice said¡­ ahem¡­ lemme try this¡­ Menu! Open Status!¡± said Ethan aloud even as Alissa covered her face half in embarrassment at his antics. She noticed that even many of the armed guards had difficulty holding in their amusement, and that even the shrine maiden almost chuckled at the sight. ¡°You only need to think it, you doofus!¡± said Alissa in the end as she lost her patience and slapped Ethan upside the head. ¡°Now stop embarrassing all of us already! We¡¯re not in Texas anymore, as you¡¯ve surely noticed!¡± ¡°Right, right, okay, got it, stop hitting me will ya?¡± said Ethan as he pretended to cower before her slaps. ¡°So¡­ I got this status window, any way to share it with others, priest-lady? Just asking since you said we¡¯re still waiting for more,¡± he then asked to the shrine maiden - or maybe it was a priestess? Alissa couldn¡¯t really tell either way - after he spent some time fiddling with his status screen. ¡°Yes, Chosen One. All you had to do is to think of a desire to share it with the recipient,¡± replied the priestly woman with a slight bow. Alissa tried to do just that, and from Ethan¡¯s surprised reaction, it looked like she did it correctly. ¡°Oh whoa, baby, you got to be the hero? Sweet!¡± he said after he took a look at her status screen. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect you to be better than me at something physical, but then again¡­ I¡¯m probably not that dexterous a guy yea¡­ Oh right! Here, have mine too!¡± The next moment, another status display showed up next to Alissa¡¯s own, and she took the moment to take a look at Ethan¡¯s screen. Name : Ethan Louie Greene Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Warrior Lvl1]/???/???/???/??? Stats : - Strength : 18 - Dexterity : 11 - Constitution : 15 - Intelligence : 10 - Perception : 11 - Wisdom : 10 - Willpower : 10 - Intuition : 9 - Sanity : 10 Skills: Class 1: [Warrior] This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. General Skills: Unlike hers, Ethan¡¯s class seemed very straightforward. His one class skill was also entirely different, as it would simply strengthen him and every ally near him for a brief period of time, making them stronger and impervious to pain. It was only usable once a day, however, and she thought that being impervious to pain was a pretty dangerous downside to have¡­ if it were not for the Respawn skill they both also had. ¡°This¡­ reminds me a lot of those games you really liked,¡± Alissa finally managed to bring herself to say to Ethan. She realized all too well by then that her old friend seemed far more familiar in the odd situation they found themselves in, and that she might as well defer to his knowledge rather than strike out blindly on her own. ¡°Also, didn¡¯t know your middle name was Louie.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what my gramps insisted,¡± replied Ethan with a scoff, clearly not too big a fan of his middle name either. ¡°For that matter, didn¡¯t know you had a middle name either.¡± ¡°It¡¯s what made me realize that things were real, honestly,¡± admitted Alissa to her old friend. ¡°Nobody knew of it other than my late mother, as she was the only one who used it. Now can you explain to me in simple terms of what we¡¯ve been drawn into?¡± ¡°Putting it simply, Allie, we¡¯re in another world. In the stories I read it was usually because the locals needed to summon heroes from our world to tackle some sort of threat, usually of the world-ending sort, or at least nation-destroying or so,¡± explained Ethan with all the seriousness he could muster. ¡°I¡¯d guess we¡¯re those heroes, given how that priest-lady¡¯s been calling us chosen ones all this time, and there¡¯s supposed to be more of us too. Right, priest-lady?¡± ¡°You can call this humble one Cerilla, chosen ones,¡± said the priestly woman with another of her bows as she answered Ethan¡¯s query. ¡°And yes, the books stated that there would be four heroes summoned each time there was a need. The Hero, the Warrior, the Mage, and the Cleric.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ could use a thief or rogue to round things out, I guess this works too, though. Your Hero class seems like it¡¯s more of an all-rounder, so I guess us three will be the specialists instead,¡± said Ethan as he tapped his chin with a finger. ¡°Oh man, I just realized how hilarious this shit will be if Josh gets summoned as well and gets to be the mage! That¡¯d be a riot!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Alissa asked. She wasn¡¯t particularly close to Joshua, but given how he was pretty much a bookworm, she thought the idea of him becoming a mage would have been rather¡­ fitting all considered. ¡°Ah right, you¡¯re not that close with him,¡± said Ethan as he realized that Alissa had no idea whatsoever on what he talked about. ¡°Josh¡¯s parents were pretty hardline folks. The sort who burned books and board games calling it satan¡¯s stuff and all, you know? Books and games about magic of all things. Get what I mean now?¡± ¡°Oh¡­. Oh,¡± said Alissa in realization. If that was indeed the case, then it would indeed be a hilarious irony if Joshua were to be drawn in as a Mage. As if whichever beings that pulled them over heard what they talked about, the portal activated once again, and Joshua fell out from it as he sprawled unceremoniously on the patterned floor. The bespectacled class president was nowhere near as athletic as Alissa or Ethan, who had both managed to land on one knee. Ethan had immediately pulled him up and half-dragged him to the side with obvious eagerness and a huge, enthusiastic grin on his face as he questioned Joshua right away. ¡°Quick, think the word ¡®Status¡¯ in your mind, then think about showing it to us!¡± Joshua was baffled at first, as he had not even taken sight of his surroundings yet, but apparently he followed Ethan¡¯s commands, and soon his status screen was projected before Alissa as well. Name : Joshua Smith Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Mage Lvl1]/???/???/???/??? Stats : - Strength : 9 - Dexterity : 10 - Constitution : 9 - Intelligence : 14 - Perception : 12 - Wisdom : 14 - Willpower : 12 - Intuition : 10 - Sanity : 10 Skills: Class 1: [Mage] General Skills: ¡°Ahahahahahahahahahahahah! I knew it!¡± Ethan laughed out loud until he nearly ran out of breath when he saw the word ¡°Mage¡± as Joshua¡¯s class. He probably amused himself more than he should have, but then again, even Alissa barely suppressed a snort when she saw Ethan¡¯s guess come true. Joshua on the other hand, looked almost as if someone had just force-fed him a live cockroach as his expression twisted. ¡°What the hell is this all about, Greene! Explain!¡± he yelled back with some obvious annoyance and anger in his voice. The yell was probably more to cover his nervousness, as Alissa noticed how his legs seemed to tremble a bit as he took in their surroundings, which naturally included the weapons in the hands of the guards that stood all around them. ¡°We¡¯re in a whole ¡®nother world, prez,¡± said Ethan with the shit-eating grin still plastered on his face, as he clearly enjoyed the situation a little too much. Alissa was more worried about how the whole thing had been possible to begin with, and whether they could return home or not, whereas Ethan seemed to just enjoy the whole situation. ¡°And you¡¯re a mage now, magic and all that jazz! Congrats!¡± ¡°What sort of bullcrap are you spouting now!? Did you melt your brain reading too many of those novels of yours?¡± asked Joshua with obvious disbelief in his voice, though his uncertainty and nervousness also clearly leaked into his voice. ¡°Look around you, prez. We ain¡¯t in Texas anymore,¡± said Ethan as he aped Alissa¡¯s earlier words at Joshua. ¡°Besides, say you think this whole thing is some elaborate prank. Do ya think Allie and I got enough dosh for all this shit?¡± ¡°Hey, Ethan, looks like another¡¯s coming through,¡± said Alissa as she noticed how the portal started to fluctuate once more, similar to the way it reacted before it dropped Ethan and Joshua in their current world. ¡°You¡¯re right. Guess we¡¯re having our fourth and mystery member then,¡± said Ethan as he looked at the fluctuating portal. After a moment though, his face turned slightly strange even as he glanced at Alissa, then Cerilla on his other side, and finally voiced his question. ¡°Is that¡­ supposed to happen?¡± The portal before them seemed to fluctuate wildly, almost like an amoeba on the move, and from the way Cerilla¡¯s face held the same questioning look that she saw on Ethan¡¯s face, Alissa thought that the answer to his question was likely a resounding ¡°No¡±. ¡°It definitely didn¡¯t fluctuate like that when you two crossed over,¡± she offered quietly as everyone in the room kept an eye at the fluctuating portal. Eventually the portal started to stabilize after a while, and they all breathed a sigh in relief as it appeared that another person was about to be transported through the portal. A figure dropped from the portal with a wet splat on the patterned floor, and Alissa heard herself scream at the top of her voice. Because whatever the portal had just dropped out, it most certainly wasn¡¯t human. III - Another Side to the Coin It was late in the afternoon, the shadows grew long as the sun fell towards the horizon, and yet none of the lights in the Cabrera¡¯s house was on. The interior of the house was dark, save the areas near the windows where the late afternoon sun poured in its warming rays through. Everything inside the house was eerily quiet, as if there was nobody at home on that early summer day. That couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. Sprawled on the floor of the house¡¯s messy living room, next to the overturned dining table and the fallen cabinet that used to hold their old CRT television - now broken on the floor, much like many other things in the room - was Joaquin Cabrera, the man of the house. Or rather, the dead body of Joaquin Cabrera. The middle-aged hispanic man laid down dead on his stomach, with his eyes wide open, his expression locked in a mixture of rage, pain, and disbelief all at the same time. The cause of his death was easy to discern, as the half-dozen stab wounds on his back would testify for themselves. Intent to kill was obvious, as the stabs were deliberately aimed at his kidneys, liver, stomach, and lungs, which ensured that he died a prolonged, painful death. Which was the whole point, and one that was achieved, considering the obvious pain on his final expression. Elsewhere in the quiet house, the quiet noise - usually hard to discern, but obvious in the prevailing silence - of flowing water could be heard. In fact, the rose-tinted water had flooded part of the house, where it ruined the carpeting and seeped through gaps as they spread out from the bathroom swiftly and unimpeded. Inside the bathroom itself, within the white bathtub lay a young woman, still a teenager, really, who rested her head of curly hair on the rim of the tub. The source of the rosy tint of the water came from her submerged wrists, from where her lifeblood freely flowed out and diluted itself into the flowing water all around her, as she simply waited for and welcomed the oblivion that approached. From the midst of her barely conscious mind - or what remained of it, she couldn¡¯t really tell in her current state - Esperanza thought that she heard someone knock on the door of the house. She thought that she heard Alissa¡¯s voice, one of her very few friends at school, asking if she was home. Neither caused her to react one bit, though even if she wanted to, she probably couldn¡¯t do anything about it anyway with how far she had gone by then. Not like it would matter. Not like anything would matter at all, soon. She could feel it, if vaguely, how her consciousness - or what was left of it - seemed to slowly dissipate away, slowly vanish like the smoke. Everything seemed to distort around her bleary vision, as in the world twisted around on itself, and Esperanza felt almost as if she was falling. A gentle, slow fall, yet one without end. Was that what death felt like? She thought it wasn¡¯t so bad, if it just meant one would cease to be, to never feel anything more. Definitely better than the so-called heaven or hell that all the priests kept preaching about on the weekly mass. That was fine. She was tired of life. If the afterlife was just like life, but either with way more boredom - like the who in the everloving fuck ever thought that an eternity spent ¡°praising the lord¡± would anything but boring as shit anyway - or more suffering, then she was fine with none of it. She wanted none of it. After some time passed - it was hard to tell, given whatever her situation was, really - Esperanza thought she heard voices in her head. Was she hallucinating prior to the end? No, those voices sounded a lot like one of those announcer things from the computer games Alissa liked, with the monotone delivery and all the lack of emotion. Had she liked them so much that she hallucinated about them at her final moments? Really? C@ndidate De|ected¡­ 3heck1ng¡­ Sy$te\ In$egr@ti&n Init%at#d¡­ !7/%7@8 Processing¡­ ER#)R! !$+OR! 3RR^@! And then everything felt as if someone just overturned the world and gave it a big shake. Suddenly, Esperanza felt everything seem to settle down, and she could¡­ not see, nor really ¡°feel¡± what was around her, but it was more like she had some sort of general sense of the things around her. She couldn¡¯t really sense herself per se, nor could she sense much of whatever was around her, which just felt like one huge, empty space, but she felt something more important. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. She sensed that she was not alone. We see that you had felt our presence, o stranger from the strange land. That will help make this¡­ introduction simpler. The voice - for that was what it best resembled - was not one she heard with her ears. It was something that seemed to come from everywhere at once, as it echoed and reverberated all around her, yet somehow remained harmonious rather than cacophonous. It sounded like it was said by many different people at the same time, male and female, old and young, yet they all also somehow blended into a whole that was more than the sum of its parts. ¡°Qui¨¦n? Que? Is this supposed to be the afterlife or something?¡± asked Esperanza in a flustered flurry of questions. Her voice sounded like it was said under water to her senses, but for some reason she just knew that whatever the voice that first accosted her was, it would understand her regardless, even though she had reflexively asked in Spanish at first. ¡°I thought I was dead.¡± You were dead, that is correct, foreign one. ¡°So if I was dead what am I doing talking to you right here then?¡± she asked back. ¡°Puta Madre! Don¡¯t tell me that because I got high that one time back at tenth grade I¡¯mma be living the rest of my afterlife as some sort of weed dream?¡± We are uncertain what this weed you meant was, but let us at least assure you that this is not a dream, although you might well think it could be one. We are¡­ what your kind used to call gods, deities, angels or devils, we went by many names in the past. Now we are just¡­ what little is left of us here. ¡°Oookay¡­ If this is some sort of exposition dump I¡¯m listening, for now anyway,¡± said Esperanza with what she ¡°felt¡± might have been a shrug of her shoulders. She still couldn¡¯t feel anything that resembled her body¡­ was she just some errant soul in whatever this place was? ¡°Go on, por favor.¡± It might be difficult to accept, but first, please allow us to lay down the facts. You, foreigner, are dead in your home reality, and by sheer happenstance, the remnant bits of your soul that still lingered in your final moments were swept in the wake of a summoning ritual intended to call upon¡­ heroes from your reality to ours. ¡°Huh? Heroes? So like those stories Ethan really liked, huh?¡± asked Esperanza with some exasperation in her voice, paired with obvious incredulity. Nevertheless, she was aware enough that she caught on to the slight pause the voice had before it used the term ¡°heroes¡± just then. ¡°Mierda. It¡¯s not as simple as that, isn¡¯t it? There¡¯s some Cojones going on behind the scene or something I take it?¡± You are a perceptive one, but yes. Will you listen to our situation? ¡°Not like I have much of a choice, now do I?¡± It is polite to ask nevertheless, is it not? We thought that your kind valued such politeness. ¡°True, I guess. Go on, then. I¡¯m all ears.¡± This world used to be a more¡­ peaceful place to be, until in the distant past, two nations at war used long-forbidden rituals to call upon powerful heroes from other worlds. What they had not expected were that the heroes summoned by the nations happened to come from the same world, and once they met on the battlefield, they swiftly banded together against their summoners. ¡°Serves the Pendejos right. Calling people to fight their fight for them¡­ Qu¨¦ Cabr¨®n!¡± Right. We like that term you used to describe them. Anyway, as we mentioned, the heroes banded together, but they were not content with just ending the war. They kept striving for higher heights¡­ until they reached powers not unlike our own, and then decided that they would make better rulers of the world below than us. ¡°So they overthrew you lot, got that. I assume what you¡¯re gonna say next is some explanation on why I should side with you rather than them.¡± Astute. The heroes had soon grown¡­ bored of their position and responsibilities. It was then that they¡­ began twisting the world into their playground to relieve themselves of that boredom. They used our remains to fortify the world and bound our remnant souls to it, and then used what power we had left in our carcasses to summon another batch of heroes like how they were summoned. By then they had divided the world into two sides, and had commanded their worshippers to go to war with each other, which they treated as entertainment. The newly summoned heroes were only told as much as they needed to know, and while they grew powerful, it was a power that came with shackles, as the new gods had not wished for rivals to their rule. ¡°So what did they do to them?¡± asked Esperanza, somehow enthralled by the¡­ entity¡¯s tale despite herself. It was either that this was merely some hallucination prior to her end, or that it was real, and either way it didn¡¯t hurt to listen. The new gods harvested the summoned heroes once they grew strong enough to be of use for their plans. From their souls, mixed with part of our own remnant souls, the new gods then crafted something they called a¡­ ¡°system¡±, something that bent and replaced the rules of the world and encompassed every living being under its power. ¡°And then?¡± And then the new gods repeated the process every time they grew bored, every new hero summoned, harvested, their soul bound into the system to further empower it. By now the new gods no longer truly controlled their creation as it had likely grown stronger than they were, only kept safe by its lack of a will of its own. It is through¡­ learning how to manipulate bits of this system that we managed to draw upon you into this audience with what was left of us. ¡°Okay, I get that much, sort of, I guess. Just two questions before we go on though. Why me? And what do you want out of me that you¡¯d pull me over like this?¡± The answer to the first question is simple, foreign one. We are deprived from most of what we once were, mere remnants with a fraction of the power we used to wield. We lacked the power to draw in one of the other heroes, who were brought to this reality in their fleshly bodies. Only you were in the form of a remnant soul, one small enough for us to draw over with what little mastery of the system we managed. As such, it was not like we had much choice in the matter. You were the first and only candidate we were able to attract to our side over countless years. ¡°Because I¡¯m already dead, huh? Okay, I guess I can buy that much. And the second question?¡± As we had mentioned, our remnant souls are bound into the world that had long been twisted to the new gods whims. The world is dying, foreign one, yet the new gods forcefully kept it in existence against the flow of nature itself. Our wish is for you to bring everything to an end, so that it could begin anew as it had always been intended. This would require much of you, as you would need to gain power until you were strong enough to wrestle access and control of the system from the gods, and through it, bring everything to its destined and much awaited endpoint. That is what we would request of you, o foreign one. That you bring this unnaturally prolonged existence that had shackled both us and this world to an end and allow it all to pass on peacefully. That you destroy this world. IV - Mind Over Matter (Not!) ¡°Me Cago en la Leche¡­¡± cursed Esperanza helplessly after she listened to what the being wanted. ¡°You¡¯re all serious about this, aren¡¯t you?¡± An interesting and peculiar phrase, that, foreign one. We will have to keep note of it. To answer your question, however, that is indeed the case. This unnatural, forced existence is tiresome, torturous even, and we never asked for it. We had thought that you¡¯d be a kindred soul in this given what little we managed to glimpse from your memories, are you not, foreign one? ¡°Fair point¡­ I guess¡­¡± said Esperanza as she shifted - or did she just think she shifted? Did she even have a form at the moment? - uncomfortably at the being¡¯s words. ¡°That said, can you quit it with the foreign one schtick? I have a name. It¡¯s Esperanza.¡± As you wished for, Esperanza. Is that more comfortable for your preferences? ¡°Better, yeah. Gracias. So¡­ do you have a name? It¡¯s a bit hard to talk without knowing what to call you, y¡¯know?¡± We have long lost the memory of the names that mortals used to call us by, and even then, what remained of us now is but a mere amalgam of remnant pieces forcibly bound together. If you so desire, Esperanza, we used to be collectively referred to as ¡°the old ones from beyond the veil of time¡±, so perhaps that could be a beginning. ¡°Way too long. What about I just call you all ¡®Oldies¡¯ then? Good enough for you?¡± We find it an amusing and acceptable designation. ¡°Right, Oldies, then. Question for you. You said you wanted me to gain power to the point that I could wrestle the system from the control of these pendejo gods. How am I supposed to do that if they are the ones in control of the system in the first place? Won¡¯t they just like, you know, snuff me out like a bug or something once they noticed me?¡± The gods are just as bound to the system as everyone else in this entire world these days. It has grown beyond them, and while they retained their control privileges, what they could do is limited. They are most definitely unable to descend to the mortal world themselves, not without the aid of a powerful receptacle that could momentarily contain their might, for example. If they realized the reality of what you are and what you will do to them, they could order their worshippers to hunt you down, certainly. However, unless you told people related to them yourself, this is unlikely. We had learned enough about the system to use our remnant powers to prevent others from precisely finding out what you represent through it. In a way, by now the system created by the gods had become so powerful that even its creators are bound to it, rather than the other way around. This is the weakness we hoped that you might be able to exploit to rise beyond them and grant us our long-awaited and much-delayed end of existence. We hope that helped to allay some of your doubts, Esperanza? ¡°Some of it. So you¡¯re basically saying that you¡¯ve gamed the system to keep me hidden until I can rise up to power? I guess that will help somewhat,¡± admitted Esperanza as she felt herself nodding to the logic of the Oldies¡¯ words. ¡°What¡¯s this system about, though?¡± It is already embedded into your soul, though we had interrupted part of it when we drew you towards us during your arrival. Attempt to think of the term [Status] in your mind, and it should show you your personal attributes. Esperanza did just that, and the next moment, she felt as if she was seeing some game-like HUD screen in front of her, and took a closer look at it. Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl1]/???/???/???/??? Stats : - Strength : ERROR! - Dexterity : ERROR! - Constitution : ERROR! - Intelligence : 13 - Perception : 12 - Wisdom : 10 - Willpower : 14 - Intuition : 11 - Sanity : -74 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] General Skills: ¡°Okay¡­ Why are there so many errors on it!?¡± yelled Esperanza exasperatedly. She had played games before, so she had a general idea of what each of the statistics listed meant, but the glaring error messages were far more worrisome, as was that Sanity score all the way down in the negatives of all things. It even ticked further down after a moment. It was inevitable, we fear, Esperanza. What we represent are elements that the gods and thus the system deemed as ¡°undesirable¡± in this world, and they made it such that most of those that beheld us in full would descend down into insanity by their standards. You had been in our direct presence for a while now, as such it was inevitable for the system to judge things that way. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Pollas en Vinagre! So you¡¯re saying that to anyone in the world I¡¯m headed, I¡¯m some raving lunatic spewing gibberish from the mouth of mad gods. Awesome. Muy Bien.¡± We have a scant few worshippers who lived in hiding and seclusion who would see you for what you are, but I am afraid that is how most would treat you indeed, should you let your status come to light. As such we recommend that you hide it except to those who you would trust with your life. ¡°And what¡¯s with the errors on the body end? Assuming that I believe you on the sanity bit, that one seemed even worse to me,¡± asked Esperanza with a sigh - or what she thought was a sigh, as the sight of that glaring negative sanity made her unable to help but to question whether she was sane at all - at the being that called itself the remnants of the old gods. That was just as inevitable. Remember how we had told you that while the other candidates were summoned in their physical forms, you were but bits of a remnant soul that had yet to dissipate? We meant exactly that. All that is you, right here, right now, are just bits of your soul that lingered even after death had taken you. The system could not detect a body because you had no body for it to detect. ¡°Hijo de la Verga! So what am I supposed to do then? Spook people when they go to the bathroom at night?¡± While we already did all that we could in regards to the system itself, including the [Class] that you currently have access to and the ones you will be able to choose from in the future, we still possess enough saved up power to create a physical receptacle for your soul. Therein but lies one other problem still. ¡°Oh joy¡­ What sort of problem?¡± What parts of us that concerned creation was the one that the current gods first harvested and took away from us. As such, our¡­ capabilities in this particular regard had been stunted, and we are uncertain that what we created would be similar to the physical vessel that your soul once inhabited. To put it in simpler terms¡­ we do not think that we would be able to create a¡­ human vessel for you. ¡°Anda a Cagar. So what? I¡¯d end up as some sort of eldritch abomination that¡¯s an affront to all that¡¯s holy and good and the likes then?¡± asked Esperanza with some obvious exasperation in her voice. ¡°Actually, now that I think about it, what¡¯s the guarantee that you¡¯re not just some Pinche abomination that¡¯s trying to use me to blow the world up for shits and giggles?¡± We cannot offer any guarantees that would not just make you feel more suspicious instead. We only ask that you see the world for yourself and make your own judgment on whether we had spoken truth or otherwise, for only in that way would your worry be assuaged properly, we believe. ¡°Okay. That¡¯s honestly a pretty solid argument. I guess I¡¯ll give you lot the benefit of the doubt for now, then. So what¡¯s next?¡± We will craft the corporeal form needed to host your soul, then we shall allow the summoning that had brought you here in the first place to proceed as normal. You would then be transferred to where the other candidates are. Please make use of that brief chance to memorize their appearances in your mind, for if the gods attempt to stop you, it will likely be done through their hands. ¡°Wait up¡­ so I¡¯d be sent right where the other heroes are. As something not human?¡± said Esperanza as she pointed out the obvious problem with the situation the Oldies had described. ¡°What would happen then? They¡¯d welcome me as their fellow hero or something?¡± No. You will likely have a few brief moments before you are killed by the temple guards. If you have the chance to, consider trying to take some of them down with you to improve your own power right away. ¡°... Why would all that matter when I¡¯m dead!?¡± We see that you have not paid closer attention to your skills yet. Try to focus on each of them, with a desire to know more, and you shall have the answer. Despite the obvious doubts in her mind, Esperanza did as she was bidden. She first checked the glaring one called [Respawn] as it seemed most relevant to her worries. Sure enough, one look at its description helped alleviate some of her worries. [Respawn] Ultimate Skill Level EX Death is but a temporary nuisance. Allows the user to return to life ten minutes after death at either their last location or the nearest safe location without any intelligent life. Number of uses increases with level. Level EX: Unlimited uses. Normally that skill would revive one at the nearest temple of the gods, but given our situation, we believe you understood why we made a little alteration to it. Esperanza just nodded at what the Oldies said. That one skill alone definitely changed the dynamics of a lot of things, and made a lot of what they asked for far more feasible. Of course, it also brought a question they had not considered before into her mind. ¡°If the heroes all have this sort of immortality cheat then how did the gods get them to become part of the system?¡± Most of the candidates that were summoned were only told as much as the gods wanted them to know. They never reached the heights where they could feasibly contest the gods, and when they reached a desirable enough power, they would then be entrapped in a ritual that supposedly would have sent them back to where they came from. It was all a lie, as instead that ritual would shackle their soul and integrate their life force into the system, turning them all into a permanent part of it. It is our hope that by being one outside the reach of the gods you would be able to grow in power, enough to rival and eventually topple them. If you could bring some of the summoned candidates to our side, all the better, though the chances of such happening are low in probability of success. Please also observe the rest of your skills, you will find that we had tailored them to help you avoid the eyes and attention of the gods. [Language Understanding] Common Skill Level 1 Communication averts Disaster. Grants the user general understanding and basic fluency of any language they come across. Level of fluency increases with skill level. Level 1: General understanding of basic terms, basic communication capabilities. The language skill was pretty much what Esperanza expected. She guessed it would be pointless to summon ¡°heroes¡± from another world if you couldn¡¯t even tell them what¡¯s going on after all. The other skills however, proved to be more of interest. [Gaze Unto the Abyss] Unique Skill Level EX And the Abyss gazes also unto you. The blessings of the old gods shrouds the user in an impenetrable curtain and granted them true vision. User is immune to any sort of [Analysis] based detection. User is capable of seeing through any effects that blocked [Analysis] from succeeding. User is capable of analyzing the status of other beings within line of sight. Level EX: Permanent effects. So she could identify anything in sight and in turn cannot be identified by anyone? That was handy, and Esperanza understood why the oldies included that into her repertoire. She could infer that there were abilities that allowed someone to analyze the status of another, and given her unique status, if she was found out it would have resulted in a manhunt that would likely mess shit up for her. [Far Down the Deep End] Unique Skill Level EX One cannot sink any lower when one was already at the bottom. One who had witnessed the deities of old in their full splendor and yet retained their mind. Negative Sanity is treated as positive for skill check and unlock purposes. Converts any Sanity growth from all sources into negative values. Renders the user completely immune from any Sanity-targeting skills and effects. A mere glimpse of the User by those whose Soul level is less than 15% of the user¡¯s total Sanity forces a check, with temporary to permanent derangement as penalty based on the margin of failure. Level EX: Permanent effects. ¡°So I¡¯m some sort of creepy thing that causes people to go crazy when they look at me, huh? Mierda.¡± We apologize that we are unable to create a more positive image, Esperanza. This was unavoidable given the limits of our power and how we are seen as anathema to the world that the current gods desired. If you so wish, you could simply reject our offer, and leave after you forget everything we have said, though we know not what sort of fate would await you should you do so. ¡°No¡­ Hijo de Puta¡­ It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll give it a shot. What¡¯s the worst that can happen anyway at this point?¡± The worst would be if they managed to capture and disable you, which would prevent you from escaping or respawning elsewhere. We sincerely advocate that you avoid such a situation at any cost. ¡°It was a rhetorical question. Anyway, I take it that the body you prepared was ready then?¡± It is. We regret that we could not allow you to get familiar with it here, but physical beings could not exist within this soulspace, only remnant souls like you, or us. ¡°Oh well¡­ YOLO it is then. How do I contact you later on, after I leave here?¡± You merely need to think about it, though such contact will need quite a bit of power from our side. We would like to request that you refrain from contacting us more than once a week or so, unless it was an emergency. ¡°Gotcha. I guess it¡¯s time to jump in then¡­ Adios, oldies.¡± We wish you safe travels as well, Esperanza. Then the sensation of falling took hold over Esperanza¡¯s senses once more, and she vaguely felt as if she had been squeezed out of a narrow tube or something like that, before she fell onto a flat, hard surface. Right at that moment, all sorts of sensory information flooded her mind, but two things jumped to the fore and gained her attention right away. For one, she felt nothing remotely human from what she could ¡°sense¡± of her physical form, though she was still getting used to the weird sensory overload. And for the other, there was screaming all around her. 5/V - Its (Not) What it Looks Like Something dropped out of the portal in the middle of the temple. Whatever it was, it was most definitely not anything remotely human at all. Alissa felt like someone was massaging her scalp, but with all the violence they could muster. Her head pounded and she felt dizzy just looking at the¡­ thing the portal vomited out. She had no real idea how she should describe it. The¡­ thing was like a glistening, slimy, pulsating mass of flesh, albeit one with far too many eyes of many different kinds all over its undulating grotesque form, from eyes that looked almost normal and human like to ones with slit irises like cats to rectangular ones to insect-like compound eyes, all scattered throughout its ever-shifting form. Then there were the mouths. Alissa thought it was bad enough for the thing to have eyes all over the place, but then the many slits on its shape widened and opened into toothy mouths, maws, and whatever else you¡¯d call an oral cavity as they opened up and treated her to a sight she wished she had never seen, of all sort of dentations from a shark¡¯s rows of pointed dagger-like teeth, to something almost human but not quite, to the grinding dentures of bovines, all represented in place. Of course amongst them were also more nightmare-inducing sights like the circular rows of curved fangs that lined the circular maw of lamprey, mandibles that¡¯d look more at home on the face of insects with equally horrid mouthpieces hidden behind, and the likes. Then there was the screech. The shrill, utterly inhuman screeching noise that the thing uttered. Alissa felt as if the noise tried to burrow through her eardrums, and the pounding on her head intensified when she heard of the noise. She was not the only one who felt that way either, apparently. A quick glance around showed her that over half of the temple guards had fallen to the floor or to their knees, their hands clutching their heads or ears and their faces twisted in a rictus of agony. Even her friends were not exempt. Ethan looked like he was struggling, with his teeth gritted and his eyes closed, his meaty hands covering his ears even as his body writhed and cavorted as if he was in severe pain all over. Joshua had folded himself into a fetal position and tucked his head between his knees as he mumbled unintelligibly under the onslaught. Only Cerilla seemed unaffected, even if the shrine maiden-like woman also frowned at the sight. The few temple guards that still kept their bearings also approached the gruesome thing with their shields and spears held in place, grimaces on their faces as they fought the effect - some sort of mental assault maybe? - which seemed to intensify as they approached the cavorting, undulating mass. Alissa was uncertain whether she should be helping - or well, doing anything - in this sort of situation, but fortunately, Cerilla seemed to have caught on to her dilemma and prevented her from going forward with an outstretched hand that blocked her path. All the while, she gave commands to the still-functioning members of the temple guards with gestures, as the thing¡¯s screeching was loud enough that it would have probably rendered any word she said inaudible under the noise it created. They both watched from the side as the temple guards, around a dozen of them that managed to withstand the effect from the noise and the maddening pressure Alissa was feeling, closed in on the creature, whatever it was. Two of them fell to their knees in the approach as they proved less resilient to the rest, but the others kept moving, a step at a time, their large oval shields held high to cover most of their bodies and their spears held at the ready. The creature, thing, whatever it was lashed at them as meaty tentacle-like appendages grew from its undulating shape and struck at the temple guards that surrounded it. Most of the strikes met only with the leather-draped surface of the large shields and were blocked or deflected away, but one unfortunate guard, who had lowered her shield to block an appendage going for her ankle, was too late in raising it back up. A second pulsating, meaty appendage struck her right on the face, the end of the tentacle splitting open to reveal a toothy maw filled with dagger-like fangs that instantly latched on the woman¡¯s face from the sides even as she struggled. The woman pierced the tentacle with her spear in her desperate struggles, but it had not seemed to affect the thing much, and her struggles grew weaker even after another two guards nearby came to her aid, and eventually ended with an all-too-fleshy sounding crunching noise from within the maw. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Alissa almost vomited on the spot when she saw the woman¡¯s headless body crumple to the ground, the upper part of her head bitten off, leaving only her lower jaw still attached to her neck by bits of flesh and muscle. Then she took a second look - to her dismay - and outright vomited right where she stood as she could take it no more. In the meantime, while Alissa was preoccupied with emptying her guts out on the marble floor of the temple, the rest of the temple guards had approached close enough despite the continued lashings of the creature¡¯s tentacle-like appendages to stab it with their spears. Their efforts only seemed to make the creature angry, but they persevered and kept trying. Eventually, their efforts finally bore fruit, as the creature slowed, its purplish blood oozing out from many stab wounds. Its movements and struggles grew sluggish as the screeching died out, and the emboldened temple guards - what remained of them, at least, as the creature had taken out another two in the process - moved even closer and stabbed deeper with their spears, until finally, a blessed moment later, the thing grew still. It was only then that Alissa regained enough control of herself to move away from the puddle of her own vomit and look around. Ethan and Joshua seemed to be recovering, if slowly, now that the screeching had ended. So were some of the temple guards that were taken out of commission by it, the first to recover being the two that fell midway in their approach to the creature. And yet, some of the fallen temple guards had not stirred. One woman lay still, with blood leaking out from every orifice on her head, while another man had clawed out his own eyes and ears off, and now tossed and turned in agony where he lay. The rest seemed to recover slowly much like Ethan and Joshua, but they were all slow to rise. Cerilla was by the side of another temple guard, one who had a large chunk of his shoulder bitten off by the thing, which left the man¡¯s arm dangling helplessly. The woman laid her hands over the wound, and muttered something under her breath that Alissa couldn¡¯t hear, before a white glow emanated from her hands and the gaping wound on the man¡¯s shoulder slowly knitted itself back together. It took the woman a few minutes to deal with that wound, after which she went around to the other guards. Alissa saw how she shook her head after a quick check on the guard who bled from all her orifices, and sent the screaming one to be taken away on a stretcher by a couple others. The woman then shook her head sadly once more when she came to the other guard taken out by the creature near the end of its lashings. The man¡¯s eyes looked blankly towards the ceiling, as his neck had been snapped by a whip-like lashing from one of the creature¡¯s tentacles, breaking it until his head rested directly on his shoulder. There was no saving the man, and he had passed on some while ago, it seemed. It was then that another sight nobody expected took place, as the creature¡¯s body - still guarded by a few of the temple guards out of precaution - suddenly began to fade, as if it dissolved into thin air. Alissa looked at the scene with some bafflement, while Cerilla ran over in alarm, but before she got there, the creature¡¯s cadaver had completely vanished into thin air, as if it was never there. Only the purple blotches of blood and the corpses it left behind provided evidence of its existence and passing. ¡°Was¡­ Was that the norm here?¡± asked Alissa in a doubtful tone, though the way Cerilla reacted had told her that it was unlikely to be the case. ¡°I¡­ cannot say, Chosen One,¡± said the woman with some creeping doubt in her own voice. ¡°It had been said and written in the records that at times, summonings might cause a denizen of the void between worlds to crawl in, attracted by the pathway between worlds that opened when the ritual was done. They came in many shapes and kinds, so while the¡­ creature we saw just now had never been recorded, it might well be one.¡± ¡°Did any of you receive a notification upon killing it?¡± Cerilla then asked towards the temple guards that had brought the creature down with some hope in her eyes. ¡°I did, Exalted one,¡± replied one of the temple guards. The rest of the surviving seven who fought the creature then repeated the confirmation they had all received the kill notification after they defeated whatever the thing was. ¡°But it was¡­ garbled. I could not tell what the creature was, as if the world refused to identify it at all.¡± ¡°The same here,¡± replied another, until the rest had confirmed that none of them received any legible notification on the name or type of creature they had killed. In fact, when the guards compared the notifications they received, they noticed that no two garbled messages were the same, as each one seemed to receive a different notice. ¡°Hmm¡­ this isn¡¯t working out. Did any of you level off the creature?¡± asked the priestess in the hopes that someone might have topped out from the beast. Classes available to a person were affected by the feats they had done in the process of attaining the needed level, so her hope was that there might be something to shed a light on the matter from there. ¡°I have, Exalted one, though I am still four levels away from my next class,¡± said one female guard. One of her male compatriots then echoed her words, though in his case he was eleven levels away. None of the other guards had the fortune to have leveled from the fight, especially the higher leveled ones closer to their next class, so either way the query would have to wait since there was no clue to be had. ¡°All right, I guess we will have to report a void beast incursion that had likely derailed the summoning of the fourth chosen one in the process,¡± said Cerilla with a long-suffering sigh, her hand placed on her forehead as she wondered why she had to be the one in charge of such a headache. Had she not been devout enough to her gods that they sent such a trial her way? That the summoning process had come to an end was obvious, as the portal had flickered and vanished shortly after the creature exited from it. There was no sign anywhere of the fourth summoned hero, and given the circumstances, it was only natural to presume them lost in the void as the creature had latched on and disturbed the pathway between worlds. It would not be the first time for a summoning mishap to cause a hero party to be short a member, but all such cases in history had been scandals, and none of them ended particularly well for the member of the clergy who happened to be in charge of supervising the process. As such, Cerilla could only sigh and lament her misfortune as she turned back towards the three summoned heroes and forced the tiredness off her features as she put on a smiling face to face them with. ¡°I beg your pardon for such a mishap, Chosen Ones. If you please, let us guide you to the Council, which will clarify whatever questions you have in mind,¡± she said as she gave a low bow to the three. VI - Alone in the Wild ¡°Puta Madre!¡± The foreign curse echoed more as an garbled sound unlike anything produced by a human throat, barely understandable even if there was someone in the vicinity who understood the language and heard it. As it echoed through the mostly empty forests, it frightened some small animals in the vicinity, and also perked up the interest of a couple larger predators. Those predators came closer, took a whiff of the foreign scent in the air or a peek at the odd shape that intruded upon their territory, before their survival instincts practically yelled at them to get the hell out of dodge. The animals, having lived their entire lives based on their instincts, followed that warning and quickly stayed as far away as they could from the strange thing that came in the midst of their forest. We did inform you that you would be killed, did we not? ¡°I thought you said I shouldn¡¯t contact you more than once a week or so?¡± asked the girl turned into whatever she was now in her mind as she felt the ¡°voice¡± of the deities of old echo in her soul. The kerfuffle at the temple-like place - or at least it had felt like some sort of temple, kinda like the old Greek parthenon style of building if what she sensed were correct - was expected and she had been forewarned of it. We felt that you would likely be in need of guidance at this moment, and as such had prepared for it. What she had not really prepared herself for was the familiar sensations - she could not really call what she sensed as seeing as it was more that she felt her surroundings somehow in a way that built up an image in her mind - of the figures she noticed further away. Three of her classmates from high school. The Jerk-ass Smith, Nerdy yet nice jock Greene, and of all people, O¡¯Connor, the one girl who got along with most anyone in the class. One of the few in school who even bothered to treat Esperanza like a proper human being. She felt the waves of power from the three of them, something that told her that they were the chosen heroes the gods would likely sic at her. While she likely wouldn¡¯t mind biting off the jerk-ass¡¯ face, Esperanza felt conflicted about the other two. They were good people, amongst the few in the school who didn¡¯t just mentally shove her aside because she wasn¡¯t a ¡°white american¡± as they say it. We feel your doubt, and would like to bring to attention that if you could bring them to our side, it would solve the problem you face. Killing two birds with one stone, we believe the saying was? ¡°Would it be that easy though? I mean¡­ Look at what I look like now,¡± said Esperanza, as she tried to gesture in a way that pointed to herself. The sensations that allowed her to identify things around her also allowed her to notice her corporeal form, and the first glimpse made her wish she hadn¡¯t bothered to check at all. ¡°I¡¯m a bloody eldritch abomination for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± The form is unusual. The physical form we created was quite a malleable one, and it would latch onto the concept it found in the inner subconscious of your mind, so whatever this form is, it originated from there. Could you think on what might have caused your thoughts to fixate on such a form? ¡°My subconscious?¡± asked Esperanza as she heard the reply from the deities. At first she wondered whether they had just fooled her and were intent on turning her into an eldritch abomination to begin with. Before long though, an idea pervaded into her mind, one that she could not truly deny, as it was all too plausible under her circumstances. ¡°Me Cago en la Leche¡­¡± cursed the girl as her mind placed the thoughts together. ¡°You all called yourselves the old ones, then there was that negative sanity¡­ I must have thought straight to those Cthulhu stories because of it¡­ the form isn¡¯t even far from how one of their creatures were described in the books¡­¡± It likely was the case. That said, please rest assured that the physical form we crafted is malleable, and when you gain more control over it, you would be able to shape yourself more to your¡­ image. ¡°If that was an attempt to cheer me up, it was a poor one, but thanks anyway,¡± said Esperanza as she finally came to terms that she would be an eldritch abomination straight out of the story books at least for the time being. That worry placed behind her, however, she realized that there was another worry she had to consider. ¡°This negative sanity thing¡­ does it also cause me to not¡­ feel a thing about murdering other people? I ate someone¡¯s face back there, Anda a Cagar! Why the fuck am I not feeling all weirded the fuck out about that!?¡± The sanity value should have no such direct effect on your mind, as far as we know. If anything, it should render your mind more robust and firm as the value grows higher. ¡°So I guess I was always a touch of a psycho to begin with, huh?¡± said Esperanza with strange emotions in her words, a mixture of disgust, anger, as well as acceptance all in one. ¡°I should¡¯ve guessed when I felt nothing even after I stabbed that pendejo of a step-dad before all this shit happened, probably just didn¡¯t want to believe it and was in denial until I died, huh?¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. We are unfamiliar with the term and will not judge either way. ¡°Heh. Thanks for that, I guess. Sometimes you could be a dear, Oldies, even if you probably hadn¡¯t meant it to be taken that way,¡± she replied. We are uncertain what made you feel that way but we are pleased to see you in a calmer state of mind. If you have calmed down, consider checking your logs from the system. You should have acquired some valuable experience from what happened in the temple. ¡°I will, I guess,¡± said Esperanza. She willed the system image to project itself in her mind, and the screen before her displayed words much like what one would have expected out of a game of sorts. You have defeated [Farmer¡¯s Child Lvl20]/[Temple Guard lvl12]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You have defeated [Potter¡¯s Child Lvl20]/[Temple Guard lvl5]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You have defeated [Acolyte¡¯s Child Lvl20]/[Temple Guard lvl14]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You have leveled to level 2! +1 Free Major stat point gained! -1 Sanity gained! +0.5 Willpower Gained! +0.5 Intuition Gained! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ You have leveled to level 7! +1 Free Major stat point gained! -1 Sanity gained! +0.5 Willpower Gained! +0.5 Intuition Gained! You have learned the Class Skill [Fleshweaving] Lvl1! You have learned the Class Skill [Shape Alteration] Lvl1! Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl7]/???/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 6 - Strength : 19 - Dexterity : 16 - Constitution : 31 - Intelligence : 13 - Perception : 12 - Wisdom : 10 - Willpower : 17 - Intuition : 14 - Sanity : -84 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] General Skills: ¡°I got a couple questions before I check these new skills,¡± said Esperanza to the voice of the old gods in her mind. Ask away, we believe the phrase was? ¡°Right. First, what¡¯s with those child classes those three people I¡­ killed seem to have? Also how the hell does it work? I assume that this¡­ body you give me is probably above human-grade in terms of power, but how am I taking down people who got, as the system pointed out, a whole tier ahead of me just like that?¡± That has a lot to do with the system, and your nature as a summoned hero. As you might have guessed, every inhabitant of this world was inducted into the system right after birth. As a result, everyone started with barely any stats, and only grew a small amount in their childhood, as the classes available to children were all of poor quality. On the other hand, summoned heroes like you have stats that rivaled a native near the end of their second tier even when you were freshly summoned. In short, you can sort of see it as a head start for the summoned, and as a result, none of the natives would ever reach the height of power summoned heroes are capable of, and thus, unable to challenge the gods and their rule. ¡°Ookay. That¡¯s a bit plenty to take in, but I get the drift,¡± said Esperanza after a moment to digest the words of the old gods. It was unfair for the natives, but also a clever safeguard she thought. The way the system was set up favored the summoned so much it was not funny, which meant that they would be more impactful while the natives could only languish beneath them. ¡°And what are these¡­ free points? And the sanity I seem to be gaining on each level for that matter.¡± The free points are something you could distribute at will. Each point goes directly into your Body, Mind, or Soul, and are equivalent to three points in the sub-stats, to be distributed as you wish. While it was unavoidable with your sanity, we would recommend that you try to balance things out a bit more, especially this early on. It would not be too late to specialize later if you wish to. Each class also rewards points in specific stats on level up, although this was usually only present at later tiers. Summoned heroes like you usually had some even from the start, though. ¡°Okay, so a more balanced start and specialize later? A pretty safe way I guess. I don¡¯t see the demerit of that as I assume I¡¯d need some of the other stats anyway even if I specialize in one or two later on, is that right?¡± That is correct. ¡°Got it. Here goes, then,¡± said Esperanza as she willed the points to distribute itself into her stats. Since Oldies said to aim for some balance, she distributed two into each, and used them to shore up what she lacked in, rather than increase what she already had plenty of. Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 22 - Dexterity : 19 - Constitution : 31 - Intelligence : 15 - Perception : 14 - Wisdom : 12 - Willpower : 20 - Intuition : 17 - Sanity : -84 ¡°Okay, that¡¯s done. I also noticed that I apparently respawned right in the middle of a frickin¡¯ jungle here. Any suggestions on what I should do, Oldies?¡± We recommend that you take this chance to grow your power. At the moment you are far too weak to affect anything, even lacking the capability to defend yourself. The respawn had sent you far away from the temple you emerged in, though still in human lands. This area should be relatively uninhabited, so it should be pretty safe for you to take your first steps on the stairs of power. ¡°So¡­ roam around and hunt whatever¡¯s in the forest?¡± That is what we suggested, yes. There are plenty of wild beasts around you, and we assume you would feel no qualms about hunting the wild creatures for the sake of survival and the future. ¡°Yeah¡­ I guess it¡¯s definitely easier to stomach compared to the alternative,¡± admitted Esperanza as she thought of said alternative. She had worried that Oldies would have suggested for her to descend on an unsuspecting village and feast on them or something like that. Compared to that, hunting and feasting on wild animals was indeed a far preferable option. ¡°I¡¯ll be off hunting then. See you in a week or so?¡± We will be seeing you, Esperanza. Good Hunting. 7 - Lesson(s) from the Past ¡°So that¡¯s why you summon heroes from another world? Cause we all got a head start compared to your own local folks?¡± Ethan asked just after the priest appointed to teach them about the history of the world and matters pertaining to the hero summoning finished his lecture. ¡°Indeed so, Chosen One,¡± replied the priest with a humble bow. All the bowing and scraping that the clergy did in their presence honestly bugged Alissa quite a bit, but she chalked it up to their literally calling down what was probably their equivalent of angels from heaven, so she had let it pass so far. After all, her attempts to get them to stop all the bowing and scraping had only fallen to deaf ears. ¡°From our recorded history, a Chosen One would be the equivalent of at least a middle second tier despite being at level one, with some actually capable of matching third tier warriors of their persuasion.¡± ¡°And where do we fall under that comparison?¡± he asked once more, with more obvious curiosity and enthusiasm in his voice this time. Ethan had taken their being summoned to another world the best out of the three of them. Joshua still vehemently denied everything and kept muttering that it was all a dream he would wake up from. ¡°If I were to compare that statistics you had shown with the past heroes, Chosen One, then it would be on the lower end. Please do not take that negatively however. History has shown a definite leaning for Chosen Ones who started weaker to grow at a greater pace when compared to those who started stronger,¡± said the priest in a persuasive tone of voice. ¡°Ah, so late bloomer archetypes then,¡± said Ethan as if it explained everything. Alissa sort of understood what the priest meant, but not to the extent Ethan had. He seemed to shift from disappointed - no doubt from being one of the weaker heroes, as the guy was always a competitive one - to mollified in a single moment. ¡°I could live with that.¡± ¡°Care to put it in plain-people words, Greene? You know I don¡¯t spend entire weekends in front of the screen like you do,¡± asked Alissa with a slight touch of annoyance in her voice. Ethan was far more of a nerd and a geek than anyone who wasn¡¯t close to him ever suspected, and while she did partake in his passions at times, she was nowhere near as well-versed with them as he was. ¡°Ah. Right. Pretty much like what the priest-dude here said. We start off weaker, but as long as we keep leveling we¡¯ll end up stronger than others at higher levels,¡± said Ethan quickly in answer. He talked animatedly while gesturing with his hands, something Alissa knew he only did when he was excited. Then again, all this mess might well be a dream come true for him. ¡°Oh right, sorry man, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve caught your name?¡± ¡°This lowly servant is named Karius, Chosen One. You may call me however you prefer,¡± replied the priest with the humble bow that grated on Alissa¡¯s nerves. Ethan seemed less bothered about it and just took it in stride, though. ¡°Right, then, Karius. In your explanation you mentioned that hero summoning is a relatively common thing, something like twice or thrice every century, right?¡± Ethan asked, to which the priest nodded in response. ¡°So what I¡¯m wondering is¡­ do you have some sorta training program set up for newbie heroes like us? Fresh off the summoning and needing to level and all? I don¡¯t think you¡¯d summon some second or at best third tier equivalents to then toss them straight into battle, no?¡± ¡°There is such a training indeed, Chosen One. This lowly servant believes that the King and Bishops will arrange for it once some time for acclimatization had been given and deemed satisfactory,¡± replied the priest with another low bow. His words reminded Alissa of their meeting with said king and probably several of the bishops not a day ago. Much like Ethan had told her to expect on their way to the throne room, they were brought before a gathering of what could only be the Kingdom¡¯s higher-ups before the King himself - an old, if healthy-looking man who sat comfortably on his throne of what seemed to be unpadded solid wood - launched into a spiel welcoming the ¡°Chosen Ones¡± who arrived at their ¡°Time of Need¡± that will lead the battle to defeat the ¡°Great Evil¡± as the prophecy had foretold. That was also the point when the little prick Joshua had to have a public breakdown and go raving about how everything must¡¯ve been a dream he¡¯d soon wake up from and had to be sedated by one of the priests. At least the priests had been gentle about it, and Ethan had helped subdue him although it was probably unnecessary - Alissa doubted that the armored knights in the throne room were less than third tier in power - so that likely helped give them some more favorable looks. ¡°Good to see that you folks already got some experience with this, I guess,¡± said Ethan with a nod at the priest, who seemed to light up at the praise. ¡°At least it¡¯s much better than being given some random sword or whatnot and told to go off and kill the demon king like so many others did,¡± he continued, which caused a confused look of consternation on the young priest¡¯s face. ¡°Oh, nevermind that, just some stories I¡¯ve read before.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. After a bit more time spent to assuage the young priest¡¯s worry about Ethan¡¯s accidental blurting of other stories he read about, he and Alissa finally left the room they had taken the lecture in. Outside the room they found Cerilla waiting by the side, apparently having waited for them for a good while from the looks of things, though the priestly woman showed no signs of annoyance in her face as she greeted them beatifically. ¡°Hi, Cerilla,¡± said Alissa as she greeted the priest. Cerilla had insisted that they call her by her name, and they had obliged. Despite the ¡°accident¡± they encountered at the temple, it seemed that no blame was placed on her, as such incidents were not rare in their records. In fact, Cerilla had been assigned to the Chosen Ones as their guide of sorts, to help take care of their needs whatever it might be. Neither Alissa nor Ethan missed the way the King seemed to emphasize the term ¡°Whatever¡± when he said it, and the implications thereof. Alissa was just glad that the prick Joshua had already been taken away by then as he would have probably abused such a privilege right off the bat, knowing him and his history at school. ¡°Is everything¡­ fine with Joshua throwing a tantrum and whatnot?¡± asked Alissa just in case. While Joshua Smith was a prick and a bully who relied on his parent¡¯s generous donations to the school - and their position on the head of the parent-teacher association - to get away with his being an asshole to others when nobody was looking, but whether she liked it or not, the three of them were stuck in this other world together, and it was only logical for them to help each other out. ¡°Ah, Chosen Smith is in good hands, so please be at ease,¡± said the priestly woman with a voice that reminded Alissa of her mother. It also caused a pang of worry in her heart about what her family would think if she just disappeared like that, although the King had assured them that defeating the Great Evil would allow them to funnel enough energy to conduct a ritual that would then send them back, exactly at the moment they left, so as to make it as if they had never left at all. Neither Alissa nor Ethan asked about the obvious problem with how the King worded it, namely what would happen if one of them failed to make it to the end somehow, or worse, if the other side won the whole thing. ¡°Rest assured that this is not the first time a Chosen One denied the reality of what happened around them, as the transition and summoning might well be very jarring to some. We had been taught on how to best handle such cases, and we believe that at the moment, to give Chosen Smith some time on his own to come to terms with what happened would be best for everyone involved,¡± continued Cerilla with a nod. ¡°Please have faith that we are giving him our finest hospitality in the meantime.¡± ¡°We believe you,¡± said Alissa with a somewhat relieved sigh. It was a good thing that the Kingdom was willing to take such a gentle approach in handling Joshua, the prick that he was irrelevant to the matter. If they tried to force things down on the brat¡¯s throat he might well have a meltdown instead and that would probably go ugly and might even affect Alissa and Ethan negatively. ¡°Thanks for taking care of that jerk so well, even if he might not deserve it.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s up next on the schedule?¡± Ethan asked. Their day after the meeting had been mostly crammed with lessons of all sorts, from history to local culture and other things considered likely to be relevant to the chosen ones, with breaks mostly for eating and sleeping. There was some sense of urgency in the matter, but not one that seemed particularly strong yet. ¡°Honestly I¡¯m surprised you all took the time to teach us all the stuff that mattered and eased our way into things. I thought these sorts of summons meant that things were dire, usually.¡± ¡°On the contrary, Chosen one. We summoned you when we received the portent of an upheaval that was about to arrive. As such, naturally it would also be to our mutual benefit to have you all prepared and as powerful as we could get you to before the actual upheaval happened, would you not agree?¡± asked the priestly woman with a kind voice. ¡°There were records in our history books of summons done far too haphazardly, without time for the Chosen Ones to prepare themselves properly. That had ended in one of the worst debacles in the Kingdom¡¯s history and almost caused its downfall even.¡± ¡°As for the next thing on the schedule, the Royal Armorer wished to take your measurements so he could begin the work on crafting armor for your usage,¡± said Cerilla with a nod after she thought for a moment, as Ethan¡¯s question had taken her mind off the reason of her presence to fetch them. ¡°If you have any wishes to convey regarding said armor, the Royal Armorer also pledged that he would do the best he could to fulfill them.¡± ¡°Armor, huh¡­ So I guess we¡¯re going to be fighting things soon after all¡­¡± muttered Alissa as she and Ethan followed behind Cerilla through the corridors of the Royal Castle, where they were currently located. ¡°I guess I never imagined this sort of thing even in my wildest dreams.¡± ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, Allie, it could¡¯ve been far worse,¡± said Ethan in an equally low voice as he walked alongside her. ¡°We could¡¯ve been called to a place that¡¯d slap up with some random sword from the warehouse and then just send us out to go kill things or die trying. These people at least seem to have an idea of what they¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°A little too well maybe, don¡¯t you think?¡± asked Alissa. She had some doubts in her mind about how things sometimes seemed too good to be true considering the situation they were in. Everybody just seemed too nice, too understanding. If the world was so nice and understanding there wouldn¡¯t have been a need for ¡°heroes¡± like them, so she felt that her doubts might have something to it. ¡°Maybe. Could also be that they¡¯re just used to this sort of thing, which they are if their history books aren¡¯t lying,¡± admitted Ethan with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°That said, it¡¯d be good for one of us to keep our eyes open for possible foul play as well, so do keep that doubt you have for the time being, unless they prove it to be just paranoia someday.¡± 8 - Shopping (of a Sort) ¡°You sure this stuff would be best for me, Ethan?¡± asked Alissa two days later when the Royal Armorer sent a page to inform them that their order was done. They were in the old man¡¯s workshop at the moment, the old, grizzled white-haired man looking at his work for the past couple of days with the obvious pride of an artist who had just created a work of art. ¡°I mean, if what Cerilla told us about the other side likely going to gun for you any chance they got is correct, then you¡¯d need every advantage you got to survive that, Allie,¡± said Ethan with a shrug of his shoulders. He had been the one to suggest the set of armor Alissa had made for her use, a suggestion both the Royal Armorer and Cerilla had agreed with. ¡°You¡¯d know better about this stuff, I figure, so no point in me doubting too much I guess,¡± admitted Alissa with a shake of her head. While she was somewhat uncertain still, she knew better than to doubt her oldest friend, and besides, the armorer had agreed with him, so clearly his suggestion had some merit to the local artisan. The main reason for her uncertainty was the beautiful - it was a literal work of art, she¡¯d almost say - set of plate mail armor set up on a stand before her, the metal polished to a mirror sheen to the point that she could clearly see her reflection on it. Alissa had her doubts whether the armor would prove too hefty or unwieldy for her to use, but since she had decided to trust them, she went over to it and moved to put it on. ¡°Tut-tut, lassie. You don¡¯t want to wear that right on your clothes. It¡¯d chafe most terribly that way!¡± reprimanded the old armorer. Unlike most in the Royal Castle, the old man had not seemed to give a damn on whether Alissa and Ethan were summoned heroes or not, and just treated them like them were teenagers way out of their depths, which was something she appreciated greatly. ¡°Put those on first, then the armor. Might be a bit hard to put it on at first, but we¡¯ll show ya the way.¡± What the old armorer pointed at was a set of what looked like a jacket made from thick fabric. There was a pair of them, looking identical to each other, other than their differing sizes. Alissa naturally caught on that the bigger one was for Ethan, while the smaller one was for her. She picked it up from the stand and felt that it was heavier than the sort of thicker jeans jacket she sometimes wore by a good bit. ¡°This is some really nice Gambeson, Master Utgarth,¡± praised Ethan as he picked up his jacket and admired it for a moment, which brought another smile to the face of the old armorer. The old man lit up much like an artist would when they heard praise directed towards their work. ¡°How did you make it to feel this nice to the touch?¡± ¡°Aye, lad, it¡¯s got Fendron Silk for the outermost and innermost layers, the real good stuff. Usually only the royals ever used that stuff, but since yer both heroes and all, they weren¡¯t stingy with it,¡± said the old armorer with a wide grin that had a hint of schadenfreude within. ¡°So of course I got some extra rolls of it to use it on your other armor too. That silk alone¡¯s tough enough to turn a blade, and I got another twenty layers of the best Rovenian wool beneath it, knit so tight that any spear or arrow would get caught and tangled rather than go through. That thing¡¯s as good as a gambeson could be with what this Kingdom¡¯s got.¡± ¡°Since the old master put so much work into it, we better try it on, Allie,¡± said Ethan with a nod of his head. The Gambeson, as he called it, looked like a long-sleeved jacket that opened on the front, and reached halfway down their thighs. It had been measured just right that when they wore it over their clothing it fitted perfectly, and was closed with several belts on the front side. Alissa tried moving around in it and was surprised to find that it felt little different than just wearing a thick jeans or a heavy leather jacket, and that the thick fabric was surprisingly lighter on her shoulders than she expected. It had not really bothered her movements much either, and Ethan clearly found it just as pleasant to wear given the big grin on his face. Then the old armorer pointed to a sleeveless shirt made out of many tiny metal rings woven together and told Alissa to wear it on top of the gambeson. She shrugged on the shirt of chainmail with little difficulty, as it had been measured to perfectly fit over the gambeson she wore. Much like the thick jacket-like armor, the chainmail was far lighter than she expected, probably just a little heavier than the gambeson, and felt even lighter after she tightened a belt over her waist like the old armorer told her to. A couple of the old man¡¯s assistants helped her put on the suit of plate mail built for her for the first time. The breastplate itself consisted of two pieces, one to cover her front and another for her back, secured to each other with multiple belts on the sides and shoulders. It took quite a bit of help from the old man¡¯s assistants for her to tighten them properly the first time, but they also showed her some tricks she could use for times when she would need to put it on alone. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. The rest of the design was just a clever thing. The pauldrons secured themselves over the gap on her shoulders and completely covered it, while the pieces that covered her arms and legs were only three-quarter mails, those on her arm open on the inside while those that covered her leg open in the rear. They still provided plenty of protection where most danger would come from while minimizing weight and maximizing freedom of movement at the same time. The areas near the joints had visible gaps in them, but that was the price to be paid for the freedom of movement she wanted, and what the gambeson she wore beneath was for. Similarly the gauntlets were crafted out of metal plates that had been attached to the outside of a leather glove, the insides of which was lined with the same sort of silk that went into making the gambeson. She barely felt like she was wearing gloves despite their noticeable weight. Overall, the whole suit of armor was far lighter than Alissa expected. Probably twenty to thirty pounds? She was no expert at approximating weight just by wearing something, but it definitely felt a lot lighter than what she thought that sort of armor would weigh in the first place. Doubly so since she¡¯d visited a local HEMA event where Ethan¡¯s dad was a participant and had gotten a chance to wear one of their replicas at one time. That one had weighed at least twice as much as what she wore at the moment. ¡°Keep in mind that Master Utgarth here¡¯s got the system helping him out with classes and skills and many decades of experience with stuff like this,¡± said Ethan as if he heard her unvoiced question, something her old friend habitually did at times. ¡°What you got there¡¯s probably made out of some sort of alloy uncle Bob would kill to get so he could make an even better piece, unlike that clunky one he made for the event back then.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ so much lighter and easier to move in,¡± said Alissa as she jumped in place to demonstrate what she meant. To her surprise she managed to leap almost as high as she usually did during matches when she had to contend for the Jump Balls, despite not truly putting full effort into the jump. The old armorer seemed to grin wider at her flabbergasted and surprised look. ¡°As your big friend here said, lassie, I¡¯ve got decades of experience doing this sorta shit for the King and his pa before him. My [Royal Grandmaster Armorer] class is nearly at the end of the fourth tier, and I got more than a few skills that let me put in some nice touches into stuff I make,¡± said the old man. ¡°For example, yer friend¡¯s armor there got heavy reinforcements that¡¯d disperse the force of most blows that got to him.¡± Alissa noticed the armor that Ethan wore - one that looked like an even bigger jacket of sorts with straps on the side like hers - and saw how he wore it too easily, as if it was almost a second skin to him. The armor piece reminded her of things she saw in pictures in Ethan¡¯s room, yet also different. At a glance it looked like a thick fabric jacket with many metal rivets all over its surface. ¡°Yeah, this is a real sweet piece of brigandine, master,¡± said Ethan as he smacked one of his hands - he had gauntlets that covered his entire hand and forearm as well as pauldrons from what looked like the same material along with the armor - against his broad chest in a metallic thumping noise that clued Alissa in that there were likely metal plates beneath that fabric. ¡°Much appreciated, really. This went way beyond anything I expected, honestly.¡± ¡°And mine?¡± asked Alissa curiously. ¡°Yers got stuff that¡¯d amplify the force you use while wearing it. You should actually find moving and fighting with it easier than when you¡¯re not wearing it, the amplification more than making up for its weight,¡± said the old armorer with obvious pride. ¡°It should also be tough enough to keep you safe from most threats up to the third tier for the most part, and maybe even some in the fourth, though that¡¯s if you can catch the hit on the plates properly, and only if they¡¯re not too big. Armor can¡¯t save you from getting stepped on by a giant, after all.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take care not to get stepped on by anything, Master. Thanks for the warning!¡± said Ethan cheerfully, as he gave a cheerful slap to Alissa¡¯s back. To her surprise, she barely even felt the impact, as the layers of armor she wore dispersed the impact almost entirely before she could feel it. That made her look at the things she wore with wonderment once more. ¡°Yeah, the gambeson and chainmail also got some extra going on for ¡®em, lassie. They¡¯ll keep you alive, so learn to get used to ¡®em!¡± said the old armorer cheerfully, thoroughly enjoying the impressed looks of wonderment on the faces of the young heroes as he turned away while guffawing loudly. It was only after he disappeared to the further areas of his workshop that Alissa and Ethan politely left as they headed to their next destination for the day. Namely the Royal Castle¡¯s armory, where on Ethan¡¯s suggestion they would go ¡°shopping¡± for some weapons to use. While their armor had been made by someone who was arguably the greatest master of the art in the Kingdom and likely won¡¯t get better, weapons were another matter. They both realized that they had so much room for growth in their statistics, and that weapons that might be far too unwieldy for them now might well be something they needed to use in the future to fight properly. As such, what they picked now would be a temporary measure meant to be used until they could use better things more effectively, since they would be able to use increasingly heftier weapons with the same efficiency as their physical prowess increased along with their stats. Fighting was not something that Alissa liked to think about, but at the same time she also accepted the fact that it looked like she would have to do it whether she liked it or not. As such, it was better to be properly prepared for it rather than have it catch up to her at the worst possible time, when she was unprepared to deal with it. 9 - Pointy End Towards Enemy ¡°When they said that there''d been many others before us, I had hoped that at least one of them would¡¯ve invented a gun, but alas,¡± sighed Ethan while the soldier assigned to them led him and Alissa on a tour of sorts of the castle¡¯s Armory. There were all sorts of melee and projectile weapons either standing on racks or hanging on the walls, but the most modern thing Ethan saw there were at most some crossbows that had pulleys and winches on them, as well as a couple bows that had a similar system. ¡°Ah, Chosen One must have referred to the Forlorn Weapon,¡± said the soldier with an understanding nod. The soldier in question was a young woman with freckles on her cheeks that looked barely any older than Ethan and Alissa, though she carried herself with a firm confidence in her steps that the two youngsters lacked. ¡°What do you mean forlorn?¡± he asked. ¡°Our history books recorded many attempts from summoned heroes to reproduce some sort of weapon from their world, that had always ended in failure no matter what. Several cases even caused destruction that claimed many lives in the failed attempts, so it had since become a story used to warn future heroes about it,¡± explained the young soldier. ¡°My father also worked in the Royal Armory before me, so our family was very familiar with the stories if you¡¯re interested.¡± ¡°So you said every attempt to recreate these¡­ weapons always end in failure?¡± ¡°That is so. The smaller scale attempts usually ended with a maimed worker or two, or at worst a death when the weapon exploded in their faces. Larger scale attempts had resulted in destroyed smithies and fires that consumed entire blocks of buildings before,¡± explained the young woman with a nod. ¡°Nobody is certain why, but some said that such weapons were cursed and the gods would not suffer their existence in this world.¡± ¡°So someone or something in this world really doesn¡¯t like guns for some reason, got it. Guess we¡¯ll have to chalk off the gun production ideas off the plan for now,¡± said Ethan. Alissa recognized the obvious regret in his voice, and knew that he had really been thinking about doing it before. ¡°I guess that narrowed down our options some.¡± ¡°Anyway, as nice as all these are,¡± said Ethan as he gestured to encompass the various weapons that glimmered around them, artifacts that very clearly glimmered with power even to Alissa¡¯s untrained senses. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯d be able to use these in our current states, won¡¯t we? Could you bring us to the section with things that¡¯d be more suitable for our current capabilities? Ideally it¡¯d be things that could last us a tier or two if there¡¯s any.¡± ¡°Certainly, Chosen One,¡± said the young soldier with a polite bow. She then made a sweeping gesture as she led them back towards the areas near the entrance of the armory. ¡°If you would please follow me? The equipment you asked for is this way.¡± ****************************** Ten minutes later¡­ ¡°So you¡¯d suggest this, huh?¡± asked Alissa to her old friend as she weighed the spear in her hand. The weapon had a long shaft of hardwood and a slim blade that tapered greatly to a very sharp point socketed on one end. The other end also had a simple conical metal spike covering it, which allowed both ends to be used offensively. The weapon itself was half again as long as Alissa was tall, and she thought she was already tall enough at six foot one. ¡°I mean, no offense, Allie, but You¡¯ve never really used anything deadlier than a kitchen knife in your life, haven¡¯t you?¡± asked Ethan as he tried to mollify her somewhat. It was honestly an unnecessary gesture on his part, as Alissa knew what Ethan had meant. She was indeed a complete beginner when it comes to things like fighting and weapons and the likes, and she admitted to it. ¡°A spear¡¯s about as simple as it gets for a beginner to use. Point the pointy end towards the enemy and just try to stab ¡®em before they can get behind it.¡± ¡°Using it with a shield as well, though?¡± asked Alissa with some uncertainty as she hefted the shield Ethan chose for her with her left arm. The shield was a kite shield, a design that was wider at the top but tapered to a point at the bottom half. The whole thing was strapped to her forearm, with a grip she could grab with her hand for more stability. It looked sturdy enough, made out of wood covered with leather and secured with a metal rim. ¡°Try holding the spear around the halfway point,¡± suggested Ethan to his old friend. Alissa shifted her grip as he suggested, and suddenly found the long spear far easier to carry and use. It remained a rather unwieldy thing, though, with its length. ¡°Once you get used to it then you can shift your grip further backwards, until you¡¯re comfortable with that, then repeat as needed. In the end you¡¯d want to be able to use it even while holding it from the other end.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± said Alissa as she gave a couple practice thrusts into empty air with the spear. It was a foreign movement to her, so she understood entirely too well what Ethan meant, and she also got his logic. She was a complete beginner at this sort of thing, and it was better for her to get used to something simpler rather than more complicated things. ¡°What about this sword?¡± ¡°Ah, you¡¯d want to keep that in its sheath until something comes way too close for you to use the spear,¡± said Ethan in reply. The sword she meant was a one-handed, single-edged blade with a slight curvature that terminated into a sharp point that was narrower than the rest of the blade. The upper end flared slightly outward and curved stronger, which probably made it more suitable for forceful chops, she thought. ¡°Use the spear as much as you can, then drop it and use the sword when, not if, something gets too close.¡± ¡°Makes sense, I guess,¡± admitted Alissa as she leaned the spear against a wall and drew the sword - Ethan called it a Falchion she recalled - from its scabbard by her waist. The blade was light in her hand, very light in fact, probably not more than a couple pounds at most, and barely as long as her forearm in total length. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. The light blade turned and moved with extreme ease, and she understood why Ethan had pointed it out to her over the other blades present around them. Some of the other blades were massive, almost as long as Alissa was tall, though all of them also looked a good bit thinner and lighter than she had expected, especially when she compared it to the ones she saw further in the armory. Some of the weapons deeper in the armory resembled things she recalled seeing in Ethan¡¯s video games a lot, like swords with blades nearly as wide as her torso, or hammers and axes with heads so large she doubted even strongmen would be able to lift them, much less make proper use of them. She guessed that as their levels increase, their stats would too, which would in turn enable them to perform superhuman feats like using some of the grossly oversized examples she saw. ¡°Oh. Right. You used to do track and field before you switched to B-Ball around high school, right?¡± asked Ethan as he noticed something amongst a pile of weapons in the armory. ¡°Yeah, mostly in the long jump and javelin throw, why?¡± asked Alissa back. She used to have some interest in track and field when she was younger, though once her growth spurt hit the basketball coach instantly scooped her up, and she proved almost exactly as good at basketball as what he expected. Some of her old track and field experience probably helped with that as well. ¡°Try carrying these on your back, see if they get in the way,¡± said Ethan as he tossed her some sort of quiver, though rather than an open one, it had six connected circular tubes, each of which contained something solid within. Alissa did as Ethan asked and found that it was pretty comfortable to carry, then she pulled out one of the things it contained out of curiosity. What she found in her hand was a three foot long spear with a sharp metal tip that had a triangular cross section. The shaft was notably smaller and the whole thing was much lighter than the long spear she had, but she noticed the way they were balanced, and quickly reversed her grip on them as she felt their weight some more in her hands, the pose she took not unlike one with a javelin in hand. ¡°Throwing spears, huh? Neat.¡± she said with a nod. When she held the slender javelin the weight and feel of the balance instantly reminded her of the javelins she used to hurl during track and field practice, so she slipped into the pose naturally once it came to mind. ¡°Yeah. Think those were called Jerrids or something like that? Not too sure. My dad¡¯s the one who geeks out over stuff like these. Gotta say I¡¯m glad he kept dragging me over to them though. Never expected the shit I learned there would come in handy like this,¡± said Ethan with a smile on his face. ¡°Come to think of it, I should get myself a set as well. These¡¯ll be easier to use than throwing axes for sure.¡± ¡°Good idea, yea,¡± said Alissa as she nodded, still getting a feel of the javelin in her hand as she looked towards Ethan once more. ¡°What¡¯s that piece you got there, by the way? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen one of those before?¡± ¡°Oh, this? This is called a pollaxe,¡± said Ethan as he lifted the weapon he had set leaning against the wall next to him. The weapon was noticeably shorter than Alissa¡¯s own long spear. It was about as long as Ethan was tall, so about an inch or two more than her height, and had a spike on one end and a spearhead on the other. That was where the similarity ended though. Underneath the spearhead was an axehead set perpendicular to the shaft, counter-balanced by a hammerhead on the opposite side, as well as two more shorter spikes on the other two sides of the shaft. Ethan held in it both hands unlike how he showed her to hold the spear, and gave a couple swings with the pollaxe to demonstrate to her. ¡°I figured since dad would drag me over to his gang every now and then I might as well have fun there. Got pretty good with something real close to this one,¡± he said as he deftly struck through the air with the weapon. ¡°When I saw that they got one like this in the armory, it was an easy choice, really. Now I just need to find a shield that could be modified to attach to my armor¡¯s shoulder so I could have one to some degree while using this.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Y¡¯know¡­ just kinda have it like hang off the shoulder while maybe strapped to my upper arm or so. Won¡¯t be much use other than for things coming from that side, but I can always unlatch it and use it normally when I need to,¡± said Ethan as he struggled to properly describe what he meant to Alissa. His gesturing allowed her to get at least part of the idea, though. She noticed that he also picked out a short sword for himself, one even shorter than the one he picked for her, though it had a double-edged leaf-shaped blade. It reminded her a lot of the sort she saw in history classes about the roman period, though with a different kind of handle and guard compared to those. ¡°Gonna use that one with the shield, huh?¡± ¡°This? Yeah. It¡¯s a short one but that¡¯s what the shield¡¯s for. Figured it¡¯d be better for me to stand in front and intercede while you stab ¡®em from the back with that spear, rather than the other way around,¡± said Ethan with a nod. ¡°I mean, nothing against you, Allie, but you¡¯re the one who¡¯s way newer and less prepared for all this. At least I got some things I learnt before that I can use in this sort of situation.¡± ¡°I get it, no worry,¡± she said with a shake of her head. ¡°Won¡¯t deny that all this¡­ getting summoned into another world and made to fight some great evil isn¡¯t going all the way over my head. I¡¯m just not stupid enough to have a breakdown over it. Not like having a mental breakdown would help us get out of this situation anyway.¡± ¡°Heh. I get ya. Just gotta hope that prick Smith gets his mind in the right place sooner rather than later. From what we¡¯ve known so far we¡¯re already batting while down a man. Wouldn¡¯t do to be down another before things even get started,¡± he replied. ¡°Either way, I expect they¡¯d have people who know how to use all sorts of stuff ready to teach us, since they gave us free rein of this place. I can¡¯t wait.¡± ****************************** The next day, Ethan¡¯s guess proved to be correct, as a grizzled old knight with one eye and a fake leg - noticeable from the way he walked - was assigned to teach them how to use their weapons. Alissa had to admit that the old knight reminded her of her trainer back in the track and fields club, just with several times the intensity. He had them drill various basic movements with the weapons until their arms felt almost like it would fall off from the fatigue. The old knight - Sir Henri Inolet by name - insisted that they train until they could execute the movements without thinking, until it became a reflex to them, or as he said it more descriptively¡­ a second nature. ¡°Once you have those movements as a second nature to you, to the point that you can instinctively react properly with them even if someone were to ambush you in your sleep, that¡¯s when you can call yourself a proper warrior!¡± said the old knight. To his credit, despite his disabilities, the old knight joined them during the drills and showed them examples of what he meant first-hand. The old man even sparred with both of them at the same time and handily served them their collective asses on a silver platter to boot, which to be fair was no surprise, as despite his handicap, the old man was a fourth-tier elite of the Kingdom after all. He was crude with his words at times, and very demanding of his ¡°students¡±, but neither Ethan nor Alissa could deny that the man knew what he was doing. By the third day of training, Alissa got to the point where the old knight gave some approval to the way she used the spear and sword both. Ethan had achieved his approval with his use of the pollaxe even earlier, but then again, he had more experience - if not that much - compared to her in that sort of thing. On the other hand, when it came to their training with the throwing spears they got for themselves, things went the other way around. Once Alissa fixed her form - because throwing a javelin in combat focused more on force and accuracy rather than distance - she easily landed her javelins - or Jarids as the locals called them - accurately into vital spots on the training target most of the time. In contrast, Ethan had a hard time even hitting the target to begin with at first, at least until Alissa pointed out that it wasn¡¯t too different from how he¡¯d thrown a football across the field, just in a more direct way. Then he started nailing the practice target with his throws better. They were even accompanied by Joshua on the practice field at times from the fourth day onward. Joshua mostly remained taciturn and quiet as he practiced with a crossbow - as his class related more to magic most of his learning was done in the libraries of the castle rather than the practice field, as the weapons practice was more for emergencies - but at least he was present, if still looking rather shell-shocked somewhat by the situation they were caught up in. Time flew quickly as they trained in the day, and wrestled with their thoughts at night, but before the three of them knew it, a month already passed since the day they were first summoned into this world. The old knight had considered them ¡°adequate¡± in skill when the King asked him for his assessment of them, and for the first time, the newly summoned heroes were sent out on their first hunt. Into the dungeon. X - All You Can Hunt (And Eat) Buffet You have defeated [Shadowfang Nightcrawler Lvl35]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You have leveled to level 19! +1 Free Major stat point gained! -1 Sanity gained! +0.5 Willpower Gained! +0.5 Intuition Gained! Esperanza tried to ignore the happenings within her body as best as she could, the way the nightcrawler - some sort of large lizard with far too many sharp teeth for her liking that hunted from above the trees and often fell upon its unsuspecting prey - thrashed and fought for dear life as her amorphous shape simply engulfed it in its entirety and slowly squeezed the life out of it. She had replicated the beast¡¯s own favorite hunting method and subjected it to its own medicine as she waited atop a tall branch until one of the beasts climbed the same tree and perched itself on a lower branch to wait for prey. It never saw her coming as she fell and ¡°swallowed¡± the thing within a fell swoop, her body gulping it down like an amoeba devouring its prey. To capture the beast was not difficult, but she found it harder to kill. The Nightcrawler¡¯s scales and flesh were hard, hard enough that the fangs on the top of the ¡°mouths¡± that tipped the appendages she created to assault the beast trapped within her failed to find any purchase. Neither had she the strength to twist and break the creature. As such, Esperanza fell back to a simpler method. She simply enveloped the creature in an airtight embrace within her flesh, one that gave it no room to move its limbs much despite its best efforts as she would simply just bounce right back and encase it once more. Then she waited until the nightcrawler suffocated to its death. Esperanza took a glimpse to her statsheet shortly after she heard the notification of the nightcrawler¡¯s death. Compared to the first six levels she gained in the flurry at the temple, the last month or so of hunting in the woods had been much slower, if still a lucrative way to obtain experience. She understood that sapient beings like people apparently gave more experience compared to animals and monsters, as Oldies told her, and she had to admit that the first couple weeks of hunting had been often rather disastrous as well. The first few days, she could barely control her ever-contorting form. It felt almost as if she was trying to walk while being drunk and high at the same time, so needless to say she caught no animals during those days. After she managed to gain a measure of control over her amorphous shape, the next thing she had to learn was how to conceal the aura she gave out, consequences of one of her skills and her prolonged exposure to Oldies. That took another skill before she properly managed to keep it under control. During the week or so she took to gain that skill, she had to subsist off things that were either too dumb to translate her aura into danger like grubs and other simple bugs or wild fruits, as well as eggs from bird¡¯s nests and the likes. Those were sufficient to barely keep her alive, but even the strongest of the grubs were only equivalent to a human halfway through their first tier and gave her poor experience as a result. When she managed to conceal her aura and control her movements well enough to actually hunt something, she quickly learned that it was something far easier said than done. Her first ten or so attempts got her nothing for the exertion, and more than once, she overestimated herself and tried to hunt something that turned the tables and preyed on her instead. Thank fuck for [Respawn]. Esperanza chose to return to life where she was since she was at least already familiar with the surrounding terrain, rather than risk respawning somewhere even worse. Eventually, she managed to get things into a working groove, and gained more skills that made things easier to hunt and level. She gained roughly a level a day over the past two weeks in her hunts. The way she allocated her stats remained mostly focused on evening out her attributes more. From the weekly conversation with Oldies she sort of guessed that her classes would likely focus more on the Soul attribute overall, but that was already covered by the free stats she gained every level up. On the other hand, there was no harm in ensuring that she could do something without having to rely entirely on her Soul attribute either. Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl19]/???/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 30 - Dexterity : 29 This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. - Constitution : 31 - Intelligence : 21 - Perception : 20 - Wisdom : 18 - Willpower : 26 - Intuition : 23 - Sanity : -96 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] General Skills: She certainly felt the benefits from the more evenly allocated stat points. Her body felt far more limber and agile compared to¡­ well¡­ ever before, including the times when she was still human. Her mind also felt clearer, thoughts and ideas coming to her more easily and solutions coming to mind faster than ever. The improvements to her soul she could not really tell much, but it likely helped in its own way. Apparently [Fleshweaving] and [Shape Alteration] were skills that were semi-enforced by her new body, skills that gave her more overall control over her undulating shape, that allowed her not only to change her shape almost at will but also to grow things like teeth and eyes where there had been none before. The sensory overload was a pain to handle at first, and still gave her the equivalent of a headache even now, but it was getting better. Esperanza naturally tried many times to shift her shape to one that resembles a human more, but had no luck so far. It was one thing to temporarily shift herself to envelop a creature and another to form herself into an intricate facsimile of her previous human form and hold it. She lacked the fine control to hold such a transformation for long or do things in that form, however. That said, Oldies told her that the skills she gained in her first class would likely evolve and become stronger as she reached the next tier, so she had hopes. [Consume] was rather self-explanatory. The skill allowed her to devour a creature and temporarily gain part of its stats for a brief period of time. She could see it being useful in a pitched battle against many, and used it as she hunted just to train the skill, even if the method it demanded was something she felt a tad revolting to do. [Gauze of Oblivion] looked somewhat superfluous with her [Aura Control] at first, as the skill allowed her to erase her presence - she could still be detected in more direct and physical ways - entirely, as if she had not existed at all. On the other hand, [Aura Control] allowed her to project her aura to make the beasts think she was somewhere else after she got a few levels into it. It allowed her to drive prey straight to her waiting maw on more than one occasion. She even learned to mimic the aura of other creatures with [Aura Control]. Esperanza felt some excitement at the prospect of growing stronger. She was uncertain whether that excitement was a natural reaction, or something linked to her current form or her possibly broken mind, but had not really cared too much about it either way. While living like a beast in some wild primordial jungle was a thought that never crossed her mind, she could not deny that there was some¡­ appeal to such a simple life where all one could afford to worry about was survival and one¡¯s next meal. Perhaps that was why some people shunned society and chose to live in seclusion in her previous world too, she thought. In the past month, Esperanza thought she was glad to have the weekly conversation with Oldies. They were probably the only thing that kept her sane and not reverting to a beast that ran on instincts and allowed her to keep the fact that she used to be human in mind. To the present day, she was still somewhat uncertain whether what Oldies said was the unblemished truth, or whether they were simply trying to manipulate her for their own use. Not like she cared too much either way. She had a second chance at living for the moment, after she had resigned herself to the embrace of death in her previous world. That alone was already far more than she had ever expected, and she had resolved to at least enjoy this second life of hers as much as she could, all else be damned. She would still help Oldies if she could, as if they had not lied to her, they were likely the lesser evil in this case. It was something she would have to see for herself, still, as her only foray into the more civilized portions of this world had been that brief tussle in the temple, which had most certainly not endeared her to the locals back there. Fortunately enough, Oldies also had similar thoughts in mind, though they warned her that attempting to reach most of the present societies in her current form would have¡­ detrimental results at best. She understood as much, and thought the same. Even so, she still starved somewhat for interaction with other people, and as a compromise, Oldies promised to lead her to one of the hidden enclaves that still worshiped him, after she reached her second tier and hopefully more control over her form. That was a goal she set for herself in the short term, and the reason for her hunting spree for the past couple of weeks. Now that she was only a single level short of her goal, she had the thought of once again trying to fight the one beast that had been responsible for the times she was forced to respawn in the past. The overlord of the local area, The apex of the food chain of the region. With the help of her [Tracking] skill Esperanza started to look for traces of the beast¡¯s presence in the region. It took her most of the day before she finally caught on to the presence of a footstep at a softer area of the ground that matched that of her quarry. From that spot, she searched the surroundings for more tracks and other traces of the beast. The presence of several trees that had parts of their bark peeled off around head height, coupled with a strange musky scent that smelt like it had been rubbed into the exposed inner bark of the trees, clued Esperanza that she had reached a place that the beast had marked as part of its territory. The general sparseness of wildlife in the area made her doubly certain that she was in the right place. After all, none of the other predators in the area dared to tread into the overlord¡¯s territory, and kept their distance everytime the beast was out on a hunt. Once she entered the beast¡¯s territory, Esperanza activated her [Gauze of Oblivion] and slithered up onto a tree to prevent herself from being spotted. From the height, she looked for traces and signs of the beast while she slowly proceeded towards what she assumed to be the center of the beast¡¯s territory as a whole. Her guess proved validated when a few hours later she spotted her quarry as it lazily dozed under the glow of the setting sun. The [Tyrant-Claw Ursine]. The largest and strongest beast in the region that had no match nor any competitor for its claim as the overlord of the region. The only third-tier equivalent beast in the vicinity. The quarry Esperanza had chosen to gain her final first-tier level from. 11 - Into the (Not so) Deep Dungeon There were a lot more people than Alissa had expected for the heroes¡¯ first dungeon trip. There were the three of them of course, she herself, Ethan, and Joshua ¨C who still looked rather jittery and was mostly taciturn compared to usual but was present regardless ¨C were all geared up to the neck and had their respective weapons in hand. Alissa and Ethan wore their helmets, open-faced designs that also covered their cheeks and the backs of their necks, while Joshua had lighter gear since apparently mage types did not mesh that well with heavy armor in this world. Instead he had a hooded robe-like garment that Alissa thought looked very similar to the silk used to make the outer and inner layers of her gambeson, with a vest made from what seemed to be leather on top of it, one with many pockets filled with various sorts of things. He also carried a long staff that had a gem embedded on one end and had a crossbow slung behind his back. Arrayed next to them were their escort group of twenty hand-picked members from both the Royal Guards ¨C soldiers that served directly under the King ¨C and the temple guards ¨C ones loyal to the High Priest over the King ¨C which couldn¡¯t look more different. The Royal Guards were dressed almost like medieval European warriors, in a combination not unlike what Ethan wore, if less finely made ones. The Temple Guards on the other hand looked more like greek or roman warriors come to life. All of the chosen members ¨C ten for each ¨C were young men and women, in their late teens to early twenties, and all of them were also around the same ¡°power¡± level of the heroes presently were, namely that they were around the middle to the late stages of their second tier. The idea was supposedly to have these members tag along with the heroes and help them out whichever way they were needed, as both groups would grow in power together, the heroes gaining trustworthy companions in the long run while the Guards gained a faster leveling by accompanying the heroes to dangerous places. Probably in an attempt to make the heroes more receptive to the guards, Alissa recognized many of the faces amongst the temple guards. Four of the ten had been amongst those that had fought off the thing in the temple back then, and they greeted her with polite nods. Amongst the Royal Guards, Alissa also noted Moira¡¯s presence, the young female soldier who had been their guide to the Royal Armory. Apparently she too had been shifted from her post to accompany the heroes. Of course, neither the temple nor the royal family had been foolish enough to toss them into the dungeon with just those members, even if the dungeon in question had been recorded to only contain creatures with a level range of five to thirty-seven. The group had guards, or rather, chaperones attached to them from both factions, again people the heroes already knew. On the Temple¡¯s side was Cerilla, who had been the priestess in charge of the Hero Summoning that brought them to this world, and had often accompanied them over the past month, accompanied by another young woman in the same priestly garb she introduced as Vesta, who had apparently been Joshua¡¯s ¡°minder¡± and had helped him get over his funk. Vesta was an all-rounder sort of priest in her early third tier, while Cerilla was a healing-focused one in her late third tier. Representing the King¡¯s side was Sir Inolet, who despite his handicaps was after all well in his fourth tier and could still hold his own against beasts of that level without much issue. Along with him was Magus Drummond, an old bald man with long white beard who had tutored Joshua in the magic arts, who was also in his fourth tier, if lower in level compared to the old knight. If things went as planned, then they would not need to lift a finger during the expedition. The rest of the guards would fight and help the heroes gain levels and power, and benefit from the effort, but the higher tier ones were there to guard in case the unexpected occurred. Of course, given that the fourth tier was generally already the peak of power ¨C the fifth tier being something only heard about once in a century or so outside of the summoned heroes ¨C in the Kingdom, the chances of there being any trouble they could not solve this close to the capital was negligible. The Dungeon itself was pretty underwhelming overall. It was located on the hillside of a small range of hills around a couple hours away from the capital by carriage. There were some guards positioned by the cave opening that served as the Dungeon¡¯s entrance, but oddly enough, there were no other people lined up, which Alissa thought was rather odd. Surely if the world needed levels there would be some who pursued it, no? ¡°There ain¡¯t anybody going to the dungeon? Is it just an unpopular one? You¡¯d have thought that newbie dungeons like these would¡¯ve been the most popular ones,¡± asked Ethan, who clearly also had the same doubts she had. ¡°This place is like, bloody deserted, man.¡± ¡°The crown had requisitioned the Dungeon for our exclusive use,¡± replied Magus Drummond curtly to his question, which met with a nod of confirmation from Cerilla. ¡°We are keeping the summoning of heroes mostly a secret outside the Royal Palace for security purposes, so it does not behoove our intentions to have so many people notice you three out there.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t booking the whole dungeon like this cause the people to have suspicions anyway, though?¡± Alissa asked as she pointed out the obvious. ¡°No they won¡¯t. We do this on a regular basis when one of the Royal Princes or Princesses needs their first proper leveling as well,¡± said Sir Inolet with a wide smirk on his face. Then he turned to the young woman dressed in a Royal Guard outfit to his left, who sat across from Alissa before he continued. ¡°As it happens, Her Royal Highness Princess Nadine here, the Fifth Princess, has yet to do hers.¡± The attention of all three heroes turned to the young woman, who at first glance looked no different than the other Royal Guards. On second look though, Alissa noticed the woman¡¯s light brown, almost golden shade of hair, something she had only previously seen on the King himself when they were introduced. The bright blue eyes the young woman had also matched that of the monarch in question, and she saw similarities in their features as she peered closer. ¡°Is having a Princess amongst those coming with us a good idea? I thought as heroes we¡¯re supposed to head to the frontlines sooner or later,¡± Ethan said as he asked the same question Alissa thought of. Given how the nation they landed in was clearly still in the feudal era where the King held great power, she only thought that it would likely cause a scandal of epic proportions if one of the princesses were injured or worse while tagging along with them. ¡°His Royal Highness has his own considerations, Chosen Ones,¡± said Cerilla in a gentle tone. ¡°The Fifth Princess is not only close to your age, she also had aspirations to be a knight. In fact, to be part of your retinue would be greatly beneficial for her advancement.¡± ¡°How so?¡± asked Alissa. ¡°The quality of every class one could choose from on the second tier onwards are affected by the feats that the individual had done in their life up to that point,¡± said Cerilla calmly as she explained. An unsaid implication from her previous words was that the Fifth Princess was low enough on the succession line that she was allowed to pursue other paths in life. ¡°To accompany the Heroes of the age would be something that greatly benefitted her in this regard.¡± ¡°I kinda get that. So basically the greater the stuff you did before getting to a new tier, the better the options offered, right?¡± said Ethan. ¡°If specific things like¡­ beating that thing in the temple and accompanying us heroes count¡­ then I assume the classes they would get offered on their next tier would be something particularly good, or at least unique then?¡± ¡°That is so. It behooves me to see that you understood this world so well, Chosen One,¡± replied Cerilla with a nod and a smile. ¡°Just falling back to what I already know, is all,¡± said Ethan humbly. Their attention was soon drawn away from the conversation when the carriage they rode in stopped near the entrance to the dungeon. Sir Inolet opened the door and walked out first, while Cerilla was the last one out, conveniently making sure that the Heroes and the Princess were safe between them. Behind their carriage another two carriages which had the rest of their retinue also stopped and the guards stepped out from them in an orderly manner. With disciplined precision, the guards arrayed themselves in a neat formation. They seemed to have come to an agreement between themselves, and split up into four groups, one in each cardinal direction around where the Heroes and the Princess was. Sir Inolet, Magus Drummond, Cerilla, and Vesta stood just behind the Heroes, between them and the four royal guards who served as their rear guard. The soldiers stationed by the dungeon entrance seemed to have awaited their arrival, as their group was waved inside without question. Five of the Royal Guards including Moira stood at the forefront of the formation, while each of their flanks were guarded by five Temple Guards each. The Dungeon¡¯s entrance was almost like the maw of a beast that waited to engulf all those who entered, but of course no such thing happened. In fact, once they were within the Dungeon proper, Alissa realized that it was nowhere near as dark ¨C or damp ¨C as she had assumed it would be. While the inside of the dungeon was by no means well-lit, there grew some luminescent moss and mushrooms from the walls and floor here and there which gave a modicum of light to see with inside the cave. It was bright enough that there was no need to light a torch, but also still quite dim that sometimes Alissa was uncertain whether there was something in the shadows or not. ¡°The creatures here are very sensitive to bright lights, which is why we didn¡¯t light a torch,¡± explained Moira as she hung back a bit to explain to the heroes. ¡°Sensitive in what way?¡± asked Ethan. ¡°If their eyes are hurt from bright light we could use that to our advantage.¡± ¡°No such convenient thing, I¡¯m afraid, Chosen One,¡± replied Moira with a shake of her head. She had a crossbow in her hands like another two Royal Guards, while their two fellows further in the front carried maces and shields in their hands. ¡°Rather, the things here flock to bright light, even if it was around obstacles. They had some sort of sense for it, which is why we didn¡¯t light any torches. The ambient lighting on the other hand would not attract them since they were used to it. For the same reason I would recommend that Chosen Joshua not use magic of the Fire or Lightning variety, as those would have the same effect.¡± ¡°You know, although we¡¯re already in the dungeon, I don¡¯t think anyone mentioned one thing so far,¡± said Alissa as she interjected from the side with a question. ¡°Like, what sort of beast or monster could we expect in this dungeon? Their weakness maybe, or anything we could abuse to our advantage?¡± ¡°Fair question. We call the beasts that inhabit this dungeon as the Winged Scavengers. Despite the name, only higher level creatures are even capable of flight. Most of the lower level ones would just hobble around the ground and are of relatively minimal threat to anyone who knew what they¡¯re doing-¡± Explained Moira before she turned and pointed towards the distance. ¡°Aha, there are some coming over there.¡± When Alissa and Ethan looked at the place Moira pointed at, it took them a moment before they managed to notice the shifting form in the shadows. Joshua on the other hand seemed occupied in some conversation with Vesta and Magus Drummond and had not noticed. The shapes in the darkness seemed about as high as an adult¡¯s waist, and shifted with an odd gait where they used their long arms to help balance out their much shorter legs. Both Alissa and Ethan recognized the creatures and blurted out a curse at almost the same time. ¡°Goddamned bats.¡± 12 - Blind is He as any Bat that (Failed to) Flitter. ¡°Use your Jarids first,¡± said Sir Inolet quietly from behind the party. ¡°The guards will keep them at bay for now. No reason not to get yourself a few levels first before you start to fight them in melee.¡± Both Alissa and Ethan nodded at the old knight¡¯s words, but it was actually Joshua that beat them to the punch after he received similar instructions from Magus Drummond. The bespectacled boy ¨C fortunately the world they were currently in was advanced enough to have corrective lenses so he would not be rendered useless if he lost his glasses ¨C raised his crossbow to his shoulder like it was a rifle, took aim, and launched the bolt in one smooth motion. His shot missed the head of the Winged Scavenger he aimed for and only tore off part of its ears before the bolt broke itself against the hard stone of the cavern¡¯s wall. ¡°The fuck!? I never missed with a rifle at this range!¡± complained Joshua even as he lowered his bow and worked the winch attached to its back to span it once more. All his shot did was to anger the Winged Scavenger, its shrill cry piercing their eardrums somewhat, though none of them did more than flinch slightly at it. ¡°Maybe you ought to have spent more time practicing with that crossbow instead of thinking of it like a rifle!¡± chimed Ethan in even as he hurled one of the Jarids he carried in the holster on his back. Both he and Alissa had practiced quite a bit with the short javelins, got themselves accustomed to its weight, and called back on their experience in the previous world where it applied. As a result, the two javelins they hurled found their target unerringly. Ethan¡¯s pierced all the way through the chest of the same Winged Scavenger Joshua clipped with his bolt, while Alissa¡¯s throw struck another directly between the eye, the throw forceful enough for the javelin to pierce deep into the creature¡¯s skull with its point even protruding out from the back of its skull. Both of them also heard the notifications in their minds right afterwards. You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Lvl12]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself! You have leveled to level 2! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Strength Gained, +1 Dexterity Gained, +1 Constitution Gained! You have leveled to level 3! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Intelligence Gained, +1 Perception Gained, +1 Wisdom Gained! You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Lvl13]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! You have leveled to level 2! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Strength Gained, +0.5 Dexterity Gained, +0.5 Constitution Gained! ¡°Oh, come on!¡± complained Ethan when he saw the notice in his mind. ¡°How come clipping the damn thing on the ear counts as contributing to the kill!? Not fair!¡± ¡°That¡¯s called working using your brain rather than your brawn, Greene,¡± chipped in Joshua from behind them as he shouldered his crossbow and launched another bolt, this time catching a creature right in the belly. The injury he dealt was probably fatal, but it was not immediately so as the wounded creature just threw itself at a guard¡¯s shield like a rabid animal. ¡°Less talking, more killing! Finish off the enemies before you even think about anything else!¡± barked Sir Inolet sternly at the young heroes. Both Joshua and Ethan shut their mouths at the old knight¡¯s command while Alissa pretended to not have noticed the argument as she hurled another Jarid and finished off the creature Joshua wounded. Her throw found the creature¡¯s eye and went deep into its brain once more. What followed was pretty much a massacre. There were around a dozen of the creatures in the pack they ran into, with levels ranging from eight to fifteen. None of them proved much of a threat to the second-tier guard around the Heroes, who just repelled the creatures¡¯ advances so as to allow the heroes to finish the beasts off for experience and levels. The battle lasted less than five minutes before all the beasts lay still on the floor. To Joshua¡¯s frustration, he failed to score a single clean kill over the whole battle, with either Alissa or Ethan finishing off the beasts he struck but failed to kill. On the other hand, the two had killed six of the beasts each, none of them needing a second throw of their javelins. Even the level-up notification seemed to mock Joshua as he knew that the other two likely gained more levels than he did as they managed to get several kills entirely on their own. You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Lvl9]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! You have leveled to level 5! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +0.5 Intelligence Gained, +0.5 Perception Gained, +0.5 Wisdom Gained! You Have Learned the Class Skill [Calm Mind Lvl1]! ¡°Okay, everything¡¯s dead,¡± he heard Greene say in that confident timbre of his, something that annoyed Joshua a lot. His fellow classmate seemed all too comfortable with their current situation, all too confident and prepared. ¡°What should we do with the free points from the levels we got so far? Up to us or do you have any suggestions on what¡¯s more efficient?¡± ¡°If you could enlighten us on the gains from your classes, we might be able to advise better,¡± said Magus Drummond as his hand ran through his beard, a habit he had when he was pondering over matters. ¡°Ah, do not inform us on the exact values, as those are secrets best kept to yourselves and those you trust with your lives. Just inform us on the general direction of the stat gains you have achieved.¡± ¡°It¡­ keeps changing from one attribute to the next every level, and gives out equal amounts to everything,¡± Alissa said. ¡°I think it wants me to go generalist from the looks of it? Jack of all trades sort maybe?¡± ¡°All Body with a focus on strength here,¡± replied Ethan. ¡°Pretty much what I expected since I¡¯m a [Warrior] and all.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°All Mind, even distribution,¡± said Joshua after the others finished their reporting. ¡°Then I would recommend either following what the class itself focused on, or shoring up your deficiencies. If you intend to do things physically, then shoring up your Body some more this early on would create a sturdy foundation that paid dividends in the future. The same applies with Mind for magic and Soul for the Priestly arts,¡± said Magus Drummond. ¡°Do you have anything to add, Sir Inolet?¡± ¡°Not much. You two should use your points to balance out your Body stats since you lean into physical fighting anyway, while you might be better off focusing on your Mind. You¡¯re probably one of the worst shots with a crossbow I¡¯ve ever seen,¡± said the old knight, referring to Alissa and Ethan, then Joshua in turn. Joshua seemed to seethe a bit at the old man¡¯s judgment but held his tongue. The three of them then distributed their free points as they were advised to, and took a look at their screens. Name : Alissa Faith O¡¯Connor Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Hero Lvl7]/???/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 21 - Dexterity : 21 - Constitution : 21 - Intelligence : 14 - Perception : 13 - Wisdom : 12 - Willpower : 13 - Intuition : 14 - Sanity : 12 Skills: Class 1: [Hero] General Skills: Name : Ethan Louie Greene Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Warrior Lvl7]/???/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 30 - Dexterity : 20 - Constitution : 25 - Intelligence : 10 - Perception : 11 - Wisdom : 10 - Willpower : 10 - Intuition : 9 - Sanity : 10 Skills: Class 1: [Warrior] General Skills: Name : Joshua Smith Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Mage Lvl5]/???/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 9 - Dexterity : 10 - Constitution : 9 - Intelligence : 22 - Perception : 20 - Wisdom : 22 - Willpower : 12 - Intuition : 10 - Sanity : 10 Skills: Class 1: [Mage] General Skills: ¡°You have learned the [Elemental Mastery] skill? Good. That means you can start making use of those lessons you¡¯ve learned so far in practice,¡± said Magus Drummond with a nod when Joshua reported the skill he gained to him. ¡°[Calm Mind] on its own isn¡¯t that great, but it has the potential to evolve into greater skills in the future. My own mentor had his evolve into [Parallel Thought] which allowed him to cast multiple spells at the same time. That¡¯s a good long-term skill.¡± ¡°Understood, master,¡± said Joshua with a nod, somewhat pleased that the skill he got had more potential, if in the future. ¡°That said, I would recommend raising your Body attribute by at least half again its current state before you reach your next tier. Having a too lopsided stat distribution rarely gives as many good options as a slightly more balanced but still focused one,¡± continued the old Magus. ¡°It would also be greatly useful from a practical perspective for you to have more stamina than a wet noodle.¡± ¡°How much Body value do you have then, master?¡± asked Joshua as he seethed a bit at the jab. He knew he was definitely less fit compared to his fellow classmates, but that was a no-brainer. Those two had been athletes on the level of getting sports-based scholarships offered to them already! Of course they would be far fitter than he was! ¡°Enough that I can crush most second tier and early third tier knights in a barehanded fight, boy,¡± replied the Magus with a smirk on his face to the question. ¡°As you increase in tiers your class will generally give more stats on each level, so you can use the free points to compensate for your weaknesses even more. The increase isn¡¯t that great on the second tier, or even the third, but from the fourth onward it gets really noticeable. Based on my knowledge as summoned heroes your current level gains should match second tier classes at the very least.¡± On the side, Sir Inolet huddled close to Ethan and Alissa as they asked him various questions about the skills they had recently gained. The old knight put on a patient face that the young heroes had rarely seen before as he answered their question one after another. ¡°So how come I get only [Weapon Proficiency] while Ethan gets [Weapon Mastery] to play with?¡± asked Alissa, slightly discontent over the differences between the skills they received. ¡°Because those above likely did not intend for the [Hero] to just be another [Warrior],¡± answered the old knight patiently. ¡°You can expect a more diverse selection of skills compared to what Ethan here will receive, with more indirectly beneficial options like your blessing which allows you to strengthen yourself and your allies, instead of his more direct options.¡± ¡°They want you hero-ing it up, Allie, not to be another lug who just whacks things with a big stick. That one¡¯s my job!¡± replied Ethan rather cheerfully. ¡°Also it meshes really well with the skills I got! The buffs from you should stack up with mine from [Raging Bellow] and would really kick me up to high gear. Too bad that skills like those won¡¯t level unless used in real combat, and I only get to use it once a day too!¡± ¡°I still wonder how the hell this system even knows how to separate sparring to real combat, but whatever, I guess,¡± said Alissa. ¡°I get your point. My skill¡¯s also got a day-long cooldown after use, so we¡¯ll save it for whenever we run into a boss in this place that¡¯s hard to handle?¡± ¡°Sounds good to me, Allie,¡± said Ethan. ¡°On that point, rest assured that you will have the chance to practice with it here in the dungeon. A dungeon like this one might be on the shallow end, but it will still take at least three days to clear it thoroughly. During that time I am sure you can find foes deserving to use the skills on,¡± said Sir Inolet with a nod. ¡°Also as far as my knowledge goes, skills that are only usable in real battles like these level faster, and the cooldown time will greatly reduce as they level, so you two should manage to get it going after a while.¡± XIII - A Fight To (More than One) Death As she gazed at the large beast below, Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but to grow more fond than ever of [Gaze Unto the Abyss]. The skill allowed her to get a general glimpse and an estimation of whatever she subjected it to, and had definitely helped a lot with identifying all sorts of both edible and poisonous plants in the forest she was in. From her talks with Oldies, she learned that supposedly there were various kinds of skills that could identify or analyze other beings or objects, but they usually only did one or the other. A skill like [Analysis] and its evolutions generally gave the name and level of whatever they were subjected to. On the other hand, [Identify] and its variants attempted to explain the various properties of the thing being identified, often limited by the caster¡¯s knowledge. Her [Gaze Unto the Abyss] combined both functions at once, which was how she studied her foe carefully from a safe distance. [Tyrant-Claw Ursine Lvl44] A beast native to the southern regions of the continent, greatly resembling a six-legged bear in appearance. Territorial ambush predators, they were capable of great stealth despite their massive sizes and often took their prey unawares. Generally poor in stamina, if one could avoid their ambush and stay on the run, they are likely to give up the chase. Threat Level: Very High It was not the most detailed information, but it served Esperanza¡¯s needs. The first time she had encountered the beast, it had ambushed her, and she only managed to get a glimpse of its level and name before it tore her apart like she was made of wet toilet paper. Of course, that was relatively early in her life at the forest, when she was still in the single-digit level range. She felt more confident in attempting to tackle it now that she was a single level away from the second tier. The beast also robbed her of prey she hunted a couple times, clearly intent on devouring her as well, though she managed to escape from it both times. The first time she barely avoided needing to respawn yet again, while the second time, she actually tried to fight it a little before she realized how far outclassed she was and made her escape. This time things wouldn¡¯t go that way. This time she was the hunter, with the beast as her prey. Carefully and silently, Esperanza moved across tree branches, having made sure that she chose ones that could take the mass of her amorphous form while her eyes were fixated on the slumbering beast below. As much as she tried to make no sound however, she made a mistake when she was close to being above the beast, and part of the branch she was on snapped. The noise almost echoed through the quiet forest. It also woke the beast below her. As she had no room for second thoughts or doubts by then, Esperanza simply leapt down at the beast, her amorphous form thinning and flattening as she fell from the branches. She wanted to wrap around the beast¡¯s head and ideally blind it, maybe suffocate it before it could hurt her too much, but with the beast waking up that just became a far harder task. Her form still fell atop the monster¡¯s face and wrapped all around it, and she immediately tried to strike at its eyes as she felt fangs growing on the tips of the tentacular appendages she thrust towards them. Some of them met something hard and bounced off with likely little to no damage done, but the others met something softer and plunged in. Whatever it was she struck, it hurt the beast as evidenced by the muffled roar it gave out. Esperanza tried to dig deeper, but then a large clawed paw scraped away parts of her body as the beast tried to rip her off its face. Some of the strikes even went through her flattened body and likely wounded the beast¡¯s face, but in its rage it didn¡¯t seem to care. Despite the excruciating pain, she held on and kept trying to push her appendages deeper into the beast¡¯s skull. She did not make it. Eventually the beast tore up so much of her body that she could no longer hold on, then it scraped the rest of her from its face by rubbing it against the rough bark of a nearby tree. Other than the pain, there was little that Esperanza felt, which faded to nothingness as the life was clawed out from her battered form. It felt almost like both an eternity and an instant at the same time, before she was given the choice she had seen every time she had to [Respawn]. You have Died. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Safe Location Without a second thought, Esperanza chose her current location. The feeling of just¡­ floating around in nothing faded away as she felt the now more familiar form of her amorphous body around her, and she took in her surroundings with her many eyes. The sensory overload no longer gave her as bad a headache as it did at first, something she was not sure whether it was because she had gotten used to it or if her mind had just become more inhuman over time. To her dismay, she discovered that the Ursine was still at the same location as well. It looked worse for wear after her attempted murder, of course. On the other hand it was also a beast several times her size that was in pain and very, very angry. It also recognized her as the source of that pain and immediately lunged at her before she could react. Then Esperanza felt the pain of being literally torn apart for the second time in ten minutes or so. After the instant that felt like an eternity ¨C she wondered if everyone who had the [Respawn] skill felt the same way when they died and waited until they revived ¨C passed, Esperanza stubbornly chose to return to her current location once more. Fortunately, this time the Tyrant-Claw Ursine seemed to have left for some unknown reason. She quickly climbed atop a nearby tree and searched for signs of the beast¡¯s tracks from above, but before she could do so, she heard the creature¡¯s heavy steps approach. The beast emerged from the woods on the opposite side of the tree she perched on moments later. Its muzzle dripped with water, so it must have gone for a drink. For the first time since she tried to kill it earlier, she saw the extent of the damage she had done to the beast. Its left eye was a bloody mess that still dripped ichor from the eye socket. Many bleeding wounds also criss-crossed the beast¡¯s muzzle, likely self-inflicted in its attempt to rip her off its face. It looked a bit tired, and clearly irritated. Esperanza stayed silent on her perch atop the tree this time, and waited until the beast laid down by its side and eventually slumbered once more. She made some quick calculations in her mind. The tree she was perched on was a good distance away from the beast, but if she shaped her form into a flat, thin, sheet-like shape, she could glide through the air for quite a while. In the end, she chose to take the chance rather than attempt to get closer like her previous attempt and leapt off the tree as she glided through the air towards the slumbering beast. The beast did not stir throughout her brief flight, and she attempted to control her direction as best she could by undulating parts of her body. She landed right on the beast¡¯s head as she hoped for, and immediately wrapped right around it. The Tyrant-Claw Ursine was naturally awakened by her actions, and was disoriented for a moment which caused it to involuntarily blink its eye. Esperanza did not waste that brief chance and shoved several of her fang-tipped appendages into the eye socket and ruined the beast¡¯s remaining eye right away. The beast went mad with rage, its forepaws carving out chunks of Esperanza¡¯s body while its maw opened and snapped shut with other parts of her amorphous flesh caught between. As if it lost all inhibition from harming itself in the process, the beast tore her apart in short order, likely also carving many bloody grooves on itself with its claws in the process. Esperanza returned ten minutes later and saw the additional injuries that cut through the beast¡¯s tough skin and fur ¨C skin and fur her fangs failed to pierce through ¨C and got an idea. It was a stupid idea all considered, and would only really be viable to someone like her, someone with the [Respawn] skill to whom death was a mere inconvenience and nobody else. Still, it was the best plan she had, so she went for it. Once again she spread her form thin as she latched onto the back of the Tyrant-Claw Ursine. The beast roared in rage as it tried to pry her off its back, but could not reach with its claws. Its form lacked the articulation to reach that far back, so it resorted to slamming its back against the trees in the vicinity, the impacts hard enough to topple some of the unfortunate trees. Those slams also crushed and battered Esperanza¡¯s form, but she latched on regardless while her fanged and clawed appendages tried to pry through the creature¡¯s hide, just to let it know she was still there. After it exerted quite a bit of effort ¨C and more than a dozen felled trees ¨C the beast eventually managed to thoroughly crush Esperanza¡¯s body, and breathed in relief at the end of the infuriating intruder. She just came back ten minutes later, and latched on to different parts of its body, whereby the whole process repeated itself all over again. The bizarre struggle between the two apex predators of the region continued on for a long time, with neither combatant willing to relent and retreat to fight another day. The beast was territorial. It could not fathom the concept of abandoning its home, much less at the threat of a weaker, yet persistent thing like what it fought. Esperanza just fought it with persistence as she entirely relied on being able to return to life for more after every time the beast tore her to shreds or crushed her to a pulp. Over time, the great beast, the tyrant of the region that had never been challenged in all its life, weakened. The Tyrant-Claw Ursine bled from countless wounds it had inflicted on itself with its sharp claws in its effort to remove the clingy intruder. Many other parts of its body were bruised and battered, its bone cracked in some spots from the violence it had subjected itself to. Both of its eyes were ruined messes, and it had lost its sense of hearing as well as its eardrums were pierced through, its inner ears crushed. Its once keen nose had been mangled and it could not even breathe through it, the only thing it could smell being the scent of its own blood. Even its mouth bled profusely, the blood flowing freely from its tongue which looked as if some wild beast had clawed and bitten through parts of it. Before its prone form was its vanquisher, which to all appearances looked like some sort of pale-purplish mound of flesh. A mound of flesh with far too many eyes and toothy maws all over it. The mound of flesh that was Esperanza shambled towards the exhausted beast and wrapped around its head, the beast too weakened to resist. Then she narrowed one of her tentacle-like appendages to a size that would fit through the beast¡¯s ear canals, topped them with fangs, and pierced through what was left of the beast¡¯s inner ear and further, deep into the beast¡¯s brains. There the appendages found little difficulty in reducing the brain into a slurry of blood and brain matter in moments. The long-awaited notification arrived moments after she put an end to the beast¡¯s life. You have defeated [Tyrant-Claw Ursine Lvl44]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of two higher tiers than yourself! You have leveled to level 20! +2 Free Major stat points gained! -2 Sanity gained! +1 Willpower Gained! +1 Intuition Gained! You have gained access to the class [Primordial Devourer]! You have gained access to the class [Formless Predator]! You have gained access to the class [Beast of Gluttony]! You have gained access to the class [Emissary of the Forgotten]! You have gained access to the class [Huntress of Horror]! XIV - (Lots of) Choices ¡°Oldies?¡± asked Esperanza within her mind. Yes, Esperanza? ¡°There¡¯s five options for the second tier class here?¡± she queried once more, the question at the tip of her tongue evident. That is as it should be. The System itself curated classes that matched your experiences and feats, ones that fit the life you had lived in your passage to earn that new tier. We had tried to include some of our influences within, but by and large, the System still held the reins on this field. Are there any problems about it? ¡°Well¡­ from what I can see out of the names the pendejo System seems to think of me as some sort of kill-happy monster that eats everything in my way here,¡± explained Esperanza with some exasperation in her thoughts. ¡°There¡¯s one that¡¯s likely caused by your influence, but there¡¯s also definitely an ongoing theme with the rest. Should I just pick the one that¡¯s likely yours?¡± We recommend that you take a closer look at all of them first, Esperanza. Maybe some of the other paths would suit you better, maybe they would not. We will not advocate which one you should choose, as that choice should be done by yourself, of your own free will and no other. Follow your heart, child, and see where it leads. Tread the path you choose for yourself rather than the one pioneered by others, unless that was the way you had chosen for yourself. Either way, evolving into the second tier brings many advantages, so one way or another, whatever you end up choosing will be beneficial for you in some manner, at the very least. ¡°If you say so. Guess I got time to take a closer look for myself before deciding one way or another anyway¡­ Mierda,¡± mumbled Esperanza with some exasperation. She would have liked a bit more guidance from the supposed patron god that had made her current existence possible, but they seemed to be the completely hands-off sort rather than the meddling type. In a way, she was thankful for that, as it also gave her a lot more freedom than she had expected, but at times like these, she wished they might be a bit more hands-on. With a sigh, she turned her attention back towards the status screen that hovered before her. Fortunately she was allowed to take a closer inspection on all the options even without needing to use her skills. That was probably something the system intentionally did, so as to allow people to make more informed choices without needing to consult experts on the matter. [Primordial Devourer] You are a being from the primordial times, long unseen by the world brought back to life. All that stands in your path shall be devoured and made into a part of you. Gain +10 Body -5 Mind -5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +1 Constitution per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Mindless Rage] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Endless Hunger] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Primordial Devourer]? Yes/No Esperanza decisively chose ¡°No¡± without a second thought. Even at a glance she could tell that to pick that class meant walking down the path to becoming a mindless, all-consuming beast that probably had little thoughts of its own and was controlled by its hunger. It was most definitely not the sort of existence she would want to live. With a metaphorical shake of her head she moved on to the next option on the list. [Formless Predator] One without a shape to call their own, one that flowed as freely as water. All in life are prey to the ultimate predator, all that existed served to be part of the one without form. Gain +5 Body +5 Mind upon Evolution Gain +1 Dexterity +1 Perception +1 Intuition per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Mimicry of Form] Skill upon Evolution Gain [The One Without Form] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Formless Predator]? Yes/No The second class had more promise. From the looks of it, it would allow her to transform into shapes of things she had consumed in the past, likely in ways that were far more detailed and stable than her current skills. She tentatively picked ¡°No¡± but placed the class on her ¡°maybe¡± pile. That it had no penalties unlike the previous one was also a good sign all considered. [Beast of Gluttony] Others hunt for sustenance, for strength, for survival. You do not. You hunt to satisfy and indulge your appetite. May your endless appetite one day consume the whole world Gain +15 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +3 Wisdom -2 Sanity per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [All For One] Skill upon Evolution This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Gain [Assimilation] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Beast of Gluttony]? Yes/No It was an obvious theme shared between the three classes she checked so far, all of them focused on devouring everything in their way, though with various takes on it. This one seemed like it was linked to her [Consume] skill. From the names of the skills it offered, and the things that [Consume] itself allowed her to do, she guessed it would likely focus on absorbing stats from other things she devoured, so it could also be useful. There were even more stats overall from the evolution and levels. She placed it on the ¡°maybe¡± pile as well. For the time being, she skipped the Emissary class for last, as it was likely the one Oldies influenced, judging from the name. Instead she checked the other class first, which was also slightly different from the three she already checked so far. [Huntress of Horror] She who lurks in the dark, she who stalks the nights. The Huntress brought fear wherever she tread, may all prey tremble before her presence. Gain +10 Body +10 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +2 Dexterity +2 Intelligence +1 Intuition per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Tread the Shadows] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Aura of Fear] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Huntress of Horror]? Yes/No That one also showed a lot of promise. Clearly it was linked to [Gauze of Oblivion] and [Aura Control]. The pattern was clearer to her. Each of the class options she received was linked to some of her existing skills in some manner, which in turn were gained from how she approached things during her first tier. It made sense to her. The class also went to the ¡°maybe¡± pile while she discarded the previous two, as this one was just better all around in what it offered compared to them. She had high hopes for the last class though, given the likelihood of Oldies influencing that one to be more ¡°suitable¡± for her needs and all. [Emissary of the Forgotten] You stood before those long forgotten by most, and brought their words back to the world at large. A messenger who conveyed the will of the Forgotten ones, and a pillar of support for those who still remembered them. Gain +5 Body +15 Mind +10 Soul upon Evolution Gain +1 Constitution +3 Wisdom -2 Sanity per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Shepherd of the Lost] Skill upon Evolution Gain [A Glimpse of Understanding] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Emissary of the Forgotten]? Yes/No As much as Esperanza disliked the idea of being too trusting of Oldies, since the old gods clearly had their own agenda and machinations and she could never be sure that her mind had not been tampered with or if they had been truthful at all to her, she had to admit that the class they influenced was one suited for her. At a glance, the skills it offered seem to facilitate communication with others. Maybe she read into it too shallowly, but the class also offered the most stats compared to the others. She dithered for a while between [Huntress of Horror] and [Emissary of the Forgotten] before she made up her mind. She did not want to be some huntress who brought fear to others. If she could do things without having to resort to violence all the time, that would be even better altogether. As such, she decisively made her choice. You have become an [Emissary of the Forgotten] You stood before those long forgotten by most, and brought their words back to the world at large. A messenger who conveyed the will of the Forgotten ones, and a pillar of support for those who still remembered them. Gained +5 Body +15 Mind +10 Soul! Gained Class Skill [Shepherd of the Lost]! Gained General Skill [A Glimpse of Understanding]! Class Skill [Shape Alteration] Evolved into [Shifting Guise] Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl20]/[Emissary of the Forgotten Lvl1]/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 2 - Strength : 35 - Dexterity : 34 - Constitution : 36 - Intelligence : 36 - Perception : 35 - Wisdom : 33 - Willpower : 37 - Intuition : 34 - Sanity : -108 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] Class 2: [Emissary of the Forgotten] General Skills: The first thing Esperanza felt after she made the choice was a boost of power that surged through her body and stayed there. She instantly understood why Oldies told her before that a leap in tiers was more noteworthy than a simple leap in level. Someone of a level close to the next tier who had yet to reach the final step would more likely than not fail to be a match for those of a tier above. Just the stats she gained from the choice was easily equivalent to more than what she gained over a dozen levels in her previous tier. The change to her Body and Soul was not that drastic since they only added to what she already had relatively plenty of, but it directly brought her lagging Mind value all the way to catching up with her Body in one go. Esperanza quickly allocated her free points, half to body and half to let her Willpower and Intuition catch up a bit more with her sky-high Sanity score. Then she took a look at the new skills she got, starting with the general one. [A Glimpse of Understanding] Legendary Skill Level 1 Understanding others has never been easier! Allows the user to catch a glimpse of another person¡¯s surface thoughts when in conversation or close contact with them. Level 1: A brief glimpse of the shallows, must be in direct conversation or touching the target. A mind-reading skill of sorts? She guessed that would help her gain a proper understanding of others, if in ways she had not expected. That said, she noted that the skill mentioned direct conversation. How was she supposed to converse with people when she could hardly form the right shape in her ¡°throat¡± to even make proper voices? Then she instinctively tried to do just that and was rewarded with a voice that eerily reminded her of how she used to sound, if a bit more echoing, with some sort of strange, otherworldly timbre to it. Pleasantly surprised, Esperanza immediately tried to shift one of her tentacle-like appendages and soon found that she could turn it into a passable facsimile of a human hand, as long as one did not look too closely. She made a note to get to the lake and use it as a mirror before she tried to reconstruct her own face later, but first she took a look at the culprit of her newfound improvements. [Shifting Guise] Unique Skill Level 7 What is a face but just another guise, a mask to don to face life with? There is no one definite form. What one assumed as a guise depends on what one wished for. Freely alter your guise, choose the face you wish to portray to others. Level 7: Capable of assuming a rough guise of any configuration desired. No time limit. Sure enough, the evolved [Shape Alteration] was the reason for her newfound ability. Then Esperanza took a look at the last of her new skills and gasped audibly. XV - Furry(?) Companions [Shepherd of the Lost] Unique Skill Level 1 Tend to those who had been lost, and bring them back to the herd, o Shepherd. For what is a shepherd without their loyal companions? Grants the ability to summon 0/2 canine companions. Companions are soulbound to the shepherd and will always return to life as long as the shepherd themselves still draws breath. Level 1: Companion level: 10. ¡°Oldies. Does that skill mean what I think it said!?¡± asked Esperanza with obvious haste in her voice. We fail to see the reason for your obvious excessive excitement, but that is correct. Why do you ask? ¡°Are keeping pets not a custom in this world?¡± Only the ones that served some sort of use. From what the skill suggests, the sort of canines it mentioned would be much like what some shepherds or hunters keep to help them out. ¡°Guess it¡¯s too much to expect the pet culture here to be the same. Either way, Doggies!¡± We hate to have to quench your enthusiasm like this, but as the skill mentioned, the companion creatures you summoned will be anchored to your soul, and your soul has by now fully merged with your physical form. As such, they will likely take some influence from it, and might not appear the way you had hoped they would. ¡°... Bummer. They¡¯d still be dogs of some sort, though, right?¡± They would be, yes. We cannot say how much your soul would affect them, however. ¡°Oh well. Me da igual. Here goes nothing then,¡± To use skills in this new world they had been brought to, was something that came instinctively to Esperanza. She merely had to think of activating the skill, coupled with the intent to do so ¨C probably to prevent people from accidentally using their skills when they thought about it ¨C and it was like her soul already knew what needed to be done. She felt the power pulse through her soul, how it gathered around into a spot somewhere she could feel but could not discern the location of. That power coalesced, and Esperanza felt something touch her soul through the connection it formed. The touch was tentative, light, almost as if whatever was on the other side was timid and afraid. In return she enveloped it in a warm, gentle embrace, in an attempt to assure whatever it was that it would be safe with her. That it would be loved and cared for rather than be used as some disposable object. The thing from the other side of the connection remained timid and tentative for a while, but eventually Esperanza¡¯s accepting soul seemed to have won it over. She felt how the fabric of space itself seemed to rip apart for a brief instant and could feel the arrival of a presence from the other side, a presence that was somehow simultaneously frightening, yet also weak and small. Her many eyes turned to see the thing that fell out from the rapidly disappearing spatial tear, and saw a sight that hurt her mind to process yet enraptured her at the same time. Whatever the thing was, it looked as if it was a mass of angles that felt completely at odds with everything she had known, angles that somehow slithered and jerked around almost like tentacles, with a hint of fangs that were set up in ways that would have made Euclid stammer in disbelief and wonderment both. Before too long, however, the implausibility before her eyes seemed to shrink into itself and bunch together, the impossible angles settling into more plausible ones, the form coalescing into a four-legged silhouette that was simultaneously familiar yet also alien to her eyes. It was far smaller than she had expected, a puppy rather than an adult dog, coated with a very short coat of ash-gray fur, or a facsimile of it. Its torso and limbs were extremely slender, giving the impression that it was malnourished at first glance, and it had visible whiskers on the end of its long snout that rose up to either side at an angle, much like the mustache of an impressionist painter of old. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°You¡¯re Dali,¡± blurted Esperanza out as she turned one of her appendages into a human-like hand and gently touched the short fur of the companion she just summoned. At a glance it looked like an extra-slender Greyhound puppy, yet at times, if she focused power into her [Gaze Unto the Abyss] skill, she still caught glimpses of the mass of impossible angles that it truly was. ¡°Your name is Dali.¡± She was rewarded with a high-pitched cooing noise made by the puppy as it rubbed its head against her hand, clearly quite content with the name she gave to it. Dali¡¯s tiny little tongue lapped against her makeshift hand, and felt wet, oddly hot and cold at the same time, though Esperanza attributed that to her companion¡¯s unusual origin. It was clear that Dali¡¯s power was limited by the level of her skill, and likely as the skill levels grew stronger, so would her companions. It was likely that they would be able to tap into abilities from their true forms or shift to those forms altogether as they grow stronger. Esperanza hoped that they would be able to retain their canine forms even then, though. As Dali¡¯s slender form laid down against the bulk of her form ¨C Esperanza had shifted her shape into a more humanoid one and seated herself, with Dali lying against the outside of her ¡°thigh¡± ¨C she repeated the process once more. The power once again coalesced and formed a bridge to wherever these companions of hers came from, and once more she cast an invitation for them to come. This time around, whatever came from the other side was large. Dali¡¯s presence through the magical connection had felt like someone prodded Esperanza with a finger, slowly, timidly, and very tentatively. Like a shy person attempting to initiate contact with another but entirely uncertain on how they should do it. The being that came this time was the opposite of that in many ways. It was like a deluge that felt close to suffocating Esperanza with its presence, though it seemed to hold itself back when it noticed her discomfort. Rather than her welcoming it with an embrace, it was the being that embraced her entirely in its large form as it inspected her curiously. She felt as if something was sniffing at her from all around, then the pressure lessened and faded away. Instead, it was replaced with a sensation that was akin to floating on clouds. Extremely fluffy clouds at that, as she felt a questioning gaze in her soul. Without any hesitation, she returned the gaze with a smile, followed by a firm nod. An affirmation that she would welcome the being, if it would deign to have her as its master. For a brief moment she felt as if something big and hairy rubbed itself against her, before the sensation vanished. Once again, a tear in space opened in front of her, and Esperanza saw how something resembling a fog or mist seeped out from the opening. It felt like more and more mist just seeped out from the tear in space, as if it would never stop. The mist did not obscure her sight, but she noticed how it enveloped most of the surrounding area, save for a small part where she and Dali were sitting. Clearly, the mist was aware, and it was likely the true form of her other companion. She felt how what seemed to be gazes from all directions were fixated on her, then moved on to Dali, then went away after a while as if it seemed to have understood something. Moments later the fog or mist around her started to gather together and seemed to gain a solidity that was not there mere moments ago. As if something had just forced reality to acknowledge its existence without a care for what it might have in mind. The fog continued to compress itself, until it formed an orb not much larger than an adult man¡¯s head. Then it started to define itself in more detail, as the orb once again shifted slowly to a familiar four-legged silhouette, though one much plumper compared to what Dali¡¯s had been like. In fact, she could almost call the silhouette rotund to an extent, as it too coalesced into the form of another puppy. This time the puppy was one that resembled some sort of Mastiff breed looks wise, although where most Mastiffs have short fur, this one had a long and positively fluffy coat of fur that almost made it look like it had wool growing from it. Some of its fur even formed a shape that resembled a mane around the puppy¡¯s neck as it looked at her with large, innocent eyes. Esperanza was less hesitant this time and directly used both of her hands to lift up and wrap the puppy in a warm embrace against her body, which the puppy seemed to enjoy as it licked her ¡°face¡± with its large, wet tongue. It too, looked at her with a look that felt far too innocent and adorable for something whose true form was a beastly abomination likely much stronger than she herself was, but at the moment she could care less about that. ¡°So you¡¯re a girl, huh?¡± asked Esperanza to the puppy after she took a closer look at it. The puppy just leaned her head to the side and gave her a quizzical look in return, while Dali gave a small, high-pitched bark that sounded like agreement from below. ¡°What do you think of the name¡­ hmm¡­ What about Gordita? Gordy for short?¡± The enthusiastic bark that the puppy gave in reply signaled her agreement, and Gordita nuzzled her soft, nearly downy fur against Esperanza¡¯s face. The action tickled, but she withstood it stoically as she gathered up the two puppies in her arms and hugged them warmly. If they were the companions she had for this journey in strange lands, then there were at least a few things to look forward to in her future. Grants the ability to summon 2/2 canine companions. A quick glance at her skill¡¯s description confirmed to her that the two puppies were indeed her companions. Inspecting them with [Gaze Unto the Abyss] returned their names ¨C the names she gave them ¨C while their levels were at 10, much as she expected. She had hoped that actually performing the summoning would jump the level a bit, but that turned out to be wishful thinking. She would likely need to take care of them for the time being. Level 10 was very weak, on par with the weakest creatures in the jungle she was in. While Oldies mentioned about guiding her to a settlement where they were still worshiped, Esperanza felt that she might need to delay that trip for a bit. Instead, she would be looking for weaker beasts in the forest to sic her puppies at, as she assumed that would be the way to increase the level of her skill and thus the level of her companions. It was not that she wished for them to do the dirty work for her, but she was clear that in order to survive in this world, one needed power. As such, her companions needed power, if only to defend themselves. That they could be of assistance to her if they had more power would naturally help, but Esperanza felt that she might not have the heart to have her companions brave dangers in her stead, even if the skill¡¯s description ensured that they would exist as long as she was around. Because of that, her agenda spontaneously changed from ¡°heading for the settlement mentioned by Oldies¡± to ¡°powerleveling her puppies until they could hold their own¡±. That decision would be something the many critters that called the jungle their home lamented in the near future. 16 - Hands-on Violence(!?) ¡°Very good. Keep doing it like we practiced,¡± said the old knight curtly as he watched the two young heroes at work. After the heroes gained themselves some levels, they started taking on a more direct approach in fighting the monsters that inhabited the dungeon. The first group of three smaller monsters they ran into had been left for Joshua to practice his magic on. His first attempts were dismal failures, and the guards had to repel the naturally angered beasts for him, but after a few tries he succeeded in summoning his magic and killed the monsters in various ways. One was burned to charcoal by a ball of fire that engulfed its whole body, another was impaled on a spike of rock that emerged from the ground beneath, while the third was on the receiving end of a bolt of lightning. The lightning bolt had scorched the monster¡¯s fur and skin, but did most of its damage inside as it roasted and boiled many of the beast¡¯s internal organs. The fanciful show of magic had also drained Joshua of his entire magical stamina and he was in the back of the group at the moment as he nursed a painful headache. Magus Drummond had assured them that it was merely the symptom of overusing one¡¯s magic, and that it was already amazing for a low-leveled mage like Joshua to be able to pull off three spells of that caliber. Apparently most would have been in his predicament after two at most. Fortunately, since neither Alissa nor Ethan were as magic-dependent as Joshua, they both dodged that particular bullet. The skills they had possessed much longer cooldown times between usage, and as such couldn¡¯t really tax their bodies too much either way. By the time they leveled those skills enough to make them more frequently usable, their bodies could likely take it. At the moment the two of them were engaged in combat with a group of seven of the Winged Scavengers, three of which were larger and reached nearly to their chests in height. Fortunately, the beasts only had their claws ¨C which were weak on account of being attached to their wing-like arms ¨C and fangs, neither of which stood a chance of going through the armor worn by the two. Even so, a half dozen of the guards, including the princess, stood close behind them where they could jump in to render assistance should it be needed. Alissa truly felt the benefits of the first skill she had during the fight. For all his enthusiasm and excitement, Ethan still faltered somewhat when they actually had to fight and kill things for real, something that got him a reprimand from Sir Inolet just moments ago. He seemed to have gotten over the worst of it, but he still fought more timidly and defensively compared to when they were sparring. She herself calmly blocked a swing from one of the larger creature¡¯s claws on her shield, then put her weight behind it as she pushed and shoved the creature back, where it stumbled and crashed into a smaller one, causing both of them to fall into a heap. Alissa then took the opportunity to jab out with her spear towards one of the standing smaller creatures, a quick stab directly on the throat, followed by pulling her spear out before the creature could fall and entangle her weapon in its corpse. In her mind she knew that she should have been screaming and panicking instead of the emotionless calmness she felt at the moment. That calmness was almost certainly caused by her skill, which suppressed her emotional reactions while it maintained her rationality. She was honestly thankful for it, as it allowed her to act just like how she did in training. She was fighting real monsters, and had she panicked instead of remaining calm, they would not have been polite to her. They would have gone for her throat instead. Alissa swiftly continued with the practiced motions as she thrust at the larger creature that was raising itself from where it had fallen to the ground. She stabbed the beast once in the abdomen, pulled her weapon back, then stabbed it a second time in the chest. Unfortunately, when she tried to pull the spear back, the spearhead seemed to be stuck on something, probably a bone in the beast¡¯s chest. Instead of struggling to free her stuck weapon, Alissa just dropped it decisively as her hand went to the hilt of the falchion on her waist and pulled it out of her scabbard. There were two more of the beasts in front of her, the small one that was pinned beneath the body of the dying beast she just stabbed, and the largest of the bunch that had stayed in the back all this time. Ethan was dealing with the other three and kept them occupied. With steady steps Alissa stepped forward, nonchalantly delivering a quick stab at the struggling small monster¡¯s throat as she passed it, and stood before the largest of the monsters. Her [Analysis] told her that it was level 19, the highest level of all the beasts she had run into so far, just another step away from being the equivalent of a second tier. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It was also smarter than its ilk, as it took measure of her and stayed just beyond the reach of her falchion. On the other hand, it used its long wing-arms to strike at her, the claws at their tips scratching against her shield as she blocked the strikes. The beast struck then moved back, almost like a trained fencer rather than an animal. It gave Alissa some trouble at first. Before she realized that its strikes were nowhere near powerful enough to threaten her and she decisively chose to charge right in with her shield held in front. One of the surprised beast¡¯s strikes landed on her shield, while the other struck against her helmet and glanced off before it fell on her pauldrons. Alissa felt the weight behind the strike, but ignored it as she shoved the beast¡¯s limb aside with her shield, leaving the creature wide open before her. Then her blade flashed out and took it across the abdomen. The blade sliced through fur, skin, then cut deep into the lanky beast¡¯s flesh until it reached the organs nestled inside its body. Almost immediately following the cut, a pungent, unpleasant stench wafted out from the wound where she must have sliced through part of the beast¡¯s digestive tract. It also caused the beast to screech in pain. A shrill screech echoed in the closed confines of the cavern they were in, and caused Alissa to flinch as it assaulted her eardrums. She was not the only one affected, as the three other creatures, Ethan, and the nearby guards also flinched at the noise. The wounded beast she faced took that opportunity to lunge for her throat with its fanged mouth opened wide. Instead she caught the beast¡¯s lunge on her armored forearm, the beast unable to close its jaws around her limb. Its fangs scratched the metal bracer she wore but did little more than scuff the polished finish. At that point, the Winged Scavenger was actually too close to her to be able to strike her with its claws effectively. So instead Alissa took the opportunity to kick hard at the beast¡¯s knee with her heavy, armored boot. The joint gave way beneath the force of the blow and bent the wrong way with the audible noise of bone breaking. The beast wavered for a moment, but chose to clamp down on her forearm regardless of the pain it suffered. In return, Alissa cocked her left hand far to the back, then brought it around in a vicious hook that drove the corner of her kite shield directly against the side of the beast¡¯s skull. The blow clearly dazed the beast but it was not enough to make it give up as it stubbornly tried to gnaw off her forearm regardless. So Alissa just repeated it again, and again, and again. By the time the slack jaws of the beast fell off her forearm, the right side of the Winged Scavenger¡¯s head had turned into a bloody pulp, its skull visibly broken open with bits of its brain matter splattered over Alissa¡¯s armor and shield. She used her freed right hand to wipe off a bit of the gooey bits that splattered to her cheeks as she turned to see how Ethan was doing. Perhaps because he was incensed at seeing how well she did, Ethan had regained his prior enthusiasm and drive. He had made short work of the three beasts he fought, though at the moment he struggled to extract the spike on the top of his pollax from the chest of the largest of the beasts he faced. He probably had such difficulty since in his fervor he had stabbed through the beast and pinned it into the cavern¡¯s stone wall. The pair of smaller monsters lay dead on the ground, one with its skull split open, and the other with half its head pulverized by a brutal hammer blow. ¡°Damn, you¡¯re done already!?¡± asked Ethan with some incredulity in his voice when he noticed Alissa walk towards him. He finally managed to pry out his weapon from the creature ¨C and the wall ¨C a moment later and almost fell on his ass as he stumbled back, surprised by the sudden lack of resistance. ¡°I thought I was the one excited to be here. Looks like you¡¯re adapting to this better than me though, Allie.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the skill, Ethan,¡± she replied with a shake of her head. It was no lie on her part. She knew and felt parts of herself screaming out and panicking and trying to run from the fight, but they were all suppressed by her skill, which allowed her to keep a cool head. It allowed her to fight while it pruned off the unnecessary thoughts. ¡°I¡¯d probably be all screaming out and panicking without it. Never expected it¡¯d be that useful right away, but I¡¯ll definitely take it.¡± ¡°Dayum, girl. That¡¯s definitely something I could use too,¡± admitted Ethan with a shake of his head, more an expression of regret that he got no such skill himself. ¡°For all that being here, in another world where I get to live my fantasies for real excites me, I still get the shakes when it comes to actually fighting and killing things that try to bite back. I guess seeing you go at it helped shake me out of that, though.¡± ¡°Glad I helped, then,¡± said Alissa with a smile. She had sheathed her falchion by then and busied herself with extracting her spear, which still protruded from the corpse of one of the bigger creatures. The spearhead was apparently stuck against a rib and it took her a bit of effort to pull it out. ¡°Was too busy with the ones on my side to help you out with yours. The sound of clapping hands echoed in the otherwise silent cavern and attracted their attention. They turned around to see Sir Inolet walking towards them with a slight curve on his lips that soon vanished once more. He stood in parade rest before the two young summoned heroes and they stood up at attention instinctively. ¡°Very well done, miss O¡¯Connor. You have lived up to my teachings and use them well. Keep up the good work,¡± said the old knight in a rare praise as he gave a satisfied nod in Alissa¡¯s direction. When he turned his eyes to Ethan though, the big boy almost wilted under the old man¡¯s gaze. ¡°As for you¡­ It was expected that some people might feel hesitation in their first real battle. It is good that you got over it quickly. Just remember that in a real situation, you might be the only thing that stands between your friends living and dying.¡± ¡°Understood, sir,¡± both of them said as they let out a relieved sigh together. ¡°Now go get some rest, you two. Dungeon delving is not something done quickly, and getting proper rest is one of the most important factors in a long expedition.¡± 17 - First Encounter with a (Mid)Boss Alissa had to admit that out of everything she had seen since she got dragged into this other world and made a [Hero] business, the most amusing thing she saw was how Joshua visibly paled and spluttered when informed to do his business in a hole dug to the side of their campsite later that night. The way he looked simultaneously offended at the very idea combined with the realization of where they were clicking together in his pampered mind was just priceless. Too bad she had no camera to capture that moment and preserve it for posterity with. She and Ethan on the other hand were far less bothered with the simple latrine the expedition party had set up at the corner of their campsite, warded off by Magus Drummond to keep the smell from bothering the rest, with a curtain of magic that blurred the sight for privacy. Unlike the more pampered Joshua, she and Ethan came from families that enjoyed the outdoors. They went camping together with their families and friends on a regular basis, and were thus quite used to just answering nature¡¯s call at some corner of the woods. The capital and the Royal Palace had a working system of sewers and indoor plumbing, but neither of them ever expected that to extend to places like dungeons and the like. Similarly, their food and accommodations for that night was a far cry from the luxurious treatment they had been given in the Royal Palace. The food was decent enough, slices of tough but flavorful jerky paired with some hard bread and cheese, washed down with some sweet mead that had so little alcohol content that even the lightweight Joshua ¨C who supposedly never drunk alcohol before in his life ¨C would probably get his belly bloated before he got drunk off it. Alissa and Ethan on the other hand had parents that were far more lax when it comes to the idea of drinking age and thought that the idea of kids being old enough to drive cars yet not old enough to drink was beyond silly. Both of them had their share of experiences with beer and the likes as a result and easily acclimatized to the local culture where ale, mead, or wine accompanied most meals. Most of the local drinks were far lighter anyway compared to even the beers of their previous world. What served as their bed for the night were simple thin bedrolls laid directly atop the hard floor of the cavern. They used their backpacks as a pillow, and slept wearing their armor for safety. Several of the guards kept watch for them, something the three young heroes were excused from. Instead they were allowed a full night¡¯s sleep ¨C or the best approximation they managed to get ¨C deep in the dungeon. After a quiet night ¨C apparently some low-level Winged Scavengers approached their camp but had been dispatched quietly by the guards ¨C the young heroes found themself woken up by Cerilla the next morning. Breakfast was already prepared, mostly the same as their dinner the previous night, but with one small addition that perked Ethan up tremendously. ¡°I¡¯ve said it before and I¡¯ll say it again, but If I could travel back in time and meet the senior who made crispy bacon a mainstay of breakfast in this Kingdom, I¡¯ll fucking kiss them,¡± he said as he munched on the pieces of crisped bacon ¨C roasted to a crisp with a magical flame cast by Magus Drummond ¨C that the party brought amongst their ration with a look of bliss on his face. ¡°Gross, man,¡± commented Joshua with an exaggerated look from his seat across the campsite. ¡°What if that senior was a dude?¡± ¡°Kiss. Them. Fucking straight frenching ¡®em in the mouth, regardless,¡± said Ethan with a guffaw as Joshua gave a further scandalized look at his reply. Alissa just shook her head at her old friend¡¯s antics. HE knew what really annoyed or scandalized others and loved to pick on it like someone would a nearly healed scab. ¡°No worries, beanpole. You¡¯re too skinny for my tastes anyway. If I have to choose a guy from this bunch we got here, Ol¡¯ Henri would be my pick.¡± ¡°Huh. Never pegged you as being into older men,¡± commented Alissa in an exaggerated monotone from her seat next to Ethan. While Sir Inolet was a harsh taskmaster, he welcomed his pupils venting off their emotions by cursing at him to give them more focus. As such, the jesting she and Ethan did had not even fazed the old knight who kept a stoic, serious face throughout their banter. ¡°Sir Inolet is like, what? Over three times your age? Pretty sure he¡¯s old enough to be our grandpa.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know, Allie? People are like wine. They get finer the longer they age,¡± replied Ethan with an exaggerated fawning look on his face. His expression caused some of the younger members of the expedition to break into laughs and giggles in amusement, including the Fifth Princes, and just received an eye roll from Joshua. ¡°Besides, have you seen the guns Ol¡¯ Henri got? He definitely keeps in shape, I can tell you that.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°All right, as amusing as all this has been, you should finish your meals so we can move on,¡± said Magus Drummond with a slight chuckle of his own. The heroes had heard that he and Sir Inolet were old rivals, so the old Magus definitely enjoyed the heroes¡¯ ribbing. ¡°We have a schedule to keep after all. This is still a dungeon delve, not a guided tour of the Acklevos Caverns.¡± ¡°Right, Sir,¡± replied Ethan as he finished the rest of his breakfast in one large bite and quickly chewed it all before swallowing. He washed it down with the light mead before he patted off the crumbs that fell on his brigandine and looked at the old Magus with a more serious face. ¡°We¡¯re ready to continue now.¡± ¡°Good,¡± noted the old Magus as he stood up and addressed the gathered members of the expedition. For most of the previous day, the guards had done little of worth. They mostly ¡°escorted¡± Joshua when the group ran into small groups of monsters for him to practice on, or stayed back to guard him when they encountered larger groups where the three heroes were made to practice their teamwork. ¡°Because we have something different prepared for you today.¡± ¡°All three of you have passed your tenth level, and are each easily as capable as one of the guards we have with us, if not more, so we are moving on to a more challenging foe today,¡± continued the old Magus. From the fighting of the previous day, Alissa had reached the twelfth level, the highest of them all. Ethan just barely reached the eleventh after their last battle for the day, while Joshua hit the tenth shortly before that. ¡°What kind of challenge if I may ask, teacher?¡± asked Joshua from beside the Magus as he raised his hand. ¡°Why, we are approaching the territory of the strongest male of this colony of Scavengers, my young heroes. I imagine that will prove to be a greater challenge for you compared to the young and immature members of the colony,¡± replied the old mage with a smirk on his wizened face. ¡°You three, plus two members each from the Royal and Temple guards will work together to take on the beast. Show us what you have learned so far.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ****************************** After what was likely a few hours of traversing the caverns with a few minor battles in between, Alissa finally laid her eyes on the foe they were meant to take on. The cavern opened up into a larger area, with many stalactites and stalagmites growing from both the floor and ceiling. Perched sideways with its legs gripping onto a large stalagmite was the alpha male of the colony, a much larger specimen ¨C even from the distance, Alissa estimated that it was likely taller than Ethan by a good bit ¨C that wrapped its leathery wing-arms around itself as it slept. Their group for the fight had already been chosen for them. The Fifth Princess and Moira represented the Royal Guards, while two young temple guards ¨C both amongst the seven that had killed the voidling at the summoning ¨C named Gregorius and Bronwen batted for their side. Their formation took a more balanced setup, with Moira, Gregorius, and Joshua at the back, with their bows and crossbows, while the others hefted their weapons at the front. To Alissa¡¯s surprise the Fifth Princess hefted a massive greatsword as long as she was tall with practiced ease, and clearly had plenty of experience with the weapon. As such, they arranged it so that the princess and Ethan covered the flanks of their formation, where they could in turn flank the beast while Alissa and Bronwen occupied its attention. With their shields and long spears, they were better suited for that role, after all. Carefully, the small group inched their way into the larger area. The rest of the expedition group waited near the entrance where they were close enough to render aid when needed but not too close to attract the beast¡¯s attention by their presence. Alissa and the rest got as close as they dared to, only stopping when the great beast above seemed to stir briefly before it returned to its slumber. It was noticeable how the large cavern was devoid of any other life other than the large Winged Scavenger. A glance from [Analysis] returned its level as 35, which was a lot higher than anything they had faced so far. The highest level beast they had fought prior to that moment had been level 19s, one that Alissa took down and another that Ethan insisted on taking on solo later on the same day. The group was roughly forty feet away from the great beast when they stopped, and they exchanged nods with one another. The three on the back loaded bolts and nocked arrows, while those at the front unlimbered the throwing weapons they all carried. Alissa noted that the princess brought throwing axes with her, while Bronwen had a large Pilum with a triangular tip at the end of a slender metal rod. Another exchange of gestures and they all reared back and readied themselves to attack the beast. Alissa mentally counted down in her mind, and when the count reached zero, she moved into action. Her slightly raised leg stomped down on the ground as she used her whole body to power the motion of her throw. The slender Jarid left her hand and flew straight towards the creature, followed at roughly the same moment by one of Ethans, an axe from the princess, and Bronwen¡¯s Pilum. An arrow and two crossbow bolts followed a split-second later and all the projectiles reached the slumbering beast at roughly the same time, piercing through its leathery wings. Some of them even went on to pierce through the other side. The Winged Scavenger¡¯s shrill cry of pain and anger echoed through the chamber, causing small bits of rock to dislodge from the ceiling and rain down on the group. They watched as the great beast seemed to struggle for a moment, before it wrenched its wing-arms apart, creating great tears in the leathery membrane of its wing in the process. Pieces of the arrows and bolts they shot at the beast fell down as its violent movement tore them apart. Even the Jarids Alissa and Ethan threw broke under the beast¡¯s thrashing. Only Bronwen¡¯s Pilum remained embedded in the beast¡¯s wing, the metal shaft bent horribly. Its feet released from its perch, the beast flapped its wing-arms and tried to take to the air, but failed due to the tears in its wings. It still caught itself in its fall and landed feet first, at which point it turned its large eyes at the intruders that caused its suffering and gave another shrill cry that made their heads pound. Alissa and the rest of the group had already grabbed their melee weapons by then, while the three in the rear reloaded their bows and crossbows as well. With a great leap, the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] was upon them. 18 - Battling the Mid-Boss ¡°Oof!¡± A swing from the great beast¡¯s clawed wing-arm struck Ethan directly, though he managed to shift himself so that the blow landed on the shield he kept strapped against his arm instead. Even so, the force of the blow was vicious enough to have sent him ¨C well over two fifty pounds of man and equipment ¨C flying straight at one of the smaller stalagmites hard enough to break it in half. ¡°Shit! Ethan!¡± Alissa blurted out before she desperately angled her shield to catch the beast¡¯s other arm at an angle, deflecting the blow along her shield¡¯s slight curve and causing it to only strike the rock floor next to her feet. Even then, the blow still caused chips of stone to bounce off her boots and caused a small crater where it landed. Bronwen was too busy getting out of the strike¡¯s way ¨C it came from her right side, opposite her shield arm ¨C to strike back at the beast, but the Fifth Princess stepped in and swung her greatsword at the extended arm. The single-edged, slightly curved blade of the weapon struck the beast¡¯s arm and carved a small wound before it expended its entire momentum. Just as she landed her blow, another arrow and a bolt came from the back where Gregorius and Moira pitched in with their share to the fight. Both of the projectiles landed against the slender torso of the beast, but failed to do much more than pierce the skin before they fell off. Alissa¡¯s own haphazard stab did little better, only scoring a slight line on the creature¡¯s leg. What the blows did was to enrage the beast as it swung its long wing-arms in wide arcs, attempting to cleave the intruders to its home apart. The Fifth Princess leapt back to safety, only barely avoiding the beast¡¯s arm, while Bronwen had to take a step back just from catching the flapping remnants of the membrane-like wing of the beast on her shield. The beast¡¯s other arm sent Alissa tumbling in the same direction Ethan did, the blow hitting her chest before she could react and tossed her end over end. It was only instinct and ingrained reflexes that allowed her to roll as she fell on the floor and stop on a kneeling position. Beside her she could see Ethan stirring from where he had been thrown off. ¡°You all right, man?¡± Alissa asked as she struggled to get back to her feet. Her armor did what the old smith told her it would. It took the hefty blow for her, without even a noticeable dent, but the force behind the blow still made her feel as if some football-playing jock had just tackled her shoulder-to-chest and then landed on top of her the same way. Her ribs ached as she breathed, and she couldn¡¯t tell if any of them were broken or not, and there¡¯s definitely some serious bruising beneath her armor with the aches she felt creeping in even then. Ethan looked like he was in relatively similar conditions, though he kept wincing when he tried to move his left arm. The blow must have gotten him good there. ¡°Sort of. I think. Maybe,¡± mumbled Ethan as he rose to a sitting position. He seemed slightly muddled until he shook his head to clear his mind. Ethan took a moment longer to gather himself and assess the situation they were in, before he looked back to Alissa and said his piece. ¡°Looks like we might be needing those skills for this one, huh?¡± ¡°Wished we could save it for the boss, but if we¡¯re already struggling with this one so much, I¡¯m not heading for that boss without some more leveling first,¡± said Alissa with a nod of agreement. The battle had gone messier for their party, the beast charging through Bronwen and the Fifth Princess before it headed for the three in the back. ¡°[Divine Blessing]!¡± Class Skill [Divine Blessing] has leveled up to level 2! Cooldown reduced to 12 hours! Duration increased to 6 minutes! ¡°[Raging Bellow]! [Taunting Cry]!¡± said Ethan as he followed up on Alissa¡¯s skill. Both of them were still close enough to the rest of their party that the effects of the skill would include them as well, and they immediately felt the effects. The dull pain that throbbed in Alissa¡¯s chest vanished in a heartbeat, and she felt as if her whole body thrummed with power. A good bit more power than when she or Ethan used their skills on its own, rather than together. Alissa¡¯s [Divine Blessing] gave a more comprehensive buff to all their stats at the same time, while Ethan¡¯s [Raging Bellow] was more focused on the Body stat with greater effects. The effects from the separate buffs stacked together, and worked on the rest as well. Together they rushed back at the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] as fast as their legs could take them. The buff to their physical stats meant that they were faster and stronger, while being in perfect control of their bodies regardless, rather than fumbling around like a drunk cow. They arrived back at the battle just on time, too. Ethan tackled the great beast from its side while he drove the long spike at the tip of his weapon into its side and sent it stumbling to the side. On the other hand, Alissa used her shield to forcefully deflect a swing that would have eviscerated Moira otherwise. The creature¡¯s claw missed thanks to her intervention and only scratched the forehead of the young guardswoman rather than split her skull. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Hit it, now!¡± yelled Alissa as she flipped around the way she gripped her spear and viciously stabbed down at the Winged Scavenger¡¯s claw-tipped wing-arm. The stab went through the creature¡¯s slender arm, out the other side, and pinned the limb into the bedrock below, even as Alissa stomped down on the creature¡¯s claws with one heavy boot. While they were slightly surprised by the sudden turn of the situation, most of the party reacted quickly. The Fifth Princess slashed at the creature¡¯s other side and left a bloody wound with her greatsword. Bronwen lanced her spear into the same wound and deepened it shortly afterwards, eliciting another screech of pain from the beast. Both Moira and Gregorius had dropped their bow and crossbow, as they pulled their melee weapons from their backs. Gregorius pierced the creature¡¯s palm ¨C just above where Alissa¡¯s spear pinned it to the ground ¨C with his whole body weight behind the blow and secured the creature¡¯s struggling limb to the bedrock, while Moira unlimbered the glaive on her back and slashed at the beast¡¯s snout. Even Joshua reacted after a brief pause of surprise and turned around ¨C he looked like he was about to bolt and make his escape for a while there ¨C as he speedily worked his magic while the creature was pinned in place. Three bolts of lightning connected his fingers to the creature a moment later, and they persisted for a good second or two even as the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] convulsed and screeched loudly. None of that was enough to take down the beast. Instead the beast raged from the pain, it wrenched its pinned arm out, snapping Gregorius¡¯ spear in the process while Alissa¡¯s remained stuck on the limb. The beast wildly struck around itself with its long wing-arms, and sent Ethan flying away once more, though he got back to his feet and charged back into the fray a mere moment later. Its other wing-arm struck the Fifth Princess across her abdomen and sent her tumbling head over feet until she stopped a distance away. Like Ethan, she stood back up, though she stopped briefly as she coughed into her hand. The skills that buffed her stats allowed her to feel no pain, but even so she still felt the difficulty in breathing as she coughed out some blood from her injured lungs. Another swing from the beast¡¯s arm struck Gregorius who took it with his shield, sending him flying into Joshua and causing them both to fall into a tangled pile. Its other wing-arm struck Alissa though she managed to brace herself this time and received it with her shield. Even so the blow still lifted her off her feet and threw her against a nearby stalagmite. While Alissa did not feel any pain thanks to Ethan¡¯s [Raging Bellow] the blow still drove the breath from her lungs. The creature was about to lunge her way next, but fortunately Moira distracted it with a swipe from her glaive. That earned her a nasty welt on her cheek as she avoided the creature¡¯s wing-arm only to be struck on the face by the shaft of Alissa¡¯s spear that was still embedded in the limb. Her actions bought time for Ethan to return to the fray, however. He had unlimbered the shield strapped to his left arm and held it in his hand by then, and struck against the side of the beast¡¯s knee with the rim. The blow was powerful, but did not seem to be enough to give the beast more than a stumble in its step. It was only when Ethan sunk his short sword to the hilt in the beast¡¯s guts that he drew its attention for real. Apparently his [Taunting Cry] was still too weak to affect the creature, but at least it also boosted his endurance, so using it had not been in vain. When the beast swept Ethan off his feet for the third time, he managed to get his hand onto the shaft of his pollaxe and grabbed it so that the weapon was pulled out from the beast¡¯s flesh along with him. The long spike at its top was slightly bent, but the rest of the weapon was still in good shape. The stab wound it left behind also started to bleed foul-smelling blood. Thanks to the distraction, Alissa had the time to regain her footing and unsheathe her falchion as she rushed in close to the beast, where its long wing-arms would not be able to reach her properly. She used the distraction caused by the Fifth Princess and Bronwen¡¯s return to the fray from its other side to dive in close and lash out at the dangling bits between the beast¡¯s short legs with her blade. Needless to say, the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] screeched louder than ever before as it went mad with pain. The shrill screech pounded on Alissa¡¯s ears and temples, and made her sight blur even if she did not feel the pain this time around. She kept close to the beast¡¯s torso, suffering its horrific stench in order to avoid its clawing wing arms, and stabbed at its abdomen several times more. Her stabs left shallow wounds that nevertheless bled some, and caused more pain for the beast. While it was distracted with Alissa pressing in close and stabbing it repeatedly, Ethan came from behind as he swung the hammerhead end of his pollaxe with both hands, almost like he was swinging a baseball bat. The blow landed directly between the beast¡¯s legs, at the bloody mess Alissa¡¯s cut had made, and the metal hammerhead pulverized what was left there. For the first time since the fight started, the beast paused in its steps, its senses overwhelmed by the horrific pain that assaulted its most precious parts. Joshua launched a fireball that enveloped the beast¡¯s head for a moment in that opening, while Ethan, the Fifth Princess, and Bronwen assailed its back with their respective weapons. Gregorius and Moira struck it from the sides as well, landing good hits that drew blood this time. They all also made sure to avoid hitting Alissa who was at point blank range with the creature. As for her own part, Alissa noticed how her stabs had failed to do much to the beast, then caught sight of the hilt of Ethan¡¯s short sword, which was still embedded to the hilt in the creature¡¯s side. That gave her an idea as she grabbed the sword¡¯s hilt with both of her hands, having dropped her own weapon in the process, and dragged the blade to the side with her whole body weight. At first there was strong resistance from the creature¡¯s flesh, but then the sharp blade bit into it, and Alissa¡¯s effort bore fruit as she dragged the embedded blade from the side all the way to the middle of the creature¡¯s front before the steel failed on her. When the blade snapped, she fell on her back in front of the creature, but fortunately it was far too occupied and in pain to strike down at her in that moment of weakness. Instead, the creature fell to its knees as it futilely tried to cradle the intestines and pieces of other organs that spilled out from the large wound Alissa had made. It whimpered weakly, shuddered, then its large body toppled over to one side as it breathed it last. Next to it, Alissa saw the notification that arrived at last. You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Patriarch Lvl35]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! You have leveled to level 13! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Willpower Gained, +1 Intuition Gained, +1 Sanity Gained! You have leveled to level 14! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Strength Gained, +1 Dexterity Gained, +1 Constitution Gained! You have leveled to level 15! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Intelligence Gained, +1 Perception Gained, +1 Wisdom Gained! XIX - Why not Both? ¡°There! Go get ¡®em, chico!¡± said Esperanza as she pointed out with one pseudo-hand ¨C she still had a hard time forming the fingers properly as they kept trying to form into a three-taloned claw rather than a five-fingered hand instead ¨C towards a small flock of rabbit-like creatures, just ones with vicious claws on their feet and a horn on their forehead rather than normal rabbits. A quick look with her [Gaze] informed her that they were monsters called [Horned Hopper] with their levels ranging from 14 to 21, rather high for the outskirt region of the forest they were in. That said, Esperanza was not particularly worried about sending her companions to take on the beasts. Her [Shepherd of the Lost] skill had reached level 2 the day before which boosted the level of her animal companions straight to 20. It was apparently unusual, according to Oldies. Normally skills that grant companions like hers would have those companions start off at level 1, with them growing slowly and the skill leveling up each time those companions passed a level threshold. Her companions had been at level 10 right when she summoned them, and when the skill leveled up, their level also jumped straight to 20 on the spot. Perhaps it was due to the unusual nature of her companions, Oldies had theorized. In a way, the canine guise they had were mostly a receptacle for their true power and self, which Esperanza has gotten a glimpse of during their summoning process. As such, they were already very powerful by this world¡¯s standards, merely limited to what their receptacles were capable of channeling. When her skill had leveled, Esperanza also saw a notice that her companions would be limited in level until she herself became a higher level of existence. She noticed it when both her companions leveled to 21 within the same day after the skilled leveled to level 2, but was stuck there since. Experience points and levels at the current stage were supposedly easy to get, so they were likely stuck at 21 because she herself was still 21, and could not level up until she herself did. After all, their existence in this world was anchored and bound to her soul. Dali shot off like an arrow launched from a bow at Esperanza¡¯s command, and pounced upon the flock of [Horned Hopper]. The monsters were individually larger, if stouter than the greyhound-like form Dali had, even though he had grown up some compared to when he was freshly summoned. Right now he looked more like a slightly older puppy rather than a newborn one. Despite their greater size and their vaunted speed ¨C the [Horned Hopper] was every bit as agile as their rabbit-like appearance suggested ¨C Dali was even faster. He directly toyed with the flock of larger prey, something that reminded Esperanza of documentaries she had seen before. Documentaries of killer whales preying on much larger whales. The sleek form of the greyhound darted around and between the larger monsters, the smallest of which were at least twice its mass. It was slippery and moved faster than what the monsters could react to. Clawed rear legs kicked out only to meet empty air. Horn-first charges found nothing but the space where Dali had been mere moments ago. In turn, his jaws took small nips and bites at the larger beasts. Every little nip taken at a place where it would do far more damage than what its size would have indicated. Tendons and nerve bundles were torn apart, depositing the surprised monsters on the ground when their limbs suddenly stopped working properly. Eyes were ruined in others, rendering them half-blinded or fully blind. Only when his prey had been pacified and were unable to resist meaningfully did Dali move in for the kill. He never slowed down, and took his little nip as he flashed past the prone form of the monsters he targeted. This time his jaws tore up large blood vessels along the side of the creatures¡¯ spines, something that would probably be equivalent to the carotid or femoral artery in humans. The creatures bled to death rapidly from those wounds. All the while, Esperanza welcomed the flood of notifications that came as one beast after another breathed their last. Dali and Gordita were considered an extension of her being, and as such she gained part of the experience from whatever they killed, just as they gained the same from her kills. It was a symbiotic relationship between them, one of mutual benefits. Your Companion Dali have defeated [Horned Hopper Lvl 17]! Your Companion Dali have defeated [Horned Hopper Lvl 21]! Your Companion Dali have defeated [Horned Hopper Lvl 18]! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Your Companion Dali have defeated [Horned Hopper Lvl 14]! You have leveled to level 2! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained! Your Companion [Dali] has leveled to level 22! Your Companion [Gordita] has leveled to level 22! Esperanza nodded with satisfaction at the level gain. Leveling had been slow for her in the past few days. At first it was for the obvious reason, since she mostly sought out creatures in the low single-digit range to sic Dali or Gordita at. Those creatures gave her practically no experience due to their much lower levels. In fact, anything a tier below her gave practically no experience these days. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The fact that she was also moving in the direction Oldies gave her, the location of one of the few remaining places that still worshiped them, also played into the equation, as it took her out from the central region of the forest where the stronger beasts are. After a couple days of moving and mostly avoiding fights out of worry for her still-weak companions back then, she had reached the outskirts of the forest, and monsters that are equivalent to the second tier started to become rare. If anything, that one level 21 [Horned Hopper] likely contributed more to the level she just got compared to the rest of its flock. She had also learned over these few days that she had been overly cautious. Her companions were strong for their level, as they showed by regularly hunting down creatures many times their size that are higher in level than they were. They seemed to enjoy hunting as well, so she had far less qualms in siccing them at whatever came across their path these days. A quick glance at her stat screen and a quick distribution of the free stats followed the hunt. Esperanza had once debated whether it would not be a good idea to keep some free stats just in case she might need a boost in one stat or another one day, but eventually Oldies convinced her that it would likely be a poor choice. The situation she would be able to escape by allocating those free stats were likely ones she would never have gotten into in the first place had she already distributed them. Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl20]/[Emissary of the Forgotten Lvl2]/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 38 - Dexterity : 37 - Constitution : 37 - Intelligence : 36 - Perception : 35 - Wisdom : 36 - Willpower : 39 - Intuition : 38 - Sanity : -110 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] Class 2: [Emissary of the Forgotten] General Skills: The relative lack of experience gains for the past few days had not meant that she did not grow stronger either. She made sure to practice her skills, and saw an increase in some of them. [Gauze of Oblivion] in particular had leveled up when she made heavy use of it to sneak out from the central forest with the then level 10 Dali and Gordita in tow. As for the rest, she just practiced them as much as she could during her free time. Her gain of levels in skills slowed down the higher they get, though supposedly they could evolve if she manages to get them into their maximum level. At least Oldies said so. Skills supposedly had their own tiers, and could evolve further. That said, only skills that had been evolved during a class evolution would eventually be able to reach the highest tier. That was something she appreciated, as she recalled the last time she talked with Oldies about that subject. ****************************** It is quite interesting that it was that skill in particular which evolved during the class change. We had not expected that. Then again, usually this sort of connection is partly formed by the individual¡¯s own mindset and beliefs, which the system just amplified further. As such, it is probably some part of your mind that equated the position of an emissary with the skill, Esperanza. ¡°Kinda makes some sense, I guess. I mean, I can¡¯t exactly do any emmisarying if people run away in fear and panic or go crazy when they see me, now can I?¡± said Esperanza in turn. ¡°Being able to assume a less¡­ eldritch-y guise would be a very useful thing when I need to talk to others, you know.¡± It is perhaps also linked to your desire to regain a simile of your previous form, which the system had interpreted and incorporated into the class and the skill. Either way, you seem pretty pleased with the result, we noticed. ¡°I mean, I do want to help you out more and this class definitely looks like it¡¯d help me to do that, and I do have some attachment to my old body and would like some way to sort of get it back if I can, y¡¯know?¡± said Esperanza with a metaphorical shrug of her shoulders. ¡°This way, I kinda get both of those at once, and as my teacher used to tell me, por que no los dos?¡± That is one way to view things, we suppose. ****************************** ¡°Who¡¯s a good boi? You are! Yes you are!¡± said Esperanza as she gently rubbed the short, sleek fur on Dali¡¯s head with one arm-like appendage. For his own part, Dali seemed to enjoy the caress and rubbed his head against her hand just as vigorously. Even while she did that, Esperanza formed a maw in her other ¡°hand¡± and swallowed the beasts Dali hunted down whole after Gordita dragged them over, one after another, leaving a couple for her companions to feast on. She trained her [Consume] skill that way, with most everything she killed. At its current level the skill had increased in duration and amount of stat gained, but it was still a couple points to each stat for a few minutes. Not exactly practical to use unless she happened to be accosted by a horde of weaker enemies and could use it during the fight. Gordita was nestled by her ¡°thigh¡± and chomped down on the large monster it had dragged over to feast on. She was a larger and far bulkier dog than Dali was, and while far stronger and durable, was nowhere as fast. It was one reason Esperanza only sicced Dali at the monsters during the hunt earlier, as they were the sort of prey Gordita was poorly equipped for dealing with. At the moment, Esperanza mostly had two goals in mind for the life ahead of her. She would try to help Oldies out as much as she could, partly as thanks for the help they had given her so far. Other than that, she would also try to live this second life of hers to the fullest, now that she had a proper chance to do so. The two goals might seem paradoxical, since Oldies had long stated that he wished for her to destroy this world, but nobody said she couldn¡¯t enjoy life to the fullest first while doing that. As her old teacher had told her before, Por que no los dos? Why not both? XX - First Proper Contact (With Other People) Is all this really necessary, Esperanza? ¡°No offense, Oldies, but I think everyone would think showing up naked to someone¡¯s place to be either the height of rudeness, or the most blatant invitation to fuck, ever,¡± said Esperanza back as she tried her best to weave something that resembled cloth out of a many long strands of long, sturdy leaves. ¡°It¡¯s only polite to be dressed in society, you know? Going out butt nekkid is just no Bueno.¡± We mean¡­ it is not like there is anything to hide or be ashamed of with your current form. ¡°And you think your worshipers wouldn¡¯t be screaming their pinche heads off if they see some sort of vaguely humanoid eldritch abomination just walking into their cozy little village?¡± she countered. Of all the discussions she has had over the past few weeks with the old-and-possibly-eldritch gods she had not expected that the idea of modesty was the one that it found hardest to understand. Then again, Oldies used to be gods, and she guessed when you¡¯re a god you probably would stop caring about such things as well. Do as you wish, then. As we mentioned last time we talked, you are now very close to the hunting ground of that village. They rarely ventured deeper into the woods, as they are a mostly peaceful people, focused on concealment rather than power. Most of them would probably view a second-tier beast as a dangerous threat. ¡°Would they not need, you know, power, to be able to live so close to this place?¡± Esperanza asked. The question came naturally to her as she had experienced first-hand just how vicious the local wildlife was. A village that was located within the outskirts of the forest would by nature come under threat from such wildlife as well. ¡°For that matter, why would they live in such a precarious place if they¡¯re that weak?¡± Because the rest of the world wished to eradicate every last trace of their existence. We have been vilified and used as the monsters in bedtime stories for countless generations by now, remember? Even the system would mention us only under unsavory terms, even if it was arguably the only entity that treated our remaining worshipers fairly in this day and age. ¡°Oh, right,¡± she replied before falling silent for a moment. She was familiar with the bias the current world had against those who worshiped the old gods. They were an element that the current gods had no control over, and thus wished to exterminate. As such, both the human kingdom and the demon lands hunted them down, any that were found killed on sight. ¡°Even so, wouldn¡¯t they then need to have power even more to deal with those who wished to hunt them down?¡± Those who are affiliated with us are detectable by others through the system, Esperanza. You are an exception, and only because you had met us directly which allowed us to invest a stopgap measure to prevent this precise issue. Even so, when you grow too powerful, eventually others would be able to detect our presence within you as well, though hopefully you will have grown strong enough to take care of yourself by then. ¡°Noted. So potential trouble for later,¡± she said with a nod. Even with her current skill level in [Shifting Guise], the best approximation to a human form she could manage was pretty much a nearly featureless humanoid shape, with hands that were more claws than human. She managed to get two eyes and a mouth at the correct place at least, but could do little with all the others all over her form. You had said that you had known some of the heroes prior to the summoning. If it was possible, We were hoping that you might be able to help them see what is wrong with the world. If they could see things for themselves instead of just what the gods saw fit for them to see, then they might have a change of mind. You being instantly noticeable as one of ours would have made that impossible as any member of the clergy would have sounded the alarm the moment you get too close. ¡°Got that part, yeah. Around how long do you think the disguise or cover or whatever you did would hold on for?¡± she asked back. It depends entirely on the power you exude, so we expect it to hold until the late levels of your third tier, with the early levels of the fourth as a probable, but unlikely possibility. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Gotcha. That¡¯s a bit of time to spare, at least, especially since the leveling¡¯s been slowing down quite a bit,¡± she replied. While the levels had come to her rapidly and easily during the first tier, leveling in higher tiers was a notably more difficult endeavor. For one she received little to no experience for dealing with anything a tier below her, and needed more for each level to boot. ¡°Anything else you¡¯d like for me to pass on to your worshipers out there?¡± Your presence alone is plenty. The skill we gave you would prevent others from detecting our power in you, but those who are part of our worshipers would be able to feel it regardless. We just wish for you to see for yourselves what this world is like with your own eyes. To make your own decisions when the time for decisions comes eventually. ¡°Okay, got it. So see things for myself, draw my own conclusions, make my own calls. De nada,¡± said Esperanza as she finished weaving one part of the leaf-cloth and tied it off with a knot. The mundane work also helped her exercise with her more humanlike limbs, as she slowly gained more fine control over them. After all, it would not do anyone any favors if she were to accidentally maim somebody¡¯s hand while giving them a handshake. That is so. Our time for the week is up, so We wish you a pleasant experience with our people. ¡°Hasta Luego, Oldies.¡± Esperanza continued her weaving after Oldies¡¯ presence left her mind. Dali and Gordy occasionally came back with more of the long, thin leaves she used to weave the cloth in their mouths, before running off to hunt whatever local creature was nearby. She was not worried about them in the least, as the area of the forest she was currently in rarely had beasts of even level 20. While she thanked the basket-weaving experience she had done in home economics class as a traditional arts and craft project, Esperanza patiently wove the slender leaves into a cloth that resembled an extra-large poncho, a large square sheet of cloth with a hole in the center to fit her head through. It was not much, but it was at least better than having nothing to wear. True, like Oldies said, she no longer exactly had bits to hide or be ashamed of in her current form, since even her best attempts only managed to form a featureless mannequin at best, a facsimile of the human form. The presence of the many eyes and mouths all over her body still betrayed her true nature as something inhuman, but at the moment there was nothing she could do about it yet. Maybe in the future when [Fleshweaving] and [Shifting Guise] evolved once more, she might be able to pull off a more convincing human form, but for now, the humanoid mannequin with far too many eyes and mouths where they should not be was the best she had. She had learned to work with what she had over her stay in the forest, so she made do with it. Esperanza also wove a hood-like structure to one side of the makeshift poncho, to hide her head and face from sight. Even if the villagers could detect her as one of Oldies¡¯ people, her current appearance was still one that would likely make a child cry. She was sensible enough to realize that and do something about it. It would not do for rumors of Oldies working with inhuman monsters to spread amongst his people and further give them a bad rap, after all. She realized that her attempts at covering herself up would naturally draw suspicion from others, but it was something she could live with. The possible consequences of exposing herself as what she was gave her a headache, and she hoped that the people in the village were reasonable enough to at least be willing to talk with her, and if possible, give her some better clothes to wear and cover herself with. When she finished her work the next day ¨C one good thing about her current form was that she barely needed to sleep, with a couple hours rest a night being plenty for her ¨C Esperanza stood up and held her handiwork with her hands, the woven leaves looking almost like a pale green fabric with a light checkered pattern on it. The piece of cloth was long enough to cover her all the way down to her shins when she put it on, with its hood hiding the upper half of her face. For the lower half of her face, she had woven a smaller piece of leaf-cloth that formed what looked almost like a mask, if a makeshift one. In that way, all that was revealed of her face was her eyes, which in itself was probably disconcerting enough, given that they were black where the white parts should have been and reddish-purple where her pupils used to be. Even so, they were the most human-looking ones she found out of the many eyes that dotted her form. So dressed, she made her way further towards the outside of the forest. While her knowledge of this world¡¯s geography was near-nonexistent, Oldies had given her the gist of the situation. The world was roughly split into two halves, with the human lands to the north and east, while the demons ruled over the south and west. The forest she had been thrown into was located in the broad no-man¡¯s land between the human and demon lands. The area changed owners far too often in its past, and as such most of the battles had taken place over them as well. The heavy usage of magic and other weapons of mass destruction had poisoned the lands over time, made them grow all sorts of plants that were hostile to other lifeforms, and caused an outbreak of monsters in the area. As a result, those lands were abandoned by both sides, which made them a perfect hideout for the remnants of Oldies¡¯ believers to hide in. According to Oldies, the width of the no-man¡¯s land had continuously widened over the past generations, which was a state of affairs that could easily render the whole world uninhabitable over time. Not that the current gods would care, beyond the temporary loss of their source of entertainment. Esperanza made her way to the outermost regions of the forest, in the direction Oldies had shown her. Dali and Gordy scouted ahead of her, as they used their keen sense of smell to look for traces of other people in the region. Their trek took up the entire night, and well into the afternoon of the next day before she heard Dali¡¯s barking from further ahead. She rushed over to find three people ¨C all of them looking like humans, albeit with long, pointy ears and tusks jutting from their lower lips, with a slight greenish coloration to their skin ¨C who eyed Dali with extreme wariness. Two of the three looked like youngsters, a male and a female, while the third looked older from the facial hair that grew on his upper chin and lip. Careful so as not to surprise the strangers too much, Esperanza slipped out from behind the trees with Gordy next to her. She knelt down next to Dali and rubbed his head affectionately, even as she raised her other hand to show the three hunters ¨C they carried bows and were dressed like one, at least ¨C that she meant them no harm. ¡°Umm¡­ We come in peace?¡± 21 - Different Attitudes (Towards Life) ¡°Ow ow ow ow, shit, fuck! That bloody hurts!¡± Alissa couldn¡¯t help but curse a minute after the fighting ended. Ethan¡¯s [Raging Bellow] had ended by then, and their sense of pain returned all at once, with a vengeance. One moment she was all right, feeling stronger and fitter than ever, helping support Moira whose leg was injured in the last moments of the battle and had to limp, then the next moment, everything hurts. Her chest felt like one massive bruise, one that made every breath she took an exercise in the various nuances of agony. She felt herself collapsing down as her legs gave out under her, and even her attempt to catch her fall with her arms only caused said limbs to similarly cry out in pain. Similar cries of pain from around her told her that at least she was not alone in that suffering though. ¡°Bloody hell, I feel like I¡¯ve just been piled on by both teams on the field! At the same fucking time!¡± complained Ethan as he grimaced and held his left arm gingerly with his right hand. He had taken more than one heavy blow to that limb, so it had not surprised Alissa that he might have taken some more serious injury to it over the fight. ¡°Lang¡­ guage¡­¡± muttered Joshua feebly as he curled over in a fetal position and seemed to struggle not to cry his eyes out from the pain. Ethan and Alissa wore armor that helped them take the brunt of the hits they received, but Joshua had far lighter armor, and even if he had not taken as much punishment, he was definitely feeling it as well. After all, he was one of those kids that was used to staying comfortable in their homes and had lives almost entirely separate from violence. On the other hand, due to her own more sporty disposition and passions, Alissa was all too used to muscle sores from physical training, as well as the occasional bruises and light injuries when some roughhousing inevitably happened during matches. As for Ethan, he played football competitively and was all too used to being tackled by other hefty, bulky athletes and even piled on by dozens of them, so he definitely had a good bit more tolerance to pain compared to most. Even the locals were not that much better off, though. Moira had collapsed almost on top of Alissa when she fell down, the young woman¡¯s own legs giving out under her weight as she apparently could barely feel the leg she was limping on. Both Gregorius and Bronwen kept their faces stoic but from the way they sweated and grit their teeth, they were both clearly in some notable pain as well. The Fifth Princess collapsed to her knees and coughed severely for a while, often coughing out some frothy blood out from her mouth in the process. It was fortunate that they were not in that dungeon on their own, and moments later, the rest of their group had reached them as well. Vesta went over to Joshua and seemed to do something that pacified him, a slight glow from the hands she held over his head. At the same time, Cerilla went over and placed her hand over Alissa¡¯s chest armor. Her hand glowed as she recited some words under her breath, too quick for Alissa to catch on, but before long, the pain she was feeling started to alleviate itself and she found herself able to breathe more normally once more. At the same time, Cerilla¡¯s other hand hovered over Moira, with similar results. The injuries they suffered from the fighting seemed to knit together, the pain lessened to a dull ache not unlike muscle sores from training too hard. After a while longer, Cerilla gave them a kind nod before she lifted her hands and moved away to where Ethan and the Fifth Princess was. Alissa was still in the midst of trying to get her sore muscles to cooperate with her so she could get back to her feet when she heard the sound of heavy footsteps nearby. She turned her head over ¨C causing her stressed muscles to yell at her with pain ¨C and saw that it was Sir Inolet who had walked over, standing tall over her with his arms crossed before his chest. ¡°It is rare for my students to surpass my expectations like this, so allow me to enjoy this moment for a bit more first,¡± said Sir Inolet as he looked at Alissa with a rare smile on his face. The old knight looked as if he had been rejuvenated somewhat, and the rare praise from his lips made her wonder if she was not hearing wrong at first. ¡°That just now¡­ was us doing well?¡± she managed to blurt out after a while. In Alissa¡¯s thought the fight was a rather messy one, edging on disastrous, even if they managed to prevail at the very end. Several times people had almost died during the fight, and the lack of cooperation ¨C for the most part the three of them were sort of off doing their own things rather than working with their guards ¨C was another abysmal point. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. It also made her recall how Joshua looked like he was about to run away at one point of the fighting, something she would need to drag him over to talk about later. ¡°Yes. You three had exceeded my expectations and done much better than I had expected,¡± admitted the old knight, still with that slight smile on his lips, half-hidden by his thick, coarse mustache. He even bent down and offered Alissa a hand to help her up, which she took. ¡°Take it easy there, I know how it feels to be healed by magic. Your body ought to be protesting about it by now.¡± The process of raising herself to her feet was harder than she expected. While her injuries had been entirely healed, the process still left her feeling as if she had just ran a marathon while doing pumps the entire time, and she was rather wobbly at her feet. A glance to her side showed that none of the others ¨C Cerilla had moved on from Ethan and the Fifth Princess over to Gregorius and Bronwen ¨C likely felt any better either. ¡°What had you expected out of us in that fight then¡­ if I may ask?¡± asked Alissa to the old knight after she managed to stabilize herself with the help of a thick and sturdy stalagmite to support herself with. ¡°Why, I fully expected for the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] to wipe out your team,¡± said the old knight without missing a beat, as if he was talking about dinner or other daily things, rather than the life of deaths of people. ¡°It would have been a good lesson not to overestimate yourselves, and also allow you to learn the limitations of what you can and cannot do. Not like it would be of much consequence to you [Heroes] anyway, no?¡± ¡°Right¡­ we have the [Respawn] skill¡­ but what of the others?¡± she managed after a brief period of silence as she was surprised by what the old knight had so nonchalantly revealed to her. After she got over the idea of letting her and her friends die so they could learn from their mistakes, she had to admit that it made some sense to train them that way when they would just return to life later, if rather harsh. ¡°They don¡¯t have the skill like we do.¡± ¡°I would have stepped in and brought the Princess out, along with your gear,¡± said the old knight just as nonchalantly as before, as if he was not discussing life and death matters. ¡°You know I¡¯m a fourth tier. Even with my old injuries, the beast you struggled so much to handle would not be able to stop me for even a brief moment.¡± ¡°And the others?¡± she asked once more. ¡°What about them? If they¡¯re fortunate, they can make use of the distraction my entry would have caused to get out of there. If they¡¯re unlucky, that¡¯s just their fate,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a shrug of his shoulders. It was clear from the way he addressed the matter that he cared for none of their lives other than the Princess¡¯. ¡°Either way, as guards of the temple or the royal family, they are just doing their duty. They¡¯re doing something they¡¯d be proud to lay down their lives on.¡± ¡°Either way, we¡¯ll camp here for the night. None of you are in any shape to go further, so we¡¯re calling it a day for now,¡± said the old knight while Alissa was at a loss for words to reply back to what he just said. The old man looked at her conflicted eyes for a brief moment before he shook his head and added a few more words. ¡°If I were you, I¡¯d worry about myself first, rather than others. Much less when you¡¯re still too weak to affect the change you wanted to see.¡± After the silence lapsed for a while longer, Sir Inolet walked away to attend to the Fifth Princess, while the rest of the guards had also returned to their respective groups, all of them still limping and in some pain even after the healing. Alissa noted that Joshua was still curled up in a fetal position and seemed to have fallen asleep with his head on Vesta¡¯s lap, while Cerilla gave her a nod before she followed Sir Inolet. ¡°You okay, Allie?¡± asked Ethan as he hobbled over to her side. Much like Alissa herself, he looked the worse for wear, with his left arm still hanging limply by his side. If his arm felt much like how her chest felt right at that time, then Alissa understood why he just let it hang limp like that. ¡°Your face looked like your cat just died or something.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just what Old Henri said¡­¡± replied Alissa as she hugged herself with both arms, her back resting against the sturdy stalagmite she used to support herself. She fought to put the words she had in her mind the right way for a few moments before she finally continued. ¡°He seemed to have¡­ no regard for the lives of everyone else, other than the Princess, and us, I guess. But we can¡¯t die now, can we? So he only really cared for the Princess.¡± ¡°Ah. Let me guess, he probably said something along the lines of them probably finding it an honor to die in your service or something like that? That it was their purpose in life?¡± asked Ethan as he hit the nail right in the head. The way he seemed to almost instantly get what¡¯s going on around them since they were summoned to this world at times made Alissa wish she had read more of those books he liked so much. ¡°Looks like I guessed it right, huh?¡± ¡°You did. He said it somewhat differently, but it¡¯s pretty much the same thing,¡± she admitted. ¡°That¡¯s something I had sort of expected since we were summoned and then treated so well. They had a whole religion revolving on people getting summoned to serve as [Heroes] for them, Allie. How else did you expect they¡¯d be reacting when the [Heroes] came for real?¡± he explained. ¡°Rather, think of it this way. How would your mom have reacted if one day she learned that Jesus had just come over for the second time and he¡¯s right in town?¡± ¡°Okay, okay, I get your drift,¡± said Alissa as she gestured for Ethan to stop with the increasingly elaborate explanations. He could really get talkative when it comes to a topic he was passionate about like this, as she had learned the hard way over their many years of friendship. ¡°So¡­ are you suggesting that I just let it be that people are literally willing to sacrifice their whole lives just to train us?¡± ¡°As my dad often said, be the change you want to be, girl. Right now we might not have much in terms of actual standing, being pretty much newbie heroes fresh off the summoning and whatnot, but I betcha that¡¯ll change as we grow more powerful,¡± said Ethan with a smirk on his face. ¡°By then you could likely call for what changes you¡¯d want to see and have them followed.¡± 22 - Questions and (Vague) Answers ¡°So, I¡¯m not asking just because I have doubts, which I do, by the way, but is this sword supposed to snap like that earlier?¡± said Ethan as he addressed the group¡¯s chaperones later that night, as they supped on the simple meal for dinner. He had the hilt of his broken shortsword in hand, although they had given him a replacement for it. ¡°I¡¯ll answer that for you, Greene,¡± said Sir Inolet with a nod from where he sat across the small campfire they lit for warmth. The temperature had gotten colder the deeper they went into the cavern complex that the dungeon was composed of. ¡°If I recall correctly, you had gone into the Royal Armory together with O¡¯Connor to pick your weapons back then, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, Sir,¡± Ethan replied with a firm nod of his head. ¡°You¡¯ve probably also seen the other weapons and armor we kept deeper in the place, then, yes? The ones that looked far too large and heavy for a person to wield?¡± continued the old knight as he dined on his stew. Sir Henri Inolet seemed to have expected Ethan¡¯s question, and the others did not seem too interested in the discussion, other than Alissa who kept her ears open. ¡°Also right,¡± admitted Ethan. ¡°Then you can probably guess what I¡¯m about to say, since you seem to be the most savvy of how this world of ours works compared to the other [Heroes]. I will say it for their benefit regardless, though,¡± said Sir Inolet with an appreciative nod of his head. ¡°There are several grades of equipment we have available, each of which were separated by the tier their wielder was supposed to be before using them. The sword you pointed out, as well as the rest of your weapons are intended to be used by a mid second tier person. They are about the same quality as what the junior members of our Royal Guard use.¡± ¡°I see. In that case am I correct in assuming that better equipment was limited either by stats or the tier of the person wielding them? Or are there some other ways to prevent those below that level from using them?¡± Ethan asked. Alissa got the gist of his intention so far. She recalled that in some games they played together there were weapons that could be gotten early on which simply trivialized most of the game afterward. He was probably fishing for a similar loophole. ¡°I think you¡¯ll understand this better with a demonstration. Here, catch!¡± said Sir Inolet as he removed the sword on his waist and tossed it over to Ethan. Ethan caught the blade ¨C still safe in its scabbard ¨C with both hands out of caution, and even then he still almost fell over. The weight of the blade caught him by surprise, as the slender-looking sword looked to be little more than a slightly longer than normal arming sword. Yet Ethan estimated that the thing must have weighed at least thirty pounds, probably forty or more. ¡°As you can see, you would need a far greater physique to be able to use my sword the way it¡¯s intended to be used. I managed because I¡¯m a Body-focused fourth tier. Considering how you [Heroes] are roughly a tier stronger than us, you and maybe even Miss O¡¯Connor there might be able to use something like that in your third tier,¡± said the old knight with a self-satisfied smirk. ¡°As for why my weapon is that heavy, they need to be in order to do enough damage to the sort of enemies I¡¯d be called to handle, and survive the experience. I think you can understand the logic behind this, yes, Mister Greene?¡± ¡°Yes, Sir. That¡¯s clear. And I assume we were given equipment of the mid second tier because that was all we could use properly back when we were still level one?¡± queried Ethan as he made an effort to throw the sword back to Sir Inolet. To his credit, his throw only fell slightly short, close enough that the old knight could simply reach his hand out and catch the weapon with ease. ¡°Correct. Another reason is to instill the idea in you that your equipment, all of it, are temporary measures. You should not get attached or too used to them, as you would be able to use better ones as you grow in power,¡± said the old knight with a nod. ¡°There¡¯s usually more leeway with armor, like the ones you are wearing now are closer to what people in the third tier wear. The main reason you could use them is because part of the enchantment was used to make them lighter and easier to wear.¡± ¡°Point taken, Sir Inolet,¡± replied Alissa politely from the side. ¡°So we should be prepared for a change of gear in the near future, then?¡± ¡°Your armors are honestly good enough to last until you¡¯re at least in the mid to late levels of your second tier, by my estimation, so those will stay with you for a while more at least,¡± replied the one-eyed knight with another nod of his head. ¡°As for your weapons, you have already noticed that you¡¯re starting to grow too strong for them, right? We¡¯ll likely get each of you a new set once we finish this dungeon.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Understood, sir,¡± she replied. Then Alissa looked towards the side where Joshua sat almost in isolation from the rest, only accompanied by Magus Drummond ¨C who looked positively incensed at his poor performance ¨C and Vesta ¨C who seemed busy soothing his bruised ego after the scolding. ¡°What about mage types like him, though?¡± While Alissa did not particularly like Joshua Smith, the three of them were still stuck together in this other world, and the best chance they had at the moment to return home was to stick together, so she couldn¡¯t help looking out a bit for him as well. Ethan seemed to be of the same sentiment, though with Joshua mostly keeping to himself, they were uncertain how they should broach the topic to him. ¡°It really depends, I would say. Some like Magus Drummond over there had a more balanced build and wore armor that higher level third-tier knights would normally be wearing. He is also far from helpless if forced to engage an enemy without the aid of his magical prowess,¡± said the old one-eyed knight nonchalantly. ¡°On the other hand, I¡¯ve known other wizards who were barely more fit than a regular second tier adult. They tend to be slightly more lethal with their magic, sure, but they are also far easier to kill once you get your hands on them.¡± ¡°I assume you do not approve of those types as much, then, Sir?¡± asked Alissa politely. She had discovered over their past month of acquaintanceship that speaking in polite tones was the easiest way to coax out more information from their teacher. ¡°They are far too dependent on others to stay alive. The benefits of increased power were only marginal compared to those who chose a more balanced, if still focused build. On the other hand, the disadvantages were far greater and much easier to exploit,¡± ranted Sir Inolet, who clearly had some strong views on the matter. ¡°They can¡¯t even wear proper armor if their lives depended on them, and their stamina is nonexistent so you¡¯d need frequent rest during long expeditions. I think even with your more limited knowledge, even you would agree that those are too many disadvantages for a mere marginal increase in power, no?¡± ¡°I thought mage types don¡¯t mesh well with heavy armor?¡± Ethan asked, a question that had also came to Alissa¡¯s mind but she was late in voicing. ¡°That is true to an extent. That said, take a look at old Murdock there. Does he look that armored to you?¡± said Sir Inolet as he answered them with a question of his own. Murdock was Magus Drummond¡¯s first name, and both of the young [Heroes] looked towards him only to see that the old mage dressed in robes similar to Joshua¡¯s if a good bit thicker. ¡°He looks like he¡¯s just wearing¡­ thick robes,¡± said Alissa tentatively. ¡°That¡¯s what it looked like from the outside, but underneath the surface of that robe are multiple layers of monster scales and bones sewn into the fabric. The principle is not that much different from your own armor, Mister Greene, just that he didn¡¯t use metal materials for his,¡± said Sir Inolet in reply. ¡°Either of you care to take a venture on how much that robe of his weighed?¡± ¡°You said there¡¯s scales and bones in it, so probably like ten pounds? Maybe fifteen?¡± guessed Alissa. ¡°Nah, he previously said that it¡¯s something similar to what a third tier knight would be wearing. I¡¯m guessing thirty or so,¡± replied Ethan before Sir Inolet could answer. ¡°Both of you misjudged the density of high-tier monster scales and bones. Just that robe alone weighed at least a full hundred pounds or thereabouts. My armor weighed nearly double that. It should be noted, however, that ol¡¯ Murdock there has particularly high Body stat for a mage,¡± replied the Old Knight with a smirk on his leathery face. ¡°Most mages would barely be able to wear stuff that beginner third tier knights wear because they lack a high enough Body stat.¡± ¡°What about you, Sir?¡± asked Alissa suddenly with some curiosity. ¡°What sort of build do you pursue?¡± ¡°Me? Mostly in Body with a good bit of Mind as well. I¡¯m a [Blade of Sorcery] so I do use magic to a limited extent to support my swordsplay. Enough in Soul to not make myself particularly vulnerable to attacks that utilize that field, but that¡¯s about it,¡± replied the old knight with a nod of approval at Alissa¡¯s curiosity. ¡°Murdock there¡¯s basically got a similar distribution I do, just reverse the Body and Mind stats. Those priestesses from the temple would be much more Soul-focused since their skills generally run off that stat.¡± ¡°Is that why you recommended for us to keep things relatively balanced early on?¡± ¡°Correct. You never know what sort of opponent you might face in the future, so leaving a blatant opening for them to abuse would not be a wise thing to do,¡± said Sir Inolet with another nod. ¡°In general, if you lack stats in one particular category, you will be vulnerable to attacks that target that category. As such, it¡¯s generally advised to keep your other stats at least at a decent level for defensive purposes. Being too specialized has less benefits than drawbacks.¡± ¡°That is interesting to know. Thank you, Sir. I¡¯ll be sure to dump some points down the Mind and Soul stats later on,¡± said Ethan. ¡°You do that, but generally hold off on going too far in that direction as well. For all you know your next class might distribute more points that way by default and help cover for your lacking,¡± replied Sir Inolet. ¡°Not that Miss O¡¯Connor here would have to worry about that since her class seems intent on covering those gaps by default. In that sense she has more freedom to pursue a course she deemed fitting for herself. Enjoy it, girl. That¡¯s a luxury that only few in this world get to enjoy.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir. I will keep it in mind,¡± said Alissa with a respectful nod at the old knight. The rest of the night passed quietly in the murky darkness of the dungeon. Just as before, the heroes were allowed to sleep through the night without having to stand watch, though this time their compatriots in the fight also got to join them for a full night¡¯s rest. While Alissa thought she¡¯d probably find it hard to sleep after that fight they had earlier, she fell into a deep sleep almost the instant her head rested on the backpack she used as a pillow in the dungeon. They woke up the next morning, relatively refreshed from the night¡¯s rest, though Alissa and the rest still felt some sores and aches from the previous day. Apparently it was a well-known sequela to magical healing in this world, considering how everyone else just took it in stride. Fortunately for them, according to Sir Inolet they were still two to three day¡¯s away from where the matriarch of the cavern dwelled. As such, they had a relatively relaxed day, even the fighting was easier than previously, as they delved deeper into the dungeon. XXIII - We Come in Peace(?) ¡°Quieto, Chico,¡± said Esperanza to Dali as she looked closer at the trio of native hunters. She was no expert in facial features, and the fact that these three were not exactly human by any means also made their looks somewhat harder to discern, but she thought that the three of them looked particularly alike that they might be a family or sorts. Esperanza couldn¡¯t be certain about their ages. Their appearance had that odd sort of ageless quality to it, not unlike what she had seen before with the parents of some of her asian-american classmates who could easily pass as their kid¡¯s elder sibling. That they weren¡¯t human further muddled it up. The younger ones could be twenty or two hundred for all she knew. That the one who stood protectively in front of the other two was older and likely their elder was obvious, since he ¨C they had very human-like bodies so it was easy to tell their gender at a glance ¨C had noticeable wrinkles on the corner of his eyes. The coarse facial hair that grew on his chin and upper lip also helped, since the younger male barely had little more than what looked like pitiful amounts of stubble on his. The third member of the group and the obviously female one seemed the wariest of the three, as her eyes never left Dali for even a moment. That was despite how Dali had quietly plopped down on his butt and sat calmly since Esperanza¡¯s arrival. The way he barked earlier ¨C to call for Esperanza ¨C must have scared the natives quite a bit, especially given Dali¡¯s level. Because these natives had very low levels in classes that might have given them any actual fighting prowess. The younger male identified as a [Farmer¡¯s Child Lvl20/Junior Fletcher Lvl20/Hunter¡¯s Apprentice Lvl4], while the woman was an [Orphan Lvl20/Cook Lvl20/Hunter¡¯s Apprentice Lvl3]. The old man was somewhat better as a [Hunter¡¯s Child Lvl20/Novice Hunter Lvl20/Veteran Hunter Lvl12], but not even he gave off any feeling of danger to her, despite his being well into his third tier. It probably had to do with the quality of the classes they had, as Oldies once explained to her. She herself had noticed how the classes she was offered for the second tier had a noticeable gap in quality between the best and the worst one. If these people were stuck in a poor situation and were forced to rely on a haphazard mix of low-end classes to survive, then she was likely more than strong enough to take all three of them on her own. And that was not even counting Dali and Gordy¡¯s presence. With them in the equation Esperanza felt that she could likely take on dozens of people around the older native¡¯s level, if their class quality were all that poor. She had heard from Oldies that the natives got the short end of the stick from the system in general, but she had not expected it to be this bad. Given how experience gain from creatures of lower tiers was so low it was no surprise that the older hunter barely had more levels than the younger ones even if he was decades older. And the worst thing was that he could likely not handle anything that gave him decent experience, either. ¡°W- Who are you? What are you? What are these¡­ creatures?¡± stammered the female native after a moment of prolonged silence. Her eyes were still transfixed to Dali all that time, as if he was some sort of predatory beast that would leap and tear out her throat the moment she took her eyes off him. Her younger male compatriot on the other hand looked just as warily at both Esperanza herself and Gordy. The male looked torn between trying to put on a strong face ¨C probably for the female¡¯s behalf ¨C and keeping from shivering with fear. Esperanza could see the obvious dread in his eyes, and even from a distance her new skill picked up impressions of the young male running away while screaming at the top of his lungs. No doubt what he wished he could do at that moment. ¡°Hush, child,¡± said the older male after a moment, his arm extended before the younger pair as if to hold them back. He looked the calmest out of the trio, and as Esperanza turned to face him, she noticed that the way he looked at her was not one tinged with fear. It was instead a gaze that was full of recognition, longing, and most of all, worship. ¡°This humble mortal greets the honored messenger of the Deities of Yore,¡± said the older native even as he dropped to his knees and bowed so low that his head laid flat against the soil. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Before Esperanza could react or say anything, the two younger natives reacted as if they had been shot when they heard the words said by the older one, and similarly prostrated themselves before her. None of the three moved from their position even as she watched with wide eyes, dumbfounded by the sudden development. She knew that Oldies said that their worshipers would be able to tell she was granted power by them, but she had not expected this level of obeisance. Much less when the younger two had been so afraid of her pets tearing their throats out just moments ago and now willingly bared the backs of their necks to her just like that. The worshipful attitude of the three had caught her completely off guard, and of all things, was probably the one thing she had not expected to have to deal with. ¡°All right, all right, that¡¯s enough of that. Rise up, por favor,¡± she said, intoning the last word so it was less a request and more a command as best she could. Even then, the natives took a bit more coaxing before they finally rose up to their feet, their heads held low as if they were afraid to even look her in the eye. It was a rather exasperating situation for her. ¡°You all probably won¡¯t listen to me even if I tell you just to treat me normally, so at least help me out by answering some of my questions,¡± said Esperanza with another exasperated sigh. Now that she had approached the natives the thoughts of worship were very easily discernible from them, the three acting as if they had seen their own god right in front of them. ¡°Let¡¯s start with something simple. What are your names? Where are you from?¡± ¡°This lowly one is Adan-Zil, honored one. I am a hunter in service of our community of the adherents of the old ways here in the Iskalle Forest,¡± said the older native as he gave another low bow to Esperanza. ¡°These two are Eda-Zil, my adopted daughter and apprentice, and Kvar-Litu, another apprentice of mine. We are out here hunting to help feed the rest of our village.¡± ¡°I see,¡± said Esperanza with a nod of her ¡°head¡±. ¡°How many people live in your village? How long has your community been living here?¡± ¡°To answer the honored one, there are thirty-six families in our village, approximately a hundred and fifty heads in total,¡± replied Adan-Zil while he kept his respectful bow. The two younger ones mostly held their lips shut and held a similar pose of obeisance, probably too afraid of saying the wrong thing and thus offending her that way. ¡°As for our community¡­ we have lived in our current location for around a generation.¡± ¡°What do you mean, your current location?¡± asked Esperanza with unhidden curiosity. Gordy and Dali had prowled over and rubbed their furry bodies against her legs by then, which elicited a slight wince of wariness from the youngsters, though Adan-Zil seemed unaffected by their presence and retained his calm all the while. Esperanza also took a moment to look at the way the three hunters were dressed and armed. Their clothes were rough, made from what seemed to be animal hide cut and sewn into coarse tunics that went halfway down their thighs, with no pants underneath. They did wear wrappings of leather around their feet that reminded her of native american moccasins, but that was about all they wore for clothing. As for weapons, all three had long spears with a wooden haft and a spearhead that looked like it was formed from flaked obsidian in their hands. They also carried a crude knife made of the same material, with the handle part of it wrapped in layers of leather. In their other hand they each carried three javelins, each only around a meter long, topped with sharp heads made of the same material. None of them carried bows of any sort, though they carried a long stick ¨C the youngsters carried one of wood, while the older hunter¡¯s looked like it was carved from the femur of a large animal ¨C with an upraised notch on its end in their javelin hand as well. They looked like mesoamerican spear-throwers she saw in a museum once, and probably served the same purpose. Other than that, Adan-Zil also carried a paddle-like club which he held together with his spear. The narrow sides of the club had many razor-sharp blades of flaked obsidian embedded in it, which probably made for a vicious chopping tool, if one with very limited durability. Either way it was clear to Esperanza that the community these hunters belonged to probably lacked the means to process metal. ¡°We¡­ were forced to flee our home when I was young, honored one. Eda also lost her parents during our escape back then,¡± replied Adan-Zil to her query after he took a moment to arrange his words. ¡°The forest had shown its displeasure for our presence back then and we were overwhelmed by a tide of beasts. Less than half of our people made it out and escaped to where we now live.¡± ¡°Is that sort of occurrence¡­ common?¡± asked Esperanza. ¡°We used to live in the deeper regions of this forest, for our safety, but had been forced to leave for the shallower regions several times by now. My own late father told me stories of two previous exoduses he lived through, and there were older tales of others before that as well,¡± replied Adan-Zil. ¡°This forest had grown more dangerous and less hospitable over time, and we fear for the day when we would be forced out into the open.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± muttered Esperanza as she gathered her thoughts. Oldies had not given her much in terms of clear instructions, and instead asked her to see and decide things for herself. Even if the constant worship and obeisance of these natives were somewhat exasperating, they still represented the first choice Esperanza had to observe this world from the side. She made up her mind and decided to go with them, at least for the time being. Considering how weak the old hunter was compared to her despite him having a tier and a half¡¯s worth of levels over her, she was not exactly worried that the village could overpower her. That, and she trusted Oldies enough to not worry about them sending her into a trap, at least. ¡°Would you be willing to lead me to your village?¡± she asked in the end. With how worshipful these natives were, she had little doubt that they wouldn¡¯t even if she got all bossy and commanded them to take her there. She had nothing to lose by being polite, however, and being all bossy was just not something that ever really crossed her mind to begin with. ¡°I wish to see it for myself.¡± ¡°As the honored one wished, it shall be done,¡± replied Adan-Zil. He finally straightened up and gestured to the two youngsters, then led the way towards their village. Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy all followed wordlessly behind him and the youngsters, with some anticipation building in her mind. XXIV - Pursuing the Wild (in the Old Ways) ¡°Good shot!¡± praised Esperanza as she watched the old hunter Adan-Zil at work. While the trio of natives were leading her back to their village, she eventually managed to insist that they not mind her presence and hunt like usual along the way. She was not in any hurry to begin with, and she would feel bad if she were to derail the three¡¯s hunting plans and accidentally cause someone to go hungry in their village as a result. The native trio hunted in a manner that was as primitive as their gear, though after she got a closer look at how they did things, she noticed a few things about them as well. For one, whatever their kind was, Adan-Zil and the youngsters were definitely stronger and faster than humans. The two youngsters moved notably faster and more agilely than the Temple Guards she faced back then, and while they did have half a tier¡¯s worth of levels in advantage, it was more than evened out by their non-combative second tier as well. Classes like what they had were the bottom of the barrel, the common sort of classes the majority of people had. According to oldies the gains they received from those classes would be far, far worse than what Esperanza gained from her first tier class. The disadvantage would accumulate and just increase as they went higher in levels and tiers, and people with mixed, poor classes like those would be nowhere near as effective as those who got better, more focused ones even a tier lower. Usually, that was. It turned out that the different races did have differences with their base stats, so some non-humans like Adan-Zil¡¯s kind would naturally have an advantage over humans in that regard. Compared to the two youngsters, Adan-Zil was something else altogether. Esperanza sort of expected that, as his class setup was better and more focused than the youngsters, but had not expected the degree of difference between them. Where the two youths reminded her of hunters she had seen in shows in her previous life, skilled despite their lowish levels in the class, Adan-Zil reminded her more of the stealthier predators that lived deeper in the jungle. The older hunter sometimes seemed to just blend in with his surroundings, to the point that most would have had a hard time to notice his presence even at close range. As the youngsters were less skilled in hiding their presence, they relied on their spear-throwers to hunt. They would keep a javelin nocked in the tool with the rest of their javelins held in their other hand together with their long spear, and skulked until they were close enough to ensure a good hit. The force of the thrown javelin was quite impressive, as Esperanza had seen one hurled by Eda-Zil pierce through the ribcage of a deer and went out the other side of the animal¡¯s body. In comparison to Adan-Zil however, their skills were still greatly lacking. The older hunter was so accurate with his spear-thrower that Esperanza was impressed by how he took down a large bird in mid-flight with an accurate throw that skewered the animal from one side to another, from a distance more than thrice what the youngsters were comfortable with. He was most comfortable hunting with his spear, though, and he made his hunts an example for the younger two to learn from as he snuck through the undergrowth or atop tall branches before he struck down his prey with his spear. The violence was often very brief, as the experienced hunter killed his targets near-instantly. Esperanza also noted how he never used his club-like weapon but always kept it close at hand. In Adan-Zil¡¯s own words, the weapon was rare and difficult to make, so he did not wish to risk damaging it unless he really needed to do so. It was a proper weapon for them, not a hunting tool, and was something he would only use in defending himself against the more vicious beasts of the forest. The three native hunters made a sort of stretcher from branches and vines on which they placed their kills, and dragged it behind them as they walked towards their village. According to Adan-Zil¡¯s words, their village was roughly half a day¡¯s walking distance away, roughly a day for them since they were burdened with their prey. As such, Esperanza accompanied the native hunters as they settled down for the night in a small clearing. The pile of animal carcasses they carried with them were placed on the side of their camp, covered in leaves that leaked a sort of resin-like substance which somehow kept the smell from dispersing. Most of the animals they hunted had levels in the mid-teens, which according to Adan-Zil had more lifeforce and thus wouldn¡¯t spoil as fast. Nights in the forest were quiet moments. The three native hunters huddled around a small campfire that both warned some animals to stay away from their camp and gave them warmth. They drank from their waterskins and chewed on some rations they brought from the village. Adan-Zil had offered Esperanza a portion and she accepted it out of politeness. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. It tasted sort of like a protein bar of some kind, though from what she could tell, it seemed to be made out of crushed dried meat and fruits suspended with rendered fat instead. It definitely wouldn¡¯t have won any sort of culinary award, but was decent enough for a portable meal to be had during hunting trips, she guessed. One of the three stayed up as a guard while they slept, the three alternating in shifts. Esperanza noted how Adan-Zil took the middle shift on purpose, so as to allow the youngsters to get some hours of straight, uninterrupted sleep in. None of the three seemed to have even thought of asking Esperanza to help out, which was something she sort of expected. Regardless, she chose to help out with the night watch anyway. Ever since her incarnation to this new world and the changes to her body, Esperanza no longer truly slept like she used to. Instead, she only rested part of her mind, with the other half remaining in a half-awake state, switching between the halves partway through her rest. That meant that she remained acutely aware of her surroundings even during her ¡°sleep¡±. She didn¡¯t know if Dali and Gordy needed any true sleep either, but the two dogs curled their bodies around her legs as she slept, something they habitually did, though she noticed how they were often aware of intruders before she even noticed it at all. When she considered their true natures, they probably needed as little sleep as she did, if not even less. Their peaceful rest was interrupted towards the end of Adan-Zil¡¯s watch when Esperanza heard a slight rustling in the trees, approaching in their direction. She snapped fully awake in a flash, while both Dali and Gordy unlimbered themselves from their comfortable huddle around her feet. Adan-Zil noticed her movements and turned to face her in alarm. ¡°What is it, Honored One?¡± he asked with obvious worry. ¡°Sh¡­ Guarda Silencio,¡± she said with a low voice. Fortunately while she had inadvertently switched to Spanish the meaning still got translated all the same to Adan-Zil, who nodded and shut his lips tightly. They spoke silently enough that neither Eda-Zil nor Kvar-Litu were roused from their slumber. ¡°We have incoming¡­ I think there¡¯s¡­ five? No. Six of them¡­ from all around us.¡± Adan-Zil almost leapt up from his sitting position when she said that, though he somehow managed to do it without making any discernible noise. He grabbed the paddle-like club in his right hand and his spear with his left as he looked around in full alert immediately. It must have been ingrained instincts and reflexes which allowed him to do it so swiftly and silently. He was about to wake up the youths when Esperanza held up one of her hands to stop him. Instead, she gave a couple gestures to Dali and Gordy with her other hand, and the two dogs nodded back at her before they slipped away in the darkness, into the forest. She herself moved to stand next to Adan-Zil, and shushed him once more, one finger held over her ¡°lips¡±. To his credit, while Adan-Zil looked at her questioningly he left the question unvoiced, and simply maintained his readiness. After a short while of waiting in the oppressive silence, they finally heard some noises from within the forest, noises which sounded like animals fighting, punctuated by something that sounded like a monkey¡¯s cry in the distance. Just as Adan-Zil looked like he was about to say something, Esperanza moved. Her arms elongated from beneath her outfit and struck into the canopy of the forest like a pair of serpents. Instinctively she shifted one of her maws onto the palm of each hand, which bit into their prey the moment the hands latched onto their forms in the darkness. Even before her surprised targets could cry out in shock and pain, she formed another tentacle-like limb topped with four sharp claws that arranged themselves almost like a second set of jaws inside the maws that formed on her hands. Those new tentacular tongue-like appendages shot out from the cavity with great force and punched through their victims all the way to the other side of their bodies. Blood and bone fragments spilled out from the exit wounds as the tenebrous limbs pushed their way through, cloaked in their entirety with gore and bits of their victims¡¯ organs. Her prey ceased struggling shortly afterwards as the life left their broken forms. She got her first glimpse at the creatures as her elongated arms dragged the carcasses back towards the camp. They looked like baboons at a glance, but with elongated snouts that were filled with many razor-sharp teeth not unlike a shark. Their six limbs were each twice as long as their torso, spindly almost like a spider¡¯s legs, ending in three-taloned claws, and they also had a tail which was just as long, with a nasty looking stinger at its tip. Esperanza took a brief moment to identify them back before she killed them, and saw that they were called [Venom-Tailed Crawlers], with their levels all in the low 20s. That was definitely on the high end for this area of the forest. Apparently Adan-Zil thought the same as his greenish face had visibly paled when he saw the carcasses. ¡°You know these things?¡± Esperanza asked quietly. The distant fighting and her own quick execution of her prey had made so little noise that neither of the youths had been awakened from their sleep. From her interface she already noticed that Dali and Gordy had made short work of the remaining creatures, and inwardly nodded with satisfaction. The experience they gave out was minimal, but still better than the tier 1 creatures that mostly inhabited the region. ¡°They are some of the most dangerous predators in this region of the forest, honored one,¡± replied Adan-Zil with a look of wonderment on his face, probably related to how easily she just took down two of the beasts at the same time. Or maybe it was about the bit where she literally shot out her arms and took care of things that were easily ten meters away from them, she wasn¡¯t certain. ¡°Sometimes one of them would even crawl into the village and steal some of our livestock away¡­ or even our children.¡± ¡°I see. Pests and vermin then,¡± said Esperanza with a nod as she gave a shrug of her shoulders. She looked at the mostly intact carcasses once more before she asked Adan-Zil. ¡°Do you have any use for their bodies?¡± ¡°We could use the tails to poison our weapons. Their poison is paralytic and breaks down when cooked, so we often use it for hunting,¡± he explained. ¡°The claws and teeth are also useful to us. We sometimes make our spearheads and other tools from such materials.¡± Without a word, Esperanza shifted the fingers of her hands into blade-like claws as she detached the tails of the creatures from their bodies. Then she used those claws to directly pluck their heads off their necks as well, which she then tossed over to Adan-Zil for his use. Even as the native thanked her, Dali and Gordy returned cheerfully with blood around their mouths, so Esperanza tossed the remaining parts of the monsters to them, which the two dogs devoured with gusto. XXV - Village of the Expatriated Ones Esperanza pitched in to help as they continued their journey to the village the next day. Neither Eda-Zil nor Kvar-Litu realized what happened while they slept in the night, but Adan-Zil made sure to brief them in the morning. Since Esperanza saw no more reason to hide what she could do, she told Dali and Gordy to hunt for edible animals while they moved towards the village. Within an hour, the stretcher used by the natives to carry their food had been loaded with twice as many animal carcasses as what they originally had. There was so much on the stretcher that Adan-Zil had to join in to help the youths drag the stretcher, and even then they only really managed to move it because Esperanza discreetly helped support the weight from below. She also recalled Dali and Gordy ¨C both of whom clearly took the chance to have some snacks while they hunted ¨C to her side as they continued on their journey. Sometimes one or the other, and on occasion, both, dogs would veer off into the forest, usually followed a short moment later by a faint yelp of some forest creature that was likely attracted by the bloody scent of all the carcasses on the stretcher. As a result, while Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu were somewhat unnerved by the bouts of violence that happened not too far away from them, they made the trip back to the village unbothered. ¡°Our village,¡± said Adan-Zil just after they crested a small rise in the terrain. The small village he pointed to was located right in the nook of a river¡¯s delta, where two small rivers merged together into a larger one. Esperanza saw the palisades that surrounded the village, as well as the relatively bustling activity of the inhabitants inside. Her [Gaze Unto the Abyss] allowed her to identify the distant figures just fine, though. The results she got were slightly on the depressing side. The vast majority of the villagers were either second tier or at most, early third tiers. There were a few children and youngsters around still in their first tiers, but other than Adan-Zil, the next most powerful person she noticed in the village was an older guard who was a [Farmer¡¯s Child Lvl20/Novice Militia Lvl20/Veteran Militiaman Lvl10]. There were a few elders who had high third tier levels, but their classes were not anything that could be considered combative in any way. Given the obvious discrepancy between classes meant for combat and not, chances are those elders would be of little to no help if some beasts were to attack the village. A couple of the youngsters who had [Novice Militia] or [Novice Hunter] as their second tier class would likely do better in that regard. While they were pretty far away from the village still, and it would obviously be harder to notice their four figures on the small rise through the trees, compared to them noticing the village, it was still rather discouraging that none of the guards who patrolled the walkways of the palisades noticed them at all. It was only when they were already halfway to the village that someone noticed. At first, Esperanza worried that her unannounced presence might cause some trouble for Adan-Zil. Generally isolated villages like these didn¡¯t like it when some of their people brought strangers home with them. Her worries were alleviated when she noticed the welcoming party that streamed out of the gate to welcome them, however, as they were not only composed of most of the village¡¯s elders, but also immediately prostrated themselves before her. Much like what Adan-Zil did during their first meeting. As a result, Esperanza was forced to spend the next few minutes coaxing those elders to stop them from prostrating so much in her presence. She honestly felt uncomfortable with such blind obeisance given by people she had never met before, and thus made it clear to them that all the bowing and scraping were to stop unless they wished to piss her off. That finally got the elders to rise and guide her into the village proper. During the short walk, Esperanza took her time to look over the inside of the village. The village within the palisades itself was as simple as it got. Huts and hovels made from wood, mud, and dried leaves were what the villagers used for accommodation. Their proximity to the rivers meant that they had no shortage of water supply, while most of the land not occupied by a hovel or a hut were cultivated with several kinds of vegetables and grains growing on them. It was clearly a place where function took precedence over form, and every little bit of value was eked out. Another thing that caught her attention was just how varied the people that lived in the village actually were. When she had met the three hunters, she thought all their people would look like them, but that turned out not to be the case at all. Instead, there were people from what seemed like four or five distinct races living together in the village. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. There were a few normal humans, which she easily recognized. The others looked more like the fantasy races she had read in books, however. Some people were slender and tall, almost like a basketball player who got stretched even more vertically, with long, pointed ears. Others were short but very wide ¨C easily as broad as they are tall ¨C and so hairy she almost mistook them for some sort of great ape at first sight. Another kind had skin that ranged from greenish or yellowish to brownish, which seemed to come in two varieties. Some are around human-sized, but notably larger and bulkier, with prominent tusks jutting out from their lower lips. The others are even smaller than the hairy short folk, with more slender bodies and less brutish look. She was not sure if the two kinds were the same race of people or not. Most of the villagers, however, exhibited features from multiple of those folks at the same time, like Adan-Zil and his two apprentices. Given the situation, Esperanza could only think of the obvious reason for such a mixture of features. Namely that all the races that composed the village must be capable of interbreeding somehow, despite the notable differences between them. Then again, she was also incarnated as some sort of eldritch abomination in a different world with a game-like system by a group of gods that asked her to destroy the world and might or might not have already gone completely insane for all she knew, so who was she to call that a strange thing? The village elders ¨C or at least she guessed them to be ones serving that sort of role, given their generally advanced ages and high levels ¨C led her to the largest building in the village, a house that was mostly built with wood, with dried leaves woven to form its slanted roof. There the elders bid for her to take the one seat in the house, on an upraised dais of sorts, while they sat cross-legged on the floor instead. Esperanza immediately noticed that none of the youngsters other than Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu ¨C both of whom had been freed of their burden by many other youngsters who took away the carcasses to be cleaned and prepared ¨C had followed into the building. She wondered if it was because they met her first, or for some other reason. Fortunately the oldest-looking man in the room, one of the normal humans, answered her questions soon afterwards. ¡°We, the elders of this humble village of Navef, greet the honored messenger of the Deities of Yore,¡± said the old man as he once again prostrated himself so low his forehead touched the floor. Fortunately he lifted himself from the position a moment later before Esperanza could get angry at him. ¡°This humble one is Avec-Litu. I gratefully thank the honored messenger for deigning to visit our humble village, and for having forgiven what transgressions our youths might have committed by accident in your august presence.¡± ¡°Avec-Litu, huh? Any relations to Kvar-Litu over there?¡± she asked in turn. So far the people she met seemed to use that second part of their name like a family name, so it hinted at some relation between the elder and the youth. ¡°That one is this humble one¡¯s grandson, honored one,¡± replied the elder as he gave her another bow of obeisance. The old man seemed somewhat afraid of her. Hell, all the elders looked at her with equal parts worship and trepidation, other than Adan-Zil and the two youths who had accompanied her for the past day or so. Clearly she needed him to tell the others about her more. ¡°This one hoped that he had been of use to the honored one.¡± ¡°I see. He had done a satisfactory job,¡± replied Esperanza politely to the old man, which made him let out a long sigh of relief at her words. As far as she could tell, the old man was either a very good actor or just wore his feelings on his sleeve. Given how Adan-Zil and the two youths had acted similarly, she assumed that it was likely that the villagers happened to be particularly open, honest sorts. ¡°I would like to stay in your village temporarily and observe your way of living. Would that be fine?¡± ¡°Certainly! Most certainly, honored one! We would be greatly honored to host your presence in our humble abodes!¡± said Avec-Litu with haste, a broad, genuine smile of joy spreading on his lips. It was as if Esperanza had just told him that he won the lottery or something. ¡°Does the honored one have any other bequests for this humble one to consider?¡± ¡°No, that should be all. Thank you for your hospitality,¡± said Esperanza politely. She had expected for one of the elders to maybe point a residence out for her, but to her surprise they stood up and started to file out from the room instead. As such, she called out with some haste. ¡°Adan-Zil, can you stay a moment? I have a few more questions for you.¡± ¡°Yes, honored one,¡± replied Adan-Zil with a bow while the rest of the elders and the two youths left the building, leaving only Adan-Zil, Esperanza, and her dogs ¨C comfortably nested around her feet as usual ¨C behind. ¡°How may I be of aid?¡± ¡°Tell me why all those elders look so worried and scared of me,¡± she said. ¡°I saw how they have the same worshipful attitude you had when we first met, but they also seemed far more afraid than you had been back then.¡± ¡°Forgive this humble one¡¯s words, honored one, but belief in the teachings have been¡­ sorely tested in the past couple generations of this village,¡± admitted Adan-Zil with an apologetic bow. ¡°We had lived in this forest for many generations, from the times of our ancestors. While we passed on the old beliefs from father to child, in the generation before mine the practice had started to waver. Some had argued back then that we ought to renounce the old ways and try to integrate to the rest of the world instead.¡± ¡°... Let me guess. Your village was assaulted by a horde of beasts that drove you away and you took that as a sign that the Deities of Yore were displeased?¡± ¡°That was what the elders of the time believed, honored one. When we were driven further outward again and again, many believed that to be continued punishment for our failings,¡± explained the old hunter. ¡°As such, some of the elders were torn. Some believed that we must have paid enough for our sins already, while others feared more punishment to come.¡± ¡°And then I showed up and they were unsure if it¡¯s a pardon or an execution they were staring at, no es as¨ª?¡± ¡°That is so, honored one.¡± Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but sigh exasperatedly at the answer she got. 26 - New Skill(s) ¡°[Taunting Cry]! [None Shall Pass]!¡± yelled Ethan as he activated his skills one after another. They were on their penultimate day of dungeon delving, with the [Winged Scavenger Matriarch]¡¯s lair just further ahead of them, so everyone took the chance to use their skills a bit more in the hopes of another level before the ¡°boss¡± fight. Ethan learned [None Shall Pass] after their battle with the patriarch a couple days ago. It was another defensive skill, one that reduced the damage he received while at the same time preventing a certain number of enemies from physically moving behind where he stood. Combined with his [Taunting Cry] which increased his endurance and forced a number of enemies below a certain level to attack him, it made him a literal wall for the rest of the team to hide behind. He moved very smoothly for someone his size and bulk, the pollaxe held in his hands alternately parrying blows away and at times delivering crushing strikes when he had the chance to do so. The shield hanging beside his left arm kept moving alongside his own movements, and he used it to catch several blows where he could. Others he took on his armor, with only a few doing him any real harm. Not that he minded a little harm at the moment. ¡°[¡®Tis Just a Flesh Wound]!¡± he yelled after a while, activating his newest skill which he gained just the day before. It was a rather masochistic skill in that the more damage Ethan took, the tougher he would be, which in turn synergized more with his other skills. Probably because he had been fighting primarily on the front lines and tanking the damage for the rest, the skills he learned also leaned towards defensive ones. Sir Inolet had told them that the feats and actions they did during their leveling would partly determine the skills they got, after all. ¡°[Pierce the Heavens]! [Grasp the Soul]!¡± yelled Alissa as she activated both of her new skills at the same time as she flipped her grip on her long spear and hurled it towards the largest of the [Dire Winged Scavenger] they faced, a level 32 beast only slightly smaller than the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] they killed mere days ago. A silvery sheen seemed to envelop the head of her spear, followed behind by another, more ghastly sheen that seemed to coil and twist around the weapon. As the spear left her hand, it flew straight towards her target, and struck it directly on the center of its chest. The spear pierced through the beast¡¯s breastbone, its heart, then out through its spine where it stabbed deep into the stone walls of the cavern, leaving the utterly surprised, dying monster pinned by the spear like a butterfly in an insect collection. Both of Alissa¡¯s new skills were ones she learned in the past couple of days, at levels 16 and 17 respectively. During the fight against the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] she had felt the lack of offense that plagued the entire team over powerful beasts like those. Perhaps the system read her mind, as she received the two purely offensive skills shortly afterwards. [Pierce the Heavens] had a very simple effect, in that it simply increased the penetrative power of a single attack by a rather large factor. On the other hand, [Grasp the Soul] granted additional damage to her attack that struck against the enemy¡¯s Mind and Soul at the same time. Combining them together allowed her to pull off some very lethal attacks even against the sort of beasts they fought as they got closer to the Matriarch¡¯s lair. The only drawback was that the skills had rather long cooldowns still and took quite a bit of her mana to use. She knew that the cooldown situation would improve with more skill levels, but the mana situation was more problematic, as it was something she could only remedy by leveling up more. Then again, it was not like she had more mana than what it took to use each of her active skills once anyway before running dry, so their long cooldowns worked just fine for their situation. Joshua had been quiet about whatever new skills he learned ¨C he definitely learned something, though Magus Drummond was likely the only one to know about them ¨C and still kept himself mostly isolated from the rest of the group unless he had to. Alissa only really saw him interact much with Vesta or Magus Drummond, and she wasn¡¯t certain whether it was due to the lingering shock of being summoned into another world, or just him being a jerk. Either way, he definitely got some skill that increased the oomph his magic attacks had. Where Joshua¡¯s magic used to be more ¡°incapacitating¡± at best, even against monsters in the 20s, he managed to land killing blows on the high-20s to early-30s monsters they fought now. It also seemed to tax him more, though, as she noticed how he had to rest after dishing out the same amount of spells as before, despite his growing mana pool. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That meant he either focused his free stats to other main stats ¨C unlikely, she thought, knowing Joshua Smith ¨C or his spells now cost a good bit more mana to use. The latter felt much more likely, all considered, since it was nearly a given that something with increased potency would also increase in cost. Her own active skills cost more to use with each level as well, and it would likely be a while more before she could use them more freely even if their cooldowns allowed it. Alissa shelved those thoughts as she rushed towards the monster she had just pinned to the wall, her shield held before her while her other hand held one of her jarids, ready to throw. One of the monsters ¨C a relatively weak one at level 26 ¨C veered away from Ethan and moved towards her, only to receive a thrown jarid through its ribs. That would probably result in a fatal injury over time, but she had no plans to waste that time, and instead took the moment where the beast reeled from its injury to hurl another of the short javelins. Her second throw landed directly in the beast¡¯s right eye and pierced deep into its brain, dropping the beast on the spot like a puppet with its strings cut. The [Dire Winged Scavenger] she pinned to the wall was not dead yet, as it still tried to struggle, if weakly. Alissa ended its suffering as she took another jarid and stabbed it through the roof of the creature¡¯s mouth until the point ended in its brain cavity. She gave it a stir for good measure, before she planted one boot against the creature¡¯s abdomen and grabbed the shaft of her spear with her hand. Alissa stumbled backwards and almost fell when she finally pulled out her spear from the stone wall, but managed to regain her balance just in time to meet the charge of a [Winged Scavenger Reaper], a higher-level variant of the Winged Scavenger that had lost its wings¡¯ functionality in exchange for long, wickedly sharp claws that tipped its sturdier arms. The beast came from her right, and its claws were already too close for Alissa to turn around and block with her shield. Instead, she caught half the claws with the shaft of her spear, while she turned to present her armor to the rest. The claws that struck her armor made her feel as if someone just shoved her there, but they failed to do any meaningful damage to the steel plate. As she kept the beast¡¯s claw bound with her spear, Alissa ducked beneath the arm and stepped in closer to the beast ¨C their long arms meant that they had trouble dealing with enemies up close ¨C until she was too close for its claws to be able to threaten her. The beast reacted much like she predicted it would, as it opened its jaws wide and tried to bite her with its fangs. Instead, Alissa struck the beast¡¯s lower jaw with the top edge of her shield in a fierce uppercut that slammed both halves of the beast¡¯s jaws together and must have rattled its brain. She followed it up with a front kick that struck the beast¡¯s abdomen and pushed it back, still dazed from the first blow, and finished it with a thrust from her spear. Her spear went into the base of the beast¡¯s throat and pierced through its muscles and sinew with ease. Angled upwards, the thrust kept going until the point of Alissa¡¯s spear protruded from the back of the base of the beast¡¯s skull, the fierce thrust having separated the skull from the spine and effectively decapitating the monster. Alissa turned around, ready for more, when she noticed that all the remaining monsters were being taken care of. The guards from both sides worked together and took down most of the lower level beasts already, with only a couple left being finished up. The highest level ones were left for the [Heroes] and they too had made short work of those beasts. Joshua stood to one side of the fighting with his hands resting on his knees, panting heavily, which was a sign of mana overuse. Not far from him lay the corpse of two higher leveled monsters, both of them having been roasted to a crisp from the inside, with many electrical scorch marks on their carcasses. He must have even resorted to his crossbow for the last one, as it had a bolt protruding from its chest, and Joshua still held the weapon in his hands. On his side, Ethan had cornered the last of the monsters against the wall, his skills working in tandem to prevent the beast from escaping, while he struck at it repeatedly with his pollaxe. One of the beast¡¯s arms already laid limp against its side, and it desperately flailed its other wing-arm around in its attempt to stave off its fate. Ethan was having none of that, however, as after one swipe he just shoulder-tackled the beast, pinning its arm between his shield and the monster¡¯s own torso, before he drove the long spike at the top of his weapon into the beast¡¯s nostril and up its brain. While that killed the beast just fine, Alissa doubted that Ethan expected the dying beast to reflexively sneeze at him as he removed the spike. Which naturally coated Ethan¡¯s face with a layer of blood and gooey brain matter. ¡°Oh god, jeez, fuck, gross!¡± he complained as he spat out some of the goo that went into his mouth and tried his best to wipe the rest of the mess from his face with his gloved hand. Alissa didn¡¯t bother to hold back her laughter and just openly laughed at the comical face he made while he tried to clean his face as best he could. Not that she looked much better. Alissa was covered from head to toe in blood and grime from the creatures she killed as well, if to a lesser extent than Ethan. Joshua was comparatively cleaner since he stayed at range, but even he started to look a bit dirty as well by then. After all, they had been in the dungeon for nearly a week, and the dungeon apparently didn¡¯t come with amenities like showers or baths. Who would have guessed? Either way, Alissa suspected that her nose had grown numb to their own stench by then. The locals looked positively unbothered by the prospect, though she doubted they were any cleaner. Chances were they were just more used to such a prospect, given how dungeoning was a part of life for them, since from what Alissa saw at the royal castle, this world¡¯s hygiene standards was quite high for its relatively medieval technology. All those thoughts took a backseat when the message she had been waiting for came at last, though. Apparently the highest-level beast she killed had taken its time dying, to the point that it only registered after the fight was over. You have defeated [Great Winged Scavenger Lvl24]! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Reaper Lvl29]! You have defeated [Dire Winged Scavenger Lvl32]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You have leveled to level 19! +1 Free Major stat point gained! +1 Willpower Gained, +1 Intuition Gained, +1 Sanity Gained! 27 - The Calm before the Storm ¡°Good, so all of you are at level 19 now?¡± asked Sir Inolet later that night after the group had stopped to rest. They set up camp just outside the territory of the [Winged Scavenger Matriarch]. The entrance to the beast¡¯s lair was even visible in the distance from where they camped. Apparently the beasts didn''t leave their territories, though, and as such their camp was perfectly safe for the most part. All three of the summoned [Heroes] nodded in affirmation at Sir Inolet¡¯s question. Alissa had actually been the last to reach level 19 despite her early level lead, as she focused more on leveling her skills of late, while at the same time allowing the others to catch up to her. The vicious and frequent fights had not only leveled Ethan and Joshua to 19 as well, but also allowed many of the guards ¨C including the Princess ¨C to reach the same level in their second tier. ¡°I believe I have explained before that the actions and feats you did in your first tier would partially determine what classes you are offered in the next tier, did I not?¡± said the old knight as he continued. The question was entirely rhetorical, as he had mentioned that tidbit often enough none of the three forgot about it. ¡°It is the reason why I wanted all of you to stop at level 19 before we tackle the beast that awaits us.¡± ¡°Ah, taking on the beast while we¡¯re still in the first tier would count as an achievement as well, then?¡± asked Ethan almost immediately. ¡°Correct, mister Greene. For just about all of our people, we would have never dreamed of tackling beasts no more than a tier higher than ourselves, but you [Heroes] are different. Taking on something two whole tiers above you wouldn¡¯t be outside of your capabilities,¡± said the old knight with an acknowledging nod to Ethan. ¡°Conquering a dungeon in your first tier should also count as an achievement, one that none of us natives would be able to get, since we would be helpless children in our first tier.¡± ¡°This dungeon is the easiest one with a third-tier boss then?¡± Joshua asked curtly from the side with a frown on his face. ¡°No, mister Smith, there are several other dungeons with third-tier bosses of lower level in the Kingdom¡¯s territory. However, they are either in the midst of recovery or being cleaned. This dungeon was the first one we could lay claim to when you three had finished your training, thus here we are,¡± said the old knight with a scoff. ¡°This one is probably one of the harder ones for its level range, but that just means better training for you three.¡± ¡°Wait, Sir Inolet, I thought the level range of the dungeon was supposed to be five to thirty-seven?¡± asked Alissa with some doubt in her voice. ¡°Ah, right, I had forgotten that you were not natives to this land. A dungeon¡¯s ruler, the one you would have to defeat to clear a dungeon, is always at least five, sometimes up to ten levels higher than that level cap. That level range only encompassed everything else in the dungeon. It is common knowledge for us,¡± replied the old knight. ¡°Since the patriarch we faced earlier was at thirty-five, we can safely expect the matriarch awaiting us to be no more than level forty-five at the most.¡± ¡°So a well in the third tier then¡­ would we be sufficient to deal with it?¡± asked Ethan. ¡°Most parties that took on this dungeon mostly did so with a few third tiers of their own while most of their group were in the high second tiers,¡± explained the old knight. ¡°The practice to seek out achievements before your next tier is extremely common. It is a risky practice, but as they said, no good thing comes effortlessly. You three are very powerful for your levels. Between the three of you and the guards, I expect you will be able to clear this dungeon without too much issue.¡± ¡°Besides, you can always try again and again if you fail,¡± he added nonchalantly. Those last words weighed heavily on Alissa and Ethan¡¯s minds. They knew exactly what Sir Inolet meant, and also knew that their failure would likely mean that a few of the guards might be losing their lives in the process. Alissa did not care that the guards would have seen that as an honor, if they were to die just because she fucked up then she would feel that their blood was on her hands. Ethan likely thought the same, from what she knew of him. Even when he played games he was almost obsessive in trying to save as many people as he could, much less in a much more real situation like the one they were in now. Both of them had learnt that other than the Fifth Princess, everyone else in their group of guards were as good as disposable pawns. While the locals might feel that way and even agree with that viewpoint, Alissa doubted she could ever bring herself to think that way. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. She had no idea how Joshua thought about all this, though given how callous that prick was, he probably couldn¡¯t care less either way. He remained mostly taciturn other than with Magus Drummond and Vesta, pretty much only talking when directly asked by others. That silence and isolation ¨C even if it seemed like he wanted it for himself ¨C annoyed Alissa but she had no idea how to tackle that issue. Not like they had time to deal with it, not with the approaching boss fight anyway. ¡°Sir Inolet,¡± she heard Ethan ask as they sat down and cleaned their equipment that night after the dinner. This world they were summoned into was by no means as convenient as many stories and games make a game-like world sound like. Weapons and armor needed to be cleaned and maintained properly, and Sir Inolet had insisted that they get used to doing it themselves. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s mentioned this, but are dungeons like these only used for leveling?¡± ¡°What? No, no, of course not, mister Greene,¡± said the old knight with some surprised bafflement on his face. ¡°I¡¯m not exactly familiar with this particular dungeon. I grew up in the countryside and did my second tier graduation with an adventuring party there before I came to the capital. Murdock! You care to enlighten these little chicks?¡± ¡°I guess I have nothing better to do,¡± mumbled Magus Drummond from his seat. He lit a pipe of what smelled like rather sour-smelling tobacco and inhaled before he continued. ¡°Dungeons are by no means used only for the purpose of leveling, boy. Every dungeon is a treasure trove. One that constantly refilled itself as that. As such we¡¯d be fools if we didn¡¯t make the most out of each one.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t we collect anything on our way in, then?¡± queried Ethan with some confusion. ¡°We¡¯re here in the stead of a party of independent adventurers, who would indeed primarily come to the dungeon for leveling. That said, they also have an important role, as they would clear the way of any monsters,¡± explained the old mage. ¡°Roughly a day¡¯s travel behind us is a team of miners and harvesters who would collect everything valuable along the way. Nothing is wasted.¡± ¡°So, like, what¡¯s there to be had in this dungeon?¡± asked Ethan once more. ¡°Quite a few things. The hide of these beasts make for decent armor or shield coverings when treated properly. Their fangs are also useful for arrowheads,¡± listed Magus Drummond as he gave examples. ¡°As for the dungeon itself, there are plenty of good quality mana crystals in this one, which is the main benefit to be had for clearing this dungeon regularly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s common practice for such a team to follow behind us then?¡± Alissa asked in turn. ¡°Not in this exact way. Typically such teams would wait until after the team that went in left the dungeon after a successful clear. They would be risking their lives otherwise, since if the team that went inside failed, the remaining monsters would rage and attempt to kill every foreign thing in the dungeon itself,¡± explained the old mage as he drew a puff of smoke from his pike. ¡°Our case is a rather special case, which is why they dared to enter so close behind our heels.¡± ¡°Special case?¡± she asked once more. ¡°Me and Murdock¡¯s presence constitutes a special case, girl,¡± chimed Sir Inolet from the side. ¡°The highest level a monster gets in here is the low third tier at best. Having fourth tiers like us as guard are beyond overkill for that sort of opposition. Nothing here would get past us, so those behind chose to make use of that promise of safety to get some extra time mining this place.¡± ¡°I see, and with the Princess as an excuse, nobody would have correlated your presence with us being heroes either, is that correct?¡± asked Ethan as he grew thoughtful. ¡°That is so, mister Greene. If anyone asks, you three are just promising seeds that the Royal Guards are raising in secret,¡± replied the old knight with a nod. ¡°Nothing about our presence here is particularly uncommon other than me and Murdock being around. The King is passing that off as him doting on his favorite daughter, though. Most everyone ought to buy that excuse.¡± ¡°Right. Also, I recall Magus Drummond mentioning earlier that these places refill themselves? What¡¯s that about?¡± Ethan questioned once more. While he looked every bit the stereotypical jock to most anyone, he could really geek out when something struck his fancy. Apparently the hows of a fantasy world counted amongst that list. ¡°Ah, yes, with how familiar you are about how things work at times I tend to forget that you¡¯re not from this world,¡± replied the old mage with an understanding nod. ¡°After a dungeon is cleared, it enters a recovery period. We usually have a month or so from the date it was cleared to mine and harvest whatever we can find inside, before the ¡®rest¡¯ period ends and the recovery process begins for real. For about a week after that, the dungeon would be sealed from everyone. People still inside would be forcibly expelled. Once that period ended, the place would be repopulated, with even the ores we dug out from the walls restored.¡± ¡°There are usually some slight variations after every recovery, but they¡¯re in a small enough range that we could feel certain about knowing what to expect the next time we enter the dungeon,¡± continued the Magus as he stuffed more shredded, dried leaves into his pipe. ¡°As such, the process continues onward. Some dungeons are the royal family¡¯s property and used to train our knights and royal guards, some belong to the temple, while others like this one are considered public property and are open to everyone. The royal family still has the right to requisition its use when they need to though.¡± ¡°I see. So dungeons are basically fountains of endless resources for this world,¡± said Ethan in understanding. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever have issues with people having conflicting claims on them?¡± ¡°In the past, yes. Our history books even recorded wars between us humans over ownership of dungeons in the distant past. We haven¡¯t had any such issues since the Kingdom united all of humanity, though,¡± replied Sir Inolet. ¡°Nowadays, we simply cannot afford to squabble amongst ourselves with the demon threat encroaching down on our necks, and everybody knows that.¡± ¡°None of these are worries you have to think about yet, though, mister Greene,¡± continued the old knight. ¡°For the time being, you three should just focus on growing stronger, until you¡¯re capable of holding your own. Both you [Heroes] and the demon¡¯s [Champions] usually arrived around the same time, and they too must be growing stronger. We already labor under a handicap with the summoning incident, so we need to make the best use of this momentary peace we have right now.¡± XXVIII - Learning more about the World ¡°It still surprised me. Even if they mostly live in relative peace and seclusion, would it not have been wiser to have some of their people with classes for fighting por si las moscas?¡± said Esperanza as she sat atop the branches of a tall tree near the perimeter of the village of Navef. The locals had a bad habit of prostrating before her despite her repeated recriminations against the practice, so eventually she adopted a tactic of observing them where they couldn¡¯t see her instead. ¡°While it might surprise you, one of the core tenets that We preached to our people back in the ancient eras when we were more active was that of acceptance. They were taught to accept whatever cards the world dealt them, and simply make the most out of whatever situation they found themselves in. These people are not used to¡­ how do your world say it? Fight against destiny, that¡¯s it We think.¡± ¡°Yet you said there were wars in the past, which led to those pendejo heroes which are now puta gods getting summoned, wasn¡¯t it? That doesn¡¯t sound a lot like accepting what the world decides to give you to me, no te lo tomes a mal,¡± she replied. Wars definitely sounded like the opposite of what Oldies said they preached to their believers. ¡°Other than the earliest ages, when the people needed guidance, We had been mostly¡­ hands-off. We believe that is the correct term. We merely observed, and allowed them to do what they wished to do. Their lives were the culmination of their own choices, while We simply remain as a watcher from above. By the time of the wars We mentioned, most of Us had already entered a deep slumber, barely aware of what took place in the world below.¡± ¡°And why is that?¡± ¡°Because the world was old by then, Esperanza. If this world was a human¡­ it would be an old geriatric nearing their final years by that point of time. Its current state of existence¡­ borrowing words from your memories, would be that of a dying patient forced to live on by life support when all they wished for was to die in peace. Even with the intervention of the new ¡®gods¡¯, this state of affair would not last too long either way. This world is already dying as we speak, and has been dying for a long time, merely suspended in its last moments by force.¡± ¡°By the system.¡± ¡°Yes. That is where most of the power from all the heroes that the gods had raised and harvested were funneled into. The rest were used to maintain the system¡¯s function. We suspect that by this point the gods themselves had little direct control left over the system, and had likely become as dependent upon it as everyone else on this world. It was also the main reason why they kept this cycle going for so long.¡± ¡°They¡¯re tied to the system themselves, so if this world ends and the system unravels, they would also cease to exist, yes?¡± said Esperanza as she pondered the situation some more. Although the current ¡°Gods¡± were the reason for her current predicament ¨C or was it more a second chance at life? ¨C she found that she couldn¡¯t really fault them either. ¡°They¡¯re trying to stay alive too, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°While that might not have been their original intention when they deposed us and created the system, We believe that to be the case by now. They had toyed with forces beyond their comprehension, attempted to twist it to match their own desires, and now paid the price for their arrogance. We hold no hatred for them, nor do We wish them ill. All we wished for was the restoration of the natural cycle, the way it should be.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty open-minded of you, Oldies, but I guess that¡¯s how it is to be a real Dios, huh?¡± replied Esperanza with a bit of sympathy in her voice. ¡°Do you even have any feelings of your own, for anything?¡± ¡°We do not share these feelings you mention. We simply were, and did what we were created to do.¡± ¡°Cada loco con su tema, I guess,¡± answered Esperanza with a shrug of her shoulders. Her attention was then turned once more to the village, where some of the younger children were playing under the sun, while the adults were busy with their respective jobs in the tight-knit society. ¡°Anyway, back on the subject. These¡­ people of yours. They¡¯ve all been ostracized just because they refused to abandon their old faith in you?¡± ¡°That is so.¡± ¡°And the current¡­ kingdoms, they¡¯re descended from the ones that summoned the heroes that then became gods?¡± asked Esperanza for more clarification. The history of how things came to the mess she was currently embroiled in had interested her for rather obvious reasons. There was nothing to lose by knowing more about the enemy she would likely have to face, if not for Oldies¡¯ sake, then for her own survival. ¡°That is correct. While our memories are fragmented and We are uncertain about many things in the past, We had enough memories of that time period to paint a clear picture of what happened at the time. Would you like for Us to explain it further?¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Por favor.¡± ¡°At the time of the incident, this world had mostly fallen under the rule of two major factions, or rather, one major faction and a coalition that was formed out of necessity to counter it. That major faction was the progenitor of the kingdom your other¡­ friends got summoned into. They preached about the superiority of the human race, back at the time, and how all the other races were only fit to be their slaves.¡± ¡°Let me guess¡­ The other races banded together to fight against them?¡± ¡°Precisely so. Not all humans even shared that viewpoint, and many even joined the coalition that was formed by several other countries of the time in order to resist the human kingdom. They fought many wars, over many generations, until one day, the leaders from both nations decided to break the taboo We had set. They chose to bring outsiders to fight their fight for them.¡± ¡°The hero summonings.¡± ¡°Indeed. Both sides had performed a far larger summoning ritual at that time, one that had drained the world down to its last dregs of lifeforce. Over thirty heroes were summoned between the warring sides, and made to fight for their summoner¡¯s selfish purposes. Many of them perished in those battles, their lives needlessly spent to feed the greed and vanity of others.¡± ¡°Esp¨¦rame, what about [Respawn]? Didn¡¯t summoned heroes get that sort of protection back then?¡± ¡°You had forgotten that this was before the existence of any system, Esperanza. There were simply no such things at the time. The heroes had but one life, like everybody else. They died in droves at the frontlines of the battlefield. By the time the survivors realized their situation and banded together, there were less than half of them left.¡± ¡°And out of those only eight rose to become the current gods, right? What happened to the rest?¡± ¡°They perished in the fighting. Despite their great powers, they remained mortal back then. We believe at least a couple perished from their allies backstabbing them, but the rest perished during the battles they experienced to wrest the ultimate power over this world. In fact, if the new gods had shackled themselves to the system like we expected, they would likely be quite mortal as well, if well beyond the powers of the people of this world.¡± ¡°Right, and after that, they deposed you, used parts of you to anchor the system and created the current situation,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. The story Oldies told her this time cleared up a few doubts she had before, and while she was still unsure whether she could fully trust these deposed gods ¨C or herself for that matter ¨C it was not like she had any better choice at the moment. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me this part back then.¡± ¡°We lacked the time to provide the full rundown, and honestly, would it have changed your mind if we had told you the full story back then? Would it have led you to choose another decision rather than the path you currently walked?¡± ¡°Probably not, I guess,¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°Everyone has the right to fight for their lives, and I get the feeling of being bored to death, but toying with other people¡¯s lives isn¡¯t the way to go about things. I¡¯ve had enough of such Gillipolas back where I¡¯m from. Definitely wouldn¡¯t be against bringing them down if they¡¯re that big a pendejo.¡± ¡°We cannot say that we expected that answer, but We are pleased to hear it nonetheless.¡± ¡°It¡¯s mostly about people like them, you know?¡± said Esperanza as she pointed at the playing children in the village with one hand. ¡°People who just wanted to be left alone to live their lives in peace. Far too often, someone else would just rudely barge into their lives and dictate what they should be doing instead. Letting them defend that way of life¡­ is a sentiment I can get behind.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± she added after some thought. ¡°The people in this village seemed to be from all sorts of races, others seem to be of mixed blood, and I¡¯m sure some of them are human, too. Is that a common thing? Or is that more just amongst your worshippers?¡± ¡°It used to be the norm amongst those who followed Our creed, though the great war had splintered that unity asunder. The human kingdom only counts humans amongst its populace these days, while the humans on the other side had their blood so thinned out that by now their descendants were more a different race than human altogether. That is what partly fueled the great divide between the two sides.¡± ¡°Easy to hate on others who are different from you, huh? I get that. Seen and experienced it myself, and all that really differed between me and them back then was merely where my parents were born. We were all humans and we still hate each other over the most trivial things,¡± muttered Esperanza as she inadvertently reminisced over some less pleasant things in her previous life. ¡°Though not everyone was like that, the ones who hold that hatred tend to make themselves known loudly and prominently.¡± ¡°That, and the hatred built up over many generations of having lost family and loved ones to each other. The two sides had warred so often under the direction of the new gods that We doubted they would ever be able to reconcile, unless it involved children who were purposely kept ignorant of their histories. Not that any amount of warring would matter when the world comes to an end, but it still saddened Us somewhat to witness such pointless bloodshed.¡± ¡°Yeah, unraveling centuries of mutual hatred wouldn¡¯t be an easy thing. Good thing we probably wouldn¡¯t need to do it,¡± said Esperanza. Ever since her death and subsequent¡­ revival in this new world, she felt somewhat lost. At the moment, she chose to work with Oldies just to have a direction to follow, and as they said, to see things and make decisions on her own. Push comes to shove, she would probably do as they asked and end the world if she decided they were telling the truth, though. Of course, all that assumed that she was actually thinking for herself, and not just thought she was doing that while her mind was gradually being taken over by some sort of brain parasite or whatnot. Could something like what she currently was even have parasites? If anything, she looked more like the parasite, the sort that¡¯d wrap around someone and turn them into a raving, slobbering monster. Her spiral into depressive thoughts was fortunately interrupted in a timely manner, however, but a quiet whine as something soft and furry nuzzled against her side. Before she could react to the sudden presence, a larger, much fluffier form enveloped her other side, and a large, wet tongue lapped up against her cheek. Dali and Gordy were suddenly beside her, atop the tree. True, Esperanza had mostly ceased questioning things like how they got up there ¨C their less than mundane origins likely explained that ¨C but the way they seemed to know they were needed was something else. Was it due to the bond between them? Or was that just a canine instinct of sorts instead that brought them to her in such a timely manner? ¡°We see that you have good assistants these days. It pleases Us to see that you are in reliable hands, Esperanza.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ thanks, Oldies. Hasta Luego.¡± XXIX - A Little House (In the Forest) Esperanza felt that despite the hardships they had to face, the people of Navef lived an arguably blissful life all considered. Sure, they might not have all that much free time for themselves. Their lives were also regularly at risk from the wildlife that inhabited the forests around their village, and their existence was one where they had to eke out their living the hard way, by hunting and gathering, supported by the small farms within the enclosure of their villages. On the other hand, they also had far less of the worries that often plagued people who had easier lives. Their small community lived in peace and harmony with one another, each person trying their best to contribute to the continuation of their quaint little village. Their children ¨C and even many of the adults ¨C had that quality of innocence that was often so hard to find amongst modern people. Maybe it was that simplicity of life that allowed them to afford that innocence. The lack of scheming and abusive people around them meant that they had little need to brace themselves against such troubles, after all. Tired of the too-much obeisance the villagers kept showing her despite her tersely worded commands, Esperanza had left Navef after a couple of days. She had not gone far, however. Instead, she only went a short distance away from the village, in the direction of the forest depths, and built a small house there, a crude hut made out of branches and leaves that would have probably horrified any proper survivalist. The building process itself was relatively easy with her newfound physical qualities. Her fangs easily bit off branches from trees and converting a finger to a claw allowed her to trim the smaller bits with ease. Being able to lift weights she would have never been able to lift in her previous life with one hand also helped a lot. Both Dali and Gordy weren¡¯t idle during that time either. While they lacked a way to help Esperanza build the house, they had other ways they could help out with. Gordy had brought her the large, dried leaves that she used to waterproof to roofs as best she could, while Dali found and brought long, sturdy vines she could use as ropes to tie things up with. They also went out to hunt regularly. Esperanza had asked the two ¨C she was certain that they understood what she said, even if they couldn¡¯t speak back and she only had an inkling thanks to [A Glimpse of Understanding] ¨C to patrol the area around Navef, and to take down any dangerous beasts that happened to wander too close. That meant any predatory beasts of the second tier or above. She purposely left the lower level beasts and the non-dangerous second tiers so that Adan-Zil and the other village hunters would have something to do as well, even though her pets would often drop the prey they took down in front of the village gates from time to time. She was going to stay around for a while anyway, so no reason not to help contribute a bit to the village. When Esperanza made it clear to the villagers that she would be leaving back then, many of them had reacted with palpable relief. She had not blamed them. It must have been stressful to have someone they considered a messenger from the deities they worship present and walking about their place like that. In the end, them going their own ways was probably the best for both sides. Her decision to still remain in the vicinity was partly so she could keep watch over the village for a while, partly to make sure that what she saw wasn¡¯t just a trick, or worse, some kind of show put up in order to appease her. She couldn¡¯t help but to be a little bit paranoid about things, even with how nice and hands-off Oldies had been so far, so like he said she should, she wanted to make sure for herself. Naturally, the village¡¯s hunters found her presence ¨C and her house, which was rather hard to miss ¨C the next time they went out. Most of them kept a respectful distance after they paid their obeisance, and even gave respectful bows when they occasionally ran across Dali or Gordy during their hunts. Out of the villagers, only Adan-Zil and his apprentices occasionally visited, bringing ¡°offerings¡± from the other villagers. Other than them, the village¡¯s children were her other frequent visitors. Quite expectedly, the young children were still too young to fear her, nor did they show the excessive obeisance of their elders. Of course, she was not so irresponsible to allow those children to traverse the route to her place on their own, and only allowed them to come over when they saw Dali or Gordy coming to the village and followed them back. Dali or Gordy¡¯s presence was plenty to assure their safety, after all, and the children loved the two. Since neither of her dogs seemed to mind the children¡¯s affectionate displays, she just allowed them to play together near her house, until the kids grew tired and she had her dogs send them home, often having Gordy carry them on her back. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Some of the ¡°offerings¡± from the village also came in handy, as they included sweets, something that was likely a rarity for such an isolated village. To say that the eyes of the children gleamed when they saw Esperanza offer them some sweets was an understatement, and it proved to be a very effective way for her to get the children to no longer fear her at all. Amusing how fear easily turned into adoration with a few pieces of sweets, but it was that innocence that endeared them to her in the first place. It was all probably a waste of her time, staying by the village instead of heading towards the deeper depths of the forest and leveling up, but it most definitely soothed her mind, and helped Esperanza regain some balance over herself. Even the thought she had worried her somewhat. When had she ever considered running around to kill things whose only fault was existing in her way a normal thing? Those thoughts worried her. Oldies had mentioned in the past, during one of their early conversations, that the body it formed for her might have a semblance of its own instincts, which might partially affect her in some way. If they told the truth, it might well be that the thoughts of hunting and feasting that often crossed her mind were part of those instincts. She most definitely had no thoughts of lurking around a forest to jump down on and devour helpless creatures in her previous life, that was for certain. She most definitely never even thought of eating her prey raw and bleeding like she often did so far in this new world, though back then, it was necessitated by survival, arguably. It also helped greatly that she could turn her taste buds and noses ¡°off¡± as she devoured those poor creatures, while still being able to taste things that she preferred later on. While her new form had many issues she was still in the midst of addressing somehow through the skills she had gained so far, it also had its conveniences. That said, it was not as if she wasted her time doing nothing while she stayed near the village. Her level had remained static, sure. The pitiful experience from the beasts that Dali and Gordy killed was nowhere near enough to push her to the next level, given that the area had a dearth of higher level creatures. She had not remained idle and instead practiced her skills where she could, though. Results were had from that diligence. The frequent talks she had with the children ¨C or Adan-Zil when he visited ¨C helped raise her [Language Understanding] skill to level 3. She also gained a general skill called [Quick Learner] which helped her learn new things faster, probably from having some of the kids show her around and teach her about the local herbs and fruits on occasion. [A Glimpse of Understanding] already reached level 5 from the constant usage, since she kept using it as much as she could, even with Dali and Gordy. The increase in skill level helped her make use of the skill from further away, though it was still limited to unguarded, surface thoughts. People who were used to hiding their thoughts would be impervious to the skill. Frequent practice with [Gauze of Oblivion] and the constant usage of [Aura Control] ¨C she had to constantly keep her aura confined to the depths of her soul, lest the passive effect from [Far Down the Deep End] affected the villagers, who most likely wouldn¡¯t be able to resist it ¨C also raised those skill to level 4 and 8, respectively, which made them easier to use and also allowed her to remain stealthed for longer. The biggest change to her skills however, came from [Shifting Guise] and [Fleshweaving]. The former skill was harder to level after its evolution, though her constant practice and usage allowed it to reach level 9 just the day before. On the other hand, the same amount of practice brought the latter skill to its maximum level of 10, and it evolved on the spot. Class Skill [Fleshweaving] has reached level 10! Class Skill [Fleshweaving] has satisfied all requirements for skill evolution! Class Skill [Fleshweaving] Evolved into [Flesh is but a Vessel] [Flesh is but a Vessel] Rare skill Level 1 For what are these fragments of flesh and bone we call a body but a receptacle of the Soul? Allows the user a great degree of freedom to change the material of parts of their body at will. Level 1: Small-scale alterations, changes of material composition are only possible for alteration into other natural bodily materials. Where [Shifting Guise] was what allowed her to shift her shape around, [Fleshweaving], and now [Flesh is But a Vessel] allowed her to alter the composition of her body to a greater extent. [Fleshweaving] had been how she moved eyes, fangs, and teeth around even as her body¡¯s form changed, but the evolved skill allowed her not to just move them around, but to alter parts of her body to whatever she wished it to be. Esperanza quickly tested it by forming a sharp claw on one finger. In the past, she had to move around multiple fangs and merge them to achieve that effect. Currently however, she simply shaped part of the finger into the claw shape then altered the composition of that part into a hard, nail-like substance. Within moments her finger was topped by a sharp claw just as she wished. She naturally started experimenting with the evolved skill. The change of material composition worked both ways, she found. She could turn the claw back into the leathery skin that was the best approximation her current form managed without issue, and back to a lethal tool all within moments. She expected that she would be able to perform the transformations even faster with more practice and skill levels. Some quick attempts also allowed her to create a scale-like structure on her skin, which acted as a sort of natural armor for her. The surprising part about the evolved skill was that the transformation cost nothing to maintain, and could remain as they were indefinitely until she chose to revert them back. Only the process itself cost her some mana. As such, Esperanza had no hesitation in replicating the scale-like armor all over her body, as a second layer of sorts beneath her skin. That way she looked no different from the outside, but gained all the benefit of the armor-like scales. At the same time, she formed claws within her fingers, ready to be pushed out at a moment¡¯s thought when the need for them came. Better be prepared and not have to use them than find herself unprepared when she needed them. XXX - Girls (and a Boy) Gone Wild A large beast calmly munched on the low-hanging pear-like fruits from a tree deep in the forest. The beast, which looked almost as if someone had copy-pasted the head of a giraffe on the torso of a small elephant, with a set of antlers that would have driven most stags to deep-seated envy atop its head and eight sturdy, hoofed feet not unlike a horse, was one of the most dangerous creatures in the deep forest. And that was despite how it was mostly herbivorous. Its solid hooves were capable of landing kicks that would pulverize bones, its eight legs allowing it to strike in every direction at will, with equal ease. Many predators had met their end atop its sharp antlers, the many branches piercing through hide and flesh like sharp spears and skewering its foes with ease. As if those were not enough, the creature¡¯s long, whip-like tail ended in a thagomizer-like arrangement of eight bone spikes, at the ready to lash out against all comers. It was a [Spike-Tailed Grazer Lvl39], a beast that most in the region of the forest stayed away from. Not even the [Tyrant-Claw Ursine] Esperanza had killed in the past messed with it, as the Grazer was nastier than what its levels indicated. The Grazer had survived in the deep forest despite the many predators by simply making itself not worth their while to prey on. Besides its obvious defenses, there was another point that the beast seemed to advertise to everything watching. Its short fur was of an odd greenish-yellow-blue color gradient, somewhat reminding Esperanza of a peacock¡¯s tail in part. Such vibrant hues in nature often meant something else altogether, however, namely as a sign of toxicity. The Grazer mostly fed on poisonous plants and fruits as part of its diet. Even the pear-like fruit it consumed now was a highly toxic one, one that Esperanza learned about the hard way. The toxin contained by the fruit was so powerful that it even killed her back when she was low leveled, necessitating a use of [Respawn]. Yet the beast just munched on it like it was a delightful snack. Something about its biological makeup allowed it to digest all the poisons and make them part of itself. As a result, its own flesh was horrifyingly poisonous, which was the main reason most predators simply left it alone. It was simply not worth the time and effort needed to defeat it, and wasn¡¯t even edible to them. Esperanza thought otherwise. She was on a jaunt into the deeper regions of the forest, in order to level up some more. Before her departure, she had her pets clean up the area around the village, so they ought to be fine without her. Besides, they had lived just fine for generations without her aid anyway, so it wasn¡¯t like they needed her help all that much. The Grazer was one of the beasts Esperanza kept in the back of her mind when she left the deeper regions to head towards the village a while back. She kept note of them for their high levels, which would be valuable for her when she needed experience to level up with. By dint of fortune, she had encountered it merely two days out from her little hut. It was probable that the beast had wandered and followed her trail out of curiosity, as she saw little reason for it to move so far towards the forest outskirts otherwise. As such, Esperanza planned to take it down, both to prevent it from reaching Navef ¨C its presence would be equivalent to a disaster to the small village ¨C as well as to gain herself some experience. Esperanza was perched atop a tall tree a short distance away from the Grazer, while Dali and Gordy hid themselves in the underbrush nearby. All of them waited for the beast to move a bit closer, silent and still as they did so. They had time, so they were in no rush to take it down and instead favored making sure they got a good first strike in before it could react. Eventually their patience paid off. After an uneventful hour during which time the Grazer munched on the fruits off the tree, the creature moved away towards another tree closer to where Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy were located. It was completely unaware of the danger stalking it as it contentedly started munching on the thick, juicy leaves of the next tree. There was no need for words. With [A Glimpse of Understanding] at its current level and their bond, Esperanza could convey simple thoughts to Dali and Gordy without making a sound. Both of her dogs received her command, and they burst out from the underbrush, pouncing towards the surprised Grazer which reacted far too late to the unexpected ambush. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The beast was far too tall for Dali¡¯s small form to reach for its vitals, so instead the dog¡¯s slender form moved swiftly between the Grazer¡¯s legs and he used his fangs to nip on the heels of the beast, causing small bloody wounds that cut deep into the tendons to form as he passed. The Grazed bleated in pain and surprise and tried to trample down on Dali with its uninjured legs, but the small dog was too fast for it to catch. Before it managed to recover from Dali¡¯s sudden strike, Gordy¡¯s larger form barreled against its side and nearly pushed the Grazer over, while her fangs clamped down on the flesh at the side of the Grazer¡¯s abdomen, doubling its pain. The Grazer swung its thagomizer-tipped tail at Gordy, but she saw the blow coming and had let go before it arrived, the spikes only brushing against her thick fur as she retreated. That was when Esperanza made her presence known as well and further distressed the Grazer. From high in the forest canopy, Esperanza leapt down, creating a film-like structure between her extended arms and her torso that she used to glide and control the direction of her fall. She dropped down feet-first, her feet clasped together and pointed down as she formed a sheet of bone-like material over them, creating a wedge-shaped awl of bone to land on. She missed her target slightly ¨C her aim had been to land on the middle of the Grazer¡¯s back to sever its spine in one blow ¨C but still struck the beast¡¯s torso, the force of the fall forcing the bone awl over her feet to pierce deep into the Grazer¡¯s torso. The injury she caused went through the Grazer¡¯s solid form, with the tip of the bone awl even exiting from its underside, a grievous wound to say the least. But not an immediately fatal one. The Grazer reacted by bending its long neck backwards and striking down at Esperanza ¨C who was still embedded in the beast¡¯s torso ¨C with its antlers. The layer of scale-like structures she had formed and hid under her skin did its job and blocked most of the strike, though a couple points pierced into her body nonetheless. Still, the damage they did to her was minimal at best, while Esperanza was in a perfect position to do more to the Grazer in turn. She shifted the part of her body that was embedded in the Grazer¡¯s torso into a multitude of tentacles with either a fanged mouth or a wicked claw at their tips, and sent all those appendages to strike wildly at the beast¡¯s internal organs. The Grazer bleated in pain once more, this time louder and more desperate, as Esperanza ripped and tore her way through its insides. Before the beast could rear its neck back for a second strike, Esperanza grasped its antlers with multiple appendages that shot out from her upper body. Beneath her, Dali continued to nibble on the beast¡¯s heels, while Gordy¡¯s fangs tore deeper into the other side of the beast¡¯s abdomen. The Grazer seemed to have no idea on which threat to deal with for a moment, before it decided to focus on Esperanza first. Esperanza felt as if she had just been ran over by a truck as the beast¡¯s tail slammed into her from behind, hard. Two of the bone spikes even skewered her form, entering through her back and exiting through her chest, though she ignored the painful injuries. One benefit of her amorphous form was the lack of ¡°vital¡± organs which would kill her quickly, as whatever she fought would need to destroy a good chunk of her form instead. In retaliation, she hurled both of her arms, her fingers tipped with claws, at the Grazer¡¯s large eyes. The claws landed and pierced into the flesh around the eyeballs, while in the center of her palms, a toothy mouth opened wide. A tentacle-like tongue shot out from within that mouth with great force, four sharp fangs at its tip, arranged like a wedge. Those tongues pierced through the Grazer¡¯s eyeballs, and even cracked the eye sockets behind. She retracted them swiftly, before they shot out a second time, hitting the same spot with greater force and breaking through the orbital bones, the tentacular appendages reaching the bleating Grazer¡¯s brain. Once there, the four fangs opened up and started to bite into the soft, gooey brain tissue without mercy. The [Spike-Tailed Grazer] convulsed wildly as Esperanza turned its brain into so much meat slurry, its violent movements even ripping her out from its torso, with some her appendages dragging out chunks and bits of the beast¡¯s innards as she was forcibly pulled out. The beast¡¯s tail flicked like a whip and hurled her through the air to smash against a tree even as it cavorted and shook in its dying moments. Dali and Gordy had fortunately been smart enough to stay away from it during that time, though, and thus avoided the creature¡¯s final wild lashings. A short while later, the notification arrived. You and your companions have defeated [Spike-Tailed Grazer Lvl39]! You have leveled to level 3! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained! Class Skill [Flesh is but a Vessel] has leveled to level 2! Esperanza slowly dragged her broken form to the Grazer¡¯s corpse. With the damage her body had taken, it would be a pain to attempt dragging the thing back with her, or even try to dismantle it. Instead, she opted for a course that most would have seen as little other than suicidal. She reverted her form to its original amorphous shape and enveloped much of the dead Grazer¡¯s torso before she made use of [Consume] on it. Her skill worked in conjunction with her many mouth-like orifices as they devoured the Grazer rapidly. Fur, flesh, blood, organs, all were consumed without any regard, with only the clean bones left behind. In a matter of mere minutes, the majority of the Grazer¡¯s torso had turned into gleaming clean skeletal remains, with only its attached limbs, head, and tail spared. Neither Dali nor Gordy chose to partake in the dead beast¡¯s carcass, for good reason. You have ingested poisonous material. You have been grievously poisoned. You have learned General Skill [Poison Resistance Lvl1] You have Died. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Safe Location Because not even her inhuman form was strong enough to handle the beast¡¯s poison, it turned out. Ten minutes later, Esperanza [Respawn]ed in the same area. She first climbed up the tree she had been perched at earlier and collected her clothes ¨C she wasn¡¯t so silly she¡¯d wear her clothes while fighting such a beast ¨C from where she left them. Then she went down and greeted her dogs, which had waited on the spot for her return and welcomed her with affectionate licks and nuzzles. The hunt was a pretty worthwhile one overall. She took down her prey without too much trouble, gained a level in the process, and even earned herself a new general skill. As for the beast¡¯s remnants, she thought that the villagers would be happy to receive its bones, especially the antlers and the spikes on the thagomizer, so she chose to drag the rest of it back towards the village with the help of her dogs. 31 - When Plans made Contact with Enemies One look at the gargantuan figure in the distance, somehow hanging from the cavern¡¯s ceiling like a grotesque, fleshy stalactite, told Alissa that the fight would likely not be like the one where they fought the [Winged Scavenger Patriarch] at all. While there was only a slight difference in their names, the [Winged Scavenger Matriarch] was clearly a different beast altogether. For one, [Analysis] immediately returned [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch Lvl45] when they used it to check the beast. The beast¡¯s level was at the very upper limit of Sir Inolet¡¯s estimation, but the addition of the ¡°Alpha¡± to its [Analysis] result was a greater cause for worry. Any additional moniker in a beast¡¯s name meant that the beast was beyond what it normally was in some way, and seeing it on a boss monster was the worst possible scenario. Even Sir Inolet frowned when he noticed the unexpected result, and he ordered half of the guards to accompany the [Heroes] to tackle the beast, while the other half was to hold out against the other monsters in the area. The Matriarch wasn¡¯t alone, as there were around another dozen or so [Dire Winged Scavenger] and [Winged Scavenger Reaper] in the vicinity. One look at the Matriarch itself, however, made it clear just which of the monsters would be the main threat in the large cavernous space. The beast was massive, easily twice as tall as the Patriarch that the [Heroes] faced before, and nearly as broad as the Patriarch was tall even with its wing-arms folded around it. Making things worse was the open terrain of the cavernous space it called its lair. The ceiling was high, and there was plenty of room for the bat-like monsters to fly in. It was a potential trouble that gave the party some pause as they planned their strategy for the fight. Fortunately the monsters seemed to pay no attention to their presence so long as they remained outside the lair. Sir Inolet merely watched from the side as they murmured amongst themselves. In the end, everyone agreed that the Matriarch was the main threat they would need to get under control first, and they planned around taking it down as soon as possible while half the guards held the rest of the monsters back. After the party ¨C all twenty-three of them ¨C exchanged nods of agreement, they slowly inched to the monster¡¯s lair, taking extreme care to keep their footsteps quiet as they advanced. All the guards hefted some form of ranged weapon as they moved as close to the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] as they could, intending to damage its wings to the point where it could no longer fly in the first strike. Once they reached close enough ¨C around ten meters away from the beast, not counting the height it was perched up ¨C everyone readied their weapons. Those who had bows and crossbows aimed at the slumbering form of the great beast above them, while those with throwing weapons reared back with one arm fully extended behind them, preparing for a powerful throw. None of the beasts had yet to react to their presence, so they took the time to synchronize the shot as best they could. ¡°On three, ready?¡± said Alissa in a quiet voice to the party. Her words were answered by dozens of nods as everyone signaled their readiness. Even the quiet and taciturn Joshua looked serious as he eyed the beast above and ahead of them with his eyes looking down the crude sights on his crossbow. ¡°Ready up¡­ One¡­ Two¡­ Three!¡± At her call, a barrage of arrows and bolts were loosed, followed closely by the various thrown projectiles from the group. The yell alerted the beasts, but they were slow to react, as they had just awoken from their slumber. The same applied to the Matriarch, which had just started to rouse itself when the projectiles landed on the membranous wings that enveloped its slumbering form. And that was when their eager looks turned into a dumbfounded one, followed by surprise and despair. The bolts and arrows bounced off the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch]¡¯s membranous wings, leaving only small nicks behind. The heavier thrown weapons managed to pierce through the membrane, but failed to go deeper, leaving only shallow wounds and small holes on the wings even as they fell out as the beast moved. Then the beast unfolded itself from its curled-up sleeping posture and revealed its full size, half again as large as what they had assumed, with a grotesque appearance that looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. It screeched so loudly that everyone was forced to clutch their throbbing and bleeding ears, its four mandible-like outer jaws wide open to display the rows of needle-like teeth behind. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. With the Matriarch¡¯s screech, the rest of the colony inside the cavern roused themselves and took to the air as they flew towards the intruders. Fortunately, the Matriarch itself had not budged from its spot yet, as it seemed content to just deafen them with its loud, ear-piercing screeches. The sight of a dozen or so of the monsters headed their way forced Alissa to come to a quick decision, as she was appointed the leader of the group. ¡°Retreat! Retreat towards the entrance!¡± she yelled at the top of her voice, while also using her spear to gesture her command to everyone else. At that moment she was most grateful that Sir Inolet had insisted that they learn to pass commands through silent gestures, for situations where making sounds were either impossible or unpreferable. The party could take on a dozen of the monsters, even though they were all advanced variants in the level 30s, but the presence of the Matriarch nearby made that a dicey proposition. As such, Alissa chose to enact a fighting withdrawal with the hopes of thinning the number of the monsters a bit, escaping if the Matriarch chose to make its move prematurely. Their withdrawal was one done in a measured, practiced way. The ten Temple Guards took the front, with their long spears held towards the incoming beasts and their large shields covering their bodies. Behind them, the Royal Guards and the three young heroes hurled projectiles at the beasts, in the hopes of slowing them down, maybe even taking some out of the air if possible. Alissa hurled her javelins with steady hands, her skill helping keep her mind calm despite the situation. A couple of the guards, as well as Joshua looked less calm, as they were caught off guard by the unexpected situation, and their shots went wide more often than not. Sometimes they landed on another of the beasts by luck, but it did little to stop the beasts. On the other hand, Alissa¡¯s javelins had more effect. Two of the [Dire Winged Scavengers] crashed to the ground after her throws landed directly on one of their shoulder joints. One of the beasts even had the misfortune to plummet straight onto a stalagmite, the tip of the rock formation skewering it through the gut and out its back. It screeched in horrible pain, unable to extract itself from its predicament even as it slowly died. The rest of the beasts still charged straight at the retreating party, however, even the other beast that Alissa downed from the air. It loped towards them with an odd gait since one of its wing-arms had been rendered useless, but still pursued them furiously nonetheless. A coordinated thrust of the spear from the temple guards in the front drew some blood and forced the remaining [Dire Winged Scavengers] to veer away. The [Winged Scavenger Reapers] came next, their wings had devolved, so they were ground-bound, but they ran towards the group at nearly the same speed as their flying brethren. By sheer coincidence ¨C or maybe some sort of bestial coordination ¨C the half-dozen Reapers struck the shield wall at the same moment the Dire Scavengers swooped back for a second pass. The temple guards were occupied by the six reapers and thus couldn¡¯t drop the Dire Scavengers, so Alissa hurled her last javelin at them, along with various other projectiles from the royal guards next to her. The projectiles caused one of the flying beasts to crash down to the side, where Ethan rushed in and hammered it down before it could rise to its feet. The other three harried the retreating party from the air, however. Even when they tried to strike at the beasts with their polearms and spears, the flying creatures just weaved out of their reach with ease. At least, they did that until Joshua lost his patience. A bolt of lightning extended from his hand and linked him to one of the flying monsters, the lightning branching out from that beast to the other two fliers nearby, lasting for a brief, brilliant moment. The bolt was nowhere near fatal, but it disrupted the beasts enough to send them falling out of the air, where one of them broke its wing-arm on the landing. Alissa didn¡¯t miss out on the chance and rushed towards the healthiest-looking beast that was starting to rise. Before the beast could react in time, she already stabbed its chest with her spear, swiftly withdrawing the weapon for a second thrust aimed at the throat. The beast managed to partly avoid that one, but the spearhead still left a bloody gash at the side of its throat. More importantly, the spear kept its attention fixated on it, which left the creature unprepared when Alissa stepped in close and struck it right on the snout with the top end of her shield¡¯s rim, hard enough to break some bones within. The beast reeled backwards from the blow, and Alissa finished it off with another stab to the center of its throat, followed by stomping on the wound with the heel of her boot for good measure. As she turned and surveyed the rest of the battle, she saw that Ethan had taken out his monster too, and was in the midst of helping some of the royal guards take out the beast that Joshua had scorched the most. The Fifth Princess and the rest of the royal guards tackled the last of the fliers and put it down permanently. Due to the tight formation they adopted, the Fifth Princess had no real room to swing her greatsword freely, so she moved one hand to hold it by the middle of the blade instead, and stabbed with it like a short spear. Between her and the other three guards who stabbed at the [Dire Winged Scavenger] with their weapons, they made relatively short work of it without too much fuss. At the same time, the temple guards still held off the six [Winged Scavenger Reapers] and kept them away from the rest. They were unable to land any serious blows on the monsters, but also kept themselves safe from the scything claws so far, as they sought to buy time for the others to take care of the flying monsters. The hobbled [Dire Winged Scavenger] reached the shield wall around that time, lending its weight to its more ferocious brethren despite its injuries, but some of the royal guards had already turned and moved to reinforce the shield wall as well. From the looks of it, they would successfully withdraw from the lair while also whittling down the number of the monsters within before long. At least, that was what they thought when another piercing screech reverberated in the cavern, sending waves of pain directly to their ears and minds. A sound of flapping wings and a fast-moving shadow were all the signs they saw, before one of the royal guards rushing towards the front suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, his head missing from his neck. Blood started pouring out from the stump within moments, as the rest of the party looked warily at the massive figure in the air above them. The [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] had joined the fray. 32 - The Boss of the Dungeon ¡°Fuck! It¡¯s been buffing itself all this while!¡± Ethan yelled after he took a look at the flying beast. Alissa¡¯s own [Analysis] had leveled enough that it returned more information than usual to her, and what it returned would have probably caused her to panic, were it not for her [Weather the Storm] skill. They were still halfway towards the lair¡¯s entrance, and they knew that no help was forthcoming, except maybe for the Fifth Princess. [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch Lvl45 (Enraged) (Invigorated) (Greater Regeneration) (Haste) (Berserk)] was what Alissa¡¯s [Analysis Lvl5] returned to her. Just from the status it displayed alone, she knew that the party was in real trouble, this time. There was no time for hesitation, and so she immediately activated her buff skill as well. ¡°[Divine Blessing]!¡± ¡°[Raging Bellow]! [Taunting Cry]! [None Shall Pass]!¡± yelled Ethan as he caught on to her cue and made use of his own skills. The multiple skills stacked together, and combined with a few lesser skills from the guards around them to elevate the party¡¯s prowess to its maximum, if only for a brief period of time. They all knew what it meant. Either they killed the beast or escaped its clutches before their buffs ran out, or most of them would likely meet their end right then and there. Alissa had saved her other two active skills for the right moment. She knew that she would only have one chance to use them in the battle ¨C their cooldown periods dictated that ¨C and given their brief effects, she had to make that single use count. That one strike would probably be the party¡¯s best chance to incapacitate or kill the creature, bar none. While the royal guards and temple guards had their own set of skills, theirs were worse in quality compared to what the summoned [Heroes] got, with the best one of the group being the Fifth Princess. Unfortunately, even her best group buff skill gave barely half what Alissa¡¯s own [Divine Blessing] offered, so the three [Heroes] were still the linchpin of the group. The royal guards had not bothered to switch back to their ranged weapons, as they all saw how useless those had been against the matriarch. Instead, they took up positions behind the line of temple guards, long polearms pointed towards the flying beast above them. Ethan and Alissa joined the line of the temple guards, while Joshua remained at the back, looking for good opportunities. While the remaining [Winged Scavenger Reapers] engaged the line ¨C a futile gesture, as they were all blocked by Ethan¡¯s [None Shall Pass] ¨C the matriarch swooped in from above, in a swooping dive towards the wall of temple guards. Ethan immediately took a step forward and pushed the monsters blocked by his skill a step back as he braced himself to take on the attack. What happened next was out of their expectations. Instead of the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] being stopped by the skill, or the skill failing entirely to stop it, when the creature struck the invisible wall created by the skill, it visibly slowed a bit, while at the same time, Ethan was thrown on his back against the ground. The beast then continued its flight, though the delay allowed the guards it targeted to avoid or block the strike and saved their lives. Several of the other guards¡¯ long spears struck against the tough skin of the Matriarch, only to leave tiny wounds at best. The polearms and greatswords wielded by the royal guards met with similarly pitiful results. One of the long spears that struck true even snapped in twain as its wielder braced it against the cavern¡¯s stony floor, leaving the metal spearhead embedded halfway in the beast. It was a minor injury to the creature, at best. Even when Joshua unleashed another bolt of lightning from his hands that struck the matriarch directly on its chest, it did little more than to leave a scorch mark where it struck, while barely causing a hitch at the creature¡¯s flight. It did cause the beast to view him as a bigger annoyance, however, and one of its legs lashed out at him as it passed by. Had Moira not reacted swiftly and tackled Joshua to the ground, the claws that crowned the creature¡¯s toes would have torn him into two pieces right then and there. She paid for that timely selfless act quite dearly, however, as the tips of those claws raked across her back, easily shearing through both the chainmail and the gambeson worn by the young girl and cutting deep, bloody grooves into her flesh. The injury was not one that endangered her life in the short term, but it was plenty to take her out of the fight nonetheless. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Take down these reapers first! We can¡¯t afford to be distracted against that thing!¡± yelled Alissa, giving a command for the whole group. She had to yell at the top of her voice, because their ears were still ringing from the Matriarch¡¯s earlier piercing screeches, though Ethan¡¯s skill at least meant they could ignore the pain from the damaged eardrums and the headache those screeches caused. As if to put action to the word, she blocked one reaper¡¯s claw with her kite shield, deflected its other claw with the shaft of her spear, and in the same smooth motion pierced right through its eye and into its brain with the spearhead, withdrawing her spear even before the dead creature could start to fall. The dead beast fell on its face right next to her feet, but Alissa ignored it as she headed to help Ethan. Two of the reapers were whaling on him while he struggled to stand back up. Alissa took the opening that the reapers¡¯ preoccupation with Ethan left to strike one from the side, her spear piercing deeply into its skull through its left ear. That gave Ethan a chance he took to rise from where he fell as he deflected a claw swipe to the side with his pollaxe¡¯s butt end and then hooked the axe blade behind the reaper¡¯s neck, pulling down hard with all his weight. The [Winged Scavenger Reaper] stumbled and fell forward even as Ethan grunted and raised himself to a seated position, timing it so that his forehead struck the falling reaper¡¯s snout directly. His forehead won that contest, and the reaper was sent falling on its rear end, dazed by the headbutt that broke its snout, while Ethan used the time he won to stand up, back to his feet. Then he ended the reaper with a hammerblow that crushed the reaper¡¯s forehead. During their little tussle, the fifth princess had put down one of the other reapers, while several of the royal guards tangled with the last one. Fortunately, the Matriarch seemed to be fixated on Joshua, and kept swooping in towards him with its strikes. The temple guards had formed a defensive formation around him, knowing all too well that as long as he remained the beast¡¯s target, they would have an easier time dealing with it. It was a role that cost them, however. Three of the temple guards already lay dead on the cavern¡¯s floor, while more than half of the rest had lost their shields, as the beast broke them apart with its strikes. One of the dead guards was missing her head, another had been torn in half at the waist, the two halves of his body only connected by a long string of intestines, thrown a good distance away from each other. The third seemed to have tried to block a blow from the beast¡¯s claw only for his shield and helmet to fail him, as his skull was halfway split vertically by the blow instead. ¡°Keep the bloody thing off me for a bit! I can¡¯t focus for a stronger spell with it coming at me like this!¡± yelled Joshua from behind the guards. Mere moments after he said that, he had to duck own to avoid a claw swipe that aimed for his head, while the upper portion of another guard¡¯s shield was reduced to splinters as he blocked the blow and diverted the strike somewhat. Fortunately that guard had the presence of mind to duck low even while he blocked and thus avoided his compatriots¡¯ grisly fates. ¡°You got something up your sleeves, Smith?¡± asked Ethan as he and Alissa rushed back towards Joshua, their eyes trained at the flying Matriarch as they cautiously followed its every move. Just after Ethan asked, the beast¡¯s next strike came and clashed against the barrier from his [None Shall Pass] skill, sending him down on his back once more while also slowing the Matriarch¡¯s attack. That allowed a few more strikes to land on the Matriarch as it flew past, though like before, none of the strikes landed any serious blow to the beast. The remaining royal guards flocked to the defensive formation after they finished off the last of the reapers, adding their weapons to the fray, and doubling the formation around Joshua. ¡°I¡¯ll start working on it. Just keep that animal off me while I get the spell going. I¡¯ll need fifteen seconds,¡± said Joshua, somewhat emboldened by the circle of defenders around him. Both Ethan and Alissa nodded at his request as they joined the defense. Ethan remained at the outermost circle, with the only two temple guards that had intact shields as well as Alissa all supporting him from behind. A few tense seconds passed as the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] flew in a circle above them, outside the reach of their weapons. After a moment, the beast finally banked into another swooping dive, while Ethan along with his supporters scrambled to intercept the beast. Like before, the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] slammed against the invisible barrier from Ethan¡¯s skill. Unlike before, Ethan had not only braced himself for the impact, but also had three others supporting his back, their shields laid flat against him as they helped him endure the impact. Another half-dozen guards pressed themselves against the backs of those three in turn, and further solidified their formation, sharing the burden between ten of them. As a result, the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] was actually halted in mid-air for a brief moment, the momentum from its dive spent. The beast crashed to the cavern¡¯s stony floor, but quickly regained its bearings and raised itself on its legs, its full height towering over the remaining members of the party. It gave another deafening screech at them even as it rose high above their heads, about to beat its wings and take to the air once more. This time, however, its screech met with an answer. ¡°[Spell Merge]! [Mana Overload]! Take this, you overgrown flying rat!¡± yelled Joshua from the back of the formation as he raised and pointed both of his hands towards the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch]. The next moment, everyone was blinded for a brief moment as a too-bright flash of light filled their visions. A scintillating bolt of lightning, one far greater in size and power than anything Joshua had ever created throughout the entirety of their dungeon dive so far, connected the young [Mage] to the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] for a brief instant before it dissipated. The lightning strike was followed by the deafening roar of thunder that caused the cavern to shake slightly, dislodging many small stones from the ceiling. It also made the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] screech in true pain for the first time, a branching electrical scorch mark spread over its torso. The blinding and deafening blast also disoriented the beast, its eyes completely unused to such a bright flash, while the deafening thunderclap burst its sensitive eardrums, blood visibly flowing from its ears. The moment the party regained their bearings and saw the still-disoriented beast before them, they struck with all they had. 33 - Hell Hath no Fury like a Matriarch Scorned ¡°[Pierce the Heavens]! [Grasp the Soul]!¡± yelled Alissa as she activated both of her remaining skills at the same time. She charged in at the staggered, disoriented [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch], keeping her posture low to avoid its attention as she closed in. Once she closed the distance, she leapt towards the beast and thrust her spear forward, with all the momentum of her charge behind it. The sharp point of her spear, clad by the sheen of energies from her two skills, found its target on the left side of the creature¡¯s chest. The sharp metal point struggled briefly as it struck home, before the skill it was clad with helped it overpower the monster¡¯s natural defenses and allowed it to pierce through. The entire force of the thrust, with the momentum of the charge and Alissa¡¯s whole weight behind it, went into the creature¡¯s sturdy flesh. Sturdy sharpened steel of the spearpoint faced against magically reinforced tendons and muscle fibers, and tore its way through with relative ease. The point struck one of the beast¡¯s rib bones, and while the force of the blow cracked the bone, the impact also deflected the thrust. As a result, the spearpoint slipped between two ribs and pierced through the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch]¡¯s left lung, missing its heart by inches, and almost made it out the other side before it exhausted its momentum. It was decidedly a grievous wound, one that would likely incapacitate the great beast after some time, doubly so with the damage to its mind and soul dealt by Alissa¡¯s skill. If the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] was a mundane beast, the injured, collapsed lung alone would have sufficed to take it down, but it was not, and because of that, Alissa had a problem. Namely that she was right next to a [Berserk] beast that she had just grievously injured, wide open to counterattacks from the creature, and most likely the current focus of its ire. The next thing she knew, her ears were deafened by a screech that was far louder and more piercing than before ¨C she thought that it made no sense in her mind, since she just pierced through one of the beast¡¯s lungs, but clearly the monster did not care for what she thought ¨C and before she regained her bearings, she felt something strike her from the side. Hard. Even with the pain immunity effect of Ethan¡¯s skill still affecting her, Alissa felt how several of her ribs, along with her left lung, was straight up pulverized by the force of the blow. It might have been even worse, but the armor she wore lived up to its promised sturdiness and halted the beast¡¯s claws from directly eviscerating her. She was still sent flying through the air regardless, her desperate grip on her spear¡¯s shaft only resulting in a broken spear ¨C the other half still embedded deep in the creature¡¯s body ¨C left in her hand. Her [Weather the Storm] skill kept her thinking clearly, even as the world spun around her, processing what information she could grasp when her eyes happened to catch a glimpse of the battle. After it had struck Alissa away, the beast struck with its second wing-arm at the rest of the approaching party. They were too close to avoid it, and the blow struck several of them, including Ethan and the Fifth Princess. Ethan was similarly hurled across the cavern, the shaft of his pollaxe shattered into bits of wood by the forceful blow despite his attempt to block it. As for the Fifth Princess, she had the fortune of being the last one to be struck, after the blow had expended a lot of its momentum, and had two of the guards shielding the blow for her to boot. Despite that, the blow still packed enough force to shatter the wooden shafts the royal guards tried to block it with and hurl them bodily into the Princess, sending all three into a tangled heap as they fell to the cavern floor. The beast was clearly headed for Joshua, its massive form towering over the remaining guards that were still near the [Mage]. Joshua looked like he was in a daze, unaware of his surroundings as he clutched his forehead and swayed where he stood. Alissa recalled him looking that exact way before, when he had overused his magic, so that last magical working clearly took the wind out of his sails. With utterly horrible timing at that, though she couldn¡¯t really fault him for giving his all to the point of rendering himself insensate like that. The [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] swatted aside three of the guards near Joshua. Two were sent flying through the air with broken weapons and bent armor, but they were the fortunate ones, as they caught a blow from the beast¡¯s forearm instead of the wicked claws that tipped its fingers. The last guard was not as lucky. He was caught mid-dodge by the claw that tipped the little finger of the beast, with gruesome results. The claw sheared through the guard¡¯s right arm, severing it near the shoulder, before it skidded off the armor on his shoulder and ricocheted straight towards the side of his skull. As a result, the upper half of the guard¡¯s head was sent flying into the air, his still-pulsating brain, slashed neatly into half, visible on the remaining part of his skull that was still attached to his neck. Alissa saw how the dead man crumbled to his knees, the remaining bits of his brain matter falling out from his open skull as he hit the ground face-first. She herself landed from her brief flight at the same moment, fortunately falling on her back. Instinct and reflexes took over as she tucked into a roll and stopped with her feet beneath her, eyes towards the still-raging battle. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. She could barely move her left arm. The blow that broke her ribs had likely damaged the muscles on her side and shoulder as well, as the arm dangled half-uselessly by her side, weighed down by her shield. Taking a deep breath was a chore as well, as it seemed like she couldn¡¯t breathe as well as she liked no matter what she did. The calm and calculative part of her mind knew that one of her lungs was likely deflated from that blow, maybe even punctured, though it was hard to tell due to the lack of pain thanks to Ethan¡¯s skill. If she hadn¡¯t been laboring under the effects of that skill, she might well have collapsed from the pain alone, so she knew to take the blessings as she could get them. Of her spear, only the broken handle was left in her hand, the other half still embedded deep in the creature¡¯s chest. Alissa rose back to her feet with strenuous effort, and forced her legs ¨C which felt like they had lead weights tied to them ¨C to run back towards the battle, even as her right hand grasped the handle of the blade by her waist and drew it clear off its scabbard. The battle was by no means over, and their party was still at a heavy disadvantage. Joshua was gone. The beast had rampaged its way to him, and while Gregorius, the last guard who was still at Joshua¡¯s side at the time did his best to stop the beast, all that effort only resulted in his pointless death. The beast tore him apart with its claws before its jaws opened wide and it bit down, taking Joshua¡¯s head and most of his upper body into its gullet. Before Alissa¡¯s eyes, the remaining half of Joshua¡¯s body dropped to the ground, blood and other unmentionables spilling out from the torn organs within the remaining half of his torso cavity. Dazed and insensate as he was due to the overspending of mana, he never stood any chance against the monster, but at least the beast¡¯s fixation with him bought the rest a chance. Even as Alissa ran half the distance to the beast, Ethan tackled the back of the beast¡¯s knee with his shoulder, almost like how he¡¯d tackle another player on the football field. That caused the knee to fold and made the beast stumble, at which point Ethan struck it wildly with the weapons in his hands. He had the upper half of his broken pollaxe ¨C the langets kept the upper half of the weapon relatively intact and functional ¨C in one hand and the head of a dead guard¡¯s glaive in the other as he struck at the beast¡¯s inner thigh and crotch area with all the strength he could bring to bear. What few guards remained also struck with whatever weapons they had left or could get their hands on, with the most effective strike being from the Fifth Princess, who used her greatsword like a spear as she drove it with all her weight at the back of the creature¡¯s other knee. The injury was enough to disable the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch]¡¯s legs, which rendered it mostly immobile for the moment. The too-clever beast clearly realized the same thing, as it immediately swept aside most of its attackers once more with its massive wing-arms, tossing most of them aside, while forcing the rest to break off their offensive for a brief moment. One of the royal guards was even unfortunate enough to have caught the beast¡¯s claws which tore his legs off right at the hip. Then it began to beat its wings and slowly lifted itself from the ground. Alissa saw it all from afar, and understood what the beast was trying to do. It wanted to get back up into the air so it could pick them off one by one from relative safety once more. Given the party¡¯s condition, they would be hard pressed to do anything to stop that. Ethan and the others also noticed, and those still near the beast redoubled their assault, but it was too little, too late to stop its ascent. So Alissa chose a daring gamble unlike any she had ever done before instead. As she ran the final stretch, she headed towards a low, thick stalagmite not too far behind the ascending beast, and leapt straight to its top in a single jump. As her foot landed atop the stalagmite, she kicked against it as hard as she could, using its support to jump even higher from its top, propelling her upwards and forward at the same time. Straight towards the back of the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch]. Fortunately for her, the beast was still relatively close to the ground, and her jump was just enough for her to reach its back, which she slammed into blade-first. Her falchion only left a small wound on the beast¡¯s tough back even though the blade sunk a third into its flesh, but the momentary purchase it gave her gave Alissa enough time to find footholds on the coarse fur that lined the creature¡¯s back. With those footholds, she released her grip from the weapon and grasped some of the beast¡¯s fur further above before she fell down, then started to climb the beast¡¯s back that way, holding on tight to not get thrown off. She managed to climb until one of her feet stood firmly on the foothold her blade formed, which in turn placed her head level with the back of the beast¡¯s skull. The beast had noticed her presence on its back, and flew in such a way that most of the time she had to hold on for dear life with her one working hand to prevent herself getting thrown off and dashed against the rocks. Alissa took a brief moment when the beast¡¯s flight was level to draw a small dagger ¨C one with a blade that was more like a triangular spike than a typical one ¨C and bit it between her teeth before she held on once more as she awaited a chance. That chance came moments later, when the beast had to ascend stably after it struck at the remnants of the party below, which provided a brief moment of stability that allowed Alissa to grab the dagger, holding the blade in reverse, and stab at the beast. She stabbed with all the strength her battered body could muster right at the back of the beast¡¯s skull, where the skull and neck joined. A fatal spot for most creatures. Perhaps it was not a fatal spot for the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch], or perhaps she just struck a too-shallow wound, but the beast did not perish from the strike. It had caused some effect, however, as the beast screeched in pain and agony and its flight cavorted wildly right after she landed the blow. The wild flight caused the beast to crash violently against a pair of stalactites that grew close together, one of them breaking itself against the beast¡¯s right wing and also breaking the wing in the process. Down to one wing, the beast fell from near the cavern¡¯s ceiling ¨C a good twenty yards up or so ¨C with Alissa still desperately holding on to its back. By a stroke of fortune it fell directly on a stalagmite formation below. One of the stalagmites ¨C the longest one ¨C pierced through its abdomen and skewered through the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch], while the tip of another slightly shorter stalagmite happened to be precisely below where Alissa¡¯s dagger was embedded. The impact drove the rest of the blade into the beast¡¯s head, through a vital part of its brain, killing it on the spot. A series of notifications sounded in the minds of the party, but Alissa failed to notice it, because another of the stalagmites was directly below her torso and struck her back. While her armor held together even under the forces acting against it, the belts keeping them in place broke, causing the plates to slip slightly aside. As a result, Alissa¡¯s body was literally crushed between the chest and back plates of her own armor, as the beast fell on top of her with all its weight, while the stalagmite below held her in place. Even under such conditions, her mind somehow kept calm. As a result, she felt how her chest was crushed together ¨C though fortunately Ethan¡¯s still was still in effect and spared her the pain ¨C as well as the unenviable sensations of her organs bursting under the pressure. That calm kept her steady until the oblivion of death took her. You have Died. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Temple XXXIV - Watching a Master at Work ¡°We humbly thank the Honored One for the gifts! May the Deities of Yore retake their rightful place and set things right once more!¡± intoned Avec-Litu, the Village Elder of Navef when Esperanza dragged the remnants of the creatures she hunted deep in the woods to the village. She was rather surprised by the enthusiastic looks on Adan-Zil and his fellow hunters¡¯ eyes, but otherwise the groveling and obeisance was as she expected. The remnants of the beasts¡¯ carcasses she brought with her still had many of their most valuable parts attached. The villagers especially crowded at the sharp bones of a Grazer¡¯s thagomizer, its antlers, as well as the claws and fangs of another predator she killed on her way back. Apparently, the material those parts were made of was better than anything the village used for their weapons. As such, they would be able to make better ones by sharpening and forming the material she gave them into blades and spearheads. Esperanza was actually curious about the processing of the materials, since she was told that they were harder and sturdier than anything the village had. As such, she expressed her desire to observe the work as well. ¡°You sure I wouldn¡¯t be disturbing?¡± she asked Adan-Zil when they headed to a large hut which the village¡¯s crafter used as her workshop. The crafter herself was a short, but very wide person, with thick, coarse hair covering her whole form to the point that she looked almost like some sort of shaggy monkey from a distance. ¡°There is no need for worry, Honored One,¡± said Adan-Zil from beside her. ¡°Old Avalanusi here wouldn¡¯t care if the Deities themselves were to descend if she was in the middle of work. Nothing would take her attention away from the work she had at hand. She just works that way.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, then. I was worried that my being here would distract her,¡± replied Esperanza. She was seated on a bench at one corner of the hut, far enough away so as to not disturb the crafter, but close enough that she could see the whole process in detail with her eyes. Dali and Gordy were lying down on the ground, wrapped around her feet like soft, warm blankets. From the moment they entered the hut, the old crafter never turned her eyes to regard her visitors. Instead, her beady eyes were fully focused at the forge ahead of her, where she had part of the Grazer¡¯s antler rack as it was being heated. It was an odd sight, as the flames heated the antlers and caused it to glow a dull yellow, almost as if it was metal, despite how it was clearly nothing of the sort. The old crafter used few tools, only a set of tongs with which she held the antler over the roaring fire, and a thick, sturdy glove worn over her hands. Once she extracted the rack of antlers from the flames, Esperanza almost gasped as she saw the old crafter grab the glowing-hot antler with her gloved hands. There was no scream of pain or even a grunt of discomfort, as the old crafter acted as if she was not holding a piece of material so hot it glowed. Then she bent the glowing antler over a solid, cylindrical piece of rock, slowly shifting its shape into something more usable with nothing more than her strength. Slowly but surely, the piece of antler straightened from its natural bent form, into something more suitable to be used as an actual weapon, the heat having made the material more malleable. After she got the pieces of antler mostly straightened out ¨C the rack now resembled a single straight bar with many smaller perpendicular bars growing from its sides ¨C the old crafted brought out a rather hefty-looking hatchet, its head made from polished stone attached to a solid wooden handle. She held the rack of antlers firmly with one hand as her other hand held the hatchet. A moment later, the hatchet was lifted and struck the still-glowing antler. Only a shallow mark was left from the blow, but the old crafter seemed to be satisfied. She lifted the tool and landed more blows on the antler, then flipped it around and did the same to its backside. After her work was done, she returned the antler to the fire to re-heat it for a while. Once it glowed brightly, she pulled the antler out from the fire and dipped the whole rack into a basin full of cold water. Almost immediately, an explosion of steam filled the air within the hut, followed by loud sounds that suspiciously sounded like bones breaking. When the steam cleared, Esperanza saw the old crafted standing above the water basin with a smile visible through her fur ¨C or was it body hair? She was not sure ¨C as she dipped her hands into the water and picked something out. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. What Avalanusi held in her hand was a piece of antler, one of the smaller protrusions, neatly split right where it joined the main branch. Esperanza caught on to how she did the feat when she saw the clean break at the antler¡¯s base. The old crafter had struck some fault line into the rack¡¯s structure, then heated it, followed by a rapid cooling. That rapid shift in temperature was what broke the rack of antlers, and since there were already fault lines carved into it, the rack broke along those lines. The old woman then fished out the rest of the rack, sectioned into similarly sized pieces. She set aside part of them before she chose one piece in particular to work on, one of the longest parts of the antler that remained curved despite her best efforts. With the antler grasped in her tongs, the old crafter stoked the fire to new heights as she placed the piece of antler in close proximity to the flames. This time she heated the piece until its glow was nearly blinding before she pulled it out, and swiftly placed it over a flat stone that the woman likely used as an anvil. Her choice of tools for working the antler further did surprise Esperanza, though. Rather than any tool, old Avalanusi used her gloved hands once more to work the glowing-hot piece of antler. She struck the antler with hammerfist blows that slowly, but surely flattened the material, flipped it over from time to time, and worked it from both sides. After she worked the antler for a while, she returned it to the fire for reheating. It was a slow and laborious process to work the material, but Esperanza saw how the thick cylindrical piece of antler slowly flattened out into a shape that was more similar to a knife or machete blade of some sort, if a strongly curved one. The flattening process itself must have taken hours, before the old crafter nodded with satisfaction and reheated the material one final time. Then she further worked the antler between her gloved hands, using the pressure from her fingers to shape it more to her liking. What eventually resulted from her labors was a crude-looking forward-curved knife blade of sorts. Esperanza thought it resembled a Kukri knife, if longer and more rounded in shape. The old crafter then ground the edge of the still-glowing blade against another piece of antler to sharpen it, something she clearly exerted great effort to do, only occasionally splashing some water between the surfaces to cool them down and wash away the particles that were grinded out in the sharpening process. Once the old crafter looked satisfied with the blade, she heated the remaining part of the antler that she had not used to make the blade once more. This time her hands molded the heated antler into a short handle, also curved like the blade, with an oval-ish cross section. The handle ended with a small knob of antler and had only a small protrusion that served as a handguard. Unlike before, the old crafter allowed the material to cool slowly as she searched for other tidbits in the hut she called a workshop. She returned with some strips of what looked like leather and feathers from some bird in her hands, which she then wrapped around the handle of the knife she just made with skillful moves. Though the process took a long while ¨C Esperanza had returned to the village of Navef in the morning and it was already well in the evening ¨C she found the process rather mesmerizing to watch. Dali and Gordy woke up a few times during the process but returned to sleep when they noticed Esperanza watching the crafter at work with rapt attention. Old Avalanusi wrapped the handle of the antler-knife she made carefully with the leather strips, in a criss-crossed pattern. As for the feathers, she attached them to the backside of the hand guard and near the pommel, more as decorations than anything. While the whole knife remained rather crude-looking, not unlike some stone knives she had seen in history books, it looked more like the work of art it clearly was at that point. To Esperanza¡¯s surprise, the old crafter then reverently knelt before her on both knees, both arms extended towards her. She offered the knife she just crafted with both hands, now ungloved, and looked at her with shining, hopeful eyes. ¡°Uhh¡­ For me?¡± asked Esperanza, who was uncertain on how to proceed with things. She was uncertain if it was some sort of ritualistic offering or something different, as she had not spent that much time with the village yet, and glanced at Adan-Zil for assistance. Adan-Zil returned a nod and a gesture that meant she should accept the offering. ¡°Thank you, then,¡± said Esperanza as she stood up from her bench and accepted the proffered knife with both hands. The old crafter said no words, but the delight in her eyes were obvious for all to see as she gave another deep bow of obeisance before she returned to her work. To Esperanza¡¯s eye, the old crafter looked more spirited and held herself straighter as she continued to work on the remaining bits of antler. Together with Adan-Zil, she left the hut shortly after, the antler knife still in her hands. Dali and Gordy woke up and followed her the moment they noticed her move away, staying close to her at all times. ¡°What was that about?¡± demanded Esperanza to the old hunter, though her voice was laden more with curiosity rather than command. ¡°It is Avalanusi¡¯s tribe¡¯s ritual, Honored One,¡± replied the old hunter with a slight bow. ¡°Whatever they crafted out of the best material they had on hand was offered to the Deities of Yore. Since you were present, I believe Avalanusi saw that as an honor, personal attention from the Messenger of the Deities, and thus chose to present her finest work to you instead.¡± ¡°Ah, entiendo, I will cherish this gift then,¡± said Esperanza as she understood the weight of the offering she had been given. The knife was a fine piece of work, the antler having taken a nearly golden hue after the crafting process, with a blade that looked sturdy and extremely sharp. The forward-curved handle felt a bit odd in her hand at first, but she quickly got used to it. Seen from afar, the blade almost looked like a golden crescent moon in shape, the form clearly meant for heavy chops. While Esperanza had no actual need for such a blade, she was not so rude as to turn down the present, much less with its weight as an offering behind it. She quietly thanked Adan-Zil and asked him to convey her gratitude to Avalanusi, before she left the village with Dali and Gordy in tow. Before the night fell, she was already back at the small hut she called home, and chose to test the knife out of curiosity. To her surprise, when she tried to chop a tree branch near her hut, the knife simply sliced through the wood like it wasn¡¯t even there, the cut as smooth as a mirror¡¯s surface. XXXV - A Blade and its Wielder ¡°What I¡¯m saying is, if they could make stuff this good, why were they so worried about creatures in the second tier?¡± asked Esperanza with obvious confusion. Before her lay the carcass of a [Ghost Ocelot Lvl32], a smaller predatory cat-like creature was extremely hard to spot. The carcass was split into two halves, the cut that split its torso so smooth that it looked almost as if she could put the creature back together once more. The culprit of the carcass¡¯ condition was naturally the knife in her hand, so clean that not even a drop of blood marred its golden blade¡¯s surface. Naturally, the blade was more than it seemed. Old Avalanusi had given her all in its construction, and as such, she had created what most inhabitants of the world called an artifact. Items made so well that they received power from the system itself to celebrate their creation, rarities that even the kingdoms of the world considered treasures. Esperanza¡¯s own [Gaze unto the Abyss] made it very clear to her as well. [Golden Crescent Blade of the Exiled] [Tier 3 Artifact] [Unique/Growth] A golden knife crafted from the topmost antler of a [Spike-Tailed Grazer] by [Master Craftsman] Avalanusi of the Juriz Tribe. A creation that had the heart and soul of the creator poured into it, to be proffered as an offering to a Messenger of the Deities of Yore. A spark of divinity inhabited the weapon, as it caught the attention of the Deities of Yore through the eyes of its Messenger, granting the artifact the ability to grow stronger. [Keen] [Vampiric - Mana] [Self-Repair] [Soulbound] [Growth via Blood Absorption] It was easy enough to tell how valuable the knife was. What the villagers of Navef used in their hunts were mostly mundane items, at most tier 1 artifacts, like the spear-thrower Adan-Zil used. Yet they created such a precious item and just offered it to her instead of using it for themselves. Old Avalanusi herself was a [Potter¡¯s Child Lvl20/Novice Crafter Lvl20/Skilled Craftsman Lvl20/Master Craftsman Lvl2], one of the very few fourth tier individuals in the village. A blade is only as good as its wielder, Esperanza. While they had the ability to make good items, not even a [Master Craftsman] like the one who created your knife could create artifacts without any good base materials. In fact, the material you gifted them would likely be turned into a slew of artifacts that would allow the village¡¯s hunters to roam farther afield very soon. ¡°So they lacked the ability to take down something that could be made into a worthwhile item, and then just fell into stagnation?¡± she asked back to Oldies. That is one way to put it. The choice of class and its quality plays a heavy role as well in matters like these. A [Master Craftsman] like the one who created your knife would have high stats, mostly in the Mind and Soul area, but none of those would relate to any sort of combat capability. Their abilities and skills would be far more focused on their field of choice, in this case the creation of items. Out of the villagers you had seen, the old hunter is perhaps the strongest of them all, and even he would be considered weak for his tier in this world. The quality of his classes were low, which meant that he received less stats per level, and his skills would be similarly poor in quality. Those combined together to ensure that he would not hold a candle against any actual warriors of this world, even if he had level advantage. ¡°So¡­ once you head down a path, you can¡¯t undo anything, huh?¡± muttered Esperanza in thought after she heard Oldies¡¯ reply. ¡°Mistakes you made in the past can¡¯t be undone, and would haunt you for your whole life in very noticeable ways. You also told me that people here don¡¯t even get to choose their first class, so aren¡¯t they all just pinche¡¯d up from the get go?¡± Neither you nor the other summoned had a choice on your first class either, though in your case, what you received was many times better in so many ways compared to what the system granted the inhabitants of this world. Other than that, everything you said is correct. Many people made unwise choices and lived to regret it since the system took over. ¡°Definitely seeing more on why you¡¯d want this system gone, all right,¡± admitted Esperanza. The idea that a youthful indiscretion, maybe a rebellion against one¡¯s parents could potentially mess someone up for life because they chose classes that poorly suited them irked her. The fact that those people would never get a chance to correct such mistakes, irked her even more. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Either way, We believe that the artifact you received might prove to be of use in your journey. The item is capable of growth, which means that it would remain useful as long as you kept it fed, and since it is soulbound, it would never be separated from you, no matter what. ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Esperanza with some curiosity. ¡°About the Soulbound bit I mean.¡± Soulbound items will always return to your possession, no matter what was done to separate the two of you, barring the complete destruction of the item in question. When it comes to larger items, it might return through unusual circumstances and coincidences, however with a small item like your knife, the magic contained within the artifact itself should be plenty. Try throwing it away. ¡°Bueno, aqu¨ª va,¡± said Esperanza as she hurled the knife as hard as she could towards the forest. Her eyes kept track of the golden blade as it whirled through the air, until it landed with a thunk on the trunk of a big tree around thirty meters away from her. Most of the blade was embedded within the wood, and it was clearly firmly stuck in place. ¡°Y ahora qu¨¦?¡± Before Oldies could even answer her question, she noticed how the knife seemed to shine brightly for a brief moment, and the next thing Esperanza knew, the blade had returned to the makeshift sheath she made for it, right at her belt. She also felt a slight drain of mana from the blade itself, as it tapped onto her mana to refill its own. Just like that. It will return to your hand should you be separated, though it will likely need to replenish its own mana with yours after such a feat. Considering that the blade is vampiric, it should be capable of refilling itself with the mana of its victims as well, so that is another avenue to refill it. Either way, It should be a useful tool for the foreseeable future. ¡°It would be, supongo que s¨ª,¡± admitted Esperanza. Other than the effects Oldies had explained to her, the rest of the effects that the blade had was quite self-explanatory. [Self-Repair] meant that the blade could repair itself after it took some damage. She had no idea to the extent of that ability, but had no plans to test it out either. As for [Keen], it was similarly easy to tell. The blade was far sharper than it should be, given its rough construction, and sliced through things with absurd ease in the few tests Esperanza did with it. Given that the knife also had the ability to grow further, she could see keeping the first gift someone else gave her in this new world with her in the future. The bit about how it absorbed blood to grow itself was a bit eerie, though. On one, hand, it was creepy as fuck to see blood get sucked into the blade via some tendrils that looked a little too much like blood vessels. Apparently that had been an innate quality of the Grazer antler, as higher leveled Grazers often speared their enemies with their antlers and simply sucked them dry that way Creepy shit for a supposedly herbivorous creature, all right. On the other hand, the blade sucking up all the blood also made it absurdly convenient and easy to bleed out prey she captured in the wild. Esperanza regularly shared the beasts she killed with the village, but she felt somewhat bad that the villagers had to work so hard to clean up after her fuck-ups. After all, she didn¡¯t exactly hunt like they do, and the violent way she did things meant that often parts of the meat was contaminated by bile or other unmentionables and had to be cut away or cleaned off. She was learning some bits about actual hunting from Adan-Zil, partly on how to properly dress and bleed out an animal to preserve the meat. Esperanza learnt the hard way that allowing the blood to remain in the carcass was a quick recipe for food poisoning or worse. At least that was how it was for the villagers. Due to her new body, she could consume all those bits just fine, without much ill effects. It did level her [Poison Resistance], though, so she couldn¡¯t help but notice the issue. ¡°Right, Oldies,¡± asked Esperanza as she went to work on carving out bits of the beast she killed that likely got contaminated by the contents of the organs she cut open. She used her hands for that work, her fingers re-shaped into claw-like blades, as it was easier than using the knife. The knife was designed for chops and cleaving, not fine work. ¡°Are all your worshippers like those in Navef?¡± We would first ask in what manner specifically. If it is about how they were shunned by the rest of society with a kill on sight order for them, then yes. Most of them similarly lived in places where nobody else lived like here, using the isolation as their protection. Some of the other enclaves might be less accepting and more combative compared to these folks who mostly had adapted to their exile, however. There had even been cases in the past where entire nations went to war over the deity they refused to abandon¡­ that was in the region nowadays considered the homeland of the demons. They had since acquiesced to the new gods, but there remained an underground movement there that still kept Us in their minds. We would not recommend you to head there until you could control your form better, though. ¡°Tiene sentido. Nobody likes getting an eldritch abomination suddenly showing up at their door, I guess,¡± she replied. While her control over her form had gotten better, it was still impossible for her to hide her true nature at the moment. It was fortunate that the village wasn¡¯t exactly picky about the form that the Messenger of their Deities chose. ¡°What about these two, though? Would they attract unwanted attention in more civilized places?¡± Dali and Gordy looked up from where they lazily laid down at her words. The way they quirked their eyebrows made it look as if the dogs were pondering the same question. They would pose no problem. There are many creatures in this world that resembled them, many of which had been domesticated by the people living here or were used by various types of [Beast Tamers] and the likes as familiars and pets. As long as you gain the ability to disguise yourself properly enough, it should be no problem, as animal companions are commonplace. ¡°That¡¯s one load off my mind, at least,¡± replied Esperanza. The carcass of the beast had already turned into a neat pile of meat, hide, and bones during their conversation. Her being able to use her fingers as knives and even sprout out more if needed allowed her to process a carcass far faster than what even experienced hunters could. She collected all the material in a bag she borrowed from Adan-Zil, one that was surprisingly also a Tier 1 artifact, though the bag allowed items kept inside it to keep for longer instead. It was a useful thing to have around, given that Esperanza¡¯s hunts went deep into the forest, and she often took a day or two to return to the village, even traveling as fast as she could. She felt like she owed the village some for having gifted her such a precious artifact, so she had been hunting more often of late, bringing most of what she hunted back to the village as gifts for the villagers. 36 - Decisions to be Made You have Died. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Temple The choice appeared before her after what felt like both an eternity where Alissa couldn¡¯t feel anything, as if she had been just a disembodied spirit floating in the featureless void, and a mere instant, almost like the blink of an eye, the mere transition from one moment to another. Alissa decisively chose her current location, and the next moment, she felt herself waking up from her previous state, almost like she was waking up on her bed after a tumultuous night of sleep. Sensations started to return to her. The clammy, humid air of the cavern. The smell of blood, toilets, and burnt fur. The hard, rugged sensation of the cold stony rock of the cavern floor beneath her. The lack of clamor that denoted combat was a good thing. That meant that she was at least temporarily safe, and hopefully soon to be back amongst friends. The feel of the cold breeze that occasionally stirs brought her attention to a different problem, however. Namely the fact that she was as naked as the day she had been born. ¡°What the Fuck!?¡± Alissa couldn¡¯t help but curse out loud when she noticed her condition. ¡°Umm, excuse me, Miss O¡¯Connor, but you might want to use this to cover up for now,¡± said someone from beside her. Alissa turned her head around ¨C her legs instinctively tucked close to her body and her hands covering her chest ¨C to see Moira standing nearby. She also took a chance to look around and realized that she was right next to the stalagmite formation where both she and the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] had fallen on. Fortunately she saw nobody else in the chamber at the moment. The carcass of the great beast was still skewered on top of the stalagmites, its blood dripping down the structure to pool below it, almost as a gruesome reminder of the fight they had been through. Moira herself looked tired ¨C much like how Alissa felt the last time she received magical healing ¨C but remained standing in near-perfect attention next to her, extending a pair of pants and a tunic over in her hands. Alissa accepted the offered clothing and quickly dressed herself in them, securing the clothes in place with a belt before she put on a pair of simpler shoes and followed the young soldier as she guided her out of the late matriarch¡¯s lair. Alissa saw the rest of their party ¨C or what was left of the party, at least ¨C camped just outside the matriarch¡¯s lair, at the same place they camped the night before. There were only eight of the twenty guards left ¨C nine including Moira ¨C with only four survivors from the temple guards, and the rest being from the royal guards, including the Fifth Princess. All of them looked exhausted, some looking depressed and on the verge of tears. On a few others, though, Alissa noticed an obvious look of excitement instead. ¡°Hey, Allie. Good to have you back,¡± said Ethan with a weak wave of his hand as she noticed her approach. Ethan looked haggard as well, while Joshua was once again lying down with his arms covering his eyes, his head resting on Vesta¡¯s lap. Alissa didn¡¯t fail to notice how Joshua was wearing a fresh set of clothes like she did. Apparently the issue she faced on respawn was a universal one. ¡°Gotta say I¡¯m glad that [Respawn] skill worked as advertised. I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw you crushed under that creature.¡± ¡°What happened back there after¡­ After I died?¡± Alissa finally managed to bring herself to ask after a stuttering start. The whole idea of asking what happened after her own death sounded so illogical and nonsensical to part of her mind, despite the situation she found herself in. She even felt how her skill soothed her mind to prevent her from panicking over the matter. ¡°Not much, honestly,¡± replied Ethan with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°The Matriarch died together with you, and there were none of the lesser monsters left by then, so Cerilla and Vesta came over to heal the injured. Then we dragged ourselves back here to get some rest,¡± he continued. ¡°Josh respawned a few minutes before you did, since he died earlier as well, I guess. What¡¯s with having only one of the guards to fetch you guys back after the respawn, by the way? Sir Inolet insisted that the rest of us stay here.¡± ¡°The respawn doesn¡¯t come with clothes,¡± replied Alissa with a sigh. ¡°Oh. Oh! That makes sense, I guess. Was wondering how you got those clothes since I recalled seeing Sir Inolet pull out your bloody armor from under the beast,¡± replied Ethan with a look of sudden understanding. ¡°I guess it¡¯s a good thing they kept some thought to modesty.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Alissa only replied with a silent nod to him, before she slipped to an empty place around the fire between Ethan and Sir Inolet. As with every other time she had seen it, the face of the old one-eyed knight held an impassive, emotionless look, as if he gave no damns to the battle and the deaths that just took place not long ago. ¡°Sir Inolet,¡± said Alissa to gain the old knight¡¯s attention. She continued once the old knight turned to face her, knowing that she had his attention. ¡°What would happen to the dead?¡± ¡°I have their bodies in my storage,¡± replied the old knight all too nonchalantly, as if he was not discussing eleven men and women who had fought alongside Alissa and her friends, all of whom ended up paying with their lives for the privilege. ¡°They will be buried with honors when we return, as they deserve. Either way, your group performed far better than I expected, so be proud of that.¡± ¡°What we did back there¡­ was better than what you had expected!?¡± blurted Alissa out in surprise and not a little anger. The anger she felt mostly came from how the old knight seemed to have downplayed the deaths suffered by the party, something she noticed her skill tried to moderate but chose to let through anyway. ¡°What had you expected out of us, then, Sir?¡± ¡°I thought it would just be you three remaining after the beast was done with you all. You¡¯d likely have hurt it enough in the process though, to the point that you can take it down once you returned,¡± replied the old knight bluntly. ¡°I would have taken the Fifth Princess to safety, of course, but that alone would likely have been counted as interference by the system, and in turn decreased the grade of the achievement you earned in the process. It was good that none of us had to interfere.¡± A part of Alissa wanted to yell in anger at the old knight¡¯s face, the part of her that felt it was wrong to value ¡°achievements¡± over lives, but she held it in. Rather, her skill helped her keep her calm and hold her tongue, knowing all too well that her protests would have done nothing other than tire herself. Instead, she just shook her head at the old knight¡¯s reply. ¡°Your armor is with me. Master Utgarth wasn¡¯t a [Royal Grandmaster Armorer] for nothing. They¡¯re in good shape, so you can wear them again if you¡¯d like,¡± said the old knight as he continued just as nonchalantly. ¡°I would recommend washing it properly first, though. The insides of the armor got quite messy with¡­ well¡­ you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind, sir,¡± replied Alissa quietly. At the moment she just wished for some quiet to allow the turmoil in her mind to calm down. Her skill helped keep it under control, but she still felt the turmoil regardless. ¡°Also, have you checked your notifications yet? I think you should have enough to level to the second tier. These two already did,¡± said Sir Inolet before he turned away. His words also clued Alissa in on why some of the guards had excited looks on their faces. They must have gained enough experience to hit the next tier themselves. She took a glance at the notifications she had ignored in her mind to see what awaited her, and sure enough, it was as the old knight speculated. Class Skill [Divine Blessing] has leveled up to level 4! Cooldown reduced to 3 hours! Duration increased to 8 minutes! Class Skill [Weapon Proficiency] has leveled up to level 6! Grants greatly increased proficiency when using weapons of any kind. Allows for a higher rate of learning when training with new weapons. You have defeated [Dire Winged Scavenger Lvl 32]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Reaper Lvl 34]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! You have defeated [Winged Scavenger Reaper Lvl 33]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! Class Skill [Pierce the Heavens] has leveled up to level 3! Cooldown reduced to 6 hours! Grants 150% increase in penetrative power for the duration of the skill. Duration increased to 3 seconds! Class Skill [Grasp the Soul] has leveled up to level 3! Cooldown reduced to 6 hours! Amount of additional damage dealt to target¡¯s Mind: 15% Amount of additional damage dealt to target¡¯s Soul: 15% Skill effect now applies to two hits or five seconds, whichever came first. You Have defeated [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch Lvl 45]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of two higher tiers than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! You have leveled to level 20! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Strength gained! +1 Dexterity gained! +1 Constitution gained! +1 Intelligence gained! +1 Perception gained! +1 Wisdom gained! +1 Willpower gained! +1 Intuition gained! +1 Sanity gained! You have gained access to the class [Consecrated Warrior]! You have gained access to the class [Blessed Enchantress]! You have gained access to the class [Messenger of Faith]! You have gained access to the class [Truthseeker]! You have gained access to the class [Chosen of the Gods]! She also hit the level 20 mark, and got a slew of classes to choose from. Her skills also leveled up during the fight, something she was too occupied to even notice at the time. As helpful as all those were, her [Analysis] of the classes she had to choose from left her rather undecided. Rather than make her choice in haste, Alissa turned to face Ethan to her other side to ask him a question. ¡°Ethan, you also hit 20 already right? Did you already pick a class?¡± she asked Ethan, who at the moment was trying to relax as best he could with his tired, battered body. One benefit of [Respawn] was that it apparently brought her back in perfect physical condition, though looking at Joshua, she noticed that it did nothing for their mana pools. ¡°Oh? Yeah, I already picked one. I¡¯m a [Guardian Paladin] now. It was easily the best class I got out of my choices,¡± replied Ethan nonchalantly. ¡°You haven¡¯t picked yours yet? Smith there also already picked his new class. I think he said his new class was [Blessed Sorcerer] if I didn¡¯t hear it wrong. Knowing him, I bet he went all the way to glass-cannon it up. I¡¯m going for a more tanky path myself,¡± he continued. ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still browsing over my choices. I¡¯ll let you know later once I¡¯ve made up my mind, okay?¡± ¡°Sure, no point hurrying up anyway, but it¡¯s not like it was a hard choice in my case. One of the choices was just notably better so no real reason not to, you know?¡± ¡°Got it.¡± 37 - Contemplation and Class Choice(s) Before Alissa made any choices, she first took a peek at Ethan and Joshua using her [Analysis Lvl6] skill. The skill had leveled up during the last battle, though she had not noticed the level-up notification due to the circumstances of the time. Conveniently, it also meant she had the highest level of the skill amongst the three of them. A look at Ethan returned a result of [Warrior Lvl20/Guardian Paladin Lvl1] while Joshua¡¯s returned [Magi Lvl20/Blessed Sorcerer Lvl1]. It tracked with what they said, and also made sense. All of them had [Analysis] or [Identify] so they would be able to check each other¡¯s classes with relative ease anyway. One thing Alissa found out was that as it leveled up, [Analysis] started to take some features of [Identify], like how she was able to focus on a specific class and see its description. [Guardian Paladin] A Faithful warrior who uses the blessings of the Gods to protect others. Mistake not a guardian for one who only protects, for to eradicate those that could pose danger to those he protected is yet another form of protection as well. That looked like a defensive class to her eyes, though given how Ethan¡¯s skills had been related to tanking hits in one way or another, it made sense for him to choose to further focus on his defenses. From the description it didn¡¯t sound like it fully skimped out on the offensive side either, so he probably chose that with the same thinking in mind. [Blessed Sorcerer] A Gifted Child of Magic blessed by the Gods themselves, who wields the might of the arcane. With the laws of the world to bend to one¡¯s whim, what need have one for other means to destroy an enemy with? Joshua¡¯s chosen class looked similar, though from the description it leaned way more to the offensive. It tracked with what Allissa had seen him do so far. Joshua¡¯s magic was highly destructive, but he himself had few means of self-defense and was rather weak, physically. She also remembered how he would often get winded from mana exhaustion after overusing his spells. With the classes her friends had as a basis for comparison, Alissa turned her eyes towards her own classes. The information she received from checking them out was more detailed, which was to be expected since they were her potential classes, she guessed. Without wasting time, she turned her eyes to the first one. [Consecrated Warrior] You are a Warrior blessed by the Gods of the world, your might directed at those who threaten the safety of the world at large. Gain +10 Body +5 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +2 Strength +2 Dexterity +2 Constitution per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Courageous Charge] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Lead By Example] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Consecrated Warrior]? Yes/No That class was simple enough. It was clearly a mostly physical option for if she wanted to pursue a more warrior-like approach. Nothing complicated and very straight forward, it seemed, with the free stats entirely focused on the physical. Alissa¡¯s stat gains had been very spread out and balanced so far, so this class would allow her to focus on one side, likely to the detriment of the other possibilities. She shelved it to the side for the moment and looked at the next class instead. [Blessed Enchantress] You are a Gifted Child of Magic blessed by the Gods themselves, who wields the might of the arcane to your whim. Gain +15 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +3 Intelligence +2 Perception +1 Wisdom per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Advanced Mana Manipulation] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Mana Sight] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Blessed Enchantress]? Yes/No Huh. The second class was almost a carbon copy of Joshua¡¯s in description, and the way it focused most everything on Mind and its sub-stats further strengthened the impression. Alissa thought that the [Advanced Mana Manipulation] was likely offered because she had not started out as a [Mage], as Joshua already learned a lesser version of it that he would likely evolve sometime soon. Other than the obvious change of focus from being more of an all-rounder to a mage, however, the class affects surprisingly little of what she already had. [Divine Blessing] already buffs all stats, so it would be just as useful regardless of the path she walked. As for [Pierce the Heavens] and [Grasp the Soul], they did not specify that they must be used with a weapon, so chances are they would apply to magical attacks too. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. That said, the question remained. Namely whether she wished to become more of a mage-type or not. Given the stamina issues Joshua suffered from, Alissa was rather dismissive of the prospect. It was like carrying a six-shooter but having no extra ammo with her. While Joshua was devastating when he had mana to spare, he was also quickly spent, and once spent he offered little to nothing for the rest of the party. Alissa did not like the idea of herself going that way all that much, so she decisively dismissed the class altogether from her thoughts. If she just had to choose between the two, she would have taken [Consecrated Warrior] any day of the week, easy. The third class followed the pattern and also confirmed something she had wondered about since her arrival into this world. [Messenger of Faith] She who conveyed the words of the Gods to their believers, she who held an unshaken belief. Speak, faithful one, and let the world know what the Gods intend with them. Gain +5 Body +5 Mind +15 Soul upon Evolution Gain +2 Willpower +2 Intuition +3 Sanity per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Gift of Rejuvenation] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Preach the Faith] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Messenger of Faith]? Yes/No What she saw confirmed that their party¡¯s missing fourth member-to-be was likely a soul-based healer type. The classes she got offered basically allowed her, who started as an all-rounder, to double up on what the party might have needed, or whichever role she preferred. That said, there were several things that made her scrutinize the class closer, with some doubts in her mind. The class offered the best amount of stats compared to the other two, though not by much. That probably hinted at either its higher quality or maybe the system was compensating for how their party lacked a certain role. Alissa was uncertain which. What made her doubt the class was how it seemed to depend so much on faith to the Gods of this world. Alissa was no believer. She had never been the most religious even in her previous world, much less in this new world, with the gods probably responsible for her being brought over without asking. She felt it would probably not be a good idea to pick the class without having faith in the so-called gods of this world. The worry she had was partly of self-preservation, and partly out of caution. Who was to say that the gods would not make whoever chose the class a believer whether they liked it or not? Without much hesitation, she tossed the class aside ¨C figuratively ¨C as well. [Truthseeker] From another world, you came unto this world without bias. Seek out the truths, witness them with your own eyes, and unveil the falsehoods for all to see. Gain +5 Body +10 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +1 Dexterity +3 Perception +2 Intuition per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Walk in the Shadows] Skill upon Evolution Gain [For Your Eyes Only] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Truthseeker]? Yes/No The fourth offered class was¡­ Interesting to say the least. It was almost as if the system heard her unvoiced questions about the world she was in. On one hand, she personally liked what the class offered, but on the other hand, the ability of others to simply [Analyze] her and notice the class was a risk in itself. Her choosing that class alone would be equivalent to showing where she stood. Perhaps the class had some manner of hiding itself? How that would work Alissa had no idea, but at the moment, she shelved the class as a ¡°maybe¡± as well. It aligned with her personal thoughts, but was a risky choice to take overall, due to its potentially problematic nature if found out. The stat distribution was more on the balanced side, so that was a good thing, at least. The skill names suggested some sort of stealth skill ¨C at least she thought it looked like one ¨C and another that hinted at some form of secrecy, so maybe that was indeed what she was looking for. Even so, Alissa delayed her choice as she still had another class to check. [Chosen of the Gods] O, Blessed One, the Gods had chosen thee to be their representative in the mortal realms. Be the will of the Gods made incarnate, and smite the heathens that blaspheme against them! Gain +10 Body +10 Mind +10 Soul upon Evolution Gain +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +1 Constitution +1 Intelligence +1 Perception +1 Wisdom +1 Willpower +1 Intuition +1 Sanity per level Gain 2 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Avatar of God] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Detect Faith] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Chosen of the Gods]? Yes/No Alissa frowned when she saw what the final class offered. It offered by far the most stats, both immediately and per level. However, the description and the skills both raised warning flags in her mind. The description alludes to her becoming some ¡°will of the gods made incarnate¡±, and that practically triggered every doubt she had so far. The most benevolent interpretation Alissa could think of ¨C that the Gods were truly just giving power to their chosen hero ¨C was extremely unlikely, to her thinking. The way things were worded, the power was given with the expectation for her to use it against those that stood against the gods themselves. That was not exactly the most encouraging thing. It might have been fine if the world was cast in black and white and there was an easy divide between good and evil, but from what Alissa could see, the world she was in was by no means such a setting. In fact, the worst possible scenario that came to her mind was of the ¡°gods¡± somehow making her their puppet if she chose the class. It was a possibility she felt was not too likely, yet at the same time, couldn¡¯t truly dismiss out of hand either. A worrisome scenario one way or another, and one that had at least some influence on her thinking. She pondered between the available classes before her for a good while more. Fortunately the rest of the party was neither asking her about her class nor bothering her with other matters. All of them were already tired and went to rest as soon as they could. That gave Alissa some quiet moments to herself, with just her thoughts to accompany her. Potential benefits and risks occupied her thought, as she balanced the classes she had to choose from in her mind. [Truthseeker] was definitely the one that she was most interested in, but the risks inherent to choosing the class made her pause and contemplate whether the class was worth the risks or not. It was a gamble, one way or another. [Consecrated Warrior] was the safe choice, one that had minimal risks attached to it, but also the least potential gain out of it. Alissa placed it as her last option, in case she truly found herself unable to decide and ended up choosing a safe way out instead. As for [Chosen of the Gods], if her only goal was power or just getting done with what she was told to do as soon as possible so she could get back home, that would have been the ideal choice. The potential problems hidden within the class made Alissa more than a little wary of it, however. She spent a good bit of time ¨C she had no idea how long ¨C tossing and turning on her bedroll as she struggled with her thoughts. She weighed the benefits and risks many times, her thoughts at times leaning one way or another. It was only after an indeterminate amount of time spent worrying about the choices and consequences that she finally made up her mind. It was quiet, most everyone in the party already asleep other than those few who were on guard duty. In the silence, Alissa quietly browsed the options on the interface before her one last time, her mind finally set on a choice. In the quiet night, without anyone else realizing, Alissa O¡¯Connor made her choice. 38 - Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained You have become a [Truthseeker] From another world, you came unto this world without bias. Seek out the truths, witness them with your own eyes, and unveil the falsehoods for all to see. Gained +5 Body +10 Mind +5 Soul! Gained Class Skill [Walk in the Shadows]! Gained General Skill [For Your Eyes Only]! Class Skill [Divine Blessing] Evolved into [One Small Step]! Alissa quietly checked around her, and only breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that everyone around her seemed to be sound asleep. Nobody had noticed her class change, as far as she could tell, so she immediately went to check the most important thing first. Namely the new skills she had gotten, as well as the change that took place on one of her skills when it evolved. That skills were capable of evolving was something she had been taught. For most skills, there was a limit to the number of times they could evolve. Common skills were unable to evolve at all, while uncommon skills could evolve once, and so on. The one exception were skills that evolved during class change. That particular evolution altered a skill¡¯s nature in a more fundamental way, and skills that evolved that way were almost always capable of evolving much further than other skills. Like her new [One Small Step] skill. Alissa was wondering about the name at first, but got the reference when she read the skill¡¯s description. ¡°One small step for man, a giant leap for humanity,¡± was a historical quote most everybody learned in school, after all. The skill¡¯s effects reflected the quote in some ways, and when she considered that it could still evolve further, it looked to be a potent one indeed. [One Small Step] Unique Skill Level 4 One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Humanity Grants the user and every ally within a hundred-foot radius around them a buff (5% of the respective target¡¯s Body/Mind/Soul). Effects of the buff increase by 1% every 30 seconds that have passed. Level 4: Cooldown: 3 hours. Duration: 8 minutes. Maximum effect cap: 11%. The skill started out with the same buff as her old [Divine Blessing], but where the old skill had granted a few points directly to the stats, the new one ran on percentages instead. Considering the influx of stats they had just gotten from the class change, the values ended up roughly the same at first, but the new skill could ramp up to over double the effect with some time. All in all, a very useful addition to her skillset. [Walk in the Shadows] Rare Skill Level 1 Every shadow is but a passage for those who knew how to walk the ways. Allows the user to enter a shadow and walk through the shadow realm to emerge at a different shadow. Level 1: Cooldown: 24 hours. Duration: 1 minute. Maximum distance traveled: 10 meters. The skill was almost exactly what she had expected, given the name. It was less stealth-based than she had expected, but when she considered what the description said, she realized that she didn¡¯t have to travel through the shadow, but could hide in it for up to a minute as well. The cooldown was hideously long, but given her experience so far, it should follow the same pattern as her [One Small Step] and halve with every level. Alissa couldn¡¯t help but to breathe another sigh of relief as her eyes turned to the last of her new skill, [For Your Eyes Only]. Discovery and the implications of the class she chose was what worried her the most when she picked it, and she had even considered ideas like trying to run away while the others were sleeping. Fortunately, her worries turned out to be for naught. [For Your Eyes Only] Unique Skill Level EX Some things aren¡¯t meant for others to see. Some things are meant for your eyes only. Allows the user to mask the [Truthseeker] Class name with a different class that the user had been previously offered. Level EX: This masking cannot be seen through by way of [Analysis] or [Identify] unless the user willed otherwise. Without wasting any time, Alissa masked [Truthseeker] with [Consecrated Warrior]. She carefully looked at Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond, but both old men looked to be sleeping, and had not noticed her class change at all. That allowed her to breathe out another sigh in relief as she felt the weight of her worries lift off her shoulders. She also distributed the stats she gained from the last level just earlier, and took another cursory look at her status screen. Fortunately she had leaned towards her Body stat when she distributed her free stat points in her first tier, so hopefully nobody would notice the discrepancy of what she could do and what a [Consecrated Warrior] should be able to do. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Name : Alissa Faith O¡¯Connor Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Hero Lvl20]/[Truthseeker Lvl1]/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 38 - Dexterity : 41 - Constitution : 38 - Intelligence : 31 - Perception : 32 - Wisdom : 30 - Willpower : 25 - Intuition : 26 - Sanity : 27 Skills: Class 1: [Hero] Class 2: [Truthseeker] General Skills: Whether the skill really worked like it said or not, she would find out the next day. ****************************** ¡°Oh, hey! You¡¯re a [Consecrated Warrior] now? Nice!¡± said Ethan the next morning just after Alissa woke up from her slightly worried sleep. His words made her feel relief, relief that was immediately tinged with some more dread as Ethan¡¯s comment attracted the attention of both Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond. Alissa felt as if someone was staring at her, a telltale sign that someone was using some sort of [Analysis] skill on her. ¡°A good choice, considering your fighting style so far,¡± said the old knight with a satisfied nod. Alissa couldn¡¯t help but sigh out in relief at his words, though she relaxed a bit more when she noticed the old knight¡¯s smile widened at the sigh. Sir Inolet probably thought her nervousness was from fear of his disapproval, knowing him. ¡°Tch! Not only did we only get three heroes, but now this old bastard gets to hog two of them for himself,¡± commented Magus Drummond with obvious dissatisfaction as he spat to the side. The old mage seemed irritated for a brief moment before his face lightened up with a mocking smile. ¡°Oh well, at least I¡¯m better off than that old fart Solon. He didn¡¯t get any to teach at all, ha!¡± Alissa smiled and offered a polite chuckle to the old mage. The man he named, Solon Demetrius, was the high priest of the church, and would have normally been in charge of training any heroes whose skillset leaned towards priesthood. Unfortunately their group of heroes lacked such a hero, which left the high priest without a hero to tutor. It was something both the old knight and the old mage repeatedly jabbed the high priest about. ¡°Anyway, your skill should have received some change, right? Which skill evolved?¡± asked Sir Inolet with a rare warm smile on his face. When he had such a smile the old knight could look grandfatherly, very unlike the drill sergeant nasty visage she and Ethan had been most acquainted with from training. ¡°This delve has been a pretty fruitful one so far. You¡¯ll be thanking me for setting things up to learn [Refuge in Ignorance] in the future, trust me.¡± [Refuge in Ignorance] was an odd and rather specialized general skill. What it did was to allow the user to selectively dull some of their senses. They could be more specific as to the sort of thing they do not wish to sense on higher levels. At the moment, it mostly helped Alissa dull her sense of smell so she didn¡¯t gag from the way all of them must have smelled ripe as all hell after the dungeon delve. The old knight had not needed to mention it, as she was already thanking him for it many times in her heart by then. ¡°My [Divine Blessing] changed. It¡¯s percentage-based, now, around the same value as before, and it can ramp up to over double the effectiveness given some time,¡± replied Alissa truthfully. She would have to use the skill often in the future anyway, so there was no reason to hide it. ¡°I also got a stealth skill from my new class. Is that common?¡± ¡°Not the most common, but there had been many [Consecrated Warriors] in history, and they were rarely the same. I can think of at least a dozen who had some sort of stealth skill, yes,¡± replied the old knight after he thought for a while. ¡°Considering how you had skills that could greatly amplify the power of a hit, I can see how it would make a good fit with your skillset.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought too, Sir,¡± she replied, trying to make herself sound as nonchalantly as possible. Openly admitting to having learned some sort of stealth skill would allow her to use it openly in the future, and she recalled reading about how summoned heroes, even those with the same classes, were rarely the same. The gamble paid off neatly for her, which meant she should be pretty safe for the time being. ¡°Are we headed back to the capital?¡± ¡°We are, yes. We¡¯ll be off after breakfast,¡± replied the old knight, the smile never leaving his face. ¡°All of you will need new equipment anyway. Mister Smith¡¯s armor is ruined, and the two of you need new weapons, even if your armor remained in good shape and just needed some cleaning.¡± On their way out of the dungeon, Alissa got to see the harvesting team at work. A crew of experienced dismantlers and butchers cleanly skinned and harvested the bones off the carcasses the party left in their wake. Their work was swift and skillful, as they did their job with great alacrity without sacrificing quality, somehow. Behind the dismantlers and butchers, were teams of miners. The cavern looked unrecognizable compared to what Alissa had seen on her way in. Many holes and mineshafts had been dug at the walls of the cavern, while what must be hundreds of busy miners busied themselves extracting as many mana crystals as they could in the limited time they had. The crystals themselves did not look that special. At a glance, they looked like chunks of transparent quartz embedded in the stone. When Sir Inolet borrowed several chunks and gave them to the three summoned heroes to hold, however, they could feel the thrumming mana contained within the crystals. Joshua even exclaimed that he could see the mana swirling within from up close. While it took them over a week to clear the dungeon, their way out was much swifter. They saw the exit of the dungeon after merely half a day¡¯s travel. The time discrepancy was mostly because they were fighting then resting repeatedly throughout their journey into the dungeon, whereas the trip back was simply just a case of walking through the route they took and already cleared. When they came across the first rays of sunlight that managed to enter the cavern, Alissa felt almost blinded by the brightness. Her eyes had grown used to the dimness of the dungeon, and the bright evening sun felt almost as if someone just detonated a flashbang grenade right in front of her eyes. Joshua and Ethan gave out pained groans for the same reason. Annoyingly enough, none of the others ¨C both the older veterans and the younger guards that remained in their party ¨C seemed to be too bothered by the brightness. They squinted their eyes narrowly, but that was about the extent of their reaction at the sunlight. Alissa just shook her head as they were led back to the carriages, which they would take for their journey back to the capital. Of all things that awaited them at the capital, the one Alissa couldn¡¯t wait for the most was that of a proper, hot bath. XXXIX - Skill(s) of Questionable Heritage ¡°Maldita Sea¡­ I really wish this skill hadn¡¯t popped out just after my last chat with Oldies¡­¡± grumbled Esperanza as she looked at the messages from the system¡¯s notifications hovering over her eyes. [Soul Storage] has secured a Soul! 47/1000 [Soul Storage] has secured a Soul! 48/1000 [Soul Storage] has secured a Soul! 49/1000 [Soul Storage] Unique Skill Level 1 A storage to keep souls in a safe place, whatever it might be used for. Allows the user to keep souls of living creatures that died in their vicinity within a storage for later usage. Level 1: 1000 soul capacity. She had gained the skill when she leveled to 5 just a couple days ago, the second class skill in her [Emissary of the Forgotten] class, but one that oddly showed little use so far. Esperanza wondered if she needed to gather more souls to unlock some features in the skill or something similar, hence her longer than usual hunting spree deep in the forest. As for the skill ¡°securing¡± souls of the dead beasts she just slaughtered ¨C She just took out a trio of [Shadowfang Nightcrawlers] with levels in the high 30s easily for those last three souls ¨C it seemed to do nothing detrimental to the carcass itself. The useful parts of the carcass did not diminish in quality or anything like that, and even using [Consume] on them gave her the usual results. More than a little puzzled by her new skill, Esperanza looked around for more prey in the forest. Dali ranged out further away in order to find prey for her, since he was the fastest of their trio, while Gordita stayed by Esperanza and followed her from the ground, while she flitted about on the treetops. The large dog easily kept up with her speed even so. Before too long, Esperanza noticed a faint sign from Dali, a sign that he had found some prey nearby. The sign was something she sensed in her mind. As [A Glimpse of Understanding] leveled up it also seemed to further strengthen the bond between her and her summoned companions. Whereas with other people she could only notice their thoughts from a close distance, she could feel Dali and Gordy from much further away, and even communicate with them over that distance, if in a rudimentary manner. Gordy silently skulked over to Dali¡¯s direction, her large, shaggy form somehow silent as the night as she slipped through the dense undergrowth of the forest. It was almost as if she could weave through the nook and crannies of the shrubs and other small plants down there without disturbing them, which was both surprising and rather eerie given her size. Esperanza herself took the higher pathways, as she manipulated her form to shimmy over one branch to another, at times latching into another, further branch and transferring her mass over carefully to avoid breaking them. The amorphous quality of her ¡°true¡± form made it easy for her to move that way, and it was both more comfortable and safer than walking on the forest floor. Besides, there was nobody to see her hunt anyway, so no reason she needed to keep the humanoid shape she used for the sake of the villagers. As she made her way through the treetops and branches up high near the canopy, she eventually spotted what Dali found. It was a [Tyrant-Claw Ursine Lvl 37], one notably smaller than the beast she killed back when she was still in her first tier. As far as she could tell, beasts of its kind were solitary predators, so this one probably moved in on the dead one¡¯s territory as its scent faded from the area, thinking the area unoccupied. While it was correct in that there were no more [Tyrant-Claw Ursine] ruling over the area, it was wrong in thinking that the area was unoccupied. Esperanza was the new apex predator of the region, something the likely younger bear-like beast had no idea about. The beast cautiously sniffed a tree around where the old tyrant used to leave its scent in the past, probably trying to make sure that the scent had long faded away, with no renewal over the past weeks. It was cautious enough, but it either failed to notice Dali hidden behind it, or it had ignored the much smaller dog. For some reason Esperanza thought she got the impression of a contemptuous scoff, as if the very idea of such a simple creature being able to detect Dali was insulting to the dog. Either way, she crept slowly and more quietly towards the beast, still using the treetops as her preferred path. She was not particularly worried about the beast noticing her by scent, since as far as she could tell, her current form was nearly scentless, so neutral to most senses that it was easily ignored. She activated [Gauze of Oblivion] as well just in case, as she moved into position. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Dali and Gordy quietly waited, hidden in the bushes below, roughly positioned behind the [Tyrant-Claw Ursine]. They waited obediently for Esperanza to make the first strike, as she had told them to. As silently as she could, Esperanza inched over until she was directly above the still-unaware ursine below. Then she collected her body mass carefully so as not to break the branch she was perched on, and dropped down to the creature. Despite her mass, she made as little noise as a falling leaf as she fell from near the canopy, and thus her landing atop the unsuspecting monster¡¯s head was a complete surprise to it. The moment she landed on the [Tyrant-Claw Ursine]¡¯s head, Esperanza signaled Dali and Gordy to go as well. Both dogs raced out from the underbrush and struck the monster from behind. Dali nipped at the back of its rear legs¡¯ ankles, while Gordy used her weight and directly tackled the beast¡¯s back, her fangs biting the surprised bear¡¯s spinal cord like a vise. Esperanza herself did what she had done to the previous [Tyrant-Claw Ursine] she faced and wrapped herself around its face, sending tendrils towards the creature¡¯s eyes and ears. To her surprise, she met with far less resistance than she had expected. Her tendrils bore into and gouged out the beast¡¯s eyes within moments, and not long after, other tendrils made their way through its eardrums and into the poor beast¡¯s brain, where they ripped and tore everything apart with wild abandon. The [Tyrant-Claw Ursine] slumped down and ceased moving even before the system notification arrived, as the notification only popped up after the beast trembled a couple times more and gave up the ghost in the end. You and your companions have defeated [Tyrant-Claw Ursine Lvl37]! You have leveled to level 6! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained! Class Skill [Flesh is but a Vessel] has leveled to level 3! Gained Class Skill [Soul Bolt]! [Soul Storage] has secured a Soul! 50/1000 [Storage Dimension] option has been unlocked! Warning: Dropping below 50 stored souls will disable the [Storage Dimension] and expel any items stored within. Class Skill [Soul Storage] has leveled to level 2! Storage Capacity: 2000 souls. Many things happened at the same time in the notifications. Esperanza gained a third class skill with her level up, while leveling a couple others at the same time. The [Storage Dimension] option was what caught her eye, and as she tried to feel her way through her [Soul Storage], she could feel a small cubical space, probably around a foot and a half to each side, that she felt like she could put items within. Out of curiosity, she grabbed a broken branch on the forest floor and tried to put it into the space she could feel. The branch vanished right away, and she could feel its presence within the space inside the [Soul Storage]. Next she gave a more analytical look with [Gaze Unto the Abyss] to both the new [Storage Dimension] as well as the new skill she earned just now. [Storage Dimension] Secondary function of [Soul Storage] Allows the user to store items small enough to fit inside the storage space provided. Size scales with the amount of souls stored within [Soul Storage]. Dropping below the required number of souls to maintain the current size will reduce the size of the storage and expel any item too large to fit. That was at least straightforward enough. If she could make the storage large enough to fit her knife ¨C which was pretty much her only belonging other than the set of crude clothes she wove herself ¨C then it would save her the trouble of hiding it when she didn¡¯t feel like using it. The knife was certainly a helpful tool, but she noticed that it seemed to slightly diminish the experience she received when she killed things using it. The lost experience was likely absorbed by the knife to maintain its growth, but since she could also let it grow by letting it absorb the blood off her kills, Esperanza has been partial to doing it that way instead. She didn¡¯t want to lean on the knife as a crutch too much, and would rather train herself first while still giving the knife some food for its growth. One of her arms ¨C she had reformed her body into the more humanoid shape she used to interact with the villagers out of habit ¨C extended upwards to the treetops, where she stored her folded clothes and knife atop a sturdy branch. She quickly plunged the knife into her kill once she retrieved it, allowing it to absorb the dead beast¡¯s blood to sate its appetite. Her clothes, she stored within her storage space for the time being, since it fitted just fine when folded properly. [Soul Bolt] Legendary Skill Level 1 Forge a soul into a bolt, unleash the bolt against another soul, and unravel both at the same time. Allows the user to turn a soul into an offensive projectile that targets the opponent¡¯s soul. Can only use souls in the user¡¯s possession. Power depends on the user¡¯s overall Soul stat, the amount of souls used to craft the projectile, and the target¡¯s Sanity stat. Level 1: Can forge one soul at a time into a bolt. The new skill was straightforward enough. It also conveniently gave her a use for the souls she had gathered so far. One thing Esperanza noticed was that she did not have to personally kill the creatures she gathered the souls from. She just had to be close enough and as long as they died recently, it would do the trick as well. Still, she noticed that the souls she gained from the smaller animals tended to need several before her [Soul Storage] counted it as a whole soul, while the ones from bigger creatures usually counted right away. She spent the next while hunting a few smaller creatures in her way until she got a couple extra souls, then she looked for a larger beast to test the new skill out on. Esperanza lurked quietly at the tree¡¯s canopy, a [Nightcrawler Stalker Lvl 28] perched on the branch several meters below hers. She chose the beast to test her new skill on since it was one she could easily take care of even if it fought back, and thus was a relatively low-risk target to test on. The process of using the skill itself felt almost instinctual. She noticed how she could select which soul to use for the projectile, so she picked one that felt like an amalgamation of smaller ones and somehow shaped it into a small, conical projectile, almost like an oversized bullet, in a way. With a mere thought, the [Soul Bolt] launched itself at the creature below her. When it struck, it sank into the creature without leaving even the slightest injury on its scaly skin. It just seemed to merge with the creature, and did not seem to have harmed it in the slightest. Even so, the [Nightcrawler Stalker Lvl 28] stiffened and dropped off the branch it was perched on, the notification of the kill resounding before the carcass hit the ground. ¡°Huh. Qu¨¦ padre est¨¢,¡± muttered Esperanza with some surprise. XL - Smoke on the Horizon ¡°Okay, this is a bit odd. Guess these things just have more Sanity than those Nightcrawlers?¡± muttered Esperanza as she inspected the corpse of a [Venom-Tailed Crawler Lvl 27] she just killed. She scratched her ¡°head¡± out of habit in some confusion, since the creatures had not behaved the way she expected when she was testing out her new skill on it. Esperanza had scoured the deep forest for the past couple of days to gather more souls in her [Soul Storage], which currently contained a good one hundred and forty six souls. She had mostly gathered those souls from creatures too weak to give her any good experience, which was one reason she had not leveled despite the carnage. At least she learnt a few things from it, though. For one, she learned that the level of the creature was irrelevant to the ¡°size¡± of the soul or soul fragment she received from them. She had killed a couple level 30 insectoid monsters and only got slivers from them, while killing off a first-tier grazer granted her a complete soul ¨C or at least what [Soul Storage] considered a complete one ¨C right away. The effectiveness of [Soul Bolt] also varied greatly depending on the target. It did not seem to correlate directly to their size or anything, as some creatures the size of her palm survived a bolt, while some larger ones like the [Nightcrawler Stalker] instantly perished to it. She knew what the skill description said, and how it was likely related to the Sanity stat of her targets. Problem was, she had no way to check out whether her targets had a low or high sanity score at all. At best she could get an approximation through [Far Down the Deep End]¡¯s side effect if she eased up on her [Aura Control], but that sounded like something that defeated its own purpose. Anything particularly low in Soul ¨C and thus likely low in Sanity ¨C would be rendered insensate or dead by the side effect as it was, and sending another strike at them was likely just overkill. On the other hand, it was a way for Esperanza to strike at her targets in a different manner. When the skill leveled to level 2 and the effect allowed her to merge more than one soul into a bolt, she got the gist of what it would likely be like in later levels. While a single soul¡¯s worth of [Soul Bolt] did relatively little to most targets it¡¯d be worth using on, what about one made from a handful of souls? Esperanza could definitely see a use to the skill once it was leveled, and even in its weaker form, it made for an excellent tool to distract enemies with, as a strike to the soul apparently disoriented her targets quite a bit even when they were strong enough to resist the more deadly effects. That in turn gave her enough time to take them out the more physical way instead. Of course, targets with stronger Souls usually have weaker Bodies, and were more susceptible to a direct application of physical violence to begin with. All the hunting and extra souls also allowed Esperanza to enlarge her [Storage Dimension] ¨C the size grew when she collected her hundredth soul ¨C to over double its size. At the moment, the size was closer to four feet per side, and could easily fit in many more things. She made use of that space to store up the valuable parts of the beasts she killed to give to the villagers of Navef. Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl20]/[Emissary of the Forgotten Lvl7]/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 45 - Dexterity : 45 - Constitution : 45 - Intelligence : 40 - Perception : 40 - Wisdom : 51 - Willpower : 40 - Intuition : 40 - Sanity : -120 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] Class 2: [Emissary of the Forgotten] This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. General Skills: Esperanza took a glimpse at her stats, and nodded to herself. She mostly played it safe like what Oldies suggested, keeping her Willpower and Intuition no less than a third of her Sanity score, while at the same time making sure her other stats kept up with her Soul as well, to an extent. Oldies warned her of the detriments that focusing too much into one stat could cause, and Esperanza felt that what they said made sense. She focused more on her Body stat with her free points, as the vast majority of her skillset at the moment made physical violence the most applicable method for her to defend herself with. She still lacked any skill that directly made use of the Mind stat ¨C she knew that skills like [A Glimpse of Understanding], [Language Understanding], and [Quick Learner] were helped by it, but that was more in an indirect manner ¨C and the only skills that really made use of her Soul were [Far Down the Deep End] and [Soul Bolt] for the moment. For an unknown reason, she had the inkling that those worries would likely be covered as she leveled further. She had no idea where she got the idea from, or why she felt so confident about it. Esperanza was not that much into games, and while she had been assigning her stats for a more balanced setup, her own classes clearly wanted to lean further towards the Soul part of the triangle. It was another thing on her list of things to talk about with Oldies when the next chance to chat with them came in a few days. Due to her acquiring a new skill and the experiments with it, Esperanza had gone a good bit deeper into the jungle than usual this time. As a result, she also started seeing creatures that she had never seen before either. As she went deeper, the average level of the creatures in her surroundings also slowly increased. At the depth she was currently at, creatures in the high 30s were commonplace, and third-tiers were no longer particularly rare. One creature that gave Esperanza quite a bit of trouble looked like a pillbug, just one that had particularly spiky carapace and was the size of a bull. Neither she nor her dogs could do much if any damage to the thing, until she gave [Soul Bolt] ¨C which was level 2 at the time ¨C a shot. To her surprise, the shot dropped the pillbug-like creature on the spot. It didn¡¯t outright kill the creature, but rendered it insensate and allowed her to just stab it with her knife and let the blade devour the creature¡¯s blood until it perished from the blood loss. Esperanza still kept the intact segments of the beast¡¯s spiky carapace in her [Storage Dimension] and thought to bring it back to the village as well. The journey back to the village was a long one, however, as she had delved deep into the jungle. Even traveling quickly, she thought that it would take her at least three to four days of travel before she could reach the village of Navef. Still, Esperanza was in no real hurry, and calmly made her way through the jungle as she took down whatever creature crossed her path. She could do that with ease and confidence now that none of the creatures that inhabit the region posed much of a threat to her. It was a great change from the days when she had to skulk around carefully in fear of attracting predators she couldn¡¯t handle. The feeling was a rather refreshing one, to say the least, and one she rather liked. Naturally, she also took the opportunity given by the journey back to the village to gather more souls into her [Soul Storage]. Since she did not let off even the creatures she would have normally ignored as they gave her little to no experience due to their low level, it made it easy for her to accumulate souls along the way. By the time she was roughly a day away from the village, Esperanza already accumulated well over two hundred and fifty souls in her skill, though all those souls had yet to unlock the next stage of the skill like she expected yet so far. It was probably diminishing returns at work and the next stage would unlock at five hundred souls or so, she thought. Any and all such lackadaisical thoughts fled her mind when she was maybe a few hours away from the village, however, for even from that distance, she noticed a dark plume of smoke on the horizon, visible even through the dense canopy of the forest. And it unmistakably came from the direction of the village of Navef. Esperanza put any thought to hunting and relaxing out of her mind as she rushed to get towards the village as fast as she could, her amorphous form ¨C all pretense at subtlety discarded ¨C moving through the treetop at the fastest speed she could manage. Dali and Gordy followed her on the forest floor, moving just as swiftly despite the multitude of obstacles in their path. Despite their haste, however, none of it helped cut the distance they had to travel, which even at her best speed was still at least another few hours¡¯ worth of travel. Even after they rushed for a couple of hours, they were still a good distance out from the village itself. What they reached first was the vicinity of Esperanza¡¯s small hut. Before they reached the hut itself, they saw the signs that something was going very, very wrong with the village. They had found Adan-Zil collapsed face-down on the path that led to the forest depths, with several arrows protruding from body, both the front and back. Both Dali and Gordy reached him before Esperanza did, with her jumping down from the treetops in her more humanoid form, landing hard not far from where Adan-Zil fell. She reached the old hunter and realized that he was still clinging to life, if only barely, and did her best to resuscitate him with what basic knowledge she had from her previous world. Her efforts finally bore fruit when Adan-Zil regained his consciousness and looked at her with an unfocused eye ¨C his other eye had gone missing, leaving only an empty and bleeding eye socket where it once was ¨C and coughed. Esperanza carefully gave the old hunter some water from a waterskin she carried around with her, more of the water spilling than going down the old hunter¡¯s throat as he drank with difficulty. When he finally spoke, his voice was weak and barely audible, and Esperanza had to lean in close to make out his words. ¡°Honored one¡­ I am¡­ glad¡­ to be able¡­ to see you¡­ one¡­ last time¡­¡± wheezed the old man with labored breath, clearly using up with little life he had left to say the words. ¡°Village¡­ in danger¡­ under¡­ attack¡­¡± ¡°Who attacked the village?¡± Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Our former brethren¡­ who chose¡­ the new gods¡­¡± said the old hunter even as his eyes began to dim and his breathing weakened. ¡°We still¡­ follow the old ways¡­ They do not¡­ tolerate our existence¡­ They want¡­ to kill us all¡­¡± he said with difficulty. ¡°I implore you¡­ Honored one¡­ Please¡­ help the village¡­ Save¡­ our children¡­¡± As the old hunter said those last words, the light went out of his eyes, and he exhaled weakly one last time, the life leaving his body. Esperanza was helpless to save him. She lacked any sort of healing skills, and had no way to save the man given his grievous injuries. Even so, there was still something else she had to do, something urgent, as Adan-Zil¡¯s last words implied. Namely that there were still other people to save. 41 - A Hot Bath and a Burning Question Fortunately, the trip from the dungeon back to the capital city was completely uneventful. Nothing cliche like a bandit attack or the likes happened ¨C which to be fair made sense, since the Kingdom practically ruled the human lands alone and tolerated no such scoundrels ¨C and their carriage entered the gates of the Royal Capital shortly after midnight. Since it was such a late hour already, Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond conferred with Cerilla, and all three agreed that the report to the King could wait until the next day. As such, the returning party was allowed to rest undisturbed for the night, free to do whatever they felt like doing, though most just immediately fell onto their beds and slept like a baby within moments instead. Alissa chose to get a much-needed hot bath first. Even at the late hour, some of the palace maids were awake and prepared to fulfill her needs. Within ten minutes of her return to her room at the Royal Palace, a hot bath was already waiting for her perusal. The maids politely withdrew after they filled the bath, well-informed of the summoned [Heroes] and their idiosyncrasies by then. Her room at the Royal Palace was the sort of guest room usually reserved for visiting nobles, and was positively luxurious even by twenty-first century standards, if lacking in some amenities she was accustomed to. Fortunately a private bath was not one of the lacking amenities, as the room was connected to a large bathroom with a bath the size of a small swimming pool that felt positively excessive for one person to use. Then again, visiting nobles usually brought their families along anyway, so maybe it was just right for them. The room¡¯s private bath reminded Alissa more of japanese baths she had seen from movies, or roman ones from historical shows, with separate areas for people to actually wash themselves ¨C separate from the bath itself so as not to dirty the bathwater ¨C and the bath itself, which was practically a waist-height pool easily able to accommodate twenty or more people. Alissa quickly washed herself ¨C fortunately some of the previous summoned heroes must have introduced more modern soapmaking techniques to the world given how they had solid bars of nicely scented soaps ¨C with the large bucket of hot water prepared for her use. It took some effort to scrub the week¡¯s worth of grime that had accumulated on her skin, and she couldn¡¯t help but cringe as seeing the dirt flow away with the now-murky water. She scrubbed herself until her skin turned red and raw at places, and only then did she feel properly clean for the first time in the past week. Needless to say, for someone used to modern amenities, the mere idea of being away from those amenities for a full week ¨C even when her family took her camping they always chose places where there were rivers or lakes to bathe in ¨C much less having to fight against beasts with life and death on the line, was a feeling that was thoroughly foreign to her. No amount of training or preparation would have changed that. In fact, Alissa thought that if it wasn¡¯t for her skill keeping her mind calm and rational she might have had some mental breakdowns in the past month or so she had been in this different world. As she slipped into the pool full of hot water ¨C the maids had filled it with plenty of hot water, knowing that she would likely take a while to clean herself before entering, so that the temperature would be about just right by the time she entered ¨C Alissa couldn¡¯t help but wonder how the others handled the issue. Neither of them had the skill she got, after all. Ethan was probably fine since in some ways, this whole mess was like a dream come true to him. Something he probably dreamed and fantasized about often in their previous world. The way he took on all the obstacles laid before him with an almost childlike glee lent further credence to that line of thought. That, and she knew that he was never one to be easily fluttered anyway. She had known him since they were both in kindergarten and never saw him panic, not even when he was at times bullied by other, larger kids. It was a memory that made Alissa chuckle, of when Ethan was a small, reed-thin bookish kid that the bigger kids often picked on. She had fought off more than a couple of those for him, even. Of course, all those bullying issues came to a screeching halt when Ethan hit his growth spurt in middle school and the reed-thin bookworm grew out into the school¡¯s new star quarterback. As for Joshua¡­ Alissa didn¡¯t really care about him, as she was never friends with him. They were at best passing acquaintances, and she definitely didn¡¯t like the sort of bullying the clique Joshua was in often did. Even so, he remained one of the only two other people she knew shared a goal with her, that of returning to their homes, so in that sense, they really ought to cooperate somehow. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The way Joshua seemed¡­ attached to the young priestess named Vesta was a bit worrisome. Alissa saw how he would often have a hard time sleeping at night during their dungeon run unless it was on her lap. It looked like a rather unhealthy sort of attachment to her, and combined with the mental breakdown he had early on, she wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good thing at all. Alissa allowed herself to sink until her chin was just touching the water, seated on the steps that lined the sides of the pool-sized bath. The pleasant heat of the water helped soothe her tired body, which after the week of expedition was sore in all sorts of places she had never thought could even be sore before. It turned out that experience with track and fields or basketball did not prepare one for fighting otherworldly monsters for a week straight. Who knew? She soaked her tired body in the bath for what felt like hours, but was likely only half an hour or so, until the water turned lukewarm, before she rose from the pool and dried herself with the towels left for her use by the maids. Once she was properly dry, she went into her room and opened the drawers of the cabinet to fish out a fresh pair of loose, comfortable silken pants as well as a tunic of the same material meant to be used a sleepwear and clothed herself. The moment she laid her head on her pillow she drifted off to dreamland before she knew it. ****************************** Early the next morning, Alissa saw the others at the breakfast table. Given their status as summoned [Heroes], not even the king dared to demand that they report to him like a subordinate. Instead, they made their report as part of the chatter while they ate their breakfast together at the King¡¯s table. Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond told the bulk of the tale, with Alissa and the rest only chiming in if they were asked or when explaining bits their chaperones had missed. The breakfast itself was a rather late one. Alissa herself had overslept, but she was not even the last to arrive, as Joshua and Ethan were even later. They probably had to clean themselves up first after they woke up, since they likely slept right away the night before. Other than them, the Fifth Princess was also at the table, along with the priestesses Cerilla and Vesta. Despite the topic of the conversation, Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua paid little attention to most of the report and ate heartily. The past week of eating only travel rations through the dungeon trip made them miss the lavish, freshly prepared breakfasts they were used to in the past month. All three of them ate until they could eat no more, their appetites even making the queen chuckle in amusement. What followed after the breakfast was done ¨C close to noon, as it was a very late breakfast ¨C was a far more somber matter, though. The three young [Heroes] were invited to attend the funeral of those members of the royal guards and temple guards that had lost their lives during the expedition, something that still weighed on their minds. Of course, they were allowed to decline, but none of the three made use of that privilege. Even Joshua chose to join them for the funeral. The funeral itself was a solemn procession, which took place in the large cathedral built directly in the palace grounds. The building had a sort of antique look not uncommon to buildings of worship on earth, though its features seemed pretty mixed up. The architecture looked almost as if someone built the lovechild between a baroque style catholic cathedral with a mosque, then further decorated with statues that depicted all sorts of creatures only really found in fantasies. Eleven coffins of dark wood, painted a pristine ivory white, were laid side by side at the raised dais just before the altar. The altar itself depicted the four gods worshiped by the humans, only known by their monikers of ¡°Courage of the North¡±, ¡°Wisdom of the East¡±, ¡°Discretion of the South¡±, and ¡°Innocence of the West¡±. Those gods were depicted as humans with proportions that would fit a statue of greek gods or goddesses. The Courage of the North was clearly a warrior of sorts, clad in heavy armor and wielding a massive two-handed sword which rested on his shoulder. The Wisdom of the East looked quite asian in features, with robes not unlike what Magus Drummond and Joshua wore, wielding a staff in hand with a monocle over one of his eyes. The other two gods were females. Discretion of the south was depicted as a masked, cloaked woman whose features were nearly indistinguishable through her clothing, while the Innocence of the West wore robes nearly identical to those worn by the clergy present. The latter god was depicted as a friendly-looking, short, and chubby woman whose freckled face held a wide, almost motherly smile. Despite the clear importance of the funeral, the ceremony itself did not take particularly long. An old man Alissa recognized as High Priest Solon ¨C the same man Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond joked about before they left the dungeon ¨C personally led the sermon, and while it was a solemn, quiet ceremony, it barely took twenty minutes from the beginning to the end of the whole thing. After the ceremony was finished, the high priest gave a last speech praising the efforts of the brave youths who gave their lives for the common good of the human race in flowery, yet respectful words. Then groups of temple guards in ceremonial armor ¨C not very different from the faux roman style of armor they wore in combat, just far more decorated and bling-y ¨C lifted the coffins on their shoulders and marched out of the cathedral in a parade perfect single file. The cemetery where the dead would be interned was located just outside the palace grounds. Apparently it was tradition to bury those who died fighting alongside the heroes of each generation there, though that number rarely surpassed fifty people per generation. Eleven adjacent graves were already dug on a still-empty plot of land, where the coffins were lowered slowly and respectfully to their final resting place. As Alissa watched the temple guards fill the graves with earth and bury the coffins, she couldn¡¯t help but think about the past week she had gone through with the dead guards. The scenes in which they perished ¨C all in that final fight ¨C kept repeating itself in her mind, and would have probably haunted her in her dreams if not for her skill keeping it at bay. In the end, she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore and turned to Sir Inolet, who was next to her. She asked a question that had been on the tip of her tongue for the past day, bluntly and straightforwardly to the old knight. ¡°Was all this¡­ worth it?¡± she asked with doubt seeping out from every syllable she spoke. 42 - The Answer ¡°What is?¡± Sir Henri Inolet asked back to Alissa while blinking his eyes in some confusion. Most annoyingly, thanks to her skill keeping her mind calm and rational, Alissa could tell that the confusion he had was genuine rather than feigned. She was prepared for an angry lecture from him, maybe some empty platitudes further praising those who had sacrificed their lives for a greater good, or other such things. Genuine confusion was something she had not prepared for, however. ¡°Their deaths,¡± Alissa clarified as she glanced towards the coffins being covered with soil by the temple guards at work. The way they worked in silent precision and filled the graves in a fashion that resembled a ritual showed her just how much value and respect they gave to the dead. Still, no amount of respect would bring someone from the dead. ¡°I know you said that our¡­ companions were there to benefit from our presence, but was that benefit something worth dying for?¡± she asked once more. ¡°It would have been more efficient if you had just thrown the three of us into that dungeon and locked us inside until we killed everything. We can¡¯t die, after all.¡± ¡°A fine question, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± replied the old knight with a surprisingly approving nod. ¡°It pleases my heart that you care for the people of our world, rather than just treat us as disposable pawns. Far too many [Heroes] in history had done that instead,¡± added the old knight with a sigh. ¡°But yes, What we could gain from fighting alongside heroes like you¡­ they were most definitely worth dying for.¡± ¡°Please allow me to clarify that first before you ask more questions,¡± said the old knight as he held a hand up to allay Alissa¡¯s obvious question. ¡°By fighting alongside [Heroes] like you from your weakest times, the feats that could be attained are the only known route to receive what is by far the strongest class options natives like us could have,¡± he explained. ¡°Moira? Could you come over for a moment, lass?¡± ¡°Yes, sir?¡± asked Moira. The young female soldier had been the same one who had led Alissa and Ethan to the armory back then, and had also fought alongside them over the past week. She walked towards Sir Inolet with a bright smile on her face as she stopped before them and snapped off a crisp military salute. ¡°Anything I can help with?¡± By then the conversation had also attracted Ethan¡¯s attention, who turned to face them, clearly keeping an ear to what was being talked about. Joshua just scoffed and stayed aloof as per his usual self, though. ¡°Please get Her Royal Highness the Fifth Princess and everyone else who earned their third tier over,¡± said the old knight with a nod. ¡°That will be all, thank you.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir! Consider it done!¡± replied Moira spiritedly as she nodded and left. The Fifth Princess and the rest of the party¡¯s remaining members were just a short distance away, but to call them by shouting during a funeral would have been the height of rudeness. The young guard swiftly walked over and brought the rest of the party over. ¡°Now, Miss O¡¯Connor, have you tried to use [Analysis] on them after the last battle?¡± asked the old knight. Alissa shook her head decisively. She had far too many things in her mind at the time, especially shortly after her [Respawn]. After that, her thoughts were mostly taken over by worries about her new class and the implications it pointed to. During the trip back she was also too tired to think about other matters, so she had not thought of using the skill. A quick look at the Fifth Princess returned a result of [Royal Daughter Lvl20/Royal Squire Lvl20/Hero¡¯s Companion: Knight Princess Blademaster Lvl1]. Moira¡¯s result was [Knight¡¯s Child Lvl20/Royal Guard Lvl20/Hero¡¯s Companion: Swift Royal Guard Halberdier Lvl1]. Bronwen returned a [Orphan Lvl20/Temple Guard Lvl20/Hero¡¯s Companion: Fearless Temple Guard Defender Lvl1]. Alissa did not miss out on the implication of the third tier classes that the three received. Out of the remaining six survivors of the party, half also reached the third tier, while the other half were close to it and were expected to reach that goal after a few more days. It was partly due to how the ¡°experience¡± and ¡°levels¡± in this world worked. Nobody had any way to measure how much experience they received after each battle, or how close they were to the next level. They only had a vague feeling about it, which made plans like what the party did in the dungeon, trying to get everyone to level up after one battle, difficult to enact perfectly. Osmond and Glenn of the Royal Guards, as well as Silvia from the Temple Guards, had yet to gain their third tier due to that difficult-to-measure quantity of experience gain. As for the other three, a pair of Temple Guards named Benedictus ¨C Gregorius¡¯ younger brother ¨C and Leda gained their third tiers, along with a Royal Guard named Maribel. Their [Analysis] results returned [Priest¡¯s Child Lvl20/Temple Guard Lvl20/Hero¡¯s Associate: Ruthless Temple Guard Avenger Lvl1], [Farmer¡¯s Child Lvl20/Temple Guard Lvl20/Hero¡¯s Associate: Blessed Healing Hand], and [Dancer¡¯s Child Lvl20/Royal Guard Lvl20/Hero¡¯s Associate: Agile Royal Guard Sword-Dancer Lvl1] respectively. Stolen story; please report. ¡°You have seen their classes now, yes?¡± the old knight asked kindly, almost like an old grandfather talking to their granddaughter and patiently teaching them. ¡°No doubt you have noticed that the classes they gained are not what one would have ordinarily expected. Those classes and the subsequent ones they will receive are what they earned with their efforts fighting alongside you three.¡± ¡°I¡­ see¡­¡± muttered Alissa. She had naturally further checked the classes with her [Analysis], picking Moira¡¯s class to check. The result she received was: [Hero¡¯s Companion: Swift Royal Guard Halberdier] A brave Royal Guard who had fought alongside the Heroes from their very beginning, a Companion through thick and thin. Companion to be cherished, loyal ally from the start, may you be blessed with the swiftness with which to dispatch those who stood in the Heroes¡¯ way. Naturally, Alissa then picked one of the others to compare it with, opting to check Benedictus¡¯ new class. [Hero¡¯s Associate: Ruthless Temple Guard Avenger] A brave soul who aided the Hero¡¯s journey from the beginning, at the cost of a loved one. Warrior who stood by the Hero¡¯s side, may the rightful vengeance for the lost loved one be driven to the core of those who stood the Heroes¡¯ path. Despite the one-word difference in the additional class name, the actual descriptions said¡­ a lot. Alissa could tell that those with [Hero¡¯s Companion] likely gained more benefits than the [Hero¡¯s Associate] ones. When she thought back to the dungeon run of the past week, she realized that the Fifth Princess, Moira, Bronwen, and the late Gregorius had always been part of the team that joined them in more direct fighting. Back then, she had attributed that to Sir Inolet wanting them to acclimatize to fighting in a small team first so as not to overwhelm them. Now she realized that those four had been specifically chosen to accompany them so they would receive the better class later on. The thought naturally brought another question to Alissa¡¯s inquisitive mind, however. ¡°Why only the four of them?¡± she asked, referring to the four ¨C now three ¨C people who had been made to accompany them in battle so often. Her thought then moved on to correlate the issue with a larger one as she continued to press the question to Sir Inolet, not without some confusion in her mind. ¡°For that matter, why only the twenty of them? I¡¯m assuming that the classes they get are only available for that particular tier or lower, but surely the Kingdom has more youngsters at their second tiers around?¡± ¡°Excellent question once again, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a satisfied look on his face. While the old knight was a stern taskmaster, he liked it a lot when one of his students was inquisitive and quick on the uptake. Alissa certainly ticked both of those qualities. ¡°This is something you would not have learned unless you delved deep into our history books. Allow me to explain with the short and simpler version.¡± ¡°Please do, Sir.¡± ¡°We have noticed those who gained the classes of [Hero¡¯s Companion] and [Hero¡¯s Associate] since many, many generations ago. Quite naturally, people tried to group the next batch of heroes to be summoned with as many people as they could,¡± explained the old knight with an authoritative tone of voice, much like a teacher. ¡°That led to one of the worst defeats of human history instead.¡± ¡°Why so?¡± ¡°Because out of the thousands of people they made accompany the [Heroes] only a very small minority even gained any benefit, and worse, the benefit was so greatly diluted near the point of pointlessness,¡± said the old knight. ¡°All that attempt had done was to cause the heroes of that generation to be underleveled, their growths delayed,¡± he continued with a wistful voice. ¡°They were all too weak when the war started, and we lost miserably, or at least, that was what the history books recorded.¡± ¡°I see,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. ¡°There¡¯s some limit to this¡­ achievement, then?¡± ¡°Exactly so. The twenty we sent with you was a number that had been chosen after generations of trial and error, as was their overall power levels. In theory if we could send a first tier child to be one of the [Hero¡¯s Companion] then that child would grow to be the most powerful human being possible,¡± said the old knight as he elaborated further. ¡°That option was not at all practical however. Those who wished to earn these classes need to fight and contribute to the journey of the [Heroes]. A child of that level would be less than useless in such a situation.¡± ¡°And on the flipside, sending people already in their third tiers would mean that they only get to benefit from the new class at the fourth tier onwards. I¡¯m assuming that if the Princess and the others reach fourth tier, they would get an even better class than that hypothetical third tier companion, yes?¡± asked Alissa as she thought about the scenario in her mind. ¡°Yes, precisely so, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± happily replied the old knight. ¡°Our history books recorded that those who gained either [Hero¡¯s Companion] or [Hero¡¯s Associate] would go on to make their own mark in history after the [Heroes] returned to their homes,¡± he said spiritedly. ¡°In fact, the current King¡¯s grandfather, the Princess¡¯ great-grandfather, was a [Hero¡¯s Companion] from the previous generation of [Heroes]. He was the only one who survived the war amongst them.¡± Alissa nodded at the answer. The war between the humans and demons in that world had gone on in a cyclical fashion, with hostilities exploding whenever new [Heroes] and [Champions] were summoned to their respective sides. The fighting itself was often heavily back-and-forth. The humans had won four consecutive wars in the past, and pushed hard to the point that the demon territory was nearly halved in size. Then they lost the last three wars, where the demons pushed and claimed parts of formerly human territory in turn. ¡°As you might have guessed, four was also the ideal number we found for [Hero¡¯s Companions]. That said, both of those numbers were chosen with the assumption of a casualty rate of half or more during the process,¡± added the old knight. ¡°We are slightly below expectation in terms of total number of survivors, but since three of the four prospective companions survived, the overall result could be considered to be better than expected.¡± ¡°I see the point you made, Sir Inolet,¡± said Alissa with an understanding nod. The entire idea of sending in people to their deaths in the hopes of gaining power still sickened her, but she learned to accept that the people of this world also had their own way of life. A way of life they likely adapted to from the circumstances they lived in. She didn¡¯t like it, but she could understand their point of view, to an extent. ¡°I thank you for having clarified my doubt.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for, girl.¡± XLIII - Display(s) of Cruelty Esperanza rushed towards the direction where her small hut lay. She moved so fast due to the urgent nature of the situation that she even left Dali and Gordy behind, though she could feel the two dogs following the path she took as fast as they could. The first thing she saw when she finally arrived near her little hut was the sight of Avec-Litu¡¯s body falling backwards, more than a dozen arrows protruding from his torso and limbs. The village elder fell with his arms spread wide, like he was trying to cover someone behind him. The way he only started to fall as another arrow ¨C there were already at least four other arrows protruding from his chest at the time ¨C caught him right in the middle of the chest showed how he had kept standing and taking those arrows out of pure willpower up to that point. What she noticed next were the dozen or so children ¨C all of whom she recognized as from the village, many of them being ones who often visited her hut to play ¨C crowded and huddled around the fallen form of old Avalanusi. The old blacksmith was unmoving, her body similarly riddled with dozens of arrows like Avec-Litu. Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu were keeping the crying children close together, while at the same time shielding them with their bodies. The culprits responsible for the situation were obvious. As Esperanza pulled her attention away from the village children, one of her other eyes caught sight of four figures in the direction of the village. They were laughing at each other, and two of them held bows in their hands, one of which still thrummed from a recent shot. All four were men ¨C while it was a bit harder to distinguish between males and females of some races the villagers hailed from, these four were from races with easily distinguishable appearances ¨C who were of the same race as some of the villagers of Navef. Unlike the villagers who mostly wore clothing made out of hide or leather, though, these four wore fabric clothing underneath their bloodstained chainmail shirt, which covered their bodies from neck to mid-thigh. She did not fail to notice that the fletching on the arrows still in the quivers slung behind their backs were the same as those protruding from Avec-Litu¡¯s and Avalanusi¡¯s bodies, as well as Adan-Zil¡¯s corpse from before. The way they laughed as if they were enjoying themselves further incensed her, doubly so as it coincided with her system¡¯s notification of a soul entering her [Soul Storage]. At that very moment she already decided how she would be dealing with those four people. All that took place in a single moment, Esperanza¡¯s mind running in high gear as she took in the information. None of the four even had the time to react to her arrival yet, and given the speed she hurtled her body at, she already descended upon them by the time some of them started to react. Their reactions were far too little, far too late. Esperanza turned her hands into gruesome, long-fingered mockeries of the human shape, the too-long fingers tipped with wicked claws like those of a predator¡¯s. She also turned her legs into longer, tentacular appendages and whipped them towards the further two of the four. While she could create more limbs at will by shifting her shape, she still felt most comfortable and had the best control over herself when she used no more than four limbs at a time. Her hands wrapped themselves around the heads of the two bow-wielders, the overlong fingers circling their heads tightly, even as a maw opened in the center of her palm and bit down on the nose and cheek of those archers. Her tentacular legs wrapped themselves around the legs of the two people further away. Barbed claws emerged from the membranous surface of those tentacles, where they dug into and tore the flesh from the calves of the unfortunate pair. Rather than waste any time, Esperanza went for kills as fast as she could. Thick, muscular tongue tipped with fangs held together like a wedge shot out from within the maws that adorned her palms. The tenebrous limbs shot out with great force, and as Esperanza had shifted an eye to each of her palms, unerringly struck the eyes of their victims. Blood, bone fragments, and other fluids splattered as the tongues forced their way through the eyeballs of the two archers, broke through their eye sockets, and into their brains. The instant they broke through the eye sockets, Esperanza allowed the fangs which had gathered their points to form a wedge to open wide as they ravaged the contents of those archers¡¯ skulls. Esperanza ignored the dings of kill notifications and that of souls being stored as she focused on dragging the remaining two people over to her using her legs. One of them was screaming like a pig being butchered, blood flowing freely in rivulets from the wound torn open on his calves. He was also desperately trying to unsheathe the sword hanging from his waist, but the lower part of the weapon was wrapped and gripped tightly by the tip of Esperanza¡¯s tentacular limb, which held it firmly in place. The other man was less fortunate as when Esperanza¡¯s limb tied his legs together he fell forwards towards her, so she had instinctively wrapped a portion of her flexible, barbed limb around his neck and head. That not only made the man unable to scream but also rapidly gouged divots in his flesh, which bled profusely shortly after. By the time Esperanza dragged the man over, he was already on the verge of death from blood loss, one of the barbed claws having nicked a large artery on his neck. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. With the last man, Esperanza shed any pretense of being humanoid, as she stretched her body thin to wrap around the screaming man¡¯s upper body. Moments after she wrapped around him, the many fanged maws on the inside opened and devoured the man¡¯s flesh, one bite at a time. Not even the chainmail shirt he wore saved him, as while they gave some resistance, the chains broke under the pressure of Esperanza¡¯s bite, her fangs sinking deep into the man¡¯s flesh and tearing off chunks until he remained still and unmoving. By the time she unwound her body from the man¡¯s, all that was left of his upper body was an unrecognizable bloody mess that looked as if a pack of jackals already feasted on it. The other three were somewhat fortunate to die with their bodies left relatively intact. Esperanza just stacked their corpses together, then almost as an afterthought, drove the blade she received from old Avalanusi through the three mostly intact corpses in order for it to absorb the blood from them. She herself shifted her form back to her approximation of a humanoid form and put on her clothes before she approached the villagers that were by her hut. ¡°?Qu¨¦ pasa?¡± she asked them. Fortunately the [Language Understanding] skill automatically translated the meaning of her words to others, regardless of whether she said it in english or spanish. ¡°They¡­ they suddenly came down upon us out of nowhere from the south earlier this morning¡­¡± muttered Eda-Zil with obvious nervousness, tears still brimming in her eyes. ¡°They¡­ They just killed everyone¡­ the elders and the children¡­ all of them¡­ Most of the elders had stayed to allow us to escape with these children. We had thought the worst when father went off in hopes of finding you and those bowmen chased after him¡­ Where is father?¡± ¡°Lo siento,¡± muttered Esperanza as she looked down sadly while shaking her head. At that moment, a mixture of self-blame and regret filled her mind. If only she had not hunted so deep into the forest this time. If only she had not been enthralled with learning the ins and outs of her new skills and spent so much time experimenting. If only she had not dallied during the first few days of her trip back to the village. If only she had departed and returned even a day earlier¡­ Many such thoughts crossed her mind before she finally shook her head once more to chase them away. What was done could not be changed. All she could do was to do better for those who still had a future with them. ¡°Father¡­ is gone then?¡± asked Eda-Zil with a disbelieving tone. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It was too late by the time I came upon him,¡± admitted Esperanza. She heard the brush rustle behind her but did not turn around, somehow already knowing it was just Dali and Gordy arriving at last. Her own thoughts were occupied by the condition of the survivors at the moment, the anger that had cooled down stoked to new heights once more. All of the survivors had injuries on their bodies, the little children having scuffs and bruises, and the occasional burn mark as well. Eda-Zil still had the shaft of an arrow protruding from behind one shoulder, while Kvar-Litu¡¯s left arm hung limply. Of course, what had incensed her the most was the sight of old Avalanusi¡¯s body, which laid on its back, arms splayed wide like she was trying to cover others behind her. Dozens of arrows pierced through the old craftsman¡¯s fur-covered body, and she had already passed on by then. The soul that went into the [Soul Storage] upon Esperanza¡¯s arrival was hers, it looked like. All Esperanza could do for the old craftsman was to close her still-open eyes gently, while holding back a desire to scream and cry out at the top of her lungs. ¡°Honored¡­ One¡­¡± mumbles Avec-Litu weakly, which caught Esperanza¡¯s attention. She quickly lowered her head so she could hear his words better, kneeling on the dying elder¡¯s side. Kvar-Litu was trying to staunch the bleeding on his wounds to no avail from the other side. ¡°Do you have anything you wish to say?¡± she asked as kindly as she could despite her own frustrations with the situation. ¡°I will do what I can.¡± ¡°Please¡­ do not blame yourself. This disaster¡­ has been due to our own vanity and recklessness,¡± said the elder with a deep, remorseful sigh. ¡°Some of ours¡­ hunted further south¡­ then they should¡­ We had thought¡­ they were just late¡­ They¡­ must have been found out. We¡­ had brought about our own end¡­¡± Esperanza just nodded as the old man tried to gather his breath to say something more. It was something he only did with great difficulty, his voice clearly growing weaker. ¡°I beg of you¡­ please help¡­ our young ones¡­ They¡­ still have a future¡­ ahead of¡­ them¡­ Their lives¡­ still have many years ahead¡­¡± continued the dying elder with strenuous effort. ¡°I beg of you¡­ I¡­ beg¡­¡± The old man¡¯s words petered out mid-sentence as he gasped and failed to continue what he was saying. Kvar-Litu tried to assist him, but it was to no avail. Avec-Litu¡¯s eyes dimmed even as they watched, as life left his body and he passed away in his grandson¡¯s arms. It was a situation that felt somewhat unreal to Esperanza. Less than a week ago, she was still chatting with these very same people, saw them doing their business as they went about their daily lives. Now they were dead. If what Eda-Zil said was true, chances were that the rest of the village was in worse shape. She was numbed with indecision when she thought about it. Should she immediately evacuate with the surviving children and two youths? Or should she head to the village first? Maybe there were still others trying to resist. Perhaps some survivors managed to hide somehow. Given how the people that attacked them seemed prone to toying with their prey rather than quickly dispatching them, there was a chance of that, but to do so would mean risking the few survivors she had with her. The indecision plagued her mind until another notification sounded, signifying yet another soul entering her [Soul Storage]. She took a closer look this time, and realized that if she paid close attention, she could distinguish the owners of the souls. Most of the souls in there felt like wild beasts, but three in particular were ones that felt familiar to her. She identified them as Avec-Litu, Avalanusi, and Adan-Zil respectively. The souls of the four people she killed, on the other hand, were noticeably different, somehow. In the end she turned to the survivors and asked for their opinion on what she should do. XLIV - Leaving the Choice to Another ¡°That¡¯s about the situation, I guess. I could either go to the village and look for survivors, if I can drive out these¡­ hunters, while you all wait deeper in the forest, or I can directly escort you out of here. The choice is in your hands,¡± explained Esperanza to the group of huddled children and two youths who might not be that far apart from those children themselves in age. ¡°Qu¨¦ va a ser?¡± ¡°I- I would choose to leave as soon as possible, Honored One,¡± stated Kvar-Litu even as he choked down sobs. The young man still cradled the dead body of his grandfather in his one working arm, his head bowed down with both shame and anger. ¡°I¡­ I know I sound like a craven cur right now, wanting to leave those still in the village to die¡­ but¡­ What if you failed and perish as well? We would not survive in this jungle without your aid!¡± ¡°Kvar-Litu!¡± scolded Eda-Zil with a scandalized look on her face. She either had more faith in the Deities of Yore and believed that it was blasphemy to insinuate that their messenger wasn¡¯t all-powerful, or was angered at Kvar-Litu¡¯s selfish but understandable choice. What Esperanza caught from [A Glimpse of Understanding] suggested at both of those possibilities at the same time. ¡°Honored one, please have mercy on him! He- He¡¯s still in shock over what has happened and is not in the right mind!¡± ¡°T¨®malo con calma. I understand that all of you are under great stress at the moment. I will not hold that against you,¡± said Esperanza as she soothed Eda-Zil and helped her rise from where she had prostrated herself in obeisance. ¡°And while I might not be invincible¡­ There should be nothing that can kill me permanently around. So once again, I ask you. What will it be?¡± ¡°There are hideouts in several places at the village,¡± said Eda-Zil once she raised her head. Her eyes gave a determined look as she met Esperanza eye to eye without flinching. ¡°I know that some of the children were evacuated there before we ran. The elders only took us, father, and those old enough to run alongside us in the hopes of finding you, Honored One.¡± ¡°You would like me to save those still in the hideouts, I assume then?¡± Esperanza asked back. She had unknowingly adopted a more formal speech pattern with the villagers, probably somewhat influenced with how they kept treating her with so much respect and obeisance. She just felt wrong to talk in a crude and informal manner with them because of that. ¡°Speak your mind freely.¡± ¡°If possible, Honored One,¡± replied the young woman. ¡°And what about you all?¡± Esperanza asked the group of children. ¡°What do you think I should do?¡± ¡°P-please help the others, Hon- Honored One,¡± said one of the children, the oldest boy amongst them, with a nervous, stuttering tone. ¡°My sister is still in the village. So many others are still back there¡­¡± ¡°Comprende,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°Do the rest of you think the same way?¡± she asked the rest of the huddled children. A series of nervous nods answered her question, and she tried her best to give a non-threatening smile at them as she nodded her own ¡°head¡± in return. ¡°You are all brave little children, though you should have prioritized yourself in this sort of situation. I wouldn¡¯t always be around, sabes?¡± she replied while gently tussling the hair of the closest child. ¡°All right now. I want all of you to follow Dali and Gordy, then stay where they brought you to, unless there¡¯s an emergency. I will head to the village. Eda-Zil, you¡¯re in charge.¡± ¡°Understood, Honored One,¡± replied Eda-Zil firmly. ¡°Dali, Gordita, lead them away and clean up the area around their destination, then come to me,¡± she said to her dogs. She received a feeling of acknowledgement and reassurance from them in return, as they led the group deeper into the forest, Gordy leading the way while Dali covered their sides. As for Esperanza herself, she made her way towards the village, but this time going at a more measured pace, with her [Gauze of Oblivion] and [Aura Control] working together to erase any trace of her presence. During the time she also glanced at the notifications she had ignored in the past while, and was rather surprised at seeing the unexpected detail she discovered there. [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Adan-Zil]! 272/2000 [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Avalanusi]! 273/2000 You have defeated [Hunter¡¯s Child Lvl20/Ranger Lvl20/Ranger of Ner¡¯vhok Lvl5] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Barek-Iva]! 274/2000 You have defeated [Hunter¡¯s Child Lvl20/Marksman Lvl20/Shooter of Sorrow Lvl7] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Labril-Sav]! 275/2000 You have defeated [Soldier¡¯s Child Lvl20/Warrior Lvl20/Blade of Ner¡¯vhok Lvl8] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Nadirealev]! 276/2000 You have defeated [Orphan Lvl20/Scout Lvl20/Thousand-Mile Eye Lvl 4] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! You have leveled to level 8! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Ecaravia]! 277/2000 The souls of people were labeled differently from those of the monsters she took down along her way. She could specifically make out Adan-Zil, Avalanusi, and Avec-Litu¡¯s souls, though the souls of the four she killed felt mostly similar. She had no idea which was which, which she attributed to her lack of familiarity with them. More importantly, when she channeled the souls for [Soul Bolt], she noticed that she could choose which soul to use for that. Esperanza decisively placed the souls of people she knew to one side, where they would be safe from accidental use, her gut feeling telling her that she might want to preserve these souls for the future. She had no idea if there was anything like revivals or resurrections in this world, but it never hurts to prepare just in case. Once Esperanza reached a distance where she could see the situation in the village while remaining mostly invisible ¨C the dense forest canopy and the newfound sharpness of her eyesight in this new body of hers helped ¨C she immediately took a quick glance to ascertain the situation there. What she saw made her frown. There was a literal pile of corpses in the center of the village, an open area where the villagers used to hold their celebrations. They were naturally the inhabitants of Navef, while a group of people dressed similarly to the four Esperanza killed earlier were dragging and throwing more corpses to the pile. It looked like most of the villagers had been accounted for. Though at least she couldn¡¯t see bodies of the really small children the others said were still hiding in the village, so maybe they were still safe for the time being. Esperanza counted around forty of the armed and armored people. They seem to come from the same races as those that inhabit the village, with a few marked differences. For one, there were no mixed-race individuals in sight amongst them. For another, none of them were human, just one of the other races instead. All of them wore similar clothes, the same sort of chainmail shirt on top of fabric, and carried various weapons. A quick glance told Esperanza that the majority of these armored people were either in their late second tier or early third tier levels. Without exception, every single one of them had classes that were obviously more focused on combat, most of which seemed to be higher rarity than what the villagers ever had, too. Some of those armed people were still ransacking the houses in the village, perhaps in search of survivors. The majority were busy dragging corpses and adding them to the increasingly taller pile in the center of the village. A small group were dressing their wounds at the side, and Esperanza noticed how some of the others seemed to have mocked those injured. Apparently the villagers hadn¡¯t gone out entirely without a fight, after all. They might not have been able to take one of their killers down with them, but at least their efforts left more than a few bruised egos. Esperanza naturally did not rush in. There were too many of the armed and armored people, which she thought was likely part of an army, given how similarly dressed they were. They also seem to go about their tasks with discipline ingrained from long periods of training, which was another telltale sign. Besides, she was still waiting for Dali and Gordy. She was confident that she could make short work of most of the enemies below. Their levels were mostly on par with the four she killed earlier, or even lower. The problem was their numbers. There were so many of them that they could potentially overwhelm her simply by using their numerical superiority. That, and besides the first strike, these people would likely be alerted to her presence and thus not be prone to a surprise attack. The village was also too small for her to contemplate leading them around in a cat-and-mouse game of chase. It was while she was thinking on how she should go about things when Esperanza noticed another small group of armored people she had previously missed. They were watching the others, relaxedly leaning their backs against a still intact section of the village¡¯s palisade, where they were shaded from the afternoon sun by a house nearby. At a glance, there was nothing special with those five, other than that four of them had relatively higher levels, with the highest being a level 10 third-tier. It was the last member that caught Esperanza¡¯s attention and instantly set off alarm bells in her mind, however. That last member was a Ma¡¯Varok, what the race with greenish to grayish skin and tusks called themselves. He was a tall, impressively muscular, and gray-skinned specimen of his kind, with a large bow slung across his back. A large machete and a quiver full of arrows hung from the belt at his waist, and given how clean his clothing were, Esperanza thought that he likely had not fought against the villagers for some unknown reason. She also noticed that he watched the activity going on in the village with an obvious distaste and not a little disdain. That said, he also simply stood where he was and had clearly not done anything to help the villagers, even if he found their being massacred distasteful. That, combined with how the obviously bored and uninterested look in his expression was impossible to fake, made Esperanza wonder what was going on. Esperanza was not sure what the man thought, as he was too far for [A Glimpse of Understanding] to skim the surface of his thoughts, but she thought that whatever it was, she might be able to work with it somehow. After all, that man was not just another soldier or random killer. He was far more important than that, something evident from how the others seemed to give him obeisance despite their notably higher levels. Esperanza was new to this world, and while she deeply regretted the demise of so many of the villagers, there was a silver lining to the disaster. Namely that it had aligned her trajectory into a first meeting with someone else in a similar situation as her own. While she was too far to catch on to the man¡¯s thoughts, [Gaze Unto the Abyss] still managed to identify his classes even from the distance. The result it gave showed Esperanza just how important a personage this man she had inadvertently crossed paths with was. [Champion of Ner¡¯vhok: S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i Lvl20/?rl?g Baghatur Lvl2] 45 - New Equipment(s) ¡°There, lass. How¡¯s the fit feel like now?¡± asked Master Utgarth, the [Royal Grandmaster Armorer] with a cheerful tone. The old man clearly showed the pride he likely felt when the armor he made for the [Heroes] returned from the expedition in almost perfect condition despite the wear and tear they were subjected to. Ethan¡¯s armor had a few slightly bent plates where he took hard hits, and tears on the fabric coating of his brigandine, but was otherwise in perfect shape, only needing minor repairs at most. Alissa¡¯s was a different case. Her armor itself survived the fighting in perfect condition, other than her gambeson needing some very thorough cleaning before it could be worn again. Joshua¡¯s robes were destroyed beyond salvation when he died, and they were from Magus Drummond to begin with. Apparently the skillset for creating armor suitable for use by mages differed from that the old master armorer used to create the armors that Alissa and Ethan wore. Considering the wildly different materials and needs of the wearers, it made sense, honestly. Apparently while [Respawn] caused her body to dissipate upon death, it did nothing about whatever parts of her already spilled out before that exact moment. As such, the inside of Alissa¡¯s gambeson had been thoroughly soaked with her own blood and other unmentionables in the brief moment before she perished from having her body squished between her own armor plates. That said, the fact that the armor itself remained unblemished was a testament to its quality. The situation she had been in was a classic case of the wielder being too weak to make full use of the quality equipment they had. Had she been stronger, she would have been able to withstand the forces involved and survived the situation just fine. At the moment Alissa was in Master Utgarth¡¯s workshop, where she was wearing her newly cleaned and refitted armor once more. As her stats grew, Alissa felt her body change somewhat. She was not any taller, or any broader. It was more like¡­ her body slightly restructured itself into a more ideal shape, compared to what she had brought over. Instead, she felt more¡­ solid, as if her whole body had somehow grown denser overall without any actual increase in size. A change in quality rather than quantity, something she had noticed during training while she waited for her armor to be cleaned and refitted. It was a rather drastic change, too, at that, as the stats had not lied. Where before Alissa had been fit and athletic, with more than enough stamina to run around actively during games for nearly an hour straight, she recently found that she could keep up that same pace for hours on end now, without feeling the slightest bit tired. If she were to push herself for speed instead, she found herself able to run faster than even the best sprinters she knew could. Similarly, where before she barely managed to bench her weight, these days she found herself capable of lifting weights three times as heavy with relative ease. The way that all these changes took place with no real visible change to their bodies was something surprising, and rather eerie at times. During the dungeon, she had not truly noticed it, as she was too busy fighting for her life at the time and had no convenient thing to use for comparison, so it was only after they returned that she noticed. Apparently the old [Royal Grandmaster Armorer] was refitting her armor for that reason. The work he had done on them the first time was intended to accommodate Alissa¡¯s and Ethan¡¯s stats at the time, but he apparently used only the most basic enchantment runes to achieve those effects. Now that their stats had grown, Master Utgarth expanded the runes to more advanced ones to better suit their current capabilities. ¡°Feels¡­ It almost feels like it moved itself to go along with my movements,¡± Alissa replied at last. She was somewhat used to the sensation of her armor boosting her physical capabilities, but the improvement seemed to have taken it to the next level. Despite the added weight and mass of the armor, she could actually move faster with it on rather than without it. ¡°There¡¯s a more noticeable mana drain though, enough that I could feel it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s intended, lass. Still didn¡¯t take up your whole regeneration though, no?¡± asked the old master back with a grin on his face. ¡°Your old one also had some, but it used only a miniscule amount to power itself that you likely never even felt the drain. Now that you got more stats to go along with it, no reason not to improve on what it could do. Naturally, it¡¯d take more mana to fuel itself now.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Makes sense. Thanks for the work, Master,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. She looked over to the other side of the workshop where Ethan was latching the belts of his brigandine. Since their armor was worn over clothes anyway, there was no reason to go to a changing room just to put them on. ¡°Yours getting an upgrade too, Ethan?¡± ¡°Yep! Like you said, can feel it right away. It drains a good bit more, or maybe I just felt it more since I got less Mind than you, but not like my skills eat a lot of mana anyway so it ain¡¯t gonna be an issue,¡± replied Ethan to her question as he flexed his left arm to test the armor¡¯s flexibility after the repairs. The worst damage he took during the dungeon was primarily to that arm. Their little chat was disturbed by a knock on the workshop¡¯s door. One of Master Utgarth¡¯s assistants opened the door to reveal that it was Moira, who came bearing several long bundles in her hands, visibly needing some effort to hold them up. Though nobody said a thing, Alissa already had an idea what the contents of those bundles were. ¡°Good that you two are still here. I was worried I¡¯d have to lug these around the castle while looking for you,¡± said Moira, who was one of the party members that Alissa eventually managed to get to address them without excessive honorifics. The young royal guard placed the bundles on one of the tables in the workshop with an audible thud. ¡°Those are new weapons, I take it?¡± asked Alissa with some curiosity. From the noise they made, the bundles clearly had some considerable weight to them. While such heavy weapons might have been impractical in her previous world, here it was only appropriate to make full use of her strengthened physique after the notable rise of her stats. ¡°Yes, indeed. We picked them out from the armory based on what would be usable enough for you in your current condition while also good enough to remain useful until the third tier, at least,¡± replied Moira with a smile. Alissa and Ethan had broken most of their weapons in the last fight against the [Winged Scavenger Alpha Matriarch] so they needed new ones. ¡°Huh. This is rather¡­ different than I expected,¡± said Alissa when she opened the longest bundle and lifted the new spear that had been chosen for her perusal. The new spear was a bit longer than her old one, around eight feet long from one tip to another. Unlike her previous one, the new weapon was entirely made out of metal, the shaft a shiny dark gray, with the sharp tips a lighter gunmetal gray color. It was also much heavier than her previous one. If her previous spear was around four pounds or so, this new one was at least fifteen if not twenty pounds in weight. It also had a different kind of spearhead compared to the previous spear. Her new weapon had a broader spearhead that flared out as if someone had chopped off the last foot or so of a sword¡¯s blade and stuck it at the tip of a long shaft. The edges were sharpened until it was likely sharp enough to shave with, and the spearhead itself was clearly designed to be able to deliver hewing cuts on top of thrusts. The addition of a solid metal bar set perpendicular to the shaft that separated the spearhead from the rest of the shaft further reinforced the impression. On the other end of the shaft was a more conventional spearhead, one that looked more like the metal shaft simply tapered into a needle-sharp point. It was roughly two-thirds the length of the bladed spearhead, with a square cross-section to the structure, making it far more solid than what its size would have suggested. The intention of the design was obvious at a glance. The bladed spearhead was meant to be used against smaller enemies where the length of the spearhead was enough to reach something vital, either through a thrust or a hewing cut. The opposite end was to be used when she needed penetration above all else, as its design allowed it to not only go through sturdier materials, but also to a far greater depth. Other than the spear, the new shield she received also differed with the previous one by quite a bit. Shape-wise, the new shield was in the shape of a diamond, with the upper wedge only around a quarter as tall as the lower one. It was shaped out of solid wood, but where the previous shield only had a leather covering with metal on the rims, the new shield had a sheet of metal that completely covered its face and sides. It was notably smaller than her previous kite shield, more like someone had shrunk a kite shield to the size of a long and rather narrow heater shield, all considered. In fact, the metal that covered the rim of the shield formed a solid wedge as well. Clearly whoever designed the shield had taken notice on how often Alissa hit someone using the edge of her shield during the dungeon expedition. Like her spear, it was notably heavier than her previous shield, but the weight felt just right for her current physique. Her falchion had been replaced by a blade that had the same profile and shape but was heavier by around threefold as well. With her newfound strength Alissa found the new blade just as easy to swing as the old one had been, though that feeling was deceptive in a way. She was just stronger and no longer noticed the weight that would have normally made the blade too heavy to even be wielded properly by a person. Similarly, the pack of Jarids she used were replaced by a new set. The quiver for the new set held a dozen of the short throwing spears, all constructed entirely of metal. Their design was still the same, simplistic ones as before, a simple slender cylinder that tapered to a needle point near one end. Alissa rather looked forward to seeing what she could do with those new throwing spears, given her newfound strength. Ethan received an identical set of a dozen Jarids as well. The increased amount was partly because they were now strong enough to not feel burdened at all while carrying the weight on their back, their weapons, and wearing their armor at the same time. Ethan¡¯s shield also received a similar change as hers, though his remained the same size, just with an extra metal plating that covered its face. Normally, a major issue with weapons that were heavier was that their weight would cause their wielders to get dragged along by their momentum. Alissa knew that higher tier people like Sir Inolet partly solved that issue by wearing heavier armor which helped anchor them to the spot, nullifying that particular problem while granting themselves greater protection. Alissa and Ethan weren¡¯t quite that strong yet, however, so instead, Master Utgarth worked an extra enchantment into their armor to dimensionally anchor them. The effect helped achieve the same result as heavier armor, though without the added weight. It was mostly meant as a stopgap measure until they grew strong enough to wear heavier and more protective armors instead. 46 - Fishing for Information ¡°Hyah!¡± The dull sound of metal clashing against each other echoed through the training ground Alissa and Ethan had pretty much claimed as theirs since the beginning of their training in the other world. The two young [Heroes] were locked in mock combat, wearing full armor, just with their weapons wrapped with padding around the parts meant to hit others with. It was far less for their safety and more so that they did not unnecessarily damage their weapon just for training, really. If they accidentally killed each other all it took was a mere ten minutes to [Respawn] once more, but if they were to damage their armor or weapons, that meant at least hours of work for the blacksmiths at the least, and neither of them wanted that. Ethan caught Alissa¡¯s spear mid-swing, hooking the spearhead beneath the axe blade of his pollaxe. His new one was around the same length as the previous one he used, and was of similar design, with the main difference being that the shaft was entirely made of metal this time. The axe and hammerheads were also somewhat heftier, keeping the balance roughly the same as before. Like Alissa, his newfound strength meant that he could wield the hefty weapon with ease, the same way he used his previous one. All it took was a couple hours to get himself acclimated to the new weapon before he swung it around with confidence. In contrast, Alissa took longer to get used to hers, but her weapon also saw more changes. Sir Inolet had taught Alissa more tricks on how to use her spear, given the options that the new design afforded her. Alissa had been practicing them for quite a bit, and it showed. Normally Ethan would have dragged her weapon down with his, but instead, she quickly grabbed the shaft with both hands ¨C the shield on her left hand was strapped to her forearm and short enough that she could hold something with the hand still ¨C and yanked it back violently before Ethan could do so. Ethan was slightly thrown off-balance by the unexpected move and saw how Alissa whirled around as she brought the spiked butt end of her spear in a vicious stab. His own weapon was out of position to parry the blow, so instead he shifted the shield on his left side over to block it. He only managed a rather poor angle to block with, however, and the sharp spike slid along his shield¡¯s face towards his hands instead. Fortunately Ethan managed to shift his grip and used the shaft of his pollaxe to deflect the thrust in time. ¡°You¡¯re getting more used to this,¡± he commented as he shoved away Alissa¡¯s spear and took a step back to recover his own stance. He was rather alarmed by how quickly Alissa had been picking up the tricks that Sir Inolet taught her to use with her new spear. Just prior to the dungeon, during their sparring in that initial month, he always had a clear advantage over her. He still had some advantage over her, at least physically. Alissa has less Body stats compared to him, which meant he was stronger and has more stamina, though her Dexterity matched his since she had some more focus there compared to his own Strength-heavy build. It was her getting truly used to using a weapon that evened the odds between them, though. ¡°Good move, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said Sir Inolet in a rare praise from where he stood by the side. The old knight had re-intensified their training after a couple days of rest, and they were once more settling into the rhythm from the month before the dungeon run. ¡°I see you have been practicing the tricks I¡¯ve shown you. Well done.¡± ¡°Thank you, Sir,¡± replied Alissa as she withdrew her weapon. Both of them were used to it by now. If Sir Inolet was satisfied by their progress and interjected when they were sparring, that meant he was happy and willing to indulge their questions about the world and other things not found in the books. It was a promise the old knight made to motivate the two in their training since he noticed how inquisitive they were. Both Alissa and Ethan agreed to make the most out of those opportunities, both to clear their doubts as well as to simply learn more of the world they were now in. They had naturally done their share of reading in the royal library, but living people at times had things to say that were simply not contained in the books for one reason or another. ¡°In that case, Sir,¡± said Ethan with a toothy grin as he rested his weapon over one shoulder. ¡°Can I ask about the cycle of Heroes and Champions? We¡¯ve read the books about them and got the general gist, but I feel like there¡¯s a lot of things that those books and official records simply glossed over. Things¡­ not suitable for the general public, maybe?¡± ¡°An astute observation,¡± replied the one-eyed old knight with a rare smile. ¡°How did those frocked baldies put it in those books again? ¡®The Blessed Ones shall arrive at our aid on the behest of the Gods in our most troubled times to lead us to a fated victory¡¯ or something like that, wasn¡¯t it? That¡¯s all hogwash for the masses to cling to.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°And what was the reality like, Sir Inolet?¡± asked Alissa, one eyebrow raised with curiosity at the ease with which the old knight admitted that what they read ¨C what the priests preached to the masses ¨C was little more than propaganda at best. ¡°I would assume you said that because you are aware of the truth behind the scenes, yes?¡± ¡°We hid the so-called ¡®truth¡¯ from the masses to keep them from panicking and dooming us, the Humans, as we know it, Miss O¡¯Connor. It wasn¡¯t something that sat right with me, but I understood the logic behind it,¡± admitted the old knight with a rather forlorn tone of voice. ¡°Fact of the matter is, if we allowed the whole truth to circulate amongst the public, then maybe half the population would volunteer to fight and if necessary, die with the Kingdom, but that would be pointless.¡± ¡°Because the other half would get in their way and make their sacrifice useless?¡± asked Ethan, quickly catching on to what Sir Inolet implied. ¡°Precisely so, Mister Greene. The other half would panic and lose their minds. Some might go crazy and kill themselves or those around them. Others would use what they perceived as the little bit of time they had remaining to plunder wildly like bandits,¡± said the old knight as he shook his head. ¡°The Kingdom, nay, Humanity could not afford such discord lest we bring about our own end.¡± ¡°The frocked baldies only mention that the summonings happen two to three times a century, if I remember right?¡± Sir Inolet asked the two, to which they replied with firm nods. ¡°That¡¯s not wrong, but didn¡¯t go into details either. From what I know, the time between summonings varied greatly. Some happened as early as twenty years after the previous summon, while at times it could be eighty to ninety years to the next one. Every summoning period would then trigger the war between us Humans and the Demons, as you¡¯re well aware.¡± ¡°So does that mean¡­ that there were no wars outside those times?¡± Alissa asked with some incredulity. ¡°Nothing of the grand scale, at least. There¡¯s plenty of raids and skirmishes, but in general neither side¡¯s leadership wanted to risk a loss in case a summoning happened in the near future,¡± replied Sir Inolet. ¡°In many ways it has become ingrained into both our cultures that decisive battles should only be pursued in the presence of [Heroes] and [Champions].¡± ¡°When was the last summoning, Sir?¡± asked Ethan respectfully. ¡°And how many summonings are there that you know of?¡± ¡°The last one? That was thirty-eight years ago. I actually fought along the [Heroes] of that era, though I was not one of their companions. I was already in my third tier at the time and was thus ineligible,¡± replied Sir Inolet with some wistfulness in his voice. ¡°As for how many¡­ None of our history texts went that far back, but of the ones we knew of, this should be the eighteenth summoning in the past millennium or so.¡± ¡°Thirty eight years? But I thought you said the King¡¯s grandfather was one of the [Hero¡¯s Companions] of that period? That timeline doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯d match up,¡± said Alissa with some confusion. She knew that the current king was in his mid-forties, with children ranging from the mid-twenties to toddlers. The King¡¯s late Grandfather should have been in his eighties at the least, had he lived to the present day. ¡°Ah, right, you wouldn¡¯t be that familiar with our contemporary history,¡± replied Sir Inolet with an amused chuckle. ¡°The King¡¯s grandfather was at the time known by the moniker of the ¡®Lazy Prince¡¯. He lived a life of indulgence and indolence, with all his siblings generally considering him incompetent and thus not a threat. He was in his late forties with grandchildren of his own when the summoning occurred back then, but was still on his second tier of classes.¡± ¡°Then he forced his way into becoming one of the [Hero¡¯s Companions] I assume?¡± asked Ethan with noticeable interest. ¡°He did just that, yes. He was one of the four [Hero¡¯s Companions] of the time, and the only one to survive the battle. In turn, that status allowed him, who was previously viewed as incompetent to win the struggle for the throne after his father the King of the time died of old age,¡± explained Sir Inolet. ¡°We had needed a boost to morale at the time since the war had ended in our loss despite our having great [Heroes] and the Demons encroached into our original territory for the first time in centuries, so one of the [Hero¡¯s Companions] becoming King was an option too tempting for most to reject.¡± ¡°So it was a gamble on his part, keeping himself ¡®useless¡¯ with low levels in the hopes of a hero summoning to take place before he was too old to participate, huh?¡± muttered Alissa with some surprise. She was surprised at the audacity of the gamble, given its all-or-nothing nature, but she supposed that was the way it goes for royalty who were fighting for the throne. ¡°What do you mean by great [Heroes] though, Sir?¡± ¡°Right, [Heroes] generally come in two kinds. Most commonly, they are like you three. Young people who were summoned from the other world to answer our need,¡± answered Sir Inolet. ¡°Sometimes, however, the summon brought spirits of great heroes long departed to answer our call. We call these the great [Heroes] or [Champions].¡± ¡°Are there¡­ any conditions or rules for their summoning? Do both sides always get them in the same summoning period?¡± ¡°Not that anyone had known of. The chances seemed entirely arbitrary. Sometimes we have them and the Demon¡¯s doesn¡¯t. Sometimes it was the other way around. At times both sides received them, while at other times neither did,¡± replied the old knight honestly as he shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Even now we have no idea what sort of [Champions] the demons had, which was partly the reason we refused to allow you three to go to the frontlines before you¡¯re better prepared. Great [Heroes] and [Champions] are far stronger in the lower tiers, though ones like you often could match them or grow even stronger once you were at the fourth tier.¡± ¡°How¡­ often has those like us beaten these ¡®Great¡¯ [Champions]?¡± Ethan asked with some curiosity as well as a hint of urgency to his voice. ¡°Just curious, honestly,¡± he added, though not even Alissa would have bought that pitiful excuse. ¡°Not often,¡± replied Sir Inolet, who also saw the question for what it was but chose to just let it be. ¡°There was one case where such a victory on our side was recorded in history, and another when the Demons proved themselves victorious in the same way, though that was mostly told as a fable from beyond times we had clear records of, so I could not speak of its veracity. The best we can do is hope that the Demons had not summoned Great [Champions], to be honest.¡± XLVII - Wheres a Box of Oranges when you need one? ¡°There you are,¡± said Esperanza quietly when a slight rustling of the nearby bushes alarmed her of Dali and Gordy¡¯s arrival. She knew by now that they only made the noise to warn her that they were there, as they were capable of rushing through the forest¡¯s underbrush without making any noise, somehow. Even Gordy, with her large size and thick, shaggy fur, somehow weaved through brushes silently when she wanted to. Esperanza quietly slithered down the back of the tree she was perched on, using the bulk of the tree¡¯s trunk to shield her from view, and settled herself next to her waiting pets. As she reached them, she received the feeling that the surviving villagers had been led to safety and hidden by the two, which she rewarded with some scratches to their chins, something both dogs leaned into. ¡°I need the two of you to sneak into the village and take the pendejos in there out, like, real quietly,¡± she told the two dogs. Normally, the idea of talking to animals was something she¡¯d attribute to a pet lover being overly immersed in their pets, as it was not like animals could understand what they said. Her two dogs ¨C if they were even dogs at all underneath that guise ¨C were different though. She could tell that they understood her perfectly. ¡°Can you do it? Real quiet. Don¡¯t let them sound an alarm or make a noise.¡± Both Dali and Gordy nodded to her query, and with [A Glimpse of Understanding] she received a feeling that was almost as if they scoffed at the idea of them having difficulty with that sort of simple task. Normally Esperanza would have taken that sort of confidence as a source of worry, but given what she knew of her pets, if they thought that way, they likely were capable of what they boasted. ¡°Good, then. Dali, you go in from the north. Gordy, you take the south. I¡¯ll take the east myself. Remember, all quiet-like as much as you can. If someone did sound an alarm, then just kill as fast as you can, and don¡¯t harm any villagers, if any are still alive,¡± said Esperanza to her dogs. Once again both of them nodded and sent her a feeling of agreement and understanding. ¡°Good, los, v¨¢monos.¡± Esperanza made good on her words as she snuck towards the eastern side of the village, the side nearest to her. She completely abandoned any pretense of the human shape at that point, using her body¡¯s amorphous qualities to flatten herself into a puddle that slithered over the forest floor, practically covered in its entirety by the underbrush. There were no guards stationed outside the village. Whether she should be thankful for that negligence or if her foes were just overconfident ¨C something that might well be the case, given how nobody in the village likely posed any threat to them ¨C she didn¡¯t know, but either way Esperanza was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She carefully crawled closer towards the village¡¯s palisade and seeped through a still intact section. The broken sections were more likely to be watched, she thought, and she guessed right, as she noticed how there was a sentry looking over a couple broken spots in the palisades not too far from where she squeezed herself through. It was rather convenient to have a lot of eyes one could shift around at will, at times. Contorting her amorphous form, Esperanza quickly linked herself to the underside of one of the nearby houses. From afar and at a glance, people who saw her might only think that she was merely a runoff of water from the house and not take a second look. She used that time to sneakily check her surroundings for other sentries and invaders. Fortunately, the side of the village she was at was rather sparsely guarded. Other than the first sentry she noticed, there were only two others nearby, who were quite far apart and were not in sight of one another. She did have to take care to watch for the larger group of invaders who were still stacking the bodies of the villagers in the middle of the village square though. Probably around half or more of the total invaders were there. Esperanza finally got her chance when the sentry nearest to her position yawned and walked closer in her direction. Given how the man was undoing his pants as he walked, she assumed that he was going to answer nature¡¯s call. She waited until he turned towards the palisade and started doing his business before she wrapped around his head all of a sudden. The man tried to scream, but Esperanza was a good bit stronger than him by that point. She could have quietly suffocated him, but worried that it might take too long, so instead she changed the layer that wrapped the man¡¯s head into a toothy maw and bit down. The headless body then slumped to the ground and ceased moving within moments. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. She repeated the process with the other two guards. By coincidence, she got to see Dali at work when she took care of the guard at the north-east side. Dali was far cleaner and quieter than she was in dealing with his target. From afar she only saw how a dark shape flashed past and the sentry¡¯s head suddenly just toppled off his neck, without making even the slightest sound. Even before the head and body made a sound from hitting the ground, they had been taken away without a sound, as if they were never there to begin with. Gordy¡¯s method of taking care of the sentries on her side was more drastic but just as effective. From afar Esperanza could only see what looked like a dense fog that enveloped an unsuspecting sentry, only to vanish moments later, taking the sentry in question along with it. Not a single sign of the sentry¡¯s existence was left behind, as if they never existed to begin with. In those moments when she caught sight of Dali and Gordy, Esperanza also took a moment to pass orders for them to wait for her near the village square when they were done. By taking care of the sentries alone, they had likely taken care of at least a third or so of the invaders that attacked the village. The larger group at the village square was unlikely to be taken so unawares, though, and Esperanza planned to take them down as fast as she could. As for the enemy [Champion] and their entourage, she planned to leave them for last. Worst case, she¡¯d take on the enemy [Champion] herself. He seemed to have very specialized classes, and the name displayed made her feel like she had seen it somewhere before, but couldn¡¯t recall where. Either way, she got half a dozen levels on him, so that should at least give her some advantage in a fight. And besides, worse comes to worse there¡¯s always [Respawn] to fall back to. Surprisingly, by the time Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy gathered near the village square ¨C they were quite a distance away from each other, but close enough for [A Glimpse of Understanding] to deliver thoughts to ¨C the invaders had yet to notice the disappearance of their sentries. Instead, the ones there just looked utterly bored as they lazily lugged bodies from the surrounding homes and gathered it all in one massive pile. Esperanza did a quick count in her head. The three of them had removed thirteen sentries on their way in. She had personally gotten rid of another four back when she saved the survivors of the village, and there were another five standing far on the western side of the village, including the [Champion]. There were nineteen of the invaders in the village square, carrying corpses around. If she assumed that it was a unit of forty with the [Champion] attached, then all of them were accounted for. She gave the call to strike just as the nineteen were all gathered in the central square, having just finished carrying the corpses of the many villagers. The three of them struck as one, from three different directions, and caught the invaders off-guard with their arrival. By the time the invaders reacted, three heads already rolled as Dali flashed between the three northernmost ones. From the south, Gordy once more assumed the fog-like form Esperanza had seen and directly engulfed another three before they could react. Eseranza herself pounced on two invaders who happened to be standing next to each other even while she formed a hand at the top of one of her appendages and hurled her knife at a third. The knife embedded itself on the invader¡¯s back, the wound unlikely to be a fatal one, but the way the knife started to suck its victim¡¯s blood would make it fatal after a while anyway. As for the two she pounced on directly, Esperanza directly bit off half of one¡¯s head, while she formed another appendage into a large, sharp blade and bisected the other from head to crotch. Both corpses had just hit the ground by the time screams of alarm and fear came from the remaining invaders, but it was a little too late for them to be alarmed by then. Even though the remaining ten drew their weapons, it did not change their fates at all. Dali and Gordy struck them from the sides, even while Esperanza herself pushed against their hastily formed formation from the front relentlessly. She even had the chance to let her dagger feast on a second victim along the way. She quickly learned during the fight that forming one of her limbs into a blade was a good way to distract her opponents. They were ingrained to watch out for weapons, and her bladed limb definitely counted as one. That just left them open to her other limbs, however, which looked more innocuous but were each just as lethal. Dali kept zipping around his opponent and tore chunks off the invader¡¯s body with each pass, despite their best attempt to block or avoid his strikes. It was rather eerie to see his handiwork, the way parts of his target¡¯s body just vanished as if some large, invisible being gouged them out, the cut so clean it looked as if it was done with a precision tool. On the other side, Gordy had re-assumed her more ¡°normal¡± form, using her bulk and power to simply take an enemy down and finish them off with a crunch of her jaws. Despite her bulk, she was deceptively nimble, those enemies who tried to strike at her while she was finishing off their compatriot only succeeding in further maiming their compatriot¡¯s corpse instead. Esperanza herself alternatingly shifted one of her ¡°legs¡± into a bladed limb with which she distracted and threatened her opponents, while her arms were shifted into the long-fingered claws she used before, and her other leg morphed into something closer to a snake¡¯s tail, which she used to prop up her body and keep herself moving ¨C well, slithering ¨C even while the fought with the rest. Her opponents were clearly unused to the way she fought, and before long one of them made a mistake and stumbled into another as he tried to block her bladed limb with his own machete. One of Esperanza¡¯s long-fingered claws struck right at that moment, the slender, too-long fingers wrapping around both invaders and keeping them tied to each other for that moment. Long enough for the tenebrous tongue-like limb she formed within the limb to shoot out from the maw at the palm of the hand and carve its way through both invaders¡¯ torsos and out their backs. Even as she allowed the two still-twitching bodies to slide off her ¡°tongue¡±, Esperanza saw how the [Champion] and his entourage finally began to move. Strangely, they did not seem hurried by the deaths of their compatriots, and if anything, the [Champion] looked at Esperanza with a look that more resembled¡­ excitement? Then she heard the [Champion] speak, and she knew exactly what he had in mind. ¡°Finally¡­ a proper challenge!¡± he had said. Interlude A - The Dog of War S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had never believed in the so-called afterlife he had seen so many of the foreigners preached throughout his life. Much like most other people of his time, he was a believer of the Tngri, and even when old age claimed him in the end of his days, he remained one. As such, it was quite a surprise for him to suddenly wake up after his death, in a body not of his own, in a world also not of his own. On the one hand, he was somewhat disappointed that he would not be watching over his descendants from high above. Some mischievous part of him even thought that he would have pulled off some mischief if that was the case indeed. On the other hand, he found himself incarnated into a new, youthful, and powerful body, with tales told by the people around him of a great war to come where his role would be crucial for them to win. The praise and the thought of going into battle once more greatly pleased him. In his previous life, he had risen from a lowly nomad into one of the most trusted generals of his Khan. He, S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i, son of J?rchig¨¹d?i, together with his older brother Jelme, had served his Khan and the one after him, reaching the highest position of command possible for one not directly related to the Khan by blood. Both friend and foe alike called him one of the Khan¡¯s ¡°Dogs of War¡±, an appellation he embraced and completely lived up to. His prowess on the battlefield was the stuff legends was made of, something he hoped the later generations could learn from. One of his proudest moments was when he broke the backbones of two different enemy armies in two consecutive days that one time, truly a feat which allowed him to revel in pride for once. As for having his soul summoned to a different world, incarnated into a different body, and told he was crucial for the war effort there? That was something he definitely could live with. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i would be lying to himself if he were to say that he did not feel a passion for war. After all, he had fought and led troops in war for the majority of his previous life, even when he had grown old and would have normally set aside such matters in favor of enjoying his final years in peace. Instead, he did lead that one last campaign just the year before he passed away at seventy-two. As such, he had quite gleefully accepted what the natives of this world wanted, namely for him to [Champion] their cause and lead them in war against their hated enemies. There were three others like him that day, supposedly all people who had also left their mark in history and were summoned for the same reason he was. The two women sounded a bit more reluctant at first, but at least seemed curious about the prospect and their new lives after death, while the other man, who introduced himself as a swordsmith, was one of those who were completely absorbed into their own craft. As soon as the natives gave him a forge and a smithy to work in, he was as happy as a child with a new toy. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i could tell that none of them were from the same place he was from. The two women both had names that reminded him of the westerners he fought and crushed during his lifetime, while the blacksmith¡¯s name made him think more of the southerners beyond that wall of theirs. None of that mattered to him. What he did know was that their fates were intertwined together now, and he only hoped that they would not weigh him down when they had to work together. As for the reality of this new world he had been reincarnated to, and the way this ¡°system¡± of theirs worked, he paid little attention, other than knowing that it would allow him to grow stronger, far stronger beyond even his prime years. Even the new body he received was one superior to his old one in almost every way thinkable, other than being rather ugly, but that was something he could care less about. When the natives suggested for him to enter one of these ¡°dungeons¡± where he could hunt down beasts greater than any he had ever seen in his previous life, S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i was all too happy to oblige. He had rejected the offer of having others accompany him, though. He wanted to see for himself what this new body of his was capable of, and thus insisted on hunting on his own. Some of the natives grumbled about companions and whatnot but eventually gave in, as apparently none of the others were as adamant about wishing to hunt on their own, if they even had the thought at all. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Instead he went into the dungeon full of large, fearsome beasts ¨C they resembled great bulls that had a humanlike upper torso and arms attached to where their heads were supposed to be, their heads like a mockery of the human face, adorned with great horns and a wide maw full of sharp teeth ¨C with nothing but a bow, some quivers of arrows, and a machete in his hands. It was a glorious fight, the fearsome beasts proving themselves also capable of wielding weapons as they fought back ferociously against him. More than a few times S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i found himself perishing in the hands of the great beasts, only to return once more after a short while. His weapons shattered early on, and he killed a few of the beasts with his bare hands before claiming their weapons as his to use. In such a manner, he slaughtered the whole forest full of such creatures over a period of two weeks. Given that fighting in such a confined location on foot was completely out of his element ¨C he much preferred fighting on horseback in the open plains ¨C it was a passable performance, he thought to himself. The beasts grew stronger the deeper into the forest he went, but so did he, as he gained ¡°levels¡± and grew ever stronger from slaughtering them. By the time he reached the largest and greatest of the beasts ¨C a behemoth that towered over twice his own not-inconsiderable height ¨C S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had gotten used to how this new world worked. He stashed several sets of weapons near the battlefield before he went in to confront the great beast. Death was nothing for him to fear, and it was with such a mindset that he charged forward with near childlike glee. It took him seven deaths and one before he finally felled the great beast, their battle one fit for the legends. After he felled the beast, he was given a choice of new ¡°classes¡± from the world, and one of the options was a familiar and nostalgic one. It was the title he had won for himself back in his previous life, that of a warrior famed for their prowess in war. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had not needed much thought before he picked up his old title once more, its weight settling on his shoulders like an old friend. He was the [?rl?g Baghatur] once more, and it felt right. After the exhilarating ¨C S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had rarely felt so alive even in his previous life ¨C dungeon run, he returned to the city of the people who brought him to this world to learn that the other three had also succeeded in their attempt, even if it took them longer. Apparently the three had taken a careful, measured approach in contrast to his more straightforward one. The dungeon they went to was further away, though, and it would be days until they returned to the city. As such, to fight off boredom, when there were rumors of a heretic coven found in the wilderness and the team assigned to cleanse it invited him to tag along, S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had accepted the invitation. Little did he expect that the mission was just one of even more boredom. It had not taken them long to discover the heretics, the one who had been caught by patrolling rangers freely squealing the whereabouts of the rest of his group. At a glance, the fight would have seemed to be a rather lopsided one, to boot, with forty of the rangers and soldiers on one side and well over three times their numbers in heretics on the other side. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i found it all to be a distasteful joke, however. One of his early skills was one called [Eyes of the Eagle], which allowed him to see things clearly even at distances where it should have been impossible. As such, he had seen the reality of the village from afar, and saw that practically none of the villagers had a dedicated combat class, as per the parlance used by the natives. They never stood even the slightest chance against the rangers and soldiers that accompanied him. He also noticed that the ones most fervent about hunting down these ¡°Heretics¡± were the noble scions who had invited him in the first place. While the people who summoned him did not have the same idea of nobility as his previous world, where birth determined one¡¯s status, and instead chose talented children to carry on their house¡¯s line even if they weren¡¯t their own, many of the conventions still applied. For what it was worth, one of the five noble scions earned a notch of respect from S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i when he too balked at the idea of slaughtering defenseless women and children just for the sake of some doctrine. There was no honor in such slaughter, something both of them could agree on. While S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i himself had perpetrated greater massacres in the past, those always had a purpose behind it. He never slaughtered merely for fun, something he noticed the other four noble scions had sunk to. For that, the four of them earned only his disdain. In the end, he did nothing but watch, and offered silent prayers for the souls of the dead. The scion who had shared his thoughts stayed with him, together with three of his personal guards, some of the strongest in their group of forty. Their presence was unnecessary, as while the village had several fourth tiers, none of them were of the combative sort and as such never stood a chance against the trained rangers and soldiers. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i only shook his head when the four scions took off in pursuit of a group of escaping citizens, mostly children and a couple youths, escorted by some of the village¡¯s best. He knew that what awaited them was only a cruel fate, and it was one he had no wish to partake in, not even in sight. He only shook his head in disappointment when the four did not return after a while, probably too engrossed in their cruel game with the escapees. So it was with surprise when he saw three fearsome creatures charging at the group of soldiers he had tasked to gather the corpses ¨C he thought the least he could do was to give them a proper burial ¨C and started to slaughter them. He raised one arm to halt the four still with him, and only watched as the three creatures ¨C two of which at times appeared almost canine in nature ¨C tore apart the majority of their group with just the three of them. A smile graced his lips when he saw the creature at the center assume a vaguely feminine humanoid form, albeit one like those from nightmares, with features that appeared to mock the idea of a human and far too many eyes and toothy maws all over its shape. Despite the creature¡¯s fearsome appearance, S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i strode forward with a smile as he unlimbered the bow slung across his back and held it firmly. Meeting some of the creature¡¯s eyes with his own, he solemnly intoned, ¡°Finally¡­ a proper challenge!¡± 48 - Bonding and Relations ¡°We greet Your Royal Highness the Fifth Princess,¡± intoned most everyone in the room with a respectful bow when the Fifth Princess entered. Alissa was the only exception as she only offered a nod instead, something she could afford to do since she was a [Hero] and thus was not subject to the crown. In fact, according to precedent [Heroes] of the past were considered a higher authority than even the King or the High Priest, though in practice that might not be the case. Alissa happened to be talking with the rest of the [Companions] and [Associates] in an attempt to find some information from them about the world. In order to do that, she decided to try to make them feel comfortable with her, as people might let things slip in idle talk amongst friends they would normally keep guarded instead. Ethan had still thought that she was a bit paranoid, but had not disagreed on principle either, as he was at the moment trying to find out more about Joshua¡¯s situation instead. The Fifth Princess, together with the two Royal Guards Osmond and Glenn who were still a touch away from their third tier, had been the only ones missing from their little gathering. Moira, Bronwen, Benedictus, Leda, Maribel, and even Silvia, who had only acquired her third-tier class as a [Courageous Spear of Faith] was present. ¡°Please, just call me Nadine,¡± said the Fifth princess, who brought Osmond and Glenn with her. The three of them still had some sweat on their forehead that signified that they had recently exerted themselves, likely killing some wild beasts or the likes to get the last two Royal Guards to their third tier as well, Alissa thought. ¡°We will be compatriots from here onwards, so we should do away with the formality, I believe.¡± ¡°If you say so, your- Nadine,¡± said Bronwen with some discomfort. As subjects of the Kingdom, most of them were still uncomfortable with the idea of addressing one of the royalty by their names. Not even their newfound status as [Hero¡¯s Companions] and [Hero¡¯s Associates] helped against that ingrained habit. Of course, Alissa had no such habits to begin with. ¡°Right, then, Nadine. I assume you came to join us after getting those two their new classes?¡± she asked openly. ¡°That is so, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± replied the Fifth Princess with a graceful nod and a smile as she seated herself on one of the empty seats on the table. Moira quickly poured some wine into a glass for her, which the Fifth Princess took without preamble, drinking deep and giving a satisfied sigh before she continued. ¡°I¡¯ll let them introduce themselves, since we¡¯ll all be working together from now on.¡± ¡°I am Osmond de Jardine, fifth son of Marquis de Jardine. I have been honored with the class of [Hero¡¯s Associate: Sharp-Eyed Royal Marksman],¡± said the taller and thinner of the two Royal Guards behind the princess as he swooped into a courtly bow. Alissa noted the longbow the man had slung behind his back, and nodded in return to his greeting. ¡°Enchanted to be in such august company.¡± ¡°Glenn of Greenville. I am a [Hero¡¯s Associate: Sturdy Royal Bulwark],¡± said the other. From the way he said his name, Alissa guessed that the shorter, stouter Royal Guard was likely a commoner who fought his way to the position. His class was pretty self-explanatory since the man carried a large tower shield as tall as he was behind his back, clearly a more defensive oriented one. ¡°I look forward to serving my purpose.¡± ¡°Huh. This turned out to be a pretty balanced party overall, other than being a bit heavier on the melee side, I guess,¡± said Alissa after some considerations of their little group of twelve, the nine [Companions] and [Associates] together with the three of them. ¡°I guess we¡¯re a touch low on healers, but one¡¯s better than nothing.¡± ¡°I would have found it ideal if we could have another mage or two, but alas, none of the mage tower¡¯s younger disciples were promising enough to warrant a chance to be a [Companion] or [Associate],¡± said Nadine in reaction to Alissa¡¯s words. ¡°But such are the cards we were dealt, so we could only make the best hand out of what we have. I also think you¡¯re slightly mistaken, Miss O¡¯Connor. Our fellow [Companion] Miss Bronwen also possesses some healing capabilities, does she not?¡± ¡°My skills in the healing arts are very minor, Your Highness. I do not feel it was worth mentioning,¡± said Bronwen humbly. While it was most commonly [Priests] who trained in healing skills, even the [Temple Guards] had several who learned such skills as well, often acting as combat medics for their teams. ¡°I only dabbled slightly in the arts, certainly incomparable to Sister Leda¡¯s skills, much less now that she had attained new heights in it with the aid of her new class.¡± ¡°Even a trickle is better than nothing, as they say. We might not always have Leda free to heal us at critical moments, so every little bit would help,¡± said the Fifth Princess openly. ¡°Although given our solid frontline, I guess we would hopefully have less need of healing in our future endeavors.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Their little group of twelve had three people focused on defense, namely Ethan, Bronwen, and Glenn. Between the three of them holding the front with the rest of the group striking from behind or the sides while supporting them, it made for a solid tactic for their small team to base themselves around, at the very least. While they only had two people who were dedicated to ranged combat, most everyone else had some capability in that regard, so it was not exactly a deficit in their team. If anything, the lack of healers that Alissa mentioned was indeed their biggest issue, further exacerbated by the missing fourth [Hero], who usually started out as one. She, Ethan, and Joshua could fight without worrying for their lives, but the same could not be said about the rest of their group. Even then, death was not their main worry. Sir Inolet had warned them from long ago that no matter what, they should not allow themselves to be captured, since that was what the demons would try once they recognized them as [Heroes]. At first Alissa thought the idea was a strange one, but then she realized that since they could not be killed permanently, then capturing them and keeping them locked up, unable to grow stronger, would indeed be a more effective way to cripple the other side. Sir Inolet had also admitted one other fact, namely that the ritual to send the [Heroes] back to where they came from needed sacrifice to fuel it. And that sacrifice was the other side¡¯s summoned [Champions]. In a way, it was almost as if the scenario was set up specifically to pit the [Heroes] and the [Champions] against each other. Both sides wanted to take the other side down, as they were the only way for them to return home, assuming that what they were being told was the truth. Given how both [Heroes] and [Champions] would almost certainly grow stronger than what any of the natives could even dream of, the final battles would likely also revolve around them, primarily. Alissa naturally found some oddities with the proposed scenario. Namely questions like why had no [Hero] or [Champion] stayed after their victory and led their side to total domination over the world. While most of them would have probably jumped at the chance to return home, she was certain some would have probably chosen to stay. Hell, she could even see Ethan choosing to stay if he was given such a choice. None of the books she mentioned explained that doubt of hers. Naturally, the losers had no say in the issue since they would be sacrificed to send the winners home, but out of dozens of batches of summoned people, not a single one chose to stay? That sounded suspicious to her, to say the least. It was not exactly a question she could ask the other natives either, since they would lack the mentality to get where she was pointing at, so it was another topic to broach with Ethan the next time they managed to secure some privacy around themselves. Hell, she would have liked to include Joshua in their discussions too, given how they were all in the same boat, but the way he mostly stuck with his mentor and the priestesses from the temple made meeting him privately more difficult. In fact, Alissa was uncertain if she could even trust him with the doubts she was having. Her new skill was what she relied on to get a brief moment of privacy with Ethan, at times in plain sight of others. She had basically confirmed that she was practically undetectable to most ¨C other than some senior mages ¨C while she was in the shadow, and similarly, while some mages might be able to detect her presence in the shadow, they could not tell with any clarity what she was doing in there. When she told Sir Inolet that she could bring others with her into the shadows, he insisted that she practice the ability as much as she could, given its tactical value. It was as she had expected out of the old knight, and given her status, Ethan was naturally her most frequent practice partner. Those brief moments they spent hidden in her shadows were times they could communicate with each other more openly, without fear of eavesdroppers listening in. So far, she had only shown the skill¡¯s ability to hide herself and one other for up to fifteen seconds, without moving. She also hinted that she had the feeling that given some effort, she might be able to prolong the duration or to move slowly while using the skill, to help explain for any future discrepancies. It was not foolproof, but given that she had leveled [Walk in the Shadows] to level 3 so far, she could also explain any discrepancies as additions she gained on leveling the skill. For once, she was thankful for the local tradition that made sharing of status screens past the first tier a taboo outside of people one really trusted. The logic behind the tradition was that those people still in the first tier needed guidance, since they were predominantly children, with [Heroes] as the exception, while those of higher tiers were advised to keep the exact details of their skills a secret from most. Because if someone were to know another¡¯s detailed status, it made it easier to devise a method to counter them. Probably the [For Your Eyes Only] skill Alissa received was taking those traditions into consideration as well, because while the skill protected her from [Analysis] and its ilk, a detailed check of her status screen would have likely exposed her true class regardless. After all, she doubted the skills she would gain as a [Truthseeker] would even be remotely similar to those a [Consecrated Warrior] would have. In fact, she could pass as one mostly thanks to how each person tends to have different skillsets, even if they were of the same class as another. One¡¯s experiences and past, together with the feats they had accumulated, all combined together with one¡¯s present actions and what they perceived to be their greatest need to form the skills they would receive. It also helped that the Discretion of the South had turned out to be the [Hero] of her generation, so it was not even considered to be an oddity for any subsequent [Hero] to walk a shadowy path. Either way, Alissa knew that if she persisted in attempting to dig out the truth beneath the¡­ likely facade that was presented to them, chances were that she would likely run afoul of those interested in keeping the facade up, assuming it was one to begin with. She would likely need to have a lot more power to stand a chance by then, so there was no reason not to try to build a bond with her teammates for now, strengthening herself in yet another way. XLIX - A Fight Between Equals(?) ¡°Dali, Gordy, take care of the other four,¡± commanded Esperanza under her breath. She had not grown complacent over her success of having taken down most of the invaders in the village, as the strongest ones were still before her. Also, these five were not caught unprepared without their weapons in hand like the rest, which made for a lot of difference. In retrospect, it was a good thing that the [Champion] looked like he wished to fight her personally, which left his four cronies to Dali and Gordy. While either of her dogs could make short work of surprised opponents a whole tier above them ¨C much like herself ¨C the tables might not be so easy to turn against skilled, prepared, and armed opponents that outnumbered them two to one. Not like Esperanza had much choice, though, so she could only hope for the best at the moment. She had adapted a more humanoid guise for herself at the moment, keeping her arms in the form of long-fingered claws with toothy maws opening on the center of her palms. She kept one of her legs as a bladed limb that swung to and fro behind her torso like a deadly tail, while her other leg took on a serpentine shape which allowed her to move every which way with great impunity and speed. Two of her eyes as well as one maw were positioned at her ¡°head¡± and gave her face a more human-like look, though the multitude of other eyes and maws all over her figure betrayed that impression immediately. She must have looked like some abomination from hell itself, but her opponent had not flinched even the slightest bit as he locked eyes with her and gave what looked like a respectful nod. He allowed his arrows to do the talking for him right after that nod, though. Esperanza couldn¡¯t even begrudge her opponent for his excellent aim. The [Champion] had taken an arrow from the quiver hanging from his waist, nocked it onto the string of his bow, drew the bow to its full draw length, and loosed the arrow all in one smooth motion that had barely taken longer than the blink of an eye to complete. She couldn¡¯t even react until the arrow had already pierced through her body. The arrow went right through her right eye, the shot forceful enough that the projectile even came halfway out from the back of her head. It was an excellent shot, especially given the speed it was performed at, and would have been fatal to most things, as the eye usually allows for a channel straight to the brain for most creatures. Esperanza was not one such ¡°creature¡±, however. While she did not have even the slightest inkling how her body¡¯s biology even functioned, or for that matter, whether it made any sense at all, she knew that her amorphous form was extremely resilient to damage, and that she had only ever ¡°died¡± when she took damage to the point that her body¡¯s monstrous constitution couldn¡¯t sustain her life any further. That, and the helpful fact that there was no such thing as a ¡°vital¡± organ to her body. No convenient, glaring weak point that flashed red for some heroic wannabe to prod in order to defeat her. No, the only real way to ¡°kill¡± Esperanza ¨C as she learned painfully from experience ¨C was to damage her body so much until it couldn¡¯t keep up with its innate recovery, usually by way of tearing her apart into many small pieces. The only reason she had died so easily back at the temple was because she was still level 1 at that time, really. That had not been the case for months, now. All that the arrow really did was to snap her head back from the force, along with a now all too familiar sting of pain. The arrow did achieve some effect, though, in that it had effectively destroyed the eye it pierced and prevented Esperanza from seeing through it. Not that it mattered that much when she had dozens more all over her form anyway. When her opponent saw her slither closer at alarming speed, his face mostly remained stoic, though the corners of his lips started to curl upwards into a slight grin. Unperturbed by either the ineffectiveness of his first shot or of Esperanza¡¯s inhuman method of locomotion, he repeated the previous practiced motions, and loosed more arrows towards her with absurd speed. He managed to fire four more arrows towards her in the time it took her to slither her way into melee range, and despite her efforts at evasion, he landed every single one of his shots unerringly. Three of the arrows went through another three of Esperanza¡¯s eyes, while another pierced through one of her maws, directly through its center. Even when she closed the distance, he had not panicked in the least. Instead, the [Champion] calmly unsheathed the large machete ¨C more like a large, thick saber than a machete given its length, really ¨C from his waist and met both her claws and bladed limb calmly, using the bow he still held in his other hand to swat her strikes aside with practiced ease as well. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. One of Esperanza¡¯s claws ran through and snapped the bow¡¯s string, which caused it to straighten into more of a concavely curved stick, but if that bothered her opponent, he showed not a single sign of it on his nearly expressionless face. In fact, he used the bow even more deftly to turn her strikes aside, while he placed his own carefully measured strikes with the machete in his other hand. It had not taken more than a few clashes before Esperanza realized that she was the one at a disadvantage in that duel. Despite her higher level, her opponent was clearly a warrior-type that focused heavily on his Body over the Mind and Soul. Since her own stat focus was heavier on the Soul, she was naturally at a disadvantage against him in a physical duel like this. Calling her dogs to help was not an option, as the two of them were tangled in a vicious fight of their own against the remaining four invaders, though a glimpse behind her with one of her intact eyes allowed Esperanza to see another option. She split off two fingers from her right ¡°hand¡± and reformed them into a three-fingered fist before she pulled her knife back towards her, wielding it with that new limb. Increasing the amount of limbs she could threaten her opponent with from four to five ¨C she had used her serpentine appendage to try to sweep his legs a couple times, though her attempts only earned her a couple of wounds from his retaliation ¨C helped throw her opponent off balance for a while, but it had not taken long before he regained control over the fight. His superior skill and experience gave him the upper hand over her more instinctual fighting method, and soon she was pressed hard once more by her opponent. It was only then that Esperanza belatedly realized that since her opponent was clearly focused on his Body, then his defenses on both the Mind and Soul aspects should be much worse. She immediately tried to conjure a [Soul Bolt] to strike him with, but her opponent seemed to have sensed the danger and immediately struck ferociously, breaking her concentration and causing her attempt to fail. Of course, that wasn¡¯t enough for Esperanza to give up on the attempt. She tried to regather her focus to conjure another [Soul Bolt] into existence right away. Yet it was almost as if her opponent had a sixth sense for danger, as another sharp and vicious strike from his machete scored through her flesh and broke her concentration right away, even though he had to take a slight cut from her claws at the same time. He clearly could tell that she was preparing something that would be more dangerous to him than the injury he would have taken in his attempt to break her concentration, and made the choice without any hesitation. Clearly a very experienced warrior, rather fitting for a ¡°heroic spirit¡± supposedly summoned from the past. He clearly had a lifetime of experience over her, and it showed. Under her opponent¡¯s vicious strikes and his willingness to at times take a minor injury in order to land a more severe one on her, Esperanza was quickly pushed on the backfoot. Despite her possessing [Respawn], she was worried about the children that might still be hiding in the village, and above all, the survivors who were not that far away. If she were to perish, many things could happen in the ten minutes it would take for her to return. For her opponent to find and slaughter the survivors she saved in such a short amount of time was an unlikely probability, sure, but it was still a probability she refused to entertain regardless, no matter how remote the actual odds might have been. That left her no choice but to win the fight she was entangled in somehow, despite all her disadvantages. One quick glance from one of her remaining eyes ¨C her opponent had damaged nearly a dozen of her eyes to the point of uselessness, correctly inferring that her defenses would naturally be weaker on those spots ¨C told her that Dali and Gordita were still locked in a bloody struggle against the remaining four warriors. While one of the warriors was limping and bleeding pretty badly from several places where the flesh had been gouged off his body, both of her dogs were also injured, blood tainting their once-pristine fur coats. Two of the still-healthy warriors seemed to have a skill that allowed them to envelop their long spear in some sort of aura that in turn allowed them to injure Gordy even in her mist-like form, which was part of how they managed to keep the fight so evenly. Another of the warriors repeatedly blocked Dali¡¯s attacks with a large and sturdy shield. During the continued struggle against her opponent, Esperanza finally managed to form a [Soul Bolt], albeit a light one charged with only one soul instead of the three that was her current limit. Yet when she fired it, it was as if her opponent could see the intangible projectile coming as he deftly twisted his torso in an exaggerated manner to avoid it. Clearly her attempts weren¡¯t working out. Esperanza needed a way to keep her opponent immobilized, if only briefly, to have any chance of winning. He had deftly avoided every single one of her attacks that was even remotely threatening so far, almost in an instinctive manner, while allowing for blows that were nothing more than minor flesh wounds to land without even blinking an eye. It was only when she was pushed so far that Esperanza finally recalled that she had one more option she had yet to try so far. It was not exactly a skill, but the side effect of one of her skills, a side effect that she had forcefully suppressed because of its drawbacks for months by now. The insanity-inducing side effect from [Far Down the Deep End]. Esperanza had kept that side effect suppressed using her [Aura Control] because of its tendency to drive her prey running madly during her days of hunting deep within the forest. Then when she ran into the villagers from Navef, she naturally kept it firmly suppressed at all times, not wishing to take chances on their well-being. Now, however, there were no living villagers in eyesight, only the invaders, her dogs, and herself. Even as her opponent pressed on with his offense once more, Esperanza manipulated her [Aura Control]. She stopped suppressing [Far Down the Deep End] and instead did the opposite, as she used her control over her aura to amplify the effect it generated over her surroundings. The results were immediately visible. Her opponent the [Champion]¡¯s face visibly scrunched up in pain and discomfort for the first time in their battle, and his movements halted for that brief moment. From where her pets were fighting, Esperanza heard more screams of pain and agony, and the sound of someone yelling out all sorts of gibberish that not even her skill could translate. Esperanza ignored all those, as she focused on conjuring a [Soul Bolt] that was as strong as she could create and launched it at her stunned opponent using the opening. She just hoped that if there were still children hiding in the village, none of them happened to be looking at the fight. L - A Hard-Earned Triumph The effect of the [Soul Bolt]¡¯s hit was better than Esperanza expected. Her opponent, the [Champion], staggered in pain once more, as if he struggled to stay on his foot. The strike he performed towards her with his machete was a clumsy one ¨C at least compared to the previous vicious, well-aimed blows ¨C that was nothing like what he had done so far. Esperanza deftly avoided the blow even as she condensed another pair of [Soul Bolt]s right next to her hands. Instead of shooting them at her opponent, she directly slammed them into him, which caused him to jerk wildly in pain and agony briefly. That also gave her the chance to grab his wrists with her own hands, the overlong fingers circling around his forearms while the maws bit into them. Then she allowed the tongues within to shoot out into her opponent¡¯s arms. The tenebrous limbs acted almost like they were oversized parasites as they burrowed their way through the [Champion]¡¯s large arms, the path they took as they circled around his bones and dug into the flesh of his arm bulging outwards rather grotesquely. That move alone should have practically won the battle for Esperanza, but she refused to take it for granted given the sort of opponent she was facing, and lashed her bladed limb into his abdomen as well. From there, she manipulated the limb to split into many smaller ones that indiscriminately tried to cut or gnaw into whatever was around it ¨C there were too many offshoots for her to control properly ¨C in the hopes of hitting some vital organ or the likes. At around the same time, her ¡°tongues¡± burst out from the flesh near the [Champion]¡¯s shoulders, having found the shoulder bones as an obstruction on their path. Those ¡°tongues¡± were normally kept coiled tightly within her own limbs, taut almost like a spring, which was what gave them the brutal force they had when she ¡°launched¡± them from their hiding spot inside the maws. At that point, they had pretty much expended the momentum they had from their launch, and could only grind their way forward one bite at a time. Undeterred, she still manipulated them and had them strike at her opponent¡¯s head, right from the ear canals, where they immediately began to dig their way in. Her opponent convulsed and screamed in agony all that while, but Esperanza hardened her thoughts and just kept going, knowing that it was not her life that was at stake should she fail. If saving some of the village¡¯s children meant gruesomely murdering a man in horrible ways, then so be it. She still felt little attachment to herself at times, probably helped by how death was no longer an issue for her, but she noticed that sometimes her new body seemed to have a bit of influence on her thoughts. It sometimes made her ravenous with hunger ¨C usually when she had neglected herself a bit too long and forgot to eat ¨C while at other times, made her fight all the more desperately. She herself might lack such a will, but her body at the very least still had a very instinctual will to survive, come what may. The [Champion]¡¯s body was hard. Even the parts that should have been less durable like the insides of his ear canals was as tough as hard leather as her tenebrous limbs tried to chew their way inside, while her ¡°hands¡± kept her opponent¡¯s weapons held in place, the heavy injury impeding his ability to fight back. Between them and the bladed limb making mincemeat out of her opponent¡¯s innards, Esperanza was relatively certain that her winning was mostly a matter of time, though she was not stupid enough to relax until the notification arrived. A quick glance from one of her eyes on the side of her body allowed her to take a glimpse of the situation at Dali and Gordy¡¯s side. She still had her aura amplified at full bore, and it had severely impacted three of their four opponents. The already injured one was rolling on the ground like a madman, thick blood spilling out freely from all the orifices on his face. At a glance it looked as if he had gouged his own eyes out. Neither of her dogs paid attention to that one. Instead they focused their efforts on the other three. Two of those were impacted by Esperanza¡¯s [Far Down the Deep End] as well, if less severely. It still caused them to momentarily lapse in the fight, though, and that was all the opening her companions needed to take them down. One of the two was down, unable to stand as the backs of his ankles had been torn off by Dali. The other was left as a torso with all his limbs and even his head nowhere to be seen, only bloody stumps left behind. Her two dogs worked together and made short work of their last opponent. Dali used his speed to keep the enemy¡¯s attention locked to him, which in turn gave Gordy an opening which she took. Her bulky form barreled down her opponent to the ground, and from there, it was a matter of a single bite of her large, toothy maw to the enemy¡¯s throat to end the struggle. In the meantime Dali finished off the crippled one with one more bite to the back of his throat. Just at that time, Esperanza¡¯s own efforts finally bore fruit, as the tenebrous tongues finally gnawed their way into her opponent¡¯s skull, where they immediately started to gorge themselves on the [Champion]¡¯s brain. She herself felt a juxtaposition of feeling at the moment. Part of her wanted to throw up on the spot at the whole idea of eating her opponent alive, brain-first, while another, more animalistic part rejoiced at the feasting, at the imminent end to this one tough prey. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. When the notification blissfully arrived at last, Esperanza skimmed through most of it to reach the most important parts further below. You have defeated [Orphan Lvl20/Soldier lvl 19] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself! . . . . . Class Skill [Gauze of Oblivion] has leveled to level 6! . . . . You have leveled to level 9! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained! . . . . Class Skill [Flesh is But A Vessel] has leveled to level 5! . . . . [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Wemromyu]! 420/2000 Your companions have defeated [Guard¡¯s Child Lvl20/Shieldbearer Lvl20/Bulwark of Ner¡¯vhok Lvl7] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Hagen¡¯Zvar]! 421/2000 You have defeated [Shaman¡¯s Child Lvl20/Berserker Lvl20/Mindless Carnage Lvl7] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Alivyi]! 422/2000 Your Companions have defeated [Nobleblood Lvl20/WarriorLvl20/Young Chieftain Lvl 10] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Nogk Hadar-Evalur]! 423/2000 Your companions have defeated [Soldier¡¯s Child Lvl20/Spearman Lvl20/Spear of Ner¡¯vhok Lvl9] You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher tier than yourself! [Soul Storage] has secured [Soul of Ava-Ilaev]! 424/2000 You have defeated [Champion of Ner¡¯vhok: S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i Lvl20/?rl?g Baghatur Lvl2] You have gained less experience for defeating an enemy of a lower level than yourself! You have gained bonus experience for defeating a chosen of the gods! You have leveled to level 10! +2 Free Major stat points gained! +1 Constitution Gained, +3 Wisdom Gained, -2 Sanity Gained! [Soul Storage] has failed to secure the soul of your opponent! ERROR! Conflict with higher grade skill! Soul impossible to secure! Class Skill [Shepherd of the Lost] has leveled to level 3! Class Skill [Shifting Guise] has leveled to level 10! Class Skill [Shifting Guise] Evolved into [A Mask to Don]! General Skill [Aura Control[ has leveled to level 10! General Skill [Aura Control] Evolved into [Aura Mastery]! The barrage of notifications was¡­ informative, to say the least. For one, it made Esperanza both breathe a sigh in relief as well as feel a chill up her back when she realized that she had not only claimed the souls of just about every single one of the invaders ¨C minus the [Champion] ¨C but also the souls of the over a hundred dead villagers, which her [Soul Storage] did automatically when she passed by the pile of corpses. Apparently they were considered ¡°fresh¡± enough for it to still claim their souls. At least she kept the presence of mind to keep those souls sequestered to one side of the storage, where they would be safe and wouldn¡¯t get used up in a [Soul Bolt] by accident or the likes. She was more ambivalent on how to treat the forty-something souls of the invaders she had acquired, but after some thought also kept them apart from the rest, resolving to only use the monster and animal souls for skills that needed to consume some, as far as she could help it. Still, a couple was already accidentally used up in her fight against the [Champion], but she was past regretting that anyway. The first thing she did after the fighting died down was to collect the armor and weapons that the [Champion] had used. His body had dissolved into particles of light shortly after his death, though curiously enough the blood he already spilled on the ground had not disappeared along with it. Nor could Esperanza feel the bits already consumed by her disappearing that way. Several of her skills had leveled, with a couple even evolving, but Esperanza ignored them for the time being, her focus set on helping her pets gather up the still usable weapons and other valuables that the dead invaders had. It took them a while to gather the items just from those near them, and before they knew it, nearly ten minutes had passed. Esperanza was instantly alerted when the [Champion] manifested once more on the spot she killed him at. Fortunately, he seemed groggy and uncertain of his bearings when he came to be, and to top it off, he was naked and unarmed. On the other hand, Esperanza and both her dogs were right next to the spot, and together they struck before he could regain his bearings. While a one-on-one duel against a forewarned and armed [Champion] was a hard fight, it was a different case when it was an ambush of three against one, while the one was naked and unarmed to boot. Esperanza and her dogs made very short work of the [Respawn]ing [Champion], killing him off in moments, at which point his body vanished into particles of light once more. You have defeated [Champion of Ner¡¯vhok: S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i Lvl20/?rl?g Baghatur Lvl2] You cannot receive experience twice from a chosen of the gods until they have leveled up! No experience is received. The notification she received showed that apparently whoever set the system up had thought of the loophole Esperanza had wondered about. If a [Champion] could only give experience once to the same person until they leveled up, she guessed they wouldn¡¯t be able to just kill each other until they hit the level cap after all. Then again, that sort of idea likely had other detriments as well, on top of being impossible in practice. Satisfied that the [Champion], even if he were to [Respawn] once more, was no longer a threat, Esperanza finally switched her [Aura Mastery] to once again suppress the effect from [Far Down the Deep End]. The control came far easier to her compared to before, likely an effect of her skill¡¯s evolution. Once she was certain that she no longer posed a threat to the sanity of those who beheld her ¨C and she shifted back to her more familiar humanoid form to boot ¨C she sent Dali off to scout around the village to see if he could find the hideouts. Dali returned to her within a couple minutes and reported the position of three places that looked to be hideouts, though not ones he could open. Esperanza nodded at his report and went off to those hideouts, while leaving Dali and Gordy to watch over the spot the [Champion] had already died twice on so far. She hoped that he wouldn¡¯t be so stubborn to try [Respawn] again, but better safe than sorry. The angry barking of the dogs followed by a scream of pain that ended on a crunch of bones breaking shortly as she left proved that he was indeed a stubborn one. LI - Saving the Seedlings of a New Generation Esperanza breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the first hideout ¨C it was behind a cleverly hidden trapdoor that the invaders had yet to find, and that she only found thanks to Dali¡¯s directions ¨C and saw a quartet of young, cowering children within. They were alive and in good health, just scared, as the tears on their innocent eyes displayed. She also understood why the villagers had not attempted to evacuate these children with the rest, as they were too young to be able to run quickly with the rest. Your companions have defeated [Champion of Ner¡¯vhok: S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i Lvl20/?rl?g Baghatur Lvl2] You cannot receive experience twice from a chosen of the gods until they have leveled up! No experience is received. Another notification barged into her sight as she was trying to open the second hideout ¨C this one had its entrance so well-secured that even she struggled to open it from the outside ¨C showing just how stubborn the [Champion] had been, though at this point all that stubbornness only resulted in some exercise for her dogs, so she ignored it with a shake of her head. She finally managed to pry open the hidden trapdoor by literally tearing it off its hinges, which elicited squeals and cries of fear from the children inside, which only subsided after they got a good look at her visage in the dim lighting of the house. There were another six children in that hideout, three were mere toddlers while the oldest one couldn¡¯t have been more than six years of age or so. That the oldest boy? ¨C girl? The child was one from the same tribe as Avalanusi and Esperanza still had difficulty differentiating between the males and females of that tribe ¨C stood protectively over the rest made her smile sadly, as she gently rubbed the brave child¡¯s head with one hand and brought them into a warm hug. It was only at that point that the child broke down in tears. ¡°There, there¡­ you did good¡­ what¡¯s your name?¡± asked Esperanza as she carefully cradled the child while helping usher the other younger ones out of the hideout to join the four already following her. The younger children were clearly somewhat afraid of her ¨C it was usually the older ones who came to play at her place ¨C but they followed her lead in the end. ¡°I- Ilavakide,¡± said the young child, identifying herself as a girl, if Esperanza remembered the way their tribe named their children right. ¡°Okay, then, Ilava. I want you to lead the others and follow behind me, can you do that?¡± she asked once more, in a calming voice. Esperanza has taken care to take a route where the village square ¨C and the pile of the corpses which most certainly included the parents of these children ¨C were covered from sight by other buildings in the way. ¡°We still have a few more friends to find.¡± ¡°O-okay,¡± said the young girl as she nodded and wiped her tears off with a fur-covered arm. ¡°Muy bien,¡± replied Esperanza with another smile ¨C she hoped it was a reassuring one, as she at least tried to give one such, though it was hard to tell given her current body ¨C to calm the kid. The way the child seemed to have buckled up and stood taller as she went over to the rest of the gaggle of children instead of crying seemed to indicate that her effort worked to an extent. She brought them behind her, firmly warning them to keep their eyes on her to prevent them from seeing the pile of corpses, and tried to keep them occupied. It would have been easier with Dali and Gordy around, but she had them camp out the place where the [Champion] would [Respawn] to if he proved that stubborn, and couldn¡¯t afford to have them leave just yet. Fortunately the third hideout was not far from the second one. It was underneath one of the raised houses, carefully hidden in the ground beneath. Esperanza had to click her tongue in some amazement at the way the trapdoor¡¯s outer side seemed to have merged with the ground around it. Probably some sort of illusionary enchantment or skill at work. There were three more children inside there, who looked to be siblings, the oldest looking slightly older than Ilava by a year or two, though saddled with an infant and a young toddler beside him. He took Esperanza¡¯s hand as she helped him out of the hideout ¨C little more than a pit in the ground that was isolated and hidden from the outside while still allowing air to circulate ¨C and brought him and his siblings to the rest of the kids. With no other hideouts reported by Dali ¨C and a rough headcount in her head also confirming that just about everyone had been accounted for, from the number of souls she received off the pile ¨C Esperanza brought the gaggle of children towards the outskirts of the village, the way she came in. It had already been past the time the [Champion] should have [Respawn]ed on if he remained stubborn, so it appeared that he had let go of the matter at last. Whistling shrilly, she called for Dali and Gordy to come to her. Both of the dogs reached her within a minute, and she ordered them to guard the children while she left towards the center of the village, where most of the carnage had taken place. She knew that it was probably folly, and she did not have that much free time, but she felt wrong just leaving the bodies of the villagers out in the open after the kindness they showed her. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Despite how many of the dead invaders¡¯ bodies showed signs of being bitten and munched on, the pile of villager corpses in the square was left unbothered. Her dogs knew well enough to leave them alone, so Esperanza wondered if what she was about to do was sacrilegious or blasphemous to them, shaking her head at the thought. It was not like she had much in terms of options. Digging a grave for well over a hundred people took far too much time and energy, neither of which she had much to spare at the moment, while leaving them out in the open just felt disrespectful and wrong to her. As such, she made up her mind, distended and flattened her body until she was wide enough to cover the whole pile, then went to work. She started to stoically [Consume] one body after another until there was none left in the pile. Despite feeling rather bloated after she was done ¨C it had been over a hundred bodies after all ¨C she also took the time to [Consume] the remnants of her enemies as well. It was a chance for her to further level the skill, and besides, that way she left less clues about what happened. All everyone would know would be what the [Champion] reported, and he only caught the tail end of her actions. Once the village was cleaned and emptied of any bodies ¨C be it villager or invader ¨C Esperanza finally turned to leave and headed to where she left the children with Dali and Gordy. Since the trip they took from the village to where Dali and Gordy had the rest of the survivors hide was fortunately uneventful, Esperanza also took a moment to take a glance at her status screen, distributing her free points while she was at it. Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl20]/[Emissary of the Forgotten Lvl10]/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 50 - Dexterity : 50 - Constitution : 50 - Intelligence : 41 - Perception : 45 - Wisdom : 60 - Willpower : 40 - Intuition : 40 - Sanity : -126 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] Class 2: [Emissary of the Forgotten] General Skills: She focused the lion¡¯s share of her free points on her Body stat this time, the difficulty in dealing with a Body-focused [Champion] despite his lower level still fresh in her mind. To be fair the great discrepancy in experience likely also played a great role, but that part, Esperanza couldn¡¯t exactly fix in a hurry. Adding more points to her Body stat was instant and would have helped out, on the other hand. Two of her skills also evolved, so she took a glance at them to see what benefits the evolution gave. [Aura Mastery] Epic Skill Level 1 Grants the user full control over their aura. Aura was just another part of their body to them, an extension, to be molded and shaped as per one¡¯s will. Ease of use increases with skill level. [Aura Mastery] was pretty much as she expected, a straight, plain upgrade of [Aura Control], picking up where the other skill capped out and continuing the growth. She did notice the improvement in the ease with which she could ¡°mold¡± her aura to her will, though she had to look for it to notice, as it was not exactly a drastic difference in performance. [A Mask to Don] Unique Skill Level 1 Masks were but guises to be used as one needed, to be switched out as one desired, and let the world believe what it wished to believe. You have gained ever greater control of the mask with which you portray yourself to the world at large, its multiple sides interchangeable at will. Carve it into your heart, young one, that everyone presents a mask of their own to face the world with. You have more choices than they do. Level 1: Capable of assuming a passable guise of any configuration desired. No time limit. Control increases with skill level. Similarly, [A Mask to Don] was a direct upgrade to her previous [Shifting Guise]. Esperanza experimented a bit with it while they traversed the jungle, since she was at the front and none of the children would get a good look at her face anyway. Before long, she quickly found that the skill¡¯s evolution had given it a qualitative upgrade to the level of detail that it could mimic. She found herself staring at a face that had a rather uncanny resemblance to her own ¨C at least as she remembered it ¨C using one of her other eyes, and discovered that she could also hide most of the remaining eyes and maws to the point that they were practically invisible unless closely inspected, or if she opened them. Her body also managed to morph into a more feminine ¨C if featureless ¨C shape compared to the previous generally humanoid form. And probably what pleased Esperanza the most was how she managed to simulate the appearance of hair by manipulating her body¡¯s amorphous matter into many thin tentacles that grew out from her scalp. It would not pass muster under a closer inspection, but it was better than being bald. Emboldened by her ¡°new¡± look, she wrapped herself once more in the makeshift clothes she had used previously, and peered at herself once more using an eye at the back of her palm, held at arm¡¯s length. Other than the odd complexion of her skin ¨C even with her best attempts the best result she managed was a rather pale, off-purplish hue ¨C and the way that her eyes had red irises on black sclera, she could probably have passed for a normal human, as long as the observer didn''t look too close. Some clothes that covered more of her like a hooded cloak would likely help with that. 52 - A (Mad?) Tea Party ¡°Welcome, Alissa. Glad you could join us on this fine evening,¡± said the Fifth Princess as she gracefully lifted her tea cup with perfect noble etiquette. ¡°Enchanted to be in your presence, Your Highness,¡± replied Alissa with a slight polite bow as she approached the table the Fifth Princess was seated by. She had received an invitation to a ¡°tea party for the girls¡± a couple days ago from said Princess and was rather at a loss on what to do with it, until some chats with Ethan made her decide to check it out. She had nothing to lose anyway, other than maybe some time if it turned out that the ¡°tea party¡± was exactly the sort of boring ones nobles used as an excuse to ¡°socialize¡± with one another. There were only seven chairs set around the table, and six of them were already occupied. The Fifth Princess sat at the head of the table as the host, while to her right sat Moira and Maribel from the Royal Guards. To the Princess¡¯ left was Bronwen, Silvia, and Leda from the Temple Guards, and as such Alissa struck off one worry that it would have just been a gathering of noble ladies gossipping with one another. Since there were only the [Hero¡¯s Companions] and [Associates] in the gathering, chances were the Princess intended to have some more serious talk. ¡°Oh, posh, please, just call me Nadine,¡± said the Fifth Princess in a friendly manner as she invited Alissa to sit. Alissa didn¡¯t fail to notice that her seat places the royal guards to one side with the temple guards on the other side as well, the seating arrangement clearly planned out from before she came. ¡°Also, now that you¡¯re here, we finally have an excuse to do away with all these cow patties they called decorum and etiquette! Maribel, fetch the mead!¡± ¡°The term you¡¯re looking for is ¡®Bullshit¡¯, Princess Nadine, and I do believe that Madam Ormont would have a heart attack if she were to see you talking in such an uncouth manner,¡± replied the curly-haired Royal Guardswoman with a grin on her face. She clearly had been acquainted with the Princess for longer, given the lack of shock on her features from the way the Princess behaved, whereas most everyone else around the table looked either shocked or downright scandalized. ¡°Also, which mead? Want me to fetch the special barrel you¡¯ve been saving up? Or just the usual ones?¡± ¡°Get the good stuff, no point in holding back now that the [Heroes] walk amongst us once again. Oh, and also Fuck that old witch Ormont,¡± replied the Fifth Princess. The way she playfully swatted at the Royal Guardswoman¡¯s back as she passed by further hinted at how the two of them were closer than most had previously suspected. ¡°Pardon my language.¡± ¡°Nothing to be¡­ sorry about, I¡¯d think?¡± said Alissa as she seated herself around the table. The wide eyes and dropped jaws around her hinted that whatever was going on was definitely not something that happened everyday in the Kingdom. ¡°I would like some clarification on what you mean that we now have an excuse, though.¡± ¡°Right. I believe nobody has yet to explain that matter to you, probably because it wouldn¡¯t be to their benefit to do so. Other than Old Inolet, I guess. He¡¯s the one person I¡¯d believe when he said that the matter simply never crossed his mind,¡± commented the Princess at length. ¡°What I meant, Alissa, is that unlike us, you are not from this world.¡± ¡°That should be rather obvious, I thought, but do go on?¡± ¡°Your not being of this world brought several implications that the powers that be often didn¡¯t like to contemplate about. For example, you are neither subject to the crown nor the church, if you get what I mean?¡± said the Princess further in explanation. ¡°Meanwhile, at the same time, as a [Hero] you possess an authority that is not in the least subservient to that of the crown¡¯s or the church¡¯s.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m a third party with authority to match the incumbent powers while being on neither of their sides,¡± said Alissa immediately, the meaning implied behind the Princess¡¯ words registering all too easily as the situation struck a bit close to home for her. ¡°Do they really have the time to worry about politicking while all this¡­ you know, Hero business and war is going on?¡± ¡°Many don¡¯t. I¡¯d rather say that the majority will have their full attention on the war instead, but some people will worry more about personal benefits, and as you said it¡­ politicking even while the war raged, regardless of the results,¡± explained the Princess. ¡°You three are at this moment, the most influental people in this Kingdom, even above my Father the King and that old fart of a Bishop, and not even they have the authority to order you around, technically.¡± ¡°So me being here equaling an excuse¡­¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Means just that. If anyone were to barge in and call us out for behaving in uncouth ways unbefitting our station, all I have to do is say that you asked for such an informal gathering and nobody would be able to say a word against it,¡± replied the Princess with a mischievous smirk. ¡°Just between us, but being a Royal isn¡¯t all fun and games. People see all the glitter and riches, without noticing how it¡¯s all just a gilded cage from the inside. I, for one, welcome a chance to just relax and not have to worry about how I¡¯m holding a teacup, while maybe dropping a fuck or three while we¡¯re at it. So do we have your approval, milady [Hero]?¡± ¡°Sure, why not, I guess,¡± replied Alissa with a smile on her face. ¡°For some reason that lady you mentioned reminded me of one of my teachers from my younger days.¡± ¡°Old, cantankerous bitch that really needed to get laid but was far too repulsive for anyone to even consider that and took all their frustrations out on their students instead?¡± asked the Princess with a grin that was almost conspiratorial in nature. ¡°Also nitpicky as all fuck and will cane you for the slightest mistake that might not even be something you did but they made up anyway?¡± ¡°Huh. Never thought that those types could even survive in this sort of world. I thought someone here would have ended their suffering by a blade to the gut or something,¡± replied Alissa with a smirk of her own in turn. ¡°Well, if they¡¯re born a high noble, that kinda spared them getting knifed in the gut, most of the time,¡± replied the Princess nonchalantly. ¡°I sure wished I had enough clout to do just that to that witch, though. Wait¡­ I¡¯m a [Hero¡¯s Companion] now¡­ surely they can¡¯t punish me too much for gutting that old sow the way the world wanted¡­¡± ¡°C¡¯mon now, my Princess, surely your time is better spent having fun amongst friends?¡± asked Maribel who just returned to the room with a couple of small barrels tucked beneath her arms. The curly haired woman gently set the barrels on a side table and started to fill some tankards she carried in her hand until everyone had a tankard of sweet-smelling mead in front of them. ¡°Though I won¡¯t deny that the idea of gutting that old witch like the pig she is would indeed be a rather fun time.¡± ¡°Thanks, Maribel,¡± replied the Princess as she lifted her tankard up in a toast. ¡°Anyway, if possible, I would like that the rest of you, other than Miss Alissa, who I have no authority to bind, would keep what we¡¯re about to talk about here a secret for yourself, please. I¡¯m not asking this as the Fifth Princess of the Kingdom, but as someone who will be fighting alongside you from here onwards.¡± ¡°You have our word, Princess,¡± spoke Bronwen for the three Temple guards as Silvia and Leda nodded along with her and raised their tankards to accept the toast. On the other side of the table, Moira also nodded and raised her own tankard in turn. Alissa saw no reason to speak otherwise, and similarly raised her tankard and touched it with the others in a toast. The mead inside the tankards were cold, smooth, and sweet, though the alcoholic kick came in the end and hit rather hard as well. There were already pastries of various kinds on the table, so Alissa also helped herself to some, which proved to be very good, especially considering the mostly medieval level of technology of the world she was in. Then again, royalty likely had the money to spring for the good pastries anyway. ¡°Now, the main reason I invited you all to have this talk is because it involves¡­ politicking that you might run afoul on during times like these, when we aren¡¯t risking our lives for the Kingdom¡¯s sake,¡± said the Princess openly as she addressed everyone gathered. ¡°Why this gathering only had the people assembled here, is partly because I could not afford to have what I¡¯m about to say reach the ears of people who aren¡¯t either on my side or at least neutral.¡± ¡°What about Ethan? Or Joshua for that matter?¡± asked Alissa. ¡°Ah yes, the other [Heroes] would definitely fit that criteria, but it would also scandalize the whole Kingdom if they were to hear that I invited men to a tea party,¡± replied the Princess with a scoff. ¡°After all, around here the norm is that this sort of social gatherings in private spaces are for the ladies, and inviting men into them has rather¡­ unfortunate connotations, if you will. It¡¯s the same reason I excluded Benedictus.¡± ¡°The Temple Guards have their loyalty to the church, and they do not meddle with the politics of the Kingdom,¡± added the Princess, to which the three Temple Guards present nodded in confirmation. ¡°In a similar way, Miss Alissa as a [Hero] is about as close to a neutral third party we could get in this sort of situation.¡± ¡°What about the rest?¡± Alissa asked with some curiosity. ¡°Moira here is from an old lineage of Royal Knights. Her family serves the kingdom as a tradition, and they¡¯re bound more to the Kingdom itself than to any particular faction. Old lineages like hers typically keep a neutral posture in any political issues of the royalty,¡± explained the Princess, punctuated by a nod from Moira. ¡°As for Maribel, she¡¯s probably the closest thing to a friend that I have in this prison of a royal palace.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been assigned as the Princess¡¯ maid and companion since I was a wee toddler,¡± said the curly-haired woman with a slight accent to her voice. ¡°Part of it is likely because my ma was a [Maid] in the castle and had been the Princess¡¯ wet nurse, so we kinda grew up suckling on the same teats back then.¡± ¡°Anyway, I believe you are all aware of the old story of how my great-grandfather rose to the throne during the previous summoning of [Heroes]. His status as a [Hero¡¯s Companion] who survived the war played a major role on his rise to the throne,¡± said the Princess as she continued. ¡°As a [Hero¡¯s Companion] myself, there are people out there who looked at me and feared the same case happening, even if it was still a distant possibility and hinges entirely on me even surviving this whole war at all.¡± ¡°Your elder siblings,¡± said Alissa as she caught on to what the Princess was driving towards. ¡°Exactly. Princesses like me rarely rose to become queens in the Kingdom¡¯s history, as our society is more a patriarchal one. A Princess who was a [Hero¡¯s Companion] however, carried far more importance than one who wasn¡¯t. With the recent precedent that was great-grandfather, there was simply no way my elder siblings didn¡¯t look askance at me once I was confirmed to be a [Hero¡¯s Companion].¡± ¡°In their minds, I suddenly changed from the inconsequential tomboy of a little sister they could ignore in their machinations against each other for the throne, into yet another competitor, one that carried a far stronger claim for the throne, for that matter,¡± she continued. ¡°Even if I were to proclaim that I have no interest in the throne, none of them would have believed me.¡± 53 - Those who Fished in Troubled Waters (With Dynamite!) ¡°Surely they wouldn¡¯t be that stupid to do something that would jeopardize our fight, no?¡± Alissa asked with not a little incredulity in her voice. Fighting for power to the extent of killing one¡¯s own blood siblings were commonplace in history ¨C both this world¡¯s and her previous one¡¯s ¨C but to do so when an existential threat loomed over the whole nation was not normally done, as far as she could tell. Or at least she dared to hope that nobody would have been that foolish. ¡°I wish I could answer you with a firm yes, Alissa, but that would have been a bold-faced lie on my part,¡± admitted the Princess with a downcast and disappointed look. ¡°Fact of the matter is, I know that at least one of my siblings would see my becoming a [Hero¡¯s Champion] as both a political threat and a personal affront, while I could not really gauge how the others would react.¡± ¡°Could you elaborate a bit on your family¡­ Nadine? I haven¡¯t really spent that much time learning about the royal family tree, as you might have guessed,¡± said Alissa in turn. While she had done some reading about the history of the world and the likes out of her own curiosity, said readings had not yet encroached upon the current royal family, as she was more keen to find out about the past. As for the teachings from Sir Inolet, most of them were either something related to combat, or to war. ¡°Right, of course. I am the Fifth Princess, as you already know,¡± said Nadine, to which Alissa returned an affirmative nod. ¡°I have three younger and four older siblings. We can discount the younger ones. Even the eldest, Elric, is still nine this year, so he wouldn¡¯t be trying to scheme my downfall or the likes anytime soon, while Ava and Oleana are still toddlers.¡± ¡°Out of my four elder siblings, we can mostly discount my eldest sister, the Second Princess, as well. Big sister Gertrude had already married out of the family, which by default meant giving up on her rights of succession. Her husband¡¯s family are from an old lineage of knights like Moira here or Sir Inolet, who I¡¯m certain you¡¯re well acquainted with. You can pretty much consider them neutral parties when it comes to political infighting as they want no part of it.¡± ¡°I get that part, yeah. Ol¡¯ Henri often spoke rather harsh words about the current nobles while he trained us, so I already gathered that he had little taste for politicking himself,¡± replied Alissa with a slight chuckle as she recalled one of the old knight¡¯s tirades. ¡°Had always wondered where he stood in the hierarchy if he could curse out all sorts of nobles so freely without consequences, though.¡± ¡°Sir Inolet, much like most of our senior fourth tiers, are outliers to the hierarchy. They had the prestige of having fought in the last war while contributing greatly and surviving the defeat, so while they might not be that high in the command chain, not even my father would have lightly demanded things out of them,¡± explained the Princess. ¡°His protecting me during our expedition was the result of father begging for a favor from him.¡± ¡°Huh. I had not expected him to be so¡­ influential. Ethan and I had just pegged him as a cantankerous old knight at first,¡± admitted Alissa to a series of chuckles escaping from the lips of the gathered group, only to be silenced moments later by wary shushes. ¡°He sure hid it very well.¡± ¡°Alissa, Sir Henri Inolet, despite his disabilities, is one of the five most powerful individuals in the Kingdom, when it comes to fighting prowess,¡± explained the Princess hastily, while looking uncertain whether she should laugh from Alissa¡¯s takeaway of the old knight or to cover her face with her hands instead. ¡°We have more fourth tiers, some who are higher in level, even, but those who gained their fourth tier during the wars always had greater qualities on their classes and skills than those who climbed up to it in peaceful times.¡± ¡°Anyway, back to my elder siblings. The other three are the ones I cannot help but worry about. Worry that they might do something stupid that they¡¯d live to regret, that is,¡± she continued. ¡°The First Prince, my oldest sibling, should be an obvious one. He has both the motive to be worried about me and the power to potentially do something about it.¡± ¡°I assume he had been first in line to the throne until¡­ well¡­ We got summoned and the next thing he knew his little sister became one of the [Hero¡¯s Companions]?¡± asked Alissa, to which the Princess replied with a firm nod. ¡°I can see that rankle, yeah, when something you thought was already in your hand suddenly gets taken away just like that due to happenstance.¡± ¡°The succession was something that was up for grabs and heavily fought over anyway, so if he thought it was already in his hand just because he¡¯s the oldest and got the support of the more conservative nobles, he¡¯s dreaming,¡± replied the Princess with a disdainful scoff. ¡°But yeah, combine that with my eldest brother being the sort who always pays back even petty grievances, and you have the potential problem at hand. Sad to say, I don¡¯t trust him to keep his hands to himself during the war. He¡¯s unlikely to do anything to endanger the war effort as a whole, per se, but arranging it so that a certain [Hero¡¯s Companion] got isolated behind enemy lines by accident? I could see him do it.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Got it. So the First Prince is a source of potential trouble and we have to watch our marching orders closely,¡± said Alissa with a nod. ¡°Technically they could only ask you to head one way or another, Miss Alissa,¡± said Bronwen, whose words made everyone else around the table nod in agreement. ¡°As the Princess said before, neither the church nor the crown has any authority over you. They can ask politely, but they cannot order you around like you¡¯re one of their subjects.¡± ¡°Of course, Sir Inolet is an exception. He is after all, technically your teacher at the moment,¡± said the Princess with a smile that was full of schadenfreude. ¡°So technically he could order you around as a teacher commanding their students. He¡¯s so apolitical that I doubt you¡¯d ever have to worry about him being complicit in any such plotting, though.¡± ¡°I always felt that Sir Inolet was more of the¡­ straightforward kind of man, yeah,¡± admitted Alissa with a nod at the Princess¡¯ words. The old knight that served as her and Ethan¡¯s martial teacher had been harsh, but also highly effective as a teacher. The way that he was one of the few people who weren¡¯t prone to going all [Hero] this or [Hero] that in their presence helped, too. Now that she thought back about it, the old people around Sir Inolet¡¯s generation were the ones most likely to treat them just as another person instead of gushing about them being the [Hero]. Probably wisdom and experience from having worked with and fought alongside other [Heroes] in their youth, she had thought. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s roughly the case about my eldest brother. My second brother, the Third Prince, is in a more¡­ complicated position. I don¡¯t know if Alissa has noticed during the time she has been here so far, but power in the Kingdom is very centralized. The nobles exist on the King¡¯s allowance, though they have some voice in the meetings,¡± said the Princess in a more serious tone. ¡°It has been that way for generations, due to the need for rapid action during the wars.¡± ¡°Not everyone is happy with that sort of status quo, I imagine?¡± replied Alissa who quickly understood what Nadine was implying with her words. ¡°A gross understatement, to say the least. Let¡¯s just say that if the summoning of [Heroes] and the war with the demons aren¡¯t such a constant, looming threat, this Kingdom would have broken into civil war long ago,¡± replied the Princess with a tired sigh. ¡°Of course, those who campaigned the most for more power just happened to be those old families whose lands just happened to be the furthest away from the fighting, and thus had many generations to build up their own powerbase, unbothered.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t that surprise me in the least?¡± replied Alissa sarcastically. ¡°It¡¯s the hand we were dealt with in this generation,¡± answered the Princess without missing a beat. ¡°Anyway, my brother the Third Prince is a rather¡­ ambitious man, albeit saddled with a lack of skill to manifest those very same ambitions of his,¡± she continued. ¡°Needless to say, the conservative nobles generally prefer my more competent eldest brother. As such, my second brother was relegated to look for support from other avenues.¡± ¡°So the reactionary nobles are on his side,¡± Alissa stated as a matter of fact, having guessed as much from what had been said so far. ¡°I take it there are other reasons behind your worries with the Third Prince. It sounded to me that his faction is not in favor of the crown, and doesn¡¯t have the influence the First Prince¡¯s does.¡± ¡°That is correct. They are, however, far more prone to getting things done by hook or by crook, though preferably done in such a manner that it couldn¡¯t be traced back to them,¡± replied the Fifth Princess as she shook her head in disappointment. ¡°Where my Eldest Brother¡¯s supporters might try to get rid of me in ways that seem like tactical mistakes or failures on my part, my Second Brother¡¯s would try to directly send someone with a knife addressed to my back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that I worry about assassins that much, mind you. I¡¯m confident in being able to tackle most people in my tier with the benefits of my new class, and those in the fourth tier are loyal to the Kingdom one way or another and I don¡¯t see them moving to these factions¡¯ whims instead,¡± elaborated the Princess. ¡°But I cannot be awake all the time either, and having to worry about such things everytime I go to sleep is rather annoying.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be honest that I didn¡¯t expect things to be so¡­ political despite the looming war. Was this the norm here?¡± asked Alissa with some more incredulity creeping into her voice. ¡°Oh, you just happen to be lucky to be summoned while the Kingdom is currently on the backfoot after repeated losses,¡± replied the Princess with a smirk. ¡°Back when the Kingdom was on the winning side and encroached on the Demon¡¯s territory, it was more common for the summoned [Heroes] to see the insides of a ballroom rather than a training area.¡± ¡°You¡¯re shitting me,¡± said Alissa with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Nope, it¡¯s even recorded in many of our history books as if they were things to be proud of. Everyone would be trying their best to lick the new [Hero]¡¯s ass, spots for potential [Companion] and [Associates] would be traded as if they were commodities on the market¡­¡± added the Princess with a widening smirk on her face. ¡°And of course, everyone would be pushing their sons or daughters or both to the [Heroes] in the hopes of them landing on their bedrooms, just so they could either claim their descendant as either one favored by the [Heroes] or better yet, have a descendant that carried the [Heroes]¡¯ bloodline in a more direct manner.¡± Alissa remained quiet for the moment as she was left rather speechless at the brazen way the Princess had said it. She judged that it was unlikely to be a lie, as it would have been one too easily disproved when Alissa checked the history books herself. Just the idea of people trying to brown-nose and get their descendants on a [Hero]¡¯s bed when there was war looming over them somewhat short-circuited her thoughts, however. ¡°For that matter, the current royal family, including myself, supposedly were descended from the [Hero] from three summonings ago. If we had still been on the winning side, your friends would likely have been swarmed by all the young noblewomen in the Kingdom whenever they showed up in public, I tell you,¡± continued the Princess without missing a single beat. ¡°Hell, knowing my father, chances are me and my Second Sister would be amongst them.¡± 54 - Bitter Pills over Coatings of Sugar ¡°Actually, they¡¯ll also toss the handsome young men, just in case the [Heroes] were of that particular persuasion too. God knows all the dandy noble fops I¡¯ve known would have gladly sold their arse for the status of being the favored of a [Hero],¡± added the Princess with a disdainful scoff. ¡°Including the ones who were not into men, of course. It¡¯s almost always benefits first and foremost for their ilk. The same would naturally apply to you, just reversed.¡± ¡°Huh, what you said brought a very different question to mind, actually,¡± said Alissa to the Princess once she stopped her tirade. ¡°Since the people here seemed pretty aware that people of the same sex could and would get into¡­ relations with each other, how come they don¡¯t scrutinize¡­ ¡®tea parties¡¯ like these even more? Sounds like a loophole in the security, there.¡± ¡°They know and don¡¯t care if we were to go down on each other, simple as that, really. As long as the act doesn¡¯t come with the heap of potential complication that was a royal bastard, they don¡¯t really give a shit about it,¡± replied Nadine with another scoff and a shake of her head. ¡°In fact more than a few nobles had risen to their present rank by¡­ their ancestors indulging in skinship and brotherhood with the right noble heir at the right time in the past, so to speak.¡± ¡°Overall it¡¯s not exactly frowned upon either way here, I¡¯d say, though the expectation remains for everyone to have their fair share of children,¡± continued the Princess as she further elaborated on the topic. ¡°For the nobles, it¡¯s to continue the bloodline and such bullshit, while for the commoners, it¡¯s to make sure that we have enough people to replace those who perished in the wars and wouldn¡¯t be caught with our pants down come the next war. It¡¯s just how it is around here.¡± ¡°Pretty progressive, all considered,¡± admitted Alissa after a moment of silence. She couldn¡¯t really refute the idea of making people have children regardless of whether they even felt any attraction to the other gender or not, given the situation the Kingdom was embroiled in. Constant warfare meant that there needed to be a supply of people to replace the dead, otherwise they would collapse rapidly. ¡°Come to think of it, Nadine, I¡¯ve heard you rant over your brothers, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve said anything about your other elder sister?¡± ¡°My second sister¡­ the Fourth Princess Margaret is a bit¡­ complicated,¡± said Nadine after a while. ¡°While it is considered bad manners to speak badly behind one¡¯s back¡­ my elder sister has been known to be rather¡­ promiscuous, if the term applies without any actual proof, that is,¡± she added with some difficulty. ¡°She had always been big on socializing with other nobles, but most of us in the family fear that she might have overdone things there.¡± ¡°How so? I thought you said that they generally don¡¯t care as long as there¡¯s no¡­ royal bastards popping out as a result?¡± asked Alissa in return. ¡°That¡¯s the exact loophole my sister is abusing, yes,¡± said Nadine with some resignation in her voice. ¡°She is by far the most popular socialite amongst the capital¡¯s young nobles, who had grown a¡­ faction of her own, of sorts, composed solely of young noblewomen from all families,¡± she continued. ¡°While her faction might not have much power now, they likely will within a generation. We have no lack of henpecked husbands amongst our nobility.¡± ¡°Oh. I see what you mean now,¡± replied Alissa with an understanding and sympathetic nod of her head. ¡°From the sound of it, she doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s likely to interfere with you because you suddenly gained the best claim for the throne, though?¡± ¡°She isn¡¯t likely to do that, indeed. If I know my sister Margaret likely planned to become a power in the shadows, regardless of who took the throne in the end,¡± explained the Princess with a sigh. ¡°What I¡¯m worried about is less about her interfering with our mission and more of her trying to lure one or more of you into her clutches one way or another. All of you here are well within her strike zone, to the best of my knowledge.¡± ¡°Courage of the North be witness to my words, but I swear such an occasion shall never come to pass, Your Highness,¡± intoned Bronwen solemnly as she swore an oath on the spot without a shred of hesitation. ¡°Those of us inducted to the Temple Guard had sworn our oaths, and amongst them was one to never interfere in the succession or politics of the Kingdom. May the Gods strike us down should we break our words.¡± ¡°So shall it be,¡± intoned both Leda and Silvia after Bronwen said the words. The two women had made it clear that Bronwen speaks for the three of them by dint of seniority and her position as a [Hero¡¯s Companion] compared to them. As such, the Temple Guards had always presented a united front during the meeting so far. ¡°Certainly, Sister Bronwen. I know that the oaths sworn by the devoted are sacrosanct,¡± replied the Princess, her words clearly meant to appease the three Temple Guards. ¡°Naturally, I merely wished to warn you of potential¡­ temptations that might be directed your way due to our association, as is my responsibility.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°The kind gesture is appreciated and accepted, Your Highness,¡± replied Bronwen with a shallow bow to the Princess. ¡°You¡¯re not worried she¡¯d try to latch onto me instead?¡± asked Alissa with some amusement. ¡°Not very. [Heroes] are ephemeral by nature since they never stayed in our world for long, and my sister was more for long-term investments. Maybe if you were male she¡¯d try to worm her way to your bed and get herself a son she could put on a pedestal, but that is clearly not the case,¡± replied the Princess bluntly. ¡°As such, I think she might be more likely to try influencing the others instead.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re not worried about them?¡± ¡°You already heard of my close relationship to Maribel. She¡¯s probably the only one in this whole capital that I truly trust as a person,¡± said the Princess, to which Maribel shyly nodded. ¡°As for Moira, she¡¯s from an old knight lineage. Those from such lineages are known for their stubbornness and desire to stay neutral, am I right, Dame Moira?¡± ¡°Pretty much what maw and paw had been teaching me since I was a wee lass, Your Highness- sorry, Nadine,¡± said Moira in reply with a slight chuckle, her countryside accent slipping into her usually careful speech. ¡°They always said that those like us should never stick our necks out when the ones up top are stabbing each other for the crown. Good advice, I think.¡± ¡°I wish the comparison wasn¡¯t so apt, but given the situation with my siblings, they might well stab each other for the crown, soon.¡± ¡°What about the boys?¡± Alissa asked to the Princess with some curiosity. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried that they might be approached as well by one side or another?¡± ¡°Given the Kingdom¡¯s lack of leisure to hold balls and parties to celebrate the [Heroes] at the moment as well as how close you and Mister Greene seemed to be, I¡¯d say most would be wiser than trying to lay a hand on him,¡± replied Nadine with a smirk on her face. ¡°We had several cases of people getting in the way of two [Heroes] who were into each other in the past, and all those ended horribly for the interfering party in question.¡± ¡°Oh, c¡¯mon! I mean¡­ we¡¯re not like that!¡± denied Alissa with some vehemence. ¡°Really? I would have guessed otherwise from what I¡¯ve seen,¡± said the Princess, though fortunately she did not push the uncomfortable topic further. ¡°Either way, the image is there, so even if you two aren¡¯t in a relationship like that, others will misunderstand anyway, though in this case said misunderstanding would be to your advantage. Less hassle to deal with as there were bloody precedents to warn any interloper.¡± ¡°As for Mister Smith, he¡¯s under Magus Drummond, and Drummond¡¯s well known to be a strict tutor who absolutely hated the idea of socializing. Someone trying to pry his pupil from beneath his grasp will have an easier time trying to snatch a cub from a rampaging mother Griffon, I say,¡± added the Princess with obvious schadenfreude leaking out from her voice. ¡°A truly fearsome challenge, that.¡± ¡°Guess that¡¯s the two of them accounted for. What about the others?¡± Alissa asked with some curiosity. ¡°Benedictus is of the Temple Guards and had sworn the same oaths as Bronwen and the rest, so he ought to be reliable and secure as an ally as well,¡± replied the Princess as Maribel filled everyone¡¯s tankards with more mead. ¡°Sister Bronwen, I will have to trouble you to relay what we discussed here to him later, ideally kept between the two of you, if possible.¡± ¡°I can help with that, Your Highness. Consider it done,¡± replied the guardswoman with another polite bow towards the Princess. ¡°I told you to call me Nadine, Sister Bronwen, at least when we¡¯re just amongst our own like this,¡± said the Princess with a sigh. ¡°We are going to be comrades in arms for the foreseeable future. I see no reason to receive obeisance from you just because of my birth.¡± ¡°All right¡­ Nadine,¡± said Bronwen with a nervous smile on her face, which the Princess disarmed with a bigger smile of her own. ¡°That¡¯s better. Anyway, about the other two, they¡¯re already hopeless to begin with,¡± said the Princess as she turned back to address Alissa¡¯s question from earlier. ¡°Glenn of Greenville is my Eldest Brother¡¯s man, of that I have no doubt. I did my own investigations and found that both of my siblings had ¡®suggested¡¯ several members of the Royal Guards each for the party we had gone into the dungeon with, and Glenn was one of my Eldest Brother¡¯s suggested members. The only one to survive the dungeon, too, at that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ unfortunate. At least he shouldn¡¯t be giving us too much trouble, at least during the fighting, since he¡¯s with your eldest brother, no?¡± ¡°Hopefully, though my Eldest Brother would definitely use him to spy on our movements and maybe even to pass on some directions to people of his faction amongst the military, so he couldn¡¯t be completely discounted, even if Glenn himself seemed like an honest enough bloke,¡± replied the Princess with a shake of her head. ¡°Rather than him, though, it¡¯s Osmond de Jardine that I¡¯m more worried about.¡± ¡°Since Glenn was your eldest brother¡¯s man, I assume Osmond is with the Third Prince?¡± Alissa queried. ¡°Correct. Marquis de Jardine is one of my second brother¡¯s strongest supporters, and Osmind being a fifth son is another worrisome fact, honestly. He¡¯s neither the heir nor the spare, so his family might very well treat him as an expendable if that¡¯s what they decided would benefit them the most,¡± answered Nadine with a nod. ¡°Him being a marksman also meant that he¡¯d be behind our backs during the fighting, so if his family decided that he¡¯s best used to get me killed, Osmond would be in a prime position to do that.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that get him into¡­ well¡­ a whole lot of trouble?¡± asked Alissa with some obvious incredulity at the idea. ¡°It would, but assuming he survived the attempt and I¡¯m dead, he¡¯d also still be a living [Hero¡¯s Associate]. With his family¡¯s support behind him, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for them to campaign that further depleting the fighting force the Kingdom had available, much less such important members, would not be a wise endeavor after a mere unfortunate mistake on his part,¡± recited the Fifth Princess in a dull monotone, as if she could already envision the charade playing out before her. ¡°I might have simplified the wording a bit, but I believe you get the general idea.¡± ¡°I did, yes,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. ¡°And I got to say that your world¡¯s idea of politics sure are pretty fucked up as well.¡± LV - Decisions for the Future The first thing Esperanza had to do when she finally reached the spot where Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu had hidden themselves together with the rest of the survivors was to assure them that it was her. She had forgotten that the villagers were used to her barely-humanoid makeshift guise and had never seen how she looked like prior to that. Fortunately Dali and Gordy snuggling against her legs helped to show and assure them that it was indeed her that returned. ¡°Just had my shapeshifting skill evolve, so I tried it out,¡± she had explained to the two once they calmed down. A quick assessment of their group showed her what she had to work with. Twenty-five children of various ages, some being literal toddlers all the way up to young teens. The children roughly balanced themselves out, as the older kids can likely help carry one of the toddlers each and still keep pace with the rest. Other than that, there was Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu, though the two of them were injured from earlier. Fortunately after a cursory inspection she determined that their injury was relatively light and would heal on its own within a couple of days, at most. That helped, as it would have been difficult to keep watch over the gaggle of children with only three people able to fight at all. Having the two youths for assistance ¨C no matter how little ¨C helped alleviate some weight from Esperanza¡¯s mind. They stayed the night in the hideout since it was already late in the evening by the time Esperanza returned with the remaining children. Many of the children had difficulty sleeping, some crying out for their parents, too young to comprehend that their parents were gone, while others muttered and speculated about what would become of them in the future. Esperanza would have joined them in the tossing and turning, wracking her brains out at the mess, if not for the fact that she remembered that the cooldown on her time to chat with Oldies would end soon, and thus she would be able to toss the ball in their court, so to speak. They ought to be able to give some advice on how to proceed, she hoped. Her musing had not gone unrewarded, though. The way the name of the [Champion] she fought hung at the back of her mind, like it was something she should be familiar with yet was unable to pinpoint, had nagged at her throughout the night, until she suddenly found herself learning a new general skill ¨C they often popped out of nowhere like that when she met some sort of conditions ¨C that helped with exactly that issue. You Have Learned the General Skill [Clear Recollection Lvl1]! [Clear Recollection] Rare Skill Level 1 What you had witnessed, you could find once more in the sea of memories. Allows the user to recall memories of anything they had experienced before. Clarity and detail increases with skill level. It was pretty much what she expected out of a skill with that sort of name. What the skill immediately helped her with was telling her where she had seen the name of the [Champion] she faced in the village earlier. It turned out she had read about him once in the history books ¨C reading had always been one of her hobbies back then ¨C when she was browsing around at random in the library. It was a different spelling, but she was quite certain that the man was likely none other than Subotai Bahadur, a Mongolian general from the Golden Age of the Mongolian Empire in Asia, who served as a general under the infamous Genghis Khan himself, and was often called one of his ¡°Dogs of War¡± to boot. That sort of history was not something commonly taught in class, and she only happened to read it when she was reading books in the library to while away the time back at school. That also bode poorly for the human side of the conflict, she guessed. Oldies had explained to her about the general situation of the conflict, of course, and she naturally was also informed about how at times the gods summoned not random people like her and her classmates, but instead called out to souls from history which had some fame to their name, one way or another. The fame requirement itself meant that the sort of soul summoned might be pretty random, though. She had been quite amused when Oldies told her how once time the human side had summoned a famous singer, though the man was nowhere as useless as the idea sounded at first, as he quickly grew into a powerhouse whose songs invigorated his allies and frayed upon his enemy¡¯s willpower and turned the tides of battles on many occasions. That the demon side lucked out and got a general of all things for one of their [Champions] while the humans had some random schoolkids ¨C on top of them missing one of their [Heroes] due to how things went with Esperanza ¨C meant that the odds were heavily tilted in the demon side¡¯s favor in this period, which left Esperanza was unsure on whether it was beneficial or detrimental for her. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. In the end she shelved those considerations to the back of her mind and tried her best to get some proper sleep. God knows when she might be able to get a good rest if what she thought was the most likely case came true and she had to babysit the whole gaggle of children until she could bring them to some place that would not kill them on sight just because they ¨C or their parents ¨C worshiped Oldies. ****************************** Esperanza. The very next morning ¨C it was barely dawn, and just about everyone other than Dali and Gordy were still fast asleep at the time ¨C Esperanza was awakened by an all too familiar voice in her mind, a voice that she had been hoping to hear from over the past day or so. She had so much she wanted to say to Oldies, and so much to ask. Calm yourself down, child. We could sense the chaos in your thoughts even through our connection. We assume that something had happened in the time since we last spoke to each other? ¡°Oldies¡­ I wish you all were here yesterday¡­ Por el amor de Dios¡­¡± she muttered under her breath, careful not to raise her voice so as to not wake up any of the slumbering children and youths in the vicinity. Twenty-seven young survivors, all that were left from the villagers of Navef, with all their elders and parents dead and slain. It was a true effort of will that Esperanza managed to prevent herself from breaking down in tears as she related her experiences of the previous day ¨C from the first time she sighted the smoke in the horizon, all the way to her battle with the [Champion], without leaving anything out ¨C as she poured out her many grievances and frustrations into her tale. For their part, Oldies seemed content to listen quietly, never raising their voice as Esperanza retold the incident. Her voice nearly broke when she described seeing the pile that the villagers¡¯ corpses had been haphazardly stacked up on by the invaders, and at times she almost yelled out in rage over what she had seen them do to the villagers who had been powerless to resist. ¡°Why, why would they go that far!?¡± said Esperanza in a nearly silent scream that was only really ¡°hearable¡± for Oldies. ¡°I can see them trying to kill others who believed in you. I can understand that. I cannot understand the cruelty and enjoyment they had while they did so! Why did they make it a cruel game to dangle a false hope in front of people they were about to kill!? In front of children for that matter!?¡± she ranted emotionally. ¡°I¡¯ve seen what they did to some of the corpses¡­ By god, Oldies, that alone made me feel justified that I¡¯d be ridding this world from scum like them. How could people fall so low!?¡± One thing Esperanza had hidden from the children ¨C both those she found hiding in the village and the ones who escaped beforehand ¨C was the condition of the corpses of the villagers she saw piled up. Those who had been killed quickly and efficiently were the minority of the bunch, whereas most of the corpses showed far more signs of abuse that sickened Esperanza. Many showed signs of having been toyed with before they died painfully, sort of like what happened to Avec-Litu and Avalanusi. The invaders had made them shield the children with their bodies while purposefully shooting not to kill in a sort of cruel game for their own amusement. Many of the abused bodies showed similar signs. Others had been¡­ used in ways that made Esperanza see red when she noticed it, which was partly a reason she had really let loose on the invaders back during the final ambush. We neither delight in nor promote such actions either, child, but alas, we had witnessed it far too many times in our memories. All too often, when one group designated another as an ¡°enemy¡±, it was as if they justified all sorts of behavior that they would have never shown to or done on one of their own. It was something we have observed far too many times. This was but another occasion on the long road of blood that the world had traversed. ¡°Right. I¡¯ve read some things in books myself. People would cast their enemies as ¡®other¡¯ to themselves to make the act of killing them easier,¡± Esperanza said after she took a moment to calm herself down and control her emotions once more. ¡°Foolish of me to not have considered that the pendejos of this world would not have done the same, when it¡¯s been the tried and true approach throughout my own world¡¯s history.¡± For what it was worth, child, at times We have witnessed people who worshiped us commit acts of great violence out of a mistaken understanding that to do so would please us. Sometimes people are also great at fooling themselves, even if nobody else tried to drape the curtain over their eyes. That said, We have also witnessed far, far worse things in the many wars that took place around the summonings of heroes and champions. ¡°Right. The two sides must have had¡­ what? Dozens of generations of history of pure hostility to one another by now? Hundred generations?¡± mumbled Esperanza exasperatedly. ¡°They would have no issues whatsoever seeing the other as just an enemy to be killed, a monster or beast where no negotiations nor mercy were warranted.¡± That is indeed so, child. You would need to steel yourself if you were to ever wander near the sites where battles took place between the two, as they were wont to happen in the near future. ¡°Yeah, I guess¡­ Gracias, Oldies, for listening to me. I got something else to ask about, though,¡± said Esperanza as she calmed her emotions and brought her mind back to the current issue, namely that of the twenty-seven survivors of Navef that now slept under her guard. ¡°Namely what options I have with these people. Are there any locations I could bring them to which would shelter them? Maybe other places that worship you?¡± There are two locations that are not too far away from here, but the journey to either would still be a commendable ordeal for these people, much less the children. Still, with your guidance and help, We believe that you should be able to bring most of them to newfound safety and shelter in those places. Both have their complications, however. ¡°Lay them down on me, then,¡± said Esperanza as she nodded upon hearing what Oldies said. Her eyes peered through the dark and made out the shapes of the sleeping children, all huddled together into one clump on the forest floor, with only large leaves as their bedding. ¡°It¡¯s the least I could have done, for their sakes.¡± LVI - A Fork on the Road The first option is to head towards where the sun rose each morning. Roughly two months of journey away in that direction, by which We calculated according to the pace that the children could keep up with, lay a small community of our worshippers, hidden in a small cove deep within the forest. You will have to trek through the depths of the forest to reach that region, however. ¡°So, retrace the path I took to reach Navef and keep going in that direction?¡± asked Esperanza. ¡°Won¡¯t the forest depths be full of creatures even higher in level, though?¡± That is correct. That area of the forest would definitely have creatures that are in their forties to fifties in terms of levels. If you were to be unlucky, you might even stumble into the territory of a level sixty or higher beast, against which we doubt even your prowess would have helped. Discretion would be greatly required should you choose to take that path, especially with all the children you brought with you. ¡°I¡¯m pretty confident that I could get through that area without too much of an issue myself¡­¡± mumbled Esperanza thoughtfully. Between [Aura Mastery] and [Gauze of Oblivion] she could likely sneak her way through the territory of even the more dangerous beasts that she could not handle in a fight, especially with Dali and Gordy helping along. Even if she failed in such an endeavor, at worst she¡¯d just have to respawn a bit later anyway. Unfortunately that doesn¡¯t apply to the gaggle of children she had with her, as they were neither anywhere near as capable of silently skulking through the jungle like she was, nor were they able to come back from death as if it was little more than an inconvenience. As such, to take that sort of dangerous road meant that she would need to escort the children to the best of her ability, and Esperanza honestly doubted that she was up to such a monumental task. It was a great difference between carefreely skipping around through the depths of the jungle inhabited by many vicious monsters on her own compared to doing so with two dozen defenseless children in tow. While Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu might be able to hold their own against some beasts, she also doubted that they could do more than buy a few moments of time against the more dangerous ones deeper in the forest, given how the village they lived in saw even second-tiered beasts as mortal dangers to their lives. Their poor classes did not help matters either, nor did their current injuries, even if those were healing up quickly. ¡°What of the other route, Oldies?¡± she asked at last, having decided that it would be a difficult and risky journey, at best, if they were to take the first route to the east as Oldies described. That route lay towards the south and west, instead. Around a month¡¯s journey away, hidden within a series of abandoned mineshafts is a small settlement, or rather, a hideaway for people who still remembered us. The route itself is less littered with beasts and monsters, the worst of which you would find along that path at worst in their thirties or so. However, more than half the route passed through inhabited lands, without any convenient forests or other wilderness to help hide your passage. ¡°So we would likely run across the inhabitants of those lands¡­ whose lands are those?¡± asked Esperanza as she thought about the suggestion. The land belongs to the non-humans, who the humans like to call demons. The same group of people whose [Champion] you had bested in single combat not a day ago, child. Before you ask, yes, the average demon citizen would still be bound to the system and be alerted should they see one of our worshippers, and that in turn would likely cause them to round up whatever militia or other armed forces in the vicinity to hunt the ¡®heretics¡¯, as they usually called us. ¡°Puta Madre. So it¡¯s either a long, perilous route through the depths of the forest, or it¡¯s a shorter but probably more troublesome route through a territory where the people would try to kill us on sight, is that it?¡± muttered Esperanza with some frustration as she heard about the situation. ¡°Any way to not have the locals go all torches and pitchforks in our presence?¡± You could kill them before they could raise an alarm, but barring such extreme measures, We fear that they had lived for far too long under the new gods and the system that they would not have entertained other possibilities. You could attempt to communicate with them, but most likely they would just attempt to kill you upon hearing that you are one of ours instead. ¡°Right, now that you mentioned it, I could understand what that [Champion] said during that fight. I just didn¡¯t pay much attention to it at the time,¡± mentioned Esperanza as she realized an oddity. ¡°How do the gods deal with that? I know there¡¯s centuries of bad blood and precedence behind it, but surely someone must have tried to communicate and seek out the other side in peace after all this time, no?¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. That is where you misjudged, child. This world¡¯s incorporation and reliance on the system is partly to blame, but the humans and the demons are in fact, incapable of understanding each other. When every child learned to rely on [Language Understanding] to communicate with each other from infancy rather than learn a language the old-fashioned way, they would never notice that certain languages were not included in the version of the skill they received. ¡°So¡­ the gods are actively making it impossible for the two sides to communicate by sabotaging their language skills?¡± asked Esperanza with some exasperation at the downed idea. Exactly so. The humans received a version of the skill that only included their own languages and dialects. The demons received a version that only had theirs in turn. After thousands of years of development and drift, the languages on the two sides had developed into two completely different languages, that it would have been a hellish proposition to even try to learn it the old-fashioned way. ¡°I can understand the demons fine, though, and there were humans and demons living together in Navef!¡± protested Esperanza. Those people¡¯s ancestors had lived together from before the time of the system, child. Their own language had merged and mixed with each other as well in that time and turned into one of their own, in a way. You could understand them as well as the demons, and the humans as well because as someone unaffiliated to both sides, we managed to ensure that you received a [Language Understanding] skill that encompassed all the languages instead of just one or the other. ¡°Wait¡­ you mean this applied to the [Heroes] and [Champions] as well?¡± But of course, child. How else would those paranoid gods that view this world as they playground ensure that the otherworldlers they summoned wouldn¡¯t just communicate and cooperate with each other to throw their yoke and supplant them instead? After all, they themselves did just that, with Us as their unwitting victim at the time. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know whether I should call it brilliant or dastardly, honestly,¡± admitted Esperanza with a frown. If the [Heroes] and [Champions] were unable to communicate with each other, that definitely explained why the scenario set by the gods kept running so smoothly. The same applied with the fighting between the demons and the humans. A lack of communication between the sides combined with the centuries of bad blood that kept refreshing itself with every skirmish and conflict practically ensured the intense hostility between the two sides, to the point that perhaps if the gods had not reined in the people of this world so as to not run out of entertainment too soon, the two sides might have already fought until one side or the other had gone extinct as a race. What do you think, then, child? Which route would you bring these unfortunate ones towards? ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not certain, Oldies. I don¡¯t think this is a decision I could make on my own,¡± admitted Esperanza. The weight of responsibility felt heavy on her shoulders, and it was something she was unused to, to say the least. Life was just so much simpler when all she had to worry about was herself and her pets, all considered. Then again, she wouldn¡¯t say she regretted having come to know the village either. Their presence ¨C especially the children who were so receptive to her presence ¨C probably helped her retain her own humanity, in a sense. It was something she had worried about in the month or so she had been in the forest, whether the instincts of her new body might one day overtake her human mind and reduce her to a mindless beast in the process. That one of her class choices hinted at that exact possibility had not been encouraging either. You plan to have them weigh in their opinions on the matter and take it into consideration, then, child? ¡°I intend to, yeah,¡± replied Esperanza with a slight nod of her head. The best thing she could think of at the moment was to ask the remaining villagers about what they thought. Some of the older children were likely old enough that their opinions might be of some value, then there were Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu to ask as well. Not the course we would have taken, but as we said, your life is yours to lead, child. To live is to learn, and to learn is to grow wise. Either way, be assured that even if some choices might sometimes lead to less than pleasant results, at the least they were choices you had made of your own free will, and thus even the failure would be yours to own. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ an unusual way to put it.¡± We probably could not help it, child. After all, when the new gods deposed of us, those of us who represented order were later cut apart and used to create the foundation of what became the system, while the rest of us were discarded, our divinity used as a power source to keep the world alive past its intended time. ¡°Heh, makes sense that gods of chaos would be advocates of free will, I guess,¡± she replied with a slight chuckle. ¡°Thanks for the chat, Oldies. I better wake the older kids and get them together in a quick meeting before the smaller ones wake up and keep them busy,¡± she said as she got up. Just as Esperanza stood up she remembered one other thing, though. ¡°Oh, and do we have time to talk? Or would the [Champion] already be on his way to hunt us down and repay the loss even as we speak?¡± This location is relatively far from the nearest city, Esperanza. As far as We can tell, it would take at least two to three days from the city to where you are, even on a fast mount. Assuming your worry was indeed valid, then you should have at least this day, and maybe the next, before any pursuer would be anywhere near the vicinity of your current location. ¡°Got it. I guess I¡¯ll get these kids moving within the day just to be safe then,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. She quickly gathered Eda-Zil, Kvar-Litu, as well as half a dozen of the oldest children and quickly briefed them on the situation they were in, asking them for their opinion on the direction they should head towards. To her surprise, neither the children nor the youths needed much time to weigh the options they were presented and quickly gave her their reply. All eight of them opted for the easterly course that would take them deeper into the forest without a shred of hesitation. ¡°All right then, you¡¯ve all made your decision. I will lend my aid to help you reach your destination, but please be aware that I would not be able to guarantee that everyone would reach there¡­ alive,¡± said Esperanza as a final warning, only to be answered by a determined nod from the youths and children present. ¡°Get some breakfast cooking and help feed the younger kids, then. We will march out after breakfast.¡± ¡°As for what will be our fate from then on, Que sera sera.¡± 57 - Progress and Advancement(s) ¡°Make sure you hold on tightly, okay?¡± said Alissa with notable concern in her voice. ¡°I know the drill,¡± replied Ethan from behind her, his left hand firmly holding onto her own, while their right hands carried their respective weapons. ¡°Ready when you are, Alissa.¡± ¡°All right, here goes,¡± she warned him one last time before she activated her skill. ¡°[Walk in the Shadows]¡± From an outside perspective, it looked almost as if the shadow beneath Alissa and Ethan¡¯s feet came to life and wrapped around them, before everything vanished without a trace. From Alissa¡¯s perspective, on the other hand, it was almost as if someone applied a monochrome filter to her sight, as the world turned into shades of gray from their previous vibrant colors. On the other hand, Ethan just felt as if everything around him had suddenly turned pitch-black, and the only thing keeping him comforted was Alissa¡¯s gloved hand grasping his own. ¡°Follow me,¡± he heard her say. Within the confines of her shadowy skill, Alissa¡¯s voice seemed to have taken on an odd timbre, an effect that she said also applied to him, or any voice she heard from the outside, for that matter. He couldn¡¯t really tell, as once he fell inside the confines of the skill¡¯s effects, the only thing he could hear was her voice. The experience would have been positively scary and not a little traumatizing if she had not constantly kept up some chatter just to help assure him that there was someone with him, honestly. In the same way, it was only with her hand tugging him around did he have any idea on which direction he should head towards. Alissa¡¯s shadow skill wasn¡¯t for the faint of heart, to say the least. At the moment, their little group ¨C all twelve of them, plus another eleven new youngsters from the Temple Guards and Royal Guards who were there on the off chance that maybe there might still be some possibility of them becoming a [Hero¡¯s Companion] or [Hero¡¯s Associate], and their usual chaperones ¨C were inside another dungeon, a more dangerous ones with enemies that reach past the mid 40s to early 50s in level, as another part of the Kingdom¡¯s effort to powerlevel the heroes. Where the previous dungeon was a very classical massive cavern complex, the dungeon they were in was more like a specific area of a dense forest. The enemies they had to deal with were also less homogenous in nature, and were instead composed of all sorts of beasts that composed the area¡¯s ecosystem instead. Unlike their previous run, however, they had a notably easier time, despite the increase in enemy levels. For one, the new classes that the[Hero¡¯s Companions] and [Hero¡¯s Associates] received clearly increased the power they could bring to bear notably, further helped by their relatively even level with the dungeon allowing them to gain good experience and leveling up as well, resulting in more skills and stats for their perusal. Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua also made full use of their new classes and leveled even faster due to the disparity, gaining a great amount of benefits in their run through the dungeon so far. Both Alissa and Ethan already gained two new skills each, while Joshua had probably gained an extra one, though he still remained taciturn and wasn¡¯t sharing that knowledge. They only guessed since he was pulling off some new tricks with his magic, which he could use somewhat more freely now that he had more mana to fuel it with. He still dropped out of most fights after a quick ¨C if impressive ¨C barrage due to running out of mana, though. Unlike the previous dungeon, which had a mid-boss and another boss at the end, which stayed in their respective areas, there were three boss-class monsters in the current dungeon they were in, and each of them roamed freely within areas they considered their territory. Their group had butchered their way through one such creature¡¯s territory in search of it only to find not even a feather from their quarry and instead finding a different boss by accident instead. That boss ¨C which likely wandered close to its rival¡¯s territory by happenstance ¨C was also the reason why Ethan and Alissa were skulking around within her shadowy skill at the moment. The two of them would make the first strike on the boss ¨C Alissa¡¯s new skills happened to synergize especially well with the concept of making a first, fatal strike to start a battle ¨C before the rest piled on. The two of them had also already used their group buff skills before they entered into the shadows, which probably wasted a few minutes of the duration but at the same time also allowed Alissa¡¯s [One Small Step] to ramp up to its maximum value as well. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Either way, nobody thought that the chances of the fighting lasting long enough to exhaust the current duration of their buffs was a likely chance. While Ethan fumbled around behind her and followed her guidance ¨C the bit where other people who entered her shadowy realm could not perceive anything other than her had been rather unexpected the first time they discovered it, and back then it had been Sir Inolet that volunteered to test it out when she proclaimed herself able to bring someone with her ¨C Alissa set her eyes on the creature that stomped around a small clearing ahead of them. It was an odd beast that stood not too far ahead of them ¨C though the beast seemed unaware of their presence, but then again even Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond admitted that while she was within her skill, she was difficult for them to notice unless they were specifically looking for her ¨C and stomped around like it owned the place. The beast was not that large, merely around three meters or so tall from the top of its head down to its hooves, though that was not counting the meter-long horn that sprouted out from the center of its forehead. It only had two legs, which looked rather thick and ungainly, like those of an ungulate¡¯s, but longer, with a long, rather stout, barrel-shaped torso supported by those legs. Its rather ovine-looking head rested atop a rather short but thick neck, while the other end of its torso terminated in a tail that was at least another two meters long, tapering along its length before ending in an almost delicate-looking three-fingered claw. The creature was covered all over by shaggy fur that was a dirty gray in color, and would have looked rather comical if not for its obvious predatory nature. The creature, which [Analysis] pegged as a [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination Lvl53], had three eyes, two on the sides of its head, and a third, central eye just underneath its one horn. Its snout was long but also looked almost as if it was split in half, left almost perpetually half-opened, with its long, sinuous tongue slithering around almost like a snake, saliva dripping off its rows upon rows of jagged fangs. While Alissa had gained quite a few levels from the current dungeon run, she was not in a hurry to test her mettle against the beast, which still had over twenty levels on top of her. The plan was for her to deliver a vicious first strike then to buy time together with Ethan, while the rest of their party would rush to their aid once they did so. Tangling with the beast for a relatively brief period of time should be within their capabilities, even with the massive level disparity, and besides, worst case, the two of them would just need to [Respawn] anyway. [Respawn] was honestly the main reason that Ethan was chosen to join her for the task. Given his relatively defensive class, there were many others in the party capable of delivering a more lethal blow, but none of them matched him when it comes to durability, and thus the ability to keep the beast occupied for the time that the rest of their party needed to join in the fight. That, and the fact that anyone else from their party other than Joshua would not be returning if they got killed. As for Joshua, he had been out of the question as Alissa¡¯s striking meant her getting within melee range of the beast. If he followed along, he too would be exposed in a position far too close to the beast, which would just likely get him killed rather than do any good for their plannings. ¡°We¡¯re nearby, ready up,¡± warned Alissa as they closed within five meters of the beast. Her [Walk in the Shadows] had gained a few levels from the training she had done with it, so the skill now possessed both the duration and the range she needed to close the distance to a target from outside its perception, while bringing someone along with her. It still remained a rather slow slog when she had to bring someone else with her, though, mostly on account of them being unable to see, hear, or notice anything other than her while within her skill¡¯s confines. Ethan had practiced walking blind while following her guidance since he was the one she brought along most often, but it was still a painstakingly slow walk even so. ¡°Got it,¡± replied Ethan from behind her, as he gave her left hand a squeeze for reassurance that he was prepared. ¡°Directions and distance?¡± ¡°It will be directly to your front, less than two yards once I bring us out,¡± replied Alissa as she led Ethan to cover the last of the distance. Her own spear was held firmly in her right hand, the many buffs that she and Ethan used before entering the shadows reinforcing her stats, and her own buff had reached its maximum value by now. ¡°I¡¯ll make the first strike as usual, then you get its attention.¡± ¡°Will do,¡± replied Ethan as he gave her a nod. While Ethan couldn¡¯t see anything, Alissa could see everything that was inside her shadowy realm of sorts even without looking at it. It was an odd feeling, and the sensory feedback gave her a headache at first until she eventually got used to it. ¡°Just gimme the countdown.¡± Alissa inwardly wondered if she could use that to fight an enemy by dragging them into her shadowy confines, though so far the process still needed a cooperative target for it to work. Probably when she leveled her skill up some more, she would get that option. Or maybe upon its evolution. Either way it would definitely be a useful tool to have as an option if it came to pass. ¡°We¡¯re in position,¡± said Alissa quietly out of habit, though the shadowy dimension they were in isolated them from the outside world. ¡°The beast¡¯s right side is to our front, around six feet away. [Pierce the Heavens], [Grasp the Soul], [The Cold, Hard Truth], [Lies May Please, But it Doesn¡¯t Heal]¡± said Alissa as she activated all four of her active skills to empower her strike. Her newer skills, [The Cold, Hard Truth] and [Lies May Please, But it Doesn¡¯t Heal], almost comes as a pair, with the first one making the injuries from her strike bleed far more profusely ¨C it was still only good for one hit due to the low level ¨C while the second greatly reduced the rate at which a foe she struck could heal for period that grew longer as she leveled it. At the moment it only lasted three hours, but that was plenty for a fight. ¡°[Heavy Blow]¡± intoned Ethan as he activated his own new offensive skill, which multiplied the weight behind his attack for one blow. The rest of his skills were defensive, and he needed to see the target to properly use them anyway, so they would have to wait until Alissa took them out from within her shadowy realm. ¡°On three. One¡­ Two¡­ Three!¡± yelled Alissa as she canceled her skill and send both herself and Ethan out back to the real world, a short distance away from the flank of a very surprised monster. 58 - An Odd Beast The [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination] was a rare and highly valuable creature, primarily for the single horn that sprouted out from its forehead. The horn in question was prized as an alchemical ingredient as well as a material for making weapons intended for those who possessed magical powers in a close combat class. Weapons made while incorporating fine shavings of the beast¡¯s horn would channel mana far more easily and smoothly, greatly enhancing such a warrior-mage¡¯s prowess in battle. Unfortunately, it was known as a tough and dangerous beast, with the majority found being in their fourth tier, which necessitated either large parties of higher level third-tier combatants or at least a couple fourth tiers to hunt them down safely. They were also more common in the demon lands, and the one in the dungeon Alissa was currently at was one of the very few such creatures known to spawn in their third tier. As for the beast itself, it was a formidable foe in most every aspect. Its hide was tough and durable, enabling it to downright ignore most physical attacks, while it also possessed a strong Mind and Soul, which made it just as durable against magical and soul attacks. The beast¡¯s defenses were compounded by its unbelievable vitality, as records stated of such beasts still trying to bite at their killer even after decapitation. The only known way to kill the beast for good was to remove its horn from its forehead, which in turn required immobilizing it first, a task that was far easier said than done. A [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination] possessed many weapons. Its strong, hoofed legs were solid and its kicks were little different than being bludgeoned by massive maces, perfectly capable of crushing even [Knights] in their armor. Those same legs provided it with great mobility, which made it all the harder to catch. Naturally, the rows upon rows of sharp fangs in its maw weren¡¯t for show either, as they were perfectly suited for tearing flesh apart, and the beast¡¯s jaw was so powerful that its bite had been documented to pulverize heads within helmets without missing a beat. In a way, the lethal venom it possessed and injected through some of those teeth was pretty much little more than overkill. The long, tenebrous tail tipped with a claw was another of the beast¡¯s natural weapons, the limb capable of not only twisting around and constricting people to death, but the slender claw that tipped it was just as capable of tearing flesh apart as the beast¡¯s many fangs. And yet none of these were the reason the [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination] was feared. No, the main reason the beast was feared was the most prized part of its body, the long horn that grew out of its forehead. Just as the horn made for excellent material for anything that needed to channel mana through them, the beast used it as a conduit to strike with its own Mind and Soul, most known for delivering deadly beams that disintegrated anything along its path as well as shockwaves that target the soul and disorient its prey. Its acute senses also meant that sneaking up upon the beast was a difficult task, unless one happened to be blessed with a skill that allowed them to travel while completely concealing every sign of their existence like sound and smells at the same time. Alissa¡¯s skill happened to be one such skill, however, which was how she and Ethan managed to get so close to the beast while remaining undetected. As such, to call the beast surprised when they popped out into existence right next to it was an understatement. Alissa¡¯s strike ¨C reinforced by four active skills all at once as well as the various buffs she had cast on her ¨C landed exactly where she aimed for, in the crook of the joint between the beast¡¯s hip and thigh, and pierced so deep that the entire broader spearhead of her weapon sunk into the beast¡¯s flesh, only stopped by the guard behind the spearhead. It was exactly what she wanted, using the broader head of the spear to create a larger, bleeding wound while at the same time hopefully severing some of the tendons that connected the leg to the hip and thus hobbling it. The combined damage from her stab and the accompanying skills made the beast give out a strange bellow ¨C almost like the sound of a crying infant that was ridiculously hoarse ¨C of pain even as she pulled her weapon out from the now profusely bleeding wound. She then immediately tucked herself low and rolled towards the left as an iridescent beam of light from the tip of the [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination]¡¯s horn swept across the space where her head used to be just a moment ago, the beam blazing until it struck a tree in the distance and toppling it as a chunk of the tree¡¯s trunk just vanished. Stolen story; please report. Alissa¡¯s quick reaction allowed her to avoid the beam, though, with only the tips of her swaying hair caught ¨C and smoldering ¨C in its wake. Ethan arrived and smashed the hammer end of his pollaxe against the back of the beast¡¯s knee the next moment, deftly transitioning into a roll after his strike and avoiding the strike of the beast¡¯s tail that was aimed for his face. He rolled underneath the beast¡¯s own torso and stood back up in one smooth motion on its other side. Then when the beast wanted to turn to face him he activated [None Shall Pass] and shield-bashed the thing from the other side, the forcefield emanated by the skill forcefully slapping the side of the beast¡¯s ovine face as it tried to turn his way but failed. At that point Ethan used his [Taunting Cry] to focus the beast¡¯s attention towards himself, which was a superfluous act. He had the beast¡¯s attention and rage in full already, as evidenced by another disintegrating beam that took a chunk off the rim of his shield. At least the shield had held for a brief moment and allowed him to get out of the way, though. Alissa made herself known once again at that precise moment, as the bladed spearhead sank deep into the base of the beast¡¯s tail, landing another painful ¨C if nowhere near fatal due to the beast¡¯s tremendous vitality ¨C injury that caught its attention. Its attempt to swipe at Alissa with its tail-claw was deflected by a deft movement of her shield, however. The two young [Heroes] stuck to the sides of the [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination], towards its back, where the beast had difficulty aiming its devastating beam. Their proximity also meant that a strike from the beast¡¯s tail became their main worry, but at the same time, the beast had to take care not to hit itself by accident, as Alissa pointed out by pushing a tail strike into the beast¡¯s own flank the next moment. They whittled at the beast with painful, but not fatal jabs from the relative safety of their position. Their surprise attack had achieved its target, as the beast¡¯s right leg had been hobbled by their strikes and the beast could only limp around with difficulty, directly removing its known agility out of the equation. As for putting it down, neither of them had such lofty fantasies, as that was what the rest of their party was for. As Sir Inolet often told them, when it came to dealing with huge, dangerous enemies stronger than themselves, there was no room for individual bravado, and teamwork was the key to the hunt. While the beast was distracted by Alissa once again jabbing at the base of its tail ¨C she had landed enough blows that by now said tail was moving notably slower due to the damage it had taken ¨C a deluge of projectiles beset it from the other side. The rest of their party managed to close the distance without being noticed and made use of the beast¡¯s preoccupation with the two of them to launch another surprise attack. Arrows, crossbow bolts, and thrown javelins stabbed into the beast¡¯s left side, with one of the arrows even accurately piercing the left-side eyeball on the beast¡¯s face. A moment later, the snap-crack of Joshua¡¯s lightning bolt joined the fray, the bolt nearly as thick around as an arm by then, striking the beast on its left flank, near its hip joint and leaving a blackened scorch mark that radiated in electric patterns through the vicinity. The beast bellowed once more, both in agony and despair this time. Joshua¡¯s blow had practically crippled its other leg and rendered it immobile, even if the way its trunk-like legs were constructed meant it managed to keep itself upright even with both legs crippled. The beast even launched another disintegrating beam towards its hidden tormentors, and Alissa heard a scream of pain that was abruptly cut short, though she did not recognize the voice. That was when the rest of the party ¨C only sixteen of them instead of eighteen, she noted ¨C burst out from concealment and rushed the beast, knowing that its disintegration beam took some time to charge before it could fire once more. The beast gave another shrill bellow that echoed in their ears at that moment, using its soul attack to disorient them to buy itself time. Alissa and Ethan, as well as Joshua and the rest of the [Hero¡¯s Companions] and [Hero¡¯s Associates] were unaffected. Leda had given them a buff that would protect them against soul attacks within a certain range once, before Alissa and Ethan embarked on their sneak attack. She only managed to buff nine people with it, but she herself, Silvia, and Bronwen had particularly high Soul stats and were thus more resistant to soul attacks to begin with. While they weathered the storm unbothered, however, most of the newcomers to their party grasped their ears and fell as they were hit by the soul attack. One new member from the Royal Guards in particular even bled out from all the orifices on her face and looked particularly horrible. The party had no time to waste for them, however, as they converged on the wounded beast instead. Various implements of war struck the [One-Horned Gumaredgeb Abomination] before it could react. Osmond accurately landed another arrow into the beast¡¯s central eye, and when the beast tried to lower its head to bite on someone, Ethan slammed the flat side of his shield against the side of its face just moments before Bronwen and Glenn did the same from the other side. The three of them pressed hard against the beast¡¯s head and kept it locked in place between their shields. Nadine plunged the blade of her greatblade deep into the base of the beast¡¯s neck, while Moira carved a deep wound with her halberd. Maribel dove below the bulky neck and rapidly landed several slices against the lower part of the beast¡¯s throat, while from the other side Alissa and Silvia stabbed their spears into the same area. Even with their whole party working together, it still took them another minute of struggle before they successfully decapitated the beast, and even then, the blinded, beheaded head still attempted to bite at them, forcing Ethan and Bronwen to press down on it using their shields to keep it immobilized. Nobody wanted to be stupidly bitten and poisoned to death at that junction of the fight. At the same time, the others worked together to wrench the beast¡¯s horn off its forehead, with some of the digging into the base of the horn and attempting to break the connection while the others kept wrenching it side to side with brute force. It took them another five minutes of strenuous physical effort ¨C fortunately the beast¡¯s ability to use magic had been cut off after it was beheaded ¨C before they finally wrenched the horn off and ended the beast¡¯s life for good. ¡°Splendid work, everyone. You did much better than expected this time as well,¡± praised Sir Inolet as he walked towards them while clapping his hands slowly. 59 - Worth and Value ¡°Much better!?¡± yelled one of the knights from the Royal Guard who joined as part of the additional members the Kingdom sort of forced upon the party. If Alissa remembered right he was the fourth son of a noble or something like that, and Nadine had hinted that the man was definitely on the side of her eldest brother. ¡°Nora and Alsace are dead and you call that much better!?¡± The names he mentioned were two other members from the Royal Guards who had the misfortune of being in the path of the beast¡¯s last disintegration beam. Alissa had seen some of the new Temple Guards help drag out their bodies from their hiding spot after the battle, and it was an ugly sight, to say the least. They had not died pretty. One of them ¨C the woman, so likely Nora since Alsace was a man¡¯s name as far as Alissa knew ¨C took the beam directly on her chest and it carved a smooth hole through her torso, carving through her lungs and heart and killing her instantly before she could even scream in pain. The man had been less fortunate, and took a glancing blow to the side of his thigh, which disintegrated half of that leg and caused him to fall into the beam right afterwards. He had been the source of the scream that had been cut short. The beam had carved away most of the left side of his torso before it subsided. ¡°The last time this party had to take on a foe of this relative caliber, half of them died,¡± stated Sir Inolet calmly and nonchalantly without giving a care for the young noble¡¯s anger. He had warned all of the new members of the risks they were taking, so if some of them realized only later on that those risks were more serious than they first expected, that was on them. ¡°We only lost two this time, and neither were even of the main party. An improvement, most assuredly-¡± ¡°I have to correct you here, Sir Inolet,¡± said Cerilla all of a sudden from where she knelt next to the fallen Royal Guard that had taken the soul attack particularly badly. The way the woman had bled from all her facial orifices was a scary sight, to say the least, but from the way her chest still vaguely moved, it looked like she still clung to life. ¡°While I managed to save Lady Vera¡¯s life, I do not think she would be able to fight ever again, so that makes for three casualties.¡± ¡°I stand corrected, thank you, Madam Cerilla,¡± said Sir Inolet with a slight bow of recognition to the priestess. Technically he was so far above Cerilla in rank and seniority that he could have just omitted any sort of title before her name, but he used it to make a point in this particular case and lend weight to her words. ¡°Three out of twenty. A much better improvement over ten out of twenty lost, don¡¯t you agree?¡± Alissa had to hold back her laughter as she watched the young nobleman splutter wordlessly for a while, lost for words to answer Sir Inolet¡¯s rebuttal. He was probably used to throwing around his status to get his way, and was lost when he ran directly into the iron plate that was Sir Inolet, who gave no shits about politicking or people¡¯s status. If they were assigned under him, then they better do their job right or he would have their hides, no matter who they are. Needless to say, he made very few friends amongst the nobles, but between his popularity amongst the various knight orders and the military as a whole, as well as his status of having fought in the previous war and lived, even if those nobles hated his guts they did not dare to lift a finger against him. One of them had tried in the past, and had foolishly targeted the family of Sir Inolet¡¯s sole daughter. Back then, the attempt had been foiled by happenstance as his in-laws ¨C both powerful warriors in their own right ¨C happened to be visiting their newborn grandchild, but the incident incensed all of them regardless and resulted in a noble house getting completely uprooted, with the approval of the Royal Family, even. After all, they could not afford to be seen as allowing the families of those who had risked their life and limb to fight for the Kingdom in the Great War to be harmed unless they wanted a truly dangerous uprising in their hands. The Royal Family, the noble houses, the Temple, and the military all formed separate factions in the Kingdom¡¯s politics, which naturally made for complications. While the nobles might cause trouble if offended, the Royals of the time decided that offending them was far less risky than offending the military, most of which would have stood firmly behind their heroes like Henri Inolet, come what may. That confrontative young noble looked like he had some more choice vitriol to spew when Alissa noticed how Sir Inolet¡¯s face changed all of a sudden. She immediately noticed the mistake they had made. They relaxed a bit too far while still in dangerous territory. Her eyes saw the colorful blur at around the same moment Sir Inolet yelled out a warning to the party and alerted them. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. It was all too late for the cocky noble, though, as that colorful blur impacted against the chain coif that covered the back of his head and drilled through with ease. He spasmed and jerked where he stood, before a hole was blown from the inside of his forehead, spewing blood, shards of bone, and brain matter everywhere in the vicinity. From within that hole, just above and between his now-glazed eyes, appeared the head of a small bird ¨C not too unlike a hummingbird in appearance, save for the fact that it had four eyes and was covered with insect-like chitin instead of feathers. The creature looked curiously from side to side for a moment before it turned into another blur that headed straight towards Alissa. Unfortunately for the creature, while it was absurdly fast to the point that even Alissa could only see a blur in her field of vision, she was arguably one of the best equipped to fight it amongst the party, as Alissa focused quite a bit of her Body stats into Dexterity, while her class further granted additional Perception and Intuition as she leveled. All those stats combined allowed her to not only perceive the beast¡¯s trajectory, but also to make a confident guess on the maneuver it would perform along the way. The beast itself probably aimed for her because Sir Inolet was on the other side, and it dared not to rush towards him, while she probably registered to it as the greatest threat out of the party and it wanted to get rid of her while it could. Instead, Alissa met the creature¡¯s charge with an accurate straight punch where she rammed the upper corner of her shield directly against the charging creature¡¯s beak. The impact was a violent one and the beast¡¯s beak embedded itself into the metal of the shield, which proved to be a fatal mistake for the creature. The beast, an [Eight-Winged Blitzbeak Lvl50] was one that relied on its absurd agility and its powerful charge attacks to defeat much larger creatures despite its small size. With its beak stuck in the metal of Alissa¡¯s shield, it had just inadvertently rendered its own agility useless, as it lacked the force to pry its beak from the punctured and dented metal. Instead, Alissa slammed the insectile bird-like beast against the ground hard, since it was trapped and unable to free itself. The impact itself didn¡¯t hurt the beast much, but prevented its eight dragonfly-like wings from moving properly, which rendered it immobile for a brief moment. That moment was all Alissa needed to flip her grip on her spear into an overarm grip and stab down at the beast with all the force she could muster behind it. She used the other end of her spear, with the spearhead intended for piercing through a target at all costs, and the force behind her strike was just enough to overcome the beast¡¯s relatively weak defenses and pierce through its small body, pinning it straight to the ground below. Then Alissa held the position for long moments until the beast ceased to struggle and the notification sounded in her mind. ¡°Very well done, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said Sir Inolet as he walked towards her and slowly clapped his hands once more. The [Eight-Winged Blitzbeak] was the beast they had originally searched for, as the old knight expected it to prove to be a challenge for the party, due to its unusual qualities. The beast was indeed tiny and relatively fragile for its level, but it was also ridiculously fast and deadly, quite unlike anything the party had to fight so far. He had not expected the beast to make a beeline for Alissa only to fall under her quick reactions, though. ¡°Thanks, I guess?¡± said Alissa with some uncertainty in her voice. At the moment she was still kneeling and pressing down on the [Eight-Winged Blitzbeak]¡¯s corpse, as if worried that it might spring back to life the moment she let go. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have any skill that would let it resurrect or something, does it? That felt far too easy.¡± ¡°Good prudence, but no, it¡¯s dead. You just happened to deprive it of its greatest advantage by luck, then went for the kill as you should,¡± replied the old knight with some evident pride in his voice. Some of the others also looked towards Alissa with some surprise and a little awe, none of them having expected a fight against a creature of that level to end so quickly and simply. ¡°Or rather, you grasped upon its weaknesses and acted accordingly, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°It was just a lucky guess,¡± replied Alissa with a nod as she rose up, the dead beast still skewered by her spear. What she did not mention was that she had learned a new passive skill for her class called [A Critical Eye] some time ago, which did indeed allow her to glimpse upon the weaknesses of creatures she had in her sight. It was one reason why her attacks against the beast so accurately hit them in ways that crippled limbs, at least partially, as the skill also helped her land such blows more easily. ¡°This thing¡¯s corpse is valuable as well, I take it? I hope I didn¡¯t ruin it too much.¡± ¡°Only the beak, which you likely guessed since it pierced through the metal of your shield without taking any damage. The eyes are worth a lot as reagents too, and you don¡¯t seem to have damaged those either, so it¡¯s all good,¡± replied the old knight as he pried off the beast¡¯s carcass from the tip of her spear. Due to the different and far more dangerous conditions of the forest, they were followed much more closely by the harvesting crew, who quickly butchered and stored any beast the party slaughtered along the way. Even so, for safety reasons, Sir Inolet also carried an empty storage tool to keep the most valuable bits of the beasts they encountered. He had stored the abomination¡¯s horn in that storage, and did the same with the blitzbeak¡¯s carcass. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s two of our three targets here taken care of, and we had only lost four people, none of which are relevant to our purpose in coming,¡± said Sir Inolet afterwards, clearly not in the least bit disturbed by the death of the young nobleman who argued with him just moments earlier. Before the expedition left, he made it clear that he did not like the idea of attempting to fish out more [Hero¡¯s Companions] or [Associates] by way of attaching new members to the party, and that such an attempt would be dangerous. He had also made it very clear that since the nobles had insisted on it, he would not be responsible for the lives of those additional members. ¡°We are going to proceed to hunt down our final target now. Are you prepared? If you feel that you might not be up to the task, it is not too late to tender your resignation here and now.¡± LX - Every Journey begins with a Small Step ¡°All right, everybody ready? Remember, stay together at all times, okay?¡± asked Esperanza as she looked at the rag-tag gaggle of children and youngsters in front of her. They had just finished eating breakfast, the older kids helping feed the younger ones who were unable to feed themselves yet. Now the group of children had gathered together in two distinct groups, almost like a formation of sorts. Within the formation were the youngest children and the rest of the younger ones, which formed the majority of their numbers. The oldest of the children there helped carry the small toddlers who weren''t capable of walking on their own yet, though fortunately there were enough kids that they could alternate the task when one grew too tired. Surrounding them on the outside were Eda-Zil, Kvar-Litu, and the half-dozen oldest and biggest of the children, each of which carried a weapon in hand, standing guard over the rest and prepared to defend them in emergencies. At first Esperanza quailed at the thought of arming little children ¨C some of the armed children were no older than twelve or so ¨C but given their situation, they could not afford to be picky. In this case, the assortment of weapons she had scavenged from the dead invaders came in handy. Each of the younger children carried a spear, which was a simple enough weapon for them to use, and not too heavy either. Kvar-Litu and Eda-Zil carried a blade alongside their spears, with Eda-Zil carrying the machete formerly used by the [Champion] on her waist. Originally Esperanza would have liked to hand out that [Champion]¡¯s bow as well, but neither Eda-Zil nor Kvar-Litu were strong enough to even draw it properly, so she shelved that idea. Instead, it was little Ilavakide who volunteered to try using a bow ¨C the villagers had not used bows so none of them had any experience with them ¨C and was given one of the lighter bows by Esperanza. She stayed together with the younger children, however. In a way, she was glad that the race Ilavakide was part of was much stronger than humans were, that she could use a bow even as a child of six years. Granted, the bow was the lightest Esperanza could find, belonging to one of the lower leveled sentries, but still. Naturally, she and her dogs were the real guards for the group, as she doubted that the youngsters and children could do much other than handle some first-tier creatures at best. For that reason, she sent Dali and Gordy ranging out ahead of the group, each somewhat to the side, while Esperanza herself stayed by the group, moving above them in the forest canopy where she was afforded a better field of view of their surroundings. After some discussion with Eda-Zil, Kvar-Litu, and some of the older kids, they all agreed that Esperanza should allow some of the more harmless inhabitants of the forest to pass close enough to the group that they could try hunt them down, both for food ¨C they had some from the village, which Esperanza carried in her [Storage Dimension] for convenience, but it wouldn¡¯t last them for the entire trip, which was estimated to take months ¨C and for experience. While Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu had little hopes of improving themselves, the same could not be said about the young children who were all still in their first tiers, and they chose to place a gamble on those same children maturing before their time under the conditions they were subjected to. They knew they needed all the help they could get to make it through the journey, after all. Esperanza had not liked the idea of making the children fight much at all, though she understood the rationale behind it. She would not always be with them, and if the survivors of Navef wanted to be able to stand on their own feet later on, this was pretty much the last option available to them. As such she did as they requested and funneled in relatively harmless creatures in the 10s towards the group, having told Dali and Gordy to let those pass while driving away or slaughtering the more dangerous creatures in their way. Fortunately they were still relatively near the village, in the outskirts of the forest, and creatures in the 20-30 level range were relatively rare. That evening she brought a couple [Blue-striped Sheep] towards the group, at levels 15 and 18. The creature was a docile herbivore that made for good eating, and most importantly, was well within the ability of the youngsters to handle on their own. Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu kept the beasts in place while the youngsters killed them with their spears and arrows, before they butchered the carcasses and used the meat for dinner that night. The exercise also netted most of the young children a level or two, which proved that they could forcefully speed up the leveling of children still in their first tiers. None of them knew if doing so would come with side effects or consequences later on, however, yet at the same time they had no leeway to bother about those at the time either. As such, Esperanza kept up the practice over the following week. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. For their first week of the journey, the group focused on covering as much distance as they could, headed deeper and deeper into the forest, for fear that there might be pursuers. It was only after they traversed a good distance without any sign of pursuers ¨C and Esperanza made sure by sending Dali to scout the path they had taken from time to time while they rested at night ¨C that they started to relax the pace a bit more to allow the children more time to rest. Throughout the journey, Esperanza kept allowing beasts of a passable level to pass through for the kids to handle. As they went deeper into the forest, however, the number of lower leveled beasts started to decrease, to the point that by the time they were a week in, the kids had already spent two days idling because she could not find harmless creatures of a suitable level for them to practice on. That was when the kids asked her to let some of the lower level dangerous beasts to pass their way. Once again she was torn between her more modern sensibilities that cried out over the idea of endangering the children under her care with the harsh reality of the situation said children had been placed into. She debated against herself for a while, but only came to a decision after a talk with Oldies, after which she agreed to give the children what they asked for, but only under her supervision. Esperanza had learned from Oldies by then that if she were to weaken the beasts to the point that even the children could kill it on their own without issue, then most of the experience would have gone to her, and given her much higher level, gone to waste. For that reason, she limited herself to only non-damaging moves. Like restraining the beast when Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu failed to contain them. Such an incident took place with the very first beast she allowed them to handle on their own, a [Shadowfang Nightcrawler Lvl22], and she had to help keep the beast restrained before the children managed to kill it after some serious effort on their part. The hide of a second-tier beast was a lot tougher than the first tiers, it seemed, and the little children with their lack of stats had to whale on the creature for a good ten minutes, their stabs creating only little pinpricks that they slowly widened and deepened with a coordinated effort before they finally killed the beast. Contrary to what Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu expected, Esperanza had not blamed them. If anything, she sympathized with the two youths, who had run themselves ragged to take care of the gaggle of children as best they could. The older children helped them to an extent, but the two were still the ones who primarily helped care for the younger ones, in some ways taking the place of their lost parents as best they could. It was a weighty role that Esperanza most definitely had not envied them for undertaking. They moved slower as they went deeper into the forest, the higher level of the beasts in their vicinity being the primary reason. Esperanza and her two companions managed to scare off or slay the vast majority of the beasts that were in their way, but as the number increased, the three started to feel the pressure mount on them. As such, they worked together to ¡°feed¡± more beasts to the older children. If the older children leveled to the second tier, they would be able to provide more help to the group, and as such Esperanza helped them deal with more and more low second tier beasts as they delved further into the forest. It was a slow undertaking, though, as even her holding the beasts still like she did funneled a good chunk of the experience towards her rather than the children. They attempted to fight that issue with quantity. By the tenth night of their journey, the children were killing a dozen such beasts throughout the day, as Esperanza kept one held in place whenever she encountered any that the children could harm and kill. By the end of the second week, no less than thirty beasts lost their lives at the hands of the children during their journey. While the first-tier classes only provided very little in terms of improvement, every little bit counted for those children, and while they would still be helpless against the beasts they killed had Esperanza not held them in place, their ability to hurt those beasts improved as their stats increased. As such, they kept up the practice, while at the same time taking extreme care not to accidentally draw in a beast that would be far too dangerous for the children. By that point of time, the group was far too worried about their continued survival ¨C they were barely a quarter of the way through their planned route, and the forest would become much more dangerous as they delved deeper into it ¨C to think about the fact that they were having young children still in their first tier being trained by the very messenger of their own gods of old. It had escaped their busy minds that such an act had quite a bit of significance in the world. Any storyteller worth their salt would have been able to tell them as much, but their group lacked such a figure, and kept going as they had without putting much thought into things other than how to live and stay alive into the next day. As such, it came as quite a bit of a surprise when one night, on the fifteenth day of their journey, Val-Kas¡¯j, one of the oldest and highest leveled children who was almost a full-blooded Ma¡¯Varok, hit his twentieth level and received his class choices, only for him to report that he saw a very unusual choice amongst his options. The child had [Novice Farmer], which was expected as he was a [Farmer¡¯s Child], and he gained options such as [Novice Ranger], [Young Hunter], and [Quick-Minded Survivalist], all of which was not unexpected given what they had done in the past two weeks. All the living on the run and the killing had given the child quite a few feats he would have normally missed out on, after all. What none of them had expected was to hear that his last class option was as a [Progeny of Yore: The Hunter who Provides], a class that none of them had even ever heard about. For that matter, not even Eda-Zil or Kvar-Litu ever heard of anything like that from their elders. Val-Kas¡¯j quickly made his choice, though, saying that the last class just felt right to him, and picked it as his second tier class. To say that the improvements he received from the class was drastic was an understatement, and Esperanza knew that she needed to have a good chat with Oldies, as soon as she could. LXI - The Progenies of Yore ¡°Oldies, qu¨¦ carajos is going on here!?¡± asked Esperanza exasperatedly. It was a fortunate thing that she had not contacted Oldies two days ago when the cooldown for their usual meetings ended, since the kids were close to their second tiers and she wanted to wait until one of them reached that checkpoint first. A good thing too, that she waited. What surprised Esperanza the most was not the hefty amount of stats Val-Kas¡¯j reported receiving from the class change. That part she had expected, to an extent, and while a total of twenty-one points of major stats were a lot, it had not surprised Esperanza too much, as she herself received thirty during her class change. It was definitely a lot more than what any of them expected, as apparently ten points or so was the norm for second tier classes, with twelve to fifteen already being amongst the best classes most had ever heard of, but since the class was by all indications special, she could understand the bonus points, at least. Given that the class definitely had Oldies¡¯ hand behind it, it was understandable. What she had not expected in the least was how Val-Kas¡¯j had been forced to physical maturity upon choosing his class. The boy was already pretty big at twelve, the top of his head around the height of Esperanza¡¯s shoulder, built stockier and broader than a human would be. His body had nearly doubled in size as he accepted the class, however, growing to a height of at least six if not seven feet tall, while his already stocky and broad form grew moreso, rippling with strong muscles. Just on looks alone, the boy had suddenly turned into the most intimidating-looking of the group all of a sudden. Fortunately, despite the physical changes ¨C which the boy claimed to have felt strange but not painful ¨C the boy seemed unchanged personality-wise. He was just much bigger and stronger, and apparently, if all the information Esperanza had learned so far was true, was blessed with one of the strongest second tier classes that the natives had ever received. We have felt the first progeny¡¯s awakening, Esperanza. We assume that is what caused you to contact us in such a fluster? Esperanza sighed partly in relief and partly in annoyance when the reply from Oldies came to her mind. Relief in that whatever happened had at least not been some sort of accident that would ruin a child¡¯s life going forward, but also annoyance in that Oldies clearly had a hand in whatever just took place but had not seen fit to inform her about it. ¡°Class. Forced growth. Just¡­ what!?¡± demanded Esperanza with gruff words as she was still rather frustrated by the unexpected development. Honestly, child, this one is more your doing rather than ours, if we were to be frank about things. ¡°Explain.¡± You must certainly still recall how the villagers called you as a messenger of the Deities of Yore, which is what they called us, yes? ¡°Mm-hmm?¡± As we explained to you before, the feats that an individual achieved during their previous classes determined the selection of classes they would receive for the next tier. Now, what had you expected would happen if a group of small children, all still in their first tiers, were to be hand-fed experience and kills by one so deeply touched by our powers such as yourself? ¡°They would¡­ Ay, cabr¨®n¡­ They gained the feats for that class because of me, didn¡¯t they?¡± That is indeed so. For what it was worth, child, the class itself is akin to a blessing to them. You have learned for yourself how the natives of this world were mostly hobbled by the limitations imposed upon them by the gods, through the system, have you not? For them to receive such a class, so early in their life, is the first step for a native of this world to take a step against their very own gods, in a way. Not that the gods never used this to their own benefits. The [Heroes] and [Champions] also have something similar, as their [Companions] and [Associates]. Those people are natives of this world who were naturally believers of the gods in question, and generally did their bidding as they fought alongside the summoned ones. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that the [Progeny of Yores] are your equivalent to those [Companions]? And that they¡¯re created through¡­ Mierda¡­ the other children¡­¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Yes, child, the others would almost certainly also receive the same option, though likely with some variety, as they reached the second tier as well. Please rest assured that none of them would be detrimental to the children in question, other than maybe the surprise they receive from the forced maturing of their physical selves that they experienced in the process. ¡°Right. Forced maturation. What the cojones is with that!?¡± That is a function of the system, and how it was bound to the natives, and had nothing to do with us. You see, the gods had bound the concept of maturity for the natives with achieving the second tier of levels, which is why you only see the natives reach the second tier after they grew up to whatever age was needed for the maturity of their race. What you had done with these children¡­ are a loophole in the system itself. ¡°Wait a minute. If children could be leveled up like this, wouldn¡¯t the people here have made use of those loopholes as well? Why hadn¡¯t they?¡± Because their gods forbid such spoonfeeding as a taboo, and in fact, prevented any similar attempt to produce a [Companion] in this way by never giving them access to the class, or more often, killing them during the attempt. They do not wish for the natives to achieve such levels of power that risked going beyond what they could easily control. ¡°And you all have no such worries. In fact, it¡¯d be to your benefit if someone did grow beyond what the gods could control, wouldn¡¯t it, Oldies?¡± Exactly so. We have no such qualms, and besides, in the near future, you would be in need of assistants in your own quest. Surely you were not thinking of doing everything on your own, aren¡¯t you? ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ It¡¯s just that¡­ They¡¯re children! Hijo de Puta!¡± We do not believe those who worshiped the current gods would care either way, Esperanza. To them, those who still believed in us were just heretics, to be purged from existence upon sight, and the fact that they were children would not halt any hand. Is it not better to give them the option to take their fates into their own hands? ¡°Fuck. Sometimes you just have to remind me just how differently you see things compared to us, didn¡¯t you? Then again, I guess this place has no such thing as child labor laws either¡­¡± We are uncertain what those are, but here it is not uncommon for children to start helping their parents out from an early age, yes, to the extent of their capabilities. Those habits often formed feats that allowed them to walk the same path in their second tier under the system, even. ¡°All right, fine, I¡¯ll help the rest of the kids who are old enough and willing to hit their second tiers as well,¡± said Esperanza as she finally acquiesced to Oldies¡¯ argument. A part of her quailed at the thought of treating those children that way, while another part of her also understood that it was a kindness to allow them to carve their own place in the world, something they would normally never have the chance to do. She found herself unable to deny giving those children a chance to forge their own path in this cruel world. In that case, we look forward to good news the next time we come in contact. Until then, Esperanza. ¡°Adios, Oldies,¡± she replied in her mind. Throughout the next day, Esperanza kept watch over young Val-Kas¡¯j¡¯s interaction with the other children. The boy had truly not changed, while all the other children openly envied him the transformation. Given the attitudes shown by those children, Esperanza hardened her resolve and continued to ¡°feed¡± them creatures of a suitable level to kill. Unlike the previous days, she could afford to raise the level of the beasts by a bit, since Val-Kas¡¯j proved to be just as capable as Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu when it came to wrangling such creatures. The boosts his class gave him ¨C it helped that his class was also a much higher rarity one compared to theirs ¨C allowed him to catch up to them in capability despite being a whole tier beneath them. As a bonus, he also received good amounts of experience from the creatures they killed together, and even gained a level before the day ended, which he reported as giving him four points worth to his sub-stats. Again, it was a far greater amount than what most received, with most second tier classes only giving one to two points at most. The same night also saw a second child, a young Nevilosk ¨C the ones who were gangly and tall, with limbs that looked too long for their bodies ¨C half-breed girl who had quite a bit of human blood as well named Tiesya reached her twentieth level. Like Val-Kas¡¯j before her, choosing her second tier class allowed her to grow to maturity on the spot as well. She was about as tall as he was, though far more slender in build, with long, gangly limbs and a light purplish skin. She became a [Progeny of Yore: The Blade which Protects]. Her class was roughly the same quality as Val-Kas¡¯j¡¯s was, though with a different focus as was made obvious with their skills. Where Val-Kas¡¯j received a skill that allowed him to land deadlier blows and allowed him to take on more dangerous foes, Tiesya¡¯s was a defensive one that allowed her to protect those around her with her blades. Fortunately Esperanza had not lacked spare weapons to distribute amongst the children since she collected quite a bit from the dead invaders. Over the following two weeks, six more of the children ¨C the other four of the oldest ones as well as two younger ones who insisted on participating in the ¡°hunt¡± ¨C reached their twentieth level and transitioned to their second tier, their bodies maturing before its time in the process. Legisvula, a small-bodied Tesh¡¯ka boy ¨C the smaller tusked race that Esperanza had mixed up with the Ma¡¯Varok at first ¨C became a [Progeny of Yore: Eye in the Shadows], a class that seemed to be focused on stealth and scouting. Nalihimatu, a Ragah-fiq boy, the race that Avalanusi and Ilavakide were part of who looked like broad mounds of shaggy fur from a distance, became a [Progeny of Yore: Shield of the Weak]. Resitia, a young human girl, became a [Progeny of Yore: The Spear of Retribution], her class so heavily on the offensive side that Esperanza immediately thought of her as a glass cannon sort. Mel-Ivas, a half-breed girl with both Ma¡¯Varok and Tesh¡¯Ka blood was one of the odd ones out as she became a [Progeny of Yore: The Touch of Healing]. The girl¡¯s mother was the village healer, and apparently that had affected the class she received. As for the two younger kids, one of them was Ilavakide, the young Ragah-fiq girl Esperanza saved from the village back then. The girl had been practicing a lot with the bow, so it was no surprise for her to receive a class like [Progeny of Yore: The Marksman of Vindication]. Her reaching second tier also meant that she grew physically strong enough to use the former [Champion]¡¯s bow, surprisingly. The last child, a mixed breed girl of human, nevilosk, and ragah-fiq blood also brought another surprise as she became a [Progeny of Yore: Wielder of the Arcane], which was as mage-y a class as it could be. Apparently the child had been born with some gifts in the arcane arts, and her grandfather was the village shaman and one of the elders, to boot. Either way, with the addition of the eight children that reached their second tiers and were leveling rapidly as they traveled, the group actually found that the deep forests they dreaded became a good bit easier than what they had expected. Of course, most of the credit was due to Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy, who kept the beasts that were too strong at bay. LXII - Adapting to Maturity ¡°Nali! Help me out already! This one is tough!¡± yelled Tiesya as she parried and deflected the spear-like limbs of the [Arachnoid Impaler Lvl 35] with the pair of machetes she held in her hands. The fighting style she earned ¨C one imparted to her upon changing to her second tier class via a passive skill ¨C relied heavily on a tight defense paired with vicious counterattacks, so it was not ideal for use with the rather short machetes she had. It was all they had in hand though, and Tiesya already received the best pair of the longer blades they had. The group had miraculously avoided any loss of life so far, roughly halfway into their long journey through the deeper areas of the forest. Of course, part of it was thanks to Esperanza¡¯s dogs warning her of the territories of beasts far beyond their ability to handle, thus allowing them to avoid the worst. Legisvula helping out with the scouting also helped, as it gave the group another pair of keen eyes, and apparently helped the young Tesh¡¯ka child gain experience for his class too, in the process. Their latest detour ¨C to avoid the territory of a massive beast that almost had Esperanza exclaiming ¡°Dinosaur¡± on seeing it, though it was rather different after a closer look, almost like someone mixed up parts from various dinosaurs and then doubled it in size ¨C was unfortunately a choice between a rock and a hard place. The beast Esperanza saw far in the depth of the forest was at least level 70 if not 80, way beyond their ability to handle, but on the other hand, the only detour available to them cut through the outskirts of a natural dungeon full of arachnoid monsters. In the end, the children voted to cut through the dungeon¡¯s outskirts rather than add another week to their travel time by skirting around it. Fortunately for them, while the arachnoid beasts that inhabit the dungeon area ranged from the high 20s to the low 40s in level ¨C at least in the outskirts, as Esperanza thought that given the location of the dungeon, there were likely beasts in their 50s and 60s deeper in the dungeon itself ¨C it was rare to spot them in large groups. Most of the time, the beasts came at them singly, or in twos or threes, which made them easy to handle. As for their current situation, it was due to an encounter with no less than seven of the beasts at once, three of which were in their high 40s. Esperanza and her dogs kept those three occupied, as well as one other level 42 monster, but the other three beasts were left for the children to tackle on their own. Thanks to the ¡°training¡± they had gone through, though, many of the children who had reached their second tier earlier had already gained quite a few levels in their new classes, which meant more skills and stats for them to use. Those enabled them to hold their ground as they worked together against the three arachnoid beasts that outleveled them. As one of the two highest leveled of the children, Tiesya kept one of the beasts busy by herself. Her skills were heavy on the defensive side, which allowed her to at least keep the beast occupied and focused on her instead of attacking the others. Even so, it was difficult to fight against the higher leveled beast, and she was getting pushed back, little by little. The [Arachnoid Impaler] she faced was a rather insectoid-looking beast, with a hairy, bulbous lower torso suspended from eight similarly hairy legs. The slimmer upper torso that jutted out from the front end of its lower torso was slightly raised as an angle, with four more limbs jutting out from its side. In the case of the beast that Tiesya faced, those limbs tapered down to chitinous spears at their final segment which the beast used as weapons. Despite the creature¡¯s fearsome eight-eyed face and its wicked mandibles dripping with ichor, it was more content to engage from as far as its long spear-tipped limbs could reach, which places Tiesya in her current predicament. Her weapons were far too short to reach the beast¡¯s torso, and when she tried to chop at the spear-limbs, she found them to be ridiculously sturdy, her strike only leaving some white scuff marks on the beast¡¯s carapace. Resitia, Val-Kas¡¯j, and Ilavakide were tackling another of the beasts, hoping for a quick kill so they could help the others, while the rest of the now-matured children, with Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu helping out, were tackling the last one together. It was still a difficult fight, even with all of them fighting together, due to the disparity in levels. Esperanza¡¯s new skills, which she gained during their journey, helped a bit, as one of the skills increased the stats of some of the children, while the other reduced that of their enemies, but even so, it remained a hard fight. Eventually, around a minute after Tiesya called for help, during which time she took another couple of glancing blows, help came for her. It was not Nalihimatu¡¯s group, but came in the form of Val-Kas¡¯j and Ilavakida arriving to help her instead. They had finished off their beast first, as they had planned. Resitia must have gone to help Nalihiamatu¡¯s group instead. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The moment they arrived, Val-Kas¡¯j hurled a spear that pierced into the [Arachnoid Impaler]¡¯s bulbous lower torso, and even as the beast screeched in pain, Ilavakide loosed an arrow that pierced through one of its eight eyes and out from the back of its head. Unfortunately, it was far from enough to kill the beast. Even so, their efforts allowed Tiesya a breather and an opportunity, as one of the beast¡¯s four spear-arms missed due to the sudden loss of sight. She daringly used the machete in her left hand to make the beast¡¯s two left-side arms collide against each other, narrowly avoiding the remaining right-side arm as she dived in close to the beast. Then the machete in her right hand flashed towards the joins between the beast¡¯s head and its torso. Despite Tiesya¡¯s best effort to make the strike with as much power as she could, she lacked the strength to decapitate the beast, and her blade was stuck around a third of the way into the joint. Fortunately, before the beast could twist around and sink its wide open mandibles into her flesh, another blow came from the other side. Ilavakide shot another arrow that went through the center of the beast¡¯s mouth and made it pause its movements for a brief moment, before Val-Kas¡¯j leapt in and chopped the rest of the way through the joint with an axe, decapitating the [Arachnoid Impaler] and finally ending the beast¡¯s life. Like Tiesya, he had several cuts and injuries on his body, but none that prevented him from fighting more, it seemed. Both of the youths ¨C they had been young children just weeks before, forced to mature before their time ¨C nodded silently at each other as they left the beast¡¯s corpse and headed for the last of the creatures, an [Arachnoid Scyther Lvl33], which fought the rest of their group. That variant of the beast had only two limbs extending from its upper torso, but they were longer, more flexible, and ended on wicked-looking serrated scythe blades. Fortunately, between Nalihimatu actively covering the rest of the group with his shield and Mel-Ivas healing the injured, they managed to contain the beast for the most part. From time to time, shards of ice would fly out towards the creature¡¯s eyes, courtesy of Dai¡¯vasy, the child who woke up to the arcane powers on her class change. When the three joined in the fight, it was soon over, as Tiesya kept one of the beast¡¯s scythe-arms trapped while Val-Kas¡¯j severed another, which created an opening Resitia immediately plunged into, driving her spear straight through the center of the creature¡¯s upper torso. The blow itself had not killed the beast yet, but it damaged the main nerve cluster which controlled its movements, which rendered it easy pickings for the children. Meanwhile, as the children finished off the beasts they fought, Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy were entangled with another four some distance away. She had already made use of her new skills, [A Lending of Power], which allowed her to boost the strongest stats of up to five individuals for a decent while ¨C she had boosted herself, Tiesya, Val-Kas¡¯j, Dali, and Gordy, the last two specifically because the skill¡¯s effects were doubled when used on her companions ¨C as well as [Deprive the Wicked], which allowed her to lower the highest stat of enemies within a certain area. She had been fortunate enough to catch six of the seven beasts in its effects, which helped with the fight. As for her opponents, the [Arachnoid Pulverizer Lvl48] that Dali fought against was clearly on its last legs, with all but one of its bludgeon-arms already torn off, as well as half of its legs gone. On the other side, Gordy had just barreled over and started to tear the [Arachnoid Trapper Lvl46] into pieces. Esperanza had been most worried of that one, as it was capable of slinging sticky webs that could easily entrap them, but Gordy had enough brute force to simply tear through its webs and take it down without too much difficulty. On her own side, she had already taken down the [Arachnoid Ranger Lvl 43], its upper torso torn apart once she caught up to it. Still, the beast had distracted her quite a bit and managed to land several of the spiny projectiles it somehow shot out of its ¡°arms¡± by spasming its muscles. Fortunately Esperanza had no such thing as a vital organ and could care less about such injuries. The highest level of the beasts, an [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen Lvl49], was the last one that still struggled, its six insectile wings fluttering as it moved swiftly ¨C especially for a creature its size ¨C around the canopy while blasting magic attacks at her. Esperanza had singled out those two beasts for herself partly because of their mobility. The two beasts were ranged fighters and very agile, with the queen being a flier, so she was the best one to take them on given how she could make use of her shapeshifting to catch up with them in the canopies. Unlike the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen]¡¯s true flight, Esperanza used a much less elegant approach to mobility, as she simply elongated and hurled one of her limbs towards a branch in the right direction and pulled herself that way. Even so, that allowed her to move at a faster pace than her opponent, if not with anywhere near as much agility. Still, in the end, all it took was for the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen] to make a mistake, its blades of wind mostly a non-threat against Esperanza¡¯s hardened body, and the fight was as good as over. In its haste to keep the distance open from her, the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen] took a wrong turn and almost collided against a tree, which caused it to halt for a brief moment in mid-air. Before it could gather enough speed to move away, however, Esperanza had spread her form into a net-like shape and hurled herself right at the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen], wrapping around the hapless creature much like a constrictor snake around its prey. At that distance, rather than try to form bladed limbs and maneuver for a strike, Esperanza chose a simpler solution as she simply changed her form into something resembling an octopus crossed with a large snake, wrapped around her hapless opponent even as they tumbled down towards the forest floor. The fall had not done much damage to either of them, but what Esperanza did next sealed the fate of the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen]. She simply tightened her grip all around her opponent and squeezed with all the strength she could muster, until the insectile monster¡¯s carapace broke apart and its innards were mashed and squeezed out of its body like toothpaste. Interlude B - You can take the Man out of the Nerd, but you cant take the Nerd out of the Man If the world could be quantified into those who ¡°have¡± and the ¡°have-nots¡± then Ethan Louie Greene was one of the few who could confidently say that he understood what it felt like to be on both sides of the equation. When he was young, his family wasn¡¯t particularly well off. They were not exactly poor people, no, as they had the fortune of having inherited a house from Ethan¡¯s grandfather on his father¡¯s side, but they were not particularly wealthy either, often being forced to find creative ways to make ends meet every month because they were not earning enough for the whole family to subsist on. His mother ran a small catering business from their home, while his father, like his grandfather before him, was a blacksmith. From the stories his parents told him, Ethan¡¯s Grandfather used to have his works highly prized as he often made replicas of medieval armor and weapons to be used for filming, back in the 1950s to 1960s. Sadly, the drop of demand for such items ¨C with modern movies often preferring to use replicas made out of plastic painted to look like metal, or just straight up CGIing such things ¨C also meant a decline in the business his father had trained to do since his youth. He still managed to earn some money making custom-made knives and the likes for enthusiasts, but it was far from enough to support the family of three, then later four, by himself. Ethan himself did not have the most pleasant experience once he started his schooling. He was scrawny and thin, rather small for his age, and his being a stereotypical nerdy bookworm had not helped things. Needless to say, some of the bigger boys in his class saw him as an easy bullying target, while he himself was rather powerless to do anything about it. Fortunately, he went to the same school and was in the same class as his childhood friend and neighbor Alissa, who despite being a girl, was quite the tomboy and had zero qualms about punching a bully right in the nose. The two of them had been close friends since they were the same age and the O¡¯Connors lived next door to his family, and Ethan often thought that his early school life would have been quite a lot more unpleasant if she had not been around to help him out back then. It was a situation that persisted until the two of them entered middle school. That was when things started turning around for the better for Ethan and his family. His father had by accident ¨C he was complaining to random people while drinking at a bar one night to vent his frustrations, unknowing that some of the people present happened to be enthusiasts of historical swordfighting ¨C gained himself some interested and wealthy customers, who after they saw the quality of his works, ordered quite a few more pieces at good prices. Overnight, the smithy that only barely made money for the past decade turned into a source of wealth as Ethan¡¯s father enthusiastically went to work, pleasing his new customers and the other customers they introduced to him, all the same sort of people, and earning himself and the family so much money they actually managed to pay off their debts and start saving up for the first time in decades. As for Ethan himself, it was in middle school when his own growth spurt suddenly struck with a vengeance. The thin, gangly boy who looked positively harmless grew into a hefty, broad-shouldered man of over six feet tall. Before long the school¡¯s football team poached him to play for them, and by the start of the final year of middle school, the boy often mocked as a bookworm was the school¡¯s star quarterback. Even then, Ethan was still the same boy inside, and he remembered the harder years where he watched his parents at times skip meals so he and his little sister Eve could have their three meals a day. Although his family¡¯s situation had drastically improved since then, he still decided to help alleviate some of their burden, in his own way. He went to a public high school when the time came, although his family could afford a private one by then, picking the high school in question partly because it was somewhat known for their sports team. His goal was to attempt to get noticed and if possible, fight for a sports scholarship so his parents wouldn¡¯t have to spend their savings to get him through college later on. Alissa happened to join that same school, partly out of camaraderie, and partly for similar reasons. Her family had been better off than Ethan¡¯s prior to their change of fortune, but now it was the other way around. Like him, she too wished to help her parents out a bit, which her family needed even more as Alissa had three younger siblings who were growing up themselves. They excelled in both their sports ¨C both of them being fast-tracked to full scholarships by their final year already ¨C and their studies, and things had gone well, at least until the incident happened, and they were whisked away to another world before they knew what happened. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. It was a jarring experience, to say the least. At first, Ethan found himself ecstatic over the development. When he was younger and smaller, books had always been his escape, and he was particularly fond of reading stories where the protagonists got whisked away to another world, where they had the chance to fulfill all of their wishes and make their dreams come true. Now that he was placed in the exact same situation, he was overjoyed¡­ at first. After a few days and the reality of the situation settled in more, however, he realized that he had no business being as ecstatic as he had been at the start. He shook his head at what he thought must have been some leftover wishful thinking from his younger days, and pondered the situation more seriously. He knew one thing for certain, however. He wanted to return to his family, and at the moment, the only option he could envision would result in that happening was to follow what the otherworldler king and priests asked them to do. Certainly, he had also read stories where the otherwordlers later turned against the heroes of the story after they had outlived their usefulness, but given his situation, and lack of knowledge, none of them have any solution on how to return home, other than to follow the bidding and hope that the locals would keep their word. Alissa had rightfully mentioned her doubts to him, and he approved of that line of thought. In private, the two of them slowly hashed things out together, each of them attempting to find more information through different directions. Both of them had tried asking the people they frequently come in contact with, as well as read many books in the libraries for that purpose, to no avail. When Alissa shared with him the information she learned from the library ¨C openly during a chat on the dinner table, rather than in one of the brief moments when they were covered by her skill during practice, as those sort of information were clearly nowhere near important enough to hide to begin with ¨C Ethan couldn¡¯t help but to suspect that things indeed looked a bit too¡­ convenient in some ways. The summoned [Heroes] and [Champions] were clearly there to be pitted against one another, with a ticket home as the prize. As for Alissa¡¯s doubts on why none of those [Heroes] and [Champions] remained instead of going home, Ethan also had his own doubts, but on the other hand, if those chosen were in similar situations as they were, he could see they wishing to return at all costs as well. Unlike the often good-for-nothing losers that were frequently cast as the protagonists of the wish fulfillment stories he often read in his youth, both he and Alissa ¨C and even Joshua, for that matter ¨C were in the prime of their lives, with a bright future ahead of them, and families they care about. They had a lot to lose by staying, so if whatever power picked the people being summoned deliberately chose such people every time, he could see a possibility why none deigned to stay. After all, considering how their capabilities when they were summoned were at least partially based off their achievement in their previous world, people like them, those who were doing well and were the cream of the crop, were clearly better options to summon than shut-ins who failed to make anything worthwhile out of their lives, in many ways. He had not voiced the possibility to Alissa yet, though, as he too felt that it was a worthwhile avenue for them to look into, when they have time. As such, while Alissa tried to make friends with the Princess and the other girls in their party ¨C something she told Ethan about the evening after the ¡°tea party¡± she was invited to ¨C he in turn tried to do the same with the boys. It was a rather easy thing to do, honestly, as he easily slipped into a mask he already often used to get along better with his teammates at the football team. While Ethan never truly changed much from the nerdy bookworm he had been when he was younger, he knew all too well how to play the big, smiling jock athlete for others to see. It only took moments for him to slip into that persona once more and cozy his way around with the other men in their group. Out of them, Joshua remained mostly taciturn and was rarely seen outside of the few times when they trained together, either just the three of them, or the whole party at once. The other three men in the party ¨C though to be honest, seven to five wasn¡¯t the worst ratio it could be, as he had definitely read stories with far worse ones ¨C were easier to find and befriend, though. Benedictus was rather taciturn as well, often brooding over his late brother Gregorius. He was the hardest one for Ethan to get close to, though offering some sympathy ¨C which was genuine on his part to begin with ¨C helped get the lay brother talking more openly. That, and some drinking sessions, where Ethan thanked his luck that the local alcoholic beverages were nothing like what was available in his previous world, so he could easily hold his own with the others. Glenn, while a rather quiet young man at first, opened up pretty quickly. Ethan had almost immediately pegged the young man ¨C he was probably only a year or two older than them, at most ¨C as the sort of honest bloke who doesn¡¯t keep secrets to anyone. He recalled that Alissa said that Glenn was likely the First Prince¡¯s man, but if so, that loyalty was more of one out of gratitude for the aid said prince had rendered to Glenn¡¯s home village. That said, if the First Prince had wanted to know anything about their party from Glenn, all he needed to do, most likely, was simply to ask, and Glenn would have spilled everything he knew right away, so Ethan made a mental note not to speak of anything he and Alissa considered best kept between themselves in Glenn¡¯s earshot. As for Osmond, Ethan quickly learned to dislike the nobleman. While outwardly Osmond de Jardine was the picture of poise and noblesse oblige, it had not taken Ethan long to recognize that the man was little different to those that had bullied him when he was young, personality-wise. As such, while he took his time to talk with the man when they ran into each other and tried to fish out some information from him, he only did it because he felt that someone like Osmond might well let slip of some important information out of a vain desire to impress others or out of simple negligence. He might not like it, but he would do it nonetheless. Anything if it meant getting to return home to his family once more. Interlude C - To Wait and See ¡°Whew, that one just one was somehow both tougher and easier to deal with compared to the freakshow abomination one from earlier,¡± commented Moira shortly after the last boss monster of the forest-dungeon they were in, a [Spinyback Titan Warthog Lvl55] drew its last breath and collapsed on the ground before the party. ¡°What? You try pronouncing that Gum-something name yourself if you got complaints!¡± ¡°At ease, Dame Moira,¡± said Osmond as he raised his hand in his defense. He had been giving Moira the side-eye at her rural accent every now and then, including just earlier. ¡°I am certain that nobody is protesting over your pronunciation of our slain foes¡¯ names.¡± Ethan just shook his head at their argument. Even before Alissa had briefed him over the Kingdom¡¯s political situation which she gleaned from the conversation with the Fifth Princess, he too already noticed that the Kingdom wasn¡¯t as united as they should be, considering the imminent threat and all. There were obviously various factions, each with their own goals, at play. That the temple, or church, or whatever they wanted to call it was one of them had not surprised him in the least. In his own world¡¯s history the church and the crown were frequent rivals for power, so to see it happen in this other world as well was no strange thing. Rather, it was also something often mentioned or even elaborated on in the stories he read, so he somewhat expected it. For that reason he had mostly tried to keep a polite relationship with those members of the party that originated from the Temple Guards, remaining friendly with them, but not getting too close either. He had already seen how Joshua seemed rather reliant on the priestess called Vesta, and had no desire to be the next to potentially fall under their clutches. That said, the Temple Guards that he worked with in the party were all generally nice people, all considered. His only issue with them was that they were clearly very devoted in the teachings of their religion, as conveyed by the priests. He would consider them fanatical in many ways, even, and that meant that their loyalty would always be to the temple first and foremost. As for the ones who came from the Royal Guards¡­ The rift between the political factions wasn¡¯t the only one Ethan noticed. There were clearly some rifts as well between the nobles and the commoners, as Osmond de Jardine had been so happy to show to everyone around him. While the Fifth Princess was friendly and treated the commoners normally, the marksman had no qualms about making his opinion known vocally, and to Ethan¡¯s thinking, rather obnoxiously. Ethan hadn¡¯t thought he¡¯d meet someone so full of themselves in a different world like this, but apparently humans would always be humans regardless of where they came from, it seemed. For obvious reasons, that placed Glenn, Maribel, and Moira on bad terms with him, since all three of them came from commoner backgrounds. Maribel and Moira mostly only got some snide remarks or side-eyes from time to time from the nobleman, partly since the two of them practically grew up in the Royal Castle, one being the Princess¡¯ playmate and milk-sister while the other being picked for Royal Guard training at an early age. Most of Osmond¡¯s more vitriolic remarks was instead targeted at Glenn, and there Ethan actually had some difficulty distinguishing which part of it was just the nobleman¡¯s ego acting up, and which was instead an actual attempt to denigrate a potential opponent since the two of them worked for different claimants to the throne. It was quite a clusterfuck, to say the least. ¡°I think Moira has the right of it, honestly,¡± Ethan offered as he spoke up from where he sat. He had tanked the beast¡¯s attacks for most of the fight and was quite exhausted as a result. His new shield ¨C despite its improved durability and toughness ¨C lay shattered, strewn in pieces around the place, though Ethan himself mostly escaped with just some nasty bruises. ¡°This thing was tougher but also easier than the abomination one.¡± ¡°I would say that you all took care of this one much more safely too,¡± offered Sir Inolet with a satisfied nod as he watched over the group. They had only taken one casualty during the fight ¨C a new member from the temple guards who was thrown against a tree and broke some bones, but survived the experience ¨C and nobody had died this time around. ¡°But go on, Mister Greene. Explain to us why this one is both tougher and easier in your opinion.¡± ¡°Well, for one, no bloody death beam,¡± spat Ethan out in reply, to some relieved chuckles from the rest of the party. ¡°Heck, this big pig is practically all melee. The only ranged attack it got was that one time it tried to hurl some boulders our way, but that¡¯s too slow to hit anyone who saw it coming,¡± he added. ¡°On the other hand, it definitely had a much thicker skin that took a long-ass time to cut through.¡± The [Spinyback Titan Warthog] was a massive beast, easily three meters tall at the shoulder, and around twice as long from its snout to the base of its tail. Lookswise, it looked like an oversized wild boar with what looked like rocky formations growing from its skin instead of fur, which took the form of a dense row of sharp-edged spines along its back, making it look almost like some sort of spiny boar-porcupine hybrid. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Those spines had caused Ethan and Alissa to be wary at first, and indeed, the first blow they landed ¨C courtesy of Alissa¡¯s [Walk in the Shadows] allowing them to get really close and launch a surprise attack ¨C was focused on the beast¡¯s rear leg, both intending to cripple the beast¡¯s mobility as well as to make it harder to attack using its spiny rear end. Fortunately, the beast couldn¡¯t fire those spines as projectiles, and while they made that part of the beast practically untouchable, the only way for the beast to actually attack with it was to try to crush someone physically with them, which none of the party was foolish enough to get caught under, though Silvia came close, having once dived in too close after an overzealous strike. The rest of the fight against the beast itself was a long slog. The beast¡¯s craggy skin rendered it nearly immune to the harm that the party could inflict. Joshua¡¯s full-powered spell did singe and wound the beast quite a bit, but he had nowhere near enough mana to keep repeating that sort of move. Most everyone else¡¯s weapons just causes marks and little notches to form on the craggy hide instead, though. In the end, they had to resort to targeting the few wounds Alissa managed to create before her skills ran out and enlarge them into large, bleeding gashes. Alissa¡¯s own skill made the bleeding worse, so in the end, the party kept the beast occupied in their midst while it slowly bled to its death. That process still took them nearly an hour of constant fighting, though. Name : Ethan Louie Greene Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Warrior Lvl20]/[Guardian Paladin Lvl12]/???/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 - Strength : 65 - Dexterity : 59 - Constitution : 75 - Intelligence : 23 - Perception : 24 - Wisdom : 23 - Willpower : 23 - Intuition : 22 - Sanity : 23 Skills: Class 1: [Warrior] General Skills: A glance at his status window told Ethan quite a bit. The fight with the [Spinyback Titan Warthog] had gained him a level that came with a new skill. The skill turned out to be quite literal. As its name suggested, [Do Unto Others as Others do Unto You] allowed Ethan to replicate the last attack he took and throw it back at an enemy. It was pretty much a skill tailor-made for someone with a tanky class like his. Similarly, his other skills so far had been quite straightforward as well. [Heavy Blow] simply doubled the weight of his attack when he activated it, which worked well given how often he had been making surprise attacks together with Alissa lately. [Muscle of Iron, Bones of Steel] was a passive skill that made his body tougher overall, more durable and resistant towards all sorts of damage in general. Combined with his new general skills, and the way his class allocated more into Constitution than anything else, it made him quite a durable one indeed. [Regeneration] further allowed him to recover from his injuries at a faster pace, given some time, while [Tolerance] allowed him to handle more of them before reaching his limit. As for [Share the Burdens], it was a very powerful skill, when used right, but also risky when used wrong. What the skill does was to allow Ethan and a few of his allies ¨C which he fortunately got to choose from ¨C to ¡°share¡± the damage they received. The damage sharing only went one way though, namely from them to Ethan. Needless to say, using it on a reckless ally that got themselves killed would be quite detrimental to Ethan himself, and for that reason, he had not yet mentioned that he could use it on multiple people and instead only used it with Alissa thus far. So far, the locals mostly just played their own games and politics, while the three of them who were summoned were clearly being powerleveled ¨C Ethan was uncertain if any of the locals was familiar with the term, but given the many summonings that already took place, thought it a likely thing ¨C so they could reach a level where they could participate in the war. He already heard how there was an increased occurrence of skirmishes on the front lines, as both sides were slowly getting into gear. The actual war itself was unlikely to happen until either the [Heroes] or the [Champions] reached their third tier, however. At their third tier they would likely be able to hold their own against the local powerhouses, who were in their fourth tiers, and thus lower the risk of them being captured by the opposition. Neither side feared their [Heroes] or [Champions] getting killed in combat, as that was a commonplace occurrence and they would return in short order. On the other hand, what they attempted to do ¨C and to prevent the other side from doing ¨C was to capture the other side¡¯s summoned ones and keep them from committing suicide, thus taking them out of the war and giving their side a decisive advantage. That those captives were also meant to serve as fuel to later send their own summoned ones home was a bonus, of course. Ethan allowed himself to be carried by the Kingdom¡¯s current, for the time being. After all, what the Kingdom was doing was beneficial for them. He realized all too soon after he was summoned to this other world that one needed power to be able to have their say of things here, and who was he to refuse when said Kingdom was doing their darndest to give him said power on their own? When he and Alissa had more power, they would have more say in things. More importantly, they would also be able to use that same power to protect themselves. As for Joshua, Ethan was uncertain where he stood, or would stand at should things come to blows. While he had little personal liking for Joshua Smith, he still wished the best of luck to him though. LXIII - To Stumble by the Finish Line The outskirts of the dungeon that Esperanza and the children chose to cross was by no means a short trek. Even at their fastest pace, it would have taken them at least three, if not four days to reach the other side. That speed was not because of the children being unable to travel very far ¨C since the forced maturity of the eight Progenies of Yore, they had enough adults to carry the smaller children along the way ¨C but because of the frequent encounters they had with the arachnoid beasts that inhabit the area. Due to the group having children with them, they had to stop and keep the children safe each time such an encounter happened. Esperanza and her dogs generally managed to stop the smaller groups from even reaching them, but when they ran into larger groups, the children who had matured ahead of their time had to join the fight as well. While they remained fortunate ¨C or maybe it was because they were just on the outskirts ¨C to encounter mostly smaller groups of monsters, the frequency still took its toll on them regardless. Even at night, while Esperanza originally wanted to allow the children to rest more, because she could function without sleep for at least a week or so from what she learned of her new body, she ended up needing some of them to help when there were too many monsters coming at them all at once. As a result, the matured children ¨C the Progenies, as the others habitually called them now ¨C slept in shifts during the night, with half of them staying on watch together with Esperanza. After seeing what happened to the eight Progenies of Yore, the rest of the older children had clamored to be given a chance as well, and Esperanza had obliged and allowed them to leech off some experience from things they could injure, from time to time. Unfortunately though, none of the remaining six older children received classes that were anywhere near what the Progenies of Yore had. They still received pretty good classes by local standards, and the forced maturity that followed meant that now the group had plenty of people to carry the younger children who could not run along with them, but their potential in a fight was far worse. Even Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu, despite their poor classes, could do better than the fresh second tier children who received only more ¡°normal¡± classes, though the children could at least help a bit more now. When Esperanza left Navef, their group had only two adults, as well as a dozen older children and thirteen younger ones. By the second day of their travel through the dungeon, fourteen of the children had been forced to mature before their time as they reached their second classes, which at least made carrying the eleven younger ones far easier. Even so, the relentless assaults from the arachnoid beasts of the dungeon left them quite exhausted nonetheless, mostly because it happened so often that most of the group barely managed to get any proper rest. Esperanza and her dogs could manage going on without rest, but the rest of the group could not do so, and thus, the need to take breaks to rest further slowed their pace down. And all that despite how those who could fight the dungeon¡¯s monsters had only been getting more effective as time went on. After their first encounter with the group of seven, the children had taken some parts of the dead arachnoids. The limbs of several of the variants were pretty much ready-made weapons on their own, of better capabilities than the scavenged weapons used by the group. All they needed were some makeshift jury-rigging to render them more usable as a weapon. Tiesya took one of the [Arachnoid Scyther]¡¯s scythe-like limb and ground the lower part to dull a section, so she could use it as a handle after wrapping around it with a few strips of cloth for a better grip. That in turn gave her a longer, forward-curved blade that was nearly as long as one of her arms, which suited her better than the machetes she had been using so far. She did keep the [Champion]¡¯s former machete for use in her off-hand, though, as she felt that her taking both of the scythe-blades would have been too much. Val-Kas¡¯j took the other scythe-blade, and affixed it to the butt end of a spear with the help of some resin, which was easy enough given that the lower end of the scythe-arm had a hollow section where he could fit the spear¡¯s shaft into like a socket. They did a similar process with the spear-like limbs of the [Arachnoid Impaler], producing four long spears in the process, as well as a pair of mauls using the club-like mass of chitin that two of the [Arachnoid Pulverizer]¡¯s arms ended at. Nalihimatu also made a makeshift shield using the intact back carapace of another arachnoid, which was just as strong but lighter than the one he had. Those weapons gave the Progenies more capability of handling the monsters of the dungeon, to the point that they were quickly closing on being able to take on one of the beasts on their own ¨C for the melee fighters at least ¨C as long as their levels were not too far apart. As such, on the second night the children decided to split the night watch into four shifts instead of two, to afford themselves more rest. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Fatigue was catching up to them, so Esperanza had also agreed on the arrangement, as she helped the children keep watch throughout the night along with her dogs. Fortunately, even with such an arrangement, the force they had in hand was enough to pass the second night without any losses. They were hopeful when the third night also passed relatively peacefully, and were all too glad to soon be done with the dungeon. Because they had been delayed by so many fights along the way, the group failed to make it out of the dungeon by the fourth night. Even so, the distance they covered was still enough that they would definitely make it out of the forest by the next day for certain. It was with buoyed hopes and a nearly celebratory mood that the group went to bed on their fourth night in the dungeon. The first two watches passed relatively peacefully, with only minor incursions by small groups that Esperanza could handle on her own. The journey through the forest ¨C and the dungeon ¨C so far had been quite beneficial for her levels, as she already reached level 17 in her second class by then. Many of the children were also hitting double-digit levels already, with Val-Kas¡¯j already at level 14, almost catching up to her. Apparently the Progenies received some sort of boost to experience, as the other children did not level nearly as fast. Perhaps the children on watch at the time ¨C Ilavakide and Nalihimatu ¨C had grown a bit complacent from almost reaching the exit, or perhaps Esperanza herself had grown a bit tired from the lack of sleep, but during the third watch, they were attacked by a larger group of creatures that nearly got the drop on them, somehow. It was Dali that caught on to their presence and barked to warn everyone else, his barks instantly waking the others up as they scrambled to ready themselves. It was only then that Esperanza gained an inkling that there was a group of a dozen arachnoids ¨C from the looks of it, led by another [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen] ¨C that was already closing in on the group. Twelve of them at once might have been problematic just two days ago, but with the levels the Progenies had gained, the eight of them could likely take on at least six of the beasts on their own, perhaps more. Esperanza was confident enough that she and her companions could handle the rest on their own, so it was a manageable situation all considered. The children quickly roused themselves from their sleep. The other six matured children formed a circle together with Eda-Zil and Kvar Litu, keeping the younger children in the middle for safety, while the Progenies closed in on Esperanza, each of them prepared for the fight ahead of them. For a moment, she felt another brief pang of guilt and sorrow on their behalf. Children their age should have been free to play and enjoy life, not have to risk their lives to fight monsters like this. Esperanza shook her head to clean her mind, and quickly made use of her new skill, [A Lending of Power], on herself, Dali, Gordy, Val-Kas¡¯j, and Tiesya once more. The skill happened to level at that moment, which incidentally gave her an extra target to assign it to, so she quickly gave a boost to Resitia as well, as she was the third highest leveled amongst the Progenies. As for [Deprive the Wicked], she was saving it until she could catch as many of their foes in its effects as possible. Together with the eight Progenies of Yore and her companions, Esperanza sallied out to meet the incoming beasts, a short distance away from where the children were. That way they were close enough to render assistance if needed, but not too close that there was a risk of stray attacks potentially hitting the children. Dali and Gordy went to the flanks, and just as the first of the monsters came into view, they struck from the sides, harrying the rest of the creatures towards the middle, to further gather them up so Esperanza could catch more of them in the effect of her skill. The first few beasts already clashed with the Progenies beneath her, while the rest were closing in fast. Once all but one of the beasts were within the area her skill could effect, Esperanza let loose with [Deprive the Wicked], landing it on all but a [Arachnoid Impaler Lvl 31] that happened to lag behind and to the side of the incoming enemies. With the debuff affecting their foes, the Progenies quickly went to work on the monsters, and Esperanza also threw herself into the fray as well. She was lucky and landed directly on top of one of the lower level arachnoids, which she instantly snuffed out before it could react, one of her arms turning into a tentacle-like shape and simply wrenching the creature¡¯s head off. That quick kill seemed to have drawn the attention of the arachnoids nearby and she saw how they slightly quailed from her presence. Esperanza had chalked it off as the beast¡¯s natural instincts to shy away from fiercer predators, so she had not taken it to mind at the time, as frantic and chaotic as the situation was. Together with the Progenies, she pushed the arachnoids back, killing another three of the lower level creatures before she noticed that something felt off. The arachnoids were not attacking them with the vicious mindlessness they saw most of the time. They were more cooperative, and tried to work together with one another. It was a behavior Esperanza had only seen before when an [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen] had been present amongst them. That was not the most worrisome part, however. It was how the beasts were fighting carefully, especially the higher level ones, which seemed to care a lot more about preserving themselves than usual. It was almost as if¡­ the creatures were buying time. That was the moment Esperanza realized what had bugged her all along. The arachnoids were not fighting like territorial creatures trying to drive out intruders from their territory like they usually did. This bunch acted like hunters in search of prey, and like all such hunters, they prioritized the sick, the weak, the old, and the young, as those were the easiest prey. Esperanza had just sent a command for Dali to return and help guard the children when she heard a scream from that direction and had to bite back a curse. LXIV - The Cost of Negligence ¡°Mierda! Mel! Nali! Go back to the kids and help Dali! We¡¯ll take care of the ones here!¡± snapped Esperanza after barely a moment of thought. Mel-Ivas was the one with the healing skills, and hopefully her presence would be able to prevent some deaths. She sent out Nalihimatu as well because he was the best at covering others. Tiesya also had defensive skills in her classes, but she was more about keeping the attention of a few enemies, rather than covering others behind her. Esperanza only hoped that sending those two along with Dali would be enough to handle the situation behind them. As for herself, she and the other children focused on the remaining eight arachnoids before them. Number-wise they were equal, but the arachnoids had an overall level advantage over them. Esperanza herself was busy fighting against an [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen Lvl51] and an [Winged Arachnoid Striker Lvl 44]. Both of the creatures were capable of flight, which was why she took them on personally. Below her, Tiesya danced between the scythe-arms of a pair of [Arachnoid Scythers], both of them in the low 40s in level, nearly a ten level advantage over her. She somehow held her own, though, her pair of blades ¨C one of which was fashioned from a scythe identical to those she faced ¨C clashing and deflecting the four she fought against cleverly, sending them off into harmless trajectories. All too often, she dodged a scythe-blade by the barest margin, at times contorting her body into a position that would have made a gymnast proud. Despite the extremely risky-looking close calls from that fight, Esperanza judged that Tiesya was holding her own just fine, eking out every bit of potential from her class in the process. It was the others she was more worried about. Val-Kas¡¯j was embroiled in a duel with the next-highest leveled of the arachnoids, an [Arachnoid Shearer Lvl47]. That variant had a quartet of arms on its upper torso, two longer, thinner ones that ended in small three-fingered talons, and two larger, thicker ones that ended in pincers not unlike that of a crab¡¯s, large enough to shear through an adult Ma¡¯Varok right in half. He managed to somewhat keep the beast at bay mostly by fighting it from further away, holding his makeshift polearm nearly by the end of its shaft as he whipped it around, something only possible thanks to his strong physique and probably helped by some skills. He even held a second spear in his left hand, keeping the beast wary with its stabs. As the beast had already lost one of its eight eyes to a stab and a smaller arm to a swing from the polearm, the intimidation worked decently against it. Ilavakide was occupied in a cat-and-mouse game with a [Arachnoid Ranger Lvl40], the two of them playing a cat-and-mouse game as they tried to shoot a projectile to support their allies but were instead forced to duck to avoid a projectile from the other instead. The monster was swifter and more powerful, but Ilavakide could shoot faster with her bow, which somewhat evened out the odds. Dai¡¯Vasy mostly lent her support from the back, as she conjured sharp icicles that she launched at the beasts from time to time. For the most part, though, she was focused on helping Tiesya out, as she was the one tangling with two of the monsters at once. Sometimes she sent another shard towards the others, or tried to form a sheet of ice below the monsters¡¯ feet, but those rarely managed to bother the creatures. Resitia and Legisvula worked together to deal with an [Arachnoid Pulverizer Lvl 42], with the small Tesh¡¯ka boy often fading into the darkness only to emerge and strike at the beast from behind at key moments, allowing the human girl a moment to breathe. Resitia herself had to play it safe, so she couldn¡¯t charge in as much as she wished to, which prolonged the fight between them. The only fight against the monsters that was near its conclusion was where Gordy just tackled down and grappled an [Arachnoid Lasher Lvl 41] to the ground. The beast¡¯s two whip-like appendages failed to leave much of an impression against the large dog¡¯s thick fur coating, and was nearly useless once Gordy got within range to maul the beast. In fact, Gordy biting off the head of her opponent proved to be the turning point of that fight, as that freed Gordy up to help the children while Esperanza kept the pressure up on the pair of flying monsters to keep them from doing the same. Before the other arachnoids noticed the demise of one of theirs, Gordy had already barreled straight into the side of one of the [Arachnoid Scythers] Tiesya was keeping occupied. Before the monster could react, the force of Gordy¡¯s charge ¨C along with Gordy sinking her fangs right above where the monster¡¯s lower torso meets its upper torso ¨C had torn the beast into two halves, its entrails spilling out from the joint where the torsos were once connected. The beast¡¯s upper torso managed to lash out one last time, leaving a couple minor wounds with its scythe-arms on Gordy¡¯s back, before it twitched and expired. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Tiesya had not wasted the opening created by Gordy¡¯s charge, as it simultaneously removed one of her opponents and surprised the other. Even as she parried one of the scythe-blades of the monster she fought with her machete, she chopped down hard on the base of the creature¡¯s other arm, neatly severing its right-side scythe-arm from its body. From there she made short work of the beast ¨C now reduced to one arm ¨C and removed its head before long. The two of them immediately split off from there, Gordy headed towards where Val-Kas¡¯j was fighting, while Tiesya ran to the aid of Legisvula and Resitia. Their arrival immediately turned the tide of those fights as well. Gordy once again slammed into the back of the arachnoid like a runaway tractor, which allowed Val-Kas¡¯j to take the chance to sever one of the big pincer-arms while simultaneously piercing through the creature¡¯s head with his spear. On the other side, once Tiesya arrived to handle the monster¡¯s attention, that freed Resitia up to wait for an opening to make a truly fatal attack, which the girl ¨C despite her injuries from the fighting so far ¨C did once Legisvula helped distract the creature one last time. With the girl¡¯s spear piercing through the arachnoid¡¯s head from the side, she then used the leverage to tear the creature¡¯s head off its body. From there Legisvula slunk away to help Ilavakide out, his surprise attack forcing the arachnoid the younger girl was fighting out into the open. Before Ilavakide would loose her arrow, though, something fell on the arachnoid, directly crushing it against the ground until all that was left were a pile of broken limbs that still twitched from time to time, all in a puddle of ichor. A figure seemed to flow out from that puddle of ichor, before it took a more humanoid form that all the children immediately recognized as Esperanza. While they fought, she had taken care of the winged arachnoid first, having torn its limbs and wings off and letting it fall to its slow, agonizing death. The fledgling queen took longer to handle, because it was faster, and actually used its magic in clever ways to keep the distance from her. Even so, its intelligence was still limited, and eventually Esperanza caught up to the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen]. By happenstance, they happened to be near where the [Arachnoid Ranger] Legisvula flushed out from hiding was, and Esperanza directed their fall towards the creature, as she bodily smashed the queen¡¯s body against the ranger¡¯s from high above with so much force that it reduced much of the two creatures into a puddle of minced meat and ichor. ¡°That¡¯s all of the monsters here, right?¡± asked Esperanza as she rose from the puddle. It was not like the fall did no damage to her, but thanks to her unusual state of being, the damage it did was far more shallow and widespread overall. Unlike her victims, she had no bones to break ¨C unless she willed there to be ¨C or organs that would have burst open from the impact, so it was literally just a massive bruise for her. ¡°Uh¡­ yes, exalted one,¡± replied Legisvula as he nervously gulped. Esperanza had drilled to the children ¨C all of them, not just the Progenies ¨C to just call her by ¡°miss¡± or similar when they were fighting, to save time, but Legisvula must have forgotten about it nervous as he was from witnessing the sort of violence Esperanza was capable of. ¡°That should be the last one.¡± Either way, it wasn¡¯t the time to call him out on that. ¡°We¡¯re heading back,¡± said Esperanza curtly as she turned around, back towards where they had left the children with the rest of their group. ¡°I¡¯m worried about them back there. We still haven¡¯t heard back from Dali and the rest. Los, v¨¢mos!.¡± Even as she yelled out the last word, Esperanza elongated one of her arms into a long tentacle that reached diagonally towards a tree branch in the direction of the children, latching around it, then allowing the limb to contract once more, bodily propelling her towards that direction. Even as she was still halfway through the swing, her other arm repeated the motion, towards a different branch further out, and in such a way she hurled herself just below the treetops in a move that might have reminded people from her world ¨C if there were any around ¨C of Tarzan or Spider-Man. The rest of the Progenies followed behind her, with two of them ¨C Dai¡¯Vasy and Resitia ¨C riding on Gordy¡¯s broad back. The former had nearly exhausted her mana in the fighting and was barely able to walk straight because of it, while the latter had some deeper injuries and Val-Kas¡¯j insisted that she take the ride back instead of running with them. When Esperanza got closer ¨C she was by far the fastest of the group, with only Dali being able to really keep up these days ¨C she frowned as her nose detected the smell of blood. It wasn¡¯t just the pungent ichor of the arachnoid monsters, though there was a hint of that scent too, but also the smell of blood that was far too familiar for her, as she had smelled a lot of it back in the devastated village. Fearing the worst, she sped up even more, to the point that her limbs strained under the force she subjected them to and parts of her musculature tore themselves apart, though she just shifted more parts of her still-undamaged body to replace it instead, forcibly maintaining that self-destructive speed until she burst out from the treetop to the small clearing where the children had been. Once she did, her many eyes noticed several things all at the same moment. She noticed Nalihimatu angrily stomping down on the head of the carcass of an arachnoid beast, one of two present in the clearing, both of which has been gouged and torn up in many places, injuries characteristic of what Dali usually inflicted on his foes. The two monsters were clearly very dead and were no longer any threat, though they were of a variant that none of them had seen before, a potentially worrisome detail. The other main thing that caught Esperanza¡¯s attention, however, was a far more somber affair. She saw the group of younger children, huddling against each other, with many of them crying. She also saw Mel-Ivas, heavily sweating as she tried to use her gifts of healing on a couple of injured figures laying on the ground. As for the last thing she noticed, the one thing in her view she desperately wanted to pretend did not exist, they laid on the side, in a neat row. The bodies of those for whom, help had unfortunately came too late. LXV - Bitter Resolution ¡°Hijo de Puta!¡± cursed Esperanza vehemently as she looked over the carcasses of the dead monsters with her [Gaze unto the Abyss] in hopes of gleaning some information on how they had slipped around their guard so easily. One look at the information of the smaller of the dead creatures ¨C both of them were variants she had never seen before ¨C easily told her why. [Arachnoid Skulker Carcass] The dead body of an Arachnoid Skulker, a variant of Arachnoid known for its ability to keep its swarm stealthed from prying senses. Its ability improved the fewer members of its swarm it needed to keep stealthed along with itself. Weak combat capabilities compared to most variants. All at once she realized that this one creature must have been the reason why the beasts managed to slip in so close to them before being noticed. At that point, it was probably too taxing for it to keep the entire swarm stealthed, or the others were left in the open as a distraction while it circled around the fighting together with the other dead creature to strike at the children. When she looked at the other unfamiliar dead arachnoid, Esperanza also noticed that the most distinguishing feature of that one was its head ¨C that Nalihimatu was still angrily stomping on ¨C which was nearly twice as large as the other variants she had seen. One look at its information clued her as to why that was so, and what purpose it served. [Young Arachnoid King Carcass] The dead body of a Young Arachnoid King, a rare breed cut down before it could grow to be a power in its own right. While relatively weaker in combat prowess compared to other variants, the Arachnoid King was the brain of the swarm, its presence allowing its swarm to coordinate their actions to its whims even over distances. It turned out that the second dead creature was a commander-type. No wonder the other creatures were fighting in such a coordinated manner, with some of them even using the weaker members of the swarm as meatshields early on. In fact, Esperanza caught on to the [Arachnoid Fledgling Queen] because it suddenly paused in confusion during the end, which might just be due to the death of the [Young Arachnoid King]. The change from the mindless swarming the arachnoids usually did into a more coordinated assault had caught their group off-guard, and they paid the price for it. One of the younger boys had been killed, likely the first target the creatures had struck when they came upon the children. The ones on guard must have failed to react on time before the poor boy was sheared in half by the wicked mandibles of the creatures, a terrified, surprised look still plastered on his face even in death. Other than the young boy, five of the six older children who had undergone forced maturity from reaching their second tier but did not receive a Progeny of Yore class had also perished in the fighting. From the story the survivors told her ¨C often broken up with sobs and wails ¨C they had fought courageously in an attempt to keep the beasts away from the younger children, and paid the ultimate price in doing so. Esperanza knelt down by the body of a young Ma¡¯Varok girl and gently closed her still-opened eyes with trembling hands while holding in her own tears, or maybe that was the wrong term. She definitely felt like crying, but it seemed like her monstrous body lacked the physical ability to do so normally, so she was left with a feeling as if her tears had already run dry instead. It was an uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling, but in some ways she thought it fitting, given the guilt she felt in her heart. All these children had been under her guardianship ¨C while technically she was only voluntarily helping them reach a safe place, and everything else from the route and whatnot were their own choices, she still felt like she had failed them regardless ¨C and now many of them were dead. All due to circumstances that should have been avoidable. If only she had left more capable guards with the children. If only she had detected the stealthed creatures as they skirted the fighting. If only they had made their way through the dungeon a bit faster. If only they had chosen to take the detour instead. All the ¡°Ifs¡± tormented her, even though she knew that when they made those choices, those were what seemed the most sensible at the time. Hindsight was always 20/20, as the saying went. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Other than the six dead children, there were still other victims as well. Mel-Ivas was crouched next to Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu, both of whom were heavily injured, and was trying her best to heal them with her skills. On the ground next to them lay the only survivor of the six older children, a young human girl named Iryl, who had many freshly healed wounds that still had an angry red shine to them all over her body. Eda-Zil laid on her stomach, as Mel-Ivas tried to heal the massive wound on her back. The wound seemed to have originated from the claws of the dead creatures, raked across her back from the right shoulder to near the left side of her hips. It was bleeding profusely, despite Mel-Ivas¡¯ best attempt to staunch the bleeding and knit it closed. Kvar-Litu was even worse off. He was missing his left arm at the shoulder, which looked as if the monsters had literally ripped it apart from his torso, and was holding onto much of his intestines with his remaining arm, as the creatures had also landed a disemboweling blow on him. He was coughing up blood, and his breathing was weak, his eyes looking delirious, as if he was barely conscious at all. Esperanza was no medic, and neither Eda-Zil nor Kvar-Litu were human, but unless healing magic in this world was the sort that was really powerful, or that their admixture of heritages gave them particularly robust vitalities, the injuries they suffered looked life-threatening to her. Eda-Zil probably took some damage to her spinal cord given how deep the wound on her back was, while there was no need for her to even elaborate on the seriousness of the injuries Kvar-Litu suffered. The rest of the Progenies of Yore had returned by then, and like her, they too expressed their dismay and anguish upon seeing the dead bodies of their fellows. It was another painful reminder to Esperanza that merely a month ago, those eight were also just children who were living happily in their little village, until reality came knocking on their door. A couple of them broke down in sobs, while others busied themselves asking if there was anything they could do to help the injured. In the end, however, it was neither Esperanza nor the children who changed the situation at hand. With bleary eyes, Kvar-Litu turned his head, looking towards Mel-Ivas and the injured Eda-Zil next to him. According to the children, Eda-Zil had been injured as she leapt in front of a child, shielding them from the creatures with her own body, while Kvar-Litu had fought to defend her until he was at his current state. It was only when Dali returned that he fell at last. ¡°Heal¡­ Eda¡­ Instead¡­¡± he managed to murmur, barely audibly given how weak his breathing was. As she saw how he looked while he said those words, Esperanza felt with dreaded certainty that at the moment, Kvar-Litu was like a candle that was giving out one last brilliant burst before it burnt out. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ waste¡­ your¡­ time¡­ on¡­ me¡­ any¡­ more¡­ My¡­ time¡­ has¡­ arrived¡­¡± Sure enough, he closed his eyes after he uttered those last few words, and before long, his already weak breathing came to a halt as well. Esperanza could see how Mel-Ivas struggled to hold back her tears as she shifted her right hand from Kvar-Litu¡¯s body to Eda-Zil¡¯s. The girl probably felt that she failed as a healer, because she only managed to save two of them in the end. Under her more focused ministrations, Eda-Zil¡¯s injury closed somewhat, but not fully, and the young healer applied a paste made from several herbs over the wound before wrapping them with bandages. Wordlessly, some of the other Progenies calmed the younger children, while the rest started digging into the soil of the clearing, clearly unwilling to let their friends face more indignities after death. At that point, the risk of staying to dig the graves had likely fled their mind, and Esperanza couldn¡¯t argue against it either, as she had the same sort of feelings. In the end, she sent Dali and Gordy to patrol their surroundings, while she did the same from above, to guard the remaining children and those digging the graves, as well as to take her own mind off the horrible feelings she was experiencing. She returned to the group at dawn to see that the children were just finishing up the last of the crude graves they made for their lost compatriots. Esperanza joined the children as they paid their last respects to the dead, quietly mumbling prayers under her breath ¨C she had no idea if the prayers were heard for various reasons, like being in a whole different world, but she prayed regardless ¨C before laying down a stalk of white flower she found in the forest over each grave. Then she turned around and led the remaining members of the group ¨C the eight Progenies of Yore, Eda-Zil who they carried on a makeshift stretcher, Iryl, and the remaining ten younger children ¨C away from the graves, towards the border of the dungeon, through it, and finally out. After five days and four nights under constant assaults, they were finally out of the dungeon itself. It was not like the forest that surrounded the dungeon area was that much safer, but dealing with creatures that came at them one or two at a time was better than dealing with the frequent groups of arachnoids in the dungeon, and besides, the level of the creatures outside were relatively on the lower side. The higher leveled ones, they either avoided, or Esperanza and her companions put them down with extreme prejudice before they came anywhere near the children. They never left the children without at least half the progenies guarding them now. While their journey became easier as they traveled further ¨C the arachnoid ¡°dungeon¡± and the territory of the high level dinosaur-like beast they avoided was near the center of the forest ¨C the mood of the group was a somber one. All of them couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of the people they lost, from time to time. Often, Esperanza would find some of the younger children crying at night, as they had nightmares from the gruesome sights they had witnessed back then. She did all she could to calm them down, but she knew that those sights might well haunt the children for the rest of their lives. What was done, was done, however, and no amount of regret would bring back the six dead children, or Kvar-Litu for that matter. Eda-Zil ended up paralyzed from the waist down due to her injury, but given that healing magic existed in this world, at least she had some hope of getting better should they manage to find a good enough healer to help her. The rest of the distance towards their destination ¨C a trip that Oldies estimated would have taken another month of time ¨C proved to be easier. The level of the creatures they encountered started to lower, though never to the level of the beasts that were around the village of Navef. Still, by that point, the eight Progenies of Yore were already capable of handling just about any second tier creature on their own, and could take on lower leveled third tiers with relative ease as well. Naturally, a drop in the level of the creatures they fought meant lower experience gain, but none of them cared. All they cared about at that point was to get the remaining children and Eda-Zil to their destination safely. Everything else could damn itself to hell for all they cared. 66 - Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself ¡°Ner¡¯Vhok the Annihilating Berserker, Elugurenas the Defiling Touch, Lanisheey the Queen of Temptation, and Znehctyi the Scheming Tactician. Those are the four names you all should always keep in mind, the four gods worshiped by the demons,¡± said Magus Drummond during a lecture he was giving to the three young summoned [Heroes] in a private room in the castle. ¡°The main reason for this is because many of the better classes the demons possess typically had the name of their gods as part of it. In this way, you could take an educated guess at the capabilities of an opponent with a quick [Analysis].¡± ¡°Like how people could take a guess at what we can do just by looking at our class names,¡± noted Joshua as he nodded. During Magus Drummond¡¯s classes he was less taciturn and acted more like a student listening intently to his teacher¡¯s lessons, which the classes technically were anyway. ¡°They are pretty vague to base a guess on, though.¡± ¡°Are there other versions or meanings to those names, Magus Drummond, Sir?¡± asked Alissa in turn after Joshue finished speaking. While Sir Inolet handled the classes they received pertaining to war strategy and tactics and the likes, Magus Drummond handled the bits that dealt with knowledge that the [Heroes] could make use in their fight. ¡°Maybe the meaning in the demons¡¯ native tongues, if that is known?¡± ¡°Excellent question, Miss O¡¯Connor. I see why Henri often said that you are a good student,¡± replied Magus Drummond with an appreciative nod. While the old Magus looked like an archetypical cranky old man at first, he proved very knowledgeable and quite talkative during his lessons. ¡°To answer your question, yes, we possess some more bits of knowledge about them. One of the few things we know about the demons, glimpsed from ancient literature from shortly after the rise of the Gods.¡± ¡°Supposedly each of the four gods of the demons correspond to one race, and their names were in each race¡¯s original language, that had long been lost to time,¡± explained the old magus. ¡°Ner¡¯Vhok represents the Ma¡¯Varok, the large, brutish tusked demons, and the name is a portmanteau of the words for ¡®Honor¡¯ and ¡®War¡¯. Those that received classes with his name are primarily some type of warrior or soldier, usually with a heavy emphasis on the Body attribute.¡± ¡°Elugurenas represents the Ragah-fiq, that is, the ones that looked sort of like hairy balls from a distance,¡± he continued. ¡°The name itself was composed of the words for ¡®Life¡¯ and ¡®Creation¡¯, and as far as we have seen so far, those who had classes with his name were either healers or crafters for the most part, which are typically focused on the Soul attribute.¡± ¡°Lanisheey is the Goddess that the Tesh¡¯ka, the smaller demons, primarily worshiped. Her name represents ¡®Love¡¯ and ¡®Miracles¡¯ in their language, according to the ancient tome,¡± added the old mage. ¡°In our experience, the name was most commonly attached to magic-users, so you can expect anyone with that name in their class to have Mind as their primary attribute.¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing the last one is the all-rounder then?¡± asked Ethan as he raised his hand. ¡°Close enough,¡± replied Magus Drummond with a satisfied nod of his head. ¡°Znehctyi is the primary god or goddess of the Nevilosk, there were no notes on its gender. Ah, the Nevilosk would be the tall, gangly demons who looked like someone stretched them out,¡± he said. ¡°The name itself stood for ¡®Knowledge¡¯ and ¡®Faith¡¯, and unlike the others, had little rhyme nor reason on what sort of classes it was related to.¡± ¡°We have seen warriors, mages, healers, and all other sorts with classes bearing Znehctyi¡¯s name, and if there was any similarity between them, it would be how most of them tend to be less direct in the usage of their powers, and instead used more indirect means,¡± continued the old mage. ¡°This also made those with the name the least predictable, but that in itself is a clue that you would want to know should you be fighting against one.¡± ¡°Master,¡± interjected Joshua with a raised hand. ¡°I had read in some older books that there was a fifth demon race, what about those? Do they have no god amongst the pantheon? And why are we not warned about them?¡± ¡°Ah, the Gour-ug¡¯rech. Yes, they do still exist these days, but they¡¯re not the issue at hand, and we do not foresee you having to fight against them, that¡¯s why,¡± answered the old Magus. ¡°They¡¯re an aquatic race, and as far as we know, were not ones to worship any god. Some of them were heretics that worshiped the old gods, even, which put them at odds with the rest of the demons as well.¡± ¡°Either way, we do not encroach upon their waters, since it¡¯s not like we could live in the bottom of the oceans anyway, and they cannot survive for long on land either, so for the most part, there¡¯s an unofficial truce between them and everyone else,¡± he added. ¡°We leave them alone, they leave us alone, basically. It works since neither side could really go far into the other¡¯s territory.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°What can we expect if we somehow ended up fighting against them, though?¡± asked Ethan once more. ¡°Better be prepared just in case it happens, rather than not be prepared when it happens, just saying.¡± ¡°Fair enough, Mister Greene,¡± admitted the old Magus. ¡°Most of the Gour-ug¡¯rech use some sort of spear, and the mages amongst them would be good with water. Avoid fighting them in or under water at all costs, and if you have access to it, fire would hurt them greatly. They tend to be quite strong and swift physically, compared to us, so also watch out for that.¡± ¡°Any other questions? No?¡± asked the old Magus once more. ¡°I guess we can conclude this lesson here, then. Joshua, come along, we¡¯ll continue where we left off yesterday.¡± Ethan and Alissa watched as Joshua trailed behind the old Magus as they headed to a different part of the palace for said lessons, before they exchanged meaningful looks with each other. The next moment, Alissa sank into the shadows as Ethan waited by the room they just took the lesson in, waiting for Alissa to return, which she did around a minute later. ¡°All clear, nobody around for at least a couple minutes,¡± she said as she emerged from his shadow. At first the sight had surprised and creeped him out a little, but by now he had gotten used to it. Alissa had gone around on her own since she could scout their surroundings much faster that way. Having someone else along with her in the shadows always slowed them to a crawl. ¡°Four so-called ¡®Gods¡¯ on each side, periodical wars every so often, always with summoned people like us in the lead, all that sound as fishy to you as it did to me?¡± asked Ethan in a quiet, whispering voice once she returned. To all appearances, the two looked as if they were just walking towards their respective rooms at a different wing of the palace while making small talk. ¡°Yeah, definitely sounded way too arranged for it to make sense, I think,¡± replied Alissa, just as quietly. ¡°I can sort of get it about the part where they summoned otherworldlers like us to be their heroes or whatnot, given how their system works and how we¡¯re just far more powerful than the locals,¡± she added, noting how nowadays Sir Inolet took them on much more seriously during the spars, if not at full power yet. ¡°But far too much of the rest just scream artificial to me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like someone set up the war like it was the¡­ scenario of a play, with us and whoever those [Champions] are as the actors and the locals as the supporting cast,¡± muttered Ethan under his breath. ¡°No possibility of negotiations or making peace just because they don¡¯t speak each other¡¯s language also sounded forced. They could have tried to learn it after so long, no?¡± ¡°Or maybe they can¡¯t? Remember that these people had everything handed out to them since birth by this system of theirs. If they only ever learned things like language from receiving a skill instead of learning it the hard way, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be easy to learn a whole different one from scratch,¡± mentioned Alissa in reply. ¡°Which if I think about it further¡­ would be a damn effective way to ensure that the humans and the demons never exchanged words with one another¡­¡± ¡°Think there¡¯s more lies behind them being able to send us home and that it needed the opposing [Champions] as a sacrifice to power the ritual?¡± Ethan continued. ¡°Or think it¡¯s just a convenient lie to make sure we stick around until they win this war of theirs? They definitely want to capture those [Champions] for whatever this ritual of theirs does though.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think they lied about that part, wanting the [Champions] as sacrifices, I mean. I¡¯m not sure either what they¡¯d get out of it,¡± admitted Alissa quietly. ¡°On the other hand, I could also see it being true. Let¡¯s face it, neither you nor I are the same as we were when we first came here. I bet it would be harder to send us back now compared to then.¡± ¡°True, I guess. Man, if only I could¡¯ve been this good during the high school championship some months back¡­ We would¡¯ve totally steamrolled Benson High¡¯s collective asses in the finals,¡± he lamented, somewhat jokingly. ¡°Still doesn¡¯t answer many questions though, and while we are pretending to trust them like the dumb musclebrains they probably think we are, I don¡¯t know if we can keep this up forever.¡± ¡°Hopefully, we wouldn¡¯t have to keep it up for too much longer,¡± replied Alissa with a contemplating nod. ¡°They plan to have us hit another dungeon next week, then to the frontlines after we hit our third tier, if I remember right. Once we hit the higher end of the third tier or hit the fourth tier, for good measure, I don¡¯t think they can enforce their will upon us anymore.¡± ¡°We¡¯d be too strong for any leash they want to put on us by then, I get your idea,¡± nodded Ethan. ¡°The question is whether they¡¯d let us get that far without sinking some hooks into us some other way. Any change from the girls¡¯ side? On my end the guys in our group seemed pretty genuine in what they¡¯re supposed to be. Either that, or they¡¯re all the best damned actors I¡¯ve ever seen in my life.¡± ¡°I¡¯d mostly say the same about the girls. They¡¯re either truly just being themselves, some having their own agendas, with no knowledge of whatever the higher-ups here have in mind, or like you said, they all deserve oscars for their performance,¡± replied Alissa. ¡°Given how skills are done here, I doubt they could do that while fighting so well at the same time.¡± ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll be off to get a nice dip in the tub for now, be seeing you later, Allie!¡± said Ethan suddenly, and notably more audibly compared to their near-quiet conversation just now. The reason for it made itself known to Alissa a moment later, when she heard the quiet footsteps from her left. She peered over Ethan to her left and saw that it was from a maid in the distance down the corridor, one she had not noticed earlier because the bulk of Ethan¡¯s body prevented her from seeing in that direction. Ethan must have noticed the maid out of the corner of his eye and reacted as they had planned, making ¡°small talk¡± between them. ¡°Sounds like a good idea to me! Maybe I should have one too¡­¡± she replied, quickly going into tangents like which of the perfumed soaps they preferred to bathe with, to all listeners sounding just like a couple of youngsters being spoiled by the luxurious treatment they received in the Royal Palace. It was a good guise to adopt. Pretend to be playing the game while secretly preparing to flip to board. 67 - A Clandestine Meeting ¡°Sir Inolet,¡± said Alissa to get the old knight¡¯s attention. ¡°Yes, Miss O¡¯Connor? Do you perhaps have another question?¡± replied Sir Inolet almost like a fond grandfather. Despite the stern teacher persona he adopted early on with them, he had since mellowed quite a bit to Alissa, who often asked the right questions, a quality he valued greatly amongst those he taught. ¡°It¡¯s something that came to mind, but do classes affect the amount of experience people gain?¡± she asked openly. ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that during our first dungeon delve, the three of us who were summoned gained enough to hit the second tier, while most of the rest only gained five to six levels back then,¡± she continued. ¡°But on the second delve, we gained around a dozen levels, while the others gained nearly as much despite being in their third tier. Other than their new classes, I see nothing that would have accounted for such a difference.¡± ¡°Well observed, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± praised the old knight with a grandfatherly smile. ¡°Your hypothesis is close to the truth, though you missed on some parts,¡± he explained to her. ¡°Classes do not affect the amount of experience we gain. Each class has a different amount of experience needed for each level, and also gain them through different ways.¡± ¡°For example take Madam Gillian, the [Courtly Royal Chef]. She had never fought anything in her life, unless you consider butchering animals that would be used for cooking as a fight. Instead, she gained experience almost entirely from activities related to her class, which in her case meant most anything related to cooking. In that way she gains a steady influx of experience simply for doing her job.¡± ¡°There must be drawbacks as well, no?¡± asked Alissa. ¡°Otherwise there would be nothing stopping one side from just amassing civilians who were in their fourth tiers and overwhelming the other side through the sheer stats those people would have gained, no?¡± ¡°Ah, there it is again, that lacking bit of common knowledge that nobody who was born and raised here would ask,¡± noted Sir Inolet as a nod. ¡°While that does happen from time to time, mostly when people refused to leave their homes and fought to the death, or in emergencies, it¡¯s not a common practice for a reason, girl.¡± ¡°For one, while a fourth-tier civilian might indeed have high stats, especially if their class was a high quality one, they would generally lack the skill and ability to apply those stats into fighting,¡± continued the old knight in a lecturing tone. ¡°Care to take a guess how many combatants like¡­ say, your companions during the first dungeon delve that a fourth tier could take on?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Ten?¡± replied Alissa with her head slightly tilted in open curiosity. Ethan, who happened to be nearby, also kept his ears open to the conversation. ¡°Try one. If they were lucky, at that, and did not end up with a class where most of their stats went to Mind or Soul with no way to apply it in a battle, in which case they might not even be able to handle one,¡± answered the old knight with a shake of his head. ¡°Those who had more physically intensive jobs like blacksmiths might be able to take on two or three, as they would be more Body oriented, and those stats were the easiest to apply as they were.¡± ¡°Some others whose work demanded skills with items that would work as weapons, like Madam Gillian from my earlier example, who could probably outmatch any of us when it comes to handling a knife, would also have a better time, but otherwise?¡± he continued on while they walked. ¡°Most of the time it would be a disproportionately wasteful loss of life considering how easily one could raise a second tier combatant, and how much a fourth tier civilian could contribute outside of combat.¡± ¡°I see,¡± admitted Alissa as she nodded. ¡°It was a silly question on my part, I guess.¡± ¡°No question is silly, girl. What is silly is not asking questions when you have them,¡± chided Sir Inolet in turn. ¡°If you have a question and ask someone who knows the answer, then you become less ignorant from the exchange. Meanwhile, keeping that same question unasked would just result in your ignorance growing needlessly.¡± ¡°Sir, in that case, mind a question of mine?¡± asked Ethan as he raised his hand. The old knight replied to him with a questioning look followed by a firm nod. ¡°Related to Allie¡¯s earlier question. Those who gained the [Companion] and [Associate] classes are leveling really fast compared to others. In your opinion, is that to allow them to keep up with us [Heroes]?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Well noted,¡± replied the old man with a satisfied nod. ¡°That is generally believed to be the case, yes, though in our recorded history, most of them started to slow down in growth once they reached the tail end of the fourth tier,¡± he explained. ¡°Those who reach the fifth tier are true rarities, only ever seen during the wars, while those that reach that level of power and survived the war were unheard of, other than the [Heroes] themselves, but naturally, they aren¡¯t staying either.¡± ¡°And why is that, you think?¡± ¡°Ask one of those robed bastards and they would feed you some crap about how that level of power was encroaching upon the domain of the gods themselves, and as such, was beyond a mortal¡¯s means to wield, leaning to the premature ends of those that went that far,¡± said Sir Inolet with a scoff. ¡°If you ask me, people are just afraid of that sort of power, especially those in power at the time. I had always found a couple of the deaths to be rather suspicious myself. Keep this to yourselves, of course.¡± ¡°Our lips are sealed, Sir,¡± said Alissa. ¡°Keep what to ourselves?¡± replied Ethan. ¡°We weren¡¯t talking about anything just now, weren''t we?¡± ¡°Heh, no we weren¡¯t,¡± answered Sir Inolet with a slight chuckle at Ethan¡¯s attempt at a joke. ¡°Anyway, you two take a proper rest. We¡¯d be departing for the next dungeon first thing tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°Understood, sir,¡± they both replied. They had just finished one last sparring session with Sir Inolet that evening, the day before they were scheduled to head towards one last dungeon to hit their third tiers. Both Alissa and Ethan noticed the improvements they had during that spar, as the two of them were now capable of holding their own against the old, experienced knight even when he was going at half his power, whereas before he would just toy with them with barely any exertion. ¡°I¡¯ll come over to your place later,¡± whispered Alissa once Sir Inolet had left them for a while, to which Ethan nodded. They generally met to talk in his room since Alissa was the one with the stealth skill and could go there without anyone noticing. Sure enough, roughly fifteen minutes after Ethan returned to his room, Alissa appeared out of the shadow cast by one of the chairs in the room. She had dressed down to what passed as everyday clothes in this world, namely tunics and trousers, and immediately plonked herself on the nearby chair while Ethan sat on his bed across the room from her. ¡°So, any news you got from the girls?¡± he asked curiously. Alissa usually tried to avoid making such clandestine trips to meet him unless she had something important to tell him that couldn¡¯t just be done during training when they were practicing in her shadow realm. It didn¡¯t help that the local attitudes about propriety and the likes ¨C at least amongst the upper class ¨C meant that they only generally met each other during mealtimes and training otherwise. ¡°Apparently they haven¡¯t given up trying to get more out of us,¡± stated Alissa openly, referring to the various factions vying for power in the Kingdom. ¡°Nadine told me that there would be another batch of twenty sent to accompany us for this next dungeon, all on the tail end of the second tier like last time, despite the dangers.¡± The next dungeon they were headed to was a far more open area, with creatures that were mostly in the late second tier to mid third tier in power, with the bosses reputed to be at the fourth tier. To send some youngsters barely in their late second tier into such a place was little different than suicide, especially since Alissa knew that Sir Inolet would instruct her team to let them fend for themselves like last time. Still, greed and pride was apparently enough to drive some people to near-certain death either way. ¡°Fuck, that¡¯s going to be a bloodbath,¡± commented Ethan with a frown. ¡°As it is, we¡¯d likely be far too busy staying alive and keeping the others of our team in one piece, ain¡¯t no way we got time to spare to help them out too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they know that, but just don¡¯t care,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°That¡¯s not all, though.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°She also let slip that they¡¯re adding more chaperones for the party,¡± said Alissa. ¡°Given Nadine¡¯s status and that it was her father who made that slip of the tongue, there might be more to the next trip than what we expect,¡± she continued as she rested her arms on top of the seat¡¯s back. ¡°It bugs me that none of them seem to have any idea what it is, though.¡± ¡°I have a thought, sec,¡± said Ethan as he rose from his bed and rummaged through one of the drawers near where Alissa sat. He finally pulled out a roll of parchment which he spread on the table, displaying a map that depicted the south-eastern area of the Kingdom¡¯s territory, their next destination. ¡°The dungeon we¡¯re headed to next is around here, right?¡± he asked as he pointed towards an area on the map. ¡°That should be about right,¡± answered Alissa as she took a look at where Ethan pointed. ¡°And the frontlines are roughly here,¡± he said as he traced a line through the map with another finger. ¡°If the information here is up to date, there are forts here, here, and here,¡± he added as his finger pointed at several spots on the imaginarily line he had just traced. ¡°Are you seeing what I¡¯m seeing now, Allie? Looks like enough reason for the extra guards, to me.¡± ¡°Fuck a duck. That area¡¯s one of the more poorly defended parts of the frontline. If the demons were to make a concentrated push there they could likely reach the dungeon before they were stopped,¡± she cursed as she noticed what Ethan was hinting at. ¡°Then again, to do that they¡¯d need to know we¡¯d be there, no? I don¡¯t think the risk of traitors are that high, considering the racial issues we have here.¡± ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s still a risk that warranted extra guards. For all we know those demons might be using that area to send in spies or scouts into the Kingdom¡¯s territories,¡± argued Ethan. ¡°I mean, I can see why they left that part more lightly defended. The creatures of the dungeon itself made for part of the defense there, and there¡¯s another dungeon further south and west of the one we¡¯re headed to that whoever was trying to slip through that region had to pass through.¡± ¡°Making good use of the natural defenses,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°Since dungeon creatures generally stayed in their area unless left alone for too long, they made perfect guard dogs, in a way,¡± she said as she nodded. ¡°And anyone trying to pass through there would likely alert them and cause a ruckus given the high levels of the creatures involved.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a pretty smart trick, honestly. Either way, I think we should still prepare ourselves in case the worst case scenario comes to be.¡± ¡°Way ahead of you. The girls were already preparing since they heard that we¡¯re getting more chaperones and all.¡± LXVIII - Destination Reached at Last ¡°Oldies? Did we take the wrong direction? We can¡¯t find any sign of people in the general area you pointed us to,¡± asked Esperanza with some worry in her voice. The group had safely reached the general area Oldies directed them towards after three more weeks of travel. The smaller number of people who had to be carried ¨C something that still caused pangs of guilt for all of them everytime they thought of it ¨C helped speed up their pace, even with the added weight of Eda-Zil who needed to be carried on a stretcher. They ran into a different problem when they reached their destination, however, namely that they could not find any sign of civilization after a couple days of searching. Not even Dali or Gordy found anything, so as a result, they had to wait until Esperanza could contact Oldies once more and ask them more directly, as their efforts were fruitless. Fortunately the area was not only relatively safe ¨C most of the creatures were in the second tier, which were easy pickings for the Progenies on their own ¨C but also quite abundant. There were fruit trees growing in the vicinity, and between Nalihimatu and Mel-Ivas, testing them for poison was easy and safe enough to do. We can feel you¡­ and them as well¡­ try heading towards the north and east, about¡­ maybe an hour or so away. Look for a series of caverns near the shores. ¡°That region, eh? We passed through there but saw no signs of anything like people living there just yesterday,¡± noted Esperanza. If there had been people in the region, then they must have been very good at hiding themselves, given how none of them noticed anything at all. ¡°Wait, do you mean in the caverns itself?¡± We told you before that those who chose to follow us tend to be shunned and hunted. For some, those bitter lessons from the past led to them developing the necessary skills for survival. Hiding themselves was one of the more vital of such skills, of course. ¡°Then how come Navef was pretty much in the open?¡± she asked with some incredulity in her voice. What you saw of that village was a more recent development, Esperanza. You heard it yourself from them. The village used to be located deeper in the jungle. The jungle itself was their defense, so they never had much need to hide themselves too well. Unfortunately they failed to consider doing so after they were forced by circumstances to move towards the perimeter. ¡°And these ones kept those lessons of hiding themselves close at heart, I see,¡± Esperanza noted as she nodded in understanding. ¡°Still, what would they be hiding from, though? This place is so deep in the wilderness, did any of the Demons or Humans even ever come here at all?¡± That would be a correct estimation if you consider things from land, but from the sea, this place is very accessible, and there are those who dislike our presence there as well. ¡°The water-dwellers you mentioned, huh?¡± she asked, mostly for confirmation. Oldies had briefed her about the six races that dwelled in this world before. The water-dwellers, or Gour-ug¡¯rech in their own tongue, was the one race that had not bothered themselves much with the ongoing war. Both the humans and the demons considered them a neutral party, for rather obvious reasons. Namely that their kind could survive for maybe two hours outside of water, at best. As such, the water-dwellers never had any interest in the land, and vice versa. Everyone tacitly agreed that the seas were their territory, while the lands belonged to the others. They were also a pretty mixed batch when it came to religion, it seemed. There remained quite a few amongst their numbers that still worshiped Oldies, though the majority of the race seemed to care for no gods. That said there were also others amongst the race that followed the new gods, and these often came into conflict with those who still followed Oldies. Due to the advent of time, those who followed the new gods grew in numbers, while those that followed Oldies slowly dwindled. Neither group ever grew influential enough to move the entire race, which saw their conflict as little more than an unimportant quarrel, however. The hideaway here is one of the larger sanctuaries for those who still worship us, and it was made possible thanks to the support and generosity of our brethren from the sea. They were quite paranoid about safety, though this is a relatively safe region, so they hid and defended the place extremely well as a result. That said, when you show yourself there, they should recognize you for what you are. ¡°Would it be dangerous? I don¡¯t want any of the kids to get hurt,¡± asked Esperanza somberly. She had grown more protective of the children after the night where they lost some of their members, although the Progenies had proven themselves more than capable of taking care of themselves. She still couldn¡¯t help but see them as the children they used to be and worry incessantly about them, however. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Nothing that should endanger you, or them, for that matter, unless they were to grow far too relaxed. We will attempt to keep watch and direct you to the sanctuary, so maybe you should get moving. ¡°Okay then,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. ¡°Legisvula, I want you and Tiesya with me. The rest of you, look after the young ones. We¡¯ll look for the sanctuary as Oldies directed.¡± ¡°It shall be done, Exalted one,¡± replied Val-Kas¡¯j with a slight bow. Esperanza took the two Progenies ¨C picked because they were the best at scouting and tracking more than anything else ¨C as well as Dali with her as they traveled in the direction Oldies had shown her. She left Gordy to help guard the younger children, as Gordy¡¯s larger form might be less suited for the caverns they were headed to. Dali on the other hand was smaller and sleeker in form, which allowed him to easily pass through spaces too small for anyone else in the group. With only the four of them, Esperanza chose to expedite the journey as she wasn¡¯t sure how long Oldies could maintain the connection with her. She had Legisvula and Tiesya hold on to her ¡°legs¡± while she used her arms to rapidly propel herself just beneath the treetops, latching on to one branch after another as she hurled the three of them forwards at high speeds, while Dali chased them from below. It was a good bit harder to do since the forest in the area was more like mangrove forests compared to the jungle behind them, but Esperanza still managed to cover the distance in half the time regardless. Her ¡°passengers¡± did not look like they particularly enjoyed the ride, however, as both of them looked quite nauseated by the time Esperanza stopped and deposited them on firm soil once more. She had thought that all the screaming was from excitement, but apparently she guessed wrong. ¡°Oldies? We¡¯re back in the area. Which one? There¡¯s a bunch of caverns here, and there¡¯s more beneath the water level that¡¯d probably be traversable at low tide,¡± said Esperanza after she took another quick survey around with her eyes. Dali caught up to them, panting happily with his tongue out, around that time as well. There should be at least a few paths left available for times outside the low tide as well. Try to look for a cavern that would have allowed you to move freely, located near the waterline. We should be able to provide clearer directions inside. ¡°Okay then,¡± noted Esperanza with a shrug. The directions were rather vague, but not too hard to follow. Within ten minutes, Tiesya found one such cavern, large enough for even her ¨C she was one of the tallest amongst the group ¨C to move freely in it, so Esperanza decided to give that cavern a try. The four of them entered in a single file ¨C the cavern was not wide enough to allow two of them walking side by side ¨C with Dali up front and Esperanza right behind him. Legisvula followed behind her, while Tiesya covered their rear. The two Progenies brought their weapons just in case, but kept them sheathed to show goodwill. They had to move rather slowly as they traversed the cavern. The cavern floor was quite smooth and slippery, with moss growing in many places that made the footing even more treacherous. At a glance it did not look like any sort of often-used passageway, but if someone was to stick to the center of the path where the rock was smooth, they would have left no sign of their passing either. If there is a turn towards the bottom-left in a bit, take it. We can feel a congregation of our worshipers in that direction. Oldies gave some instruction after they carefully navigated the dark cavern for nearly ten minutes. Fortunately, the pitch-black darkness inside the cavern was of no issue to any of them. Both Legisvula and Tiesya were of races who had natural dark vision to begin with, so they navigated the darkness with ease, while Esperanza¡¯s new body allowed her to do the same. She had no idea how Dali led the way so easily, but he did, regardless, so she just let that slide. They found the branching path Oldies described just a minute later, Dali excitedly sending a thought to Esperanza about how he detected scents that likely belonged to people. The branching path broadened enough to allow them to have two people side by side, but Esperanza ordered them to keep to the single file. She was not particularly surprised when she discovered how the cavern had many branches that practically formed a labyrinth down that branching path. As such, they relied on the general direction Oldies gave them, as well as Dali¡¯s sharp nose as they navigated the caverns, which at times broadened and narrowed quite a bit, at some places a tight fit for just a single person to pass through. After what felt like hours ¨C it was difficult to tell the time in such a dark place without any changes ¨C but was probably barely half an hour or so, Dali seemed to have found the way, and the group of four entered into a larger cavern, one that had the ceiling so high even four people standing on each other¡¯s shoulders wouldn¡¯t be able to reach it, and so broad a good twenty or so people could have walked abreast. That was also where they found the first signs of inhabitants of the cavern complex, for that was what the place clearly was. ¡°Who goes there!?¡± came a yell shortly after they entered the large cavern, which Esperanza noted had at least five paths leading towards it. She raised her hand to signal the others not to draw their weapons, even as over a dozen figures suddenly emerged from all around them, some from cleverly hidden places on the cavern¡¯s floor, while others seemed to have flowed out from the walls itself. Half a dozen spears were pointed threateningly their way, while the other half of the group wielded bows that had arrows nocked on the strings and aimed in the group¡¯s general direction as well. ¡°We mean no harm!¡± yelled Tiesya back as she took a couple steps forward with her hands raised. Given her skills she was relatively certain that even if these locals opened fire, she could likely block their arrows without too much difficulty. ¡°We came from the Village of Navef, to the west, and are here to seek refuge from the predations of those who worship the usurpers!¡± The words she said clearly struck a chord with the locals around them, as Esperanza noticed how several of them started to murmur towards each other upon hearing what Tiesya said. The only people who would call the new ¨C or rather, current ¨C gods as ¡°usurpers¡± would be those who worshiped Oldies, or the Deities of Yore, as these folks usually called them. ¡°How did you know where to go?¡± asked a doubtful voice from above and to their left, one of the archers perched high on the cavern¡¯s wall. ¡°How do you even know of our existence here, where we hid ourselves from the rest of the world? We hid here because we wished to live in peace, and do not wish for troubles.¡± ¡°Because we were given the choice of where to head to by the Deities of Yore, and this place was our choice,¡± replied Tiesya confidently to the question and unvoiced implication behind them. ¡°We were led here by the Messenger of the Deities of Yore herself! Why don¡¯t you open your eyes and take a good look at who stands before you!?¡± On cue, Esperanza stopped concealing her aura and let some slip ¨C she still kept the detrimental effects confined, but that was about it ¨C out into the surroundings. Immediately, several breathless gasps were elicited from the people around them, and within moments, the dozen locals had left their positions and prostrated themselves in a line before her. LXIX - Nice ¡°Talk about a quick change in treatment,¡± muttered Esperanza under her breath as she watched the dozen locals go down on their knees and place their heads on the ground before her. Just moments ago these very same locals were pointing spears and arrows in her group¡¯s direction. You are still rather unaware of the effect you have, We see. For those who still worshiped us from the heart, the aura you emanate would tell them beyond any doubt that you were a messenger we had sent to this world. It would be like¡­ If you were to see an Angel from your god back in your previous world? ¡°I no longer believed in that, honestly, though that would¡¯ve been a hilarious scene to watch,¡± replied Esperanza with a slight chuckle. ¡°Our idea of angels were pretty goddamned fucked up that every pendejo who saw one for real would have probably pissed and shit themselves on the spot, given how creepy many of them are.¡± We feel like it would be improper for us to comment about that, given the physical form you have received from us. ¡°Eh, it¡¯s in the past. I¡¯m guessing as this shapeshift skill keeps getting better I¡¯ll eventually be able to pretend to be whatever I wanted to without anyone being able to tell, so it¡¯s all good, I guess,¡± replied Esperanza rather nonchalantly. Come to think of it, she did feel that she acclimatized to her new body rather easily, given how monstrous it was, but perhaps it was the body itself that helped with its instincts being so strong it took her a while to get used to them at first. ¡°Anyway, who is the one in charge here? Speak up. There¡¯s enough prostrating already,¡± she continued, adressing the locals this time, as they were all still kneeling before her without daring to speak a word. They seemed to fidget for a moment as if unsure on what they were supposed to do, but eventually one of them raised her body and adopted a pose like someone praying on their knees, head down with their hands clasped before them. ¡°T-This one is Belug-ur¡¯ani, O, Exalted Messenger of the Deities of Yore. This one begs forgiveness for the rudeness we had unknowingly subjected you to. There was no excuse for our actions!¡± said the woman while bodily trembling. She looked like she was genuinely afraid that Esperanza might eat her whole or something, with the way she acted. The woman herself looked rather unusual, as she had features that would not have been too out of place for a Ma¡¯Varok mixed with a Nevilosk, with a slender but muscular figure, long ears and prominent tusks, but also had other bits Esperanza had never seen before. Most notable were the scales that seem to adorn a large part of her arm as well as her cheeks, as well as opening that looked like gills on the sides of her throat. ¡°Okay, okay, get up already. We¡¯re not about to eat you or anything like that,¡± said Esperanza with some exasperation to the kneeling locals. ¡°As Tiesya here had said, we came here to seek refuge from those who worship the new gods. There are more of us, and some might have difficulties passing through the road we took to get here. Are there any other ways to reach here?¡± ¡°There are several passages that lead to our little town, Exalted one,¡± replied Belug-ur¡¯ani respectfully. ¡°Most of them are very well hidden, however, and had many traps to prevent outsiders from accidentally wandering to our town. The passage you took was the labyrinthine one, which we left open since most who entered it would just get lost along the way.¡± ¡°It was quite a challenging road, indeed, though fortunately we had a good guide to get us through there,¡± admitted Esperanza. Dali gave a happy bark on her praise, and held his head high in a rather smug pose that made her want to laugh. ¡°Can you arrange for some people to help bring those we left behind to the town as well?¡± ¡°Most certainly, Exalted one,¡± replied the mixed-breed woman. ¡°Enu, Wic, Olias, K¡¯Veno, you four go and help show the way to the others that the Exalted one had brought here¡­¡± she commanded before she went silent for a moment. ¡°Uh, Exalted one, may we inquire on where the others would be located? We generally keep to ourselves in the depths, so we rarely pay attention to what happens at the surface.¡± ¡°Legisvula, would you lead them to the others? Take Dali with you¡± asked Esperanza, to which the young Tesh¡¯ka nodded affirmatively. The four locals named by Belug-ur¡¯ani led him and Dali to a different passage from the one their group had taken to reach their current location, probably one that was easier to traverse, given the information they had received. ¡°As for you, while we wait for them to return, can you lead us to your town?¡± ¡°Of course, Exalted one! It would be our honor to host you and yours!¡± replied the woman excitedly. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Belug-ur¡¯ani and the rest of the locals then respectfully led Esperanza and Tiesya deeper into the cavern complex. The open area they had emerged in earlier turned out to be more of a gate of sorts, where the paths that led to the main cavern where the town lay converged. The locals had apparently artificially enlarged the region to make it a chokepoint, where they could defend themselves better if needed. Fittingly, the corridor they were brought to had high walls to its sides, where Esperanza could see slits from which the locals could have rained arrows down on any invaders who tried to force their way through the place. The road itself took a few sharp turns that she noticed wound around itself almost like a large spiral, clearly constructed that way as a defensive measure. As such, it took them a good fifteen minutes of walking before they reached the actual gate to the town itself, at the far end of the corridor. She also noticed how that gate was cleverly located across a bridge over a chasm, and was off to one side of the corridor. Had some invaders tried to break their way straight through the corridor, their path would have ended straight down into the seemingly bottomless chasm that awaited at the end, rather than reach the gate. The gate itself was made of heavy blocks of stone, and clearly needed at least a dozen people to open, even with the aid of some mechanisms on the inside. Esperanza could have seeped through the gate with the aid of her shapeshifting, but deemed it to be rude to their hosts, so she refrained. All along their path, any locals that saw her ¨C her aura still blaring unhidden ¨C bowed towards her as she passed. ¡°Our little hideaway from the world, the town of Agur-Bas,¡± said Belug-ur¡¯ani as she gestured with her arms to show Esperanza and Tiesya the town hidden underground. Contrary to her expectations, the underground town was well-lit, with some sort of naturally bioluminescent moss and fungi growing all over the roofs and walls of the buildings of the town. Those bathed the town in a gentle, bluish-green glow that was easy on the eyes, and just at a glance Esperanza could see that the place must have at least a couple thousand people, if not more, living there. It was at a scale uncomparable to Navef, and the same also applied to those who guarded the town. Belug-ur¡¯Ani herself was a [Child of the Sea Lvl20/Hunter Prodigy Lvl20/Spearmaster of Agur-Bas Lvl20/Fang of the Depths Lvl8], a full fledged fourth tier who Esperanza sort of doubted she could have taken on in direct combat without abusing [Respawn] quite a bit. The rest of the guards were mostly third tiers, with classes that generally had some sort of hunting background, which was not surprising given their isolated location. All of them were clearly more competent as warriors than the inhabitants of Navef, though. Similarly, Esperanza doubted that Belug-ur¡¯ani was the only fourth tier pure combatant present in the town. From afar she noticed the townspeople with all sorts of classes ¨C they clearly had made themselves a self-sufficient community in their hiding spot far below the ground ¨C with other guards positioned at strategic locations around the town. Some of the latter noticed Esperanza¡¯s arrival, and like those before, immediately bowed where they stood. Esperanza didn¡¯t ask why Belug-ur¡¯ani made no attempt to announce their arrival, as the commotion that their presence attracted already did that for them, unbidden. Sure enough, before long a group of what seemed to be important people ¨C they were elderly, wore finer clothing compared to most of the people around, and even had some decoration and jewelry made from some sort of coral on them ¨C came towards them. As one, those elders prostrated themselves before Esperanza and started to recite prayers and praises to the Deities of Yore for its deliverance of guidance in the times of hardship. It took a good bit more effort for Esperanza to coax the elders to rise, though she quickly realized the reason for their fervor at the sight of her. The elders led her towards the largest building in the city, which turned out to be a temple dedicated to the Deities of Yore. At the altar of worship were multiple slates of rock with carvings that formed rather indecipherable shapes, likely representing the various gods Oldies used to be. The worship in the town of Agur-Bas proved to be strong, even after the eras that had passed under the reign of the new gods, which partly explained why they were so subservient to Esperanza, who in their eyes were no different than a messenger directly sent by their gods. Esperanza quickly explained what she needed to those elders, that she came to their town while leading refugees from Navef, most of which were children or injured. When she asked for them to help house those refugees, the elders almost fell over each other in their haste to be the first to agree to her request, which they viewed nearly as a gospel. That was before one of the more inquisitive elders asked if he was allowed to use [Analysis] on Tiesya, having received familiar vibes from the mixed-breed girl. When the elders saw her [Progeny of Yore] class, they almost fell into a riot and acted as if they were about to enshrine Tiesya as a holy maiden on the spot. At least, they acted that way until Esperanza told them that Tiesya was not the only one, which made the elders prostrate themselves in worship deeply once more. Apparently, there were old legends about Progenies of Yore, which mostly told of tales where they were sent to the world by the old gods to fix imbalances that threatened the world¡¯s continued existence. Even so, it was a rare case that any Progeny of Yore were to be sent at all, much less eight at once, which the elders eventually rationalized as only fitting given the tight grip that the new gods had on the world. All that did alleviate some of Esperanza worries about what she would do if the locals were to refuse her request, though. The way they acted, they would probably have killed themselves before even considering saying no to her requests, as they saw her as the Exalted messenger of their gods. All the worship did little to make Esperanza particularly comfortable, however. ¡°So, how did it feel to be the object of worship for once?¡± she asked Tiesya half-teasingly after they were given some privacy. She herself was never really comfortable with the worship she got in this world, even after so long. ¡°Honestly? It feels¡­ rather nice,¡± replied Tiesya with a smile. ¡°I sure could get used to this.¡± ¡°Just don¡¯t get drunk on the adoration. It really gets into your head if you allow it.¡± 70 - The Trial that Awaits ¡°You can see the border there, indicated by the forts,¡± said Sir Inolet as he pointed with one finger towards the distant horizon. The entire party, consisting of the [Heroes], all the [Companions] and [Associates], as well as the additional escorts they brought, were at the top of a hill a distance to the north of the present border between human and demon territory. ¡°All of you should have enough Perception to make it out, I believe.¡± Alissa looked towards the general direction the old knight pointed at, and noticed the distant fortifications easily. She noticed that Joshua also seemed to have minimal issues in finding the same, the boy had even discarded his glasses for a while now, probably as a result of his Perception stat increasing, as one of its effects was to improve their eyesight. Ethan had to squint and shade his eyes before he seemed to notice the forts though, not unexpected since Alissa suspected that he mostly dumped his free points into the Body stat over others. He likely added a few to his Mind and Soul to keep them in line to support the Body, but otherwise he likely neglected them. As for the rest, some of them seemed to be able to see the forts just fine. Most squinted and shaded their eyes like Ethan did to focus their sight better, while a few had to rely on telescopes to even see the distant fortifications, mostly amongst the new batch of twenty second tiers. From the high vantage point at the top of the hill, Alissa noticed the rolling plains to their south, which was likely their destination, further bordered to its south, right between two of the fortifications, by a densely forested area which she was told was another dungeon with high levels. The dungeon¡¯s presence made it a natural barrier for the relatively wide swath of land, which was why the two forts were built quite far apart. On the other hand, it also meant that the two fortresses on either side of the forest were isolated from each other. ¡°Is it fine for that fort further east to be isolated like that?¡± she said as she voiced her doubts to Sir Inolet. ¡°Well observed,¡± noted the old knight with a hint of a smile on his lips. ¡°The eastern fortress of Gardelans is well defended enough. You cannot see it from here, but behind that hill a bit to its north is yet another fort, with a third a short distance behind it. The three forts serve as a multi-layered gateway to our eastern flank, and are not easily breached, put together.¡± ¡°Besides, the east end also only possesses a narrow road, unsuited for massed troop movements. At the end of the east road is one of the largest military fortifications of the Kingdom as well, which we¡¯ll take a tour of on the way back,¡± continued the old knight. ¡°The area is quite well-secured, at least when it comes to large troop movements, I assure you.¡± ¡°But not to smaller groups,¡± mentioned Alissa as she noticed what the old knight implied through the words he left unsaid. ¡°Exactly, hence the extra precautions we took for this trip. Like before, we will not intervene against the dungeon creatures, but if there should be any outside interference¡­¡± murmured the old knight. Besides him, Magus Drummond, and the two priestesses, they were also accompanied by another two royal guards who were in their fourth tiers, and two temple guards in the same level of power. All four were notably younger than Sir Inolet or Magus Drummond, easily young enough to have been their children or grandchildren, even. While they were bonafide fourth tiers as well, they were lower in level, mostly levels 2 to 4, compared to Sir Inolet who was at the twelfth level of his fourth tier. Aside from the level difference, however, Alissa got the feeling that the old one-eyed one-legged knight would still likely wipe the floor with all four of them put together in a fight. The biggest difference was in the quality of their classes, something that could be intuited just from the class names. Where Sir Inolet was a [Soldier¡¯s Child Lvl20/ Royal Guard Lvl20/ Arcane Edge Lvl20/ Blade of Sorcery Lvl12], the two other knights had [Noble¡¯s Child Lvl20/ Royal Guard Lvl20/ Royal Knight Lvl20/ Royal Champion Lvl4] and [Merchant¡¯s Child Lvl20/ Royal Guard Lvl20/ Royal Spearman Lvl20/ Royal Lancer Lvl2] respectively. While they looked equal on the first two tiers, Alissa could tell that Sir Inolet¡¯s class was of higher quality, and not by a little bit. Hell, the classes that the [Companions] and [Associates] received were also higher quality than what the fourth tiers had. These four were clearly not the cream of the crop amongst the fourth tiers possessed by the Kingdom, but then again, Sir Inolet was supposed to be one of the ten strongest of the fourth tiers in the Kingdom to begin with. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The quality of the classes that the Temple guards had were similar, as in notably lower than what either Sir Inolet or Magus Drummond possessed. They definitely have a good bit of power to them, but since Alissa and Ethan were used to sparring with Sir Inolet, they felt the additional chaperones to be far less threatening in comparison, to the point that they might have dared to take them on, one on one. ¡°Another question if I may, Sir Inolet?¡± asked Alissa politely since the old knight seemed to be in a talkative mood. ¡°Hmm? Sure, go ahead and ask away.¡± ¡°How many people of their¡­ caliber does the kingdom have?¡± she asked, gesturing towards the additional fourth tiers with her eyes. ¡°I had not thought that they would be so common it was easy to detach four of them just to keep us safe.¡± ¡°In total? Probably around four to five hundred or so. Reaching the fourth tier is a risky proposition for most of us combat types since it means having to fight longer and harder against increasingly dangerous things. It was all too easy to lose focus while fighting something that had become a routine and lose your life because of it,¡± replied Sir Inolet. ¡°In fact, this is already a large number considering we aren¡¯t at war yet. The war itself tends to be the catalyst that gave birth to many new fourth tiers.¡± ¡°The majority of the Kingdom¡¯s armed forces are mostly late second tiers to late third tiers in level. Those under that level were likely still trainees, and those above it would be considered as important assets and not used haphazardly,¡± continued the old man with a nostalgic look on his face. ¡°You [Heroes], along with your [Companions] and [Associates] will likely become such an asset once you¡¯ve grown a bit more too.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what we came here for, no?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what we hope. The challenge of the beasts from this dungeon should hopefully be able to push the three of you to your third tiers, at which point we hope that you would be approaching my equal in combat prowess,¡± nodded the old man in agreement. ¡°At that point of time, unless the other side concentrated their best forces, it would be difficult for them to stop you easily, though their own [Champions] would be the ones you are most likely to face.¡± ¡°Once you have grown enough from the battles to reach the fourth tier¡­ then ones such as me would no longer even be your opponents. At that point the battle would mostly devolve into one between your [Heroes] against their [Champions], while the most we could do is to support you as best we could,¡± he continued with a tinge of melancholy in his voice. ¡°I lost my eye and leg against the [Champion] of Elugunuras back then. No matter what the healers tried, there was no restoring them.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°For what, girl?¡± ¡°Sorry if I invoked bad memories, Sir.¡± ¡°Think nothing of it. I was a knight serving my liege back then. It was already fortunate that I survived fighting such a foe at all. Far too many of my compatriots from back then had no such luck,¡± replied the old knight with a shake of his head, looking somewhat wistful for a change. ¡°I sincerely hope that things will go better this time around, at least.¡± ¡°That¡¯s one hope I¡¯d like to share with you, Sir,¡± nodded Alissa firmly with some emotions battling each other in her heart. While she still kept a measure of caution to most of the locals of this other world, the old knight ¨C once he started to shed the exterior of the stern tutor he showed most of the time in the beginning ¨C was one of those who she couldn¡¯t help but grow some fondness for. He reminded her of her own late grandfather, in some ways. ¡°May the fortunes be with us.¡± ¡°May the fortunes be with us, indeed. Now, it¡¯s already late in the afternoon, so we will make our camp on the backside of this hill, just as a precaution, and proceed to the dungeon tomorrow. This dungeon is not one where we¡¯d delve for long periods at once, as we¡¯ll instead retreat to camp outside of it every night. The beasts there are far more active at night.¡± ¡°How would the resources be gathered, then?¡± asked Alissa. While the dungeon delves were primarily to train them, the Kingdom was always short on resources, so they were unlikely to waste anything useful from the creatures that would be slain during those same delves. ¡°The gathering team will follow us closely. They¡¯re also part of the reason why we got so many extra chaperones. Part of them will be for keeping those gatherers safe,¡± explained Sir Inolet with a nod at her question. ¡°From this dungeon¡­ the hides, fangs, and claws of the beasts are the primary harvest, along with some of their organs used in alchemy, as far as I know. You should be aware of what that means, no?¡± ¡°That their hides are likely as tough as armor and their fangs and claws can likely shred through lighter armor as is?¡± she replied, to a satisfied nod from the old knight. ¡°Along with muscles that could propel those claws with enough force to shear through metal, and are nearly as hard as rock themselves. It won¡¯t be an easy hunt here, I can tell you that much. Many of the creatures also form packs, so you will often have to deal with a bunch of them all at once,¡± said the old knight almost as an addendum. ¡°That combined with the open area means that you might be attacked by a second pack before you are done with the first.¡± ¡°Got it, so we hit hard, hit fast, and kill them as soon as possible to avoid that scenario, while keeping our eyes open of our surroundings at all times,¡± noted Alissa. At the moment, despite some skills like what Osmond possessed that allowed him to see long distances clearly and easily, Alissa remained the team¡¯s primary scout, partly thanks to her [Walk in the Shadows], which allowed her to stroll around an area and assess the situation unnoticed. Alissa had grinded that skill in particular during her training ever since she got it. At the moment, the skill had reached level eight, and its cooldown had dropped all the way to fifteen minutes, while its duration increased to eight minutes. The skill itself would still end prematurely the moment she emerged from the shadowy dimension she was hidden in, however, which made it best suited for sneak attacks and scouting. Of course, she would have to do her scouting alone, as taking someone along with her would have slowed her so much as to render it a pointless exercise. Still, for the time being she put such thought away and helped with setting up their camp for the night. They would need a good and proper rest tonight, for the trial that awaited them the next day. 71 - A Little Scuffle on the Prairie If one wasn¡¯t used to it, the pitch darkness and near-silence of the shadowy dimension ¨C Alissa wasn¡¯t certain if it truly was such a thing, but it was the closest thing she had in mind as an equivalent to the realm her skill plunged her into ¨C could have triggered all sorts of traumatic experiences and deep-seated fears from one¡¯s mind. As the actual user of the Skill, Alissa had the capability of viewing the outside world as well, though it appeared more like a monochrome screen set before her, rather than being her surroundings. Similarly, sounds from the outside made it into the realm, if subdued and more like quiet whispers than anything else. She thought that if she did not possess [Weather the Storm] she might well have panicked herself the first time she used the skill. She used to fear the dark and loneliness as a child, sleeping with her parents until she was eight, and with her lights on until she was twelve. The skill must have isolated the juvenile parts of her mind that were screaming as she plunged into the silent darkness of the shadows, though. Since she was the party¡¯s primary scout ¨C Osmond and Maribel also had skills that somewhat helped them act in scouting roles, though nowhere as good as what Alissa has ¨C Alissa ranged far out, as she swept through a semi-circular area ahead and to the sides of where the party waited for her return. The shadows themselves did nothing other than to conceal her, but with the increase in her stats, it was easy enough to scout an area half a mile in radius in the few minutes of concealment she had. Alissa returned to where the party waited and emerged out of the shadows a short distance away, to give them enough time to notice that it was just her returning and not some monster about to pounce on them. The group ¨C nearly a hundred strong between the additional members and the harvesters that followed them closely ¨C raised their weapons briefly in alarm, but lowered them back once they noticed it was her. ¡°How are things?¡± asked Sir Inolet once she walked back to their group. ¡°There¡¯s a group of eleven, levels 45 to 57, to our south and east. A few other solitary beasts in the other direction, none above level 50. Which way do we head?¡± she reported to the old knight. ¡°We head for the pride. There hasn¡¯t been enough monsters to give a proper workout for you all so far, so no reason to skip this group. Besides, the harvesters need something to do, too,¡± replied the old knight after a moment of thought. ¡°Sure is a rather quiet day here, though. Last time I was here, we were attacked by three prides of the beasts in as many hours.¡± ¡°Just luck of the draw, I guess,¡± commented Magus Drummond from the side. ¡°You know how it is with open dungeons like these. The beasts were always on the move so you can¡¯t really say when or where you¡¯d run into any of them. Already good fortune that we ran into some of them at all on our first day here, I¡¯d say.¡± ¡°Fair. Anyway, you lead the party and head that way. We¡¯ll follow shortly behind. We won¡¯t interfere in the fight as usual,¡± said Sir Inolet to Alissa, who nodded in return as she gathered the other members of the group. It would just be the twelve of them against the eleven beasts, and Alissa¡¯s [Walk in the Shadows] would not be used to get a first strike in as it was still on cooldown. Besides, she would need to use it again after the fight for further scouting anyway. The twelve of them ¨C their extra chaperones and the new batch of busybodies were made to hang back near the harvesters to keep them protected ¨C ranged around a hundred yards ahead of the rest, as they headed in the direction Alissa pointed out. By that point of time, the twelve of them had trained to work together, and had some tacit agreements on how to do things between them. They naturally slipped into a diamond formation as they walked, Ethan at the point, with Bronwen and Glenn at his left and right. At the rear of the formation was Joshua, along with Osmond and Benedictus, all of whom wielded ranged weapons and were prepared to offer their support. Alissa herself took the right side with Leda and Moira, while Nadine was on the left with Maribel and Silvia. Before too long, they found the pride of beasts, or rather, pride noticed them. Unlike the completely odd looking abomination they fought in the forest some time ago, the monsters that inhabit the prairie¡¯s dungeon area looked a lot like a creature that was a mixed breed of various large feline predators. They were huge, however, with many of the creatures standing taller than Alissa¡¯s head at the shoulder, with the speed and power to match. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The largest of the beasts, a [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57] raised its head and gave a cacophonous roar as it noticed the party¡¯s approach. It was a large male, easily identified by the glorious mane of golden fur around its neck, almost certainly the head of the pride given how the other three males they noticed were lower leveled juveniles. As the beast roared, the party cast all the buff skills they had which affected the whole group, saving only the more instantaneous offensive and defensive skills. They tightened their formation, with Ethan still at the point, both [Antagonizing Yell] and [None Shall Pass] already cast. He had targeted the largest beast with his [Antagonizing Yell], in the hopes of drawing its attention his way. He succeeded. Mere seconds after its roar, the largest beast rushed straight towards Ethan, with the rest of its pride following closely behind. The beast¡¯s large frame ran at speeds that many would have thought impossible for something that big, and leapt towards Ethan with its vicious, half-foot long claws splayed out as if it wanted to eviscerate him on the spot. Ethan raised his shield to take the blow in case the barrier from his skill proved to not be enough to handle the blow, but he should have had more faith in his skill¡¯s capabilities. The leaping beast struck the invisible barrier from [None Shall Pass] with such force that Ethan¡¯s feet dug grooves into the grassy soil as he was pushed backwards. The impact also left the beast dazed for a moment, though it righted itself after a moment and shook its head. Then the rest of its pride fell upon them. The first beast had caught Joshua¡¯s group in the back by surprise with its speed, so they failed to fire their ranged weapons at it. They were more prepared when the rest of the pride approached, though, as they launched arrows, crossbow bolts, and javelins towards the beasts unerringly. One of Osmond¡¯s arrows hit the eye of a younger male and made it pause, which allowed Joshua¡¯s bolt to hit just above its nose. Before the beast could finish roaring in pain, Benedictus hurled a javelin straight down its open mouth and into its throat, dropping the dying beast where it stood. Three of the beasts ¨C two of the higher level females and the largest male ¨C were focused on Ethan, who defended himself as best he could and kept their attention fixed on him to buy time for the others to take care of the lesser beasts. Those three had also occupied the barrier from [None Shall Pass] to its limits, which left the rest of the pride for the others. Glenn kept one of the females above level fifty busy, while Bronwen tackled two of the others at the high forties. Joshua, Osmond, and Benedictus lent their support from the back with projectile weapons and the occasional skill to keep the situation under control. That neatly left the remaining five lower leveled beasts to the other six. Keeping Leda slightly to the back ¨C the girl could fight decently, but her class leaned more towards being a supportive healer so it only made sense to keep her safe ¨C they tackled the large beasts with care, each of them keeping one occupied until their stronger members could dispatch their foe and come to their aid. It was a delicate balance, with the buffs everyone had only lasting minutes, which forced them to finish the fight or at least get it under control in that time. Maribel whirled around one of the younger male lions, her twin blades twirling around her lithe body as if she was dancing. The beast¡¯s thick fur meant that the most her blades did was to leave light cuts that were rather inconsequential though. Her own skills were linked more towards evasion and agility, so she lacked the brute force needed to pierce through the beast¡¯s sturdy flesh and tough hide. Silvia had more success keeping the beast she was fighting at arm¡¯s length, as vicious stabs of her spear left deeper wounds on it. She had already used the strongest of her active skills, which allowed her to do that damage in the first place, so for the time being, she was bluffing the creature to buy time, as she lacked the means to effectively hurt it like that again. Nadine and Moira had better results against their beasts, each of the young women pushing the beasts back step by step. Nadine¡¯s blade moved with precise strokes as she punished each of the beast¡¯s attempts to strike with a painful cut, while larger openings resulted in even deeper wounds which kept the beast eyeing her warily even as it retreated slowly. As a [Hero¡¯s Companion] Nadine had more stats from her third tier class change and each level afterwards compared to those were were just [Hero¡¯s Associates]. Beside her, Moira utilized the newfound speed ¨C born from a skill she received upon reaching her third tier ¨C to run circles around another of the beasts, her new halberd leaving cuts and gouging wounds at every opportunity. Already, the beast she was fighting was limping from its rear left leg, as one of Moira¡¯s cuts had severed the tendons at the back of its calf. It was only a matter of time for her to finish the creature off. Alissa ended up being the first one to actually finish her opponent though, helped by the higher stats she possessed in no small part. At first, she had fought conservatively and mostly poked at the beast she was facing in order to frustrate it, all while keeping her distance. Her plan worked out as after a while, the beast ¨C a [Saber Toother Liger Pack Hunter Lvl50] ¨C lost its patience and pounced bodily at her. She quickly spun her spear around so that the spike-like spearhead on its butt end faced the pouncing beast while she dug the broader spearhead into the ground to anchor the weapon, the guard that flared out below the blade acting as shortstops. She held the spear steady with her right hand and pointed it towards the right direction without flinching. The beast impaled itself on her spear, the weapon entering its torso between its front legs, and piercing out from its back. Even so, the grievous injury was by no means immediately fatal to the ferocious creature, and it still attempted to rake and bite at Alissa even as it was impaled. She in turn made use of her shield to block and deflect those strikes, before she pushed the weakening front limbs down and out of the way, dove in close under the beast, unsheathed her falchion and slit the beast¡¯s throat in one fluid move. She still failed to get out under the dying beast before she was literally bathed by the blood that sprayed out from its slit throat, however, and needed a moment to wipe her face clean off the blood before she went to work on freeing her spear off the carcass. Only then was she freed up to help one of the others on their fights. 72 - Uninvited Guests Rather than rush to Moira or Nadine¡¯s aid, Alissa headed towards where Silvia fought instead. She figured that Moira and Nadine had the situation pretty well under control, while on the other hand, Silvia was in a more risky situation compared to Maribel. Maribel relied on her agility to evade the beast she fought, but Silvia was relying on bluffs that relied on the injuries she inflicted with her active skill. Alissa crashed into the side of the occupied beast just as it leapt back to avoid a thrust from Silvia¡¯s spear, the broader of her weapon¡¯s spearheads piercing into the surprised beast¡¯s side down to its guard. From there, Alissa shifted the way she gripped her spear into a position more akin to a couched lance and pushed ahead and downwards at the same time. As a result, the spearhead¡¯s bladed sides ripped straight through the beast¡¯s side, spilling its various guts viscera on the ground in a messy, bloody heap. The beast gave a pained roar even as its limbs lost strength and it collapsed. Silvia naturally took the opening and rushed in to deliver a final blow, the point of her spear piercing deep into the beast¡¯s head through one of its eyes. All the beast did was to give another weak whimper before it shivered one last time and ceased all movement. They exchanged meaningful nods with one another as Silvia rushed to where Moira was fighting, while Alissa headed off to help Maribel. With their help, the beasts those two were fighting were soon slain as well, around which time Nadine also happened to have finished with the beast she fought against. That took care of the weaker beasts, but left the strongest ones for them to tackle. At the other front, Ethan and the rest were fighting hard against the remaining six beasts. They mostly managed to hold the beasts back, but couldn¡¯t really hurt the beasts that much. Instead, it was them who took injuries from the fighting, only somewhat relieved by Leda¡¯s healing. Projectile weapons proved to be less useful as they failed to pierce the tough hides of the higher leveled beasts, and they were also too agile and clever to allow a shot to hit a vital spot like their eyes. In fact, the only sign of serious damage was on one of the females Bronwen was handling, which limped slightly with its front left leg, where there were some signs of charring. Joshua had struck it with an empowered lightning bolt but had not expected these beasts to be attuned to the earth and was capable of grounding most of the damage he did. That threw a wrench in their plans as Joshua was more proficient with using the lightning element in a fight, whereas using fire was likely going to be more detrimental to themselves ¨C the prairie was full of dry grass everywhere so any fire could easily rage into a massive wildfire ¨C compared to the beasts, so he also had to avoid that. It was only when Alissa and the rest came to their aid that the situation came under control. Ethan just straightforwardly foisted the two females he was blocking to Alissa and the rest. He took quite a few hits from the beasts¡¯ paws already and was already using [¡®Tis just a Flesh Wound] to help himself withstand the pressure, so they arrived at a good time. Similarly, Bronwen allowed the already limping beast to scurry off towards Alissa¡¯s group, while Leda took that opportunity to heal some of her worse injuries. The way the three defenders constantly took injuries while they blocked the beasts had taxed her quite a bit, and she was already running rather low in mana from healing so much as it was. The biggest of the beasts, the [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57], seemed to have noticed the worsening situation, and it roared deafeningly. The roar itself looked like it was an innate skill of the beast¡¯s, as Alissa noticed that all of the beasts were [Invigorated] right after that. That reminded her of the matriarch she fought in her first dungeon and brought back bad memories. Instead of working together with the others to take care of the three females headed their way, Alissa made short work of the limping one ¨C easy enough since it was slowed by its limp ¨C by piercing the side of its neck after evading a pounce. Her stab sliced through one of the large arteries that ran alongside the beast¡¯s neck and caused it to hemorrhage heavily, dropping the beast within moments. Then she left the remaining two beasts to the others and rushed towards where Ethan was holding off the biggest of the beasts. ¡°Came to join the party at last?¡± quipped Ethan even as he pushed the beast away with a strenuous heave. The beast¡¯s claws were raking the top of his shield, and Alissa noticed the gouges it left there. It must have been hard on him to have to keep the attention of not only the biggest beast but also the other two for so long. ¡°This one¡¯s a toughie. I¡¯ve managed to smack it a few times but none of my hits seem to even phase it.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Then we¡¯ll just have to hit it harder!¡± replied Alissa back as she took up position to Ethan¡¯s left. Her spear was mostly used for thrusts, so she was less bothered with having someone on her right side, whereas Ethan needed more room to swing his pollaxe properly. ¡°Smith! Did you hit this thing with your magic yet or are you just diddling yourself back there!?¡± ¡°I tried!¡± replied Joshua back with some frustration. ¡°These things have some way to ground my lightning, and I can¡¯t use fire unless you want to see this whole place go up in flames!¡± ¡°Then use something else, for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± she shouted back even as she prodded the [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57]¡¯s side with her spear. Alissa felt almost as if she just tried to stab a really hard rock instead of something made of flesh and blood, and saw the difficulties the others faced with the creature. It might not have much in terms of fancy skills, but it was extremely tough and durable, and judging from the rents and gouges on Ethan¡¯s armor, hit pretty hard too. No wonder the arrows and javelins had not seemed to do much against them. ¡°Give me a bit!¡± Joshua yelled before he closed his eyes and seemed to focus hard. Even from the distance Alissa could feel the way the mana shifted around Joshua, and from the way the beast intensified its attacks, it likely could feel the building threat as well. She noticed how some rocks floated from the ground and moved towards Joshua in the glance she took, before the beast occupied her attention once more. She blocked another swipe of its claw with her shield ¨C the claws leaving marks on the solid metal surface of her shield in the process ¨C and tried to stab the beast in the throat, but found that its mane functioned like some sort of natural armor. Her stab didn¡¯t harm the beast in the slightest, and it even snapped at her, though fortunately she had already pulled her arm back by then. ¡°Make way!¡± she heard Joshua yell from behind and leapt to the left without a second thought. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Ethan doing the same, towards the opposite direction. Mere moments after they leapt aside, something blurred past her vision, followed by a loud smash and a yelp of pain from the [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57]. A ball of solid rock the size of a human torso had just been hurled at the [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57]¡¯s head at nearly the speed of sound and had stunned it from the impact, though the same impact caused the rock to shatter into tiny pieces. Still, although the rock failed to break the creature¡¯s skull ¨C which was clearly the harder of the two ¨C it still caused the beast¡¯s forehead to bleed, and threw it into a momentary daze. Neither Ethan nor Alissa missed the opening. Alissa immediately activated all her active skills at once as she flipped her spear around and stabbed using the spike-like end towards the beast¡¯s right eye. The beast was still conscious enough to attempt to avoid her blow, but Ethan activated his [Heavy Blow] and bodily slammed into the other side of the beast¡¯s head, shield first, keeping it in place for Alissa¡¯s strike. As a result, the spearhead directly struck the beast¡¯s right eye and went into the eye socket, where it was briefly stuck at the bone until both Alissa and Ethan heaved from opposite sides, forcing the sharp point to pierce through the bone and into the beast¡¯s brain behind it. The blow was mortal, but the beast had so much vitality that it didn¡¯t immediately drop dead. It still had enough life in it to wildly swipe at the two of them and send them flying, then tried to chase after them before it wobbled and collapsed on its side. The [Saber-Toothed Liger Ravager Lvl57]¡¯s death throes left Ethan with a broken shield and Alissa with a rather nasty gash on her left arm where she failed to catch the beast¡¯s claws on her shield, but it was nothing that particularly concerned either of them. They quickly regained their footing, picked up their weapons, and went back to the fight, helping the other take care of the remaining few beasts. With all of them ¨C minus Joshua, who was wheezing and panting as he had exhausted the vast majority of his mana pool in the previous strike ¨C working together, the remaining beasts stood no chance, and were quickly killed off. One of the females escaped, and the party let it be since they had nobody who could both chase down and kill the beast on their own anyway. The party of twelve were pretty beat up and exhausted, the remaining injuries on their bodies not yet healed because Leda had run out of mana and had just collapsed as soon as the battle ended. Still, it was a fight they won, and they started to relax and drop their guard as the rest of the group ¨C led by Sir Inolet ¨C drew closer together with the harvesters. That was when a barrage of arrows suddenly flew in from the other side ¨C the direction the beasts had come from ¨C and caught them off guard. Alissa managed to throw herself to cover the still-recovering Leda, blocking two arrows with her shield even as another clanked off her breastplate. A fourth arrow caught her on the left arm, just above where the beast had clawed her, but she persevered and shrugged off the pain. Not like it hurt her more than what the wound caused by the beast did anyway. Most of the others managed to avoid, block, or otherwise handle the arrows with two exceptions. Silvia happened to be looking towards the rest of the group when the barrage happened, and she noticed too late because of it. Two arrows struck her in the back and sent her to the ground, though Alissa noticed the young woman struggling to get up afterwards. The same could not be said about Joshua, however, who only had the time to look surprised before three arrows took him in the throat and chest and sent him sprawling on his back. If he didn¡¯t have [Respawn] to fall back to, Alissa would have been been worried about his fate, but at least she knew that he wouldn¡¯t die permanently thanks to that skill. At the same time, around a dozen cloaked and hooded figures seemed to shimmer into existence in the distance, as they pulled out various weapons and rushed towards the party. Alissa managed a quick glance with [Analysis] at the incoming foes, and realized just who they were from their class names. They were demons, and she saw five fourth-tiers amongst their numbers. LXXIII - A Bit of Rest and Relaxation ¡°Exalted One,¡± greeted Val-Kas¡¯j when the rest of the group, including the young children, were led down to Agur-Bas through a cleverly hidden route that was easier to traverse by the locals. ¡°Welcome, Val, though I guess it should be the host¡¯s part to welcome the visitors,¡± said Esperanza with a smile as she waved her hand. She and Tiesya were still accompanied by Belug-ur¡¯ani and many of the elders of Agur-Bas, the latter of which had their eyes widen as they saw the other [Progenies of Yore] and looked as if they were about to prostrate themselves once again before them. ¡°Welcome to the humble town of Agur-Bas, Honored ones,¡± intoned Belug-ur¡¯ani respectfully as she gave a bow to the group. The elders also followed her bow and gave their own respective greetings, all in flowery words that made Esperanza think of stage plays and other cases of overexaggerated dialogue. To be fair, for them, it was likely an occasion where to use simpler words would just be wrong to them. In fact, the ¡°welcoming party¡± was only so few people because Esperanza explicitly asked them not to cause too much of a commotion as it was. Otherwise, chances were that a good portion of the population of the town would have been present to welcome the remaining seven [Progenies of Yore] at the entrance to the town itself. ¡°These are the children that had been mentioned, Exalted One?¡± asked one of the elders, an old Tesh¡¯ka lady who was bent with age and looked smaller than even some of the older children in height, though she otherwise gave a vibe that reminded Esperanza of the kind elderly lady that used to live next door in her childhood. ¡°Would you like us to find families to take them in, or would you rather they stay together as a group?¡± ¡°There will be many families willing to take them in even if we do not reveal their background, Exalted One,¡± explained Belug-ur¡¯ani politely. ¡°Our society here is primarily built from outcasts that were unwanted or driven away and hunted by the worshipers of the new gods. Many came here with missing parts of their families only to form new families later on. They will be cared for, this we promise.¡± ¡°Some of them are siblings, I would like to see those kept together even if they found new parents,¡± mentioned Esperanza with a nod. ¡°Otherwise, it¡¯s fine to find families to take them in. Getting them a more normal childhood is the least we could do to them, I feel.¡± ¡°I shall see to it that everything shall be arranged to your satisfaction, Exalted One,¡± replied another of the town elders with a deep bow before they left the group, likely to give instructions to others. The other elders clamored for a while around the other Progenies while they led them back towards the temple, where apparently the priests had prepared a celebratory feast to welcome them. ¡°I¡­ Have never seen anything so lavish,¡± commented Mel-Ivas at the massive spread on the long table before them. Due to her matured look ¨C which at times look even more like an adult than most of the other Progenies, despite her being one of the youngest amongst them in actual age ¨C it was often easy to forget that beneath that guise was the mind of a nine year old little girl. ¡°Is¡­ it all right for us to have this to ourselves?¡± Spread on the surface of the long table ¨C which looked as if it was made from a solid slab of polished dark green gem ¨C was a lavish feast. Probably owing to the town¡¯s location near the coast, the majority of the food present were various kinds of seafoods, from fish to shellfish to crustaceans of all sorts, all present in quantities on the table. It was more than enough food for the twenty-one of them to stuff themself bloated, to say the least. Whole fish were served in several different ways. Some simply had their flesh cut into slices, raw and unadorned, served on a stone platter with the slices placed in an artistic arrangement. Others were steamed whole with a thick, savory-smelling sauce, while yet another fish was scored and cleaned, then placed in a heated shallow bowl made from stone before it had hot spiced oil poured over it on the table. Large snails were served with their meat chopped up and then stuffed back into their shells along with the sauce they had been cooked in. Similarly, a large crab ¨C one as large as a human head just with its body alone ¨C was served in a way that made it look like it was still alive, though in actuality it had already been cut into pieces which were merely rearranged to make it look that way. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Big shrimps and prawns ¨C many the size of the children¡¯s forearms ¨C were set on skewers, their shells bearing scorch marks from the grill where they must have been cooked, while larger lobsters and river prawns were cut into halves, their shells serving as a natural container for the succulent flesh inside. Beside them, platters of clams and oysters cooked several ways were also present. The extravagant feast ¨C especially after months of surviving mostly off monster meat in the wilderness ¨C was enough to allow the children to take their minds off the hardship and losses they had suffered to reach Agur-Bas and simply enjoy the moment, and Esperanza let them do just that. Anything that would help lift the mood of the children was something they needed greatly at this point, so she cheerfully dined along with the rest. It was the first truly good meal the group had in the past two months and they all cherished it dearly, some even tearing up as they ate, whether it was because the food was good ¨C which it certainly was ¨C or due to memories of the struggles they faced along the way, nobody knew. None of them talked much other than to praise the food while they ate, until their stomachs were content. After the meal, the group was brought towards the temple¡¯s bath, one that was usually used by the priests and other inhabitants of the temple. Several younger attendants of the temple helped the younger children clean their bodies before they took a dip in the bath, which took the form of a large pool, apparently filled with filtered water directly tapped from a nearby river, which in turn flowed out into the ocean. The water was just the right amount of warmth ¨C apparently the tunnel which carried the water from the river to the bath passed by a geothermal vent which warmed the liquid as it passed by ¨C and Esperanza sighed as she dipped into the water, allowing her form to go free for a bit under the water. The younger children who were too short were being held in the laps of the Progenies to keep them from sinking beneath the surface. After two months where they only had the chance to clean themselves when they run into a river where it was safe to bathe ¨C which was not always the case ¨C it was just nice to be able to relax in a warm, comfortable bath in peace with no worry of some horrible beast lurking around waiting to get the drop on them. The last time the group took a bath was quite recent, but it was with sea water, which left their skins slightly itching with the salt that were left behind, so the chance to properly cleanse themselves was much appreciated. Esperanza also appreciated the privacy the locals gave them. The temple attendants only helped with the younger children before they left, and had not disturbed them since, which allowed the group some time to themselves in the bath. ¡°I had thought of all sorts of things that I expected to find at our destination, but I never even dreamed of this sort of thing,¡± admitted Eda-Zil, who sat in the water with Tiesya next to her to help hold her steady when needed. The injury Eda-Zil took in the dungeon made her unable to move her legs, though she could still feel them, which Esperanza hoped meant that there was hope for recovery. ¡°Father had told many stories about the Deities of Yore¡­ but only after seeing this place do I get what he meant¡­¡± ¡°You never really had the chance to experience something similar in Navef, I take it? I did recall that there were only a few carvings at the elders¡¯ place there,¡± asked Esperanza to the young woman. Another pang of guilt ran through her mind as she found it hard to think that just two months ago, most everyone with her were just living in peace in their little village, most of them being children. Too bad there was no such thing as turning back time. ¡°Yeah, apologies, Exalted One. The elders told us stories, but we never had the leeway to build another temple after our last move,¡± replied Eda-Zil with a slightly embarrassed nod, not that Esperanza would have found fault with her over that, but the young woman felt slightly ashamed regardless. ¡°We lost a lot when our previous villages were overrun by beasts, perhaps part of what made us, us as well. Maybe for Navef to eventually perish was already writ in stone from the first time we had to abandon our village.¡± ¡°Do not think of it that way. It¡¯s the fault of this damned world that things come to this point¡­ this damned world and its new gods,¡± spat out Esperanza with some vehemence. She knew that all the information she had received so far might be rather biased, since she mostly had Oldies and their worshipers as her sources of information, but having seen what those that worship the new gods had done with her own eyes, she couldn¡¯t help but start having some resentment towards them. ¡°Even if they disagree with the way you view things, was it too much to ask to live in peace?¡± ¡°It is just how the world worked, Exalted One. Those who worshiped the new gods did not like seeing remnants of the old deities they replaced and sought to get rid of it, or at least that was what father used to tell me,¡± replied Eda-Zil with a wistful sigh, probably reminded of her late father. ¡°Funny how I never thought about such matters¡­ until reality rears its ugly head¡­ Heh.¡± ¡°It¡¯s how most people would have reacted under the same circumstances,¡± consoled Esperanza. ¡°All too often, we thought some things were not our problem even though we heard of it, until it happened to us. I was the same¡­ back in my previous world.¡± Since it was already quite late in the day after the group finished their bath, an Elder led them towards a room that had been prepared for them to rest in. Perhaps the elder saw how the young children looked very attached and dependent on the ¡°adults¡± of the group earlier, so they had arranged a large chamber to accommodate the whole group at once. The chamber itself had no beds, but there were stacks of bedrolls and soft pillows piled all over the floor, with more than enough room for the whole group to rest themselves on it and then some. It was more than they could have ever asked for, and within a few moments of laying their heads on the pillows, most of the group had fallen into a deep, comfortable sleep. The first time they could sleep without worry since their escape. Only Esperanza kept an eye open, staying on guard discreetly, just in case, but to her relief, the locals of Agur-Bas were exactly as they had shown themselves, and the group slept in peace until the next day, when they started waking up one after another, probably already quite late in the day. LXXIV - A Town Within a Cavern The following day, Esperanza¡¯s group woke up late, close to noon, apparently, according to Belug-ur¡¯ani who had been sent to guide them around, since she was the lucky one who first met with Esperanza. At least that was what she told the group, and regardless of whether the fourth-tier warrior was there to keep an eye on them or otherwise was not something the group cared about at that juncture. Despite the late hour, the temple still prepared a breakfast for the group to fill their stomach with, a simpler one which consisted primarily of freshly baked breads ¨C ones that tasted oddly savory like the sea, at that, and had rather dark colors ¨C along with cold cuts of preserved meats and fresh fish that had just been caught less than an hour ago. It was a satisfying enough meal ¨C if a touch on the salty side, since salt was one of the main methods of preservation in Agur-Bas, not a surprise given the town¡¯s proximity to the ocean ¨C to fill their bellies at the start of the day before Belug-ur¡¯ani offered to take then around the town proper to take a look for themselves, in the assumption that they were going to stay there. Esperanza saw no reason to refuse the offer, so she and the rest of her group ¨C the youngest children being held up by some of the Progenies ¨C followed the warrior woman around the town. Ani ¨C as Belug-ur¡¯ani insisted they call her instead of her longer full name ¨C first led them to a higher terrace. The large cavern where the town was situated was only slightly lit by a few beams of sunlight that entered from the seaside wall, which supposedly leads to a sheer cliff on the other side, as well as the naturally luminescent moss and fungi that grew in many places. It was a rather beautiful sight to see it all from a higher vantage point, the town looking like a dreamy landscape only lit sparsely in the bluish-green bioluminescence. The locals were clearly accustomed to the poor lighting, as they went about their business without showing any signs of being bothered by it. The town was lively, far livelier compared to Navef. Esperanza¡¯s early guess of a couple thousand people turned out to be off by an order of magnitude, as according to Ani there were around twenty-five thousand residents in Agur-Bas. The town that the group were seeing was just part of a network of caverns, and there were six other smaller sites which the locals also inhabited, along with three more underwater caverns where those from the Gour-ug¡¯rech lived. They formed a sizable part of the town¡¯s total population, but since they spent the vast majority of their time underwater, they rarely showed themselves on the higher parts of the inhabited areas like the one Esperanza and the group was in. Instead, hybrid children carrying their blood was not an uncommon sight there, with Ani herself being one such child. It was perhaps a fortunate accident that hybrid children between the Gour-ug¡¯rech and other races were blessed with the ability to survive well both on land and under the water, unlike their parents which could only survive in one or the other. Those like Ani were equally at home on both dry land and swimming in the water, which was a beneficial thing given that part of the place they called home was permanently under the water anyway. In fact, the lower caves where the aquatic Gour-ug¡¯rech lived were connected to the higher ones which were kept dry by tunnels where the water level fluctuates with the high and low tide. At the low tide, the water would recede until it nearly reached the lower caves, but at the high tide, it would fill the entire tunnel and a small lake at the upper cave it was connected to besides. Since fishing ¨C an activity made easy by the ease with which the aquatic residents of Agur-Bas moved in the water ¨C was one of the main sources of the town¡¯s self-sufficiency, those tunnels were some of the most important parts of the town¡¯s infrastructure, as the fishermen would bring their catch for the day to the upper caves on the high tides. Esperanza also learned that other than fish, the locals of the town kept a few ranches of large rodents that sort of resembled guinea pigs, just larger. Similarly, they farmed edible mushrooms and some vegetables that grew fine in the darkness to diversify their sources of sustenance. The bread that Esperanza and the others ate earlier was not made from wheat flour. Instead, it was primarily made from flour that was milled from the hard stalks of certain kinds of seaweed. That certainly explained the taste. Since the group was already well acquainted with the temple ¨C having spent the whole night there and all ¨C Ani brought them towards an area that served as the town¡¯s market instead. Since the local community was mostly enclosed and self-sufficient, they did their trading by bartering, and Esperanza even saw a Gour-ug¡¯rech out of the water trading some still-moving fish for some handicraft made from bones and rocks. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It was the first time she saw a full-blooded member of the race. The Gour-ug¡¯rech¡¯s whole body was covered by silvery scales other than their face, which hid the grayish skin they had. They were hairless, and Esperanza couldn¡¯t tell whether it was a male or a female just from looking. The Gour-ug¡¯rech did not stay for long, though, and as soon as the trade was concluded, they headed towards the lake that connected the cavern to the lower cave and leapt in with their goods carried in a net. In contrast, a hybrid like Ani only had scales covering parts of their body, and had hair as well. Her skin did have the same grayish shade, but given how some Nevilosk also had skin of that same shade, Esperanza had at first thought it came from that side of the woman¡¯s parentage. Unlike the more sleek-shaped aquatics though, Ani was visibly more muscled and solid in frame. ¡°There¡¯s quite a few of them amongst the townsfolk as well, isn¡¯t there?¡± asked Esperanza. ¡°Probably around four to five thousand in the lower caves alone, Exalted One,¡± replied Ani reverently to her question. ¡°There are others who lived in nearby enclaves further out into the sea as well, most of them neutrals though there are also some of those who worship the Deities of Yore there. There had been more people moving there because those who followed the new gods had gained more ground of late.¡± ¡°Oh? I thought they were neutral to that conflict, though?¡± ¡°To those who followed the new gods, you¡¯re either with them or against them, Exalted One,¡± explained Ani wistfully. ¡°Those who worship no gods were nearly as bad as those who worshiped the Deities of Yore in their eyes, and their numbers have been on the increase as time goes on. For the time being, those who were neutral remained the majority, but we have no idea how long such a state of affairs would persist.¡± ¡°You sound worried.¡± ¡°I have friends and family who live in the ocean, Exalted One. I can¡¯t help but worry for them, for if war was to break out under the sea, none would be spared its effects,¡± replied the hybrid woman with a shake of her head. ¡°That¡¯s notwithstanding the issues we already face. Year after year, there have been more natural disasters that encroach into our living space down there. Sometimes it feels like the world itself is driving us to the edge of a cliff.¡± ¡°That¡­ might not be an inaccurate analogy for the situation,¡± admitted Esperanza, as she recalled what Oldies had told her. That the world itself was long due its end and the way the new gods kept forcibly sustaining it was not something that would work for too much longer. The decrease in places suitable for the people to live in was just a symptom of that issue. Fortunately they kept the conversation quiet, so it did not bother the children, who were quite occupied by the new sights and scenery before them. Ani later brought them to several houses and introduced them to the families living there ¨C mixed race families more often than not ¨C which she explained were a few families that the temple trusted and had picked to house the young children. For the time being, they were not hurrying the children to move with their new foster families yet, as the day was mostly about meet and greets and allowing the children to feel a little more familiar with their new families to be. It was a clever way to go about it, Esperanza thought, as the children were still very attached to her and the Progenies at the moment. It also brought Esperanza second thoughts about her previously nonchalant willingness to help Oldies destroy the world. She couldn¡¯t help but think about what would happen to all these people, people who still believed in Oldies at that, should they succeed at destroying the world. Part of her guessed that they would likely perish like everything else would when a world came to an end, which in turn made her wonder if Oldies perhaps meant destroying the world in a more metaphorical sense, or whether she could find a way to set things right without having to go that far. Her ruminations were brought to a halt as the group moved on and she almost called out that they were one house short, having accidentally counted the young boy who died in the forest in their number as well. That incident struck her with a harsh realization. She couldn¡¯t even properly protect a group of children as she was then, much less alter the course the world was headed into? That was mere wishful thinking. Until she actually has the power to alter the course of the world, it would have been useless for her to fall into such wishful lines of thought. There was no point for her to dream of things she couldn¡¯t bring to fruition yet, and when she eventually gained enough power to do so, she would then have time to ponder on how to do it best. For what it was worth, the effort that the temple made to accommodate the children was an exemplary one. They chose families that already had children of a similar age to the younger children in the group, probably done on purpose to make the children feel at home more quickly, as they would have a friend of similar age to play with. The locals she had seen so far were a lot like the locals of Navef. They were straightforward and honest to a fault, at times, the sort of people who were content with their lives and wore their feelings right on their sleeves, without any hint of duplicity to be found. Esperanza knew that she was perhaps being paranoid about it, but she still chose to observe a bit longer before she¡¯d make the call to ask the children whether they would like to stay here with the new families that awaited them. As for herself and the Progenies of Yore, she knew that while they might be staying at Agur-Bas for the time being, they would eventually leave to go their own way. She had already heard from the Progenies that they sometimes received vague dreams that they strongly believe came from Oldies for some reason, dreams that hinted at them to follow after Esperanza. If they were to follow after her, then by necessity they would have to leave with her. She had her own task, though as yet she still had no idea on how to best deal with it. To destroy a world was by no means an easy feat, much less doing so under the eyes of a pantheon of gods who would most certainly be averse to that happening. For better or worse, though, Esperanza knew that she would no longer tread her path alone in the future. 75 - Caught Off Guard ¡°Demons!¡± Alissa heard someone yell, one of the other fourth tiers sent to help chaperone them, she thought. She herself wasn¡¯t paying as much attention to the shouts around her, as her focus was in her attempt to move her injured arm to lift her shield so she could block the next pair of arrows that flew towards her, or rather, towards Leda behind her. Alissa managed to block the shots, if just barely, one of the shots striking so hard her arm was almost wrenched around by the force of the impact. Alissa saw that there were around thirty of the demons, suddenly appearing not unlike what she did when she emerged from her shadows on a nearby hill, around half of which were pelting the group with arrows. Fortunately, now that the threat was obvious, few of the arrows managed to score a hit, as they were blocked or deflected by the now alerted humans. Still, she couldn¡¯t help but notice that two of the second tiers sent along with them were down, as were several of the harvesters, not counting Joshua. It was a rather bad situation all considered. The party Alissa and Ethan was in was caught off guard, with most of the party having their active skills on cooldown, even if they still had some time left on their buffs. Their mage was down, and their healer was out of mana. Many of them ¨C Alissa herself included ¨C were also carrying injuries of various severity, which worsened their performance. The twenty second tiers they brought along and the harvesters were pretty much useless in front of the demons, who Alissa saw were all third tiers other than the few fourth tier ones. That left only their higher level chaperones. Cerilla and Vesta were both healers, and Alissa noticed them running towards the party while Magus Drummond guarded them from arrows shot towards them, while Sir Inolet led three of the fourth tiers to form a line aimed towards the demons, the other one left to guard the second tiers and harvesters who were trailing behind Magus Drummond. As it turned out, having both Magus Drummond and the other fourth tier ¨C one from the temple guards who wielded a massive shield and a short sword ¨C to guard their healers were wise as a figure suddenly emerged from the shadows and struck towards Cerilla. Fortunately, the temple guard reacted on time and invoked one of his skills which created a translucent floating shield to block the blow before it could hit the priestess. Then Magus Drummond swung his left hand backwards towards the figure and a vicious gust of wind blew towards the shadowy demon. The demon managed to block the magic attack with either his weapons or a skill, and instead of cleaving him into pieces, the blades of wind merely sent him hurtling over the plains into the distance. Even so, Alissa managed to get a glimpse at the demon and noticed with a sinking feeling that it too was also a fourth tier combatant. That put the demons on equal footing with them when it came to the number of fourth tiers. Time was running short for them, as the demons in the distance were rushing towards their position, but fortunately Cerilla and Vesta reached Alissa¡¯s group just then. The two priestesses quickly went to work to heal the injured. Alissa felt how Vesta yanked the arrow out of her arm before the priestess went to heal her injuries. The feeling of exposed flesh knitting itself closed was still as disturbing as always, but she bore with it. Alissa got back up to her feet once her wounds closed up, ignoring the dull ache that healing always left behind. She saw that the rest of the party had similarly gathered up, their injuries healed by the priestesses, with Ethan, Bronwen, and Glenn once more taking their place at the front. Cerilla even transferred some of her ample mana to Leda to allow the younger healer to get back into the fight. They quickly reformed their formation, with Sir Inolet¡¯s group of three standing in front next to Ethan¡¯s and the other defenders, while the rest of Alissa¡¯s party spread out behind them, with the healers and Magus Drummond further behind. The remaining second tiers ¨C visibly nervous now ¨C were at their sides, corralling in the harvesters to prevent them from panicking and breaking formation, while the shield-bearing temple guard held their rear to keep guard against the shadowy demon. ¡°Girl,¡± said Sir Inolet with a more serious look than any Alissa had seen prior. ¡°You will have to tackle most of those third tiers on your own, together with the rest. Think you¡¯re up for it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, Sir,¡± replied Alissa honestly, with a tinge of nervousness in her voice. Fighting and killing monsters was one thing. Fighting and killing other people was something she was uncertain she was prepared to do, however. ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Well, do your best, either way,¡± said the old knight with a shake of his head. ¡°You and the boy would face no danger to your life. We won¡¯t allow them to take you captive no matter what, and we can ensure that at the very least, but for the rest of the people behind you¡­ they don¡¯t have the luxury of seeing death as a mere inconvenience as you do.¡± ¡°Understood, sir,¡± replied Alissa as she hardened her resolve to fight. Sir Inolet brought a point that reminded her that everyone else in the group beside her and Ethan was very much in mortal danger, and that her group was most of what stood before them and a likely grisly fate. ¡°What will you do?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try to keep their fourth tiers occupied. I don¡¯t know how strong they are, so I can¡¯t promise a thing yet, but I¡¯ll do my damndest to keep them off your backs while you deal with the rest,¡± replied the old knight. ¡°Hey, Murdock, give us some fire support!¡± ¡°On it!¡± replied Magus Drummond from the middle of the pack as he raised an arm and conjured a massive ball of fire the size of a house, which he hurled towards the demons. The attack forced the demons to break formation in order to avoid the blast, while it also neatly forced the fourth tiers ¨C who had leaned to one side in preparation to engage Sir Inolet¡¯s group ¨C to separate from the third tiers. Sir Inolet had explained it to Alissa and Ethan before, that unless they were in a messy, chaotic battlefield, the fourth tiers would typically look for other fourth tiers to tackle, because the consequences of allowing a fourth tier to freely rampage amongst third tiers was akin to loosing a lion in the midst of a pack of sheep. For that reason, the higher-tier combatants typically gravitated towards each other in battle. Deaths amongst such duels were also rare, as those in the fourth tier had great vitality and many tricks to save their life, but generally, should one side¡¯s higher tier combatants manage to gain an advantage, the battle was generally won. It was possible to drive away or even defeat a weaker fourth tier combatant with a strong group of third tiers, however, so the situation often depends on the individuals involved. The fact that an early third tier [Hero] or [Champion] was often capable of handling a fourth tier combatant a whole tier above them also threw a spanner into the equation. Even as Sir Inolet¡¯s group advanced, Magus Drummond followed close behind them, while the shield-bearing temple guard fourth tier kept himself positioned between Magus Drummond and Alissa¡¯s group. Fortunately the demons seemed to lack a mage of their own, so they had to scramble everytime Magus Drummond sent an attack their way, which helped even out the numerical disparity between the fighting fourth tiers. The shield-bearing temple guard remained on alert in the back, prepared to defend should the shadowy demon return once more. Meanwhile, Alissa¡¯s group clashed with the remaining third-tier demons, with the remaining second tiers on their side as their sole backup. The party took the main brunt of the clash, as they were the ones with the best chance of holding their own against the demons, while the second tiers had to fight them two or three against one to even stand a chance. It was an ugly fight regardless, one that pushed the human side on the backfoot almost immediately. There were only thirteen third tiers ¨C or equivalent, as Alissa and Ethan could each handle a third tier without issue ¨C that were of a combative bent on the human side, and out of those, three were healers. Leda, Cerilla, and Vesta did their best to keep those on the frontlines healed from their injuries, which they inevitably incurred as they tackled the demons that outnumbered them greatly. At that point, the value of having higher grade classes really showed. Ethan, thanks to his defensively focused class and skills that allowed him to be more durable as he was hurt worse, kept four of the demons occupied by himself, even if he was at most capable of tying them up, rather than being able to threaten them much. Alissa herself held her ground against three of the demons by doing her damndest. Those with the [Hero¡¯s Companion] classes also showed why the class was so valued. Bronwen followed Ethan¡¯s footsteps as she kept three demons ¨C all higher leveled then her ¨C occupied, while Moira and Nadine tackled two each, their fights more a dance of blades and blood where they earnestly tried to kill the other side before they were killed than any sort of defensive stalling. The rest of the party occupied at least one demon each, Osmond and Benedictus having run out of projectiles joining the line like the rest. The party fought recklessly and pushed as hard as they could. They noticed that the demons seemed to only bring one healer with them, which meant compared to them, the demons couldn¡¯t afford to get injured as much. On the other hand, trading a wound for a wound was a feasible tactic for the humans to adopt since they had three healers behind them that kept their injuries healed within moments. It was in that manner that Alissa and the rest managed to keep the balance going against the numerically superior demons, as the demons rotated those who were injured to the back for healing frequently. It was a precarious balance, and all of them knew it. The main reason the party managed to hold on against the higher level demons was because their buffs were still active, which also meant that the time they could put up such a resistance was finite, which made them strike more recklessly as they were determined to make the best use out of the time they had left. Such a vicious counterattack caught the demons by surprise, as they were pushed on the backfoot for a change. Alissa even managed to take a demon out, a hewing strike of her spear slicing through half of a demon¡¯s throat even as the same demon¡¯s spear stabbed her in the gut. She just grit her teeth and pulled the spear out even as Cerilla behind her healed her injury, all as she stared into the fading light of her dying opponent¡¯s eyes. Seeing one of theirs die like that seemed to have unnerved a couple of the demons, and Ethan took the opening that presented. At that point, his shield was broken and useless, so he relied entirely on his armor and the passive skills that reinforced his body, taking a few cuts and stabs to push aside one sword aimed at his eye and grab the front of a demon¡¯s tunic with his other hand. Then he slammed his forehead against the surprised demon¡¯s nose as hard as he could, hard enough to break bones and send the demon falling limply to the ground. Ethan ground his heel against the demon¡¯s neck for good measure, and to be sure that the demon was finished off. Of course, just as they gained that second wind, the shadowy demon chose to strike once more. 76 - Power Overwhelming The only sign the shadowy demon gave before he struck this time was a mere shimmer before a blade hurtled itself at Magus Drummond. It happened so fast that the fourth tier temple guard who was guarding against the shadowy demon reacted too late as he happened to be looking towards the healers at that moment. Fortunately, the old Magus was not without his own means. The blade halted a mere inch away from the face of the Magus, as if it was held in place by an invisible hand, while the old man sneered and launched another vicious blast of stone lances towards the direction it came from. He had figured out that the shadowy demon had some way to mitigate the workings of magic, so he used something that was far harder to unravel compared to a wind blade. A blade of wind would simply dissipate and lose most of its deadliness when the magic that held it together was unraveled. On the other hand, a lance of stone hurled a high speed, while covering far less area and being a good bit slower compared to a wind blade, remained a lance of compacted, solid stone moving at speed even if the magic on it was unraveled. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain as one of the stone lances caught the shadowy demon on the side, likely shattering his left arm, given how it dangled powerlessly by his side when he was forced to emerge into sight by the blow. It had been a lucky shot, as Magus Drummond had simply hurled the stone lances in the general direction the demon¡¯s blade had come from. The sight boosted the morale on Alissa¡¯s side, who were still struggling hard against the group of third tier demons. Alissa and Ethan might have made some headway and dispatched of a couple of them, while the rest of their party managed to hold their own, but the same could not be said about the second tiers supporting them. A good number of those already lay on the ground, their life or deaths unknown. It was not feasible for the healers to go to them either, not with the demons still pushing their offense hard, and they all knew that they only had maybe a minute or two left before the buffs they still had on them expired, at which point the fighting would go badly for them. The situation with the fourth tiers still remained in a stalemate. The temple guard shieldbearer rushed and pressed the shadowy demon, keeping the two of them away from the main fight, while Magus Drummond still lent his support to the fight at the frontlines from behind, now more secure with the shadowy demon occupied. It was not all good on the front lines, however, as there Sir Inolet was practically single-handedly holding the front. The other three fourth tiers with him were lower in the quality of classes they received, and it really showed, as those three already sported injuries of various severity and were constantly pushed back by the demons they were fighting. Had Magus Drummond not supported them from behind one or more of those would have likely fallen already. Sir Inolet on the other hand tackled on the two strongest demon fourth tiers on his own, the hefty sword he used moving so fast it barely registered as a blur in the eyes of onlookers, while a dagger held in his left hand either parried blows or struck like a serpent in an attempt to harm his enemies. The old knight did not move much, and his footwork seemed poor compared to the demons he fought, likely due to his fake leg, but he more than made up for it with his experience and skills. The two demons fought warily against him, one stabbed and struck from further away with a long spear, while a second one fought up close with a pair of sabers. When their weapons clashed, it was clear that Sir Inolet was stronger than either of the demons, as they were always pushed back, and often needed their compatriot to help them occupy the old knight¡¯s attention while they recovered their balance. Even so, the situation was not a promising one, especially on Alissa¡¯s side, where the demons abused their numerical and level advantage to push them hard. At the sight of the deteriorating situation on Alissa¡¯s side, Sir Henri Inolet sighed, and after a particularly vicious blow that threw his opponents off guard, disengaged from the demons he was fighting and leapt backwards. ¡°Murdock!¡± he yelled. ¡°Keep them busy for a bit. I¡¯m going to use it!¡± ¡°I thought you were keeping a lid on that!¡± complained the old Magus, though he rushed forward to take Sir Inolet¡¯s place in the line instead. The old man brandished his staff expertly and judiciously used blasts of magic to temporarily push the demons back, though it was obvious how the demons were merely waiting for him to exhaust his mana before they would once again press the offense. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Pretty sure they already guessed who the kids are by now, no point hiding it anymore!¡± yelled Sir Inolet back from behind the lines. The old knight solemnly held his sword in front of his chest with both hands, the blade pointed upwards, and seemed to be concentrating. It was not a long wait, maybe ten or fifteen seconds at most? It must have felt like an eternity for those fighting for their lives on the frontlines, however, but a moment later, Sir Inolet finally burst into action. With overwhelming force. ¡°[Arcane Sword: Rime Blade]!¡± he proclaimed as mana seemed to whirl around his form and coalesced into the blade of his sword, the color of the metal turning into a pristine white within moments as a slick layer of ice and frost covered it, turning the rugged metal blade into something that more resembled a sword-shaped icicle, or a snowflake with one particularly elongated side. ¡°[Elemental Infusion: Breath of Winter]!¡± added the old knight as he slid forward on a sheet of ice that magically formed beneath his feet, the same icy sheen covering his armor as well, making him look almost like a knight statue carved of an ice block from a distance. On the other hand, the way the old knight moved just reminded Alissa and Ethan of a certain superhero from the comics of their original world. Within a blink of an eye, Sir Inolet returned to where the five demon fourth tiers were starting to press the offense once more, and there he proclaimed a third skill. ¡°[Domain Expansion: Permafrost Tundra]!¡± It was as if the prairie they were fighting on turned into a frozen wasteland in Sir Inolet¡¯s vicinity. The domain expanded, and even from afar Alissa could feel the temperature of the air plummet around her all of a sudden, as the grass near where Sir Inolet stood became stiff, froze over, and shattered into shards of frozen material within a couple seconds. All five of the demon fourth tiers were within the scope of the domain, and all of them already had ice and frost forming on top of their armor and weapons, their breath causing fog to form in the freezing air. Of course, that was not all the skill did. Every one of the demons immediately found themselves slowed, every single one of their movements a struggle against their own limb, which felt cold and frozen and refused to obey their commands. Even breathing became a pain, as every breath only drew frozen air that threatened to freeze their lungs solid from the inside. Under such conditions, it was already considered good if those demons could mobilize seventy percent of their full power, as none of them seemed to have skills appropriate to counteract Sir Inolet¡¯s skill. The shadowy demon probably had something that could milden the effect, but he was kept under heavy pressure by the shield-bearing temple guard, and one of the other fourth tiers also rushed that way to keep that particular demon away. From how all the other human fourth tiers stayed well away from Sir Inolet¡¯s domain, Alissa guessed that it was likely not a skill that differentiated between friend and foe at all. Any of the humans entering that domain would fall under the same debilitating effects the demons faced, which meant that Sir Inolet was mostly on his own against the five demons. Or perhaps not entirely, as Magus Drummond conjured lances of ice and hurled them towards the demons trapped in Sir Inolet¡¯s domain and the spell worked just fine. If anything, the lances of ice seemed to grow in both size and speed as they entered the domain, so clearly it was something that boosted those of the same element while messing with everything else. None of the demons ¨C or the other human fourth tiers for that matter ¨C seemed to be skilled with the ice element. Out of the three fourth tiers that used to fight next to Sir Inolet, one already headed off to keep the shadowy demon away, while another circled around the back of the demons to harry those that were trying to escape the domain. The third one, the second temple guard who carried a pair of maces in her hands, rushed towards Alissa¡¯s side and struck the flank of the demon third tiers with vengeance. Alissa and Ethan had seen it in shows and movies in their world often, but neither had expected to see bodies literally thrown high into the air by a person¡¯s charge in person. Yet that was precisely what they witnessed as the temple guardswoman rushed into the demons like a lion into a flock of sheep. Broken bodies were sent flying by vicious blows of her mace, and the pressure on Alissa¡¯s group immediately lightened up. Naturally, Alissa, Ethan, and the rest of their party did not let the opportunity go to waste, as they redoubled their offense against the demons with everything they had. There was less than a minute left on the duration of their buffs, so it was all or nothing for them. They had no idea how long Sir Inolet could suppress the five demons, so they had to make the most of the opportunity at hand. Their reinvigorated offense pushed the demons back, whose formation was crumbling due to the fourth tier temple guard who was wreaking havoc in their midst. Most of the demons had to work together to keep her at bay, and even then they only very barely managed to do that, which only left around a dozen of them to fight Alissa¡¯s group. Those were odds that the party didn¡¯t mind one bit as they struck hard against their enemies. Within half a minute, eight of the demons that were fighting Alissa¡¯s group had either died or had to withdraw due to their injuries. Alissa, Ethan, Nadine, and Silvia managed to finish off their opponents before they could retreat, but the others were not as lucky and had to let the demons go. They continued to press on against the flank of the group of demons who were busy trying to keep the fourth tier temple guard contained. Meanwhile, on the other side, Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond worked together and used projectiles of ice magic to herd the five demons to group up. It was then that the old knight suddenly seemed to explode with power as the sword in his hand doubled in size and he leapt down from high above straight towards where the demons were gathered. The demons gathered below him all felt a sudden sense of crisis, and pooled their efforts to block the strike as best they could, as it was too late for them to attempt an escape by then. The five demons raised their weapons together, some casting defensive skills, while others cast offensive skills in the hopes of striking hard enough to reduce the power of the incoming blow. A cacophonous impact shook the prairie moments later as the full force of Sir Henri Inolet''s blow landed. LXXVII - A Moment of Peace to be Cherished Despite some paranoid worries on Esperanza¡¯s end, the people of Agur-Bas proved to be just as they showed themselves to be. A group of honest, straightforward people with nary a nasty bone in their bodies. They were a group content to live the life they had happily rather than to be forever slaves to ambitions that made them want to strive for unreachable heights. Other than the hidden and secluded location of the town, it was a nearly idyllic settlement, really. Over the two weeks that followed, the younger children had gotten much closer to the families that the locals chose to adopt them. The youngest ones were the first to refuse when it came time to be separated from their new families during a visit, at which point the rest of the group bid farewell to them and left them in the hands of the family that had accepted the child as their own. The older ones ¨C none of them older than six ¨C followed one after another, as they slowly got closer to the families they met, and left the group one by one. None of the older ¨C or rather, forcibly matured ¨C children hurried the process, neither did Esperanza, as they all felt that the least they could do to the younger ones was to see them properly taken care of, with new families to call their own. Two weeks after their arrival in Agus-Bas, the last of the younger children, a six year old who used to be neighbors and often played with Ilavakide, left the group to embrace their adopted family. It was a more solemn farewell, in some ways. The older children had understood more of their circumstances compared to the younger ones, after all. For them, they knew it would be a separation from those that used to be their friends, likely for the long term, as their paths ahead branched apart there, and were unlikely to cross again in the future. It was a rather stark contrast that Esperanza wished didn¡¯t have to happen, to see one child being able to remain a child, enveloped in a helpful measure of blissful ignorance, while another had a path that promised hardship and suffering before them, as they had been chosen by the gods themselves to be a recipient of a part of their power. That was, after all, practically what the [Progenies of Yore] were. While it was true that none of the children ¨C regardless of older or younger ¨C begrudged what happened to them, be it the forced maturing of their physical forms ahead of its time or the destiny laid out before them without any input from the individuals concerned. In fact, every single one of them had told Esperanza that it was a choice they had made for themselves. They had other class options after all, but every one of them still chose to be a [Progeny of Yore]. It was a choice they made on their own will, they all said. She knew that some of them likely said it to make her feel less aggrieved over it, however, as some of the children had indeed struggled with the sudden maturing of their bodies. It was fortunate that some of the notable hormonal influx that typically accompanied puberty had not affected them, their bodies forcibly maturing practically skipping that phase, but it was still a rather awkward experience to have to explain some other things to the kids, especially the younger ones. It was not a fun experience to have to explain things like periods to the younger girls, after all. The boys got off easy in that regard. During that time, Esperanza also learned from the older girls ¨C Tiesya and Mel-Ivas were both already old enough to have had their periods before the forced maturity ¨C that humans were particularly worse off in that regard. Humans and Tesh¡¯ka women both had periods along with the cramps and discomfort that inevitably came along with it on a nearly monthly basis. By comparison, Ma¡¯Varok women only had the cycle every hundred days or so, while the Ragah-fiq had them even less often, roughly every one hundred fifty days. The Nevilosk on the other hand only experienced it once a year. Tiesya was a half-breed between a Nevilosk and a human, so she had them roughly twice a year or so. It was something that the human girls like Resitia and Iryl were envious about, to say the least. There was nothing they could complain about during their stay in Agur-Bas, other than the sometimes overenthusiastic way the people of the city treated them, especially the more devoutly religious ones. The kind treatment allowed the children to truly relax themselves and recover from the strenuous months they spent in the depths of the jungle. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. It was a recovery many of them likely didn¡¯t know they needed, Esperanza thought. The progenies were still young children at heart after all, and they had never known that one might break down from excessive pressure and overdoing things without rest. It was something she would need to talk with them in the future, she realized, since those children had practically told her that they would follow her. Down that path lay plenty of hardship, struggle, and bloodshed, Esperanza knew that would be the case. After all, it was likely that neither the demons nor the humans would look upon her group kindly, worshipers of the old gods on a mission to destroy the world and all. Most would just cast them as the villain right away, probably even the [Heroes] who she had known and had some connection to in her previous life. She doubted that O¡¯Connor would look kindly upon the mission the old gods saddled her with. Not even the chats she had with Oldies in the past two weeks offered her a solution. In fact, Oldies had told her with what she felt was blatant honesty that once the new gods were removed, the world was bound to come to an end one way or another. The new gods and the system they created were the life support that forcibly kept the terminal patient that was the world itself well past its expiry date against its will. It was an unnatural thing to do, and Oldies admitted ¨C in a way that almost sounded like a plea ¨C to her that they feared that what the new gods were doing might throw a hitch into the cycle of destruction and creation. A hitch that might mean that after the world came to an end, there might not be a new world that would be born out of its remnant wisps to continue the cycle. No future for all the souls that inhabited the world, which was supposed to continue onwards through the endless cycles of life and death. As a matter of fact, Oldies admitted that from the limited bits they could glimpse of the world at large that the souls of the living beings in the current world were starting to fall apart. It was something they feared, as it was a side effect of the world being kept ¡°alive¡± against its will for so long. Maybe the system¡¯s touch on those souls might have accelerated the issue, they were uncertain. Esperanza confirmed that for herself when she checked the hundreds of souls in her [Soul Storage]. At a glimpse she didn¡¯t notice anything, but when she peered really closely at the souls, she noticed how all of them had started to fray at the edges, like old fabric that was unraveling. It wasn¡¯t very noticeable unless she inspected it closely, but the fact that it was there at all was worrisome in itself. Out of curiosity she picked a tiny insect¡¯s soul and tried to pull at the frayed edges to see what would happen. To her horror, while the soul resisted her tugs at first, as she pulled harder it started to unravel like a spool of thread and broke apart before her, seemingly dissipating into the air. Something within her told her that the little bit of soul had simply ceased to exist after what she did. With some dread in her heart, she couldn¡¯t help but to turn her eyes at her own soul and peered closely, but fortunately it seemed that there was no such fraying within her own soul. The activity also granted her a new general skill called [Soul Sight]. It did just about what she expected it to do, as activating it caused her sight to seem as if it went through some sort of filter that allowed her to see the souls within people. She couldn¡¯t manipulate any of the souls other than those within her [Soul Storage], however. What she saw through the [Soul Sight] alarmed her, as she could see how every soul in her sight had the same signs of fraying at the edges. She also quickly identified another use of the skill, as it seemed to allow her to easily tell who amongst the people had some connection with the gods and deities as well. The progenies had what looked like purplish threads wrapped around their soul, in a protective manner, and when she looked at her own she saw an even greater multitude of similar threads around hers. Both the color and the feel of the threads reminded her of Oldies, so it was likely a mark of those who carried some sort of blessing or power from them. Some of the priests of the temple also had a thread or two wrapped around their souls, probably something they earned through their years of devotion and worship. In contrast, a few of the souls of the demons she had killed back at the village had some signs on them as well. Most of what she saw took the form of little red spikes ¨C not many, maybe one or two of them on the soul ¨C which were present on those who had classes that had Ner¡¯vhok¡¯s name on them. There was another that had a mark that looked more like a tiny patch of green moss on it, which after some checking turned out to be a healer who had a class from Elugurenas that was part of the invaders back then. If those marks were indeed signs of people who received some sort of blessing from the gods ¨C both old and new ¨C then it would help her identify friend from foe, at least. It appeared that some classes also inherently count as that sort of blessing, since the only souls she noticed had those signs were people who specifically had classes that mentioned the gods¡¯ names. For the next few days, Esperanza walked around Agur-Bas, seemingly just taking in the sights and chatting with people, but in actuality she was checking the souls of the people in town. She still remembered all too well what happened in Navef, and had no desire to see such a scene repeat itself ever again. Fortunately enough, she saw no sign of marks on the souls of the people that lived there, other than a few that had purple threads around theirs. She even went to the underwater parts of the town ¨C her physical body allowed her to do so easily enough ¨C and swam around while meeting the locals and saw nothing troublesome. Even the nearby villages of the aquatic peoples were clean of people that might be associated with the other gods, which was a relief to her. Then again, she guessed that Agur-Bas wouldn¡¯t have been so peaceful had their location been so easily leaked out to begin with. It made sense that only people that were trusted or lived there would know the town¡¯s actual location. At least that was one worry that Esperanza could strike off her long list of worries for the time being. Not that she was lacking in worries anyway, but at least the rest were more worries for the longer term and did not need to be addressed immediately. LXXVIII - Will to Survive ¡°Have you all made up your mind on this matter?¡± Esperanza asked the gathered youths before her. Nine pairs of eyes filled with resolve looked back at her, all of them making it clear that their answer to the question would be the same as the last few times she asked it. They were resolved on their path and she wouldn¡¯t be able to budge the decision they had made. By that point, it had been a month since the group¡¯s arrival in Agur-Bas. The younger children had found new homes and families willing to accept them as their own, and as far as Esperanza could tell, the acceptance was a genuine one, rather than a facade put up for her to see. Even Eda-Zil found a place and occupation for herself, as the temple insisted that she join them, as one of the first ones to have met with the Messenger of the Deities of Yore. While she still needed a wheelchair to get around ¨C even with the help of the best healer in town it would take weeks if not months for her to recover the use of her legs ¨C she already looked far more cheerful and optimistic compared to how she was during the last leg of their trip. Having something to do and no longer feeling like a useless burden did wonders to her mental state, as had the promise of eventual recovery. As for Esperanza herself, she planned to go out to temper herself. She realized that above all else, if one wished to survive in this world, power was needed. Without power, she could forget about helping Oldies, even surviving alone would be difficult. It was still a world where the strong devour the weak, after all, and the system just further reinforced that. She had thought that she should return to the jungle to fight and strengthen herself, and only leave once she was strong enough to be able to do something more than merely survive in front of the difficulties ahead of her. What she had not expected ¨C she knew that the young progenies had claimed that they would follow her, but had not expected their devotion to be that intense ¨C was how the progenies demanded to be allowed to follow her. It was not just the eight progenies either, but also Iryl, the one older child who had forcibly matured and survived the trip to Agur-Bas, who asked to be allowed to join them, even if only as a pack mule. Esperanza naturally tried to dissuade them from following her into such a grueling path. She had originally hoped to be strong enough to do the heavy lifting, while the progenies would help her on the side without risking themselves, but they made it very clear to her that they wished for no such thing. They wished to fight alongside her, not cower behind her back. The experiences those young children had within the past month, from the invasion and destruction of their home village and the deaths of most everyone they knew and cared for, to the difficult trek through the jungle where they had to cower behind the protection of others, until the day they reached the second tier and were forced into physical maturity ahead of their time, had changed them. They have no desire to cower behind someone¡¯s back once more, now that they had power that they could call their own, power that was gifted by the Deities of Yore, yet belonged to them. They wished to be the ones up front, the ones fighting for the weak who need to be protected. They refused to be pampered and kept safe anymore. ¡°We will never cower behind someone¡¯s back ever again,¡± said Val-Kas¡¯j firmly, speaking for all the progenies as the others nodded in affirmation at his words. ¡°What good is this power of ours, granted by the very Deities of Yore, if we were to skulk and hide our existence like frightened rats all the time. No, Exalted One, please, give us this chance to grow stronger and fight by your side.¡± ¡°What repercussions that might result in, are ours to bear. This is the choice we had made,¡± he added before he prostrated himself deeply before her, followed by the other progenies and Iryl. All of them looked like they would remain in that pose until Esperanza agreed with their request, and she had little doubt of their resolve, not this time. ¡°Fine, fine. You¡¯ve all made your decision and I will respect it,¡± said Esperanza with a sigh as she finally accepted the decision the children had made. ¡°You all must know that there will be great hardship ahead of us. Our targets are none other than the new gods, so there likely won¡¯t be any room for negotiation either. If we should fall midway, there would likely be nothing but gruesome deaths awaiting us all.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°We are well aware of that Exalted One, and had made our decision in mind,¡± replied Tiesya. She and Val-Kas¡¯j most often took turns to represent the progenies as a whole, perhaps because they were the oldest two amongst the children before the forced maturity. All the others still viewed them as reliably older siblings to the present moment. ¡°Okay, okay, I get it,¡± Esperanza said exasperatedly as she shook her head. ¡°Since you¡¯re all so determined, then we should ask around to see if someone in Agur-Bas could provide us with better equipment. The things you made out of the beasts we slew are pretty good, but none of us are exactly skilled at weaponmaking, so there will likely be others who can make them better.¡± ¡°A fair observation, Exalted One,¡± admitted Val-Kas¡¯j. ¡°Why had you not done that prior to this, though?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t really need weapons or armor to fight one way or another,¡± replied Esperanza with a smirk as she shifted her left arm into a tentacular limb that ended in a crescent blade formed out of bone and back to a normal humanoid arm once more within moments. ¡°On the other hand, all of you could benefit from better equipment. Armor, weapons, the likes. We should also pack up rations if we plan to take extended trips to the forest.¡± ¡°Maybe big sister Belug-ur¡¯ani could help us with that, Exalted One?¡± asked Tiesya as she raised her hand to give a suggestion. ¡°She¡¯s one of the heads of the town guard here, so she should be familiar with any weapon and armor smiths around, given that they also need those for their own use, no?¡± ¡°Smart,¡± commented Esperanza in praise. ¡°It¡¯s already pretty late today, we¡¯ll look for her and ask about it in the morning.¡± ****************************** ¡°Certainly, Exalted One, it would be our honor to be of aid!¡± said Belug-ur¡¯ani excitedly when Esperanza and the progenies went to look for her the next morning and asked if there were any good smiths in Agur-Bas. ¡°Actually, the best smiths that work with materials from creatures like these wouldn¡¯t be here, but in the villages nearby. Would you mind if we sent the material over to them?¡± Esperanza thought for a bit before she realized why. It made sense for smiths ¨C or their equivalent ¨C who lived their lives underwater to be more familiar with working on materials like chitin and shells since those would be common in the sea, whereas those who lived on land would rely on fire to harness metals instead. It was simply a matter of expediency and diversification. Since Agur-Bas didn¡¯t exactly have much in terms of metal sources, the few blacksmiths in town were not that well versed in making weapons or armor, and indeed, the guards of the town like Belug-ur¡¯ani mostly wore equipment that looked like they were formed from shells of insects and sea creatures or bones for the most part. The Progenies had been using makeshift weapons they made by attaching parts of monsters that were naturally formed weapons into handles to make them usable for the most part, so it was a good fit for what the local underwater smiths were used to, since the arachnoid limbs they made use as weapons were primarily formed of chitinous exoskeleton. They entrusted their equipment, which Ani helped them send over to the nearby villages along with a list of what sort of weapons they preferred to use. The local weapon crafters worked fast, and within a week already sent the results of their work back to Agur-Bas. What they created made the Progenies smile as they inspected the reworked weapons. No longer were they makeshift weapons made from tying up arachnoid limbs to wooden poles. Instead they were properly made weapons designed for intuitive use, fashioned to match the preferences of the youths. Along with the weapons also came suits of armor that seemed to have been made from the shells of large crabs and clams cleverly fitted together that were sized just right for them. Belug-ur¡¯ani had not just helped them get the weapons and armor sorted, but also directed and introduced them to a couple vendors who usually arranged for the sort of rations the town guards took with them when they went out on longer expeditions ¨C something the guards do regularly to keep their members leveled and prepared to face threats ¨C out in the wilds. Naturally, the priests and priestesses at the temple were not so enthused with the idea of Esperanza and the Progenies leaving, but they quickly acquiesced, other than insisting that they be allowed to send some people from the town to help fight the good fight. For believers of the Deities of Yore like most of the townspeople in Agur-Bas, being allowed to join in what basically amounted to a crusade against the new gods was nothing less than a great honor, after all. Esperanza eventually managed to talk them down so that only volunteers should be allowed to follow them, and not so many people as she did not want to compromise the town¡¯s safety. She did plan to keep her first forays closer so she could return to the town when it was convenient, after all. It wouldn¡¯t do for her to have deprived the town of their very best and cause something untoward to happen to them instead. Eventually, they settled on a single squad of ten guards, all of whom volunteered and were on the middle to late end of their third tiers, some of the best of the city. Leading them was none other than Belug-ur¡¯ani herself, who assured Esperanza that her leaving the town wouldn¡¯t affect its defenses too much. She was the highest leveled combat-classed fourth tier in town, sure, but there were another half dozen of those, so they should be able to hold the fort just fine without her. As such, Esperanza found herself leading a group of twenty out from Agur-Bas two months after they reached the town, their destination back towards the west, to the forest full of wild creatures that would only see them as walking prey. Their intent was to make a couple quick forays first, to build some teamwork between the children that had followed Esperanza from Navef and the guards from Agur-Bas. When that was done, the children had expressed a desire to clear a particular dungeon deep in the forest, the same dungeon they passed the outside regions of, where they lost some of their number to the creatures that populated it. They wished to clear it partly as a token of payback for those they lost, and partly to grind themselves in adversity. The world they lived in was a place where the strong devoured the weak, so they had resolved to become strong, to make the best use of the power they had been gifted, and to never again cower behind another¡¯s back. If the world required them to be strong to survive the journey ahead of them, then they would become strong, all in order to satisfy that most primal of desires. The will to survive. 79 - Discovery and Ramifications It took a while before the dust settled from the impact of Sir Henri Inolet¡¯s blow. The blow was so forceful that the land itself trembled beneath its might, and several of the fighting humans and demons nearly lost their footing, forcing a temporary break in the fighting. Compared to the humans, the demons recovered faster from the shock, and could also see better through the dust cloud. As such, before the human side could react, they had already turned tail and ran for their lives. Alissa and the others already noticed that the demons found their balance faster than them, and thus had braced themselves for a renewed assault. Because of that, they were collectively caught off guard when they noticed that the demons were not attacking but were fleeing instead, and could not mount a chase right away, giving the demons precious time to gain distance from them. It was not just the lower tier demons that were fleeing either. They all saw two of the fourth tier demons that had fought against Sir Inolet fleeing as well, one of them sporting a grievous wound as a lance of ice the size of a human arm had pierced through their left shoulder from behind. Similarly, the shadowy demon had also used the distraction of the tremors to disengage from their opponents and vanished. As the dust settled, Alissa and the others saw the reason why the demons retreated in such haste. Three dead fourth tier demons lay before Sir Henri Inolet. One of them looked as if he had been flash-frozen on the spot and then shattered into countless pieces by the mighty blow the old knight delivered, as only shards of frozen flesh was left of that particular demon. The other two demons were not in much better condition. The second was sliced in two halves at the waist, with frost and ice already covering most of the corpse, the blood of the dead demon only leaking out from the waist area where the largest openings allowed for the still-warm blood to flow out instead of getting frozen immediately. Magus Drummond was clearly the one responsible for taking down the last demon, as that one looked more like a pincushion than a person, with dozens of ice lances piercing their body. The old Magius must have used the distraction of Sir Inolet¡¯s blow to sneak in a fatal burst of attacks of his own, which netted them another kill. It made sense for the demons to beat a hasty retreat since they had lost half of their fourth tiers, and it was not like the rest were doing well. Only around twenty of the third tier demons were even able to run away, with the rest having been taken down in the fight. Most of the kills on that side was due to the fourth tier temple guard who barged over, with Alissa¡¯s group only taking down a few. Before someone could suggest chasing the fleeing demons, the shadowy demon emerged once again near the rest of the demons and used some sort of skill which made them vanish from sight. It was probably the same skill that had allowed the demons to ambush the party unnoticed before. ¡°Well¡­ Knew they were going to bolt once I did that,¡± said Sir Inolet with a sigh. The old knight exuded far more power than Alissa and Ethan had ever seen during their spars, and it was only then that they realized how much he had been holding back on them. Sir Inolet had sparred with them only using his physical capabilities instead of tapping into his clearly devastating magical means at all. ¡°Not like it could be any other way when they got that damned [Shadow Fiend], old friend,¡± replied Magus Drummond from beside him. As the fighting ended, the powerful fourth tiers regathered to where Alissa and the rest were standing together with what remained of the second tiers as well as the harvesters they were trying to keep safe. Out of those, the harvesters took around twenty casualties, less than half of which were fatal, which were minor issues given the healers present amongst the party. The hardy men and women mostly shrugged it off when Alissa offered her condolences, claiming that it was the risks they were well aware of when they signed up for the mission. Their job was far from a safe one, and in fact, it was already pretty much a miracle in their minds to only lose so few despite coming under a demon attack. Such an attack more typically wiped out entire parties, and if there were survivors, it was typically the stronger ones, not defenseless harvesters like them. Most parties would have left them behind as bait or stumbling blocks than try to defend them, so they were already very thankful to Alissa¡¯s help and feelings. On the other hand, the second tiers that followed the group in the vain hopes of acquiring a special class were far worse off. Only two of the twenty were standing on their legs by the time the battle was done. More than half of the youths lay dead, while the survivors all sport some kind of grievous injuries on their bodies. Alissa¡¯s party of twelve got off very lightly by comparison, only having lost Joshua, who was a negligible loss in the long term since he would just [Respawn] in a few minutes anyway. All of them had wounds on their bodies, but none had lost their lives otherwise. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Anyway, kids, that¡¯s that for this trip. We can¡¯t afford to stay here until you¡¯re third tiers anymore, I¡¯m afraid,¡± said Sir Inolet as he walked towards Alissa and Ethan. ¡°Those demons found our presence and are definitely on their way back to report, and after that report, they¡¯d be making a hard push this way. The border should hold, but it would be trivial for the demons to sneak in a couple dozen fourth-tiers around here regardless.¡± ¡°Did they¡­ recognize us as [Heroes]?¡± asked Ethan, the question an obvious one that hung over both of Alissa and Ethan¡¯s minds. ¡°Probably, probably not. It was a messy fight and I bet none of you got that clear a look at the demons you [Analyze]d either, didn¡¯t you?¡± asked the old knight as he sheathed his sword after breaking off the layer of ice that still coated it. Both Alissa and Ethan shook their heads at his question. ¡°If some of them did notice that you¡¯re both second tiers and it wasn¡¯t his eyes playing tricks on him, your performance in that fight would likely clue them in, yes.¡± ¡°But they won¡¯t need that clue anyway. They already have a better confirmation that someone very important was present here amongst our group regardless,¡± added the old knight. ¡°How so, Sir?¡± asked Alissa with some curiosity. Other than her and Ethan¡¯s strength ¨C which was ridiculous for their level ¨C she did not think that they gave away their presence that much in other ways. ¡°Are there special ways to detect a [Hero]¡¯s presence or anything like that which they used to identify us then?¡± ¡°Oh no, it has nothing to do with you kids. It¡¯s me,¡± replied the old knight with a sigh. ¡°You kids must have noticed that I didn¡¯t use my magic-related skills until the end of that fight, didn¡¯t you? That¡¯s for a reason. I was hoping we could keep our identities under wraps, but when the fight on your side was going badly, I decided it wasn¡¯t worth losing one of your group for that.¡± ¡°You see, kids, I¡¯m the only one in the Kingdom who received the [Blade of Sorcery] class, and while there are artifacts that could obfuscate the results of [Analysis] or [Identify], there are none which could hide the skills I used back then, which might as well announce my presence with a huge banner,¡± he added with a shrug. ¡°Murdock being here could be excused as him having a pupil in the group, but my being here is a telltale sign that I¡¯m protecting someone very important. Any demon with half a brain would be able to guess that it¡¯s the [Heroes].¡± ¡°What would happen now that the demons know we¡¯re¡­ here, Sir?¡± asked Ethan somewhat nervously, his face slightly paling at the implications behind the old knight¡¯s words. ¡°Now that they have confirmation of your presence? They will definitely intensify their activity, provided that their [Champions] are up to par against you kids. They would try to sneak in infiltrators more, and would try to kidnap you if they saw a chance,¡± said the old knight honestly. ¡°I would recommend carrying some way to conveniently commit suicide at this point. You really do not want to be captured, and you can respawn in safety afterwards.¡± ¡°As for more immediate impacts to you¡­ We would have to reschedule to a different dungeon in safer areas to get you kids to your third tier. I¡¯m not letting you near the front until you¡¯re at least able to hold your own against me, now that the demons know you¡¯re around, so expect a lot of training and dungeons in the near future. Might have to cut some of your free time, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°Does the kingdom have any¡­ records on what happened to [Heroes] that were captured by the demons?¡± asked Alissa with some wariness. ¡°Nobody knows for certain what happened to them, but given that we need to capture the [Champions] of the demons to fuel the ritual that would send you [Heroes] back to your home, I would expect the same happening on the other side,¡± replied Magus Drummond to the question. ¡°As for what we do to those captured [Champions], I can at least brief you a bit.¡± ¡°They would be kept in a secure place, where we would then keep them unable to resist or escape, but alive, since we can¡¯t afford to let them kill themselves after all,¡± continued the old Magus. ¡°This usually involves removing any method for them to do any of those, like removing their limbs but healing the stumps, as well as removing their tongues.¡± ¡°That sounds¡­ excessive¡­¡± said Alissa, even if she understood the logic behind the cruel treatment. A [Hero] or a [Champion] could just [Respawn] if they died, so to keep them captive, their captors needed to remove any means they had to hurt themselves, not just means they could use to escape. After all, death itself was a literal way of escape for them. ¡°I do not doubt that the demons have their own, similar methods, so I believe you see why I suggested having a way to kill yourself quickly and conveniently,¡± added Sir Inolet into the discussion. ¡°It might not be that bad if you were the last of the [Heroes] or [Champions] to be caught, as at least you wouldn¡¯t have to suffer too long before you¡¯d be put out of your misery, but if you¡¯re the first one caught? All I could say is that it would not be a pleasant experience to be you. Similarly, if you see one of your fellows about to be captured and have the leeway to kill them, do it, for their sake.¡± ¡°We understand, Sir,¡± replied Ethan with a bit of a shudder as he digested the implications and seriousness of the matter. The thought still disturbed him, even if he understood the logic behind the grim contingencies set up to avoid a capture by the demons. Sometimes, there were fates that could be far, far worse than death after all, especially when death was more of an inconvenience than anything for some. ¡°Good that you understand it,¡± commented Magus Drummond as he went to wait where Joshua¡¯s body started to decay into particles of light, leaving his clothes and equipment behind. The phenomenon apparently happened around five minutes after death for the [Heroes] with [Respawn]. ¡°What you dealt with before, those were just games compared to the storm that will come to our doorsteps in the near future.¡± 80 - Desire for Power Merely one day after the incident with the demon ambush, Alissa, Ethan, and the rest of their party were already on board carriages bound for the royal capital. The survivors of the second tiers that had joined them for the expedition also boarded a carriage of their own, the youths looking depressed and dismayed at what had happened. Alissa thought that the dismay they experienced was due to having seen how the demons so easily killed many of their compatriots in the battle, the bloodshed and deaths likely a shock to their youthful mentalities. Many of the youths broke down and cried during the walk back to the carriages back then, and some even looked like they were about to just plop themselves down and not care about anything anymore. Ethan disagreed, as he pointed out how the youths were not only selected through demanding criterias before they were allowed to join the party, but also that each of them had backers that had suggested their inclusion in the first place. On top of that, every single one of them were volunteers, despite the stated dangers that they were bound to face. He felt that while certainly part of the youths were there due to a sense of patriotism and courage, more than a few likely harbored delusions of grandeur in their heart as well. After all, attaining a class related to the [Heroes] was a method to instantly propel oneself into the eyes of the nobles and aristocrats at high places, as those classes had great importance for the locals. Given how some of those second tiers had also fought recklessly against the demons, who were a tier above them, also made him think that some of them probably expected that the [Heroes] would swoop in to save them at crucial moments, like in stories. Or maybe they thought of themselves as the protagonist of that sort of story, hence the foolhardy attempt to take on someone far above their mettle on their own. ¡°That surprised me, honestly. I would have thought you would be the one who looked at the situation in a more¡­ ideal light,¡± admitted Alissa during the rest stop they took later that night, when she and Ethan had a moment of relative privacy as long as they kept their voices low. ¡°I¡¯m supposed to be the paranoid and cynic between us, remember?¡± ¡°Maybe at first. Guess the honeymoon period¡¯s over and done with, by now,¡± replied Ethan with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°The longer I¡¯ve been here, the more I can¡¯t help but notice that things weren¡¯t like in my storybooks, you know?¡± he added. ¡°Actually, amend that, it did kind of remind me of a couple of the stories I read, but those were the dark-ass ones where people got tossed to a crapsack world full of shitty people.¡± ¡°You think we might be in that sort of situation, then?¡± queried Alissa with some curiosity. It was an odd feeling, as despite how she was the one who was paranoid and cynical about their situation at first, she couldn¡¯t help but feel that quite a few of the people she had run into were genuine and up front with her. People she wouldn¡¯t mind calling friends, in different circumstances. ¡°I don¡¯t know, really. The beef that the demons supposedly have with the humans are definitely real. Those ones we ran into shot first and stabbed second, not even asking questions,¡± answered Ethan with a shake of his head. ¡°On top of that, the way some of them laughed like a maniac after killing someone¡­ I hate to admit it, but the enmity between the sides is definitely for real here.¡± ¡°Similarly, while I¡¯m not that close with the boys in our group, I can¡¯t help but feel that at least old Henri is sincere with us,¡± he continued his train of thought. ¡°He¡¯s one of the most powerful people in the kingdom, as far as we know, so if he is truly sincere and wasn¡¯t just being a really good actor¡­ that sincerity might mean a lot.¡± ¡°I get the same feeling with Nadine and the rest,¡± said Alissa as she nodded, as she knew all too well what Ethan meant with his words. If the people they ran into had been openly manipulative or otherwise dodgy with them, it would have been far easier for Ethan and Alissa to keep them at arm¡¯s length. Instead, they were met with sincerity which made it harder for them to harden their hearts. ¡°You know¡­ going home in one piece still comes first, but if I can, I really do want to help them out.¡± ¡°I get the feeling, Allie. Question is, how do we go about that? I imagine helping them win this war of theirs would keep at least the people we know mostly safe, unless they¡¯re really unlucky,¡± said Ethan with a shake of his head. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t really change matters that much in the long run, doesn¡¯t it? It¡¯ll just return the demons and humans back to parity and the war will keep going later on.¡± ¡°Come to think of it, from what I read in the history books they had, both the demons and the humans had fallen to only having barely a third of their original territory multiple times in the past, but neither side ever managed to push further,¡± noted Alissa as she remembered some of the things she read in her spare time. ¡°It¡¯s like someone didn¡¯t want the war to ever end, if you ask me. Every time one side comes close to winning, they start losing.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Yeah, it feels staged. By all rights, enmity this strong, that had already lasted this many generations, should have come to an end one way or another long ago. You mostly searched their history about the [Heroes] before us and the wars, right?¡± Ethan asked, to which Alissa nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve been checking out things that were more on the side of rumors and fables. Some of them are pretty interesting, when you interpolate them with the situation we are seeing.¡± ¡°Do tell.¡± ¡°I only saw a couple notes of it amongst the stuff I read, but some of them said that a couple kings in the past tried to push further into demon territory after the [Heroes] won the war and returned to where they came from,¡± said Ethan rather gravely. ¡°Both times, those kings fell from grace in pretty strange ways, leading to the rumor saying that they had been punished by the gods for, get this, overstepping their bounds.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s true, then it¡¯s like someone doesn¡¯t want this whole mess of a war to ever end,¡± commented Alissa as she mulled over what Ethan just told her. ¡°That would be¡­ ridiculous though¡­ Why would gods be interested in keeping what amounted to an eternal war going on forever? I mean¡­ What''s in it for them? There has to be a reason, no?¡± ¡°Well, like I said, it was rumors in an obscure book, so I can¡¯t say whether there¡¯s any truth in it or not either,¡± shrugged Ethan as he replied to Alissa. ¡°That said, I can think of some reasons why some gods might want to keep an eternal war going. For one, what if they¡¯re powered by the blood and suffering of their believers? Keeping a war going would get them that in plentiful supply.¡± ¡°Alternatively, they might just be bored up there and set the whole thing up for entertainment for all we know. Or maybe the enmity that the locals here have with the demons also affect them? I¡¯m not sure, honestly,¡± he admitted. ¡°All I know is that I feel like this whole setup sort of felt¡­ artificial. Staged. Directed, even, if you get what I mean.¡± ¡°I know what you mean. Did you remember what those demons we fought look like, by the way?¡± asked Alissa back all of a sudden. ¡°Yeah, why?¡± ¡°Tall, lanky, pointy ears, aren¡¯t they sort of like the elves so often seen in your stories? I guess these ones are nowhere as pretty, though, and had that sort of weird coloration,¡± she suggested. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen the other types of demons yet, but what they were described like also reminded me of some other races from your stories. Think that¡¯s a coincidence?¡± ¡°Hard to say, honestly. I think it might just be what the demons look like, rather than them being made based on our fantasy tales. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯d be way too much effort either way to mold the looks of a whole race just for that?¡± countered Ethan with a doubtful shake of his head. ¡°On the other hand, I¡¯ve once read a story where the protagonist returned back from a fantasy world¡­ and became a fantasy author who wrote about his experiences, so can¡¯t discount that scenario either.¡± ¡°That said¡­ assuming the worst case is true, that those¡­ gods engineered this whole war for their own purposes or whatnot, can we do anything about it?¡± asked Alissa with some wonderment. ¡°That fight with the demons had been a wake up call, I think. We have nowhere near the ability to do things the way we want yet. We can¡¯t even keep people safe, for fuck¡¯s sake!¡± ¡°Reminds me of what old Henri always said when he taught us, honestly? Do you remember? When he¡¯d rant about how power isn¡¯t everything, but most everything needs power to do,¡± said Ethan in turn with a slightly wistful smile. ¡°We¡¯re just still too weak at the moment. We can barely keep ourselves safe, much less others. Had any of those fourth tier demons turned our way things would have gotten ugly, I think.¡± ¡°You got a point. In the end, this place is all about power, isn¡¯t it?¡± noted Alissa with a nod. ¡°At the moment, our status as [Heroes] might let us get away with minor requests as long as the kingdom keeps paying lip service to it, but we don¡¯t really have the ability to make any calls, don¡¯t we? We¡¯re just some teenagers well out of our comfort zone, here. They have no reason to really give us that much heed.¡± ¡°I bet they¡¯ll change their tone once we¡¯re able to match old Henri one on one, or better,¡± suggested Ethan even as he showed his agreement to Alissa¡¯s words with a nod. ¡°For that, though, we¡¯ll need to play by their tune for a while more. I think old Henri said that they¡¯d try to arrange for another dungeon as soon as they can to get us to the third tier, no? That¡¯d be a start.¡± ¡°Yeah, he did say that,¡± affirmed Alissa. ¡°He also said that we should be closer to his power level once we¡¯re around midway up the third tier, so that¡¯d still be a while further, even after we hit that benchmark,¡± she added. ¡°Do you think they¡¯d listen more to what we have to say about things by then? Or think they¡¯ll still be obstinate about it?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± said Ethan with a shake of his head. ¡°By the time we¡¯re even or better with old Henri when it comes to power, if they try to make us do something we don¡¯t agree with, I¡¯d like to see how they¡¯d try to enforce that. It¡¯s not like we have anyone we truly care about in this world, so they can¡¯t hold someone hostage or the like.¡± ¡°And if they prove to be too stubborn or set in their ways, we could either try to find another way to go home, other than the one they told us about. There¡¯s one way to go home, so there might be others, for all we know, no?¡± he asked as he forged on. ¡°One thing more power in this situation grants us is that it would allow us to stop being pawns and become players on the board, instead.¡± The two mulled over what they talked about for the rest of the trip back to the royal capital, their thoughts meandering as they journeyed. Along the way they received news that the area of the frontline they had been near faced a demon incursion a couple days after they left, one that the defenders repelled, but not without losing thousands of their numbers in the process. As Alissa and Ethan listened to Sir Inolet reading the news out loud to them, both of them couldn¡¯t help but fidget with a desire for more power, power that would allow them to do more than just sit helplessly like they were doing. LXXXI - Building Teamwork ¡°Mel! To your left!¡± yelled Dai¡¯vasy when she noticed one of the monsters slipping around the frontlines and towards her friend. She herself coupled her warning with a handful of icicles shaped like needles that hurtled through the air towards the monster¡¯s eyes at the same time. The creatures they were fighting looked like wasps, but where at most a regular wasp would be the size of their thumb, these [Yellowjacket Warrior Wasps] were easily a meter long each, though, with mandibles that look like they could shear off a limb and a stinger that resembled a short spear in size. The fact that they fly just made them so much worse to fight. While Dai¡¯vasy¡¯s spray of ice needles were avoided by the wasp, it distracted the monster enough that it failed to notice Iryl ¨C who was waiting for that sort of opportunity near Mel-Ivas and Dai-Vasy ¨C closing to its side. The girl smashed the wasp down with her glaive, her arms strong enough to knock the wasp out of the air but not strong enough to crush through its shell or sever its limbs with the blow. A larger ice lance flew in the next moment and pierced through the wasp¡¯s head, though, ending its life cleanly. ¡°Thanks,¡± noted Mel-Ivas to the two who helped her. As the only healer of the group she was preoccupied trying to keep everyone healed of their injuries, and had been somewhat absent-minded when it came to her own surroundings. Of course, that was also the reason Iryl stayed close to her, to defend her in cases like what happened just then. At the moment the [Prodigies of Yore] engaged around several dozen of the wasps, on their own, as part of their training. Esperanza had been helping them take care of the flying enemies during their trip, something that Belug-ur¡¯ani pointed out correctly would end up making the progenies lack skill in that field unless they were to train up for it. It was sort of expected, but the progenies, being young children at heart, still showed some dependence on Esperanza as the adult leading them. As such, she agreed that if they wished to follow alongside her, they would need more training on how to do things on their own, hence the training session Ani arranged for them. The wasps they were fighting lived around a few hours walk from one of the exits of Agur-Bas, and were around level thirty to forty five, a good range for the progenies to take on, considering the numerical disadvantage they would be in. Their stings deposit a venom that would hurt a lot, but was relatively harmless unless one got stung dozens of times. Even so, they brought antidotes just in case. Most importantly of course, was the fact that the wasps were agile fliers, even if they were not particularly fast. The flight along was plenty to give the young progenies fits when it comes to dealing with them. Dai¡¯vasy for example quickly noticed that ice lances with enough force to pierce through the carapace of the wasps were too slow and easily avoided, so she switched to needles aimed at their eyes instead. Similarly, Resitia found some difficulty fighting the wasps with her favored spear, until she took a page from how Val-Kas¡¯j fought and started swinging her spear around like a staff instead, striking the wasps down before skewering them with the spearhead. Trying to skewer them while they were flying was far too hard for her at the moment. She, like the other progenies ¨C even those not as inclined to fighting physically like Mel-Ivas and Dai¡¯vasy received some weapons for self-defense ¨C wielded a new weapon crafted by weapon crafters from underwater villages not far away from Agur-Bas. The pointed lance-arms of the arachnoids she faced back in the dungeon, which she had just crudely bound to the end of a long stick back then, were cleverly grafted to both ends of a long, solid shaft that was very sturdy yet retained some flexibility, supposedly the core of some underwater plant of sorts, creating a double-headed spear for her use. Similarly, Val-Kas¡¯j wielded a sort of polearm with the scythe-blade of another arachnoid serving as its blade, while the shaft was made from the same sort of material as what Resitia used. He used a shorter spear in his other hand, with only one spearhead, small enough that he could still use the hand to hold both the polearm shaft and the spear¡¯s without much trouble. He also had the easiest time against the wasps so far, since his sweeping chops often took more than one of the insectoids down in one go. Tiesya beside him wielded a pair of blades fashioned out of the same materials, though now the blades looked less like they were limbs torn off an insectoid monster and looked more like a proper blade, ones that almost looked like they were ornamental works of art meant for decoration rather than combat. Of course, one look at how Tiesya cleanly severed a wasp into halves spoke of their effectiveness. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. On the other side of the prodigies¡¯ formation, Nalihimatu mostly bashed the wasps away with his new, larger, and sturdier shield. The large mace he used was not very suitable for knocking the wasps out of the sky, though it crushed them just fine once he had them on the ground. Given his heavy armor, he was also less concerned about the mandibles, though the stingers still posed some risk. Ilavakida was behind him as she tried to lend support. Her arrows were fast enough to catch the wasps even during flight, and packed enough force to pierce through their exoskeleton, but they didn¡¯t necessarily land fatal blows. Much like the others, the bow she used had undergone some improvements, which made it heavier and harder to draw, but also more powerful. It was fitting since she was growing in strength anyway and the old bow had gotten a bit too light. Although Ilavakide¡¯s arrows didn¡¯t always kill her targets, the weight and size of the arrows themselves made them massive annoyances for the wasps she shot, its length sticking out of their body serving as a handle one of the others could use to literally pull a wasp out of the air and slam them to the ground to kill more easily. Legisvula was the only one of the progenies who could not be seen, as he mostly stalked the wasps from the shadows, from atop the trees, or otherwise in hiding. He would leap out, land on the back of a wasp, quickly decapitate it with his blade, then disappear once more, like he was never there. His skills leaned more towards stealth and ambushes, and now he was putting them to proper use. While the progenies had fought together before, it was more just them fighting alongside each other. They had rather poor teamwork, and sometimes even got in each other¡¯s way. It was the reason why Esperanza and Ani agreed to work together to fashion some exercises that would hopefully help them improve on their teamwork, like the current fight they had against a swarm of overgrown wasps. The experience the kids would earn from the fighting was a nice bonus as well. Esperanza herself, together with Ani and the warriors who volunteered to follow her, were a good bit further away, where they could observe the fighting but were far enough away to not get accidentally involved. At worst a couple of wasps headed their way, but Esperanza just lashed out with one of her limbs and took them down before they could do anything. She was the only one in that group who would still gain meaningful experience from the wasps anyway, as Ani was a fourth tier and the rest of the warriors with her were mid to late third tier. From what they could see, the progenies took the lessons from the Ani to heart. They fought in a more coordinated manner than before, with Tiesya and Nalihimatu guarding their flanks, while Val-Kas¡¯j and Resitia struck forward. Ilavakide, Mel-Ivas, and Dai¡¯vasy were grouped together behind those four, with Iryl standing guard next to them, while Legisvula did his thing. Unlike before, they got in the way of each other less. Esperanza even saw more instances of the progenies working together, like how Nalihimatu bashed some of the wasps out of the air with his large shield, only for Resitia to finish them off with her spear before they could recover. Similarly, the progenies trusted each other greatly, as could be seen by how they did not even flinch when an arrow of Ilavakide¡¯s or shard of ice from Dai¡¯vasy flew past merely an inch away from their heads. Instead they made use of the support to take down a typically surprised target. The fighting, which was intense at first, slowly petered down as more of the wasps fell dead to the ground. Around when there were only a dozen of the wasps remaining though, another swarm, roughly four dozen of the creatures, came out from the direction of their nest to join the fighting, which naturally intensified the battle to even greater heights than before. While it was a difficult fight, the progenies slowly but surely dropped the wasps one by one. They showed no sign of relenting beneath the buzzing onslaught they faced, and fought fiercely until eventually, the remaining dozen and a half survivors from the wasps fled back to where they came from, leaving behind dozens of corpses of their brethren littering the ground. The progenies did not give chase, as they were only told to fight until the wasps gave up on fighting them. When they returned to where Esperanza and Ani waited for them, the group looked somewhat comical. Each of the progenies had been stung several times by the wasps, and multiple swollen bumps still adorn their bodies and even faces. Mel-Ivas was already out of mana from all the healing she did, so they had to suffer through these without her help for the time being. Even so, there was a definite note of pride and satisfaction to their tired strides, one gained from their own hard work no less. The fight helped the progenies work together better as a team, and even Iryl, who lacked a special class and was thus far weaker, managed to contribute meaningfully to the fighting. They each also gained a level or two from the fight, though none of them were quite at the end of their second tier yet. Esperanza knew that the kids had some fixation to the friends they lost to the arachnoids back in the dungeon. They had told her in private that if it were possible, they would like to advance to their third tiers back where they buried said friends, as a form of tribute to their souls. It was a motivation she felt best left as it was. As such, they had been practicing their teamwork and acclimatizing themselves to their new equipment in the past week, with the help of Ani and the warriors who followed her. There was wisdom in experience and age, and the young [Progenies of Yore] were none too shy to make the best use of whatever they could get their hands on. All of them know that in a while, maybe another week or two at most, they would head back towards the depths of the forest, towards where some of their friends were buried. There they plan to grow even stronger, and then to follow Esperanza in her mission from the Deities of Yore. They know that said mission would likely endanger their lives, but it was a risk they willingly took. Some of them were also quite intrigued to see what the society of the people who worshiped the new gods were like. With the exception of those who had too-obvious human blood, if one of them learned a skill to mask their affiliation to the Deities of Yore from the new gods, then many of them could likely infiltrate a demon city. It was something they looked forward to. LXXXII - Retracing Ones Steps ¡°Okay, so do you all feel you¡¯re good to go now? Back to the forest once more?¡± Esperanza asked one last time just for confirmation. In her heart she knew that she was just being naggy at the progenies, who had already affirmed to her that they were ready many times before that, but knowing their actual ages, she couldn¡¯t help but do it anyway. She felt that had Ani not been a devout worshiper of the Deities of Yore and thus had placed the progenies above herself, she might have acted much the same as Esperanza herself did. The mixed-blood woman was by far the fussiest when it came to making sure that the progenies were well equipped and prepared for their training, much less now that they aimed to head further into the forest for longer. ¡°Yes, Exalted One,¡± replied Tiesya politely with a nod. ¡°Like we last reported, the weapons and armor is a bit heavier than what we would consider ideal at the moment, but it would not hinder our fighting capabilities. At worst, we won¡¯t be able to press as hard as we could for too long while using them, but otherwise they were of excellent make and quality.¡± That the weapons and armor were slightly overweight were by design. The crafters entrusted with the materials had reinforced the structure of the items with some of their own material, resulting in sturdier, more durable weapons and armor that were also somewhat heavier. The intention was to make them usable and effective even after the progenies reached their third tier. After all, the group had nobody skilled in crafting amongst them, someone who would be able to adjust their equipment to suit them better on the fly. Had they kept using their makeshift weapons in their third tier, then chances were that the weapon¡¯s construction would fail at some point, as it was too weak to withstand the force a third tier would be able to bring to bear. It was what the reworked items were designed for, and the reason why they were slightly too heavy for a late second tier to use. They were intended for usage by a third tier, and to hopefully last the progenies until they reached the mid or late end of their third tiers and remain perfectly serviceable. It was a rather difficult balance to achieve, but was the best compromise available since there was no crafter that could follow them for adjustment purposes. At a glance, the planned expedition to clear the arachnoid dungeon in the depth of the forest should be a relatively safe one. At least for the earlier parts, as the presence of Belug-ur¡¯ani and the other ten warriors who volunteered to follow her meant that there was no chance of the progenies being badly outnumbered and swarmed by monsters. Ani had made it clear that while she would definitely support the progenies in their effort to grow stronger, she and her warriors would lend a hand when it grew too risky. It was a point of view Esperanza also agreed on, as after all there was no point of risking themselves overmuch. Some risk was needed due to how the system worked, but even then, she planned to be around to help the progenies in such fights, as she herself also needed to hit the third tier sooner rather than later anyway. Since Ani was a fourth tier and the warriors with her were third tiers that had experience behind their belts, chances were that they would not likely face much threat on the way to the dungeon, or even in the outer perimeter of the dungeon itself. After all, the progenies had already fought through that area, even while carrying and protecting the younger children, so now that they were without burden, they would likely be able to carve a bloody path through the area without any difficulty whatsoever. On the other hand, it might be difficult for them to properly set foot deeper into the dungeon until they reached their third tier. Ani had relayed her experience with said dungeon, which the guards of Agur-Bas sometimes used to hone their skills, especially those of higher levels. Beasts in the deeper regions of the dungeon were known to have reached the late third tier in power, with fourth tier beasts not unheard of. As for the deepest parts of the dungeon, Ani admitted that she had never gone so deep herself, as that region primarily had monsters in the fourth tier, which would have posed a great threat for any team from Agur-Bas, even for herself. While the [Progenies of Yore] were quite capable of punching above their level, they would need to be some way into the third tier to have any hope of tackling a fourth tier. Because of that, Esperanza had made them promise that they would first check the situation deeper in the dungeon with caution before proceeding. She understood that they wanted some form of payback for those they lost in the dungeon back then, but if that payback were to cost more of them their lives, then she felt it was not worth it. Unlike the last time when they had to rely on whatever animals and even monsters they killed for sustenance ¨C Esperanza and the Progenies had even noticed how the arachnoids they killed tasted somewhat like crabs when cooked because they had little other option for food source by that time ¨C Ani made sure that the group carried plenty of food and water supplies, enough to support their group of twenty-one for a good couple of months at the least. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. It surprised Esperanza somewhat that the volunteers that followed Ani mostly had families in Agur-Bas that they left behind in order to be able to follow after her and the Progenies. Much like the half-breed warrior woman, they were also devout followers of the Deities of Yore. The chance to finally contribute to the plans of the Deities they worshiped was a chance that none of them were willing to miss out on. Even so, it was still surprising to see their spouses and children sending them off proudly on the day the group departed from Agus-Bas for the expedition. The expedition towards the arachnoid dungeon was one they planned to use to hone the [Progenies of Yore] ¨C and Esperanza herself for that matter ¨C until they were powerful enough to travel further, so they still planned to return to Agur-Bas after it was done. They would rest for a bit more, and ideally reforge the weapons and armor that the progenies were using to better suit them at a later stage, before they would depart for real and attempt to do what they can to follow the behest of the Deities of Yore. Esperanza herself was still somewhat conflicted about the idea of destroying the world, but decided that she would have a good talk with everyone before they head out to pursue that mission later. At the moment, their focus was set on the depths of the forest as the group retraced the path that Esperanza had taken, heading back towards where they encountered the monstrous dinosaur-like beast from a distance and the arachnoid dungeon they struggled to pass through back then. Fortunately, Legisvula and one of Ani¡¯s warriors had skills that allowed them to retrace their path more easily, with some help from Dali and Gordy. While they took two weeks of time to travel from the dungeon¡¯s perimeter to the vicinity of Agur-Bas, they made the trip back in only one and a half weeks. Since the group was not worried about people they had to keep safe, they were able to proceed much faster, the only delay being the long distance to cover combined with the slight difficulty in retracing the route they took over a month ago. When the group were accosted by wildlife ¨C be it just wild animals or some loose monsters ¨C most of the fighting was left to the progenies and Iryl, as they made an attempt to give more experience to those who were slightly lagging behind like Mel-Ivas, who due to her role as the group¡¯s healer naturally had not killed as many monsters as the others. Healing did provide her with experience as well, but it was still slower compared to the others who killed so many beasts along the way, so the others took special care to help her catch up while they were dealing with easier foes of lower levels on the way back. They all knew that it would be harder for them to help Mel-Ivas kill things like that later on in the dungeon proper. When they reached the arachnoid dungeon¡¯s perimeter once more, the palpable silence greeted them like the previous time. What creatures survived within the arachnoid dungeon had long adapted and learned to keep their presence hidden and move about quietly, lest they be preyed upon by the masters of the region itself. Over time, the ecosystem had developed into one where the sole predators in the region were the arachnoids themselves, while everything else that lived in the region served as their prey, but regardless chose to hide there to avoid other predators who were even more unscrupulous when it comes to consumption. Apparently the arachnoids were odd creatures who would hibernate for long periods, often as long as months, after every meal, so they hunted relatively fewer prey compared to most predators. To the prey animals that lived in their territory, it was a relationship akin to them offering members of their herd for protection against other predators, in a way. Of course, neither Esperanza nor the progenies cared about that, other than the implied information that there were a lot more of the arachnoids than what they had seen in their previous passage. The majority of the creatures were hidden away in hibernation and would not awaken unless they detected intruders in their territory. It was perhaps the only reason they made it out alive from the dungeon back then. They only attracted the few beasts in the outer perimeter who were forced to live there because they could not compete in the deeper reaches of the dungeon, and as a direct result never ran into anything they couldn¡¯t handle during their passage. The group as a whole was less careful on their way back. If anything, they were itching for a fight and purposely engaged any of the arachnoids they ran into. Even on their way into the dungeon¡¯s outer perimeter, the group fought at least several groups of arachnoids every day, with the progenies taking on the bulk of the fighting. Despite her relative lack of power, Iryl fought alongside them and tried her best to do what she could, a determination that everyone else in the group came to respect, especially the [Progenies of Yore], who shared an unwillingness to ever be powerless before the circumstances ever again. Together they slaughtered their way through the inhabitants of the dungeon with a coordinated effort. Esperanza herself only joined in when some particularly troublesome or high-leveled creatures appeared, ones that would have threatened the progenies without any extra help. Depending on the situation, she would have Dali and Gordy join in the fighting as well, something both dogs took to with gusto as they almost cheerfully charged alongside her. Ani and her warriors mostly kept watch. They were not there to coddle the progenies after all, and the monsters that inhabit the perimeter of the dungeon were not particularly dangerous to the progenies. A challenge, yes, but nothing that would put them in grievous risk of mortal danger. While danger was always present in a fight for life and death, the progenies worked together well and outclassed their arachnoid foes, minimizing the risks to themselves in the process. Roughly two weeks after they left Agur-Bas and retraced their route, Esperanza and the progenies finally reached a clearing in the perimeter of the arachnoid dungeon, where a stone slate bearing several names was erected as a gravestone. A marker and remembrance for the people they lost along their way through the dungeon. They had finally reached the spot once more. 83 - A Bothered Heart Even after Alissa¡¯s party returned to the Royal Capital, Sir Inolet kept them apprised about the circumstances on the frontlines. In his opinion, since the [Heroes] already made contact with the demons, there were no longer any reasons to keep them in the dark about the progress of the fighting. On the contrary, he believed that letting them hear about the developments of the battles would be beneficial to their mentality. As such, news about the ongoing battle at the border became part of Alissa and Ethan¡¯s daily briefings ¨C and likely Joshua¡¯s as well, though they could not tell for sure ¨C typically being read to them by a scribe while they were having breakfast. It lent a heavy air to the usually relaxed atmosphere they had their mornings in, to say the least. After the incursion they heard about while they were still on the way back to the Royal Capital, they heard news that the demons had made several more pushes towards the border that the defenders on the frontline only managed to hold on against after suffering heavy casualties. Troops were mobilized from regions deeper in the Kingdom and moved towards the frontlines in order to make up for those losses. Despite the thousands of casualties already suffered by both sides in the fighting, they were told that all that they had heard about were just probes and preliminary fighting, nothing more than skirmishes in force, in some ways, rather than serious pushes intended to go deeper. At least for the time being, the situation remained a stalemate that way, as both sides hemorrhaged soldiers ¨C especially the weaker ones ¨C on the frontlines of the fighting. While there were many fourth tiers and late third tiers stationed at the border, the bulk of the army for both the humans and the demons were still people in their second tier or early third tiers. These were naturally a lot weaker than those who were at higher levels or tiers than they were, and thus accounted for the majority of the casualties as well. Some who took up arms and stood at the walls might even just be [Militia] or [City Guard]s as their classes go, rather than proper soldiers, but the Kingdom was not in good enough shape to be choosy with their defenses at the moment. Any adult from the surrounding regions with suitable class would serve on the walls, one time or another, as part of the forces defending the Kingdom¡¯s borders. That morning, four days after they had returned to the Royal Capital, seemed to portend something special, however, as instead of a scribe reading the news to them, it was none other than Sir Inolet himself who did so with a grave look on his face. ¡°Did something happen at the frontlines, Sir?¡± asked Alissa as she noticed the foul mood that the old knight exuded. Seated next to her, Ethan similarly perked up and raised his head as he paid attention to whatever news the old knight deemed important enough to personally tell them. ¡°There has been¡­ developments, and at the moment it¡¯s difficult to tell whether it¡¯s a good or a bad thing for us,¡± said the old knight with a shake of his head as he took a seat at the table, grabbed a small loaf of bread and gnashed it between his teeth to calm himself. ¡°The news just arrived first thing in the morning today, so it mustn''t be more than a day or two old, but it would seem that one of the demon [Champions] had seen fit to show themselves at the frontlines.¡± ¡°Just one of them, Sir?¡± asked Ethan with notable curiosity. Like Alissa, he had learned about the history of the wars between the humans and the demons, and he had not failed to notice the bit of information in Sir Inolet¡¯s words just not. ¡°Then had our side made an attempt to capture the [Champion]?¡± ¡°The commander at the front rejected the suggestions, fearing rightfully that it might be a trap. We are not certain if the demons are aware that we are one [Hero] short or not, but if they were¡­ I wouldn¡¯t put it past them to lay a trap with a [Champion] as bait so that they could lay waste to our armies,¡± noted the old knight with a shake of his head. ¡°Even if we tried to capture the [Champion] it would only be possible by gathering many of our strongest warriors in that region of the frontlines, which in turn would weaken the defenses to a rather intolerable level.¡± ¡°So they fear that the demons might be baiting us with one [Champion] to decapitate our best fighting force in that area and push their advantage¡­¡± mulled Alissa as she listened to the old man¡¯s explanation. ¡°What would you say are the chances of us succeeding to capture the [Champion] had they gone with the attempt?¡± ¡°Depends a lot on the kind of [Champion] in question. Mage or priest equivalents are generally easier to handle once you get to them, as they¡¯re less physically powerful. The [Champion] we received reports of are nothing of the kind, though,¡± said the old knight. ¡°It was reported that the [Champion] was one of Ner¡¯vhok¡¯s, who rode a wild steed with expertise, and was very good with both the bow and the blade. None who fought against them managed to last long.¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°They already have a [Champion] in their third tier?¡± Ethan asked with some worry. ¡°Apparently that [Champion] was first seen at the last levels of their second tier, but quickly reached the third tier in battle that same day. They had been rampaging all around the frontline but never made themselves an easy target, so far,¡± said the old knight with another shake of his head. ¡°We have no reported sightings of the other three [Champions], which was what threw some suspicion on the matter. More worrisome is that many speculated that the [Champion] we face might well be a [Great Champion], given their prowess.¡± ¡°Damn it. They¡¯re going to be our problem soon, aren¡¯t they?¡± lamented Alissa as she rubbed her forehead with one hand. ¡°Pretty much. The King had asked for your party to be prepared as soon as possible as we would need your presence in the frontlines to counteract the [Champions] before long. The plans we had won¡¯t change. Next week your party will head for the dungeon up north to hit your third tier, which we expect you to do as soon as possible,¡± replied the old knight while nodding sagely and pouring himself a cup of strong tea. ¡°Please try to come out of that dungeon with as few casualties as possible. You will need every member of your party once the fighting gets serious.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try,¡± noted Ethan and Alissa both as they nodded at the old knight¡¯s words. The rest of the breakfast went quickly in a rather gloomy mood, and later that day, after their training, they prepared their equipment for the planned foray to the dungeon that would hopefully bring them up to their third tier. It was mostly a precaution, as the crafters at the castle already performed some maintenance on their equipment before that. They ¨C along with the rest of their party ¨C departed from the Royal Capital the first thing the next morning, surprisingly with less hanger-ons this time, just their usual chaperones. Even the harvesters would only follow after them later in the day, and there was nobody else attached to their group. Since haste was the order of the day, it would only be the twelve of them trying to clear the dungeon as fast as they possibly could and hopefully reaching their third tier in the process. The dungeon itself was located roughly a day¡¯s travel north of the capital, once again located in an underground complex of caverns. Unlike the first dungeon they went into, where the cavern was relatively smaller, the cavern complex this time was far larger, with many of the caverns easily large enough to house a village or a small town within. Right from the start, the three saw why they were told to carry some gear intended for climbing and rappelling, as some areas of the cavern were separated from the rest by sheer cliffs. Even in the first cavern, shortly after they entered, they had to rappel down a cliffside to access the rest of the dungeon and did so in groups. Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond actually covered them while they made their descent, the old knight apparently strong enough to just jump down the sheer cliff unaided, landing deftly despite being saddled with a fake leg, while the Magus slowly floated down as he used his magic to slow his descent. The two kept the lower area where they would descend into clear from obstructions and monsters. As for the descent itself, it was not something they trained for, but given the greater physical prowess that their higher stats allowed, Alissa and Ethan found it to be easier than they expected. At first they gripped the ropes tightly as they lowered themselves inch by inch, before they realized that it was far easier than they had expected. Once they were low enough, Alissa even skipped from outcropping to outcropping lightly, deliberately making use of her greater dexterity to keep her balance while doing so, until she alighted lightly on the ground below. She did keep the safety rope held in hand at all times, though, just in case she missed a step on the way down. Bronwen was the last of the party to climb down, and she did so without the safety rope, as it was her task to carry the rope down with her. Despite the increased danger, the woman climbed down with ease, as if her feet had eyes that easily found footholds beneath her, and it was not long before Bronwen joined the rest of the party at the bottom of the cliff. ¡°That was something,¡± praised Ethan. ¡°Did you do a lot of mountain climbing before?¡± ¡°I grew up in the mountains,¡± replied the woman with a smile. ¡°There we had to climb the mountain to get anywhere or do anything, so anyone who was born there would learn to climb to mountain before they¡¯d learn to walk,¡± she added with a serious tone, though the way some of the others laughed suggested it was a joke on her part. ¡°Seriously though, had I not become a [Temple Guard] I would have become a [Mountain Ranger] instead. That was one of my class choices back then.¡± ¡°It is a good class, that one, Dame Bronwen,¡± said Sir Inolet with a nod of affirmation in support of Bronwen¡¯s words. ¡°Many of the Kingdom¡¯s finest scouts were [Mountain Rangers] from that region as well. They were unparalleled as mountaineers go, as Dame Bronwen here had just shown us with her feats.¡± Alissa, Ethan, and even Joshua nodded at Sir Inolet¡¯s explanation. They had descended the cliff safely with no training mostly due to their improved stats. Even most of the rest of the party did the same, as they relied on their stats to ease their way down the cliff. It was nothing like the easy familiarity Bronwen showed as she climbed down the cliff while carrying the bundle of safety rope with her. It was obvious that the woman could have climbed down that same cliff, with the same weight, as a young child, without much issue, relying only on meager stats and what passives a first-tier child could have. In fact, considering that Bronwen joined the temple and became a [Temple Guard], she was likely relying on learned skills from back in her childhood days to make that descent so easily. ¡°All right, you¡¯re all here, safe, and nobody stupidly died by falling off the cliff. A good start,¡± said Sir Inolet with a slight smile on his wizened face. ¡°Now you all need to get to work. There¡¯s your playmates for the upcoming week or so,¡± he added nonchalantly even as he made a wide, sweeping gesture with one hand. Further in the cavern, Alissa noted how several mounds of what she had thought as rocks as first began to move and shake, transforming ¨C or rather, unfolding ¨C into animalistic shapes before their eyes. It had not taken a genius to put two and two together to realize that those ¡°piles of rock¡± were none other than the monsters that inhabited the dungeon they were in. 84 - Strength in Unity At first glance, Alissa thought that the monsters before her looked decidedly odd. They looked like sentient piles of rocks in vaguely animalistic shapes, with no two looking exactly alike, but for some reason when she tried to check them out with [Analysis] all the results she got was a stinging headache, and [A Critical Eye] did not show her any notable weakness other than obvious ones, namely the gaps between the rocks. The beasts look rather ponderous, and neither a thrown javelin from Benedictus nor an arrow from Osmond seemed to bother them. Joshua also chose to be conservative and tried hurling some stone lances at them, but the beasts appeared to not only shrug off his attack, but even incorporated it into their form after a short pause. ¡°Hate it when the noobs don¡¯t know the obvious shit like not attacking the clearly stony creatures with earth magic,¡± muttered Ethan as he hefted his shield in one hand and firmly held his pollax in the other. He stood at the front together with Bronwen and Glenn and formed a line, prepared to face off against the approaching creatures. When the creatures struck, their blows were rather slow and ponderous, easy enough for the three to deflect or block, creating openings for the others to strike through. Alissa and the others naturally struck as they made use of those openings, as their various weapons sliced and stabbed at the rocky creatures, many hitting between two rocks. Despite their blows, however, the creatures made no obvious sign of pain, or any reaction for that matter, and kept attacking violently, if rather ponderously. From time to time, Alissa could see what looked like strands of orange-purple muscle fibers between the stones, which she assumed were part of the creature¡¯s flesh. As such, she tried to strike at those sections more often. Twelve of them working together was more than what four of the beasts could handle, as the party kept piling on more and more punishments on the rocky beasts. It was a rather eerie fight, however, where there was nary a sound to be heard. No bellows or screeches of pain from the beasts, even as the party slowly but surely dismembered them one bit at a time. All that accompanied the noise of their weapons striking either stone or flesh was the grunts of the party itself, which made the atmosphere feel odd. Joshua experimented with various types of magic as he shot weaker spells towards one of the beast one after another, only to find to his dismay that most of them were equally ineffective at best against them. Lightning seemed to work best, but it was also the most draining element for him to use, and he needed to land a blow precisely on the ¡°muscle¡± for it to work well at all. It took the twelve of them a good quarter hour until finally the last of the rocky beasts stopped moving and crumbled before them. Around that time, everyone in the party felt a sudden headache and had to steady themselves, as what sounded like thousands of system notification sounds chimed in absurdly rapid succession in their minds. ¡°What the¡­ Fuck!?¡± cursed Alissa after the headache subsided. She had taken a look at her system notifications and saw a line which was not what she had expected. You have defeated Part of [Colony of Myriad Strands Lvl45]! You have gained bonus experience for defeating an enemy of a higher level than yourself! You gain less experience for defeating an enemy with the help of others! Instead of the typical notification though, the message repeated itself thousands of times, and even as she rapidly scrolled down she saw the notification change every now and then in the level, as apparently each of the rocky beasts they took down were part of this [Colony of Myriad Strands], whatever it was. The experience each of them gave was miniscule, but there were so many that the party had gained probably more than if they had taken on four beasts around that level range instead. ¡°What is this?¡± Alissa asked once more as she tried to make sense of what she was reading in her notifications. The rest of the party seemed equally confused, with a couple of them turning over bits of the dead creatures with their weapons and trying to study it in their curiosity. It was not until Magus Drummond walked to one of the ¡°corpses¡± that they received an answer, though. ¡°This,¡± said Magus Drummond, almost intentionally prolonging that one syllable as he prodded the dead beast with the narrower tip of his staff and pulled out what looked like a bunch of muscle fibers that almost looked far too fine to be that. ¡°Is the true identity of the most hated dungeon creature known in the Kingdom as a whole.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°These are what you have been fighting all along. Not the rocks. Those were probably just laying around until they were grabbed and incorporated into a large colony of these things,¡± elaborated the Magus further, slightly shaking his staff to show how the strands were actually a collection of very fine, separate thread-like things, each roughly a finger in length. ¡°These are parts of the [Colony of Myriad Strands] you just fought against, and the actual monsters of this dungeon.¡± ¡°What are these things? Worms of some kind?¡± asked Ethan as he approached closer for a better look. Joshua had also wordlessly approached and corrected the position of his glasses with a finger as he peered closer at the dead creatures. They were so small and fine that it was difficult for either of them to notice any particular detail about them. ¡°Nobody has managed to confirm one way or another, Mister Greene,¡± replied the old Magus as he dropped the thread-like creatures from his staff to the ground. ¡°All we know for certain is that there are probably countless of these things in this dungeon, they are practically everywhere, which is troublesome, as their presence prevents the Kingdom from extracting the precious ores this dungeon always contains.¡± ¡°On their own, these things are harmless and unable to do anything much at all. However, they gain some sort of animalistic instinct and intelligence when many of them are grouped together. The more of them were gathered together, the greater the intelligence. In such groups, they typically attach themselves to all sorts of objects, fallen branches, stones, even things like discarded weapons and armor, manipulating them by concerted effort with their bodies acting as the muscle for whatever they attached themselves to.¡± ¡°What about the headache and¡­ deluge of notifications that came after we killed them? Was that supposed to happen?¡± asked Alissa. ¡°There were actually many theories about why that happened, but the most commonly accepted one was simply because there were too many of these things to the point that the system could not process them promptly and instead stacked everything up until the ¡®creature¡¯ they formed died for good before unloading everything at once.¡± ¡°My own personal theory is that while these¡­ things were acting in unison, they were considered as one being, and as such, you only received the notification of their defeat after you killed the ¡®being¡¯ itself, not when you just killed some parts of it,¡± continued the old magus. ¡°Part of both theories might be correct, as like right now, people have killed multiple of these in the past and yet only received the notifications after all of them were dead.¡± ¡°Why do you think that happens, Master?¡± asked Joshua respectfully to the old Magus. ¡°Hard to say, but my best guess is that some bits of one beast might not be dead yet and ran over to another of the creatures and merged with them, which eventually made all of them be considered one creature as a whole,¡± speculated Magus Drummond. ¡°Either way, you all know what to expect now, so you should be prepared in the upcoming fights you will face later on.¡± ¡°Anything we have to watch out for in particular deeper in the dungeon, Sir?¡± asked Nadine from the side. ¡°The forms these things take get more¡­ complex the more there are of them in a single gathering. Those you face on the early caverns will mostly be like the ones we faced just now, simple and animalistic mimicry of other animals,¡± replied the old Magus. ¡°The ones deeper in tend to come in larger gatherings, higher levels, and have both more complex forms and thought processes. They are more clever, so do not expect the fighting to remain simple for too long.¡± ¡°Understood, Sir. We will keep that in mind.¡± The party continued their trek towards the other end of the cavern. The cavern¡¯s size meant that there was quite a bit of distance and terrain to overcome, notwithstanding the monster attacks that were more frequent than what any of them had expected. They had only walked for barely fifteen minutes before another group of six rocky monsters ¨C though one was half-mixed with chunks of rotten wood and was thus much easier to dispatch ¨C accosted them. By the second fight, the party had a much better idea on how to handle their foes, and dispatched of the six creatures in barely ten minutes. They still held back their skills for the most part, as they had realized how the dungeon would likely be a longer-term slog compared to the ones they had been in previously. The lack of a single, large target to focus on also made many of their skills less useful in the fighting. Although the party had prepared themselves for it, the onrush of notifications still gave them headaches that nearly toppled them over, though fortunately no creature was nearby to take advantage of that moment of disorientation. As such, they took a short rest after each fight to shake off the effects of the notification flood each of them painfully experienced before they continued on. Another group of seven beasts attacked them not twenty minutes after that, forcing the party into another fight which they won handily, but also forced them to take another break. The more beasts they faced, the worse the headache and disorientation they experienced got, and Alissa understood all too well why the Kingdom¡¯s adventurers hated these creatures so much. As a result of the delays from the constant fights and the rest periods they mandated to shake off the aftereffects of the notification floods, it took the party more than half a day of travel before they finally reached the end of the first cavern, where the narrow passage which led to the second cavern of the dungeon lay. There was just one tiny ¨C or rather, not so tiny ¨C problem. Namely that there was something Ethan would have gleefully called a floor boss right in the vicinity of said passage. Compared to the beasts ¨C or rather, colonies of creatures ¨C they fought so far, the beast that awaited them by the passage was a true behemoth. It stood a good twenty feet at the ¡°shoulder¡±, and was probably half again as long, its outer surface composed from things ranging from smaller branches and rocks to man-sized boulders and entire trees that had been uprooted and incorporated into its form. At a glance from a distance, some people might mistake it for some sort of oddly lumpy pachyderm, or an overgrown, particularly hideous warthog, but up close, there was no mistaking the massive colony of thread-like creatures for what they are, as many of the pieces they attached themselves to were so large that visible gaps were present on its surface, allowing people to see the countless squirming threads underneath. Of course, the beast noticed the party¡¯s presence once they were close enough and turned to face them, making a threatening, almost lifelike gesture despite the facade of stone and wood it projected. Everyone in the party frowned as they knew they were in for a hard fight that would end rather painfully for them no matter how well they did. With a somewhat exasperated sigh, Alissa unlimbered her spear and held it steady, raising her shield with the other hand. She knew that there was only one thing left to do at that point of time, and that was to fight. 85 - Against the Behemoth ¡°How are we supposed to deal with this thing!?¡± yelled Alissa as she leapt aside just in time to avoid getting rushed by one of the behemoth¡¯s ¡°limbs¡±, one tipped with a boulder larger around than a person was tall. The impact of the blow caused a small crater to form where she used to be, and would have pulverized her without a doubt. While the behemoth-like amalgamation of the thread-like creatures that awaited them at the end of the first cavern was no nimbler than its lesser brethren, its massive size and mass gave it a lot more power, power that it knew how to use as it attempted to crush the party beneath its gigantic limbs. So far they had discovered that only Ethan and Bronwen could even afford to block a direct hit, as Glenn was injured quite a bit from the attempt. Its size also meant that the vast majority of the damage they had done to it had only been a mere drop in the ocean, as the creature kept flailing around wildly regardless of how they cut and pierced through the mass of thread-like beings that composed its ¡°flesh¡± and ¡°muscles. It was almost as if the thing was composed of an infinite amount of them, as new ones simply took over the place of the ones that the party managed to kill off. The party had already used their buffs, as well as their offense skills, but it all seemed to be of no avail against the behemoth, which just took the best they had to offer and kept coming. Joshua had already withdrawn temporarily from the fight and was chugging down some foul-tasting potions that helped regenerate his mana in the back, as he had already exhausted most of his mana in a prior assault. That magical barrage had been the most damaging result they had seen the behemoth suffer from thus far, as it had severed one of its limbs. As such, it was a rather despairing sight to see the beast just casually extend another part of itself and reclaim its severed limb like it was nothing, the only evidence of the damage it took was how the limb was now somewhat shorter, as well as the hundreds or more of burnt thread-like corpses strewn where it had fallen previously. None of their other offensive skills did much to the beast. None of them had the right sort of skillset to deal with so many tiny, insignificant targets like what formed the body of the behemoth before them, other than Joshua to an extent, and he was already running low as it was. At the moment all the party was doing was to try to keep the behemoth under control while they whittled at it while waiting for Joshua to return. Alissa herself still had one skill under her belt that she had yet to use, but she could not see any way that skill would be useful at the moment. If they were fighting one creature, even one as large as the behemoth they were fighting, as long as it had vital points then she could probably use that new skill she learned only a few hours ago to good use. Given the opponent they were saddled with, though, the skill in question did not feel that useful at the moment. ¡°Beats me!¡± yelled Ethan back even as he hopped backward to reduce the impact from blocking one of the behemoth¡¯s blows so that Osmond behind him could get away in time. He had switched his shield for a sturdier one on their last return to the royal capital, which was fortunate, as his old shield would have likely shattered into pieces by now. ¡°Maybe we just keep chipping away at it until it dies!?¡± ¡°Something like poison or diseases would handle these creatures easily,¡± volunteered Sir Inolet from the backlines where he was seated on the ground, cross-legged, while munching on some dried meat jerky as he watched the party fight. The old knight had not raised his voice, yet somehow made himself perfectly audible to them anyway. ¡°Too bad none of you took that sort of path or prepared that sort of thing, huh?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll- oof! Keep that in mind the next time!¡± replied Ethan as he was sent flying from a follow-up blow he failed to take perfectly. The blow wasn¡¯t enough to injure him seriously, thanks to his powerful physique, which was an effect of his Body-focused build, but it did knock the breath out of him for a moment. ¡°Any chance we can go back out and prepare some cyanide or rat poison or anything to take care of these things after this!?¡± ¡°Fat chance, Mister Greene,¡± said Magus Drummond in answer, though the old Magus definitely sounded amused when he said that. ¡°If it will help relieve you, the higher level creatures of this dungeon are generally smaller in size, as the colony wove themselves tighter together at that point. Something like this is only encountered within the first two caverns, and even then rarely.¡± ¡°Not helping since it¡¯s what we have to deal with!¡± snarled Ethan back as he tried to chop off some of the threads on one of the creature¡¯s limbs with his pollax. His blow struck deep and severed dozens of the thread-like creatures in half, but it did not seem to bother the beast in the least. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Alissa could tell that the chaperones were taking it easy at the back, more amused than anything at the way the party struggled to deal with the behemoth. She somewhat understood why, as the beast was indeed a bit too cumbersome to make itself a true threat for the party¡¯s well-being, even for the ones who were mortal. That said, she couldn¡¯t help but feel annoyed when she looked at them relaxing while everyone was fighting hard, though. ¡°Throw us a line, Sirs,¡± she said after she lunged in to stab at an opening and immediately leap back to avoid a counterblow from the behemoth. Even without the buffs ¨C all of which had expired by then ¨C the party could keep up with the behemoth just fine, though if they were to whittle it down the way they have been doing the past hour or so, it would take them all day to finish it off. ¡°Are there any vital parts to this thing? Otherwise we¡¯ll be here until tomorrow!¡± ¡°Finally, someone asking the right questions!¡± praised Magus Drummond from the back. Alissa realized when the Magus said those words that the party had been trapped in a fallacy of their own making, as they had always just whittled down all the beasts they ran into and never considered if the same would have applied to this larger behemoth or not. ¡°So there are vital parts to this thing?¡± she asked once more as she slightly withdrew from the fighting to ensure that she did not miss out a word from the answer. ¡°Not in the sense of it dying when you hit the part, but similar enough, yes,¡± said Magus Drummond with a satisfied nod. ¡°For the rare case of so many of them grouping up together to this size, their limited intelligence could not handle it, so a group of them would basically join together and function as the ¡®brain¡¯ for the entire colony. If you can damage this group enough, it would cause the beast to fall apart into several smaller beasts, which should be far easier to handle.¡± ¡°And where would that ¡®brain¡¯ of theirs be located?¡± she queried even while avoiding a wild swipe from the behemoth. ¡°Typically, it would be in the deepest and safest part of the congregation, right in the very center,¡± said Magus Drummond, at which point Alissa¡¯s face fell. ¡°It¡¯s exactly what you think, Miss O¡¯Connor. You would have to dig your way into the center of the beast somehow to have a chance of harming the ¡®brain¡¯, so it¡¯s a matter easier said than done.¡± ¡°I can do it,¡± said Joshua suddenly as he stood up and looked at the beast with annoyance. ¡°O¡¯Connor! Can you get me right next to the bloody thing¡¯s body? I need to be right against it for what I have in mind to work.¡± ¡°How certain are you, Smith?¡± asked Alissa back at him. It was probably the first time Joshua talked to them out of his own initiative in months, so it was something that caught her by surprise. ¡°If it¡¯s right at the center, I should have enough power to at least disrupt that ¡®brain¡¯ master mentioned!¡± Joshua replied. ¡°Can¡¯t do it from too far, though.¡± ¡°Better than nothing, I guess,¡± admitted Alissa who ran over to where Joshua was and lowered herself. ¡°Climb on. Worst case, we both get squished and [Respawn] anyway.¡± ¡°Try not to get us squished until after I fry that thing¡­ please.¡± Alissa had to hold back a snort at his words as she carried Joshua on her back and ran back towards the behemoth. Joshua focused heavily on his Mind stats, so he was nowhere near as physically capable as Alissa or Ethan was, who had builds that focused on their Body more. Even carrying him behind her back with his legs clinging around her waist felt like she only shrugged on a backpack for school. ¡°How are you planning to get me next to it?¡± she heard Joshua ask as they got close. The others naturally noticed their approach as well, and some glanced at her questioningly. ¡°Just watch,¡± said Alissa as she quietly mouthed the name of her new skill. ¡°[Moment of Truth]!¡± Immediately after the skill activated, the world all around her, as well as everyone else, seemed to suddenly slow to a crawl. Alissa herself did not move any faster, but she perceived the world so much faster that everything felt horribly slow to her senses. It gave her plenty of time to read the movements of the behemoth and make her decision. With deft footsteps, she leapt on top of one of the behemoth¡¯s limbs as it swung at her, stopping there only for a brief moment before she jumped higher and stabbed her spear into a wooden log that was part of the behemoth¡¯s ¡°skin¡±, then used it as a handhold to pull herself and Joshua higher up and closer towards the creature¡¯s main ¡°body¡±. She used similarly acrobatic movements to avoid the parts of the behemoth that squirmed out and tried to grab at her or Joshua, reacting at speeds so far beyond what was normally possible to the point that she looked as if she was moving away before the behemoth even made its move. Within five seconds, she climbed up the beast¡¯s limb and landed on top of a large boulder next to an opening that showed the behemoth¡¯s inner body, just the sort of place Joshua asked her to bring him to earlier. Her skill also expired right at that moment, which allowed her to hear Joshua rapidly chanting multiple skills in succession right next to her ear even as he slammed both of his hands against the squirming ¡°flesh¡± of the behemoth. ¡°[Spell Combination]! [Mana Overload]! [Overcharge: 200%]! [Lens of Focus]! [Incarnation of Elements: Bolt of Lightning]!¡± The next moment, a dazzling brightness made Alissa close her eyes as it nearly blinded her, the sizzling sound typical of an electrical discharge buzzing around her ears. She felt the boulder she was standing on buck like a wild horse, throwing her and Joshua into the air, but even while temporarily blinded, she managed to rely on her instincts to not only hold Joshua tightly in place against her back, but also to land on her feet. It was a rather hard landing that forced Alissa to her knees, but not something that seriously bothered her. She blinked her eyes to clear the blotches of light that still covered part of it only to see the behemoth squirming like mad, with a deep hole burnt clean on its side, right where she and Joshua were standing moments ago. Before long, the beast broke apart into ten smaller beasts, and the party chopped them apart as they vented their frustrations on the creatures. LXXXVI - A Lone Headstone Deep within the dense, dangerous forests that covered the eastern tip of the continent, a place smack-dab in the center of the belt of uninhabited territory where the wilderness had taken over so much that neither human nor demon deemed it worth the effort to attempt to tame and inhabit the land, stood a single, unmarked grave marker. The headstone was a rough one, crudely formed out of stone to roughly resemble the sort of headstones often used to mark graves, On its flatter ¡°front¡± were crude carvings that resembled letters at a close inspection, ones detailing seven names, names of people who had lost their lives to misfortune and carelessness in their attempt to cross the forest. Around that headstone, placed in the middle of a rather large clearing, there was usually little activity. The prey animals that inhabit the region, which was the outer layer of a dungeon, mostly stayed away from the headstone due to the dense aura of death around it, which in turn meant that the arachnoid monsters that inhabit the dungeon also mostly steered clear of that area. That day, the headstone was not alone, though, as over twenty people had set up camp in a protective way around it. It was naturally Esperanza¡¯s group, together with Ani and the warriors that had volunteered to join their cause from Agur-Bas. The twenty-one of them chose the clearing where they had buried the people they lost on the trip as the place where they would set their base camp for this expedition, partly because of sentiments, and partly because the Progenies had vowed that they wished to transition into their third tiers in the presence of their lost friends, as a gesture to indicate how they would never forget them. Esperanza and Belug-ur¡¯ani had naturally discussed about it, and Esperanza even asked Oldies whether that was a good idea or not. In the end, all the information they received, even from Oldies themselves, indicated that there should be no negative effects for doing such a thing, and that for all they knew, it might well trigger some sort of feat recognized by the system. Ani even related an anecdote she heard from one of the aquatic residents of Agur-Bas on how someone from the underwater village near them once lost a brother to a wild beast and had hunted down said beast, turning it into a sacrifice on their brother¡¯s gravesite, who received a rather unusual class on their next tier because of it. In general, ¡°unusual¡± classes would be more rare, and rarer classes tend to be more powerful in the world, as far as Ani knew. Esperanza herself noted such a tendency, with the more uniquely named classes generally meaning more power. As such, both of them agreed that it wouldn¡¯t hurt to let the progenies do as they wished in this matter. After all, Oldies had not prohibited them from doing it either. From their base camp near the headstone, the group would make forays deeper into the dungeon. Esperanza and Ani had convinced the progenies that they should aim to get their third tiers first, before making an attempt to delve even deeper and clear the dungeon. The beasts in the inner regions of the dungeon were higher in level, with some even in their fourth tiers, so while the progenies had powerful classes, they still lacked the power to tangle with those. Instead, they confined themselves to delves into the outer regions, where the enemies were mid third tier at most. It was somewhat slow going, with Esperanza leading the Progenies ¨C and Iryl ¨C out to hunt every morning along with Ani and five of her warriors guarding them, in the off chance that they ran into something they couldn¡¯t handle on their own. Though Esperanza approved of the safety precautions, she did remember how taking down an enemy a higher tier above themselves was a very good feat in terms of the quality of classes that its recipients would have to choose from on their next tier. While the Progenies were nearly guaranteed to have options that would be good by most standards, when given the choice, they still chose to take on such a challenge. Naturally, in their case the ¡°challenge¡± in question wasn¡¯t about taking on a monster that was a tier above themselves. They had already done that many times even in their first trip through the forest. They were going another step above that, with the intent to tackle a beast two whole tiers above them. Esperanza herself had done the same, back when she tackled a third tier beast in her first tier. The Progenies wanted nothing less, so searching for a relatively weaker and lower leveled fourth tier monster also became part of their agenda while they were out on delves. Fortunately Legisvula, Dali, and Gordy were well-suited for such a task, as they could often scout around in relative safety. Esperanza herself could do the same, keeping herself hidden, though she lacked corresponding skills that would allow her to notice things better like Legisvula had. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Even so, the hunting was mostly a smooth one all considered. The arachnoids they ran into in the outer regions were mostly ranging from the late thirties to the low fifties, creatures of a level they had faced before. Between their now higher level, better teamwork, improved armor and weaponry, and familiarity with their opponents, the progenies generally made short work of those monsters without much fuss. Val-Kas¡¯j used his polearm and short spear to bully his way through most monsters in his path by brute force, his power growing to the point that he could match the physically stronger monsters in a test of strength, if only for brief periods of time. His class was clearly one that developed his physicality in the direction of power above all else. By contrast, where Val-Kas¡¯j charged through his enemies like a raging bull, Tiesya could be seen moving in such a way that she almost seemed to be dancing while she fought off the monsters near her. The girl moved with such grace and dexterity between attacks aimed her way, the blades in her hand parrying and deflecting those she could not avoid. Like Val-Kas¡¯j, she also had a build that focused on the Body, though likely more towards Dexterity in her case. Nalihimatu, with his heavy armor and large shield, completed the trio, as like them he too had a path that focused on the body, albeit one based on his Constitution instead. He served as the defender of the group, relying on both his armor and his natural durability ¨C those of his race were always more naturally durable ¨C to block blows that would have sent others reeling behind their force. Unlike the three, Legisvula, while having high dexterity as well, also spread his build somewhat towards the Mind aspect, as his stealth and scouting skills somewhat relied on them. He was nowhere as powerful as the three, but was far harder to locate or catch, which made him a great scout and a decent assassin who could target the more important foes first. Ilavakide had a more balanced Body-focused build, with an emphasis on strength ¨C unlike what most modern media in Esperanza¡¯s former world often suggested, one needed strength in order to wield a bow properly ¨C as she was focused wholly on the bow. Her archery had grown better as the young girl never stopped training even when they were relaxing in Agur-Bas. Resitia had a more unusual build, as she seemed to split her stats between Body ¨C which gained more ¨C and Soul. Apparently a lot of her skills were based off her Soul stat, but since she wielded a spear, she also needed a good Body stat in order to be able to fight well in melee. Without her skills in play, she was a weaker fighter compared to Val or Tiesya, but with them, she could deliver the most damage in one blow out of all the progenies. As for Dai¡¯Vasy, she focused more on the Mind, as was common for mages, apparently. Mages were pretty rare in the world they were in, and while some of the elders in Agur-Bas had classes related to it, there wasn¡¯t a combat class mage around that could help teach the young girl about her gifts, so she mostly had to find her path going forward on her own. Fortunately, a couple of the warriors under Belug-ur¡¯ani had skills that relate to the Mind stat and could serve as examples for her to learn from, in a way. Mel-Ivas had a build that was heavy on the Soul, which was also apparently common for healers. The girl was an effective healer, but at times, she felt like she was a burden for the others, as she had to be protected due to her lacking fighting abilities. If those frustrations kept happening, Ani said that it was likely for the girl to receive a class that was more like a combat medic on her later tiers. Esperanza herself was a bit torn, as on one hand, it would be safer for the girl to stay at the back, yet on the other hand, if she could defend herself she would by default be safer when she was under attack. Over the first week and a half of their return to the arachnoid dungeon, the group spent every day hunting and slaughtering arachnoids to increase their levels. Unlike their previous experience, they slept soundly at night this time around, as some of Ani¡¯s warriors took up the watch, and the experienced warriors were more than capable enough of dealing with what few beasts bothered them at night. The progenies started rotating and helping those who were less capable of fighting on their own like Mel-Ivas and Iryl to get more kills when the ones who fought directly found themselves straying ahead of the pack. Their efforts allowed them to keep their leveling at a roughly even pace, even if it made them have to fight harder, as disabling a monster was often harder than outright killing it. With some help from Esperanza where needed, they managed to keep it up, regardless. Eventually, everyone in the group hit their nineteenth level. They then slowly leveled further over the rest of the second week until everyone could feel that they were close to their twentieth level, as in the start of the third tier, and they enacted the plan they had in mind, one feat and challenge they wished to tackle before they become third tiers. Namely to find and hunt down a fourth tier monster on their own. Esperanza and Legisvula had already scouted out a target for that purpose several days before that point, an [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] that led a small swarm of its fellow arachnoids, which roamed its territory a few hours away further into the forest than where the group camped up. Their plan was to have Ani and her warriors help out a bit by drawing away some of the creature¡¯s swarm, before the progenies, Esperanza, and Iryl would go in and take on the creature itself. They cautiously made their way towards the monster¡¯s territory on the morning of the day, until they stopped just a short distance outside the region the creature claimed. Esperanza, Iryl, the progenies, and even her dogs hid themselves atop some trees near the bend of a small river, while Ani led four of her fellows into the monster¡¯s territory, where they then proceeded to make noise to lure the creature in. Sure enough, before too long the angry buzzing noise of the creatures became audible as they rushed towards the disturbance they felt in their territory. Ani and her warriors lured the swarm out, towards where Esperanza and the rest were hidden, before the fourth tier warrior made her move. Belug-ur¡¯ani slammed the butt end of her spear against the ground, and a deluge of water suddenly flowed out from the nearby river, forming a wall that cut off most of the swarm from the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], which was left with only five arachnoids. Ani and her warriors immediately went to work and started cutting down the trapped arachnoids, while Esperanza and the others descended from their hiding spot and started to engage the queen. LXXXVII - Tribute to the Departed The [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] was powerful. This particular one did not fly like the [Fledgling Arachnoid Queens] Esperanza had fought before, which was part of the reason the group eventually settled on choosing it as their prey in the first place, as a flying fourth tier monster would have probably been difficult for them to handle at all. In exchange for its inability to fly, however, the monster was a lot more durable and powerful than they had expected. Despite its limbs looking rather thin and fragile, the queen¡¯s arms ¨C it had six thin three-segmented arms that ended in three-fingered claws ¨C brutally sheared through trees like they were nothing more than grass, which meant that it would have done the same to the bodies of just about anyone around. Fortunately it was Esperanza herself who took up the risky task of occupying the creature while everyone else took care of its five companions. After all, none of the others had expendable lives like her, since she would just [Respawn] in the worst case. Of course, she was doing her damndest to stay alive and keep the beast occupied with her so it wouldn¡¯t attack the other, something she was fortunately good at. Esperanza kept her body in a mostly amorphous shape, as that way she could minimize the damage she took when the claws ended up grazing her from time to time. She didn¡¯t try to attack or injure the queen as much as she focused on annoying the thing, thus keeping its attention firmly upon her, while its companions were being dispatched by the progenies. The remaining eleven members of the group ¨C including Dali and Gordy ¨C took on the five arachnoids that had been with the queen. Those five monsters were in their fifties level-wise, but the stronger progenies were capable of handling that level of enemies mostly on their own by that point. Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya did just that as they each took on an arachnoid on their own. To handle the other three arachnoids, the rest of the progenies teamed up, Nalihimatu kept the most aggressive one at bay while Ilavakide and Dai¡¯Vasy bombarded it from range. Dali kept a slower one distracted while Legisvula took the openings presented to get his hits in. Gordy directly faced off with the last one, keeping it away so Resitia could attack it with impunity, while Mel-Ivas and Iryl tried to support them the best they could. Unsurprisingly, the arachnoid Gordy and Resitia were fighting against was the first to die, as a stab from the girl caused the monster to pause briefly. It was a moment too long, though, as Gordy took that opportunity to clamp her jaws around the arachnoid¡¯s head and brutally tore it right off its body in a spray of ichor. Mel-Ivas immediately tended to their worst injuries, as the two rushed off to help the others. Resitia headed to where Nalihimatu¡¯s group was fighting, while Gordy sped off towards the one Dali and Legisvula were keeping occupied. Their addition quickly turned the tides of those battles, as Gordy barreled into the side of the arachnoid, which allowed Dali and Legisvula to inflict heavier injuries on it. Similarly, Resitia¡¯s help sped up the pace at which Nalihimatu¡¯s group wore down their opponent, and before long, both the arachnoids were dead, which allowed everyone else to help Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya out. It took only a couple minutes more before the remaining arachnoids were dead and Mel-Ivas had healed the worst of everyone¡¯s injuries, before they turned to face the queen that Esperanza had been keeping occupied all the while. It was a completely different beast to all the other arachnoids they had faced in the dungeon so far. As the progenies rushed to her aid, one of the queen¡¯s arms swiped towards them, and Nalihimatu stepped forward with his shield to take the blow and cover the others. He was almost thrown airborne from the force of the hit, only managing to stabilize himself after taking many steps back. His shield-arm was numb, and there were deep claw marks on his shield, which was a sight that made all the rest halt their rush and take a bit of a distance. They realized all too well that if a blow could push Nalihimatu back that far, then chances are such a blow would instantly kill most of them. Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya might be able to block it to an extent, but none of the others had that confidence. As a result, only Nalihimatu, Val-Kas¡¯j, and Tiesya rushed closer together with Dali and Gordy ¨C whose ¡°lives¡± were tied to Esperanza and as such could practically [Respawn] as well, though through a different way ¨C while the others stayed outside the reach of the queen. Everyone in the back pulled out ranged weapons that they had prepared for such a case. Ilavakide naturally just used her bow, while Resitia drew from a pack of javelins hidden nearby. Legisvula and Iryl also brought out bows, which they had some training with, though not to the extent of Ilavakide who had skills to further support her, while Dai¡¯Vasy supported them with what magic she managed to conjure. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. With the addition of others helping her to occupy the queen, Esperanza managed to take a quick breather to allow Mel-Ivas to heal her worst injuries before she jumped back into the fray. Val-Kas¡¯j and Nalihimatu were occupying the beast¡¯s attention as best they could at the moment, but they were forced to give ground continuously by its fierce attacks. Tiesya managed to stick closer to the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], as she relied on her agility to avoid what hits she could, and deflected those she couldn¡¯t avoid completely. Even so, her blades only inflicted wounds that were little more than scratches on the queen, which led to the creature mostly ignoring her. Dali and Gordy tried to bite the legs of the creature to reduce its mobility, but they found a hard time getting close enough before the queen used its other legs to kick or stomp at them, or even swiped at them with an arm. It clearly felt more threat from the two compared to the progenies, and had been far warier against them as a result. When Esperanza returned to the fray, however, she gained the queen¡¯s attention mostly to herself once more. Esperanza had discovered early on that the queen¡¯s body was very tough, her bladed limbs ¨C the most potent offensive method she had ¨C mostly leaving only shallow cuts on its carapace. To her surprise, however, the small dagger that Avalanusi gave her way back in Navef managed to cut deeper into the queen¡¯s flesh. Of course, because of its small size, the damage it could do was limited. Still, it was a better option for Esperanza to use compared to anything else she had, so she focused on attacking with the dagger instead of using her body. While she mostly kept her body amorphous, it was more for evasion, as it was easier for her to simply shift away parts of her body compared to moving like a human. Her right ¡°arm¡± had also elongated to great lengths, like a long, slender tentacle that held the dagger at its end. The distraction she caused, helped by the progenies also pushing harder at that moment, finally allowed Dali and Gordy to clamp their jaws around the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61]¡¯s rearmost legs. Dali aimed for the lowest joint in the limb and immediately yanked away to avoid an incoming claw, his teeth leaving the joint shredded and barely usable. On the opposite side, Gordy allowed herself to be kicked away, without ever letting go of the limb she had bitten into. As a result, the force of the kick ended up tearing the rear leg of the queen off at the joint. Hobbled by the sudden loss of two of her legs, the queen faltered for a moment, which allowed Esperanza to use some of her other ¡°limbs¡± to hold one of its arms in place before she used her dagger to scythe through the arm¡¯s joint, eventually shearing the arm off while taking a couple rakes from the other arms the queen had on that side of the body. The loss of three limbs made it harder for the queen to fight back effectively, and before long Dali and Gordy returned to harry its legs once more. While it was distracted by them, Nalihimatu and Tiesya pinned one of its arms on the other side to the ground, and Val-Kas¡¯j landed a mighty blow to cleave it off, reducing the queen to four arms. From there, the progenies worked together with Esperanza and her dogs to systematically dismember the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], one limb at a time. As the queen was reduced to two arms, they deemed it safe enough and the rest of the progenies joined the melee as well. It did not take them too long before the queen was reduced to a torso on top of two remaining legs that it could not even balance itself on. Even then the creature still tried to lunge and bite at anyone in range of its mandibles. After they removed the queen¡¯s last two legs, thereby denying the creature of any mobility ¨C though it could still somewhat move itself by wriggling and undulating its torso ¨C the progenies stabbed at the beast from its sides, where it could not fight back, while Esperanza climbed the queen¡¯s back and hacked at the back of its head using the dagger. Without any remaining limbs, the queen had no way to shake off its tormentors, and slowly but surely, the injuries on its body grew deeper, more serious, as the ichor that served as its lifeblood leaked out and splattered all over the place. Gordy and Dali were literally covered from head to tail with ichor as they forcefully tried to burrow their way into the queen¡¯s internal organs through its flesh. It was still a difficult workout, even with the queen no longer able to resist. The toughness of its flesh meant that the progenies had to chip away at it one bit at a time, while Esperanza, who was the only one who had a weapon that proved effective against the queen, was limited by the short blade of the dagger. Even so, the wounds they created accumulated over time. Eventually Esperanza managed to carve a deep enough hole in the back of the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61]¡¯s head that she reached a softer inner region where her flesh could match that of the queen¡¯s in toughness. She did not hesitate and converted her other arm into a tenebrous, toothed limb that she shoved roughly into that region and started to rip and tear wildly. All the while, she also noticed that her dagger was actually absorbing the queen¡¯s ichor. Esperanza had habitually ¡°fed¡± the dagger on the bodies of the beasts they ran across along their trip to Agur-Bas, as it was a very convenient way to drain the blood off a carcass, but near the end of that journey she found that the dagger had stopped absorbing blood from lower tier creatures. Now that it absorbed the queen¡¯s ichor ¨C what passed for its blood ¨C she realized that apparently the dagger had either grown spoiled, or simply had its fill of lower tier blood already. One way or another it meant that she would need to ¡°feed¡± it with blood from fourth tier creatures in the future. After much effort, the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] finally perished under their hands, and the group breathed a sigh of relief as they collapsed to the side, exhausted from the long and difficult fight followed by backbreaking hard work. Ani and her warriors also came out from behind the barrier Ani had made earlier and congratulated them on their feat. The group brought back the queen¡¯s badly damaged head with them, and placed it like an offering next to the headstone where they had buried their late friends as they gave some prayers. It was both a symbolic as well as a practical thing, as the presence of the severed head of such a predator would ensure that most creatures would veer away from the grave, leaving it undisturbed in the future. LXXXVIII - A Time for Choices Esperanza joined with the Progenies ¨C while Belug-ur¡¯ani and her warriors keep watch over their surroundings just in case ¨C for that silent moment of prayer, to offer her respects to those that she felt she had failed, those who lost their lives under her watch, because of a moment of negligence. Even though the others had assured her that it was not her fault, she couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty about their deaths. From time to time, she was haunted by hypothetical thoughts, ¡°what ifs¡± that might have changed the situation had she thought of it back at the time. She had been plagued with similar thought after the massacre at Navef too, but this particular loss ¨C and failing ¨C just felt far more personal to her, so she was far more bothered by it. Even as she knelt and prayed ¨C to Oldies, as she doubted the gods of her old world, if they even exist, were around where she was now ¨C she couldn¡¯t help but to fall back at the thought that she should have kept some guards by the defenseless children at all times during their run. It was overconfidence because no other group of arachnoids had ever tried to head their way once she and the progenies engaged them back then. Of course, none of the other groups had an [Arachnoid King] with them either. After the solemn moment, the progenies rose and shifted their position so they were seated cross-legged around the headstone instead of kneeling. All of them had been close to their final level of the second tier when they engaged the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61], and the fight had been enough to bring them all to their third tier, Esperanza included. Now it was only a matter of consolidating their gains, browsing through their class choices, and the hardest part of all, making that choice. All of them had consulted Ani and the older warriors in Agur-Bas about it, but the best advice they could give was to ¡°follow their hearts¡± and to ¡°choose what felt the most right for them¡± rather than anything concrete. As such, Esperanza decided to watch over the others first before looking at her own choices. She saw thoughtful looks on the faces of the progenies, who despite their matured appearance were all still children at heart. Some looked torn and unable to decide, while others looked somewhat surprised, probably having received choices they had not expected. Mel-Ivas was the first one to make her choice, though, a process that barely took a couple minutes, and right away, Esperanza noticed the change. There were no further changed to her physique, as the young girl remained looking how she was before the class change, but there was a discernible increase in the quality of her being, somehow, one that was noticeable if one looked closer. When Esperanza checked with [Soul Sight], she noticed that there were more purple threads wrapped around the soul of Mel-Ivas, with some of them even interlacing with each other, forming patterns over it. ¡°You¡¯ve made your choice already, big sis Mel?¡± asked Dai¡¯Vasy, who being the group¡¯s mage was closest to Mel-Ivas these days. ¡°Uh-huh,¡± said Mel-Ivas in affirmation as she nodded, a broad smile on her face. ¡°I got three normal choices, and two choices related to the Progenies of Yore. I picked [Progeny of Yore: The Bringer of Mercy] in the end. It¡¯s more of a combat medic class, as far as I can tell, while the other seemed to be like my current class but just better.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t take it too far with the combat part though, we still need you to patch us up after a fight. Can¡¯t do that if you¡¯re too busy patching yourself up,¡± commented Tiesya somewhat in jest from the side. ¡°That said, it would take a load off our shoulders if you can defend yourself as well, so that¡¯s a good thing.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t made your pick yet, big sister Tiesya?¡± replied Mel-Ivas. She was one of the youngest of the older children who were forcibly matured back then, so she still considered the others as her big brothers and sisters. Only Ilavakide and Dai¡¯Vasy were younger than her, for obvious reasons, while Legisvula was of the same age as she was. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a bit harder for me to make the call. I got three choices to pick from, one seems focused on offense and evasion, another fully devoted to defense, and the third¡¯s somewhat in between,¡± admitted Tiesya with a shake of her head. ¡°All of them felt right to me, so I haven¡¯t been able to decide which one to pick out of the three.¡± ¡°Same here,¡± said Val-Kas¡¯j as he raised a hand in solidarity. ¡°I got roughly a similar spread of choices as well, and none of them feel more correct than the others, so I¡¯m not sure which one I should be choosing, at least not at the moment.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I¡¯ll be ahead of you then, big bro,¡± commented Legivula with a chuckle. Esperanza noticed that the young boy had already made his choice, the same improvement in quality like what she noticed happening to Mel-Ivas repeating itself on his being. ¡°I went for [Progeny of Yore: Finder of Lost Paths] for my choice. You can leave the scouting in the future to me.¡± ¡°Would have thought that you¡¯d take a more¡­ what did the Messenger call it again? Assassiny thing?¡± noted Ilavakide as she scratched her head trying to remember the term Esperanza once mentioned in their talks. ¡°Still, congratulations either way.¡± ¡°Thanks, Ila,¡± replied Legisvula with a nod. ¡°This just felt more right to me, I guess.¡± ¡°Guess I shouldn¡¯t dally then,¡± said Dai¡¯Vasy as everyone noticed the change that happened to her. Now that it was the third time, the others also instantly noticed the signs of one of them undergoing the class change. ¡°I also had three to choose from like big bro and sis, but one always stood out more to me for some reason, so I went for it.¡± ¡°So what class did you get, Di?¡± asked Mel-Ivas. ¡°[Progeny of Yore: Mistress of Arcane Winter],¡± said the younger girl. ¡°My other choices had less¡­ what was that word again¡­ spec¡­ specialization, I think? They were more broadly defined, but this one¡­ I felt that it was just what I should be.¡± ¡°Always good to follow your heart,¡± mentioned Iryl with a smile. ¡°I think Di¡¯s choice helped me make my decision too,¡± noted Nalihimatu, who had his brows furrowed in concentration all the while before that. ¡°I¡¯ve chosen [Progeny of Yore: Stalwart Eternal Protector], so you all can leave the defending to me. I got a new skill that would allow me to cover everyone else, for that matter.¡± ¡°I got [Progeny of Yore: Shooter of the Magic Arrow]. Only got two choices, but it was hard to decide whether I would focus fully on just archery or take this path of combining magic with it,¡± admitted Ilavakide a moment after that. ¡°That last fight we had made me think it¡¯d not be a bad idea to get more options in the future, though. That thing was so tough my arrows could barely even pierce its shell.¡± ¡°Funny you mention that,¡± noted Resitia, who had been silent until then. Once again, the feeling of a class change and elevation to the third tier came amongst them, directly from her. ¡°I thought the same as you did, so I picked [Progeny of Yore: Unstoppable Soul Lancer] for mine. I also got skills that incorporate aspects of the Soul to my attacks now, to a further point than before.¡± Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya exchanged thoughtful glances with each other. The two of them were the oldest of the progenies, and had acted pretty much as the big brother and big sister for the others to somewhat rely on when Esperanza was not available. They were the only two left who hadn¡¯t made their choice and both of them seemed to have come to an understanding at that moment as they both made their choice practically simultaneously. ¡°So, what did you get, Val?¡± asked Tiesya. They were nearly the same age and had been friends prior to the exodus, so they were more relaxed between themselves. ¡°[Progeny of Yore: Warrior of the Equillibrium],¡± replied Val-Kas¡¯j with a nod and a smile. ¡°It¡¯s the more balanced option I got out of my three. I didn¡¯t feel like any of the others would suit me better, after hearing what all the others have already picked,¡± he added. ¡°What about you, Tis? Which one did you end up picking out of yours?¡± ¡°[Progeny of Yore: Dancing Blades of Carnage],¡± said Tiesya with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s my more offensive option, though since the skills I got from my second tier was mostly defensive, it ended up relatively more evened out overall, I guess. One of my defensive skills also evolved, so there¡¯s that too. It¡¯s a choice I¡¯m happy with, I would say.¡± ¡°Iryl, what about you? Have you made your choice yet?¡± asked Resitia, who had been close with Iryl from the time when they were still children in the village of Navef. That was probably partly because they were some of the few pureblooded humans that were left in the village, as most were of mixed heritage by then. ¡°Did you get something good?¡± ¡°[Avenger of the Lost],¡± replied Iryl somewhat quietly. ¡°It¡¯s got an unusual skill that lets me return whatever others had done to me back unto them, so that¡¯s one way I could do something now, I guess. Otherwise the class seems to be heavy on the defense rather than offense, at least as far as I could tell from what I saw so far.¡± ¡°Your second class was [Young Spearwielder] wasn¡¯t it?¡± Resitia queried once more. ¡°You still got some skills that help with offense from there, no?¡± ¡°Yeah, one of them also evolved. I just hope I can be less useless now, with this new class and the new skills to come¡­¡± ¡°You will be, Iry, Nobody is useless amongst us. Nobody.¡± Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but smile while she watched the progenies chat amongst themselves, even as she mentally took note of their new classes and what they could likely do with them. A couple of the choices had been somewhat unexpected, but not all of them. Mel-Ivas choosing a more combat medic route and Val-Kas¡¯j staying a balanced warrior was expected. She had not expected Nalihimatu to pick a fully defensive class as he seemed to be somewhat frustrated at only being able to defend without being able to attack effectively, similarly, Tiesya had looked comfortable in her defensive position back then, so her choosing a fully offensive class on her third tier was rather unexpected. The same applied to Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s choice to specialize, as she had shown herself able to use all sorts of elements before, even if she did favor ice more often than not. Esperanza had also thought that Legisvula might have wanted a more active role which a more assassin-like class would have offered, but he made the other choice instead. Ilavakide and Resitia¡¯s choice to diversify their available ways to hurt their targets due to the hard time they had against the [Immature Arachnoid Queen Lv61] was another that she had not expected, though in hindsight it was a pretty wise choice overall. Better to have an umbrella before it rained than to not have one when it rained. Now that all the progenies ¨C and Iryl too, of course ¨C had finished with their class change and entered the third tier without any problems, she turned her attention towards her own system interface and quickly browsed the notifications that had been left there since the battle, as she finally took a look at the choices she had for her own third tier advancements. Unlike during her first advancement to the second tier, where there was one class that was visibly better than all the rest, this time the spread was notably more even in quality, with no one class being particularly better than all the others. 89 - Convergent Development ¡°I¡¯m not sure I like these better than the previous ones,¡± noted Ethan even as he labored to sever a limb from one of the dungeon¡¯s monsters. ¡°Why so? Because they¡¯re uglier than before?¡± asked Bronwen beside him, half in jest. Out of all their party members, Ethan had gotten along the best with Bronwen and Glenn, mostly because the three of them shared the same role on the frontlines, where they walled off the enemies away from the more vulnerable members of the group. ¡°No disagreement that they¡¯re fucking ugly, but that¡¯s not it,¡± replied Ethan even as his arms kept striking at the resisting monster, his pollax eventually severing one of its limbs, which kept trying to wriggle around and reconnect to the main body until he kicked it away to prevent that from happening. ¡°It¡¯s more the uncanny look they got to them, you know? The way that they looked almost like a mockery of us but if the one who made them got lazy instead.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, I get what you mean, sort of,¡± admitted the female temple guard with a nod. ¡°Mockeries of the human form are about right, considering how many of these don¡¯t even get it anywhere near close to begin with.¡± Ever since they defeated the behemoth ¨C they camped at the end of the first cavern and rested first before heading to the second cavern, of course ¨C the party was met with monsters that were in many ways identical to those they fought in the first cavern, yet at the same time were also different, often in challenging ways at that. Unlike in the first caverns, where the colonies of the thread-like monsters gathered to form beastial ¡°shapes¡± together and fought mostly on what could be best described as animal instincts, the denizens of the second cavern tend to be much smaller in size. Most of them were barely three meters in height, with many being smaller. They also took shapes that were far more humanoid, though it was more like a sculptor was given a rough description of what a person looked like and allowed their imagination to go wild, for the most part. In general, most of the monsters the party faced so far in the second cavern could have passed for poorly sculpted or particularly deformed golems. Despite their smaller size, however, there turned out to be even more of the thread-like creatures within those monster¡¯s forms. The colonies wove themselves in a more compact manner, and like the behemoth they faced at the end of the first cavern, each of the monsters had a ¡°core¡± of sorts that acted as their brain, which allowed them to fight more intelligently. Needless to say, the latter posed quite a bit of trouble for the party at first, though at the same time, the most humanoid shapes of their enemies and the smaller size also allowed the party to fight them with more familiarity compared to the previous monsters. Since there were more of the creatures in each ¡°monster¡±, and their levels were also somewhat higher than those encountered in the first cavern, it did allow the party to gain more experience, though. Other than that, the smaller, more compact size of their enemies and the existence of their cores ¨C although its locations tend to be very random at times ¨C also allowed some of the party to be more effective than during their stint in the first cavern. Joshua and Silvia in particular benefited since their best offensive skills tend to affect a smaller area but have greater penetrative powers. Osmond on the other hand was still out of luck. His skillset was built around accuracy over long ranges. He would have been one of their most useful combatants when fighting demons, where he could aim for vital spots from afar, but against these colonies his arrows were just nowhere near destructive enough to affect them noticeably, which was a source of some frustration for the young nobleman. ¡°It¡¯s the uncanny valley effect,¡± noted Alissa as she heard Ethan¡¯s complaint while fighting against her own opponent. She also benefited somewhat from their enemies becoming more compact, as her spear could deliver quite a bit of damage using its broader head, especially when combined with [Pierce the Heavens], which by that point she had used often enough that its cooldown was short enough to reset between battles, which were fortunately rarer than in the first cavern. ¡°The what?¡± asked Nadine beside her as the Princess used her greatblade to slice underneath a slab of rock that clung to the monster¡¯s outer surface like armor and cut deep into the squirming ¡°flesh¡± underneath. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Ah, sorry. That¡¯s a term from the world we came from. It¡¯s used to describe things that look like people but just looked wrong somehow, for whatever reason it may be,¡± explained Alissa as she landed a hewing cut with her spear to the area Nadine had just denuded of protection. Her cut carved halfway into the monster¡¯s ¡°limb¡± but already more of the thread-like creatures were squirming around and tried to reconnect the cut flesh even as her spearhead left the wound behind. Another vicious chop from Nadine severed the limb off neatly though, and she kicked it away into the distance before it could try to squirm back to its main body. The party had long learned that the most effective way to deal with the monsters in the second cavern was to dismember them before eradicating each part starting with the main body. Of course, that meant that sometimes the limbs they kicked away would merge with one another and form some horrifying amalgamation of limbs and return to the fight, but at least they tend to be far less dangerous that way, as they seemed to have issues coordinating the various limbs properly while in that form. ¡°Would poison and diseases still work effectively on these, master?¡± asked Joshua to Magus Drummond as he delivered several measured lightning bolts that greatly damaged a monster¡¯s hips and shoulders, where the joint would have been if the monsters had any such thing, at least. Benedictus quickly exploited the chance Joshua gave to sever those limbs with a machete and kick them away. ¡°They would still show effectiveness, albeit at a lowered capability compared to the effect they would have had against the monsters in the first cavern,¡± explained the old Magus patiently with a smile. While the old man was mostly taciturn in nature, those who knew him were all aware that he was excited like a little kid to be able to teach a [Hero] as his disciple, and he also seemed quite fond of Joshua in a personal way, to boot. ¡°The way the monsters here condensed more of themselves into a smaller form meant that you would mostly damage the ones on the outer end, while the poison would have difficulty penetrating deeply, unless administered that way with some aid.¡± ¡°So poison would only work effectively in the first cavern?¡± ¡°Not exactly. You should have noticed by now where the beasts in the first cavern used foreign material inside their bodies as structural support, these ones do no such thing and their interiors are completely packed with their own bodies,¡± said the Magus with a shake of his head. ¡°As such, they only cling and attach foreign material to the outside of their forms, to serve as armor and weapons.¡± ¡°Poison would have greatly damaged the ones on the outer side, which would in turn mean that they would fail to cling to the foreign material those were holding,¡± continued the old man as he stroked his beard with one hand. ¡°In essence, making use of poison against these monsters in the second cavern would denude them of their equivalent of armor and weapons.¡± ¡°That would be helpful, I admit,¡± noted Joshua as he turned his attention to another of the monsters. He had been practicing to try to use just enough power to cause his desired effects on the monsters, to help with his mana consumption. He did have a passive that somewhat helped with that, but until that passive evolved he would still struggle with mana consumption no matter what. Not that even the passive would help much when he went all-out like what he did against the boss monster at the end of the first cavern. He spent nearly three-quarters of his total mana capacity ¨C which at the time was about all he had recovered after the rest ¨C in that single blow, which left him unconscious from mana overuse as a result. It was something to work towards, at least. The party continued to battle through the second cavern, which was roughly the same size as the first one in total, but was notably narrower and longer. As such, after an entire day filled with battles, they rested around three-quarters of the way through the cavern, camped for the night which was fortunately uneventful, before they continued to proceed on their way. As they went deeper into the cavern, everybody couldn¡¯t help but notice how the monsters they faced generally grew smaller in size, and their shapes had less deformations and offshoots as well. Many of the monsters even started wielding makeshift weapons like cudgels and crude stone spikes in their ¡°hands¡±, and fought in a more skilled manner compared to before. All that development culminated into what the party observed from afar near the corridor that led to the third and last of the caverns in the complex. Near the pathway, ten monsters created from amalgamations of the thread-like monsters of the dungeon could be seen patrolling the vicinity. Unlike the ones before them, those ten look almost perfectly human in shape, other than lacking any features, with smooth slabs of rock acting as their ¡°skin¡± of sorts. More disturbingly was how those monsters wielded actual armor and weapons on top of everything. Actual, real weapons that looked like they came out from a master blacksmith¡¯s forge, and armor that looked just as finely made as what some of the party wore, at that. ¡°For the most part, artifact weapons and armor came from the dungeon,¡± explained Sir Inolet when he noticed Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua look baffled at the armor and weapons in the monsters¡¯ hands. ¡°It is a rare case for a crafter to get so good that they could produce items that were on equal power to even low level artifacts, and most were only capable of, at best, repairing and maybe slightly modifying artifacts we found in the dungeons.¡± ¡°Monsters like these ones are the source of such artifacts,¡± continued the old knight with his explanation as he gestured to encompass the distant monsters with his hand. ¡°These ones probably only had artifacts around equal in power to what you wield, at best, but sometimes they could be weaker or stronger at random, so do not let your guard down.¡± The party exchanged understanding looks as they made their way to face the monsters, twelve of them against ten monsters. While they looked to be much weaker than the boss they faced at the end of the first cavern, the party knew all too well that they should not underestimate the monsters before them. These monsters were at the end of the cavern and likely served as its boss, after all. As such, they went all out, every member of the party activating the group buffs they had available, the multiple buffs cast stacking up with one another and greatly increasing the capabilities of the members of the party. It was only then that they charged forward towards the monsters, which in turn also charged towards them once they reached the territory guarded by the monsters. The two groups collided with a violent clash, and very quickly found that they were nearly even in prowess, even as they tried to bring the other side down to the best of their abilities. 90 - Why Human? ¡°Gah! These fuckers¡­ Are tough nuts to crack!¡± cursed Nadine as she matched blades with one of the humanoid monsters which wielded an artifact greatsword. To her surprise, the monster ¨C despite it being an amalgamation of countless thread-like creatures as small as one¡¯s hair ¨C wielded the blade with obvious expertise and matched her blow for blow. ¡°Language, Milady,¡± tutted Maribel from beside her even while the woman narrowly avoided a blow from another monster¡¯s axe before she returned the favor with a couple of slashes from her pair of sabers that only did superficial damage due to how tightly knit the monster¡¯s ¡°flesh¡± was. ¡°Madam Ormont would be scandalized to hear that.¡± ¡°Let that old bitch fucking die of a heart attack and shit herself all over that antique chair she treated as if it was dad¡¯s throne for all I care!¡± snapped Nadine back as she carefully deflected another slash from the monster to the side with the flat of her own blade. To her frustration, though, the monster managed to shift itself so that her counterblow only landed on one of the stone slabs that covered its flesh like another layer of armor beneath the armor it wore. Her blow cracked the stone slab, but that was about all it did. All along the front, the party were having similar trouble against the rest of the humanoid monsters. It was hard enough to fight the monsters when they merely used pieces of wood or stone attached to their body like a skin for armor and crude cudgels for weapons. Now that they used actual, proper weapons and armor, the difficulty jumped up noticeably. If that wasn¡¯t enough, one of the monsters even wielded some sort of artifact bow that conjured arrows of pure energy when drawn and provided support from the back. As a result, Osmond and Joshua mostly focused their efforts to keep that particular monster too occupied to shoot properly, which naturally reduced the amount of support the party¡¯s frontliners could receive to the javelins thrown by Benedictus and Leda¡¯s healing. Those on the frontlines fought eight against nine ¨C Ethan kept two of the monsters occupied with him ¨C with most of them tackling one of the monsters. They had at first hoped for a quick resolution, but it quickly became apparent that there was no such thing awaiting them, as the monsters were not only tough opponents that made it difficult to even land a hit, but were also very durable to boot, with many of the party¡¯s blows barely hurting the creatures. The ones who had the most success out of the group was surprisingly Silvia and Alissa, who had struggled more when they fought larger creatures before this. Against these human-sized opponents with high durability, their skillsets proved to be far more compatible, their spears delivering deep, serious wounds with every thrust they landed. As such, those two were the first ones to put their foes on the backfoot, compared to the rest who were at best holding their own if not struggling against the monsters they faced. Silvia¡¯s opponent was already missing its left arm and had a sizzling hole in its abdomen area, where the holy powers that enveloped her spearhead when she invoked her skill kept devouring the creatures that came into contact with it. On her side, Alissa had her opponent limping with one of its arms dangling uselessly. She had not expected it, but [The Cold, Hard Truth] and [Lies May Please, But it Doesn¡¯t Heal] surprisingly seemed to work in tandem to somehow prevent the creatures from simply having other parts of its body unravel to take over the ones she had damaged, which in turn weakened the creature where she had struck it. When Alissa noted how the fight was already going on for five minutes ¨C they only had around fifteen minutes of time during which all of their team buffs would be in effect ¨C and the rest were still facing difficulties, though, she decided to take things into her own hand for a change. Right away she intensified her assault at the limping creature she faced. ¡°[Pierce The Heavens!], [Grasp the Soul!]¡± yelled Alissa as she took advantage of an opening presented by her crippled opponent. Alissa had noticed how the creature always attempted to avoid stabs that were aimed towards the center of its torso, around where the solar plexus would be in a human, and had guessed that its ¡°core¡± would be around that area. Her guess was vindicated when her spear pierced deep into the center of the monster¡¯s torso and the creature just fell apart into pieces right afterwards. It was a similar phenomenon as what she saw when other creatures in the second cavern had their cores destroyed, and the remnants would be far less dangerous compared to what it was like before. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. She could care less that she had likely permanently damaged the artifact chainmail the creature wore in the process. It was likely a lower level one anyway given how her spear pierced through it with such ease. As such, Alissa ignored them and instead turned towards her right and fell upon one of the two monsters that Ethan was tackling instead. The creature was an agile one, wearing only light armor and armed with a slender sword and a dagger. As such, Alissa had something in mind for it to make the best use of her skills, since at their current levels the skills were good for several strikes. ¡°[Moment of Truth!]¡± she intoned as she charged at the creature, and the world slowed down drastically around her ¨C or at least that was what it felt like ¨C as the skill took hold. Using the slowed perception, she noticed how the creature reacted. Her eyes saw which way it was actually trying to evade to, rather than the direction it gave as a feint, and [A Critical Eye] also noticed a hint that she would have missed since normally she would have no time to pay attention closely in a pitched battle. The hint made her reasonably certain that the creature¡¯s core was around the base of its neck ¨C something she could notice if the core was not under a section of the creature¡¯s body that was covered by its armor ¨C and in the remaining moments of the skill¡¯s effects, she formulated a plan to take it down with the remaining three strikes where her skills would still be active, her body moving painstakingly slowly to her perception as she put the plan into action. Alissa¡¯s first strike sheared through the creature¡¯s right wrist, dropping its hand along with the sword it held in it, and she made the second strike before the results of her first strike even registered for whatever served as the creature¡¯s mind, this time piercing through the creature¡¯s right thigh, the injury throwing an immediate hitch to its movements. Even as the creature paused from the sudden injury, Alissa¡¯s spear struck like a snake straight into the base of its neck, piercing deep into the creature with the point even coming out from its back. Alissa¡¯s skill and its slowed perception came to an end just as the creature started to unravel like the previous one, as she had dealt a heavy blow to its core. ¡°Hey, thanks!¡± chimed Ethan as he immediately bashed away the weapon held by the other monster he was facing with his shield, before he swung his pollax one-handed and smashed its other shoulder with the hammerhead on its back. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of this one in a bit, you go and help the others with theirs?¡± he added even as he pressed the creature back.¡± ¡°Will do,¡± replied Alissa as she took a moment to catch her breath before she continued. While the fighting had been brief so far, it had also been more strenuous than usual, as these opponents pushed them to their limits, unlike the monsters where they could usually take a moment to breathe even while fighting hard against them. Not long after Alissa left to Nadine and Maribel¡¯s aid, Silvia and Ethan were also finished with their respective opponents. They quickly turned the tide by helping the others dispatch their opponents one by one, the humanoid monsters unraveling one after another as they were ¡°killed¡± under their weapons, dropping their artifact armor and weapons to the ground. As for the one creature that stayed in the distance, once those at the front took control of the situation, Benedictus split off to engage and occupy it, successfully holding it in place for a while, which in turn gave Joshua the chance to land a fatal blow that sheared the creature¡¯s body in half on the spot. He had not struck the creature¡¯s core, but left with only half its body, it was easy enough for Benedictus to finish it off before he started to slaughter the offshoots that the creature unraveled to. By the time the party¡¯s buff wore out, all the humanoid monsters were down and unraveled into many parts which were easy enough for them to hunt down and slaughter one after another. The cleanup took them another ten minutes, before they collectively groaned and held their heads from the sudden ¨C but expected ¨C influx of notifications and the headache that followed. It was while the party was recovering from the headache that Sir Inolet and the rest approached as well and started to set up camp. They had clearly decided that it was better to camp there at the end of the second cavern rather than rush into the third cavern right away. Given how their heads throbbed in pain, none of the party felt like debating that call either. Before fifteen minutes had passed, the party was already cleaning up and sorting the artifacts that the monsters had dropped, while Glenn and Leda ¨C the two who turned out to be the best cooks amongst them ¨C were preparing food for dinner on the campfire. There were ten sets of artifacts that the monsters dropped, and while half the armor were quite damaged or ruined, the weapons were relatively in good shape. ¡°Not bad, most of these weapons are about even to what you are using now, same with the armor,¡± noted Sir Inolet as they were sorting out the artifacts. ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad about the armor. We¡¯d need someone to rework and refit them before someone could use them anyway, unless someone just happened to be the exact same size as those creatures just now.¡± ¡°Come to think of it, Sir, mind a question?¡± asked Alissa while she was checking a polearm dropped by one of the creatures. ¡°Go ahead, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± replied the old knight. ¡°Why do these things take such a human shape? To the point that they could make use of armor and weapons that were clearly intended for human use at that,¡± she asked. ¡°It just felt odd to me, especially since the creatures we fought prior to this were all far more animalistic in shape and fighting style. Are they human in shape just so they could use the armor and weapons?¡± ¡°That¡¯s actually one of the leading theories, as nobody knows for sure,¡± replied the old knight with a nod. ¡°Most of those who believe it claim that since the Gods wish to gift us artifacts, we need to face a fitting challenge to acquire them. Of course, there are also cases where we have found artifacts hidden in the nest of decidedly not humanoid beasts, so clearly having the monsters actually don and use them wasn¡¯t mandatory.¡± ¡°In the end, nobody knows for sure. I mean, the fact that artifacts would show up in dungeons like there where we had scoured the place clean not a month ago is already miraculous on its own,¡± added the old knight. ¡°We just decided to not ask too many questions and just take it as it comes, I guess. Probably not the wisest course of action according to some, but it worked well enough for us.¡± 91 - Chimeric Abominations ¡°What the hell¡­¡± muttered Alissa when she saw the creatures that lurked in the distance. The party had entered the third and last cavern of the dungeon complex, and to their surprise, the first hour or so of their passage was uneventful, with not even a single monster disturbing their travels. That calm was only broken when they saw the first of the monsters that populated the third cavern from a distance, which made their chaperones call for a halt. By that point, the three of them had already reached their eighteenth level in the second tier, while the rest of the party was around their mid third tiers, with the experience from the third cavern likely enough to push the [Heroes] into the third tiers and the rest towards the late stages of the same tier. Even so, the creatures they saw from a distance made them all feel a sense of danger from it, one that exceeded even the boss they fought at the end of the previous caverns. From the distance, they saw a small pack of creatures, which everyone knew was none other than colonies of the same thread-like creatures they have faced so far, though these ones looked very different. Where the previous creatures had chunks or slabs of stone or wood attached to their bodies like a skin or armor plating, the ones they saw before them aped the living form in a much closer way. The segments of stones that covered their bodies were smooth, as if each piece was precisely sculpted into that form, and resembled the exoskeletons of some insects. As for their shapes, the creatures they saw resembled a large scorpion that had a human upper torso growing out from where its ¡°head¡± was supposed to be. Each of them also wore artifact weapons and armor to boot. If the monsters in the second cavern had that uncanny feel about them, the ones in the third cavern could have very easily passed for some sort of chimeras that just happened to have stone exoskeletons, so detailed and natural-looking was their form. Together with that natural-looking form was also an elegance and grace of movement that the creatures in the previous two caverns ¨C other than the bosses of the second cavern ¨C lacked. As such, the party did not hold back and buffed themselves before they engaged the small pack of six creatures. It proved to be a wise decision, because they almost immediately discovered that the creatures in the third cavern were each individually stronger than the boss monsters in the previous cavern. The party had to give their all before they finally managed to defeat the creatures, one at a time. Even then it took them a noticeable amount of effort to finally clinch the victory. Joshua dropped one of the creatures with a full-power blast of magic, while the other five had to be dismembered one at a time by the rest of the group. Like the creatures in the second cavern these ones also had cores acting as brains somewhere in their bodies, and despite their relatively small size, were extremely dense and tight-knit to the point that it was difficult for a blade to cut through their ¡°flesh¡±. In fact, the fighting left the party with more injuries compared to the bosses they fought in the second cavern, and they had to rest while Leda healed the injured first. The rest was needed regardless, as the party realized all too well that they definitely needed their buffs active in order to be able to fight the creatures of the third cavern, in case the rest were like the ones they ran into just now. The next pack of creatures they ran into was surprisingly quite different from the first group. Where the first group had lower bodies that aped scorpions, the second pack had no stone ¡°skin¡± and instead had many of the thread-like creatures swaying freely as if they were its fur. Its lower body resembled a large tiger, with sharp blades of stone serving as its ¡°claws¡±. Their upper bodies still resembled a human¡¯s ¨C with a rather eerie face that seemed to hover between hinting at facial features and being featureless ¨C and were clad in artifact armor with artifact weapons in hand, however. There were only five of the creatures in the pack, and the party engaged with full force right away, drawing from their experience in the first battle. Despite their preparations, they were still caught off guard when the creatures proved to be quite different from the previous ones. Where the previous scorpionoids were rather slow and relied on their solid stone shells to take hits, these tiger-like ones were fast and far more agile, and their speed almost caught Moira fatally off guard, though fortunately the girl reacted fast enough to avoid the blade that went for her throat. Even so, a bloody wound was still opened up across her throat, though it was fortunately shallow enough to not hit anything vital. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. That early scare gave enough warning for the rest to guard themselves more closely, and nobody else was taken by surprise, though Ethan and Bronwen had to cover Maribel and Silvia, respectively, from sudden assaults by the monsters. The fighting was fiercer and more brutal, as against the agile monsters, the party quickly found that offense was the best defense. Compared to the previous fight, while there was one less monster, the fighting was more ferocious and brutal overall, and by the end of the fight half of the party had to be tended to by Leda as they were injured quite badly in the process. While the experience they received was high, the difficulty also increased considerably. As such, the party chose to rest early that day, as some of them were still weakened by the aftereffects of the healing magic anyway. Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond actually praised them for seeing the wisdom of taking their time and resting more instead of forcefully charging ahead regardless of the situation they were in. ¡°To keep plowing ahead might be needed at times, when the situation is critical and the fate of many were at stake,¡± said Sir Inolet as they sat around the campfire and supped on their simple fare for dinner. ¡°This situation is not one of those, however. While we do need your party capable of holding your own in the frontlines as soon as possible, a couple days more of waiting wouldn¡¯t hurt, whereas losing even one of you would have been an unacceptable loss at this stage, considering you¡¯re just supposed to be leveling here.¡± ¡°We had some pretty close calls today,¡± noted Nadine with a nod of her head. Her worry had been quite personal, as one of the ones who had such a close call was Maribel, who was nearly disemboweled when she took a hit meant for Nadine herself. It was fortunate that Leda was skilled enough to heal such injuries ¡°I can see why this dungeon is hated, even if it dropped artifacts. What sort of parties do they usually send here?¡± ¡°Around fifty or more third tiers, at the very least,¡± replied Magus Drummond, "and even then they often come out with casualties that cannot be called light. There had even been several records of failed expeditions, despite how seriously they took this dungeon. The boss at the end of this cavern was the cause for most of those.¡± ¡°Oh joy,¡± noted Benedictus dryly. The young temple guard had always had some sort of personal vendetta against monsters after he lost his older brother to one in the first delve made by the [Heroes], but even he felt somewhat dispirited when he heard what Magus Drummond said. Given how most dungeons were pretty well documented at the present age, a failed expedition generally meant only one thing. That either the dungeon itself or its boss monster had enough variance in power that it was difficult to pinpoint a good amount of power needed to take them on. Given what they had experienced of the dungeon so far, it was almost certain that in this dungeon¡¯s case, it was the boss that held that variance, and they would have to tackle said boss in a few days themselves. ¡°First we face beastial forms, then humanoid forms, and now we have to deal with chimeras that combine both,¡± said Alissa with a shake of his head. ¡°It¡¯s almost like this place is some long abandoned mad scientist¡¯s lab and we¡¯re cleaning up the remnants of their crazy experiment, in a way.¡± ¡°Pretty apt analogy, though I¡¯d put it closer to some deranged god playing a bioweapon factory instead,¡± replied Ethan. ¡°I just hope that whatever boss we end up having to deal with, all of us will be able to walk out of it alive.¡± ¡°One can always hope.¡± The next day, the party continued their journey. Like before, the third cavern was rather sparsely populated, and it was not until several hours into the journey that they ran into another pack of chimeric creatures, these ones with equine lower bodies. The party was prepared for the encounter and went at it with everything they got, but even then Osmond ended up with a bad injury after one of the monsters managed to break through their frontlines. After some rest, they continued onward and ran into creatures that had lower bodies that look like serpents next, with four-armed humanoid upper bodies protruding from where the snake¡¯s head should have been. There were only three of the creatures so Alissa and Ethan attempted a pre-emptive strike from her shadow realm and succeeded in injuring one, but both of them were also quite badly injured as a result. Because of that, the party took another early break for the night as they nursed their wounds and rested their weary bodies. They noticed that on a general trend, there seemed to be fewer and fewer monsters to each pack they faced deeper into the cavern, yet at the same time, the difficulty kept increasing as each of the monsters got notably stronger, with enough variance that it was difficult to know what to expect. The scorpion-like creatures they first met were defensive in nature, whereas the tiger-like ones were agile. The ones with equine lower bodies were powerful and durable, which was what allowed one of them to break through the party¡¯s defense lines during the battle, while the ones with the snake-like lower bodies used several forms of magic, though fortunately nothing the party couldn¡¯t handle. As they went deeper, the trend continued, and by the fourth day they only ran into creatures in pairs, though the difficulty in dealing with the creatures increased greatly by that point even though there were only so few of them. By then the party had already guessed that the boss that awaited them at the end of the dungeon was likely by itself. And their guess was proven correct. Waiting for them at the end of the third cavern was another chimeric monster that seemed to combine features from many of the others. It had a reptilian lower body on four strong legs, with scales of smoothly polished stone that covered even the humanoid part of its body as well, as well as claws and tail-spikes that looked as if they were snapped off obsidian. The creature wore a set of fine-looking lamellar mail over its humanoid body, and had another set ¨C one that looked like barding for a warhorse ¨C draped over the back and sides of its reptilian lower body. It had four hands that extended from its humanoid upper body which each held an artifact. A shield in one hand, a spear in another, a hefty mace in a third, and a large greatsword in its last claw-tipped hands, because of course it had claws as well. With a resigned sigh, the party prepared themselves for battle, knowing all too well that they had a tough fight waiting ahead of them. They cast their buffs and fell into formation, even as the monstrous creature turned towards them, appearing to look down at them with two of its arms crossed over its chest. Its posture seemed to scoff at the party for daring to face it. A silence was held for a brief moment as the party eyed the monster, before all hell broke loose. XCII - Choices for the Third Tier Maybe Esperanza exaggerated a little bit when she thought that none of her class choices were particularly better than the others. Or rather, there was one class choice in particular that she felt that she would never have taken unless she had taken leave of her mind. [Voracious Maw of Endless Hunger] Be what your instincts had always called for, be the maw that devours all. All that exists, exists only to be devoured by yours truly. Gain +80 Body -40 Mind +10 Soul upon Evolution Gain +15 Strength +5 Dexterity +10 Constitution -6 Sanity per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Soul-Consuming Voracious Bite] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Endless Hunger] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Voracious Maw of Endless Hunger]? Yes/No The class was self-explanatory, and was clearly an upgraded version of the bestial path she had been offered back at the second tier, complete with the sizable hit to the Mind stat. Esperanza thought that she would have never taken such a class, unless it was under extreme circumstances where such a class was the only way out of an existential threat to her. Given the fact that she has [Respawn], basically never. She quietly shook her head even as she mentally scratched off the class out of her list of choices. Given the pattern, she might have similar classes on offer even on her higher tiers as well, it would seem, as the source of the class was her very own inhuman monstrosity of a new body. It was not the worst thing, though the fact that her class choices were effectively reduced to four was a touch annoying. Since it was her second time around, she had not bothered to consult Oldies about the class choices. She knew that Oldies would simply tell her to choose what she felt was right. For a bunch of possibly eldritch gods of chaos that desired to end the world, they were quite a stickler for free will and making one¡¯s own choices, to say the least. Besides, from the other choices she had, chances were that she would consult them after she made her choice to ask about her new skills instead anyway. The second choice on her list was something more interesting, to say the least. [Oracle of Forbidden Deities] One who speaks for those long forgotten and forbidden by most of the world, its mouthpiece in the mortal realm. Speak the Words of Power with the blessing of the Old Ones! Gain +10 Body +15 Mind +25 Soul upon Evolution Gain +5 Constitution +10 Wisdom +10 Willpower +5 Intuition -10 Sanity per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Word of Power: Silence] Skill upon Evolution Gain [To Speak With Power] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Oracle of Forbidden Deities]? Yes/No For the time being, Esperanza chalked up the second class she had on her list with a firm maybe. The class sounded like it would depend on Oldies¡¯ power quite a bit, being their mouthpiece and all that. She wasn¡¯t sure if she liked that entirely, but it was at least not as revolting a thought as the bestial option before it, to say the least. The stats offered by the class definitely leaned more towards the Soul, which was what she was already rather focused on, so that was a definite plus. The skills seemed to be of the more magical-ish sort. Probably something like forcing those that heard the word to obey it if she were to guess? Hopefully it had some way to differentiate between friend and foe or those could be awkward. Esperanza personally found the next option on the list more¡­ intriguing compared to the first and second. [Chronicler of Departed Souls] Death is not the End, but just another Beginning. Chronicle the lives of the departed, so that their lives would be remembered for an Eternity, that they may continue to exist beyond Death. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Gain +10 Mind +40 Soul upon Evolution Gain +5 Intelligence +5 Wisdom +15 Willpower +10 Intuition -5 Sanity per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Soul Manifestation] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Soul Sense] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Chronicler of Departed Souls]? Yes/No It did not take a genius to put two and two together to see that the class was clearly one that synergizes with her [Soul Storage] ability. She was uncertain on the scale of what the class offered, however. Was [Soul Manifestation] something that would allow her to bring back the dead to the physical world? To manifest them to a new body or maybe possess a dead body? Or was it something that just allowed her to maybe converse with them instead? It could likely go either way, or somewhere in the middle. As for the class itself, it did not seem particularly suited for direct combat ¨C but then again, so far none of Esperanza¡¯s classes seem to be optimized in that direction anyway ¨C and instead looked and sounded like something she¡¯d peg for a supporting role instead. Her own second tier class had also leaned in that direction, though Esperanza managed to hold her own in combat so far simply because her body was quite useful for that purpose and that she started with a sizable lead on it. Then again, Dali and Gordy had grown in power ¨C and size ¨C rather noticeably as they gained levels, so in an indirect way Esperanza was already more than pulling her weight in actual combat, since the two could be considered as part of her capabilities. Even so, some small part of her does wish that she could take an even more active and domineering role in the fighting they would inevitably have to go through in their future. Which was just about what the next class offered, as far as she could tell. [Nightmare Without Form] Embrace the fluidity of your form, liberate your body from the shackles of fixed forms. Be a Nightmare given Form, yet without a Form to call its Own. Gain +40 Body +5 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +10 Strength +15 Dexterity +5 Constitution +5 Perception +5 Intuition per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [A Form, Yet Without A Form] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Extreme Shapeshifting] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Nightmare Without Form]? Yes/No It was obvious that the class was a physical combat class that clearly evolved around more extreme forms of shapeshifting from what she could see of its description. The Body focus along with the names of the skills choosing the class would grant certainly hinted heavily on that, though she was not too certain about how the class emphasized formlessness so heavily. Esperanza quite liked being able to look at least somewhat human again as she was, so she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d enjoy being a mostly amorphous, shapeless thing like how she was in her first tier again, as that was what the class seemed to hint at. The bit about ¡°without a form to call its own¡± was what made her worry in particular, as the class descriptions had been rather apt so far, as far as she could tell. Those worries made Esperanza temporarily strike off the class as well, at least unless she decided otherwise later on. The previous two soul-based classes looked more attractive to her compared to this one, at least. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t make her decision without taking a good look at the last available class first. [Arcane Abomination] Most of those who walked the part of the Arcane learned to wield it. You are not one of those. You are the Arcane made Manifest, your very existence a paradox that should not have ever existed, both a cause and effect of the decay of the world around you. Gain +50 Mind upon Evolution Gain +20 Intelligence +10 Perception +10 Wisdom per level Gain +4 Mind per level Warning: All Body and Soul stats will be converted and assimilated into the Mind stat. Gain [Elemental Force] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Extreme Mana Manipulation] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Arcane Abomination]? Yes/No The final class on offer was¡­ rather unexpected. In some ways, it was most likely at the very pinnacle of Mind-based classes that Esperanza could get on the third tier. It was rather extreme in many other ways, though, like how it would convert and assimilate all her other stats into Mind stats, and that it would likely change her into some sort of arcane being rather than whatever she was right now. That said, the final part of the class description set off many warning bells in her mind. The system directly warned her that it would turn her into what was basically a part of the world¡¯s decay, one that would further that decay. While Oldies did ask for her to destroy the world, she strongly doubted that they meant for her to do it in this manner. Besides, there was another, more immediate worry than that. If she were to turn into some sort of source of decay that was so strong it would even spread the world¡¯s decay further, what would happen to the children with her? Or to Ani and the other warriors who had volunteered to help her out? Even the children left behind in Agur-Bas, given some time? It was something that made her decisively nope out from even thinking about choosing the class, even if it looked like a very powerful one. Of course, that narrowed her choices down to three classes. [Nightmare Without Form], which she was at best ambivalent towards, as well as [Chronicler of Departed Souls] and [Oracle of Forbidden Deities]. This time around, it was not as easy a choice as back in her second tier, where one class had an obviously higher grade than the others. Quality-wise, the three classes she was choosing from were equal to one another, just with different focus. Her own build was already leaning heavily towards the Soul, so [Chronicler of Departed Souls] and [Oracle of Forbidden Deities] would have been the natural choice, though the idea of being more capable of engaging in physical combat does appeal to her still. Even amongst the two soul-based classes, she was undecided. The two classes both had their own merits and demerits to her mind, and with both being of equal power, it was difficult to pick between the two of them. On the one hand, the [Oracle of Forbidden Deities] seemed like it would offer her more direct options, but at the cost of a greater reliance upon Oldies, which could be either a good or bad thing, depending on how one looked at it. While Oldies had been up front and honest with her as far as she could tell so far, the way the class description clearly put her into a subordinate position to them didn¡¯t really jive with her all that much. There was a difference between working together and being a subordinate to another, after all. In the end, it came down to whether Esperanza found it to be an acceptable price for more direct ways to influence things or not. It was a question that only she herself could answer in the end, so she wracked her brain thinking about it even while she absent-mindedly ate dinner together with the elated Progenies who were still comparing their new classes with each other as they ate. None of them interrupted her thoughts by talking to her. They respected her ¨C some part due to how they still see her as someone to be worshiped as a messenger from their deities, while also because she had personally helped them in their time of need ¨C too much for that, and she was grateful for the quiet she was afforded. In the end, that was what helped her make up her mind, as she let out a sigh and decisively made her choice, come what may. XCIII - A Much-Needed Confirmation You have become a [Chronicler of Departed Souls] Death is not the End, but just another Beginning. You chronicle the lives of the departed, so that their lives would be remembered for an Eternity, that they may continue to exist beyond Death. Gained +10 Mind +40 Soul Gained Class Skill [Soul Manifestation] Gained General Skill [Soul Sense] Class Skill [Soul Bolt] Evolved into [Soul Armament] Class Skill [Flesh is but a Vessel] Evolved into [The Body as a Weapon] Naturally, the first thing Esperanza did was to take a peek at her status screen. She had already spent all of her free points prior to the class change, mostly keeping her Body somewhat close with the rest, as it started to lag behind. At the same time, she kept her other stats within tolerance to prevent negative effects from stats that were too lopsided, which was starting to become a risk with her Mind and Soul. Name : Esperanza Marisol de Gonzalez Cabrera Race : Human (?) Age : 18 Class : [Spark of Hope Lvl20]/[Emissary of the Forgotten Lvl20]/[Chronicler of Departed Souls Lvl1]/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 Body : 59.33 - Strength : 59 - Dexterity : 59 - Constitution : 60 Mind : 74.66 - Intelligence : 60 - Perception : 64 - Wisdom : 100 Soul : 121.33 - Willpower : 89 - Intuition : 89 - Sanity : -186 Skills: Class 1: [Spark of Hope] Class 2: [Emissary of the Forgotten] Class 3: [Chronicler of Departed Souls] General Skills: Much like she had expected, two of her skills evolved, one from her first tier, and the other from her second tier. As it was an evolution of [Flesh is but a Vessel], [The Body as a Weapon] fulfilled the exact same role, just better. Where [A Mask to Don] was what allowed Esperanza to make the fine changes to her appearance like what passed for her hair and the better defined facial features, [The Body as a Weapon] was basically the skill that made her even better at fighting using her shapeshifting abilities. While her Body stat was now on the lower end of the group ¨C some of the more Body-focused Progenies had already matched if not passed hers ¨C she still had additional bonuses from the skill which helped her in combat, and with the buff from [A Lending of Power] she was still more than capable of keeping up with them for the time being. It was clear that she might eventually fall off from that role, though. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. On the other hand, [Soul Bolt]¡¯s evolution to [Soul Armament] gave her another way to make up for that, at least for the current tier. Where before the skill only allowed her to conjure bolts of soul energy that would be hurled at an opponent, the upgraded skill allowed her to condense the soul into a weapon that she could later attach to her body. The condensed [Soul Armament] still dealt damage to the opponent¡¯s soul, but it was no longer a one-use weapon, as it could linger and continue doing soul damage as long as it was ¡°charged¡± with more souls to keep it in existence. As such, long term use of the skill in combat would drain quite a bit of souls, though it was a minor issue considering the thousands of souls that Esperanza had collected in her [Soul Storage] so far, only a minor portion of which were off limits for such purposes. As for the new skills that came with her class, [Soul Sense] was quite straightforward. If [Soul Sight] allowed Esperanza to see the souls of beings in her line of sight, [Soul Sense] acted more like a radar that covered a rather large area even past her line of sight. Esperanza managed to get a general feel of the souls of every living being in that area through the skill, though it would take some practice ¨C or levels ¨C to be able to tell more details that way. One reason that the skill was relatively harder to use was the fact that souls seem to vary quite a bit depending on what they belonged to. Regular animals had the smallest souls, though generally the larger the beast, the larger their soul. Monsters had even larger ones, but the largest of all were people by a good margin, though the souls of some larger monsters could satisfy her skill¡¯s criteria and counted as ¡°one¡± soul whereas some smaller ones only counted as fractions. The arachnoid infested dungeon they were in made it even harder because out of every creature type, insectoids generally have the smallest souls. Out of all the arachnoids Esperanza had run into and fought, most had tiny souls despite their level and size, mostly only around the size of the soul of a large animal at best. The only exceptions were the queens and that one king, which all had souls that were particularly large even for monsters. [Soul Manifestation] on the other hand was exactly what Esperanza hoped the skill would be. It was a simple skill, probably limited by its low level, which only has one use at the moment. That use was to temporarily manifest a departed soul into the mortal realm, which would allow her ¨C or anyone else around ¨C to interact with the soul. The skill mentioned no side effect for the affected soul, but came with an unusual warning. A warning that the realm of the soul is the demesne of the gods, and that excessive tinkering with it would draw their wrath upon the offending party. Esperanza was not sure whether that warning was just one that came from the system, or whether the gods specifically placed it there. She did know that Oldies likely had some ability to dabble with souls, though, considering how they managed to ¡°steal¡± hers from the summoning ritual. Given that the class was a rather natural progression of her path so far, and that her goal would go against those gods anyway, she decided that the warning was one that wouldn¡¯t matter in the long run. Her path would almost certainly involve a clash against those gods, since they would not stand quietly and just watch Oldies destroy the world either way, so what was earning their wrath worth compared to that? As it was, due to her connection with Oldies, Esperanza was pretty much already Persona Non Grata to the current gods anyway. As Esperanza looked closer to [Soul Manifestation], she noticed that there were more limitations to the skill than she expected. For one, it had a long starting cooldown period of three days between each use. The skill was also mana-hungry, both to initiate and maintain, though given that Esperanza had grown plenty of Wisdom from her second tier, she had enough mana to sustain it for a decent while. What the skill promised to do was to manifest souls of the dead. Normally she¡¯d probably be limited to any remaining soul in the vicinity, but it turned out that the skill was also compatible with the souls in her [Soul Storage]. As far as she could tell, the souls would have no memory past their deaths, and would still be in the same mental state as their last moment of life. She could even manifest multiple souls at once, as long as her own Soul ¨C which acted as the conduit ¨C could manage it. Fortunately that was where Esperanza was best at. Some minor experimentations made her certain that for the moment, she could manifest four souls at a time at most. It then came down to the choice of who to manifest, as ideally she wished to help the Progenies to see their late friends and parents once more, at the very least. In the end, though, Esperanza went for a more pragmatic choice, considering that it was the first time she would attempt this. Most of the souls in her storage felt like they were in a panic or otherwise in distress, which was no surprise considering the circumstances of their deaths. Amongst those, however, there were a few souls that were calmer, the emotion she could ¡°feel¡± out of them more one tinged with worry, not for themselves ¨C they likely had accepted that they were dying ¨C but for others. Those souls belonged to Kvar-Litu and several of the older children they had lost in the forest during their first trip through the dungeon, the very same ones now buried beneath the lone headstone in the middle of their encampment. As such, Esperanza finally settled her choice on them for the first souls she would attempt to manifest. First of all though, she gathered the Progenies and Iryl, and told them of what she was about to do. They naturally had deeper relations with those who had died compared to Esperanza, who had only been a guest at their village for a short while. Everyone had solemn looks on their faces when they heard about the possibility of being able to see the dead again, a mixture of hope and fear warring in their features, but eventually they all nodded in agreement. They wished to see and talk with those already departed once more, should it be possible. After the group gathered around the headstone ¨C Esperanza had also briefed Ani on what she was about to do, though the warrior woman chose to stay on guard further away as she felt that she should not intrude in such a private moment ¨C Esperanza finally went through the motions and channeled the skill, feeling how the souls she had chosen were pulled out from her [Soul Storage] and brought back into the world. It felt simultaneously like a very wrong yet very right thing to do for some reason. Moments passed before eventually four nearly translucent figures that appeared almost as if they were mere illusions one tricked themselves into seeing in what looked like thin wisps of smoke came into being in the air. While it was somewhat difficult to tell with the vague nature of the shape they took, the figures were still identifiable as Kvar-Litu and three of the children who had lost their lives defending the rest. Why- Why am I here once more? I recall that I died- wait- why are you all still here? Rather than a voice, it was almost as if the gathered Progenies and Esperanza could hear Kvar-Litu¡¯s words with their souls instead. Kvar-Litu seemed mostly bewildered at first, before his tone shifted to a worried one. As for the three children that manifested with him, they seemed to take in their surroundings with some wariness and confusion, and not a little worry as well. ¡°We¡¯ve grown stronger,¡± replied Esperanza out loud, though she was uncertain whether the souls would be able to hear her properly that way or not. When Kvar-Litu and the children seemed to have heard her words, she continued. ¡°We returned here to reach our third tiers, and to clear this dungeon while we¡¯re at it. We also returned¡­ so that we can retrieve your remains and take it back with us.¡± A wave of relief seemed to emanate from all the souls, together with a cacophony of ¡°voices¡± as all four souls started speaking out in tandem. I¡¯m so glad- Thank the deities- We did not die pointlessly- Thank you, messenger, thank you- That wave of relief matched one that flooded the hearts of the gathered progenies and Esperanza herself. They had always harbored some worry that those they had lost would blame them for their failure to keep them safe, something all of them had seen as a personal failing that still haunted them even to the present day in their nightmares. To hear the thankful gratitude from the very people they had failed to protect, gratitude that they carried on and kept themselves and the remaining ones safe, was a much needed balm for their souls. XCIV - New Resolution, New Capabilities So it had been weeks since I¡­ died? Most curious. The last memory I had prior to this moment was of when I was dying, right around here, in fact. Exalted One, you said that you brought away all of our souls in¡­ one of your skills, wasn¡¯t it? Did that include those who lost their lives back at Navef as well? Are they¡­ also still around, in some way, within you?¡± ¡°That¡­ would not be incorrect,¡± admitted Esperanza as Kvar-Litu¡¯s soul turned to ask her the question. ¡°If there was any tradition that prohibited such a thing, I was unaware of it, and there was nobody to tell me about it anyway. I just¡­ couldn¡¯t¡­ do nothing when I had something I could do, so I hope I did not like, offend all your ancestors or something.¡± There were no such things, as far as I am aware of, so I have only gratitude to offer for your kindness, Exalted One. It¡­ relieves me to hear that not all is lost, somehow, despite all the misfortune that befell us. I am sure the others would be thrilled to learn the same, should you choose to¡­ manifest them like you did with us today. ¡°Gracias,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. The affirmation that she had done the right thing despite the admittedly shitty situation was something she needed quite a bit, as she kept feeling that she could have done more, and that failing to do that was a failure of hers. ¡°Anyway, you still got another five minutes until I will no longer be able to keep you here, anything else you want to hear about?¡± For the most part, the other three children¡¯s souls spent their time chatting in what could vaguely be considered a ¡°happy¡± way with the Progenies and Iryl, who kept them occupied with the tales of what they¡¯ve experienced since, namely the remnant of the journey, their arrival at Agur-Bas, as well as the training the group had done since, including their recent foray back into the dungeon. It was only moments like those that Esperanza saw the unguarded childish nature that they still possessed, despite their system-enforced physical maturity. When they were in a safe place, together with their friends, they still acted like the children they were inside, just ones with bigger bodies. It reinforced her desire to at the very least try to keep them away from the worst of the world until they grew older. Then if I may ask¡­ How is Eda-Zil doing? I know that you had brought her and the rest of the children safely to Agur-Bas, but you hadn¡¯t elaborated. I remember that she was¡­ injured quite badly that night as well¡­ Is she¡­ all right? ¡°I can at least alleviate your worry there,¡± replied Esperanza with a relieved shake of her head. ¡°Eda-Zil was paralyzed from the waist down by her injury, but with the healers in Agur-Bas helping her, she is recovering. They estimated that it might take a few months, but she should be able to walk on her own two feet once again given time.¡± I¡­ am glad to hear that, thank you kindly, Exalted One. I would presume that the rest of the children are doing fine too. If I may ask what sort of arrangement had been made for them? ¡°The local temple helped us with it, but we found foster families who gladly adopted them in Agur-Bas,¡± replied Esperanza honestly. ¡°Hmm¡­ you know, now that I could manifest those of you I kept safe in my [Soul Storage], that would mean I could bring their parents for them to meet once more¡­ Think that would be a good idea?¡± The way things had happened so quickly and abruptly back then¡­ I believe both the children and their parents would greatly appreciate the opportunity to see each other one last time, Exalted One. When we were attacked back then, we were so occupied with keeping them safe that I doubted that they had any chance to say their goodbyes. ¡°Good point. Since I¡¯m still pretty limited in how many I can manifest at once, I guess I should train this skill for the next couple of weeks as much as I can,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°Also, Kvar-Litu, I know this might be a bit much of an ask, you being already dead and all, but if possible, can you try to describe to me how you felt inside the [Soul Storage] after you return there today? I¡¯m not even sure if you¡¯d be aware while you¡¯re in there, but it¡¯s worth a try. Oh, and if you are aware in there, take care of the young ones for us.¡± I shall endeavor to do as you have bid, Exalted One. Scarcely a minute later, the souls started to fade out of existence one by one, though Esperanza could feel them returning to her [Soul Storage]. They still had time to say their goodbyes before they vanished, which left the Progenies looking both relieved and somewhat forlorn at the same time. She could understand why, as they had just been reunited with the friends they had lost, after all. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I am going to practice more with this skill once its cooldown comes to an end,¡± stated Esperanza to the Progenies once she had their attention. The short meeting was a meaningful and touching one for all of them, since those they had lost had not blamed them for their deaths. They had only thanked them for bringing the rest to safety, and even helped reassure them that they had not been failures. ¡°Who amongst you¡­ would like to say some words to your late parents when the time comes?¡± The progenies looked at each other for a brief moment, before every single one of them clamored to be given the opportunity. ¡°Right, so all of you, I get it,¡± said Esperanza with an understanding smile. ¡°At the moment my skill can only manifest four souls at a time, though, and I¡¯d find it pretty cruel to only bring one of your parents instead of both. Can you all choose who will go first amongst yourselves? No need to hurry about this, the skill¡¯s cooldown is still three days away.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One,¡± chimed the group as a whole as they nodded in affirmation. The news had clearly lifted their spirits somewhat, which was a good thing, as now that they had reached their third tiers, the plan was to delve deeper into the dungeon and make use of the monsters to level up, since they were already quite familiar with the types of creatures they would face and the higher level monsters further inside would naturally give better experience. When the party delved deeper into the dungeon once more the next day, they did so in high spirits. The change they had undergone was quite a tangible thing. Val-Kas¡¯j chose to take on the first pair of arachnoids they encountered, both of them at levels where he would have only been able to handle them one at a time before. After his class change, he handled both of them with ease, and even eviscerated them on his own. He even tested out his new skill, which apparently made it so he would never lose his balance for a short period of time. It sounded rather weak, until everyone saw how Val-Kas¡¯j made use of it. He contorted his muscular body in positions where he should have fallen by all rights, but was kept steady by his skill, and made use of the opportunity to strike at the opening the surprising move created. That he progressed from one of the monsters to two at once was a definite improvement, and it definitely inflamed the desire of the other Progenies to try out their new abilities after the class change. Legisvula went to work on that immediately afterwards as he volunteered to scout ahead, as his new class was very suited for that role. Esperanza acquiesced to his request, though she did send Dali off with him, who was not only capable of keeping up with the lithe scout but also knew how to keep himself out of the sight of what monsters they came across. They mostly encountered smaller groups as they advanced deeper into the forest, which was convenient, as it allowed the Progenies to test their new capabilities under relatively safe conditions. Tiesya took on the next couple of monsters they ran across, where she combined the defensive skills she earned from her second tier with her more offensive new class, dancing around the bladed limbs of the arachnoids as she carved them into pieces with her own blades. Even the ones who were less inclined to violence in the past, like Mel-Ivas, joined in. She took on one of the lower leveled monsters to test out her capabilities, and was pleased to see that she could hold her own against it. It was a boost of confidence that the children had needed, and the chance to acclimatize with their new class and skills was a precious one as well. Esperanza herself found that her combat abilities had been improved by quite a lot after the class change. It was not due to her third tier class. The skills she received from that was closer to supportive at best and had little to do with combat, though she was learning on how to make use of [Soul Sense] as a radar of sorts, which was pretty useful. The improvement was mostly from the two skills that evolved during her class change, as they had brought a direct, qualitative improvement to her own fighting ability. [The Body as a Weapon] made the bodily modifications she performed for combat purposes come much easier. An act that used to require at least part of her concentration now felt far more instinctual, and she found that where before she started having a hard time coordinating herself if she created more than five limbs at most, she could easily handle up to a dozen after the class change. It was not only the quantity that had improved, but also the quality. The blades she could fashion parts of her body into were harder and sharper than before, and the time it took for the transformation itself, much faster. While her physical stats were unchanged, the improvements from that one skill evolution alone would have made her at least twice as deadly as a combatant compared to before. And all that was before she brought [Soul Armament] into play. The way [Soul Armament] attacked her targets¡¯ souls ¨C which in most monsters¡¯ cases, were notably weaker than their physical bodies ¨C was already a great boon. The added flexibility in how she could use the skill was another boon, as the old [Soul Bolt] was slower than she liked, whereas if she made projectiles with the evolved skill they would fly a good bit faster. It was the fact that she could ¡°coat¡± her own limbs with the skill that was the greatest boon, however, as it would make every attack from such a ¡°coated¡± limb to be one that affects the soul as well. Even better was that the offense from [Soul Armament] was entirely reliant on her Soul stats, which she had much more of compared to her Body or Mind stats. In essence, [Soul Armament] practically gave Esperanza a way to target her opponent¡¯s souls in a far more reliable and extremely destructive manner, and more than doubled her offense, since she just had so much more Soul than Body, which was what her physical prowess stemmed from. She very quickly learnt just how potent the evolved skills were in combination when she decided to take on a quartet of arachnoids that were in the high fifties. It took Esperanza barely two hits for each arachnoid before they collapsed and convulsed on the ground. Their bodies were mostly unmarred, but their souls had been thoroughly damaged to the point that they broke apart in Esperanza¡¯s [Soul Sight]. To her relief, she could still collect those broken souls and they still seemed to count as normal, though she worried if that sort of breaking might have adverse effects on a person¡¯s soul. 95 - A Change in Mentality ¡°Oof!¡± exhaled Glenn as he took a blow from the four-armed monster¡¯s mace on his tower shield. Despite how he already braced for the impact, the blow from the hefty mace still had enough force to send him crashing to the stone floor of the cavern, as it carried the monster¡¯s entire massive weight behind it as well. ¡°Glenn! You okay!?¡± yelled Bronwen as she squeezed herself between the monster and Glenn¡¯s prone form in time to intercept its next full-power blow. She actually made use of one of her skills as a luminescent shield of light formed in front of her tower shield and took the brunt of the blow, which allowed her to block it while only taking a couple of steps back. ¡°I think it bloody broke my arm!¡± replied Glenn back as he tried to rise to his feet with some difficulty. The monster at the end of the third dungeon had proven itself to be a greater challenge than what the party expected. While the strikes from its spear or greatsword were absurdly fast and powerful, they were still tolerable. On the other hand, Ethan was the only one who could take on a blow from its heavy mace without having to make use of a skill to alleviate the impact. ¡°Hold still, it shouldn¡¯t take long,¡± muttered Leda quietly as she rushed to the injured Glenn¡¯s side and laid her hands on his shield-arm, where the tell-tale glow of her healing skill started to emanate. Leda¡¯s healing was the main reason the group managed to hold on despite the monster¡¯s overpowering might. They knew it, and the monster also seemed to know it. ¡°Remember to take cover in the back once you¡¯re done,¡± said Bronwen as she blocked a spear thrust that was aimed towards Leda. ¡°This thing always aims for you anytime you¡¯re in range. I don¡¯t think the [Heroes] can keep it occupied too well, unlike the previous ones,¡± she added with a huff. ¡°It¡¯s a damned tough one too, at that.¡± Bronwen¡¯s worry was well-placed, as the monster they faced was extremely tough that it pretty much ignored most of the party¡¯s offense, though it did pay attention to Alissa and Joshua in particular as they had managed to land some more damaging blows to it. Most of its weapon strikes were aimed at the two, which was why Ethan focused on defending them, while everyone else mostly had to watch out for the monster¡¯s four clawed legs and its tail. As it was, the party had mostly failed to do any notable damage to the beast despite all their efforts in a vicious ten minutes. They had to act fast, as it was their buff skills that allowed them to mostly keep up with the monster in the first place, and those generally only lasted around fifteen minutes, which inadvertently placed the party on a timer that constantly ticked down. ¡°Smith! Think you can do what you did with the beast back in the first cavern!?¡± asked Alissa as she narrowly avoided a swipe from the monster¡¯s greatblade. She had expended most of her active skills by that time, and had landed several telling blows on the monster, but none of them seemed to be particularly serious. ¡°Its core should be around where its torsos meet!¡± ¡°I can try, but are you confident in getting me close enough to this thing? If I focus my skills the way I did last time, it¡¯d be a one and done deal, I won¡¯t be able to pull off another without a long rest first!¡± replied Joshua, who kept his distance from the monster even as he contributed to the fight with the occasional bolt of lightning. ¡°I¡¯ll need to either be close to it, or you would somehow need to keep the damn thing stationary for a few seconds!¡± ¡°I still got [Moment of Truth], but I don¡¯t think that¡¯d be enough to do what we did back then with this one. It¡¯s far too fast and agile,¡± replied Alissa as Ethan blocked a blow from the monster¡¯s mace and allowed her a breather. ¡°We got to do something fast, though, our buffs are going to start expiring in a few minutes, and then it would just run roughshod all over us.¡± ¡°Any other ideas- Ugh! Then!?¡± asked Ethan as he took another heavy blow that sent him reeling backwards with a cracked shield. His shield had taken a lot of punishment over the dungeon delve, and it was on the verge of failure, with cracks all over its surface, though admittedly this final boss was the source of most of that damage. ¡°I don¡¯t think we would be able to hold on for too much longer, and trying to take it on once more after some rest doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯d do it much good either!¡± If the party retreated to rest, they would be able to enter the battle refreshed, with their skills mostly usable once more. On the other hand, the monster would also take that time to recover its injuries, as it were, and they¡¯d be back at square one, but with their equipment already in worse condition. As such, it was not the most palatable approach, even if it sounded like a logical one. None of them wanted to fail things so badly to the point that their chaperones needed to raise a hand to help them out, as they knew how much the feats meant to the rest of the party, and besides it would also mean that they had failed. Everyone might have had their own reasons for not wanting to fail, but they were united in that desire to succeed under their own power. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Wait¡­¡± muttered Alissa as she deflected a thrust from the monster¡¯s spear with her shield and scored a glancing blow of her own on the beast¡¯s stone-scaled arm in return. Her blow did little but to break a couple of the stone scales and leave scratches on several others, which showed just how durable the beast was. ¡°I think we¡¯ve been approaching this the wrong way all along.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Ethan even as he parried the monster¡¯s artifact greatsword with his pollaxe. It was not an easy thing to do one-handed, but he also used his shield to help support the weapon in order to withstand the force of the blow. ¡°If going all-out at it has been the wrong way, then what would you suggest instead?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the issue. We haven¡¯t been really going all-out on it yet. Us three, especially,¡± replied Alissa even as she avoided a downward smash from the creature¡¯s mace that left a small crater on the stone floor where the blow landed heavily. ¡°We cannot die. Even if we die we¡¯d just [Respawn] in a while, so I think it¡¯s about time we act like it.¡± ¡°Come to think of it¡­ you¡¯re right,¡± admitted Ethan after a moment of thought. He tried to whack the creature¡¯s arm with his weapon but much like Alissa¡¯s blow, other than breaking a few of its stone scales, his blow did little damage overall. ¡°We¡¯ve been fighting with care all along because Ol¡¯ Henri wanted us to get used to fighting that way, so we don¡¯t get over our heads and get captured by the demons¡­ but this isn¡¯t such a situation, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Exactly! If we don¡¯t take this thing down fast it might hurt one of the others, and they can¡¯t come back like we do, so we need to bring it down, pronto! Even if that costs our lives,¡± said Alissa with some vehemence behind her voice as she saw how Bronwen struggled to stay standing after the woman blocked a particularly vicious blow from the creature¡¯s tail. ¡°Smith! Do you think you can launch your spell fast enough to have it out before this thing gets what¡¯s going on and kills us!?¡± ¡°Once the spell has been executed, it¡¯s pretty much fire and forget,¡± explained Joshua in response to Alissa¡¯s rather unexpected question. ¡°I take it you want to pull off a suicidal charge against it, then?¡± ¡°Ethan will distract it while we make the run,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. ¡°Just let me warn the others first so they don¡¯t do something silly when we pull it off,¡± she added. Most of the [Companions] and [Associates] protested when they heard what Alissa had in mind, but could only acquiesce to her decision when they noticed how neither Sir Inolet nor Magus Drummond objected to it. In the end, they pulled an orchestrated assault on the beast¡¯s sides and rear just before Alissa made her foolhardy attempt, in order to give them the best chance at success. The beast looked as if it was about to strike at the annoying things that were harrying it for a moment, but its attention was soon drawn back towards Ethan, who slammed his pollax in a vicious two-handed blow against the side of the beast¡¯s left foreleg. In turn, the beast swung its greatsword towards Ethan in a vicious blow. Ethan did not dodge the blow. Instead, he braced himself behind his shield and took the blow head-on, the blade of the greatsword cutting deep into his mostly broken shield, only stopping barely inches away from his hand. Before the beast could react, Ethan twisted the broken remains of his shield to wedge the blade in place, making it difficult for the monster to withdraw the blade. That left him open to the spear thrust the monster followed the blow with, but that was within his expectations. The spear pierced through Ethan¡¯s armor, into his abdomen, and out from his back, but he just gritted his teeth and clenched the spear with his muscles, using his other hand to hold on to the shaft and his body weight to prevent the monster from making use of the two weapons. Right around that time, Alissa activated [Moment of Truth] and rushed in close towards the beast with Joshua in tow. She deposited him close to the beast even as she turned and used both her shield and spear to deflect away a blow from the beast¡¯s mace, something she managed only by the barest margin, as she lacked the strength to do it forcefully like Ethan did. Alissa then threw herself in front of a clawed leg that moved towards Joshua who was in the midst of activating his many skills and took the blow meant for him. Part of the blow she took on her shield, which was left with deep gouges. The rest of it fell against her chestplate, which similarly withstood the strike with only marks to show where the blow landed. The chainmail that covered her abdomen was less resilient, though, and the rivets failed under the beast¡¯s forceful clawing, the claws itself piercing deeper into the layers of the gambeson she wore and into her flesh behind it. As a result she was left with four deep gashes across her abdomen that bled profusely, and had to drape one of her arms over it to prevent her innards from spilling out from the open wound. Even so, she bought enough time as she heard Joshua behind her activate the final skill and let loose with a full-power blast of his magic from close range, aimed right at where [A Critical Eye] had identified the monster¡¯s weak spot. The blast gouged deep into the creature¡¯s body, leaving a charred cavity where it passed as the thigh-thick bolt of lightning burnt through everything in its way. Before their eyes, the creature began to unravel, its limbs began to droop and started to part from its main body as it lost the coordination that made it so dangerous. Many of the stone scales fell off its body, no longer held properly by the colony of threads that comprised the creature¡¯s body, and they all were certain that the beast would break apart into more manageable pieces before long. Unfortunately, the beast still managed a last counterattack before it broke apart. Its shield-arm lashed out at Joshua, who was already half-unconscious after exhausting just about all of his mana in one go, and the shield smashed into his side edge-first. The blow caused Joshua¡¯s body to bend over like a shrimp as he was hurled several meters away by the impact. Alissa saw it happen and was about to cry out but never had the chance to as the creature¡¯s mace slammed into her midriff and pressed her into the ground, the impact likely turning most of her organs into paste on the spot. As if the creature wanted to take her down with it using its last moments, however, she was then stamped down repeatedly by a clawed leg that was in the midst of unraveling. At least this time death took her quickly so she did not have to suffer for long. 96 - Third Tier Class Choices You have Died. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Temple When Alissa regained her thoughts, if the feeling of floating like a drifting leaf in the middle of nothingness could be called that, she was faced by a prompt she had seen once before. She made the same choice as the last time, and before long, the same awkward sensations she felt the last time made itself known once more. At least this time she was not caught by surprise about being brought back to life without a shred of clothing on her body, as naked as the day she had been born. Thankfully for her modesty though, there was nobody around her but Moira, who shielded Alissa from view with her own body and already proffered a fresh set of clothes for her to wear. ¡°Thanks,¡± muttered Alissa with a nod as she took the proffered tunic and put it on. The garment itself extended down to her mid-thighs, so it already covered her by itself, which was likely why Moira stepped aside as Alissa was putting on the pair of leggings. It was only then that she noticed Joshua similarly putting on clothes with Vesta¡¯s help some distance away. There were shreds of the thread-like creatures that inhabited the dungeon strewn about everywhere Alissa¡¯s eyes could see. The rest of the party must have cleaned up the remaining broken parts of the boss, which had lost cohesion due to the destruction of its core, in record time. Probably to make sure she and Joshua wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the awkwardness of respawning naked in the midst of a fight. ¡°How is Ethan? He hasn¡¯t [Respawn]ed yet?¡± asked Alissa as she looked around the vicinity. ¡°Oh, Mister Greene hadn¡¯t fallen in the aftermath of the battle, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± replied Moira with a smile. ¡°He did take some pretty bad injuries, but it wasn¡¯t anything that would have killed him. He even helped out with the cleanup with the rest of us.¡± ¡°Huh. I guess building his stats to go tank all the way does benefit him quite a bit,¡± noted Alissa with a shake of her head. While her own stats also leaned slightly towards the Body stat, her highest sub-stat was Dexterity, and she was nowhere near as invested into it compared to Ethan. Suffice to say, she was neither as durable nor as powerful as him, when it comes to a purely physical bout. Hopefully some new skills at the next tier would start giving her more benefits from her relatively higher Mind and Soul, though. Speaking of Experience, while Alissa ¨C and Joshua too, for that matter ¨C missed out on the experience gained from the slaughter of the broken remains of the boss, they had gained a lot of experience from their efforts in taking down the core of the beast itself. More than enough experience to propel Alissa straight to level 20, in fact, as she noticed while browsing her notifications. As a bonus, apparently being dead skipped the headache part of the notification spam since it apparently went on the logs while she was busy being too dead to feel the pain from it. A silver lining for every cloud, as they say. When Alissa finally made her way to where the rest of the group was already in the midst of setting up camp, she finally noticed Ethan, who was lying by the fire, clearly still suffering from the aftereffects of the magical healing he received from Cerilla. He gave a weak wave of his hand to welcome Alissa, his face still looking somewhat pale from all the blood he must have lost. The beast had skewered him through with its spear, after all. ¡°Not looking so hot today, huh, Bookworm?¡± asked Alissa as she made use of Ethan¡¯s childhood nickname in a jestful manner. ¡°I was really thinking that just getting killed and [Respawn]ing might have been less painful for a while. I swear, why does healing magic not also dull the pain!?¡± replied Ethan with a scowl, though it was more of a playful one than one out of actual anger. ¡°Doesn¡¯t help that the headache was the worst one ever after we finished off that boss either.¡± ¡°Huh, actually missed out on that, so lucky me, I guess,¡± replied Alissa with a smirk on her face. ¡°Turns out being dead and waiting to [Respawn] spared you from that part of the experience.¡± ¡°Bloody hell! Really ought to have let the damned beast kill me there at the end had I known that!¡± complained Ethan as he shook his head in frustration. ¡°Anyway, you got your third tier yet?¡± she asked back. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Nope, not yet. My head¡¯s still abuzz from the bloody headache I had, don¡¯t think I can think clearly enough to make that sort of choice yet, so maybe I¡¯ll do it after some rest,¡± he replied with another shake of his head. ¡°Already hit twenty too, huh? Gonna make your choice right away? Or giving it more of a think like last time first?¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking a look first. Can¡¯t tell till I know what¡¯s on offer, after all.¡± A glance at the choices she had made Alissa notice that the system seemed to have taken into account her previous choices up to the current point as well. [Hallowed Hoplite of Heaven] You are a warrior wielding a spear and shield, of hallowed body and soul, who fights on behalf of the heavens. March forth, brave warrior, and may thy name be hallowed forevermore! Gain +30 Body +5 Mind +10 Soul upon Evolution Gain +10 Strength +5 Dexterity +10 Constitution +5 Wisdom +5 Sanity per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Hallowed Spear of Heaven] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Hallowed Stance] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Hallowed Hoplite of Heaven]? Yes/No The first skill looked to her like a likely upgrade to the [Consecrated Warrior] class she skipped out on back in the previous class change and still pretended to be. It definitely took her weapon choice into consideration, given its pointed focus on the shield and spear, but otherwise looked to be pretty standard for its type. The ¡°hallowed¡± part also made her feel like it had more ties to the gods than she liked. [Laurelled Lancer of Legend] Your prowess with the spear is the stuff of legends, the subject of tales sung by bards. Your mastery of the spear is beyond compare, at least amongst mortals. Gain +35 Body +5 Mind +5 Soul upon Evolution Gain +10 Strength +10 Dexterity +5 Constitution +5 Perception +5 Intuition per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Shadowless Thrust] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Body and Spear as One] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Laurelled Lancer of Legend]? Yes/No The second class Alissa had on offer was quite straightforward. A clearly physical-based class that focused on the spear, and from the gist she got, likely a more offensive option compared to the previous one. It did not seem to mention any of the gods as a bonus, so that was another good thing about it, which made her lean towards it more than the previous offered class. As such, she decisively struck out the [Hallowed Hoplite of Heaven] from her potential choices, as she saw no reason why she would take it over [Laurelled Lancer of Legend]. [Avatar of Righteousness] You had been chosen to embody the righteousness of the gods upon the mortal world. May all who blaspheme against the gods tremble before the retribution you shall disperse upon them! Gain +20 Body +20 Mind +20 Soul upon Evolution Gain +5 Strength +5 Dexterity +5 Constitution +5 Intelligence +5 Perception +5 Wisdom +5 Willpower +5 Intuition +5 Sanity per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Holy Smite] Skill upon Evolution Gain [Halo of Righteousness] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Avatar of Righteousness]? Yes/No When she looked over the third class though, Alissa had to frown. The class was clearly an upgraded version to the [Chosen of The Gods] class she was offered back in her second tier, and like back then, it still had the same red flags that made her discard the class as a choice. It just felt too much like the sort of class that would turn her into a puppet for the so-called gods if she took it instead, power notwithstanding. She decisively crossed it out from her list of options, as she had resolved to find out what truths might be hidden instead of just blindly believing in the Kingdom¡¯s narrative and obeying their every command. For the moment, their commands mostly helped her and Ethan grow in power, so she had no qualms about them, but it was something she was all too aware might change in the future. [Pathfinder of Hidden Trails] No truth, however obscure or hidden, shall hide before your eyes. You shall find the paths long forgotten, the trails of those gone and forgotten, and bring them back into the light. Gain +20 Body +15 Mind +15 Soul upon Evolution Gain +5 Strength +10 Dexterity +5 Constitution +10 Perception +10 Intuition per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Unravel the Firmament] Skill upon Evolution Gain [See no Falsehoods] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Pathfinder of Hidden Trails]? Yes/No The fourth class on offer was one that looked more like a direct upgrade to [Truthseeker] as a whole. Alissa¡¯s only worry was whether [For Your Eyes Only] would also apply to it or not, which was a worrisome prospect. One thing she became certain of was why there was such a difference between the tiers, and why it was generally considered nearly impossible for those of the second tier to beat a third tier opponent, unless they were a [Hero] or their opponent was not of a combative class. It was because the amount of stats gained at the third tier greatly dwarfed what people would have gained in the previous two stats. Even if she assumed that the best of the classes that the natives got only offered maybe half what she received per level, it was still a several fold increase compared to what they would have received in the second tier. [Inquisitor of Lost Covenants] To rediscover and spread the words that had long been lost is your calling, your destiny. Find the lost covenants, and be its prophet in the world that had long forgotten its existence! Gain +10 Body +20 Mind +20 Soul upon Evolution Gain +5 Strength +5 Constitution +10 Intelligence +5 Wisdom +10 Willpower +5 Sanity per level Gain 4 Free Major Stat Points per level Gain [Expose the Heresy] Skill upon Evolution Gain [An Inquisitive Mind] General Skill upon Evolution Do you want to become a [Inquisitor of Lost Covenants]? Yes/No The last choice Alissa had was¡­ interesting, to say the least. It also seemed to be an upgrade to [Truthseeker], albeit one that took a more radical path compared to [Pathfinder of Hidden Trails]. She was uncertain what the ¡°Lost Covenants¡± in the skill¡¯s name referred to, but guessed that it might be related to the old gods supposedly deposed by the current pantheon of gods. It also focused notably more on the Mind and Soul compared to the body, which was slightly different to the path she had pursued so far, but on the other hand, it might also offer clues and possibilities that might not be available elsewhere. In the end, it was a relatively hard decision for Alissa to make, though fortunately she had the luxury of thinking about it until everyone not on guard duty had gone to sleep later that night. Like before, she made her choice in the middle of the night, with the hope that nobody would notice until she would reveal it herself. 97 - Decisions, Decisions You have become a [Pathfinder of Hidden Trails] No truth, however obscure or hidden, shall hide before your eyes. You shall find the paths long forgotten, the trails of those gone and forgotten, and bring them back into the light. Gained +20 Body +15 Mind +15 Soul Gained Class Skill [Unravel the Firmament] Gained General Skill [See no Falsehoods] Class Skill [Pierce the Heavens] Evolved into [Perforate the Stars] Class Skill [The Cold, Hard Truth] Evolved into [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow] Your Skill [For Your Eyes Only] has encompassed your new class, allowing you to disguise it as one of the other choices you have been presented with. After she made her choice at last, Alissa breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed the notification regarding [For Your Eyes Only], as it had been her main worry all along. She immediately chose to disguise her new class as a [Laurelled Lancer of Legend], which she hoped wouldn¡¯t attract too much attention compared to her actual class. As a bonus, it also sounded like something a [Consecrated Warrior] would likely upgrade to. The changes to her stats were particularly noticeable, the class upgrade granting a massive amount of improvement compared to the second tier one. It drove home the point on why the natives had such a hard time dealing with people from different classes, even if their discrepancy would probably not be as massive as her own, due to class quality. Name : Alissa Faith O¡¯Connor Race : Human Age : 18 Class : [Hero Lvl20]/[Truthseeker Lvl20]/[Pathfinder of Hidden Trails Lvl1]/???/??? Stats : Free Major Stat Points: 0 Body : 75.66 - Strength : 71 - Dexterity : 81 - Constitution : 75 Mind : 69 - Intelligence : 50 - Perception : 107 - Wisdom : 50 Soul : 61.33 - Willpower : 51 - Intuition : 81 - Sanity : 52 Skills: Class 1: [Hero] Class 2: [Truthseeker] Class 3: [Pathfinder of Hidden Trails] General Skills: The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. If there was one drawback about the powerleveling regime she and the others have gone through, it was that they generally had less chance to practice their skills compared to others of their level, since they grew in level rapidly. Up to the present day, Alissa had only managed to ¡°naturally¡± evolve one of her skills, namely [Weapon Proficiency], which turned to [Spear and Shield Expertise] to better match her weapons of choice. The rest of her skill had leveled as well, but none of them had reached their maximum level and evolved yet. She was told by Nadine and the others that typically a third tier would have several such naturally evolved skills, more often than not, as they also generally took a much longer time to reach that level in the first place, and thus had a longer period of time to ¡°grind¡± levels on their skills as a result. She did end up getting [Tracking] since she often scouted for the group. The skill helped her find her way back, as early on she had some difficulty navigating while in the shadowy realm. As for the resistances, they were things Sir Inolet suggested for them to get. The process of getting them was rather painful, as it involved whippings and ingesting poisons, but it was at least worthwhile in the long term. As for [Mana Sense], it was another suggestion from Sir Inolet. While Alissa herself had no skills that made direct use of mana like mages do, her acute Perception made her quite sensitive to changes in the mana flow, and after some training, she found herself able to sense how the mana around her changed quite easily. That in itself might not sound too useful, but it allowed her to not only identify mages at a glance, but also to ¡°read¡± their moves ahead of time, an often decisive advantage in battle. Too bad the thread-colonies in the last dungeon don''t use mana at all, thus giving her no real opportunity to make use of it there. Alissa took a glance at her new skills next. [Unravel the Firmament] Epic Skill Level 1 ¡®Tis not only physical objects that could be unraveled. Imbues the user with the ability to unravel either an advantageous status from an enemy or a disadvantageous status from an ally. Range: Touch. Level 1: Cooldown: 24 hours. Number of status unraveled: 1. It was straightforward enough. A skill that gets rid of either a buff on an enemy or a debuff from an ally. Like most of her active skills, it started out with a long-ass cooldown period, so it was something to grind to a more usable state like the others, for sure. Given that she had run into quite a few foes who made use of buffs and debuffs, it was definitely a useful one once leveled a bit. It also depends on how selective and broad the definition of ¡°advantageous status¡± would be. If her target had multiple buffs would she be able to pick which to remove or would it happen at random. She also wondered if things like barriers from some skills would also count as one. If it did, then that would definitely make the skill even more useful, even though she had the newly evolved [Perforate the Stars]. [Perforate the Stars] Rare Skill Level 6 Not even the stars in the skies are safe from your thrusts. Perforate them and show your mettle! Massively increases the penetrative power of the user¡¯s attack when used, as well as amplifying damage dealt. Level 6: Cooldown: 45 Minutes. Duration: 5 Minutes or 3 attacks, whichever comes first. Damage Amplification: 30%. If [Unravel the Firmament] worked on barriers and unraveled it as its name suggested, then that should save her a use from [Perforate the Stars] in turn, since it would not have needed to expend any force to go through the barrier. If her assumption was right, that alone would have made the new skill a worthy addition to her repertoire. [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow] Epic Skill Level 4 Still better than some sweet lies, though. Grants the user¡¯s attack the ability to cause massive hemorrhaging on the struck target, preventing the bleeding from stopping for a set period of time. Also causes the target to asphyxiate for a set period of time. Less effective against stronger targets. Level 4: Cooldown: 3 Hours. Duration: 3 Minutes or 2 attacks, whichever comes first. Effect Duration: 4 minutes. Her bleeding-inducing skill got an upgrade that added asphyxiation to it, which even if it failed to incapacitate something strong enough to resist the effect, would likely still be annoying as all hell, Alissa thought. She still recalled the days when she was new to sports and the coach had them train their stamina. That feeling of shortness of breath after too much workout was just the worst. She imagined that trying to fight while feeling like that would be distracting, to say the least. [See no Falsehoods] Epic Skill Level 1 Only truths shall grace your eyes, o seeker of trails. Allows the user to see past illusions and other fakehoods as long as they were created by skills equal or below this skill in rarity. The last skill she gained from her class change was a quite useful passive. [A Critical Eye] might allow her to see weak spots in enemies, but if the enemy had some sort of illusion covering itself, then the skill wouldn¡¯t be able to do its job, or it might show the wrong spot. [See no Falsehoods] conveniently took care of that one blind spot of the other skill, which made them particularly useful in tandem. All in all, it was a good upgrade to her class so far, though the continued pestering from that class choice that tried to lure her into becoming a servant to the gods was worrisome. She was uncertain how powerful the gods of this world she¡¯s in were like. They were clearly not omniscient, as they would have caught on to her from her second class change. Perhaps she was just being paranoid and she had actually legitimately gotten the sort of feats that would make the system offer such a class instead. It was not an impossibility, given how the Kingdom had been doing their damndest to train and powerlevel them, so they might have also ¡°directed¡± their path that way while they were at it. Worst case, the gods of this world already knew about her duplicity and were simply amusing themselves while watching what she tried to do. She hoped that wasn¡¯t the case, since if it was, she had no idea what she could even do about it. While she could probably call some of the other party members friends by now, she was uncertain whether they would go against their own gods ¨C and likely Kingdom too for that matter ¨C for her sake. Out of the other party members Alissa had been closest to Moira, as well as Nadine and Maribel, who had been most open with her. The temple guards like Bronwen, Silvia, and Leda also treated her nicely, but she got the feeling that should push come to shove, all of them would put their faith first and foremost, so there was little to expect there. In the end, Alissa went to sleep while she hoped that nobody would notice anything amiss once she woke up the next day. ****************************** Come the morning, when Alissa woke up she noticed that Ethan and Joshua had already been awake. The two of them had also made their class choices by then, likely after they woke up, as when she went to sleep the previous night neither of them had changed their class. Ethan had changed his class to an [Indomitable Protector], while Joshua had become a [Purveyor of Arcane Mysteries]. From their descriptions, the classes looked like straight upgrades of their previous classes. Alissa wondered whether the two had not received more¡­ interesting options for their class options, or whether they had chosen the straight upgrades because they felt it was what suited them best. Then again, given how she got two options each for what would have been relatively straight upgrades of her tier two class options, she assumed that it might just be how the class change went for most. The three of them made some small talk ¨C Joshua becoming a bit less taciturn after their grudging cooperation during the dungeon ¨C over their new classes, and pretty much confirmed Alissa¡¯s guess. She herself ¡°sold¡± her class upgrade as one that focused more on versatility over power, which was not exactly a lie, for the most part. All of them discussed just how many stats the third tier gave. Out of the three apparently Alissa had gained the most, with fifty points to major stats on the evolution and another forty to substats every level since. Both Joshua and Ethan only got forty-five to their major stats on evolution with another thirty-five to their substats per level afterwards. That contrasted greatly with what they knew the [Companions] and [Associates] received. The one with the best class out of the [Companions], Nadine, only received thirty points to her major stats on the evolution with another fifteen to her substats every level after. The others had slightly worse classes than hers, though it was still better than the average sort of third tier class a native would have normally gotten. Those classes barely received ten to fifteen points to their major stats, and typically received less than ten points to their substats per level. In fact, the [Heroes]¡¯ second tier classes were not that far apart from what an average native¡¯s third class would have looked like. It was why they had been so powerful in comparison to the natives even if the latter had a massive level advantage. XCVIII - Towards the Center of the Web The further Esperanza and the Progenies pushed towards the center of the dungeon, where they expected the boss monster would be, the harder the resistance they faced along the way. Arachnoids of the fourth tier went from being uncommon ¨C typically only the [Queen] of a group ¨C to relatively common, sometimes up to the point that every one in four to five arachnoids were in the fourth tier. They were mostly on the very low end of the fourth tier, though, and while they were noticeably more dangerous, were still nothing compared to what a full-fledged fourth tier could do. After all, none of the party were as weak as they were when they returned to the dungeon. The improvements that the Progenies and Esperanza herself received from their third tier classes were felt. When it comes to lower end fourth tiers, even the stronger progenies could handle them alone for a good while, and kill them with the help of another. Esperanza was even stronger, as she tried herself out on another [Immature Arachnoid Queen], very similar to the creature they took down to reach the third tier, and slew the beast on her own without much difficulty. [Soul Armament] was a game changer, given how it could be applied to her melee attacks, unlike [Soul Bolt] which could only be used in the form of a relatively slow projectile. That slowness made it pretty much useless against the agile arachnoids, despite their very weak souls which made them easy prey for Soul-based attacks. They were honestly quite a curiosity, as Esperanza noticed how most of the arachnoids have tiny souls for their level and power. The only exceptions she had encountered were the [Queen]s, which had larger, more complete souls, and that one [King] they had the misfortune of running across during their first passage through the dungeon. ¡°Is something like this¡­ normal?¡± she asked in her mind as they camped deeper in the dungeon later that night. It is not an unusual thing, child. Not every creature requires as complete a soul as a person to function. Insects like these typically only have the parts that allow them to survive on their instincts. Those above them, the ones with the more complete souls, would in turn direct the ones with the lesser souls as they deem fitting. ¡°Huh. That always the case or are there other exceptions?¡± There are other examples that worked differently. If you were to head out to the seas and go near the coral reefs, you would notice how there¡¯s a multitude of tiny living beings that lived there. Their souls tend to be just as tiny, but they would resonate with one another to allow the whole group to function better than they should be able to with the amount they had. In contrast, some creatures can grow large and powerful yet never gain a complete soul. These creatures are ones that are simply limited to animalistic instincts at best, with no true intelligence behind their actions. Most animals are of this sort, whereas examples such as the [Queen]s and [King]s you have encountered are more on the rare side. An incomplete soul filled with only base desires and malice could not be considered a truly aware being. ¡°That at least makes me feel better,¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°Would be pretty shitty to be the cabr¨®n that barged into someone else¡¯s place uninvited and messed everything up, you know,¡± she added with a wistful sigh. ¡°I guess getting a confirmation that they¡¯re just bloody monsters is the best case scenario for us since we¡¯re already making a huge mess as-is.¡± Indeed¡­ you have shown great¡­ progress, along with the [Progenies]. We had not expected that given how much you were against subjecting them to danger. ¡°They made their own choice, and I¡¯m just doing my damndest to keep them alive,¡± replied Esperanza with a scoff. ¡°I can¡¯t say I wholly approve of their drive to keep throwing themselves in danger¡¯s way and to follow behind me¡­ but I won¡¯t say that the company was unappreciated either.¡± Joy grows in intensity the more it is shared, while the weight of sorrow lessens the more shoulders there are to bear it. ¡°Heh. Leave it to the Gods of Old to recite proverbs at you,¡± said Esperanza with a slight chuckle. After a moment though, her mood sombered once more, as she recalled a question she had forgotten to ask until then. ¡°By the way, Oldies, what¡¯s up with all the fraying at the edges of the souls? Are those supposed to be there?¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. We see that you have taken note of it. To answer your question, child, the fraying is not something a healthy soul should have. Normally, when a soul re-enters the cycle in such a state it would be broken up, its parts allowed to live simpler lives as lesser creatures for a cycle or two to recover from the wear and tear that it had suffered before it would be recombined and incarnated as a higher being once more. Unfortunately, that has ceased being the case. ¡°Let me guess¡­ the new gods¡¯ handiwork?¡± When those who now call themselves gods deposed us and created this system of theirs, they took one look at the cycle and thought the natural process was *unnatural*. As such, when they carved out the parts that governed the cycle from our once compatriots, they altered it so that souls would not shift in the hierarchy. A soul that was once in a person would return as a person in the next life, and the same applies with animals and other lesser beings. ¡°Mierda¡­ so the souls of the people had no chance to recuperate, so they started¡­ fraying? Is that what you¡¯re implying?¡± That is so, Esperanza. When the souls had no opportunity to recover, they would start to lose cohesion. The effect is slow and gradual, and would take many cycles before it becomes noticeable, but it remains a danger that lurks in the background. While larger souls generally took longer to be affected, you likely have noticed how even the smaller souls from beasts also exhibited the same symptoms, yes? ¡°I have, yes¡­ and what happens to a soul if it¡­ completely unravels?¡± A soul that completely unravels simply ceases to exist. To borrow your parlance, it would probably be the closest approximation you can have of a ¡°true death¡±. Those who worshiped us, we managed to help somewhat, by using what power we have left to hold their souls together. We believe you have seen this before, have you not? ¡°The threads around the souls¡­¡± Is that what it appeared like in your sight? An apt approximation regardless. ¡°Wait, you said that the souls would recover from this problem if they were to live life as lesser creatures. How come the souls of the lesser creatures I found also had the fraying, then?¡± Like everything in existence, Esperanza, balance is the key. A soul that has spent too long as a higher being would be affected negatively, and so would one that was stuck for too long as a lesser being. In both cases it would lead to the fraying you have observed, and should that condition persisted and continued to affect the soul, in several cycles the soul would be gone, never to return. ¡°So unless things change, this world is utterly doomed to hit a death spiral in a few generations, then?¡± What made you think we were talking about the future that is yet to come, child? What we described had already started to happen as we speak. Over the past few generations, less and less children were being born. Miscarriages and stillbirth increased in frequency, both amongst the people and the animals. If we were to make an estimate¡­ we would guess that there are about twenty percent less living things in this world now compared to say¡­ three hundred years ago. ¡°But¡­ with such a drastic decrease even the new gods should have noticed something was wrong, no?¡± They did, and they chose to blame it on our ¡°remaining influence¡± instead of trying to work out a solution to the problem. We have our suspicions that the system they created had long since escaped their complete control, which rendered them powerless to solve this problem. It was only to be expected, we guess, given that they were literally messing around with powers far beyond their understanding. ¡°So ending the world on our terms would help¡­ fix these issues?¡± replied Esperanza, somewhat lost over the magnitude of the information she had just been told. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that still kill everyone currently living in the world though?¡± To end the world would be akin to applying the cycle to the world as a whole, in a sense. While it would indeed result in the end of the lives currently living in the world, their souls would carry on to the next world, to live new lives once more. The alternative, if everything kept going as it is now, is true death for every existence in this world, likely including the so-called gods themselves. ¡°So there¡¯s little choice, is there? Either kill everyone so they could continue to exist in future lives¡­ or fail and everything would cease to exist in the end,¡± noted Esperanza with a sigh. ¡°I¡­ honestly don¡¯t know how to feel about that. Back when I first met you¡­ I wasn¡¯t exactly in the right state of mind. Perhaps some part of me thought that you metaphorically said to destroy the world, not in a far more literal sense¡­¡± We had¡­ suspected, as someone who had chosen to take their own life was rarely in the right state of mind. If you feel that we have unfairly pushed the burdens upon you, child, then we apologize. At the same time however, we would still ask for your help in pursuing our request, for the sake of all the souls currently existing in the world right now. ¡°No need to apologize,¡± replied Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°I don¡¯t blame you, and I get where you¡¯re coming from, kinda. Carajo! It was the same sort of situation, even. Things had gone so badly that I thought killing that hijo de puta of a pendejo then killing myself was the only course left for me¡­ I guess we¡¯re not so different in the end, after all.¡± We are not¡­ privy to your memories from the previous world, so we will refrain from commenting on that. ¡°Heh, gracias,¡± said Esperanza in thanks. ¡°You know, your being so polite and understanding while telling me to make my own choices are probably why I¡¯m so open to the idea in the first place. If this world is really in need of a proper ending, then let¡¯s work together to make it happen. First things first though, I¡¯ll be helping these progenies of yours powerlevel a bit. We¡¯re still too weak to affect things on any scale, I think.¡± We agree, and would say that it is a wise decision. While you are more powerful than the natives, there are still many around your current level of power, in the thousands, even. Once you reach the next tier, however, those amongst the natives that could match your power would be so few that they could be counted on the fingers of one hand, at most. At that point you would likely have to worry more about dealing with large groups at the same time, or of the gods taking a more direct approach. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re powerleveling for, yeah,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. ¡°These kids want to come along with me and help me out, and I¡¯m not going to risk that until they¡¯re at least capable of holding their own against some of the stronger people around. I¡¯ve seen some children die before my eyes, Oldies¡­ and that is an experience I do not wish to repeat¡­ ever again.¡± A noble sentiment. We wish you luck on your journey, Esperanza. XCIX - What awaits at the Center ¡°Can¡¯t say that I hadn¡¯t expected this, but I was hoping it wouldn¡¯t be this much of them,¡± noted Esperanza as she compared the notes that she, Dali, and Legisvula had gathered while scouting the deepest parts of the forest dungeon. The picture that the notes painted showed a literal web that dominated the central innermost region of the forest, one that had arachnoids of every shape and size crawling to the gills. The majority of the creatures there were third-tiers, often in the middle or late stages of the tier, with fourth tier creatures no longer an uncommon sight. It turned out that the arachnoids practiced a rather spartan way of raising their offspring. The young arachnoids, which were second-tiers the moment they hatched out from their eggs, were simply shooed away to the outer regions of the dungeon, where they would either survive or perish on their own merits. Only those that managed to grow strong enough were allowed into the central region once more. Which meant that the arachnoids Esperanza and the Progenies had been fighting so far had mostly been weaker ones, with their only real experience against the stronger arachnoids being the more recent fights. More troubling however, were the number of the arachnoids in the central region. Where the group had at most encountered groups of no more than ten to twenty arachnoids in their delve so far, there were at least a couple hundred of the monsters in the central region, with some as high leveled as the middle of the fourth tier. That in turn meant that there was likely some sort of [King] or [Queen] behind the whole pack that was even higher up in level, which was troublesome. While Esperanza and Belug-ur¡¯ani were capable of tackling multiple fourth tier arachnoids on their own, with enough numbers they too would be hard pressed to handle the situation. There were only twenty of them after all, including Ani¡¯s warriors. While each of them were capable of handling a third-tier arachnoid, there were far too many in the center that there was no hope for them to come out victorious against such numbers. As such, the question became what they could do to lure out the creatures within little by little, if it was even possible. Given that they likely had some intelligence in the form of the [King] or [Queen] behind them, that sounded unlikely. As fighting power goes, people of the world generally counted monsters as generally even to half a tier ahead of an average combat class, depending on quality. Of course, nobody in Esperanza¡¯s group had average classes. Even Ani¡¯s warriors all had above-average ones, which allowed them to hold their own still, even if the Progenies were catching up to them fast. The Progenies themselves were a whole other thing, as the second tier classes they received were ¨C according to Ani ¨C unheard of in the world. The closest thing to them were stories of the sort of classes [Heroes] and [Champions] received, though the Progenies were still a notch below those, if the stories could be believed. Compared to the locals, however, their classes were downright absurd. Even Ani herself felt envious of the power the Progenies received from their classes, which allowed them to match up to her late third tier warriors as early third tiers. Heck, Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya were already capable of overpowering Ani¡¯s warriors one on one, as the two had the strongest classes out of the Progenies. Ani herself was still out of their reach, as the Progenies had learned from several spars against her, but that was mostly thanks to her already being well into the fourth tier. That advantage allowed her to easily hold her own against the Progenies, even if all of them were to team up against her at the same time, as her third and fourth tier class were amongst the best out of all the warriors in Agur-Bas. It was the reason why she was the strongest warrior despite there being several senior warriors who were higher in level compared to her, after all. The quality of her class more than made up for their higher levels. Now she was facing the same sight, however, but with herself being the one on the higher level, and the Progenies being the ones who were catching up to her. Compared to that, it was Esperanza who gave Ani a much closer fight, especially after her class change. The classes she received were easily equal to what the [Heroes] and [Champions] received, as she was originally supposed to be one of them. That she was capable of giving Ani a hard fight despite being nearly one and a half tier below her spoke a lot about her power, and that was while her class was something that wasn¡¯t entirely combat focused either! This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Between them all, they were confident in handling even a swarm that had several fourth tiers, but none of them dared to take on too many of the creatures. As such, they tried various methods to lure the arachnoids out from their web in the center of the forest. The first thing they tried was to bait the creatures out using animal carcasses, but to their dismay, the arachnoids within mostly ignored them. It was only at a later scouting run into the web that Legisvula discovered what seemed to be ranches inside, where various animals were caged by the arachnoids, made to breed and fatten themselves before they were slaughtered and eaten. Since the creatures already had a steady source of food, no wonder that they ignored the bait that the group had set. In the end, after several other failed attempts, the group decided to do something more risky, namely to directly enter the web as intruders and lure out some of the arachnoids that way. They split into two teams for that purpose, with Esperanza, Dali, and Legisvula being the ones to intrude upon the arachnoids, as they were the ones most likely to escape such a situation. The rest of the group set up an ambush near a river a kilometer away from the central region, with the idea being that the group that set out to bait the arachnoids would lead their pursuers there. They set up the ambush near the river because a couple of Ani¡¯s skills relied on water, so having a nearby source helped her save up on mana. If too many arachnoids gave chase, the group that set out to bait them would lead them elsewhere while they signaled the others to abort the ambush and to escape instead. Together, the three of them slowly inched closer towards the central region. They had no definite idea on how far they could go before the arachnoids noticed, since in their prior attempts they were always cloaked under their respective skills. In the end, however, it turned out that the arachnoids mostly ignored them ¨C despite a couple definitely having noticed them from the distance ¨C until they entered the ¡°web¡± itself. That was when all hell broke loose. All of a sudden, every arachnoid in the vicinity dropped whatever they were doing and charged towards the three. Naturally the trio did not even think twice before they turned around and booked it, taking care to keep the distance open while not going too far away from the pursuing arachnoids behind them, in order to keep them chasing. To their relief, after they were roughly halfway down the road towards the ambush spot, they only counted thirty-five or so arachnoids chasing after them, with no more further behind. It appeared that they had only alerted the arachnoids that inhabited the section of the ¡°web¡± they entered. Thirty-five arachnoids, even when six of them were early fourth tiers, were well within the group¡¯s capability to handle. Once the arachnoids had been led to and entered the ambush site, Ani made her move and made use of her [Flowing Curtain] skill. It was the same skill she used in the fight where Esperanza and the progenies reached their third tier, and formed a wall of flowing water that isolated an area. While it looked flimsy, the wall was pretty much impenetrable and impassable for creatures around Ani¡¯s power level. This time, she used it to prevent the arachnoids from escaping their ambush. Even as the ambushing group made their presence known with a flurry of attacks, Esperanza and Dali turned towards the pursuing Arachnoids and pounced towards the fourth tiers. Esperanza took on two of them on her own, while Dali took on another. Gordy pounced on yet another of the creatures, while Ani handled the final two herself. The rest of the creatures were only mid to late third tiers, and they were left for the rest of the group to deal with. While few of the creatures were killed by the initial strike, it left many of them with varying levels of injury, with several of them outright crippled. All the fliers had also been shot down and either killed or left unable to take to the air, since they were the ones most likely to be able to escape Ani¡¯s [Flowing Curtain]. Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya led the rest of the progenies to charge the injured and disoriented arachnoids, while Ani¡¯s warriors joined them with equal enthusiasm. While the volunteer warriors had chosen to follow Esperanza and the Progenies out of their belief in the Deities of Yore, none of them would refuse an easy opportunity to grow more powerful either, and the current situation definitely was one such chance. Esperanza herself turned one of her ¡°arms¡± into a trio of tentacle-like limbs with blades of bone on its tips and used them to harry one of the arachnoids she was dealing with. The other arachnoid got her full attention, with three more such tenebrous limbs striking it from difficult angles, all while the true threat, an elongated arm holding a crescent dagger, lay in wait for an opportunity like a venomous snake preparing to strike out. When the chance came, a glint and a golden flash was all that could be seen as Esperanza struck before the arachnoid could reach. The crescent dagger directly severed both arms on the arachnoid¡¯s left side, while Esperanza used her limbs to tie up the right-side arms of the creature. It was then powerless to stop another strike from the crescent dagger from slicing between its head and upper torso, cleanly beheading the creature. With one of her opponents down for the count, Esperanza then turned her attention towards the second creature she was fighting against. The poor arachnoid never stood a chance when six bladed limbs beset it at the same time and the crescent dagger followed behind them. Within moments it too lay dead before Esperanza¡¯s feet, and all that despite her holding back in the fight. She had not used [Soul Armament] as she wanted to take the chance to train [The Body as a Weapon] more in a combat situation. The latter skill was arguably her most important one when it comes to actual combat capability without using any finite resources like mana or souls after all, so she felt that she should be capable of at least dealing with easier foes just with it. After all, the situation was well under control, with more than half of the pursuing arachnoids already dead by the time Esperanza finished her opponents, with the remaining ones given to the Progenies to help them level faster. Out of the fourth tiers, Dali and Gordy already finished off their foes, while Ani kept the two before her immobilized for the Progenies to kill later. It was a promising start to their venture towards the center of the forest. Should the results prove to be replicable, then it made clearing the dungeon a far more likely possibility, given enough time to first deplete the central area off its defenders. With some luck they would be able to take on their foes piecemeal and eradicate them one group at a time. C - A Curious Stroke of Fortune Over the next week, Esperanza and the Progenies worked together with Ani and her warrior to repeat the process. They lured away the arachnoids that populated the massive web in the center of the forest, one section at a time. At first they were wary that it was too easy, that it might have been a trap, but some attempts at deeper reconnaissance finally told them the reason they were having a relatively easy time. There was no [King] in the center of the web, only a [Queen] that seemed to be trying to groom new kings into existence. They were uncertain as to the cause of why there was no [King] to be found. Perhaps the creature had died of old age, or maybe it ran into an opponent it was unable to handle ¨C the massive dinosaur-like creature which lived nearby came to mind ¨C and perished. Either way, it was good news for Esperanza and the Progenies. Without a [King] to coordinate them, the arachnoids mostly fought and acted in instinctive manner, which made them far easier to handle. Their numbers were naturally still a cause for concern, but since the group could whittle it down bit by bit, it was far more manageable. Where the outermost web sections maybe had thirty to forty arachnoids with five or so fourth tiers guarding each, their opposition got tougher further in. Before long the group was facing ten, sometimes up to fifteen fourth tier arachnoids at the same time, still backed by their late third tier brethren. It was a good thing that they too had grown in power. Of course, Esperanza and the Progenies grew the fastest in power, due to their lower levels. All of them had reached the middle levels of the third tier after that week of constant carnage, even Iryl, whose class leveled slower than the Progenies, reached that level. The increased stats and new skills from those levels helped them fight better, and other than Iryl, any of them were easily capable of handling a fourth tier opponent on their own. The stronger ones amongst them ¨C Esperanza, Dali, Gordy, Val-Kas¡¯j, and Tiesya ¨C were easily capable of taking on multiple such opponents on their own by that point, and even Nalihimatu could keep up to half a dozen of them ¡°taunted¡± and focused on himself, which freed up the others to handle the rest of the creatures at their leisure. Naturally, given the rapid flow of experience, all of Ani¡¯s warriors also gained a couple levels from their endeavors. Four of them even broke through to the fourth tier as well, though the quality of their class was not as good as what either the Progenies or Ani herself had. Probably their association with Esperanza and the Progenies weren¡¯t close enough to qualify them for the better classes, though they did receive options that were better than what they had expected already. Even Ani herself gained a level after all the fighting, which was something that usually took months of effort if not more, since fourth tier levels were difficult to get. Gaining a level after a week of fighting was something she never expected. Then again most sane people would never attempt to clear a dungeon populated by over a hundred fourth-tier monsters with only twenty something people to begin with, so perhaps that level was a rather well-earned one indeed. With the increase in level and power, the group gained more confidence in themselves, and they slowly began to chip away at the defenses of the innermost regions of the web. Esperanza was uncertain why the [Queen] within had yet to act against them, despite how it must have noticed its guards being lured away and massacred bit by bit, but chalked it up to a bit of good fortune so far. The center region of the web itself was one mostly reserved for the [Queen] itself as well as some arachnoid types none of the groups had seen before. They were called [Arachnoid Royal Guards] and came in many varieties, practically covering just about every arachnoid type the group had seen in the dungeon so far. Every single one of the creatures were mid fourth tier in level, and unlike the typical arachnoids, which relied entirely on their chitinous outer shell for defense, these arachnoids wore what looked like armor, but were more likely outgrowths of their natural outer shell. Just from their appearance alone, Esperanza could guess that they would be tougher than the creatures she had fought so far. At least there were only twenty-four of them, which was a relief. It would be difficult to fight against so many enemies with such a high level if they were also supported by other lower level monsters. When the group ¨C now traveling openly, as they had pretty much denuded the web off its arachnoid inhabitants ¨C approached the central point, those [Arachnoid Royal Guards] turned to watch them and gathered. Clearly their instincts were sharp enough to recognize that dangerous enemies were headed their way, and they reacted accordingly. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. For a brief moment, a tense standoff ensued, as Esperanza¡¯s group halted a short distance outside the central-most section of the web, near a small stream which would allow Ani to use her water-based skills with more ease. The [Arachnoid Royal Guards] in turn watched them intently, but didn¡¯t seem to have any desire to leave the central region either. At least, until Ilavakide and a couple of Ani¡¯s subordinates struck them from where they were standing. Ilavakide made use of her active skills, stacking two of them at the same time to make her first shot as lethal as she could make it. By the time the twang of the bowstring could be heard, her arrow had already reached its target, one of the [Arachnoid Royal Guards] that had the appearance of a ranged-type arachnoid. The arrow, boosted greatly in speed and accuracy by Ilavakide¡¯s skill and infused with most of the young girl¡¯s mana, struck and pierced through the carapace on the [Arachnoid Royal Guard]¡¯s head, embedded itself deep into its face, before the mana reacted and exploded violently. The resultant explosion blew the creature¡¯s head clean off, and its headless body collapsed after a couple moments. That made the remaining [Arachnoid Royal Guards] stop watching and start to charge towards the group en masse. The pair of thrown javelins from Ani¡¯s warriors were less effective, as they weren¡¯t quite as boosted with skills, though one of them did pierce one of the creatures on its less-armored, bulbous back end. The injury only seemed to infuriate the creature in question, though. Within moments, a brutal melee ensued as the group met the charging creatures head-on. The members who were skilled in melee combat directly took on the incoming monsters, most of them taking on two or more of the beasts at a time. The rest of the group stood further back, behind a segmented [Flowing Curtain] Ani conjured which gave them protection while still allowing them to strike their foes. Esperanza naturally made use of [A Lending of Power] and [Deprive the Wicked] before the groups clashed. The levels she gained had allowed her to designate another two targets for the former, so she added Ani and Nalihimatu to the list. The additional stats were most effective on their best fighters, after all. As for the latter skill, she caught the majority of the [Arachnoid Royal Guards] in it, and personally tangled with the three that avoided its effects. By then, she had completely done away with any pretense about being human while she fought. She instead made full use of her amorphous body, shifting her forms freely to both attack and defend, the blades of bone she created here and there to attack with coated with [Soul Armament], which made them all the more deadly against weak-souled creatures like these arachnoids. The [Arachnoid Royal Guards] had a stronger soul than most other variants not a [King] or [Queen], but they were still on the weak side compared to other types of creatures. Dali flickered in and out of existence as he struck two different [Arachnoid Royal Guards] repeatedly from impossible angles. Esperanza¡¯s rise to the third tier seemed to have enabled her dogs to make more use of their innate powers that were previously beyond their reach due to their lacking levels. In Dali¡¯s case, it made the slender greyhound-like dog a phantom that seemed to pay no heed to the idea of dimensions and reality. Magical attacks and Soul attacks still gave him some trouble, but against physical foes, Dali was pretty much untouchable. In contrast, the nebulous form that Gordy turned into seemed to become more substantial after the increase in levels. It was like she was every part of the mist she turned into at the same time, as the creatures she was tangled with found to their horror ¨C if they could even feel that. Every now and then, chunks of their carapace would break, as if a vicious jaw had bitten down on it, despite the only thing they were in contact with being Gordy¡¯s misty form. Val-Kas¡¯j took on two of the beasts at the same time, expertly wielding his polearm and short spear at the same time as he deflected and avoided their blows while he made opportunities to strike back at the mean time. When one of her many eyes happened to glance his way, Esperanza found that she was reminded a bit on how hunters in documentaries she had watched hounded their prey, patiently waiting for them to make mistakes or tire out before they moved in to make the kill. In contrast, Tiesya reminded her more of a bullfighter. The way the young girl danced in close vicinity of the two [Arachnoid Royal Guards] she was facing, avoiding their strikes by the barest margin while landing cuts from her pair of blades at the same time, was almost like watching a performance art. Only the open rents that leaked ichor on the monsters¡¯ bodies served as a reminder that it was indeed a dance of death that she engaged in. Nalihimatu had the attention of three of the [Arachnoid Royal Guards] fixated on him. While he was by no means as strong as either Val-Kas¡¯j or Tiesya, he also had the benefit in that he could just focus on defense. His skills kept the monsters on him, unwilling to turn away before they were finished with him, which afforded others with easy opportunities to strike at them from safety. Ilavakide and Dai¡¯vasy made full use of that opportunity as they bombarded the creatures Nali kept occupied with arrows and magic. Since Ilavakide had spent most of her mana in the opening blow, she only used mundane arrows which were far less damaging to the creatures in a bid to regenerate some of her mana in case it would be needed later. Similarly, Dai¡¯vasy limited herself to smaller workings of magic which would not tax her mana pool by too much. Even though the damage they did was not much, it added up over time. One of the creatures noticeably slowed down, its form looking like a pincushion by that point, with dozens of arrows and icicles sticking out from its carapace. After a few more minutes, the creature eventually ran out of power and collapsed as it slowly expired. By that point, Resitia was already finished with her first opponent, and jumped over from the distance. The human girl landed with a great amount of force on the back of another of the monsters by Nali, which was caught off-guard by her sudden pounce. Resitia¡¯s spear struck the beast¡¯s bulbous lower body with great force, empowered by a skill, and caused a fountain of ichor and gore to spray out the other side as the blow pulverized a part of the monster¡¯s body and the spear pierced all the way through to the bottom. Soon enough, all twenty-four [Arachnoid Royal Guards] lay dead on the ground, yet for some reason, the [Queen] of the swarm had yet to make its appearance. The party shrugged their shoulders, treated what injuries they suffered and rested for a bit to allow their mana to regenerate somewhat. Only then did they continue to head towards where the [Queen] is located, intent on finishing the dungeon that very day. 101 - Preparation for War ¡°All right, we¡¯re going back after this meal. Good work, you all,¡± said Sir Henri Inolet after the party received the bowls of stew that was their breakfast that morning. He hadn¡¯t commented on Alissa¡¯s new class, and instead just gave the three [Heroes] a nod of approval. The old knight was a firm believer that while guidance was necessary in the early stages, once someone started to form their own path, they should make their own decisions. ¡°What about the harvesting team?¡± asked Ethan. The harvesting team had departed only a day later after them from the royal capital, and was likely still busy extracting valuables from the parts of the dungeon that the party had already cleared. ¡°Would they be safe here? While we killed most of the¡­ colonies I¡¯m certain some of them still survived here and there. There was just too many for anyone but Joshua to completely account for all of them.¡± ¡°The survivors from your fights are too few and far between to be a threat even to the harvesting team,¡± explained Magus Drummond. ¡°Sure, they re-merged with other survivors from time to time, but the resultant creature wouldn¡¯t be any more dangerous than a wild dog or something like that. The harvesting team can handle that on their own.¡± ¡°What are they harvesting for in this place anyway? I know the main valuables are the artifacts, and Sir Inolet already gathered those,¡± asked Alissa with some curiosity. She had not recalled seeing any notable ores on the walls, and doubted that the carcass of the creatures in the dungeon would be of much use either. ¡°Right, it might not be obvious to those unfamiliar with the place. It¡¯s the herbs,¡± said Magus Drummond as he inhaled from his pipe, exhaling the smoke in a neat ring before he continued. ¡°Many of the plants that grow here are used in various sorts of potions and elixirs, nothing that¡¯s particularly useful for fighting, but still pretty high in demand amongst the rich and powerful. It¡¯s the reason this place is still cleaned up semi-regularly despite the difficulty, honestly.¡± ¡°What sort of potions?¡± Alissa asked once more. She knew that the practice of alchemy existed in this world, though there were no such convenient things as a potion that could heal injuries once drunk. The closest thing the world had to a healing potion was one that sped up the natural regeneration process by some bit, but those were more something that would make an injury take a week instead of two to heal. ¡°Various sorts,¡± said the Magus as he dumped out the dying embers from his pipe and refilled it with some more dried herbs and lit them on fire. ¡°Several different kinds of panacea, also a lot of the main material needed for mana potions¡­¡± explained the old man as he continued, pausing slightly before he pointed towards an object in the vicinity of their campsite. ¡°That¡¯s the most valuable one, though.¡± ¡°What is that thing?¡± questioned Alissa as she took a closer look at the object the old magus pointed out. At a glance it looked like a small tree, but upon closer inspection she realized that it was some sort of mushroom with a stalk that was covered by bark-like growth. The upper canopy of the fungus was bulbous, which gave the thing a rather phallic shape in general. ¡°That¡¯s a morningwood,¡± said the old magus nonchalantly even as all three [Heroes] spat out the stew in their mouths. Joshua even had to cough a couple times to dislodge a chunk of vegetable that went into his airway. ¡°Very prized amongst the nobility, especially older ones. It¡¯s the main ingredient for an elixir that¡­ well¡­ enhances a man¡¯s performance in the bedroom, simply put.¡± ¡°Aptly named,¡± quipped Joshua with a shake of his head, while Ethan nearly choked once more as he fell into a fit of giggles. Alissa herself had to struggle not to laugh too loudly and prevent her bowl of stew from spilling. The name has got to be done intentionally by someone, which considering the presence of summoned [Heroes], might well be the case. Magus Drummond clearly didn¡¯t get the joke, though, as he looked at the three [Heroes] with some confusion. ¡°Anyway, we should get going soon. Old Utgarth would likely want to upgrade your gear before you went to the frontlines, so we¡¯ll have some final training sessions while he works on them,¡± said Sir Inolet as he finished his bowl of stew. ¡°Can¡¯t have you all going to war with equipment intended for use by people a whole tier below you, after all.¡± ****************************** The journey back to the capital was uneventful, and as soon as they returned the party dropped their weapons and armor to be repaired and upgraded as needed. The week that followed was mostly filled with learning things like tactics and strategy, as well as drills to work better as a team while fighting against other people. Stolen story; please report. In other words, training intended to prepare them for war. While Master Utgarth was available to work on their armor, their weapons were a different case. The Kingdom lacked a fourth-tier blacksmith that specializes in weapons capable of making artifacts suitable for a [Hero]¡¯s use, so instead, they would need to choose new weapons from the royal treasury, or if they happened to have another artifact weapon of the same type with desirable qualities and a higher tier, they could combine it with their current weapon, as that was within the capability of the Kingdom¡¯s royal blacksmiths. Ethan opted to get new weapons from the treasure, which elicited some jokes from Alissa when she saw his rather oversized new weapon. It looked pretty much like something that wouldn¡¯t look out of place in a game. So would his new shield, for that matter, which looked to be so thick and heavy it was doubtful that a person could even lift it, much less wield it in battle. With Ethan¡¯s strength ¨C his stat distribution focused on Strength the most, after all ¨C he could make use of them quite well, though they were still a bit too heavy for him to wield for longer periods comfortably. That was the norm, apparently, to choose equipment that was a bit too heavy while in the early levels of the tier so it would be just right and usable even in the later levels. Alissa herself chose the other route. By coincidence, both the spear and the shield from the final boss of the dungeon they went to were not only of the right quality, but also had desirable effects for her. The shield had an effect that would disperse force that struck it while also amplifying force when it was used to strike others. It was just right for Alissa, who often used her shield offensively as well. The spear on the other hand had an effect that greatly improved its penetrative powers, which was one reason it went through Ethan¡¯s armor so easily during the fight. While Alissa had an active skill that had an even better effect of the same sort, the active skill was far more limited, whereas having such an effect on her weapon would allow her to have the effect all the time, even if lesser in quality. Since the artifacts weren¡¯t particularly high in tier, the Kingdom didn¡¯t even think twice to give it to the blacksmiths as material to upgrade Alissa¡¯s weapons. Within the week she received her new spear and shield. Both of them were notably heavier than before, a little too heavy like Ethan¡¯s new equipment, but just about right for longer term use. Which was something strange given that the spear and shield remained the same size, but then again, it was not like combining two separate items to upgrade one of them was a logical thing anyway. The spear and shield did take on some of the hue of the artifacts used to upgrade them, which gave them a bit of an off-green shine. It took a bit longer before Master Utgarth was finished with their armor. Ethan¡¯s new suit of brigandine looked no different from his old one at a glance, but when Alissa tried to lift it, she noticed just how heavy it was. Even so, Ethan still put it on and moved around without noticeable difficulty. Part of it was likely due to his superior strength, while another reason would be the enchantments and effects of the armor itself. After all, Alissa¡¯s old armor also enhanced her physical prowess, which more than made up for its added burden on her body, and that was before considering the defensive properties. When Alissa received her upgraded armor, she noticed that there had been some changes. The jacket of thick fabric had been replaced by shirt and trousers that looked and felt like leather to the touch, but were far, far more resilient. Apparently it was high quality monster leather, the sort that was usually used only sparingly as part of an armor, yet Master Utgarth had made a set entirely made out of it for her. Instead of the chainmail shirt she used to wear, she was given an odd object. At first glance it appeared to be a long sheet of gold-bordered fabric, one that was smooth and pleasant like silk to the touch. When Alissa draped it across her body as she was told, however, the sheet wrapped around her torso, all the way to her upper arms and thighs, almost like a short bodysuit. The fabric turned out to be an artifact from the treasury. It was defensive in nature, and while it wasn¡¯t the toughest, still served as a good and lightweight layer of protection. More importantly, however, it also had the ability to bind several separate pieces of equipment to its wearer, which meant that those items would be brought along to wherever Alissa [Respawn]ed. It was certainly nice knowing that she would no longer [Respawn] as naked as the day she was born. As for her own suit of plate armor, it covered less than before. After some discussions with Sir Inolet and Master Utgarth, Alissa had asked the old Royal Armorer to have her armor mostly focus on places which would have affected her ability to fight. After all, a gut wound was certainly painful, but it wouldn¡¯t stop her from taking her enemy down with her, and with [Respawn] around, that was actually a very viable tactic to use. As such, her armor mostly focused on protecting her upper torso and limbs, sacrificing some coverage for less weight, which made it notably lighter than Ethan¡¯s suit. It was still a bit on the heavy end for Alissa, but she knew that it was because the armor was intended to be usable until she reached the fourth tier, at the very least. After Ethan and Alissa received their new equipment, the next week of training they had was mostly focused on getting them acclimatized to the new equipment. It wouldn¡¯t do to fight in something they were not yet used to wearing, after all, so Sir Inolet made certain that his students were used to the new, heavier equipment before they would go to the front lines. Another week of tactics lessons as well as practice in fighting as a unit followed, before the old knight grudgingly said that they were good to go. While the locals looked excited and were raring to go to the war front, Alissa and Ethan naturally had more trepidations about the matter. The only time they fought with the demons was that one ambush back in the south. The idea of actually heading to war, to fight against other people, was something that still weighed heavily on them, and it was not something they could brush off so easily, even if they were determined to return home no matter what it took. It was with such a somber mood that the [Heroes] traveled towards the frontlines of the war between the humans and the demons. It was no longer something they could turn away from. 102 - Arrival and Update From the royal capital, Alissa and the rest of the party took a carriage to head to the frontlines in the south. By coincidence, there was a convoy also headed to the front around that time, and the carriage traveled along with the convoy. Given the incident with the demon infiltrators back then, security inside the Kingdom had been raised, so nobody begrudged the extra security from traveling together. The convoy they traveled with included nearly ten thousand soldiers who were being sent from the inner regions to the frontlines as reinforcements, as well as many more wagons full of rations and other supplies. While the vast majority of the soldiers were in their second or at best, early third tier levels, there were still some elites with them, like a group of well-armored knights that were mostly in their late third tiers, led by several fourth tier individuals. Even so, Alissa couldn¡¯t help but notice how simple the classes those fourth tiers have. Probably because she gained [See no Falsehoods], she could now naturally discern the tier of quality of whatever she used [Analysis] on of late. That included other people¡¯s classes, which was how she found out just how truly rare her group was. Naturally, the ones with the highest quality classes were herself, Ethan, and Joshua, followed by the [Companions] and [Associates]. Sir Inolet¡¯s first two classes were pretty normal, but his third and fourth tier ones were just a touch below the [Associates]¡¯s classes in quality, while Magus Drummond was another notch below that. Cerilla¡¯s new fourth tier class ¨C which she gained from helping heal the party up during their training so far ¨C was about as good as Magus Drummond¡¯s, while Vesta¡¯s was a good bit below that, but still above-average in quality compared to most. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the people in the army Alissa saw had classes with average or below average quality, with even the fourth tiers barely above the average quality-wise. During their recent batch of training Alissa had asked to Sir Inolet why the fighting even involved soldiers still in the second tier when those at the higher tiers were clearly exponentially more powerful than them. She couldn¡¯t truly fathom the reason for the soldiers, who would barely be able to contribute much, to even be there when any higher tier combatant could slaughter them practically at will. The answer she received was a blunt one. That while higher tier combatants were powerful, they were still humans, in the end. Even if it wasn¡¯t difficult for them to slaughter large amounts of lower tier foes, it wouldn¡¯t be without any expenditure of strength, stamina, or mana. What if the other side willingly made use of their lower tiers to tire out one¡¯s high-tier combatants before committing to the assault? For that reason, those of the lower tiers were still needed in the frontlines, in order to respond to the enemy¡¯s lower tier combatants more appropriately rather than relying too much on the higher tier combatants. Neither side wanted their best trump cards to be too exhausted from dealing with the small fry and potentially lose a fight against their peers because of it. Ethan had made an analogy and compared the higher tier combatants to modern day main battle tanks. They were powerful and would defeat just about anything weaker with ease, but should they go overboard, they might end up in an embarrassing situation where they encountered an enemy tank but found themselves out of ammunition because they had gone on a killing spree already. Even though a high-tier combatant could do far more, they remained one person, and couldn¡¯t be in multiple places at the same time. It was unfeasible to expect them to do everything on their own, and thus a supporting team of other soldiers remained necessary, one way or another. Everybody has their limits, after all. While they traveled to the frontlines, they also received further updates from the front. While one of the [Champions] had shown himself since over a month ago, nobody had seen neither hide nor hair of the others, at least, until very recently. The latest report they received stated that another two [Champions], or people suspected to be [Champions], had appeared on the battlefield less than a week ago. There were no descriptions of their appearance, as nobody had managed to get close enough to either of them to confirm their status. Unlike the previous [Champion] who rode his mount and led the charge from the very front, the other two did not fight directly. Given that they were protected heavily in the middle of the enemy formation, it was difficult to get confirmation about them. The only hint that they might be [Champions] was that the skills they displayed was nothing like anyone had ever seen the demons use before. One of them seemed to specialize in large-scale buff skills, as entire companies and battalions of demons around their presence would fight with extreme ferocity that was beyond what people of their levels should be capable of. The suspected [Champion] in question also seemed to be quite skilled in tactics and leadership, though they had not been seen leading from the front, commanding from the back lines instead. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The other suspected [Champion] was likely a necromancer, who created undead abominations that fought in their stead. Necromancers were a rather rare class, but were not unknown. Even so, the necromancers people knew about mostly reanimated dead bodies and used them like puppets. What the suspected [Champion] did was to sculpt monstrosities out of many different dead bodies, both people and monsters. Those abominations were far more dangerous than what their low level indicated, which was a likely sign that they were created by a [Champion]. While nobody had managed to get close enough to the suspected [Champions] to confirm their identities, the fact that they were not only heavily guarded ¨C with even fourth tier demons guarding them ¨C and had such unusual skills were clues that pointed to their likely identities. Even if some young demons received unusual classes, they would not be guarded to such an extent. As a direct result of the possible appearance of the new [Champions], however, the tide on the frontlines had gone in the demons¡¯ favor of late. The Kingdom had naturally sent out reinforcements, including the batch that now traveled with Alissa¡¯s party. Even so, it was only enough to barely hold on, and not enough to turn the situation around as yet. That point was made obvious to them when the convoy passed a different one headed towards the interior of the Kingdom from the frontlines. What the other convoy carried¡­ were bags filled with ashes from the dead soldiers on the frontlines, to be returned to their families. There were also a few coffins, a privilege for those rich or powerful enough to afford having the dead bodies of their relatives returned to them. When the [Heroes] saw the wagons full of ashes and coffins, their faces paled somewhat at the implication. There were at least ten thousand or more people¡¯s worth of remains in the convoy they passed, easily a similar number as the people that were headed towards the frontline with them. The accidental symmetry of around ten thousand bags of ashes and a couple dozen coffins with their convoy¡¯s makeup made some of them feel a chill on their backs. A very blatant reminder of just how many people perished in the war that kept happening between the humans and the demons, and that they could very easily be amongst that number as well. As such, the mood amongst the convoy was somber when they approached Fort Ixlay, one of the largest forts in the southern end of the Kingdom¡¯s current territory. The large fortification had room to accommodate up to fifty thousand soldiers and was built at a strategic location, where the enemy would not be able to bypass it without great difficulties. Even if the enemy managed to do so, they would be facing attacks to their rear from the fort¡¯s defenders. Instead of its full capacity of fifty thousand, however, there were only enough defenders to fill around half of the fort¡¯s maximum capacity, with half again their number crowded in the fort¡¯s infirmaries. The vicious fighting had taken a great toll on the defenders, as shown by their greatly diminished numbers and the large number of injured people stationed at the walls. Normally people who were clearly still recovering from their injuries wouldn¡¯t be stationed on duty until they were fully recovered, but the fort was clearly low on manpower. As such, those whose injuries had healed enough to allow them to return to battle in some capacity were brought back to work. Only those with more debilitating injuries were allowed to recuperate in the infirmaries. One might wonder why so many people were still injured despite the availability of magical healing, but the fact was that there were simply too many injured and too few healers, with more injured coming in every day. The healers ¨C most of them priests and priestesses from the temple ¨C were simply overwhelmed by the large number of injured and they had no choice but to spread themselves thin to save as many lives as possible. Once the convoy arrived at the fort, Leda, Cerilla, and Vesta immediately left for the infirmaries. They were primarily healers, and as such healing others were their main means of gaining experience. It was their first day at the fort and the [Heroes] would not be required to sally into combat until they had gotten themselves more used to life at the front anyway, so there were no reasons for the healers to skip out on the opportunity to not only help others but also gain more experience in the process. Most of the time, the fighting took place in the mouth of a valley around half a kilometer to the south of the fort itself. The valley was one of the main routes that led into the human lands, with the mountain range it belonged to being a tall and treacherous one that even the demons generally balk at crossing. The fort¡¯s defenders would guard the vicinity of the valley¡¯s mouth and prevent their enemies from crossing into the human lands. As for why the fort wasn¡¯t built right against the valley¡¯s mouth itself, it was because many demons had the ability to climb sheer cliffs with relative ease. While the extreme temperatures higher up on the mountain range still posed them with great difficulty, it would have been easy for the demons to directly climb the cliffs at the sides of the valley and assault a fortification at the valley¡¯s mouth from above that way. Of course, that sort of method would only be applicable to the combatants, and even the demons needed to keep their supply train going. For the wagons heavy with supplies, the valley itself was pretty much the only feasible route in the region, which made the place an important chokepoint. The demons attempted to establish a beachhead on the other side of the valley on a regular basis, while the fort¡¯s defenders would repel them back, day after day. Just three days before the [Heroes] arrived along with their convoy, Fort Ixlay¡¯s defenders had a difficult battle at the valley¡¯s mouth, as the demon [Champion] who proudly proclaimed his name as S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had directly led a charge against them. It was only through great difficulty that the defenders managed to repel that attack, with the enemy [Champion] fighting to the death like a madman, even laughing maniacally as he eventually fell. His example of not caring for his own safety and leading from the front had given the demons a great morale boost and courage to do the same, so the fort¡¯s defenders only managed to hold their ground after a great many sacrifices and miserable injuries suffered by more than half of the people they had sent out that day. CIII - What Awaited at the Center of the Web ¡°This place is rather creepy,¡± noted Mel-Ivas as they walked into the large earthen structure ¨C one that looked a lot more like a termite mound or ant nest rather than anything to do with spiders ¨C where Esperanza detected the [Queen] of the swarm. Her comment was rather warranted, as there were remains of various animals scattered all over the place, probably remains of what the [Queen] ate. While Esperanza could detect a lifeform¡¯s approximate position with her [Soul Sense], it did not exactly come with a mini-map or the likes, so she would only know its general distance and direction. Instead, Legisvula and Dali ¨C both of whom had skills that allowed them to perceive their surrounding area better, in Dali¡¯s case even through walls ¨C were in charge of leading the way, with Esperanza giving them the general direction to head towards. It was dark inside the earthen structure, as there were no windows and light could not penetrate the thick earthen walls. Fortunately, other than a couple of the human members, the rest of the party had some way to see or otherwise find their way in the dark, so it was not too big of an issue. Their way through the structure was unimpeded, but then again the group had pretty much slaughtered every single arachnoid in the central region by then. They still find themselves hitting dead ends and having to retrace their paths from time to time as the earthen structure was quite labyrinthine in construction. Several times they found themselves in chambers full of eggs, hundreds of the slimy, off-white, ovoid eggs the size of a human torso lining up every surface of the chamber. Apparently the [Arachnoid Queen] was not only aware of the danger approaching her nest, but was also busily laying eggs to make up for the losses incurred from the group¡¯s slaughter. That attempt of hers came to nothing, however, as the group destroyed every [Arachnoid Egg] they encountered on their way. The eggs themselves were very low in level, from single digits to the teens, and gave them negligible experience, but it was worth the effort in order to nip potential future problems in the bud. According to Ani, slaughtering massive amounts of low-level opponents like that might even count for a feat or two, as one of her warriors that had been on pest extermination duty in his second tier had gotten his current class thanks to a similar feat. The [Slayer of Countless Lives] was not as powerful as his fearsome class name suggests, but his skillset does make him a perfect candidate for fighting one against a thousand as long as the thousand was notably weaker than him in power. For that reason, the cleanup of the egg chambers was mostly left to the Progenies and the few warriors under Ani who were still in their third tier. In a couple of the chambers deeper inside the structure, the eggs were apparently just about to hatch, as they entered only to find themselves face to face with hundreds of low-level arachnoids that had clearly hatched out of their eggs only recently. There was slightly more resistance there, but for the third-tier progenies, slaughtering the late first-tier arachnoid hatchlings were little different than killing them while they were still within their eggs. If anything, it was easier, as the eggs wouldn¡¯t charge at them on their own. Despite the ease of the slaughter, the egg chambers still left the progenies disgusted, since the work would leave them soaked head to toe with arachnoid guts and ichor. Neither the organs nor the ichor hurt them in any way, but it was still unpleasant to be covered with the slimy, disgusting bits regardless, not to mention that sometimes they splattered straight against one¡¯s face and sometimes got into their mouths. Fortunately Ani could conjure some water for them to clean up with for minimal effort on her part after they were done. As the group proceeded deeper into the arachnoid lair, they felt that the air became more humid, and a stench of rotting carrion started to grow stronger in the air. They quickly found the reason for the latter, as the carcass of several animals ¨C all of which looked half-eaten ¨C were strewn haphazardly in the corridors, but had no idea why the humidity and the temperature kept increasing. They only found the reason when they finally entered a large chamber on the bottom level ¨C the entrance to the lair was on the top, connected to the massive web that spanned the central section of the forest ¨C of the lair, which was probably partially if not entirely underground. There they found the [Queen], or rather, what she had turned herself into. A [Gestation Pod of the Sovereign Lv75] was not an [Arachnoid Queen] any longer, after all. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. The arachnoid queen had somehow turned her lower body into what seemed like a massive, fleshy cocoon, with only her upper torso ¨C which stuck out from the bloated mass ¨C allowing the group to recognize the creature for what she was. Even the upper body was bloated and misshapen, as if the flesh within had grown beyond what the exoskeleton was able to confine and broke out in many places. As for the bloated, pulsating mass of ichor-covered flesh that her lower body became, it was such a sight that made everybody in the group want to look away. The queen¡¯s lower body had turned into a cocoon-like object that was at least three meters tall and half as wide and thick. It pulsated at a steady rhythm, but was clearly unaware of its surroundings. For that matter, what remained of the queen¡¯s upper body was listless and unreactive even when the group barged into her chambers, its multifaceted eyes blankly staring into the distance. Needless to say, it was a sight that most of the group found both eerie and disgusting to the extreme. Their course of action was clear, though. Since the [Gestation Pod of the Sovereign Lv75] was before them, then it was likely the dungeon¡¯s boss. There was nothing left for them to do other than to kill it. Naturally, both Esperanza and Ani had an inkling that the queen likely underwent such a drastic metamorphosis and ate so many animals to gather energy so she could create a stronger variant to deal with them and take its place as the leader of the swarm. Neither of them wanted to wait until the creature within had matured completely and came out on its own. Instead, they mercilessly cut and stabbed at the cocoon together with the rest of the group, their intent to snuff the threat at the cradle obvious. Even though the [Gestation Pod of the Sovereign Lv75] gave no resistance to the group¡¯s onslaught, they were surprised to find that the flesh that formed the cocoon was hideously tough, and their efforts barely cut into it. Those that used spears and managed to stab deeper found that their attacks hit a hard object inside the cocoon and couldn¡¯t go further. Just as they made some headway and chunks of flesh started falling off from the cocoon-like structure, it suddenly burst from the inside. Something flew out from the cocoon and struck both Val-Kas¡¯j and Resitia, who were in its way. The strike sent Val-Kas¡¯j ¨C who managed to barely block it ¨C stumbling backwards for a couple of steps, while Resitia fell on her back with a deep wound on her left shoulder. The thing that leapt out from the cocoon itself landed on the wall across the chamber, standing horizontally on it as its clawed feet ¨C all eight of them ¨C clamped tightly to the earthen wall. At a glance it looked a lot like the other arachnoids the party had already faced, if somewhat different in appearance. Instead of a bulbous spider-like lower body, the arachnoid instead had its eight slender legs connected directly to its waist, and was otherwise quite humanoid in shape. A single glance at its name ¨C [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign (Prematurely hatched) Lvl 78] ¨C told that group just how dangerous the creature was, however. Other than its eight slender legs ¨C each of which ended in four claws arranged in cardinal directions ¨C the creature¡¯s arms were still wrapped around its body, stuck in place by some sort of membrane. With some effort, the creature strained and ruptured said membrane, then unfurled its six arms almost like a butterfly unfurling its wings. Instead of any kind of beauty, however, the six arms the creature had only inspired dread. The lowest two ended in scythe blades, not unlike those of a praying mantis, which were very similar to the blades that many of the Progenies had harvested from higher level arachnoids and used as material for their weapons. The middle two arms had pincers like a crab, ones large enough to shear a person directly in half with ease. The way the pincers made a clicking noise as they snapped against each other also made some of the Progenies nervous even as they carefully watched the high leveled creature. It was the highest level creature they had ever seen, one not far from the mythical fifth tier. As for the uppermost pair of arms, they ended in three-fingered hands tipped with wicked claws. The creature looked at the group before it menacingly with its eight multi-faceted eyes. Its mandibles opened wide, revealing a second and third set within that also opened before it made a hissing noise at them, ichor dripping from its mouth opening. Its six arms were splayed around it in a threatening gesture. Without needing any prompt, the group gathered as one. Ani and her warriors stood at the front, forming a defensive wall in front of the progenies. Val-Kas¡¯j had gotten back to his feet and stood right behind their lines together with Tiesya and Nalihimatu, while the rest stood further back. Mel-Ivas was healing Resitia¡¯s shoulder still, while Esperanza, Legisvula, Dali, and Gordy were off to the sides, trying to flank the creature. All of them knew that the creature before them would be a difficult fight just from its level alone. In fact, if they had not forced it out of its cocoon prematurely and allowed it to truly mature, the group was uncertain if they could even beat it. Either way, given how fast the creature moved, none of them felt that they would even be allowed to run away if they wanted to. The beast was clearly faster than them, after all. Ani stood at the forefront of the group, her bone spear ¨C Esperanza thought it resembled a large whaling harpoon more than a spear ¨C pointed towards the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] ahead of them. She looked more serious than any of them had seen before. Fortunately, by that time, most of the group¡¯s buffs that they used the most had finished its cooldown, so the group wasted no time to re-cast them one after another. Esperanza also made use of [A Lending of Power] to strengthen the others, while she shifted her arms into long, tenebrous limbs tipped with bone blades, other than one that held her dagger. A mere thought allowed her to clad each of her weapons in [Soul Armament], furthering their deadliness, though from her [Soul Sight], she could tell that the creature before them would be much harder to take down that way compared to its brethren. In her [Soul Sight], a large and powerful soul ¨C larger than any soul she had seen so far, be they a person¡¯s or a monster¡¯s ¨C shone bright in the center of its body. It bore no telltale marking that would indicate its affiliation to any of the gods, and instead felt more like it was at one with nature. As if it was just a part of the whole. None of that mattered much to the group, however, as before long, the creature hissed once more before it bent its eight legs and flexed them in a sudden burst of speed. It used the wall as a platform to propel itself towards the group, its limbs spread like a blooming flower, yet one that promised nothing other than death to those that witnessed its bloom. CIV - The Arachnoid Sovereign The [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] was both fast and powerful. Its first strike nearly bowled Ani, Val-Kas¡¯j, Tiesya, Nalihimatu, as well as three of Ani¡¯s fourth-tier warriors who intercepted its blows, the force of the impact causing them all to nearly lose their balance as they had to take several steps back to stabilize themselves. Fortunately, despite all its qualities, the creature was rather light in weight, and the laws of physics still applied to it. It was similarly thrown several meters back from the combined impact. Before the creature could land, Esperanza and Dali struck from its sides ¨C Legisvula and Gordy had failed to react fast enough to intercept it in mid-air ¨C but their attacks were stymied as the creature whirled its eight legs around like a propeller and spun its body, using the momentum to swing its arms to intercept their attacks. One of its scythe-arms even left a narrow gash at Dali¡¯s side, though the wound was not deep. Esperanza''s best efforts only resulted in getting two of her limbs severed, while only one hit out of the few she landed even left a mark on the creature. It was the strike she made using her crescent dagger, which left a shallow mark on the monster¡¯s carapace, while her other strikes did nothing to it. Not even her [Soul Armament] did much to the creature. Through her [Soul Sight] she could see the skill seep into the creature¡¯s soul as her blades made contact with its body, but they failed to cause even a ripple to form on the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s soul. Clearly, the creature had good resistance against soul attacks, maybe even skills to guard against it. Either that, or its Soul stat could just be much higher than hers, which was not an unlikely possibility given its far higher level compared to Esperanza. ¡°Mierda,¡± she cursed as she landed on the ground. The severed limbs were not particularly damaging to her, as she just sent the part still attached to her body to meet the severed part and re-absorbed them within seconds, but the ineffectiveness of her attacks was a serious issue. Dali had similarly failed to cause any real damage to the creature. In the blink of an eye the creature clashed towards the larger group once more, as it apparently saw Ani as the largest threat out of them all. The half-breed warrior woman was almost sent flying from the impact and took a light cut to her cheek, whereas the rest of her warriors helped her share the burden of the blow. The creature itself was sent flying away once more, towards the side. Gordy attempted to tackle the creature before it landed, but failed to catch up to it as the creature extended its scythe-arms towards the floor and used them to throw itself to the side. It nimbly landed on its eight feet and sprung towards Ani once more, its claws wide open and aimed straight towards her head. Perhaps because she was the highest in level, the creature chose to prioritize her as its target. Ani barely managed to block the blows from two of the creature¡¯s arms with her spear, while Val-Kas¡¯j and Nalihimatu blocked another two for her. The last two arms were intercepted by two of her warriors, but even with their collective attempt, one of the claws still nicked Ani¡¯s shoulder and left a bleeding wound there. Resitia and Tiesya took the chance when the creature clashed with those at the frontlines to strike at it, but to their dismay, found that their blows were mostly ineffective. Tiesya¡¯s blades only left white marks on the creature¡¯s hard carapace, while Resitia only managed to create a tiny notch with her spear despite already activating one of her active skills. The creature had not taken the blows silently either, as it used its legs to strike at the two. Tiesya managed to defend herself and retreated without taking an injury, but Resitia took a couple hits that left bleeding wounds on her chest and left arm, though fortunately the creature didn¡¯t have time to make the injuries worse before it was propelled away by the impact. Ilavakide and Dai¡¯vasy attempted to hit it with their arrows and magic, but the creature weaved around their attacks in mid-air, rendering their efforts a waste. Before it could land, Dali, Legisvula, and Esperanza pounced at it from the sides and back, all at once. Legisvula¡¯s blade struck the carapace on the creature¡¯s back but failed to pierce through ¨C or even leave a mark for that matter ¨C while he himself was forced to disengage when two of the creature¡¯s legs swiped at and nearly disemboweled him. As he retreated he saw how the tip of his blade had cracked and chipped from the impact of the blow he delivered, yet it only left a white mark at the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s carapace. Dali did something different this time around, as he baited the creature to strike at him instead of striking at it directly. The creature¡¯s left pincer-arm went for Dali, only for the dog to vanish and leave a shimmering portal behind where it used to be. The top half of the creature¡¯s pincer went into the portal as it couldn¡¯t stop its strike in time, and right at that moment, Dali snapped the portal shut. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That elicited the first hiss of pain from the creature as the top half of its left pincer was severed cleanly by the spatial gate. It also caused the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] to be briefly distracted, and allowed Esperanza to land more strikes on its body. Unlike previously, where she formed her limbs into tentacles tipped with bone blades, this time she morphed the bone blades into cylinders that tapered to a needle-sharp point, encased in a sleeve of muscles with only its tip showing. The wider rear ends of those cylinders were affixed to muscles that Esperanza fashioned into biological springs, which wasn¡¯t too difficult as she used a similar setup to thrust out the tongue-like appendages she previously used. In essence, she turned the tips of her tenebrous limbs into a biologically former piledriver, and as they slammed against the monster¡¯s carapace, the muscles reacted and pushed the bone stakes out with great force. This time, the stakes managed to crack and pierce through the creature¡¯s tough carapace, if not deeply. More importantly, however, Esperanza had forced similar stakes out of [Soul Armament] and superimposed them with the physical stakes, and those seeped into the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s soul as the stakes entered its flesh. Unlike the previous time, the attack punched through the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s soul and clearly damaged it, which in turn elicited another hiss of pain from the creature. Just as it landed groggily, however, Ani and Val-Kas¡¯j leapt towards it and landed their own strikes. Val-Kas¡¯j struck with his polearm with the force of multiple active skills behind the blow, and cracked the carapace that covered the creature¡¯s right shoulder. He had aimed for its head, but the creature managed to avoid the blow at the last moment. Ani had similarly called upon an active skill. The head of her weapon was coated in a thin sheet of water that revolved around itself at absurd speed and pressure, the effects of her [Hydro Pressure Lance] skill. Despite how the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] attempted to evade the blow, Ani pierced her weapon clean through its lower abdomen before she quickly retreated to avoid its counterattack. At roughly the same time, Gordy rushed it from the side and bit hard on two of the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s legs on that side, ignoring the other two legs that gouged and clawed at her, leaving bloody wounds on her body. Dali similarly snapped towards the other side and bit the rearmost leg on that side as well. Everyone in the group understood all too well that the most dangerous aspect of the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] was not its power, but its speed, and they quickly rushed towards the creature. Several of the fourth tier warriors who followed Ani pinned the creature¡¯s remaining five legs one way or another, with two of them even directly grappling the legs with their bodies. The rest of the group focused on the creature¡¯s arms. After Esperanza landed her blow, she wrapped her tentacular limbs around the upper and middle arms on the creature¡¯s right side, while Val-Kas¡¯j dropped his weapons and grabbed the scythe-blade of the lower one in a bear hug, preventing the creature from using the weaponized limb in any proper capacity. Nalihimatu similarly grappled the scythe-arm on the other side, while two more of Ani¡¯s fourth-tier warriors immobilized the upper two arms on that side. Tiesya and Resitia harried the creature¡¯s face with their weapons, while Ilavakide shot arrows aimed at its eyes. Dai¡¯vasy even directly sealed the creature¡¯s mandibles with a muzzle made out of solid ice. The creature broke it within moments, but it bought enough time for her to build up more ice on the sides of the creature¡¯s head to encase its entire mouth area with it. With the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s offensive means mostly neutralized, the group continued to whale on it, their blows only dealing small bits of damage to the creature, but the damage adds up over time. Everyone thought that they had the battle in hand, but none of them expected the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] to still have another move up its sleeve. All of a sudden, the creature¡¯s upper torso seemed to explode, showering the group with disgusting greenish ichor and bits of flesh. When they recovered from their surprise, however, they saw how the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s upper body had been sundered apart, yet its head was missing, and the amount of flesh ichor spewed out was clearly too little to account for the creature¡¯s size. ¡°Above!¡± yelled Mel-Ivas in alarm. She had been positioned further to the back, and caught sight of the incoming attack before anyone else did. Apparently incensed by her warning, the near-transparent blur that was charging down at the group turned and rushed towards her instead. Fortunately, Nalihimatu managed to react in time as he bowled Mel-Ivas over with his back and took the blow intended for her with his shield. The impact still sent the two tumbling a short distance back, however, and left a sizable crack on his shield. It was only then that the group saw what had struck the two of them. What hovered in the air looked like some sort of emaciated, translucent larva, with eight dragonfly-like wings beating rapidly through the air keeping it aloft. The head part of the creature was one they all recognized, the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s, yet there were obvious cracks on the carapace there, and the head soon fell off, revealing that it was only a shell that covered what lay within. The revealed head behind the shell had four large multifaceted eyes, as well as a small mouth from which a pair of proboscis-like structures emerged. The pair of probosci entwined together until it formed a makeshift lance, then the creature vanished in a blur once more. One of Ani¡¯s warriors ¨C a third tier one ¨C cried out in pain as a chunk of flesh was gouged right out of his left shoulder, as the man narrowly avoided death by luck. At the same time, Esperanza managed to take a glance and check the status of the creature they faced. She frowned as she read through the information displayed to her by the system. [Emaciated Immature Arachnoid Sovereign - Impaler Archetype (True Form) (Prematurely hatched) (Haste+++) (Berserk) (Enraged) (Pain Immunity) (Soul Ward) (Penetrative Power++) (Maneuverability++) Lvl78] The bloody thing had gone and shed its outer shell and emerged in its true form. While the true form was limited to a simplistic charge attack, its speed and agility was absurd, and its offensive power was clearly still extremely potent. The group tensed as they knew that the fight was nearly over, but they had also entered the hardest part of it at the same time. CV - Conclusion ¡°Watch out!¡± ¡°Agh! Curse this bug¡¯s ancestors!¡± angrily swore one of Ani¡¯s warriors as he barely avoided the creature¡¯s charge. Even though he had thrown himself to the side at the last moment, the creature¡¯s proboscis still left a bloody gouge on his left upper arm. Although barely a minute had passed since the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] cast off its shell and turned into the flying menace it had become, most of the group were already sporting injuries of some sort from its rapid charges, while Mel-Ivas was busy trying to undo the damage it had done. The creature¡¯s speed was truly worrisome, and made retaliation nearly impossible. At the moment, the only people amongst the group who could even come close to keeping up with the beast were Esperanza and Dali. Ani, several of her more physically focused warriors, Tiesya, and Val-Kas¡¯j technically had more Body stats that should have allowed them to be faster than those two, but unlike them, Esperanza and Dali had methods that more than made up for their lower stats. In Esperanza¡¯s case, it was her ability to freely shapeshift, which allowed her to propel herself in all sorts of direction practically at will while she made use of every protrusion in the area as a handhold. She also stretched her form so that it could cover more area, as focused penetrative strikes like what the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] focused on in its true form were the things she feared the least. Dali made use of his spatial skills instead and blinked from one portal to another, greatly reducing the distance he needed to traverse. The [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] noted how they kept pursuing it closely, and even in its compromised state, recognized the danger they posed. It no longer had a tough exoskeleton to protect itself, with its speed and agility as its only lifeline. As such, it had to pay close attention to counterattacks and other dangers. It was one reason why the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] had failed to kill anyone from the group. The others always managed to impose some hazards into its flight path that bought time for its target to escape. Even though it might have been able to kill some of them had it chased its targets more closely, doing so would have required slowing down, which was far too risky with Esperanza and Dali closely tailing its every move. Had there been an exit from the room, it would have taken the opportunity to escape instead of fighting within the chamber. Unfortunately, the only exit to the place had collapsed during the previous round of fighting when it still had its carapace around it. At the time the creature had not paid much attention to it, as it thought that the collapse would prevent its prey from escaping, while digging a path out was easy enough to do. Now that complacence bit it in the rear end as it was the one trapped with its foes with no way out unless it could kill all of them. The [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] whizzed past Ani and nicked a small wound on her cheek ¨C the fourth-tier warrior too alert and quick for it to do more than that ¨C before it was forced to weave around strikes from Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya. Dali suddenly appeared from another portal as it weaved around the blades and lunged at the monster from the side. It was only by the barest margin that the beast managed to avoid Dali¡¯s pounce, his claws leaving three scratch marks on the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s side that oozed some ichor. Before the creature could even metaphorically sigh in relief, a pair of fleshy tentacles interposed themselves in the path it was heading towards and forced it to make another detour. Both of Esperanza¡¯s tenebrous limbs chased after the creature even as she hurled her main body in the direction the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] was headed towards. The creature flew slightly slower than before ¨C Dali¡¯s strike had nicked one of its wings too and the damage reduced its agility ¨C so it was the best chance they had so far to corner and kill it once and for all. By happenstance, the creature¡¯s detour took it towards Dai¡¯vasy. The young mage had a hard time tracking the swift monster, but she could get a general idea of the direction it was headed towards by watching Esperanza¡¯s limbs, so she took the opportunity to call upon her magical skills and enacted a working. Under her call, a pane of solid ice appeared before the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s path, with several more closing off the other directions it could have turned towards. As it was, the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] pierced through the pane of ice before it ¨C the creature having noticed that the other paths were sealed already ¨C without too much trouble, as Dai¡¯vasy¡¯s magic couldn¡¯t stand up to the force it could bring to bear. However, the impact still slowed it down slightly, not by much, but the disruption was all it took for Esperanza to finally catch up to it. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Before the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] could react, one of Esperanza¡¯s tentacular limbs ¨C tipped with a hook of bone ¨C pierced its backside and killed its momentum, the remaining inertia causing part of its flesh to tear apart around the hook. The next moment, Dali appeared out of another portal and bit hard on the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s proboscis, preventing the creature from using them to cut itself loose from Esperanza¡¯s grasp. While Dali might not weigh that much ¨C maybe only around forty to fifty pounds ¨C compared to most of the others, that much weight was still enough to keep the beast from moving its proboscis freely. Then Esperanza¡¯s other arm similarly pierced into the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s body, followed by her main body¡¯s arrival whereupon she wrapped herself around the monster and prevented it from moving. Unable to maintain its flight, the creature fell like a rock towards the floor, weighed down by Esperanza and Dali, who did not let go even on impact with the ground. Everybody else reacted swiftly. Ani was the first to arrive, on account of being the highest leveled out of the group with the highest Body stat as well. The half-breed warrior woman swiftly lunged towards the fallen beast and stabbed through it with her spear even as Esperanza slightly unraveled her grip to allow the others to strike at the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] together. Needless to say, the end result was tragic. Unable to fly away or defend itself, the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] was torn apart by the group without any mercy. As they still remembered how the creature had cast off its exoskeleton earlier, they even dismembered it just to make sure that it didn¡¯t have another form hidden up its sleeve. To finish the deal, Gordy even tore off the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s head and ate it while chewing thoroughly. Only then did the group allow themselves to sit down and rest after the short, but grueling battle. They weren¡¯t too worried about the collapsed exit. The collapse was a minor one and it¡¯d only take a few minutes to clear a way out at most, so they decided to rest and regain their energy first. Mel-Ivas and the few subordinates of Belug-ur¡¯ani who had healing skills worked on their injuries while they rested, and in fifteen minutes the group was once more fit to fight, without any injuries left behind. Of course, every one of them were still feeling the ache that was left behind after magical healing, but it was not something that would affect their fighting capabilities at that moment. The physically stronger members of the group cleared a path through the collapsed exit within ten minutes, and they left the chamber behind them. As they walked out of the queen¡¯s lair, all of them took a deep breath of fresh air and sighed in relief. While there was decent ventilation in the lair, the air within was quite stale and unpleasant, which wasn¡¯t too surprising given its mostly enclosed nature. It was a minor, yet bothersome thing to have to deal with while fighting though. From there, the group proceeded as they had planned. The Progenies wanted to rework their weapons and armor into something more suitable for their current power, as they had outgrown their current equipment. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t lacking material for such an upgrade. The group had naturally kept the best weaponized limbs and undamaged pieces of carapace from all the arachnoids they slaughtered for that purpose. That naturally included the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] as well, whose entire exoskeleton had been divided up and carried on the backs of several people. Given the size and shape of the pieces, it was unlikely that everyone would be able to be equipped with it, but at least a few of their best fighters could enjoy that luxury. The group retraced their steps until they reached the headstone once more. There they gave another prayer to their departed friends ¨C although they knew that Esperanza held their souls within her, it was an old habit ¨C before they dug up the grave and carefully brought out the remains within. As it had been over a month since their burial and the bodies were unprotected from insects and the like, all that remained were their bones. As they traveled back to Agur-Bas, the Progenies insisted on carrying the remains of their late friends on their own backs. The group made good progress ¨C naturally taking care not to accidentally trespass into the dinosaur-like creature¡¯s territory ¨C and was blessed with a relatively uneventful journey back. Where Esperanza¡¯s group took two weeks to reach Agur-Bas from the gravesite the first time round, this time they only took a little over a week to do so. Once they reached the hidden city, the Progenies ¨C together with Esperanza and the rest, as well as the children who had found new families there ¨C went together to the section of town used as a cemetery. There they carefully interred the bones of their late friends, with the priests of the Deities of Yore from the city¡¯s temple consecrating the burial. It was a formal, somber occasion that the group mostly spent in silence. After the burial ceremony ended, The Progenies and the other children offered more prayers to the new graves. The children left first, leaving Esperanza, the [Progenies of Yore], and Iryl behind as the last people in the cemetery at that time. There the Progenies and Iryl once again reaffirmed their resolution that they would complete the mission Esperanza had been given by the Deities of Yore, at whatever cost. It was both an act of retribution against the current world that forced them into their situation, as well as a hope that the future world would be a better one where others wouldn¡¯t have to go through what they had. Every one of them knew by then that the mission Esperanza had been given was to destroy the world they were on, and that its completion would also mean their end, but none of the young Progenies had any doubt in their mind then they made their resolution and swore an oath in the name of the Deities of Yore that they believed in and had granted them their powers. There was a saying that difficult times often created great men, and Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but think of it when she looked at the youths before her. She knew all too well that despite their forced physical maturation they were still children that were no more than six to twelve years of age. To see their resolute decision was something that impressed her, yet at the same time she wished that there could be a world where such children didn¡¯t have to be that resolute in the first place. Had there not been a need for them to wait while the crafters in the nearby underwater villages worked on their equipment, Esperanza thought that the Progenies would likely have set off in the pursuit of their Deities¡¯ mission already. 106 - Alls Fair in (Love and) War ¡°Sir, I know that some demons could walk on the cliffs and render the wall somewhat pointless, but still, wouldn¡¯t building another defensive fortification by the valley¡¯s mouth be worthwhile to block their less mobile contingent still?¡± asked Ethan a day after they arrived at the fort. On that day there was a minor skirmish at the valley¡¯s mouth, nothing serious, just a probing attack from the demons. Something where the [Heroes] would have been overkill. ¡°You are not the first one to ask that question, Mister Greene,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a nod of his head. ¡°Of course, since we could think that way, so could they,¡± added the old knight as he pointed towards the relatively small demon force fighting against the defenders at the valley¡¯s mouth. ¡°Every time we try to build something there, they would intensify their aggression until we give up on it.¡± ¡°One time, around thirty years ago, one general convinced the King and his ministers that we could force the issue and tough it out. He led a large contingent of troops, [Engineers], and [Builders] to the pass, determined to succeed or die trying,¡± continued Sir Inolet with a wistful sigh. ¡°Less than half of those who were involved in the project managed to retreat to Fort Ixlay when the demons caught wind of it and brought overwhelming force that nearly overran the defenders at the time.¡± ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re¡­ personally affected by that incident by the way you said it, Sir,¡± noted Alissa with a questioning look from beside Ethan. Since the two of them reached third tier and could give the old knight a good fight ¨C two against one, though, one on one neither of them were quite his match yet ¨C he had allowed them to be far more informal around him. ¡°The idiot responsible for that debacle was my son-in-law,¡± admitted the old knight somewhat melancholically. ¡°I brought reinforcements and helped the survivors retreat to the fort at the time, but we still lost over ten thousand soldiers and a good portion of the [Engineers] and [Builders], so there was no other way to paint the picture. It was the greatest loss of life between the previous war and this one.¡± ¡°And your¡­ son-in-law, Sir?¡± queried Ethan. ¡°That fool always had more ambition than he had skill, but he at least had a sense of responsibility. He led a volunteer rearguard to buy time for the rest of the survivors to get away back then, which was perhaps the only thing that somewhat exonerated his name despite the failure,¡± said the old knight with another wistful sigh. ¡°Not a single one of those in the rearguard survived that day.¡± ¡°Our condolences, Sir,¡± said Alissa with a slightly bowed head. ¡°Let it be. It¡¯s been decades, everyone has moved on by now,¡± said Sir Henri Inolet with another sigh and a shake of his head. ¡°While I wasn¡¯t pleased that he let his ambition get into his head and got himself killed with many others, I¡¯m at least glad that he didn¡¯t turn craven and further humiliated himself. At least he could die with his honor intact this way.¡± ¡°But enough about the past. Tell me, you two, what do you think about the battle there?¡± asked the old knight as he pointed towards the valley¡¯s mouth, where a large group of second and third tier soldiers were fighting against demons. Both the humans and the demons had similar compositions, with a few low-level fourth tiers of lower grades leading them. The large number of casualties from the battles might have suggested gruesome battles that would greatly deplete the power of the Kingdom, but in reality, the vast majority of those casualties were lower tier soldiers. Those of the fourth tier rarely fought to the death and would withdraw with injuries most of the time. Even then, it was mostly the lower-end fourth tiers who fought. As for those who represent the true pinnacle of fighting power on either side, they rarely showed themselves unless it was something considered an emergency, or to face their counterpart from the other side. The only time those higher-end fourth tiers had shown themselves so far in this war was during the [Champion]¡¯s last rampage, where some of the Kingdom¡¯s fourth tiers attempted to capture him. They had failed and retreated with wounds due to the intervention of the demons¡¯ side, while the [Champion] had fought to the death to [Respawn] back in safety, laughing all the while. Both Ethan and Alissa squinted their eyes to look at the distant fighting. With their higher stats they had no need for tools to see the situation clearly, especially in Alissa¡¯s case since she had particularly high Perception. The fighting was rather timid, the demons clearly aiming more to keep the human side on their toes rather than making a forceful attempt to break through. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Even under those conditions where the fighting was less intense, people died from time to time. Given the presence of healers, those who were injured were likely to recover to fight again after a while, so both sides aimed to kill rather than injure. Similarly, those who were injured were withdrawn to the rear as fast as possible in an attempt to preserve manpower. Generally those who died during a battle were the unlucky ones, as more often than not there were more deaths in the aftermath of a battle rather than during the battle itself. With the situation at the valley¡¯s mouth, however, there were no incidents where the losers were chased and killed by the winners during the retreat. Since the humans held their ground right at the valley¡¯s mouth, they had a local numerical superiority over the demons, and made use of it. In times of danger, the fort was not far away and could easily dispatch reinforcements as needed, and even if the demons managed to push their way out of the valley, the fort¡¯s defenders would likely push them back before long. On the other hand, the terrain of the valley ¨C and the ability of some demons to move on the cliffs ¨C meant that the demons were the ones with an overwhelming advantage within the valley itself. For that reason, the human side never truly chased them and was content with pushing them back. They knew that the losses would be horrific should they force their way through without proper preparation. As Alissa and Ethan watched, two small squads of demons ¨C maybe around ten strong each ¨C rushed out from the cliffs on both sides of the valley mouth and hurled javelins towards the human army below them. They only got a couple throws out before the defenders reacted and chased them away with a barrage of arrows, however. The back-and-forth continued until late in the evening, where the demons finally retreated. The majority of the defenders also retreated back to Fort Ixlay, with their replacements marching to stand guard at the valley''s mouth in their place. It was done in an orderly manner, and from the way the people looked, Alissa guessed that it was likely a routine thing for the soldiers there. ¡°Can¡¯t we just strike them hard with everything we have and drive them away?¡± she asked after some thought. ¡°The valley is too narrow for numbers to matter much, so an elite team of fourth tiers would be far more effective there compared to the open. Could we push all the way through the valley that way? Or do the demons have a similar defense on the other side? Actually, for that matter, why doesn¡¯t the demons do that to us? It would be more effective than fighting at a chokepoint like this.¡± ¡°A good suggestion, but one that had been thought about by both sides of this conflict, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± replied Sir Inolet without missing a beat, though he did give Alissa a satisfied nod of his head. ¡°The issue of that suggestion is that both sides closely monitor the movements of the more powerful fourth tiers on each other¡¯s side. For me and Murdock to move around with your group is doable enough, but if more of us were to suddenly disappear from our usual posts, it would not be something that could be hidden.¡± ¡°I thought Demons and Humans could not understand each other? How would they have spies in the Kingdom? Are there insiders cooperating and selling information to them?¡± Alissa questioned with some incredulity. ¡°No, wait, even if there were some, those wouldn¡¯t be able to pass on the information if they couldn¡¯t communicate with the other side, no?¡± ¡°Some classes specialize in espionage, and they typically include some form of disguise or shapeshifting skill that would allow them to blend in,¡± said the old knight, which caused Alissa¡¯s heart to beat a touch faster for a brief moment, even with [Weather the Storm]¡¯s influence. ¡°Those people are usually low on combat power, but it is very difficult to flush them out if they laid low and blended with the crowd. While they might not be able to communicate with others, they could observe and watch things with their own eyes and report it back.¡± ¡°Similarly, we also have our own [Spies] and [Agents] on the demon¡¯s side. These people risk their lives to provide us with information, and even then, practically none of them ever returned. Although it is difficult to ferret out these classes, they would slip up eventually,¡± added Sir Inolet. ¡°While we can restrict access to important places and people to those who are trusted, we have to make public appearances to reassure the populace as well, so we could not completely avoid such tracking.¡± ¡°So if the other side discovered the movement, they¡¯d reciprocate the same way¡­¡± muttered Ethan as he thought about the scenario. ¡°Or more likely, gather even more high-tier combatants than what we have and attempt to make us stay there forever,¡± replied Sir Inolet as he finished Ethan¡¯s sentence. ¡°Of course, that assumes that they could move their fourth tiers without our knowledge. This is also the main reason why you three had been kept sequestered in the royal palace for the most part. To prevent the demons from noticing your existence.¡± ¡°Their [Champions] seem a lot less concerned about keeping their existence a secret, though,¡± Alissa pointed out. ¡°Do they just think differently in this matter?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because we are likely dealing with [Great Champions] instead of regular ones. Regular [Champions] are a lot like you three, usually young people who had little idea about this world, and this quite amenable to follow our arrangements. On the other hand, [Great Champions] are older, far more experienced people who usually already have their own way of doing things.¡± ¡°Sir, you mentioned that the demons likely do not know that we are here now, right?¡± asked Ethan all of a sudden. ¡°Do you perhaps plan to spring an ambush on them? Each of us [Heroes] can handle a lower end fourth-tier on our own without issue now, and even our [Companions] and [Associates] aren¡¯t that far behind. If we could lure several of their fourth tiers to the frontline and kill them¡­¡± ¡°That is indeed what we had in mind, Mister Greene. At the moment it has been over a week since the last larger battle. The demons often made a larger offensive every three to six weeks or so, so at the moment we are mostly waiting for the opportunity,¡± explained Sir Inolet with an approving nod. ¡°We¡¯ll have to ask you three to stay in the fort until the time is right, so we can make the most out of the ambush we planned.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you and Magus Drummond hid yourself throughout the journey here, huh, Sir?¡± noted Alissa as she nodded with understanding. ¡°Keeping the spies in the dark.¡± ¡°Exactly, Miss O¡¯Connor, and when we show ourselves, we will make them pay the price.¡± 107 - Waiting in Ambush Alissa found herself rather uncomfortable as she waited in ambush alongside the rest of her party. The fort¡¯s defenders had discovered a buildup of troops on the demon side, likely as a prelude to another large-scale assault. In response, they arranged for the [Heroes]¡¯ party to be part of the defenders. Unlike what Alissa had expected though, they were positioned amongst the reserves, in the back of the defense line, and wouldn¡¯t be mobilized until the situation called for it. She understood the plan laid out by the commanders of the fort ¨C Sir Inolet amongst the decision makers ¨C well enough, just that she still had some difficulties accepting it. The plan that the commanders had agreed upon was to use the bulk of the deployed second and third tier soldiers on the defense line ¨C a good twenty thousand of them ¨C as bait. They would lose the fight and retreat in order to lure the demons deeper in, where the fourth tier combatants ¨C the lower leveled ones ¨C from the human side would engage them, in turn luring out the demon¡¯s fourth tiers. The crux of the play lay with the [Heroes]¡¯ party who would then in turn strike at those fourth tier demons when they least expected it. While a close look with [Analysis] or [Identify] would have disclosed their identity to the demons, nobody had time for that in a chaotic, ongoing battle with tens of thousands of people on each side. There were skills that could detect wide areas at once, but those were typically far less detailed. At best those skills would return the levels of the people in the area to the user, which was useful for finding hidden fourth tiers and little else. That sort of skill would do little to the [Heroes]¡¯ party since they were all still in their third tier, anyway. As such, their ambush would be an unexpected one, at least this one time. Once they pulled it off, the demons would likely take note of their appearances and other identifying features. A vigilant foe was unlikely to fall for the same trick twice, so the hope was to deliver the most damage possible in this one chance they had. Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua were expected to take down a fourth-tier demon each before they could react, while the rest of their party split into groups of two which were each responsible for another fourth-tier demon. Leda was excluded from the ambush because she was a healer who had next to no offensive skills, though she would still accompany them. The expectation was for them to take down their primary targets as well as other targets of opportunity ¨C as in other fourth tier demons ¨C should the situation permit. Worst case, the ambush was expected to take out at least four or five fourth tier demons, which given the prowess of the [Heroes] and their party was a low estimate. Naturally, such a plan would likely result in gruesome casualties for those playing bait, namely the second and third tier soldiers fighting on the frontlines. It was likely that hundreds, if not thousands of them would perish as a result of playing bait according to the plan. To make it worse, the soldiers wouldn¡¯t have any idea that such a plan was even in place. Only their commanders would have an inkling of it. That said, to sacrifice thousands of second and low third tier soldiers in order to take the life of some fourth tier demons was considered a beneficial trade by the planners. Second and third tier soldiers were plentiful, and given that the distance between the Kingdom¡¯s heartlands to the frontlines was shorter than the demons¡¯, they could replenish their numbers more easily. It was that mentality of trading a thousand lives for one that Alissa couldn¡¯t quite get into. While she understood the difference between a thousand weak soldiers and a single fourth-tier warrior who could have taken on that thousand soldiers on their own logically, emotionally she still found it hard to stomach. These were real, living people, not some numbers on a TV screen or the likes. She knew that war was a cruel thing, but it still didn¡¯t quite prepare her for the real thing. That both Ethan and Joshua didn¡¯t seem to have any objections to the plan somewhat bothered her, but she also understood that not everybody would feel disturbed like her over some people she doesn¡¯t even know. [Weather the Storm] allowed her to calm her feelings and think logically over most issues. It prevented her from panicking, but it didn¡¯t stop her from feeling bad about things. It was harder to repress that feeling while standing in line with thousands of other soldiers ¨C as well as several fourth tiers who were standing between the reserves and the main force, not bothering to hide their identity ¨C and listening to the sounds of battle further ahead, however. The clashing of weapons and the screams of anger and pain echoed through her ears, the sounds clear despite the distance. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. If it wasn¡¯t for her skill preventing it, her feelings might have overwhelmed her, she might have panicked or vomited on the spot, but thanks to the skill, none of that happened. Some of the younger soldiers near her looked nervous, some even looking sick. She would have likely been amongst their number if it wasn¡¯t for [Weather the Storm]. Yet the older soldiers looked far more detached, especially the officers and the fourth tier warriors who looked over the situation at the battlefield with a discerning eye. Then again, injuries and deaths were a frequent occurrence for them, especially for those who had been assigned to Fort Ixlay for longer periods of time. While before the war there were no real major conflicts between the humans and the demons, they still had skirmishes on a regular basis. As one of the most strategic spots on the frontline, naturally a good portion of those skirmishes took place near Fort Ixlay, so the people stationed at the fort never really knew peace for long. The fighting at the frontlines had gone on for over an hour and showed no signs of abating so far. Typically, in a battle that involved such a large number of people from both sides, the fighting would remain relatively stable until one side failed to maintain cohesion. Those who managed to keep their discipline tended to be the last ones standing. Naturally, the presence of skills changed the equation somewhat, but most of the time, their effects were too small in scale to affect the overall situation of the battle. Skills that affect a large enough scale were extremely rare, and outside of a few specialized fourth tiers, were typically the domain of [Heroes] and [Champions]. It was why everyone suspected the unknown character who displayed large-scale buffs on the battlefield as a likely [Champion]. Fortunately, intelligence indicated that none of the [Champions] or those suspected to be one were present in the assault that day. The warrior-like [Champion] S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i was spotted just two days ago at a battle roughly two weeks to the north-west from Fort Ixlay, while the other two suspected [Champions] were similarly spotted in battles that were too far away for them to participate in the offense that Alissa and the rest currently faced. To make sure that the demons sent sufficient fourth tiers to the ambush, the defenders deployed twenty-four fourth tiers of their own. Only ten or so ¨C including Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond ¨C were left at Fort Ixlay, since their presence might lead the demons into thinking it was a trap. As it was, twenty-four fourth tiers were a bit more than usual to face this sort of assault, but not completely outside expectations. It could be attributed to the humans being careful, or fearing that the demons intended to attack harder than usual on that day. There were many reasons that could have accounted for the larger than usual presence of fourth tier combatants on the battlefield that day. What it also ensured was that the demons would also have to deploy as many ¨C or more ¨C fourth tier combatants to counter them. Over the hour of fighting, hundreds of people died, both on the human side and the demon side. The injured were easily an order of magnitude greater in number, and were swiftly rotated to the backlines as soon as feasible, in order to reduce the number of casualties either side would take. Both sides fought with their full force, but the situation remained mostly stable for a good while. Where the humans used their local numerical superiority at the valley¡¯s mouth to encircle and overwhelm the demons, the demons used the ability of some of their people to directly move on the cliff sides to deliver strikes from above. Those strikes were intermittent and damaging, but rarely sustained for more than a few throws as the return fire from the human side¡¯s archers would follow. Despite the local numerical advantage the humans had, the demons fought more ferociously, as if they did not fear death. Apparently they had fought that way since the [Champion] S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i personally led them on a rampage that one time, which gave great pressure to the defense lines. In most other circumstances that would have caused major issues, but the planned ambush was aimed to abuse that very habit of the demons. After three hours of fighting, the human defense line started to waver. Here and there, groups of soldiers fell back as the demons broke into their formation and messed up their cohesion. The demons naturally took advantage of that weakness as they redoubled their push through the valley. For the first time, they also launched a full assault from the cliffsides, which involved not only volleys of javelins from above, but also a more direct assault as some courageous demons leapt straight down towards the human army below with weapons in hand. Some of the falling demons met their end on the spearheads of the human defenders, but more made it through and caused havoc where they landed. Like a dam breaking up, the frontline unraveled as one commander after another gave panicked orders to retreat. Some parts of the defense line retreated in good order, while other parts only barely avoided a disastrous rout. As the frontline retreated the injured behind them also retreated. The reserve forces further back allowed them to withdraw through gaps between their formation, but at least several thousand more soldiers were killed in the process as the demons caught up to them and viciously struck at the retreating troops. No mercy was shown by either side, as the hatred between them was far too deep by that point. It was only when the last few thousand soldiers were left that the commanders of the reserve detachment ordered the advance. As one, the groups of soldiers waiting in reserve marched forward, parting the crowd of retreating soldiers like a blade. They clashed against the demons that closely followed their retreating compatriots and launched a counterattack to delay their advance. At the same time, the twenty four fourth tier combatants launched into action as each of them decimated whole groups of demon soldiers. Their sudden entrance into the fight pretty much halted the demon advance, as the fourth tier combatants swept through the advancing demons with great power and force. They worked together in groups of eight to avoid overextending themselves, as even ants might eventually bite an elephant to death with great enough numbers. Before long, the demons retaliated as thirty one fourth tier combatants rushed out from the valley¡¯s mouth and engaged their human counterparts. Like the human defenders, the demon fourth tiers also split into three groups, two groups of ten that fought against the human fourth tiers on the flanks, with the remaining eleven attacking those in the center of the human formation. Alissa and the rest of her party was stationed near the center. With subtle signals and glances, they worked out amongst themselves which of the demon fourth tiers they would aim for. Quietly, they moved closer towards the unsuspecting fourth tiers, with Alissa herself already in the shadows from [Walk in the Shadows] and every relevant buff skill already cast on the whole group. Once Alissa confirmed that the rest of the party was within range, she left the shadows and struck at one of the demon fourth tiers from behind. 108 - Against the Demons In the time that had gone by since she received the skill, Alissa had learned that [Walk in the Shadows] was rather unique even amongst skills of its type. Most of the time, skills that had stealth or concealment effects worked by shielding the user from perception in some manner. Some more advanced skills might also erase other traces like scent and sound, to make it even harder to notice the presence of its user. In general, however, the skill user was still where they were supposed to be, and could be detected by direct contact. Those skills wouldn¡¯t shield them from area effect damaging skills either, as the user was still where they were, and such skills would typically knock them right out of stealth. It was one reason that people with area effect skills would instinctually resort to using them when faced with an enemy capable of stealth in some manner. [Walk in the Shadows] on the other hand worked by physically transporting its user ¨C and whoever else Alissa was able to bring along with her ¨C into a whole different dimension altogether. They did not exist in the physical world while under the effects of the skill, so the vast majority of perception skills and practically all area effect offensive skills were useless against it. When the skill was still lower in level, people with sharp senses like Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond could still find Alissa if they were specifically looking for her and knew she was in the general area through some faint dimensional ripples she caused while moving around. That effect diminished to the point of imperceptibility once she leveled her skill a few times, however, which made her all but undetectable while using the skills. Only people who were themselves attuned to either shadows or spatial elements were capable of noticing her, and even then, it was like Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond in the past, reliant on faint signs of passage that were only noticeable when one specifically looked for them. Given the relative rarity of those elements, Alissa was pretty much invisible as she made her way behind a pair of demons who were engaged with one of the human fourth tiers. Both demons appeared to be primarily physical combatants, though one of them also made use of minor spells to feint and attempt to lure their opponent into making a mistake, even while he attacked ferociously with a slender sword. The other demon ¨C a Ma¡¯varok woman from what Alissa could tell ¨C should be a pure physical type, with the large, wicked-looking polearm in her hand already drenched in blood and gore. Alissa made a split-second decision ¨C she noticed that everyone else in the party was already positioned to strike next to their respective targets ¨C and chose the swordmage demon as her target. She emerged out of the shadowy realm behind the unsuspecting demon, though he likely sensed something as he tried to turn around the moment she emerged, and struck out with her spear. Clad with the enhancements of every single one of Alissa¡¯s active offensive skills other than [Moment of Truth], the broad blade of the spearhead accurately struck the back of the swordmage demon¡¯s head, just around where his head connected to his neck. The chain coif the demon wore posed no resistance to the heavily enhanced thrust, and the spearhead pierced through the demon¡¯s flesh, the point coming out from his surprised mouth. The fourth tier demon had perished before he could do anything. Around the same time, the rest of the party also made their own moves at their respective targets. Unlike Alissa, they couldn¡¯t make use of the element of surprise to that extent, so the demons they targeted had more time to react. Even so, the fourth tier human combatants ¨C who were all in on the plan ¨C immediately intensified their attacks as well to keep the demons occupied and vulnerable to the assault. Ethan and Joshua both targeted demons who were working in pairs to pressure a human fourth-tier combatant together. Ethan¡¯s target saw him coming, but couldn¡¯t help but be lured towards him by [Antagonizing Yell] which had a taunt effect. In fact, it caused both demons to strike at him, which allowed the fourth tier human to grievously wound one of them in their distracted state. Ethan quickly finished off that injured demon before he worked together with the fourth tier human to pressure the other one. Joshua¡¯s method was far more straightforward, as he directly blasted an [Overcharge]d spell in the form of a massive bolt of lightning at the demons. One of the demons managed to avoid the blast, but the other was kept busy by the human fourth tier they were engaging and failed to react in time. By the time the lightning bolt subsided, all that was left of the demon was a charred corpse that still emanated wisps of smoke from every cavity on its body. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Elsewhere, the rest of the party also made their assaults while cooperating with their partners. Nadine worked together with the human fourth tier combatant near her to keep the fourth tier demon¡¯s hands and weapons occupied with them, which created an opening Maribel made full use of. She swiftly dove in close to the demon as she slashed out with her paired blades, cleanly slicing halfway through the demon¡¯s throat with her strike. As the demon fell to their knees, Nadine finished them off with a decapitating blow from her greatblade. Bronwen worked together with Silvia and relieved a human fourth tier combatant who was on the verge of defeat. The human fourth tier was one with the lowest level out of the ones deployed that day, so it was understandable that they had a hard time against a higher level demon. Bronwen¡¯s timely rush salvaged the deteriorating situation and turned the tables at the same time. As Bronwen defended against the demon fourth tier¡¯s attacks with her large shield, Silvia and the human fourth tier combatant struck from the sides. The demon prioritized blocking the human fourth tier combatant¡¯s attack, but failed to notice the gleaming power that accumulated in Silvia¡¯s spear. It was only when the spearhead directly punched through his armor and went deep into his abdomen that he realized the fatal mistake he had made. Benedictus and Osmond worked together and harried the fourth tier they were targeting with javelins and arrows, all of which were enhanced by various skills. The sudden barrage caught the fourth tier demon by some surprise, but she still managed to defend herself even as the human fourth tier she faced intensified his assault against her. Moira and Glenn had better fortune as Glenn barged into the fight between a burly demon fourth tier and a swift human combatant. Glenn¡¯s sudden intrusion gave the human fourth tier combatant a chance to land a cut on his opponent¡¯s arm, and just as the demon roared in anger and raised its other arm to strike back, Moira swept in and struck, the blade of her glaive hewn through the demon¡¯s thick arm and chopping it off just behind the wrist. The burly demon did not last long under the three¡¯s assault after it lost one of its hands. Most of the time, fights between fourth tier combatants took a long time, because both parties would be wary of each other and fought with the preservation of their own lives as the top priority. The main reason the ambush succeeded was because at a glance, people were accustomed to checking an enemy¡¯s level, and the fourth tier demons had seen that the [Heroes]¡¯ party were only at their third tiers and subconsciously dismissed them as a threat. That was a mistake they paid for in blood, as most members of the party were capable of taking on a fourth tier combatant on their own. In a situation where they had to face two to three opponents with strength similar to theirs, it was no surprise that the fourth tier demons took heavy losses, doubly so since they were caught off guard and failed to react in time for the most part. In a timespan of only ten seconds after the ambush was sprung, six fourth tier demon combatants lost their lives. The remaining five were naturally alarmed, and immediately tried to disengage from the fighting, but three of them were not so fortunate, and only two made it out alive in the end. The survivors were a demon who was fortunate to not be targeted by the ambush as well as Benedictus and Osmond¡¯s target, who managed to escape with her life, with only some injuries on her. The other demons who had been working in pairs had found themselves pincered by a fourth tier human warrior and one of the [Heroes] each, a situation that made it difficult for them to disengage from the battle. Ethan¡¯s second target was still affected by his [Antagonizing Yell] and couldn¡¯t even move further than a ten meters away from him, for that matter. Joshua was actually the first to finish his second target, as he feinted a high-power magical blast at the demon, which caused the demon to dodge straight into the path of a second, barely noticeable spell. The second spell was much weaker in terms of damage, but it had a strong paralytic effect, which rendered the demon insensate for a brief moment. Long enough for the warrior Joshua was working with to land a fatal blow, even as another blast of powerful magic landed on the demon at the same time. The blast also electrocuted the human fourth tier combatant mildly, but it was a minor injury, and the man still gave Joshua ¨C who by then was panting in exhaustion as he had used up most of his mana ¨C a respectful salute before he charge into the horde of the lower leveled demon soldiers still pushing against the defense line. On his side, Ethan got creative with his skills as he realized that the invisible wall from [None Shall Pass] would change its position based on the way he oriented himself. As such, he activated the skill and after a quick clash with the demon fourth tier, swiftly made an about-face to the left. As a result, the invisible wall slammed against the demon¡¯s side, the unexpected blow causing her to lose her balance as a vicious chop from the human warrior next to Ethan arrived and mangled one of her legs. With one leg crippled, the demon had no chance as Ethan and the human combatant delivered more blows from above the fallen demon and ended her life swiftly. Alissa and the fourth tier human warrior she helped had an easier time against the burly female demon. They were fighting two against one, after all, and the demon did not seem to have any skill that allowed her to make a swift escape. In the end, Alissa took an opportunate time to activate [Moment of Truth] and ended the fight. As the burly demon¡¯s polearm flashed towards her head from the right, Alissa used the wing-like protrusions below her weapon¡¯s spearhead to catch her opponent¡¯s weapon and pushed it away. The demon was a good bit stronger than her, but the leverage of the force she applied allowed the push to throw the strike off-course, far enough that it whiffed just an inch away from her helmet. At the same time, Alissa stepped in close to the demon and struck at her solar plexus with a vicious punch, the upper tip of her shield digging into the female demon¡¯s abdomen. The demon quailed back in pain, some of her organs probably ruptured from the blow, as the human warrior Alissa helped struck from the side and pierced into the demon¡¯s shoulder with his sword. Before the demon could regain control of the situation or make another strike, Alissa shortened her grip on her spear and pierced through the demon¡¯s throat with it. The female demon let out one last groan that ended in a bloody gurgle before she collapsed on the spot, leaving only the victors standing on the battlefield. The ambush ended up being a resounding success, as the defenders killed nine fourth tier demons as they pushed the demons back to the valley. As for the thousands of casualties sacrificed in the process, everyone in command considered that as an acceptable cost for the victory they achieved. CIX - Ephemera The two weeks spent in Agur-Bas while the group waited for the undersea [Crafters] to finish their work on the equipment meant for the progenies was a relaxed one. Naturally, they had not spent the time dawdling. The locals had spread out to say their farewells to their families, since everybody was well aware that they were unlikely to return from the trip. Most of Ani¡¯s warriors ¨C all of whom were now in the fourth tier, if in the very early stages ¨C accompanied their families for probably the last time, made memories for their loved ones, so that they could be fondly remembered. Even Ani herself spent some time with her siblings ¨C the mixed-breed woman was older than she looked, and her parents had already passed on years ago, while she had no family of her own ¨C though in the second week she started preparing supplies and other things the group would need for their planned trip. It was unlikely that they would return to Agur-Bas, and unless they ran into other refuges of their people, no town was likely to welcome them. As such, other than new equipment, they also prepared other things. Since Ani was well aware of Esperanza¡¯s [Soul Storage] and how she could use it to transport other items besides souls, they had planned around having her carry the most important parts of their supply there. Esperanza herself felt that it was a good plan, and approved of it, as long as it was not too much for her to carry around. Part of the supplies they prepared were a sort of dried ration block that the locals of Agur-Bas made to preserve excess food. The blocks were made from all sorts of things, grains, various kinds of sea vegetation, as well as some kinds of seafood, that had all been dehydrated and ground into a fine powder, then compacted into their blocky form. Each block was roughly half the size of an adult human¡¯s palm, and they simply needed to be dissolved in hot water to create a thick, highly nutritious soup. One serving of such a soup served as a full meal on its own, and a block was enough for an adult to use for up to three days, with the assumption of three meals a day. If further rationed, it could naturally be stretched out even further. Esperanza loaded up on hundreds of such blocks, which occupied nearly half the space in her storage. While time did pass in her [Soul Storage] as far as she could tell, the preserved blocks of food had great longevity, and remained edible for up to ten years, so it was not a worry. Other than that, they also prepared other things, like tents and bedrolls, but those could be carried by the individuals instead, and were not as vital, so there was no need to store it in Esperanza¡¯s storage. She did feel somewhat weighed down when she carried too much stuff in there, so they mostly limited what she carried to emergency rations, as food could be the most difficult thing to find in some places. Water was not an issue, as many members of the group had some way to conjure or find water. Shelter could be built from scratch in worst case scenarios, while money would likely have little value where they were headed. For one, they didn¡¯t have any human or demon currency, and that was on the assumption that they would manage to get into town safely in the first place, which was a very unlikely thing. By far the most valuable thing they prepared however was a gift from the temple priests in Agur-Bas. ¡°What is this?¡± asked Esperanza when an elderly priest brought out a large roll of parchment ¨C she wasn¡¯t sure what sort of animal skin was used to make the parchment, but given how the backside had marks that hinted of scales it was likely an aquatic one ¨C and placed it on the table. The whole group had gathered in the temple to see what the priests wished to give them. The parchment before them looked rather new, but looks could be deceiving. Without a word, the old priest unrolled the parchment, which was large enough to cover most of the table, and exposed what was drawn on it for everyone to see. It was a map, a large one that probably contained the whole world, or at least the continent they were on. Depicted on the map was a lone continent surrounded by oceans all around it. The continent itself had a crude squarish shape, one that stood on one of its corners, slightly tilted to the right. The uppermost part of the continent lay in the north-north-eastern direction, and Esperanza saw how wide the terrain varied all over the continent on the map. To the far north and far south, the land was colored an off-white that indicated snow and ice, likely locked in permafrost all year round. The climate seemed to turn more temperate as it approached the center of the continent, with a wide band of thick forests running from the west to east in the middle. There were next to no notations of cities and other places on the map, however. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°This is a copy of an old map we inherited from our ancestors, from a time when Ephemera was not yet torn into endless war,¡± explained the old priest with a somber tone, naming the continent they were on for the first time in Esperanza¡¯s knowledge. To be fair, she had been too busy with other things to inquire about the name of the continent ¨C if the people she had been around even knew it ¨C or the like. ¡°This map is up to date?¡± she asked with some wonderment. ¡°That, we have no certainty about. The map we inherited had the location of cities and borders, but they were from dead nations that had passed on thousands of years ago. Because of that, we have no idea about the location of the actual cities of the current age,¡± admitted the priest openly. ¡°What we could copy was the terrain, which shouldn¡¯t have changed too much even after the time that has passed. We hope that this will be of help to your endeavors, Exalted One.¡± ¡°This will be helpful, sure,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. A map was a great help, and if they managed to pilfer some maps from the humans or demons they met, they could then interpolate it with the map they had. ¡°If I may ask, do you happen to know roughly where we are on this map?¡± ¡°Certainly. Agur-Bas is right here,¡± said the old priest as he took a stick and pointed towards an area near the easternmost corner of the continent. ¡°Based on the Exalted One¡¯s descriptions, the village of Navef you told us about should be around here,¡± added the old priest as he shifted the stick to the left. Contrary to Esperanza¡¯s estimation, however, the stick didn¡¯t shift much. It didn¡¯t even move as far as one-tenth of the width of the continent portrayed on the map. That was the first time she gained a sense of just how massive the continent was. The journey from Navef to Agur-Bas was probably around a thousand miles away. It was hard to be certain, but she knew that the people of this world ¨C at least the higher tier ones ¨C were far more robust than the people of her former world. If a thousand miles was barely one-tenth of the width of the continent portrayed on the map, then that meant the continent was easily over ten thousand miles across. Larger than the largest continent in her previous world, by a sizable margin, even. ¡°From what little information we garnered through our allies and friends in the sea, the frontlines of the battle is roughly around here,¡± said the old priest once more as he drew a horizontal line on the map a short distance above the forested part in the middle. ¡°The forest you see here used to be the divide between what is now human lands and demon territory, the no-man¡¯s land where our kind hid. At the present, we are well inside demon territory, however.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± noted Esperanza as she mulled over the implications of the world¡¯s size and the mission she had chosen to undertake. ¡°Any of you have opinions on how we should go about things now that we know of this?¡± ¡°From what I see, we have two choices,¡± said Belug-ur¡¯ani after some consideration. The woman was the strongest warrior in Agur-Bas and also had many decades of experience over Esperanza and the progenies, so they listened closely to her words. ¡°Since we are already in what is considered a part of the demons¡¯ territory, we could strike out towards the south and make a mess in their territory, which would weaken them from the inside.¡± Several of the progenies nodded at her suggestion, though several others ¨C namely Resitia, Iryl, Mel-Ivas, Dai¡¯vasy and even Tiesya ¨C showed looks of consternation on their faces. It was understandable, as the five of them were humans or otherwise had human bloodline in their ancestry. Other than how both sides would hunt them down just for being believers of the Deities of Yore ¨C or Oldies, as Esperanza still favored to call them ¨C some demons also had skills that would allow them to detect humans. Such skills made sense, given how shapeshifting skills existed and both sides were likely to spy on each other that way. As such, the fact that several of them could be detected in such a way even if they managed to hide the fact that they were under Oldies¡¯ care was an issue. ¡°You mentioned two options, what¡¯s the other one?¡± asked Esperanza towards the older woman. ¡°The frontline of the war,¡± stated Ani simply as she pointed towards the region where the elderly priest had drawn the line signifying the border between the human kingdom and the demon territory. ¡°Both the humans and the demons worship the new gods, and another war is underway as [Heroes] and [Champions] have been summoned. While they are busy with one another, we could work behind the scenes to let them destroy each other.¡± ¡°It probably wouldn¡¯t be too hard to do, either,¡± added Ani as she gestured with her hands to illustrate her point. ¡°They would be in high alert near the frontlines, sure, which makes this course of action more risky to undertake, but on the other hand, we would be able to do things without either side noticing for a good while before anyone got suspicious.¡± ¡°Can you explain what you mean by that?¡± ¡°Both the demons and the humans would most likely attribute any setback or sabotage they experienced to the other side,¡± said Ani confidently. ¡°Unless we were caught red-handed or let some witnesses escape, they would only think that their enemies were responsible for whatever we did. While we would still need to keep ourselves hidden, it would allow us to make our moves with more impunity, while at the same time both sides would continue to weaken one another, which is a good thing as they are both our enemies.¡± ¡°On the other hand, if we were to head towards the interior of the demon territory, we could weaken them with less risk. They would be less alert, especially deeper inside their own territory,¡± added Ani as a counterargument to her first idea. ¡°It would be lower in risk, and would still likely affect the situation of the war, but we¡¯d have less direct influence over it, so it¡¯d be harder to get the result we aimed for.¡± ¡°Both are valid ideas,¡± admitted Esperanza after some thought. She had at first considered searching for other enclaves or refuges that still worshiped Oldies and grow their numbers that way, but now that Ani mentioned it, the war was an opportunity to really change things, and directly affecting it would likely show greater effect than what they could do even with greater numbers if the war was done and over with. ¡°What do you all think?¡± asked Esperanza as she directed the question to the progenies. Despite their tender age she valued their opinion, which tended to be more pure and unbiased by the vicissitudes of life. Besides, this choice would greatly affect them as well, so it was only fair that they got a say in it. ¡°Which do you think would be the better course of action to take?¡± CX - Onward to Adversity ¡°How easy is it for a worshiper of the new god to notice our allegiance to the Deities of Yore?¡± asked Dai¡¯vasy after a moment of thought. Despite her young age ¨C the youngest out of all the progenies, at a couple months younger than Ilavakide ¨C she was always a thoughtful child. Perhaps it was because she was primarily a mage, but she always thought things over more than the others. ¡°From our past knowledge, for a typical worshiper they would need to be within a couple of feet from you to notice,¡± replied the old priest, to which Ani nodded. There were some worshipers of the new gods amongst the sea dwellers, and one time Ani had met some in her travels only for them to turn hostile once they got too close to her. ¡°If they had priestly classes, however, they might be able to notice you from up to ten times that distance.¡± ¡°And whatever allowed them to sniff out humans? Does it have the same effective range?¡± continued Dai¡¯vasy¡¯s questioning. The girl clearly had something in mind, and the older progenies looked towards her in thought. Some of them clearly already pieced together what she had in mind from her questions, while others were still left in the dark. ¡°Within touching distance for most, from what we had heard, though apparently some classes could detect such things over an entire city. Like most skills, we assume that such things would depend on the skills themselves. The stronger skill between the concealment and the detection would win out in the end,¡± replied the old priest after some thought. ¡°Why do you ask, Child of Yore? ¡°I¡¯m just thinking¡­ We have Resitia and Iryl with us, and the Exalted One could also assume a guise that would be indistinguishable to a human from a distance,¡± noted Dai¡¯Vasy. ¡°At the same time, Val, Ila, Nali, and Legi are all of pure demon heritage, and since the Exalted one is a shapeshifter, it should not be difficult for her to assume a similar form, no?¡± ¡°I actually haven¡¯t tried that, so let me give it a shot. En seguida,¡± said Esperanza as she tried Dai¡¯vasy¡¯s suggestion out. It was a bit difficult and the results were rather¡­ deformed at first as Esperanza wasn¡¯t used to assuming a form outside of her free-flowing amorphous form and the human form that was her former appearance. After a couple minutes though, she managed to replicate a Nevilosk¡¯s tall, gaunt features on her form, though her facial features hadn¡¯t changed much. ¡°I think this might be the most doable for me. I can¡¯t alter my mass or volume, so turning into a Ma¡¯Varok or Ragah-fiq would necessitate a hollow form, which is rather hard to maintain.¡± ¡°That should be more than enough, I think,¡± Noted Dai¡¯vasy with a nod. She then turned around and looked towards her fellow progenies, many of whom were nodding along in understanding. A couple still looked like they had no idea what was going on, but they were in the minority. ¡°I think you all got the gist of what I had in mind, no?¡± ¡°You¡¯re planning to hit both the demons and the humans under false flags,¡± stated Ani with an interested tone of voice. ¡°Get rid of any who could identify you as adherents to the Deities of Yore, leave a couple ¡®lucky¡¯ people alive, and let them bear witness that it was the other side that attacked them, am I right?¡± asked the older warrior woman. ¡°That¡¯s the general idea of what I had in mind, yeah,¡± admitted Dai¡¯vasy openly. ¡°We¡¯d need to head towards the frontlines of the battle to do this best, since it¡¯s only there that the demons and humans had facilities in close proximity to each other,¡± added the young progeny. ¡°Also, I don¡¯t know if Legi could sneak into camps without being detected or not. If he could, it would make pulling this off a lot safer.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that, actually,¡± admitted Legisvula shyly. ¡°My stealth skill is pretty powerful, but I have no way to hide myself to these¡­ priests you mentioned. I think we can expect them to have several priests in any base, if only for religious purposes,¡± added the boy. ¡°While I¡¯m confident I can sneak around people in the wilderness, I can¡¯t say the same about military bases.¡± ¡°I might be able to do this, actually,¡± said Esperanza after some thought. ¡°One of my skills had an effect that made it impossible to use any sort of [Analyze] or [Identify] on me, and it¡¯s a very high rarity skill. I suspect that it¡¯d treat whatever skill these priests use to detect people attuned to Oldies- err, I mean the Deities of Yore the same way. In fact I recall killing a couple priests back in Navef and they weren¡¯t alerted until I slit their throats.¡± ¡°How do you plan to sneak into the bases though, Exalted One?¡± asked Ilavakide from across the table. ¡°I do not think they would allow a person they do not recognize into such important places.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I have an idea I want to try out. If it works out, then I should be able to infiltrate such bases, at least for a short time,¡± said Esperanza as she took Ilavakide¡¯s worry in stride. The idea she had in mind was rather gruesome, something she thought about after remembering a game that went viral for a while in her previous world, but it was worth a shot. ¡°We won¡¯t know for certain until we try it out, though.¡± ¡°The Exalted One is even better at stealth than I am, so she should be able to do this much better than I could,¡± said Legisvula from the side. ¡°I am in approval of this path.¡± ¡°As am I,¡± stated Dai¡¯Vasy. With the two of them presenting their opinions, the rest of the [Progenies of Yore] were soon in agreement. They would head towards the frontlines of the war between the humans and the demons, with the hope of playing both sides against each other until they exhausted themselves. It was perhaps wishful thinking in some ways, but it was better than having no direction. The hardest part would be to traverse through enemy territory ¨C both humans and demons were hostile to them after all ¨C without getting noticed. That pretty much demanded that the group would either not be seen at all, or if they were noticed and identified, left no survivors which could report their presence. After all, dead men tell no tales. Fortunately the difficulty of sneaking a party of twenty through hostile territory is much easier than trying to do the same with larger groups of people. Doubly so since almost everyone in the party were either in their fourth tier or had power equivalent to one. That power alone would smooth down many difficulties they could expect to encounter in their journey. They would naturally have to stay out of sight, which meant avoiding cities, towns, and villages. The main roads were likely untenable as well, so they would have to travel through the wilderness instead. From Agur-Bas towards the area where the frontline of the war was approximated to be was a long distance, at least one and a half to two thousand miles or so. With the group¡¯s current capabilities though, Esperanza thought that they could likely travel that distance within a month. When they took two months to travel from Navef to Agur-Bas, the group had to carry children with them, which greatly limited their speed. Now that there were nothing but fourth tiers or their equivalent in the group, they would be able to traverse a longer distance much faster than before. The next day, several messengers delivered the equipment that had been crafted for the progenies using material from their hunt in the arachnoid dungeon. The most valuable of which were items crafted directly with material from the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]. Since there wasn¡¯t enough material to make something for everyone, the progenies had decided to focus on their stronger combatants where applicable. Val-Kas¡¯j received a new polearm with the blade crafted out of the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign]¡¯s severed scythe-arm, while Tiesya received a pair of new blades made from the same material. The largest piece of intact carapace from the creature was turned into a large shield for Nalihimatu¡¯s use, while Resitia received a new spear with its spearhead crafted from the entwined proboscis of the creature¡¯s final form. Ilavakide¡¯s bow had been reworked to make use of the monster¡¯s tendons as its bowstring, which made it far more powerful, while Legisvula received a dagger made from the monster¡¯s claw. The broken pieces of the carapace ¨C the group wasn¡¯t exactly gentle when they struck the [Immature Arachnoid Sovereign] ¨C were used to make a sort of scale armor that was both light and highly durable for Mel-Ivas and Dai¡¯vasy¡¯s use. The rest of their equipment were similarly upgraded using materials from the highest leveled arachnoids they slaughtered in the dungeon, which made them better suited for the long term, as the group would most likely grow stronger as they continued their journey. Their preparation finished, the group indulged in a farewell meal prepared by the priests of the temple and slept peacefully in their last night staying at Agur-Bas. They departed the next morning, their farewells said and done with no regrets left behind. The other children from Navef, as well as Eda-Zil who had regained some use of her legs, bid them farewell with tears in their eyes. During the last couple of weeks Esperanza had used her [Soul Manifestation] to allow all of them to meet with and exchange some words with their departed family, which helped bring some closure for the children who now had new lives ahead of them. As they departed from Agur-Bas, the group took the exit that led to the north-west, as they mostly traced the shoreline on their way further north. The shorelines were mostly uninhabited, as the aquatic Gour-ug¡¯rech favored deeper waters and disliked stepping on land unless they had to. There were quite a few monsters that the group met along the way, but they posed no threat given the group¡¯s power. In fact, one of the monsters they ran into on their first day¡¯s journey ¨C a massive crustacean that looked like a crab with four claws, each of which large enough to shear an adult in half ¨C ended up becoming their dinner instead. Esperanza thought that the massive crab-like creature did indeed taste a lot like crab as she fished out chunks of its sweet meat from one of its massive claws. Her ability to shift her shape freely made it far easier for her to extract every bit of meat from the creature¡¯s carapace. While she munched on the sweet, rich meat, Esperanza found herself wishing that she had some molten butter to dunk the crab meat into. As it was, the group had just cooked the crab simply, by burying it in sand and building a bonfire on top of it, which cooked the creature in its own juices. Ani offered some dried herb to sprinkle on the meat, which added some nice nuances to the delicate flavor of the flesh. They had also been lucky as the creature was female and its torso was filled with millions of tiny little eggs. The veteran warriors who volunteered to follow Ani showed the younger progenies how to use the eggs as a dipping sauce for the meat, which added a complex and rich savoriness to the flesh. All in all, for a meal cooked in the wilderness using only whatever was available at hand, it was definitely a delicious one, a meal for them to remember for quite some time. The whole group knew that they were headed into adversity, that the whole world would become their enemies, but they all bore the pressure stoically and enjoyed themselves. They knew that such chances for enjoyment would be hard to come by in the days to come. 111 - (Here Comes) A New Challenger! Perhaps it was to be expected, but just because Alissa and her party contributed greatly to winning one battle, it didn¡¯t mean that the war was won. If anything, what they did merely affected one small part of the war, which spanned over the entire border between the human Kingdom and the demon Territories, a border which spanned thousands of miles long, at the very least. It was somewhat disappointing for the three [Heroes] to see their contribution meaning so little to the overall effort, though the locals seemed to have taken it in stride instead. After all, they were born and raised under the shadow of the war between humans and demons, with their history full of stories from the previous wars. They knew better what to expect. The loss of nine fourth-tier warriors made the demons wary of commiting to another assault for a good while after the battle, which bought the defenders in Fort Ixlay time to recuperate and take care of their wounded. At the same time, another convoy of reinforcements also arrived at the fort during that period, further replenishing the defenders¡¯ numbers. On the demon side, intelligence suggested that they had to reshuffle personnel from elsewhere in the frontline to make up for the sudden loss of nearly one-third of the fourth tier warriors from that one battle. In turn, that slightly weakened the demon forces on several other locations, which the human side made use of by pressing the temporary advantage as best they could. In most cases, these just led to stalemates, but in one particular case further to the west, around a month away from Fort Ixlay, the humans managed to exploit that temporary advantage to drive the demons away from their defensive fortification and took it for themselves. At the moment the Kingdom rushed to deliver more reinforcement and supplies to that front, to allow the gains to be preserved at all costs. At first, Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua wondered if they would be shifted towards that front as well, but in the end, the decision was for them to help defend Fort Ixlay instead. The three of them had been laying low since the ambush, while the higher-ups had sent some people who resembled their features away towards other bases, in the hopes of lulling the demons into thinking that the [Heroes] have left the base. With some luck, they hoped to lure the demons into another crippling ambush. The valley route defended by Fort Ixlay was one of the most crucial passes on the eastern side of the border, so if the Kingdom managed to weaken the demons enough to make a push through the valley a tenable option, it would win them quite a bit of initiative in the war situation. It was one reason why both sides had tens of fourth tiers stationed there, including some of their best. ¡°I know you all are probably hankering for a fight, but have patience,¡± said Sir Inolet to the [Heroes]¡¯ party, roughly a week after the successful ambush they pulled off. Over that week the group had hidden themselves from most everyone else in the Fort, other than the few who came with them like Sir Inolet, Magus Drummond, Cerilla, and Vesta. ¡°There¡¯s a purpose to this hiding around, trust me.¡± ¡°We get the general idea,¡± said Ethan with a nod. ¡°Still, can¡¯t help with getting bored from doing nothing over the past week, you know, sir? There¡¯s only so much to read and all, since it¡¯s not like they paid much attention to furnishing the fort¡¯s library when they built it. I think we all just wished we could be doing something instead of staying all cooped up in our rooms like this¡± ¡°Give it another day or two. By then the lookalikes we sent out to pretend to be your party should have reached their destinations and shown themselves around. You all can go out by then,¡± said Magus Drummond from the side. ¡°With the lookalikes present, we¡¯re hoping to confuse the demons into overthinking things. Ideally, they¡¯d think that both you and the lookalikes are all diversions, while the real ¡®you¡¯ are headed somewhere else. If we can lure them into another good ambush, it¡¯ll all be worth it, if not, it¡¯s only a week lost.¡± ¡°Makes sense, I guess,¡± admitted Alissa with a defeated sigh, knowing that the course of action that the commanders had plotted was likely a wiser one. ¡°How¡¯s the fighting at the frontlines this past week, by the way, Sir?¡± ¡°The demons are afraid of another ambush, so they¡¯ve been holding their troops back from pushing too hard,¡± said Sir Inolet with a smile. ¡°In turn, that meant less casualties on both sides, though the demons still lost a good bit more than we do on a daily basis. They seemed pretty willing to throw away their weaker second tiers like that, since they have more people.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°They¡¯re likely waiting for more reinforcements of their own,¡± noted Magus Drummond as he inhaled deeply from his pipe. ¡°Some of their fourth tiers from closer battlefields had likely reached their camp by now, but if any were sent from further away, they likely will need more time to get here. Given their wariness, I don¡¯t see the demons launching another serious assault for at least another week or two.¡± When the [Heroes]¡¯ party were allowed out of their room the next day, they felt far more relieved. Even physical training and sparring ¨C they had not neglected their training while hiding in their rooms, but there had been no opportunity to spar during that time ¨C felt fun to them, and they showed themselves at the fort¡¯s wall on a regular basis, playing the part of ¡°fakes¡± that were there to fool the demons. True to Magus Drummond¡¯s prediction, the demons mostly kept the daily clashes to light skirmishes at most for the following week and a half. Casualties from such skirmishes were low, sometimes not even reaching a hundred, as both the humans and demons were more fighting for the formality of it rather than trying hard to murder each other, and most of those casualties were injured rather than dead. The decrease in the number of injured people meant that the healers in the fort were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, as they finally caught up to the number of injured that had piled up from the constant fighting. Over those weeks, the backlog of injured people who crowded the fort¡¯s infirmaries finally cleared up as the healers finished healing all of them, sending the now-healed men and women back to the line of duty. Roughly two weeks after the ambush, two days passed without any attack from the demon¡¯s side. That caused all sorts of speculation and suspicion to be thrown about amongst the commanders of the fort. Even the information they received from their spies indicated that at most, the biggest change was that there were more reinforcements which had arrived at the demons¡¯ camp across the valley. What all of them could agree on was that the quiet was likely a prelude to a larger-scale assault from the demons. None of them had access to better information that would allow them to guess what the demons had in mind, so they could only operate with what guesses and predictions they had. Sure enough, after two days of quiet, the demons launched a renewed assault on the third day. Unlike before, there was something new to the demon¡¯s assault, namely the horde of undead creatures that charged headlong ahead of their actual troops. Necromancers who raised the dead to do their bidding weren¡¯t that rare a class, though they were generally not favored as combatants. The main reason for that was because while being able to reanimate the dead sounded like a fearsome ability, it loses a lot of value when the dead were no longer capable of using any of the skills they had while they were alive, and were purely reliant on their stats. Because of this, the threat necromancers possessed on the battlefield was only a danger to large groups of low-leveled soldiers, whereas against the elite warriors, or even those of the same tier as they were, their threat was negligible at best. They themselves tend to be weak and have minimal direct combat ability, entirely reliant on their undead minions to do the fighting for them. The horde of undead that led the assault for the demons were no different, as the soldiers at the frontline barely flinched while they broke the corpses apart to the point that no amount of reanimation would be able to make them walk again. In the end, the day¡¯s skirmish was mostly a light one, with only the undead as a surprise at first. Even so, the undead posed minimal threat, and the biggest impact they brought to the battlefield was to disgust those soldiers unfortunate enough to be assigned cleanup duty that day. Cleaning up week-old rotten corpses would never be a pleasant experience. For the next couple of days, the demons did the same, letting a wave of weak undead lead the charge before fighting half-heartedly against the human defenders. Some of the fort¡¯s commanders even wondered if the demons were just trying to disgust them or something with these ineffective attacks, but others felt that the demons might be buying time to prepare something instead. It was only on the fourth day, when the defenders expected more of the same, that the demons changed their strategy. That day, the demons hid many third-tier soldiers amongst the horde of undead, which in itself was larger than the previous days. Those third-tier soldiers then struck the defenders by surprise, which threw the frontlines into chaos for a bit and allowed the horde of undead to further exploit the situation by pushing into the defense lines without any fear for their existence. While that caused a bit of chaos on the defense¡¯s frontmost lines, those behind them stabilized the situation and held on strongly. At that point however, the situation changed as a massive figure ¨C easily four to five meters tall ¨C that only looked vaguely humanoid charged out from within the demon lines and plowed into the defenders with fury. The massive figure looked as if someone made a freakish patchwork creature using many bodies combined into one, with one massive, oversized arm on its right side and two smaller ¨C but still large ¨C arms on the left. It hunched over like a great ape as it moved, its form clearly top-heavy, and it rampaged through the defense lines, blows from its arms throwing the human defenders around like rag dolls, if not directly pulverizing them against the ground. Only after a moment of surprise did the defenders manage to react and order their troops to avoid the rampaging monster even as a fourth-tier combatant rushed forward to meet it. To everyone¡¯s surprise, however, the monster had the upper hand in the clash, and pushed the human combatant back ferociously. It was only after a second fourth-tier combatant dashed in and helped her compatriot that the situation was under control. Even then, it still took the two fourth-tier combatants a good quarter hour of fighting to take down the monster they were fighting against. One of them was even injured pretty badly in the process, and the rest was unable to help them out as the demons also threatened to strike with their own fourth-tier combatants. Oddly enough, none of the demon fourth tiers came to the aid of the rampaging monster, as if they were content to let it perish under the defenders¡¯ blades. The reason for that became clear when another battle broke out the next day, as another monster ¨C clearly different from the one before yet similar in many ways ¨C once again led the demon army¡¯s charge out of the valley. By that point, it was clear as day that the demons had someone capable of creating monsters that were capable of taking on two lower level fourth-tier combatants at once, and do so repeatedly at that. Immediately the commanders thought of one of the rumored demon [Champions], who was said to have abilities similar to what they were facing. Interlude D - The Mother of Monsters The afterlife sure wasn¡¯t what Mary had expected it to be like, or at least, it sure differed a great deal from the heaven and hell that the priests always preached about. Then again, apparently what she ¨C and a few others, one of whom was a name she was most definitely familiar with from history ¨C experienced now was less an afterlife and more of a second chance of life, of sorts. That said, being reincarnated as some sort of Gremlin? Goblin? Some particularly ugly fae? Whatever she was right now sure wasn¡¯t something Mary had expected to happen to her, for sure. Granted, this reincarnation thing does come with its benefits. For one, no more crippling headaches, or pain in the joints that had started to plague her days in her final years. She was young again, even if she couldn¡¯t call her new body human, and the vitality that youth brought with it was an exhilarating feeling to say the least. Then came the news from those who claimed to have summoned them, something that further confirmed to Mary that they were in a different world than their own. It reminded her of some of the more fantastical stories she had read in her life, though none were quite like her circumstances, of course. Of all the things that surprised her, these¡­ people who summoned her had considered her a [Champion], one of great might who would lead them in their eternal war against their foes. That those foes were humans was another surprise, but an acceptable one when she considered that she had become something that was decidedly not human. Her worry about having to fight ¨C she never had anything to do with violence in her previous life, other than maybe writing about some of it ¨C was soon alleviated when the locals explained to her about the classes and skills they were gifted by the gods themselves, or whatever these locals believed in, at least. She was rather surprised to see that her class was so¡­ personalized, but more so when she learned how her skills seemed to pay homage to stories she had written before. It was a strange feeling to be called a [Champion] when all she ever accomplished in her previous life was to write some stories, at most, much less to have her path laid out according to them. Still, it was something she could ¨C and would ¨C make use of. She was granted this second chance at life, and if that meant she had to fight for it, then so be it. The locals had explained to Mary how people could grow to great power in this world they had been brought to, and even offered to support her and the other summoned [Champions] so that they could grow smoothly on that path of power. One of them refused, however, the man gruffly saying that he would climb that path of power on his own instead of needing their help. That was a rather surprising matter for all involved, both the summoned [Champions] and the locals. In the end, however, it was decided to send the three remaining [Champions] to the dungeon to help them level quickly, accompanied by hand-picked members who were expected to be their companions and aides in the future, including ones that had been prepared for the one who went off on his own. It was a very fortunate thing that they had the help from those locals. As it turned out, none of the three [Champions] that remained, Mary included, had skills that were useful for direct combat at first. If anything, Mary was the most fortunate one, as after she animated her first undead, she at least had a minion who could do the fighting for her, even if it was weak compared to their local companions. The other two were less fortunate. The other girl was something the locals called a buffer, as in her abilities were used to make others stronger, and apparently she was a rare one who could do so on a large scale. That was still somewhat useful in small groups, but it was clearly not her forte. The girl herself didn¡¯t have much ability to defend herself and needed guards to keep her safe. In comparison, the other man was more of a crafter than a combatant. Fortunately the locals prepared a smithy for him to do his work, and he was the first to gain a few levels and a skill out of the group, not counting the one who left on his own. The crafter had created a pair of swords that according to the locals were far beyond what someone of his level should be capable of creating, though still relatively weak in the overall scale of the world. Even so, the crafter was satisfied with his handiwork and insisted on carrying the swords with him despite being offered better equipment before they headed to the dungeon. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Once they reached the dungeon ¨C which was honestly more like a section of a forest than anything dungeon-y ¨C that was when the group was faced with their first monsters, some sort of six-limbed lizardlike creatures that held themselves in a centauroid pose, with their four hind legs supporting their bodies and their two forelimbs functioning as arms. Since she was the one who had the most ability to fight ¨C at least according to the locals ¨C Mary had taken on the first one, or rather, had sent her minions ¨C she had five of them by then ¨C against it. The other girl gave those minions a buff from the skill she had, which made them somewhat stronger, but it was obvious that the minions were weaker than the monster by a good bit. And that was after taking into consideration that the monster had no weapons and her minions had some. In the end, Mary had to animate another set of minions ¨C one of the locals had brought dozens of sets of skeletal remains for that purpose ¨C before they could take down the monster after a long, grueling fight. The victory granted both her and the other girl a level, but the more important thing was that she realized that she could directly reanimate the dead body of the monster without needing to reduce it to bones like other [Necromancers] do. Naturally, an undead creature that kept its flesh would be stronger than one that was just bones pieced together by magic. They still had their muscles, and their bodies had more weight, which translated to more force behind their blows. Intrigued by the possibility, Mary had the undead lizard take one of the weapons from her fallen minions, and had it engage the next lizard creature they ran into with the support of the other minions. This time they took down the lizard monster without too much difficulty and in a much shorter time, Mary taking the chance to replace another of her skeletal minions with the newly killed lizard creature as well. When they ran into another lone lizard, the crafter asked for a chance to try his hand at the monsters, which the group tacitly allowed, though some of them remained close to guard him. To everyone¡¯s surprise, the crafter simply lifted one of the paired swords he created, and the other one flew through the air and struck at the lizard monster on its own. It was mesmerizing to watch as the sword flew in the air on its own and danced around the lizard monster, landing wounds with every pass. Even so, while the fight was one-sided, it still took the crafter a while to kill the monster, as his sword was still too weak. He did not seem discouraged by that, however, and only seemed more eager to make a better sword instead. Mary naturally reanimated the corpse of the third lizard, and from there, their progress through the dungeon was pretty much smooth sailing. The other girl kept the whole group buffed, which in turn apparently gave her part of the experience they gained, while the crafter supported Mary¡¯s minions with his flying sword. Their skills improved as they used them more, their levels soaring, and new skills improved their capabilities by leaps and bounds. By the time they reached the dungeon¡¯s boss, Mary had ten minions all of which were reanimated from the stronger lizard monsters they faced, but that was not the limit of her abilities. She found that she had become capable of grafting parts from different corpses together to create a stronger one, much like a character in a story she wrote in her past, and as such had modified all ten of her minions as best she could. Similarly, they were supported by multiple buffs from the other girl ¨C Mary herself was given one such buff skill, but in her case, it was only applicable to her own minions ¨C and the crafter, who apparently received skills that would directly improve his ability to create weapons as well as ones that would strengthen the equipment of others. It was not a difficult fight against the dungeon¡¯s boss, especially since their twenty local companions also pitched in and helped them out as best they could. By the time the dust settled, the boss was dead and the three [Champions] had gained their second tier class choices. Mary didn¡¯t know of the others, but for her, one of the options just seemed to fit everything about her newfound life, and she chose it without hesitation. From that point onwards, Mary and the other [Champions] were brought to other dungeons to train and level. They were taught about the history of the world they had been brought to, though other than the other girl, none of them really paid too much heed to it. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i, the warrior who claimed that he would pursue power on his own ¨C and did it ¨C only cared if there was a good fight to be had or not, while the crafter mostly cared about his creations. Mary herself was mostly ambivalent. This was not England, after all, and she had no stakes in the war, nor anything like patriotism to move her. That said, the idea of growing stronger does appeal to her, as apparently it was a necessity to survive in this world, and at least repaying the favor of the locals who helped her grow stronger ¨C even if that meant fighting against other humans ¨C appealed to her. After several more dungeons, the [Champions] swiftly reached their third tiers, and was brought towards where the frontlines of the war were situated. S¨¹b¨¹g?t?i had been there ahead of the three of them, due to his greater drive and pursuit for power, and he had already participated in the war, often leading charge from the very front gleefully, even. While Mary knew that death no longer mattered for them, the idea of dying ¨C again ¨C still bothered her, which was something the wild warrior seemed uncaring about. He had gleefully charged to his death over and over again, without the slightest hesitation, only withdrawing when he suspected a trap intended to capture him. Which was the one thing they were told to avoid at all costs, in the end. Death no longer worried them, but should their enemies manage to capture them alive, they would end up in a situation which was even worse than death. Because of that, Mary always stayed in the rear of the battle, safe in the protection of a [Champion¡¯s Aide] and several [Champion¡¯s Subordinates]. Instead of going to the frontlines, she just sent one of her heavily modified undead minions on a rampage, a disposable pawn. She kept another near her for safety, but unlike the disposable ones, this one had been created with care and constantly upgraded to ever greater powers as she leveled up. That day at the frontlines was the same. Mary cast several of her skills to improve the capabilities of her newly created undead minion, and sent it through the valley to wreak havoc on the human defenses that awaited them by the valley¡¯s mouth on the other side. It was just another day for her, another day of enjoying the new life she had been given, and living up to her new title. For she was Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, n¨¦e Godwin, the [Mother of Monsters]. CXII - Through Enemy Lands ¡°Shh¡­ Don¡¯t make any noise,¡± said Ani in a low voice. It had already been a week and a half since the group of twenty consisting of Esperanza, the Progenies, as well as Ani and her warriors left Agus-Bas. In that time, they had journeyed out of the region that used to be the no-man¡¯s land between the Human Kingdom and the Demon Territories. While their journey so far had been uneventful ¨C what monsters crossed their paths ended up as their dinner instead ¨C they started to take more caution once they entered part of the Demon Territories proper. While the group definitely had the power to settle most demons they ran into without any issue ¨C it was unlikely for any location other than large cities deep in demon territory to have enough power to handle twenty fourth-tier combatants after all ¨C they chose to hide their presence because of the plan they had in mind. If they left traces of their passage heading to the frontlines, then that would likely give a clue to the demons that they were not from the human side. As such, the group avoided any villages or towns they spotted on their way through the Demon Territories, at times taking detours to make certain that they were not being seen. A couple times they had to act when some hunters ran into them in the forests, but on those occasions, it was easy enough to make it look like those hunters ran into mishaps with the local wild beasts instead. While a couple hunters going missing or never returning from their hunts wouldn¡¯t raise any eyebrows, however, if a military patrol was to go missing as well, that would be noticed. It was the reason why Ani led the rest of the group to quietly sneak around a small camp built by such a patrol in the forest that night. They happened to be taking a route that passed through a small forest located between two towns, and just by happenstance, saw the military patrol making camp ahead of them. A detour would have taken a bit too long in this case, so instead the group chose to quietly sneak past the patrol¡¯s camp while they slept. Some amongst the group had little issue sneaking past, as they had skills designed to help with that, but others could only rely on being quiet while hiding in the cover of the night. For the most part, the group had passed the camp without incident, until one of the demons on watch seemed to have noticed something and started walking towards them. Esperanza didn¡¯t wait until the demon noticed someone or raised an alarm. The moment the small-bodies Tesh¡¯ka walked outside the sight range of the other watchers in camp, she pounced on him, making sure to cover his mouth first so he could make no noise as he struggled. The demon scout likely died without having any idea what hit him. She then had Gordy drag the demon¡¯s body deeper into the forest, leaving trails behind on purpose that suggested that the unfortunate scout was attacked by a predator. After some distance ¨C and mauling the corpse to an extent that made it look half-eaten ¨C they dropped the dead body and continued on their trip, with no signs of their passage evident. Chances were that the demon¡¯s death would be attributed to bad luck and some innocent predator in the forest. They knew that there were plenty of those around, though none of the predators dared to approach the group, as they were able to tell instinctively that the group was more dangerous than they were. Ani led the group to rapidly distance themselves from where they ran into the patrol, so as to disassociate the mishap that happened to the demon from them. After another week of journey and no pursuers in sight, the group was relieved to have made a clean getaway. They would have noticed some form of pursuit otherwise. While there were no witnesses to the kill, the more experienced Ani had told Esperanza and the rest that some classes were capable of discovering the cause of death just from a corpse, with a few of the more specialized ones even able to portray the victim¡¯s last moments clearly. Of course, such classes were rare and very specific in purpose that their likes were usually kept by the royal families, or the nation¡¯s intelligence departments. The group had made their getaway rapidly just in case they had the bad luck to have a fledgling form of that sort of class amongst the patrol or within the populace of the towns they passed. While it proved unneeded in the end, none in the group had anything to say about the caution they had chosen then. As they approached the front lines, targets of opportunity started to appear before their eyes as they journeyed. That said, Ani and Esperanza both advocated caution at first. Neither wished to make their first strike too deep into demon territory that it was implausible for the humans to have done it, so they left the easy targets they passed untouched for the time being. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Instead, the two of them decided that a distance of around three or four days away from the frontlines should be plausible enough for the humans to be able to reach, if with some effort. They intended to portray themselves as such a human strike team sent into the depths of the Demon Territories on a dangerous mission to sabotage the demons¡¯ war effort. Once the group had journeyed through the Demon Territories for nearly four weeks, they decided that they were close enough to the frontlines to enact their plan. The increased flow of messengers headed to and fro their destination definitely hinted at that. To be safe, the group took out a couple messengers who took more dangerous routes and gleaned every bit of information they could out of them and the missives they carried. They were less worried about being found out this time as sending multiple, sometimes up to a dozen or more messengers, were apparently the norm, especially this close to the frontlines. Far too many messengers simply never made it to their destination to do otherwise and expect prompt communication, while people who had skills that could facilitate such communication were far too rare. Once they determined that they were roughly around the area they aimed for, the group started to look for a suitable target. Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but think of the military movies she had watched in her previous life. They made it all look so easy and seamless back then, but then again, the heroes in those movies were operating with good intelligence and knew what they were going for before they even left to do it. Her group had nothing of the sort, only a crude map they were definitely looking to supplement with more recent ones they hoped to find in the Demon camps, as well as a lot of power to brute force through the complications this sort of operation usually brought with it. Eventually, after half a week of carefully prowling and scouting around ¨C something relegated to those who had actual skills to scout things out from a distance, as Esperanza could out-prowl many of them but lacked those skills ¨C Ani called their attention to a small Demon base located to their north-west. She felt that it might be a suitable target for them to hit. For one, there weren¡¯t that many demons in that camp, maybe a hundred or so at a time at most, other than when some logistic teams were visiting the place. The place itself was a supply camp, one where the demons stored consumables like foods, arrows, and other things. It was only one of many such camps that were used to keep the supplies flowing to the frontlines, but it sufficed for their intended purpose. The hundred or so defenders of the camp were no issue. From the scouting the group had determined that there weren¡¯t any fourth-tiers in the camp, with most of the guards still in the second tier, anchored by a couple dozen third tier veterans. Even with a logistic team added to that number, it was still well within the group¡¯s capabilities to handle. Even so, they preferred to play it safe, and Esperanza chose that time to try out the idea she had for infiltrating the base. First they waited until a patrol from the base that included a large-bodied Ma¡¯Varok ¨C a Ragah-fiq would have worked too, but the Ma¡¯Varok came out first ¨C passed through the forest. By chance or happenstance, the Ma¡¯Varok in question felt like answering a call of nature while on patrol, and went out of his partner¡¯s sight to do so. That was when Esperanza pounced down on him. Likely to no small amount of horror for even the rest of the group watching the process, Esperanza then squeezed herself inside the Ma¡¯Varok ¨C who was fortunately far too dead to feel anything by that point of time ¨C until she wore his corpse like a meat suit. It took her a few moments to get used to moving her ¡°disguise¡± around her, then she returned to continue the patrol as if nothing happened. To an outside observer, they likely wouldn¡¯t be able to tell that the Ma¡¯Varok was long dead, his corpse being used like a grotesque combination of puppet and disguise by something inside his body. That said, Esperanza knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to keep the disguise for long. Although a Ma¡¯Varok at the late second tier had greater vitality than normal people do, the body would still rot after a week or so. That, and she didn¡¯t believe that she could keep up the charade for too long, especially if there were people close to her victim at the base. Still, it was an acceptable risk, considering the power of the people in the base. Shortly after Esperanza made her move, the rest of the group had encircled the base, positioning themselves to make sure that nobody would be able to escape or bring word outside should things come to light prematurely. They had agreed that Esperanza would try to find whatever useful intel she could in the base for the next three days, and should that time pass ¨C or if she was found out ¨C then the rest would strike and burn the base down to the ground. Fortunately, the partner that the Ma¡¯Varok was patrolling with wasn¡¯t too close to the dead man. A few annoyed grunts to the tune of stepping on animal dung by accident brushed them off without too much issue, and they continued their patrol without any incident, returning to the base by sundown. The base itself was a simple construction, mostly an open area with several large warehouses ringed by fences that were clearly meant more for repelling wild animals than people. At a glance, it felt like an irresponsibly insecure setup, but on the other hand, given the location of the base days away from the frontline, and the fact that neither walls nor palisades would do any good against higher tier combatants, it made some economical sense to do things that way. It was a rather relaxed atmosphere in the base itself, with the guard not taking their duties all too seriously. They were secure in the knowledge that the fighting was days away from them, and that even if anything happened, they would likely be warned of it beforehand. Perhaps they were just being complacent, or just had poor discipline. Esperanza didn¡¯t really care either way, as all it did was to make her work easier. She went around and took a good look at the lay of the base without anyone noticing her oddity. Apparently the victim whose body she used to infiltrate the base was a rather taciturn one, so the others weren¡¯t too surprised at him being quiet most of the time. After two days she had identified the tent where she assumed the base¡¯s commander lived, the most likely place for important documents to be stored, and started to plot for the attack to come. CXIII - All Your Base Are Belong To Us As the Ma¡¯Varok whose identity ¨C and corpse ¨C Esperanza borrowed happened to be on night watch duty on that second night, it was easy enough for her to slip out into the woods nearby and plan the assault they would execute the following day. Despite the relative lack of opposition from the base¡¯s guards, they still planned things out to ensure the greatest odds of success for what they intended to do. Only five of them would actually assault the base itself: Esperanza, Resitia, Iryl, and two of Ani¡¯s warriors who happened to be pure-blooded humans or close enough to pass for one. They would ransack and demolish the base, taking what useful and valuable things they could with them and burning the rest, while slaughtering most of the guards, conveniently leaving a plausible witness alive to see the human perpetrators of the assault. The rest of the group would fan out and encircle the base and make sure that nobody escaped alive, so that the only source of information the demons would have about the assault would be the witness they¡¯d deliberately ¨C but plausibly ¨C leave behind. As for the assault itself, they were in no hurry, so they planned to do it a couple hours after midnight the following night, when most of the guards not on duty would be in deep sleep. The caution was very likely superfluous, given how only the base¡¯s commander would even be able to give Iryl some semblance of resistance, but they hoped that by acting the way they did, it would convince the demons that it was done by a group of human infiltrators trying to stay undiscovered. Esperanza returned to her post with none the wiser after she confirmed her plan with the rest of the group, and waited patiently as soon it would be time for them to make their first move out of hopefully many that would change the way the war was going. As it was, the humans were defending well, but they were on the backfoot overall, as the demons had more populace to draw from and larger areas to produce food for their armies. Because of that, Esperanza and the rest intended to primarily sabotage the demons at first, until the humans manage to gain the upper hand. By that time, they¡¯d switch to harassing the humans, and so on to keep the war going on and thus weakening both sides at once. Just around noon the next day, a supply caravan arrived at the base and asked for various items to be loaded up for the frontlines. It was pretty much the normal thing to happen at the supply base. Esperanza learned from the others that the caravan would likely take most of the night to be loaded up properly and would only depart the next day. That added another thirty or so people to the base¡¯s hundred defenders, but Esperanza felt that it wouldn¡¯t affect the plan much. Out of the people from the caravan, most of them were drivers, who were clearly not combatants, and out of the ten guards they had, only the captain was even at the middle levels of the third tier, with his second-in-command being a low-level third tier and the rest being second tiers. None of them would be more than a speed bump to a fourth tier combatant. Almost as if it was scheduled, the wagons of the caravan were finished loading by nightfall, but the drivers and guards chose to spend the night in the base. It was a normal thing, as they wished for some better place to rest after several days on the road. They just had no idea that the innocent decision had also sealed their fates all at once. A couple hours after midnight, Iryl, Resitia, and two of Ani¡¯s warriors struck the camp from four directions. Those with ranged skills like Ilavakide and Dai¡¯Vasy as well as a few more of Ani¡¯s warriors also struck from the cover of the forest and took out most of the sentries on night watch duty before they could make a voice, which meant that the first shouts of alarm were only sounded after the four entered the base. Meanwhile, Esperanza shed the corpse she had been using as a disguise within the barracks where she pretended to sleep. There were around a dozen guards who shared that barracks, so Esperanza silenced them permanently with her dagger before they could react to the commotion outside, each one killed silently by a blade that opened up their throats. She had thought about how she should fight while keeping her human guise and had decided to mostly cover herself under hoods and cloaks not unlike a [Rogue] would. She kept most of her form human, other than her right arm which was mostly a facade as most of her flesh formed a long, rope-like appendage that held her dagger. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. A rogue-type class that used a dagger tied to a long rope shouldn¡¯t be too far out for this world¡¯s common sense, she felt. When Esperanza exited the barrack, she noticed that the camp was in chaos. Some people were running to and fro like chickens without heads. Others were grouping up under the call of their superior officers, while yet others were fighting ¨C and dying ¨C against the intruders. The only place where she spotted actual fighting was to the east, where the head of the caravan¡¯s guards along with three of his subordinates were fighting for their lives against Iryl. The other six of the caravan¡¯s guards already lay dead on the floor around them. Groups of the base¡¯s guards were being massacred by Ani¡¯s warriors to the north and west, while to the south, Esperanza saw how Resitia took on the base¡¯s commander, who was the highest level demon present, and easily skewered him through with her spear in only a few exchanges. At the sight of the commander¡¯s death, the nearby demons fled for their lives, only for most of them to be rewarded by a stab in the back before they could run far. Esperanza whipped out her rope-like appendage with the dagger held tight on its end like it was tied to it almost nonchalantly as she walked past several guards who were now alarmed by her presence. Neither the second tier guards nor their third tier captain stood a chance as the blade of the dagger slit their throats open before they could even take a step towards her. She left them bleeding their lifeblood out from their slit throats as she continued her stroll through the base. Within a few minutes, Esperanza had reached the base commander¡¯s tent and ransacked it for anything that might be of use, casually throwing a burning piece of wood at the tent as she left. From the corner of her eye she noticed how one of Ani¡¯s warriors, a burly man nearly as large as a Ma¡¯Varok, overturned the loaded wagons, crushing several of the drivers beneath their own wagons. She noticed that one of them seemed to have survived the mess, though he was pinned beneath the wagon. Given that the wagons were far enough away from the tents and other buildings in the base to not catch on fire while the base burned, Esperanza gave a discreet signal to that warrior to not overdo it, designating that lucky driver to be their ¡°witness¡± to the assault. Maybe thirty or more of the base¡¯s defenders fled in fear after they saw their commander die helplessly, impaled by Resitia¡¯s spear. None of the five within the base bothered to chase after them, as they knew that those outside would take care of those runaways. Instead, they focused their efforts on those still within the base and fighting back. Esperanza herself kept her eyes open while she searched the base for one particular demon that should be a priestess of some sort, and thus was the most likely to be able to identify them as being aligned with Oldies instead of just being humans. Despite her search, though, she couldn¡¯t find that priestess, even while she took the lives of the demons that crossed her path with her dagger. If she had to be honest, ¡°fighting¡± against these demons felt more like she was bullying them, as they simply had no chance whatsoever against the five intruders in their midst. After some searching, Esperanza finally found that demon priestess, dead with half of her body crushed to minced meat within the tent she slept in. Apparently the bulky warrior from Ani¡¯s entourage she saw earlier had leapt directly into the base from the outside and landed on that tent by complete accident. The impact of his landing had instantly killed the demon priestess before she could so much as utter a word of warning. Esperanza could only shake her head at that demon priestess and her awful luck, though at least the woman¡¯s death made things easier for her group, since there was no longer anyone who could identify them easily as aligned to Oldies. Of course the other demons could do that as well, but the only ones who got close enough to do that were too dead to say anything about it. Just to be safe, Esperanza then searched the entire base once more to ensure that the only survivors were the only ones they intended to survive, people who have only witnessed what they had been allowed to see on purpose. She discovered a couple demons who still clung to life despite gruesome injuries and put them out of their misery while she made the round. Ani¡¯s warriors and Resitia had stood near the now-burning walls of the camp in the directions they had entered from, keeping watch to make sure that nobody was attempting to escape detection while Esperanza made her rounds. It was honestly unfair since she had [Soul Sight] and [Soul Sense], which pretty much made it impossible for anyone to hide from her. By the time Esperanza made her way to the east side, she saw that Iryl had also finished with the demons she was fighting against, with little more to show other than a couple light cuts on her body. While the demons were more experienced than her, the girl had a rarer class, which gave her all the advantage in every other possible way. That allowed her to take on many of them all by herself and win. While there were more escapees from her side because she had taken longer to deal with her opponents, it was of minimal concern, as the group had taken that into consideration. Ani herself and some of her highest leveled warriors lay in wait within the forest in that direction, and the odds of some second or third tier demons escaping from them was nil. Once Esperanza made a round around the base and made certain that the only survivor was that one lucky wagon driver, she had the other four gather near the middle of the base. Of course, she made sure that they were ¡°coincidentally¡± positioned in a place where that wagon driver could see them from where he was pinned in place. Esperanza had already jolted the man¡¯s soul lightly, which woke him up from unconsciousness, and the demon man was fortunately clever enough to keep his silence and even tried to slow his breathing as much as possible, out of fear of being found out. That was good, as a witness who thought he had been lucky to survive would work better for their intentions anyway. The five of them then put on a show of discussing with each other where that demon could see them, with Esperanza making several gestures with her hand pointing further west. By their best estimation, it would be at least a couple days before what they did was discovered, and including the time it would take to relay a message, they should have enough time to strike at another target before the warning could be given. 114 - Its Hard to Hold Back ¡°Sir, certainly we can¡¯t sit quietly here, watching, while all those soldiers are fighting and dying every day!?¡± protested Alissa after the third consecutive day where the [Heroes]¡¯ party was told by the fort¡¯s commanders to wait and watch while a gigantic undead abomination wreaked havoc on the defense lines. The inaction gnawed on all of them, not just her. She was just the first to have gathered the courage to voice it out. The fighting over those days had cost the defenders of the pass dearly. Three of their fourth-tier combatants were recovering from various degrees of injury, while an unfortunate one was directly killed in action just the day before. The fourth tier warrior had stumbled upon a dead man¡¯s corpse and failed to avoid a blow from the abomination he was fighting. Since the abomination happened to be particularly big, with its arms larger than the warrior¡¯s body, the brutal blow he took was instantly fatal, the man broken far beyond the capabilities of any healer in existence. Everybody had seen his broken corpse, which put quite a damper on the once-high morale of the soldiers of the fort. Alissa and the rest of her party understood the reasoning why the higher-ups wanted to keep them out of the fight for the time being. They had sent body doubles and lookalikes of the party to other fortifications to make it difficult for the demons to tell where the [Heroes] were, if any of the parties they saw were even real to begin with. The subterfuge also forced the demons to spread their focus rather than allowing them to concentrate on one spot, which helped keep the [Heroes] safer. Even so, the sight of so many people dying while they were told to do nothing was a frustrating helplessness that grated on their nerves. ¡°We just received word an hour ago that the Warlord had been spotted near Fort Austen,¡± said Sir August Marsten, another old knight from Sir Inolet¡¯s generation and the overall commander of Fort Ixlay. The Warlord he mentioned was the nickname the humans had given to the warrior-type demon [Champion], while Fort Austen was one of the places where a party of body doubles had been sent. ¡°At the same time, the Tactician was rumored to have been present at Fort Ysram.¡± ¡°Since we are pretty much certain that the Corpse-Stitcher is present and fighting against us, that¡¯s all three of the known [Champions] accounted for. The diversion had worked, and they had spread their forces wide,¡± continued the old knight, using the nicknames for the other demon [Champions]. ¡°I¡¯m still somewhat worried about the fourth unknown one, but I also understand your frustrations. You all may participate in fighting the Corpse-Stitcher¡¯s creations tomorrow.¡± The [Heroes]¡¯ party broke into a mild commotion at the commander¡¯s approval, clearly eager to take the fight to the enemy, though Sir Marsten¡¯s next words cut through their murmurs like a thunderbolt in clear skies. ¡°That is with a caveat. I request that you all hold back while fighting tomorrow. Do not use your full power to kill the abomination right away,¡± said the old knight to questions and protests from the party. ¡°There is a reason behind this, of course. The body doubles we arranged for your party aren¡¯t anywhere near as powerful as you all are, but they¡¯re still above average in power for their level at the very least.¡± ¡°I want you all to fight those abominations while pretending to be a group of body doubles. It is plausible enough for one such group to take on one of those monsters without casualties when you have a fourth tier assisting you, so we will do that for the next two or three days,¡± continued the old man. ¡°I want you to look for similarities between the abominations, any weaknesses they might share. They all looked different so far, but since they¡¯re made by the same person the likelihood of a shared feature like that is high. I want you all to be able to take one of those monsters down instantly on command.¡± The silence that dominated the room was palpable as even the duller members of the party caught on to the implications of the words said by the old knight. There was clearly some plot hidden behind his command, and some of them already had a good guess on it. That Sir Inolet nodded thoughtfully also helped give the [Heroes] more confidence on the plan. ¡°Once you are capable of doing that, we intend to make an attempt to capture the Corpse-Stitcher. This will not be an easy task, and will be risky as it would mean either luring the demons out from the valley or fighting through the valley to reach their camp, but the rewards are equally great,¡± explained Sir Marsten to the party. ¡°Of course, as the [Heroes], the decision on whether you would like to participate in this or not would be left to your discretion. What say you?¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. A chorus of ¡°Aye¡±s answered the old knight, with Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua yelling along with the rest of their party. The chance to do something was all they asked for, and the old knight had just given them exactly that. As such, they intended to make full use of the chance he offered to them. All of them found themselves brimming with excitement even when it was time to sleep later that night. ****************************** The following day, all twelve members of the [Heroes]¡¯ party were standing amongst the soldiers deployed to defend the valley¡¯s mouth. They did not show themselves prominently and instead kept a low profile around the middle of the pack, as they knew that their role would begin when the undead abomination arrived, and not sooner. When the day¡¯s battle began, it started with a horde of weak undead leading the way like usual. After several days, though, the human defenders had expected that and brought several classes who specialized at dealing with such creatures with them. Most of them were priests from the temple, albeit ones who were not specialized in healing like Cerilla was. Instead, those priests and priestesses specialized in dealing with impure creatures like the undead. Once the horde of undead closed to the frontlines, they went into action one after another. They held holy symbols of the human gods before them, which emitted light that directly vaporized large swathes of the weaker undead within minutes. Naturally, the demons had also prepared for their intervention, and had hidden some of their troops amongst the undead horde whose mission was to take out those priests and priestesses, but the humans had similarly expected such a move. Each of the priests and priestesses who were present were guarded by a squad of temple guards who specialized in defense, which repelled most of the headhunters, allowing the soldiers nearby to either drive them away or kill them on the spot. Of course, they didn¡¯t succeed in protecting their charge on every occasion. Even from where they stood, Alissa and the rest saw how two priestesses and a priest were cut down by the demons. Their guards charged at the demons responsible like madmen, some even chasing far into the incoming demon troops and losing their lives as well, but such a sight was an almost everyday thing on the battlefield. Soon enough, the sight of an undead abomination became visible in the distance. That day¡¯s abomination was particularly horrific, with four rather short legs that looked permanently bent from the weight of the massive body it supported. Its upper body was easily three meters tall, and almost as wide, with eight tentacle-like limbs sprouting out from its sides. The undead abomination had a face that looked like an obese caricature of a bald man, albeit with six eyes arranged in a ring around its head. Rolls of excess flesh covered its torso as it charged straight at the defenders¡¯ formation, completely uncaring about the spears, javelins, and arrows that pierced its flesh. To be fair, given how much flesh it possessed, those weapons likely did little more than annoy it. Its tentacles sent soldiers flying with every blow, as the abomination used its mass of corpulent flesh to forcefully push through the human formation. Alissa and the rest of her party were already rushing to the front, along with the pair of fourth tiers assigned to them that day. They hadn¡¯t used any of their skills, other than the buffs, as the active skills tend to be much more noticeable. On the other hand, while they were to hold back and make it look as if they were just there to pad the numbers, their buffs would also help the fourth tiers fight better, and reduce the risk for the soldiers around them, so there was little reason not to use them. They still saved their best skills in case of a change in the situation, though. The two fourth tier warriors ¨C a married couple who were both veteran soldiers ¨C struck at the abomination first with their glaives. Their strikes carved off chunks of flesh that must have weighed many pounds with each stroke, yet the abomination seemed to barely notice the damage. Instead, its blows forcefully drove them back every time they actually managed to land. While the abomination was not particularly fast, it still had eight long and flexible tentacles to attack with, which allowed it to force the couple into situations where they had no choice but to block an incoming blow. When Alissa and the rest of her party entered the battle, the situation immediately eased for them, as Ethan, Bronwen, and Glenn helped divert some of the blows towards themselves, allowing the couple more freedom to attack with. Alissa and the others who were on offensive duty struck as well, albeit lightly so as not to give away the subterfuge. Even then, their blows still gouged and carved through chunks of flesh from the abomination¡¯s body. The creature didn¡¯t seem particularly resistant to damage at all. Instead, it just had a massive amount of flesh that they had to go through in order to get to anything important. With the party helping the fourth tier couple, the situation at the frontline quickly stabilized. Alissa and her compatriots focused on the creature¡¯s legs, as they noticed how the creature was very top-heavy to begin with. After they disabled two of its legs, the abomination nearly toppled over, its remaining legs unable to support its mass, rendering it immobile. From there, it was mostly a matter of time as the fourth tier couple chopped its tentacles off one at a time, taking care not to fall prey to one of the creature¡¯s wild attacks at those final moments. Once the creature was reduced to an immobile pile of flesh that couldn¡¯t even hit back, rather than spend more time trying to find its vital spots, the group decided on a more pragmatic way of finishing it off. They simply ordered some soldiers to bring a few jugs of oil over, splashed it all over the immobile mountain of meat, and set it on fire. The abomination screamed as it burned, and even after the day¡¯s fighting came to an end a couple hours later, it was still screaming and burning in the middle of the battlefield. Those who were cleaning up the battlefield took a wide berth from the burning pile at first, at least before they realized that they had a ready-made pyre right there and started tossing the dead demons over to burn along with it instead. It wasn¡¯t until late in the night that the abomination¡¯s screams died out. Whether that was because the creature had finally given up the ghost or simply because its vocal cords had been burnt off by then, nobody knew. All that was left of the thing was a pile of ashes and charcoal by the time the party looked at the battlefield the next morning. 115 - A Perceived Weakness Three days and just as many abominations later, the party was once again gathered in a room with the commanders of Fort Ixlay, with Sir August Marsten himself at the head of the gathering. All the fourth tiers in the fort were present, as they discussed their observations on the abominations they had faced over the past week. ¡°It¡¯s the stitches,¡± pointed Nadine out to the gathered crowd. While the [Companions] and [Associates] technically possessed very high status due to their classes, most of them weren¡¯t too comfortable with openly speaking in a meeting with so many senior commanders. The [Heroes] themselves naturally had no such discomfort. Neither had Nadine, due to her status as one of the Princesses of the Kingdom. ¡°The parts where it looked as if the crazy [Necromancer] behind these abominations put together parts from different bodies. They¡¯re notably weaker than any other part I¡¯ve hit.¡± ¡°It is a weakness we have also noticed, but in the long run, at most it would help with disabling such an abomination. It would still be difficult to kill them quickly if we run into any of the large-type abominations like on the fourth and sixth day,¡± countered a fourth-tier warrior ¨C the husband from the pair the party had fought with on the fourth day, in fact ¨C as he shared his own opinion to the assembled group. ¡°We must assume that since the [Necromancer] we faced had shown themselves capable of producing a new abomination every day, they might have created more beforehand and kept them nearby as guards.¡± ¡°Forget ¡®might¡¯, I¡¯d say that¡¯s pretty much a certainty, unless they¡¯re stupid or something,¡± said Ethan with a shake of his head. ¡°If the [Necromancers] of this world tend to walk the route of focusing on their summons like the stories in our world usually depicted, they themselves would be on the weak side, and any such person with a brain would likely keep some of their best creations to guard them at all times.¡± ¡°[Hero] Greene made a good point,¡± pointed out an old woman. The woman was the highest leveled person in the room, even if her class quality was on the low end. She was an [Eternal Soldier Lvl15], a veteran from the previous war like Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten. Her name was Violet, of Ruden Village, a commoner who had been a soldier for longer than most of the presently gathered people had been alive. While she had a low rank in the army¡¯s hierarchy, everyone respected her decades of experience and seniority, even if despite her high level she was actually one of the weaker fourth tiers within the room. ¡°If we intend to strike at this¡­ [Necromancer Champion], we cannot afford to make a mistake, lest the plan falls apart. We have faced one abomination a day in the past week. On the assumption that our foe could create one a day, even if they had not created new ones here, they might have brought some from the previous battlefield with them. Horton, what do you think? You should be more knowledgeable about this topic than us, given your class.¡± The man named by the old lady was Horton Karonis, the third son of a minor noble house in the Kingdom, who had made his name as a career soldier instead. He had a rather rare class of [Veteran Golemancer Lvl4], a subtype of the [Mage] class that he started specializing in since the third tier. His main skill was to create golems to fight in his stead, not too unlike what a [Necromancer] does, just with different material. ¡°Well, my class isn¡¯t that high in rarity, so if we are indeed facing a [Champion], or worst case, a [Great Champion], even in the third tier their mana pool and regeneration would eclipse mine by a large amount. [Necromancers] are also known to be more efficient to boot, so with all that considered, I¡¯d expect our foe to be able to create two abominations of the level we have faced so far every day, at the least,¡± he said with a grim look. ¡°With the assumption that our foe kept those abominations close by for defense, and possibly with more from a previous battlefield, I think we should prepare ourselves to face at least ten, if not fifteen of creatures at that level.¡± ¡°If we put that together with the number of demon fourth tiers likely present in the demon¡¯s camp, it would be a very close fight, assuming they haven¡¯t fully replenished their losses from our previous ambush,¡± continued the man after some thought. ¡°That said, I do not believe they have replenished those losses yet. Otherwise with all that power they should have had enough force to directly crush our defenses by this point.¡± ¡°We have received reports from our spies that there were apparently some disturbances amongst the demons¡¯ supply lines,¡± announced Sir Marsten to everyone in the room. ¡°Supposedly, three of their supply bases several days behind the frontlines had been attacked and razed to the ground in quick succession one after another. It is likely that they devoted some of their people to search for the ones responsible for those attacks.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Those attacks aren¡¯t our doing, then, sir?¡± asked Alissa with some doubt in her voice. Murmurs of agreement from others in the room followed her question. Everyone present in the room at that moment had the authority to know about relatively secret things like the existence of human spies and even a few covert strike teams in the demon territories, so the topic wasn¡¯t something they couldn¡¯t learn about. ¡°That is what has puzzled our strategists and tacticians as well. They swore that they hadn¡¯t activated any of our few strike teams in the demon territories, and even then, only one such strike team was in that area¡¯s vicinity,¡± replied Sir Marsten. ¡°That strike team ended up having to lay low for their lives to avoid the demons that combed the area in search of the perpetrators, even, and besides, they didn¡¯t even have the power to make such an attack on their own, so it was definitely not them.¡± ¡°Could it be infighting amongst the demons, then?¡± asked Joshua as he raised his hand, once more gaining murmurs of agreement from some of the gathered people. ¡°I believe we were taught that the demons were not that united as a whole, and often fought amongst themselves. Could this be a case like that?¡± ¡°We have considered the possibility, but deemed it unlikely. While the demons were often fractious and regularly fought amongst themselves, they always worked together with one another, all bad blood put aside, when war between us and them begins,¡± replied Sir Marsten with a shake of his head. ¡°Even when they were at their most confident in the past, when they had taken more of the Kingdom¡¯s land than now, they never showed any case of infighting during the wars, so it¡¯s possible, but not likely at all.¡± ¡°Either way, the situation is a beneficial one to us, and I¡¯m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth,¡± continued Sir Marsten. ¡°We have also discussed the possibility of the demons staging those attacks to feign weakness, but considered it low in plausibility. For one, they too would know how implausible those attacks looked to us, so we doubt they¡¯d try to fool us that way.¡± More murmurs filled the air of the room as the fort¡¯s many fourth tiers ¨C by definition also the commanders in charge even if their ranks stated otherwise ¨C talked to one another and discussed the odd situation on the demons¡¯ side. Some were still worried that it might have been a trap, while some others claimed that it might be an omen from the Gods that it was the right time to strike down their ancestral foes. Naturally, the two sides couldn¡¯t come to any agreement even after a long discussion. ¡°Enough!¡± shouted Sir Marsten over the din. ¡°I have heard and considered your worries, but I, along with the rest of the strategists, believe that this situation remains an opportunity for us. If we manage to capture one of the demon [Champions] this early in the war, it would greatly boost morale and could likely tilt the situation to benefit our Kingdom, so we aren¡¯t going to let this chance pass us by due to excessive caution.¡± The murmurs died out at Sir Marsten¡¯s words, with most of the room nodding in agreement. A few of the cautious fourth tiers still looked unsatisfied, but held their words. They understood the logic of the old knight¡¯s argument, and couldn¡¯t fault it. He was right, after all. Even if it was a trap and they knew of it, if there was truly a chance to capture a demon [Champion] so early in the war, it was one they must take. ¡°We have decided that we will make the attempt tomorrow. Everyone here will participate. We will hide ourselves amongst the soldiers and allow the battle to proceed as normal at first to lull the demons into a false sense of safety before we make our strike,¡± said the old knight right afterwards. ¡°Our objective is the demon [Champion]. Their capture takes main priority, but should the target manage to kill themselves, everyone must be prepared for an immediate retreat. Ideally we should break our way through the demon camp and back out before they could react.¡± ¡°Should the mission prove to be a failure, the safety of the [Heroes] are paramount. We cannot afford to let any of them get captured. Should that happen, even if you had to sacrifice your lives to do it, make certain that the demons would not capture them alive,¡± added the old knight, to the grim nods of everyone present. Alissa naturally felt the weight on her shoulders, that people would sacrifice their lives just to allow her to [Respawn] in safety back in the fort. That said, she also understood the difficulty of the mission. It was always harder to capture something alive compared to killing them, and their opponent played under the same rules. They could and likely would kill themselves just to avoid capture. Preventing that was the hardest part of the mission. In theory, if they managed to strike fast and hard enough to the point that the enemy [Champion] failed to react on time, they could do it. It was a slim chance, but it was that sliver of opportunity that the fort¡¯s defenders chose to gamble on. Quietly, she whispered to Ethan, asking him whether it was a wise thing to make such a gamble so early in the war. He replied equally quietly that it was because this was an opportunity that allowed them to affect the entire course of the war from so early on that they likely made the gamble. He made an analogy to someone seeing an opportunity to take the opponent¡¯s queen on the third turn while playing chess, which Alissa felt was probably not too bad as analogies went. Still, she pointed out that losing a queen on the third round would be an acceptable gambit if it meant gaining a checkmate on the fourth turn. As it was, their party would join the operation in their full capacity. Their presence practically meant that the garrison at Fort Ixlay possessed a dozen more combatants who could fight at the level of a fourth tier, and if the lookalikes had done their job well enough, the demons wouldn¡¯t have an idea whether it was truly them at Fort Ixlay at the moment or just another group of such lookalikes. Or whether all three groups were all lookalikes while the real [Heroes]¡¯ party had already left for another location where they could strike at the unprepared demons. All those were possibilities that the demons had to consider during this war. The way they had their [Champions] act individually rather than together seemed to hint that they fell into the ploy, though it might also be an act of confidence as they had more manpower than the humans. Still, only time will tell whether this cast of the die will prove to be one that favored the humans or the demons. 116 - The Cast of the Dice The next day, most of Fort Ixlay¡¯s fourth tier combatants disguised themselves and blended in with the regular soldiers. A few showed themselves openly, as it would have been suspicious if none of them could be sighted amongst the soldiers. A few others were visible atop the fort¡¯s walls. All of them had mobility skills that would have allowed them to catch up to the others once the battle was joined. Tension amongst the soldiers was so thick it was probably sliceable with a knife. In fact, when the typical horde of undead rushed through the valley, followed by another large-type abomination behind them, many of the soldiers heaved a sigh of relief. Everybody had worried that the situation ¨C which has been rather stable over the past week ¨C would change again. Almost as if the defenders had nothing planned, the fight repeated almost the same way as the previous day. Everybody had agreed to keep things normal until after they had taken down the abomination, and only made their move then and there in the hopes that it would lull the demons to complacency. After all, with a skilled [Necromancer] on their side, they could afford to take their time grinding down the defenders bit by bit. They did just that, and at first, the battle that unfolded between the two sides were nearly the same as the battles they had fought over the past week and a half. It was only when the abomination reached their lines that the defenders put their plan into action and gave the attacking demons a big surprise they had not expected. Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond were amongst the group that hid themselves amongst the soldiers, and they took action the moment the abomination came within their range. The old Magus acted first, as he created a small sandstorm that clung to the abomination¡¯s face. The creature clearly still needed its eyes to see, so the simple spell had practically blinded it. Which meant that the abomination failed to notice how Sir Inolet charged his blade with mana and launched a flaming strike at it. The flaming blow was a direct hit, and the force of the blow directly vaporized most of the abomination¡¯s body, leaving only its lower half and the attached leg to fall over once the dust cleared up. The moment the blow was struck, the fourth tiers still in the fort used various mobility skills and moved out, while the other fourth tiers hidden amongst the soldiers stopped hiding their presence. Everyone rushed together towards the valley, which still teemed with demon soldiers and undead, and started carving their way through the enemies. It was brutal fighting in the narrow confines of the valley, but with the fourth tiers in the lead, the demons were unable to make use of either their numerical superiority nor the ability of many of their soldiers to fight from the cliff sides. Several fourth tiers had split to each side to clean up the demons from the cliffs as the rest cut through the demon hordes like a hot knife through butter. Most of the fighting was handled by the weaker fourth tiers, so as to allow the stronger ones to conserve their power. Everyone knew that the advantage of surprise wouldn¡¯t last that long, and that once the demons rallied themselves, they would face a hard battle once more. As such, they acted in a way to make the most out of the opportunity they had. It only took a few minutes for the fourth tiers to decimate the demons that had filled the valley and leave only broken bodies behind, and as they exited the valley¡¯s mouth on the demon side, they saw that a defense line ¨C if a rather haphazard one that was clearly made in a hurry ¨C and many of the demon fourth tiers had been waiting for their arrival. Immediately, many of the human fourth tiers ¨C excluding the [Heroes]¡¯ party and the few strongest amongst them ¨C charged forward, each one with their weapons aimed at their demon equivalent, with a few powerful ¨C or daring ¨C ones taking on multiple demons at a time. The soldiers that surged out behind them similarly engaged the demons that formed the defense line. The battle was engaged once more, this time with increased ferocity as the humans did their best to occupy the attention of their demon counterparts. There were fewer of them than the demons, so they did not try too hard to aim for a kill, as such an opportunity was rather unrealistic to expect under the circumstances. They were there to buy time and keep the demons busy. Meanwhile, a strike force composed of the strongest fourth tier humans and the [Heroes]¡¯ party broke through the defense lines and took a direct course towards the demon¡¯s encampment. They struck with overwhelming force, to the point that the three demon fourth tiers that were in their way ¨C along with all the demon soldiers behind them ¨C were annihilated before they could do anything in response. A mighty skill-reinforced blow from Sir Marsten¡¯s warhammer shattered the wooden gate of the demon encampment into myriad pieces of shrapnel that peppered the surprised demons behind the gate and injured many of them. Before those demons could react, Magus Drummond followed up with a barrage of wind blades that carved through the first few lines of the demons, before another flaming strike from Sir Inolet cleared a path through their formation. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Since their enemy was likely to include undead abominations, Sir Inolet had chosen to imbue his blade with the fire element, which typically performed better against the undead. It was at that point that the strongest demons ¨C four of them at the mid levels of the fourth tier with higher rarity classes ¨C reacted and attempted to intercept the strike team. Sir Inolet, Sir Marsten, and Magus Drummond immediately rushed to face them. Both Sir Marsten and Magus Drummond took on one of the demons, while Sir Inolet lived up to his name as one of the strongest humans as he directly took on two of the demons at once and even kept the upper hand. Meanwhile, from deeper within the encampment, eight abominations of various size and shape emerged and charged at the strike team. Immediately, Nadine led the [Companions] and [Associates] to engage them. None of them hid their strength and skills any longer, and with their abilities, the nine of them even held a slight advantage against the abominations. The reason why only the [Companions] and [Associates] engaged the abominations was because Alissa, together with Ethan and Joshua, had already entered the shadow realm the moment they breached the gate, all of them hidden by [Walk in the Shadows]. They moved slowly, but unhindered in the shadow realm, while Alissa kept an eye on the real world to look for their target. Shortly after the battle was fully engaged within the demon¡¯s encampment, Alissa found a figure which was likely their target. Said figure had the looks similar to a Tesh¡¯ka, albeit with unusual white skin and black hair. What made Alissa certain that it was their target was how the figure sat on the shoulder of a large abomination as they watched the battle, and another two abominations stood guard to their sides. The result of her [Analysis] further confirmed it. Alissa¡¯s eyes widened a bit as she read the results. When a demon tried to use [Analysis] or [Identify] on a human [Hero], or a human tried to do the same on a demon [Champion], the results were always given in the other side¡¯s respective languages. As such, they were unable to read the results, but could at least use that fact to identify their foe. On the other hand, when a [Hero] or [Champion] did that to one another, they would be able to read the results as per normal. It was how the Kingdom gathered information on the past demon [Champions] and [Great Champions]. They relied on information related to them by their [Heroes]. The result Alissa saw for this demon [Champion] was [Champion of Lanisheey: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Lvl20/Mother of Monsters Lvl20/Grand Cadaver Sculptor Lvl7]. The level was something they expected, just three levels higher than Alissa herself, and pretty much a confirmation that the Tesh¡¯ka woman was a [Champion], but it was the name that gave her pause. Alissa knew of that name, and since [Great Champions] called for people from history who had certain accomplishments¡­ that meant they were facing one, and where there was one, the rest would also be [Great Champions] as well. That greatly complicated the war they were fighting. It was hard enough to have to fight others from their world, but to fight people who most likely trumped them in experience just made it much harder. Those were not her only concerns however. Of greater concern were the abominations she saw around the woman. The two on the sides returned [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47], but the one the woman was riding on was a [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47]. Despite their low levels, Alissa doubted that the abominations would be weak. Even so, if things went well, they might not have to fight the abominations at all. Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua were still hidden as they made their way slowly towards the woman, maneuvering towards her undefended back. If Alissa could disable the woman with a surprise attack, they might succeed in their mission right then and there, and make all the sacrifices so far worth it. Before she committed to the strike, Alissa took care to scout the surroundings to make sure that there were no powerful figures hiding nearby. The woman oddly had no [Companions] or [Associates] or whatever the demons called their equivalent with her. Then again, given her clear penchant for undead monsters that she likely made herself, Alissa could see why she opted to go without. She already had her group of trustworthy subordinates, after all. Alissa quietly signaled Ethan and Joshua, pointing out the direction of their targets. All three of them would make the first strike straight at the [Great Champion], but they also prepared a second plan in case their surprise attack was met with failure. They closed towards the woman as far as they could, even pausing for a moment when the woman seemed to have noticed something and scoured her surroundings. Less than a minute later, Alissa made her decision to attack. She knew that they couldn¡¯t afford to overstay their welcome, and that the distraction the others created for them wouldn¡¯t last that long. The demons still had a great numerical superiority over them, so if they stayed too long, they would be overwhelmed and picked apart one by one. The three of them ¨C still in the shadow dimension ¨C made their resolve. They waited a moment longer just to allow Alissa¡¯s [One Small Step] to reach the maximum value it could offer. It was only an extra percent which might seem minimal since they were under so many buffs ¨C many of which were from the human fourth tiers that participated in the plan ¨C but every little bit counted. With their preparations set, they made one final check, ensured that everything was ready, that all was where they were supposed to be. They pre-loaded their active skills ¨C at least the ones that displayed its effect upon impact ¨C so that they could use them immediately upon their reappearance, and Joshua also prepared to launch a spell as well. Then the three [Heroes] emerged from within the shadow realm all at once, just behind the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47]. Their target was only a few meters away, above them as she stood on the shoulder of the undead abomination. She was unaware of the sudden appearance of the [Heroes] behind her, but must have felt something as she began to turn towards them. Before she could turn far enough to notice them, Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua launched their attacks. CXVII - Leading a Wild Goosechase Deep inside a monster-infested forest ¨C an area no sane person would have gone to on their own even if they were a third tier combatant ¨C a small bonfire was lit, and around it ten figures sat as they cheerfully talked with each other. As their mouths were busied with chatter, their hands made use of branches cut and sharpened for the purpose to roast some meat and things like sausages by the bonfire, while the fire occasionally crackled as drops of rendered fat fell into its blaze. Naturally, it was Esperanza along with the [Progenies of Yore] who were gathered around that bonfire. Given the fact that their individual power ¨C other than Iryl ¨C all rivaled a fourth tier combatant¡¯s, they easily strolled within the dangerous forest as if it was their own backyard. Similarly, they did not fear being discovered by demon hunting parties, as several skills obscured the bonfire from anyone who might be looking their way. After the group had struck three bases that belonged to the demons in quick succession, they decided that they had caused a large enough ruckus for the time being and chose to hide their tracks before the demons sent someone they couldn¡¯t handle their way. As such, the group decisively split into three, with Ani and one of her senior-most warriors each leading another four of their compatriots towards different directions, while Esperanza led the rest another way. Their plan was to lead the demons into a wild goosechase while hiding their real destination at the same time. Once the groups decided that they were safe from pursuit, they would head towards a meeting point they had agreed upon beforehand. None of them were particularly worried about the safety of the others, since the demons were faced with a dilemma they had no easy solutions for. If the demons sent search parties that had enough power to fight against one of the groups, they would be too easy to notice and would never catch up to them. On the other hand, if they split up into smaller groups, they would be far too weak and were more likely to never return. The demons had focused their fourth tiers on the frontlines after all, and it was not feasible to call them back at the slightest disturbance. As a result, the search parties only had a few low level fourth tiers ¨C those entrusted to guard the nearby cities ¨C and a bunch of higher leveled third tiers to rely on. That proved to be far from enough to deal with any of the intruders they faced. Shortly after the groups had split up, Ani¡¯s group had ambushed a small team led by one of the demon fourth tiers and annihilated them without mercy. Esperanza herself found another such team catching up to her group, and thus set an ambush as they drew closer. Not a single one of the demons escaped with their lives, with Esperanza personally taking out the fourth tier ¨C who was notably a lot weaker than she was ¨C in charge on her own. She then made use of [Soul Manifestation] to interrogate the soul of that fourth tier to gain a better idea of what to expect out of her pursuers. Not that it mattered, since after two of their compatriots disappeared without a trace, the remaining fourth tiers in the hunting party refused to go out on their own from that point onward, which greatly slowed their pursuit. The fear also spread amongst the demons as every now and then, a search party would fail to return, their members simply vanishing into thin air. That fear and the resultant delays it caused in the pursuit allowed all three groups to easily escape their pursuers, to the point that they could afford to take relaxed breaks without fear of being caught up by their pursuers. It was one such break that Esperanza had her group take in the depths of the forest, where they happily relaxed while enjoying themselves. One side benefit of the strikes the group had done against the demon bases so far was that they also grabbed quite a few good things from those bases. They had found quite a bit of intelligence in the first base they hit, like ones delivered by the supply caravan for the base to relay further into the Demon Territories. From what they could piece together out of the reports they found, it appeared that the human [Heroes] or people strongly suspected to be them had been sighted on the eastern side of the frontline, and had delivered a painful blow against the demon forces there. Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but wonder if that meant Alissa was nearby, but subsequent reports that claimed sighting of said [Heroes] at several different places made it clear that it would be harder to find her old friend than she liked. Besides, she couldn¡¯t abandon the children she had taken charge of just to meet her old friend ¨C who she would likely have to fight, considering their current status ¨C once more. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. On the second base they hit, the group had lucked out as they found a more detailed map of the region they were in. At the moment Esperanza¡¯s group carried that map. There were two scouts amongst Ani¡¯s warriors who had general skills that allowed them to keep a mental map of an area, and that allowed them to do the same from other maps, so they simply kept a mental copy with them as they went. As for the third base they burnt to the ground, what they found there was not valuable in a strategic or military sense, but nevertheless were things that the group as a whole greatly appreciated. Stowed in one of the warehouses of the third supply base were several crates full of luxury food and drinks, likely intended for the high-ranked people on the frontlines. Needless to say, the group didn¡¯t burn those things down and instead absconded with the whole lot while laughing to themselves. Of course, since the luxuries were intended for the frontlines of battle, nobody was crazy ¨C or stupid ¨C enough to attempt smuggling things that were easily noticeable or items that would cause their superiors to reprimand them if found out. Instead, they brought things that did not look out of place amongst the rations typically given out amongst the soldiers. It was a move to preserve morale, as the demons had learned long ago that having the commanders feast on all sorts of delicacies while the soldiers fed on meager rations resulted in poor morale overall. While they only kept it up in appearance, it was enough to fool the eyes of most soldiers, while at the same time avoiding complaints from the privileged people. However, instead of cheap, mass produced cheese the cheese they enjoyed would be aged, fine quality artisanal cheese made by some of the best cheesemakers in the Demon Territories. Similarly, things like jerkies and sausages would be made from the flesh of monsters that were particularly good in taste and highly nutritious, rather than from the meat of common animals. Similarly, while the jugs and barrels look the same, the drinks within were not the same cheap ales or the likes, but were the finest products from brewers throughout the demon lands. The group ran across a sizable amount of such luxury supplies in the third resource base and left nothing behind, Esperanza gleefully filling up the remaining room in her [Soul Storage] with them. The room would be freed up once the stuff was consumed anyway. It was a welcome change compared to the flesh of wild monsters or wild fruits the group usually subsisted on. The ¡°luxury¡± rations did not look like much, but they tasted far better than what one would have expected out of army rations. All considered, it was pretty impressive that the demons managed to deliver all sorts of rations in such quantities to the frontlines so easily, but then again they had over half the world to supply their forces. Despite the presence of magic and the system, apparently Ephemera was still quite behind earth when it came to food preservation. Instead, the locals preserved their food by the old methods, namely by drying, smoking, or other preserving the food in salt, honey, or oil. Most of the rations that both the human and demon armies used were preserved that way. Grains naturally also made up a large portion of their food supply, and were delivered to the frontlines either whole or in the form of flour. While there was no such thing as luxury grains or flour amongst the supplies the group had ¡°liberated¡± from the demons, they did find some other things meant to go with them, like jars of honey as well as fruit preserves like jams and marmalades. Needless to say, the group had no need to save up on their food supplies after the heist. Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but smile when he saw the genuine smiles on the face of the progenies. With all the fighting and killing they¡¯ve been doing, it was all too easy to forget that they were in the end, still children at heart. Children that had chosen to follow her path on their own free will, which made her feel responsible for them. It was a rare thing to see them smile widely and innocently like the children they were, but such a sight did occur when the group dined on some of their stolen supplies that night. While the grains were mostly delivered to the frontlines raw or as flour, there were some packs of baked goods as well amongst what they found. There wasn¡¯t much of it, so Ani had declined when Esperanza offered her some to bring along when they split up. The older warrior had told Esperanza that she should give it to the children instead. Now she understood why. While those baked goods looked like hard biscuits ¨C the sort that would often be carried aboard ships as rations for long journeys ¨C at a glance, they turned out to be much lighter and softer to the bite, not unlike an extra dense or compacted loaf of bread in some ways. As such, they proved to be an excellent canvas to slather the honey and marmalades the group had found. The blissful smiles of the forcibly matured children as they bit into the sweet treats, for once looking their real age, was a sight that Esperanza ingrained into her mind. Something she wished to recall and preserve forevermore. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t just the sweets that proved to be a big hit amongst the children. Ephemera had no laws that forbid alcohol consumption by youngsters, so most of the kids had tasted lighter ales or sweet meads before. To say the least, some of them took quite a liking to the high quality ¨C and expensive ¨C varieties they found amongst the supplies. Of course, Esperanza made sure that they drank with moderation. The group was still on the run after all, and it wouldn¡¯t do for them to slip up because one of them made a mistake due to drunkenness. Thankfully Mel-Ivas had a panacea skill that was meant to purify all sorts of poisons, and it also worked on alcohol, so Esperanza felt it was fine for the kids to have some fun, then Mel-Ivas can spare them the side effects of the drinks once they were finished with the impromptu party. Esperanza herself found that she gravitated to the foods that had stronger flavors these days, like the heavily spiced smoked sausages, ones with strong flavors that only intensified with some roasting by the bonfire. Ever since she gained her new form, her sense of taste had been more¡­ subdued compared to before. It was overall a good thing, however, as it also allowed her to do her early feats without feeling the need to constantly wash her mouths. That night, the group enjoyed a rare night where they allowed themselves to be free from their worries. If all went as planned, they should reach their destination in another day, and hopefully reunite with the other groups soon after. CXVIII - Next Target Four days later, two days after Esperanza¡¯s group reached the meeting point, Ani arrived there as well, along with her four warriors, none of them worse off after the escape. They waited together there until the last group also reached the meeting point half a day after that, and quietly set up an ambush in case any of them were tailed. After a tense day of waiting ¨C and a lot of legwork for Esperanza, Legisvula, Dali, and the scouts amongst Ani¡¯s people ¨C they decided that nobody had tailed any of the groups, and finally took the time to relax and rest up a bit. Esperanza¡¯s group was well-rested, but Ani¡¯s groups had been constantly on the run until then, so they needed some rest in order to recover their strength. ¡°How did it go for you, Miss Ani?¡± asked Esperanza once they settled down to rest and relax for a bit more. Once again, they were situated deep within a forest that¡¯s feared as a monster breeding ground, but as most of the monsters were third tiers at best, those proved to be no challenge for the group. Certainly a lethal threat for the average demon, though. ¡°Eh, not too bad. They were pretty persistent at first, but after we killed one of their fourth tiers leading the pack, the rest didn¡¯t dare to pursue as close as before,¡± noted Ani rather nonchalantly. A single low-end fourth tier combatant wouldn¡¯t have posed any threat to her team, as any of her warriors could take them on one on one, while Ani herself had made short work of the enemy in question. ¡°How about on your end, Exalted One?¡± ¡°Almost the same, actually,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. ¡°One of their fourth tier Hijo de Puta got pretty close so we set up an ambush for them. After they¡¯ve been taken care of, the rest didn¡¯t dare to chase as closely, so it was easy enough to lose them,¡± she continued. ¡°What about the others? Did they face any hard pursuit?¡± ¡°No, Ara¡¯Wan told me that his group didn¡¯t run into any dogged pursuit or fourth tiers,¡± replied Ani as she named her second in command, a younger warrior who was second only to herself amongst the group of ten. ¡°Then again, they took the path that detoured quite a bit through difficult terrain, so no real surprise that they shook off their pursuers first.¡± ¡°So where do we go from here? Those demons are alerted now and are scouring the region for our presence. I¡¯m willing to bet that any nearby base would be on high alert as well, after those strikes,¡± noted Esperanza as she spread the map of the region on the ground. ¡°Should we head closer towards the frontlines? It would be riskier there, though. Their fourth tiers on the front would be able to respond faster.¡± ¡°I feel we should do the opposite instead and try to hit this supply center,¡± pointed out Ani as she placed a finger on a location deeper within the Demon Territories, roughly half a week away from their current location. ¡°If they thought we are infiltrators from the Human Kingdom, then they would expect us to withdraw after the successful strikes, rather than go even deeper into their territory.¡± ¡°That supply center should be pretty big, no? Until now all we have struck at has been relay stations between places like these and the front lines,¡± said Esperanza with some thought as she pondered whether the group had the ability to take on such a large base or not. What she worried about wasn¡¯t an issue of power ¨C the demons didn¡¯t leave too many fourth tiers guarding their inner regions ¨C but whether they could keep up the facade of the attack being done by the humans or not. ¡°That sort of place would have many more people, no? Are you confident that we¡¯d be able to get all of them?¡± asked Esperanza as she calculated the risks and benefits. If they were to accidentally reveal their true identity as people aligned with Oldies, it would bring a lot of trouble down their heads. In fact, the demons might be willing to pull some of their best from the frontlines just to hunt them down. As such, to keep their identities hidden was a must, and if the base was too large for just the five of them who could pretend to be or were humans to take down, that meant they needed to make sure to leave no witnesses. ¡°About that, I¡¯m actually thinking that we should start this one from the inside out,¡± replied Ani to her question. ¡°You could infiltrate their base first the way you did in that first supply base, no?¡± ¡°I could, but if I run into anyone particularly familiar with the owner of the body I borrowed, I¡¯m not sure I could keep up the charade for long,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°I could get some information on how they would act from their souls, but that¡¯s not the most reliable, as some of them can be stubborn.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Do you think you can keep it up long enough to find certain people? By the time you find them, it would be irrelevant if you keep the disguise up or not,¡± continued Ani. ¡°Based on what I could tell out of how the demons assign security to their bases, there¡¯s likely a fourth tier combatant in the supply center. If possible, I¡¯d like you to sneak in, find that fourth tier, and kill them before we come in.¡± ¡°And then? I guess it would be safest for me to do this, since even if they manage to take me out I¡¯d just use [Respawn], so I get your idea,¡± noted Esperanza with a nod. ¡°Should I just go wild after that or do I try to lure them into an ambush instead?¡± ¡°You have that blessing from the Deities of Yore that would affect the unbelievers that laid eyes upon you, no, Exalted One? I imagine if you make use of that you could cause a large-scale panic within the center, at which point we¡¯d strike as well and finish them off,¡± said Ani, referring to the side effect of Esperanza¡¯s [Far Down the Deep End]. One thing Esperanza had learned in the time she spent in Agus-Bas was that those who believed in Oldies all had negative sanity like her, so they were mostly unaffected by it. On the other hand, those who believed in the new gods would feel the full brunt of its effects. ¡°A pretty good idea,¡± admitted Esperanza. The side effect of the skill would likely only affect those with particularly weak souls, but that wasn¡¯t too uncommon amongst physically inclined warriors, so using the skill¡¯s side effect would likely drive a sizable chunk of the defenders into chaos. Esperanza mostly reined in the skill¡¯s side effect out of habit, but it was easy enough for her to unleash it or even amplify it. ¡°Yeah, that should likely cause a lot of panic there. Might even make them forget about running away for a while, assuming I can get the fourth tier fast enough.¡± ¡°In that case, should we make the preparations? With luck, we might be able to get some more reports from the frontlines on that supply center, since they would usually pass through there, unless it¡¯s an urgent message,¡± said Ani with a satisfied nod. ¡°I¡¯m not certain how much our actions have impacted the demons fighting against the humans, but there should be some disturbance at the very least.¡± ¡°I honestly feel a little like a terrorista here, with all this sneaking around and hitting places secretly, but then again, we¡¯re aiming to bring the world¡¯s end to begin with, so I guess it¡¯s part of the parcel,¡± admitted Esperanza with a wistful sigh. ¡°Then again, not like we have anywhere near enough power to achieve our goals the direct way.¡± ¡°It¡¯s why we¡¯re doing what we can to make our enemies fight and destroy each other as much as possible, Exalted One,¡± replied Ani in a reassuring manner. ¡°They are as yet unaware of our presence, so they wouldn¡¯t think of a third party attempting to take advantage of their usual wars. It is our main and probably only advantage, so we have to make the most of it.¡± ¡°I know,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°Still doesn¡¯t change much about the feeling I get, but I¡¯ll get over it,¡± she sighed with emotion. ¡°I wish you all had a world where children like them would not be forced to fight or experience such tragedies, but it¡¯s been made all too clear to me that it¡¯s clearly not the case with this world. If changing that meant ending this world that has gone rotten, then so be it.¡± ¡°We will stand by your side, Exalted One,¡± reassured Ani with a slight bow of her head. Esperanza herself just looked at the progenies, the children who had been forced to mature ahead of their time, who had to fight and kill and go through tragedies no children should ever experience, all due to the current state of the world they lived in. In many ways, those children were a major part of her motivation to set things right, as well as one of the reasons she chose to go along with Oldies. While she at times doubted even her own thoughts ¨C that negative Sanity score still worried her every now and then ¨C she felt certain on this matter. It was something she wanted to do, and if that turned out to be because she had long gone insane ¨C or corrupted or whatever eldritch gods might have done to a soul ¨C then so be it. ¡°We will prepare for it, Exalted One,¡± said Ani meaningfully as she gave a gesture of reassurance to Esperanza. The older woman seemed to understand that despite her role ¨C or at least what they thought of her as ¨C as the messenger of the Deities of Yore, Esperanza had her own thoughts and worries, turmoils she had to deal with. Ani was a good bit older than she looked, due to her racial makeup, and she understood that young people ¨C it was hard to deny that Esperanza herself was likely not much older than the children she cared for ¨C often had their own worries. As such, she knew to give them room to work those worries out rather than push them too hard. Deities knew that they had enough worries as it was, between the heavy task the Deities of Yore had laid on their shoulders, as well as the hardships they had to go through. As someone who considered herself both the leader and caretaker of the [Progenies of Yore], Esperanza must be under even greater pressure than the rest. ¡°For now, we should rest, Exalted One,¡± said Ani gently. Most of the group were already either sleeping or were on night watch duties. Ani had insisted on having her people perform that duty for the group when they were together, so the others could get a full night¡¯s rest instead. After all, they were older and more used to such work compared to the youngsters. ¡°The road ahead of us is long, and we will need proper rest to go through it.¡± ¡°I will, gracias,¡± replied Esperanza with a slight smile. She too understood that the older warrior woman said many of the words she said partly out of consideration for her. Ani was right, though, in that they still had a long way to go in their path, and that fretting about it would not change that in the least. She could use the rest as well, as they would have to be on the road again the next day. As she laid down on her back, with a bedroll made from woven dried seaweed as her mattress, she closed her eyes as she tried to clear her head of her thoughts. There would be more time for thoughts tomorrow. The fight for the fate of Ephemera had just started, after all. CXIX - Hitting Below the Belt Three days after the groups reunited, they reached their next target, a larger supply center deeper in the Demon Territories. Unlike the previous bases they hit, which only had around a hundred guards or so each, the supply center was much larger. There were at least three to four hundred guards positioned there, including a fourth-tier warrior, as well as a larger number of civilian staff. Like the previous time, Esperanza ambushed a guard in the middle of their night patrol when they left the group to answer a call of nature. This time her target happened to be a Ragah-fiq, whose furry body made it easier to hide signs of her infiltration. Esperanza could only target larger people since she needed to cram her whole body into theirs, after all. When she returned to the patrol, she greeted them with an annoyed grunt, as Esperanza had taken some time to learn the mannerisms of her victim from the soul she captured as well. Being able to reply to a few people by their names and keeping the same mannerism helped eliminate their suspicions about her slightly jerky movements, which she played off as an old injury acting up. Esperanza had been fortunate that she had gotten another relatively taciturn victim. Had her victim been a talkative one, she would have risked revealing herself by either being too quiet, or accidentally saying something the victim couldn¡¯t have known or would have never said. It was far easier to play a quiet persona instead, as all she had to do was to shut her mouth and play along. Even while they continued along the patrol route, Esperanza kept contact with the rest of her group, mostly through her connection to Dali and Gordy, combined with [A Glimpse of Understanding]. Her compatriots knew that her pets were smart enough to relay her commands, and they had decided on a system where she would command them to draw simple shapes to relay those thoughts since they couldn¡¯t speak. Fortunately, at the level she was at, she could relay those thoughts from within the supply center. The rest of the group mostly waited for her signal before they would proceed. Since they planned to leave no witnesses, the soldiers who went out on patrol would need to be eliminated, but their failure to return might warn the supply center that something was wrong, which placed them on a tight schedule to act. As such, Esperanza waited until she had entered the supply center proper and entered her disguise¡¯s room to rest, pretending to sleep for the night as her shift was done. She waited a couple more hours to make certain that her infiltration had not been detected before she got up, pretending to go to answer a call of nature, whereas in truth she headed deeper into the supply center. It was not particularly hard to guess where the fourth tier warrior would be. Any fourth tier combatant would be treated as an elite, so they would be given the best accommodation in the area for certain. In the supply center¡¯s case, that likely meant somewhere in the small three-story keep that dominated the central region of the place. Through [Soul Sense] Esperanza felt a soul that was notably stronger than all the others in the supply center, at the third story of the keep, much like she expected. Quietly, Esperanza snuck towards a nearby building from which she could smell food, and it was the kitchen as she expected. There were a couple cooks and servants still busy despite the late hour of the night, who turned upon her approach. While she couldn¡¯t help but to feel bothered about it, Esperanza hardened her resolve and sent out a tentacular limb from the mouth of her disguise. The limb moved faster than either cook could react and ended their lives instantly, their bodies crumpling to the floor like marionettes with its strings cut. A painless death was the most Esperanza could offer for them, as she knew that her mission to end the world would cause the end of many, many more lives, most of which would be innocent. The least she could do was to spare them the suffering. Once she finished hiding the bodies ¨C there were plenty of places to do so in the kitchen that Esperanza was reasonably sure they wouldn¡¯t be discovered before she made a bigger commotion ¨C she dressed her disguise in the clothes of a servant and picked several pieces of snacks as well as a jug of wine and brought them on a platter. The guards on the keep allowed her to enter easily enough when she mentioned that she was bringing some ¡°midnight snacks¡± to the ¡°esteemed lord¡±. Apparently no matter the world, it was not an unusual practice for some servants to try to climb up the social ladder by offering themselves to some high-ranked people. The guards had clearly mistaken her intentions as that sort of approach, and just shook their heads while mumbling to themselves. She wasn¡¯t the first to do it either, it seemed. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Esperanza made her way up the spiraling stairs of the keep quietly, acting like a nervous servant worried about disturbing her betters. It was easy enough to find her way through the keep thanks to [Soul Sense] since she could tell where every living person was located, so she avoided the guards other than the ones she had to pass by on her way up. Once she reached the third floor, finding the room of the fourth tier warrior was not a difficult thing to do, as his soul shined bright in her senses. There was also a second soul in the room, right next to the suspected fourth tier, so he apparently wasn¡¯t alone in his bedroom. It would appear that the guards were so nonchalant as Esperanza was not even the first to have that sort of idea that night. At least if the fourth tier was distracted it would make her job easier. As she approached the bedroom, Esperanza¡¯s hearing ¨C even muffled under the dead body she wore as a disguise ¨C caught the telltale moans and heavy breathing of a couple entwined in a passionate embrace. It would appear that she would have to be particularly rude that night, to interrupt their private moment, as luck would have it. When Esperanza was around ten steps away from the door, it opened itself. Apparently the fourth tier was used to women seeking his attention at night under the guise of bringing in some ¡°midnight snacks¡±, and had some sort of skill that enhanced his senses. He clearly didn¡¯t detect Esperanza inside her disguise however, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have opened his door so easily. Inside the room, on a soft-looking bed large enough for half a dozen adults to sleep together at the same time, was a particularly large and burly Ragah-Fiq male passionately entangled with a gangly Nevilosk woman ¨C both completely naked ¨C who seemed both annoyed and relieved when she saw Esperanza walk into the room. Apparently the fourth tier warrior was a passionate one and the Nevilosk woman had bitten off more than she could chew, given the way she looked as if she was about to give up the ghost. ¡°Ya came at the roit time, dis¡¯ one about to lose ¡®er mind already!¡± grunted the burly man cheerfully. He had yet to detect the danger, and was still engrossed with the woman in his embrace, paying little attention to Esperanza¡¯s disguise. So she struck before he could notice anything amiss, her amorphous body flowing out of her disguise¡¯s mouth, with several tentacular limbs at the forefront, most tipped with bone blades as hard as steel and as sharp as a razor, other than one which held her dagger instead. The fourth tier warrior managed to react at the last moment, but it was too little too late by then. Esperanza¡¯s dagger tore through half of his throat even while her bone blades skewered through the bodies of both the fourth tier warrior and the woman in his arms. The Nevilosk woman died, likely before she even realized what happened, but apparently the fourth tier warrior was made of hardier stuff as despite his gruesome wounds he still managed to grab Esperanza¡¯s limbs with his hands and hurled her across the room with brute force that was far greater than what she could muster. If she still needed to breathe, Esperanza would have had the breath knocked out of her when she slammed hard against the far wall of the room. Fortunately the wounds she left on the fourth tier was severe enough that it prevented him from immediately pouncing at her. Nor could he yell out a warning as his throat was still torn and gushing blood at a rapid pace. Clearly the man had a high constitution and likely some sort of rapid regeneration skill, though, as even then his wounds were visibly closing up. He rushed towards a weapon stand where a massive, two-handed mace rested and hefted it in his hands, even as Esperanza struck once more with her limbs, scoring more wounds on the man¡¯s body, though none proved fatal yet. What surprised Esperanza was that the man¡¯s soul held steady, despite her every strike being coated with [Soul Armament]. Her opponent seemed to be one of those types of warriors who were hard to kill, ones who sacrificed killing power for being nearly unkillable themselves in an even battle. A less defensively oriented fourth tier would have been killed already by Esperanza¡¯s attack. Her guess proved itself correct when the man swung his mace at her, the blow powerful but not reinforced by any sort of offensive skill. She simply allowed the blow to land, her body shifting to disperse the force of the blow and rendering it harmless, even while she landed more injuries on her opponent, who seemed mostly unperturbed by the wounds she caused. That was a rather unexpected and rather annoying development, as while Esperanza had planned to make a ruckus ¨C which their battle was already doing, as it had alerted quite a few of the guards in the keep ¨C she also intended to finish off the fourth tier before he could get others to help him. As such, Esperanza decided to start the second phase of the plan early. Even as she slithered around another blow from her opponent¡¯s hefty mace, she stopped covering [Far Down the Deep End]¡¯s side effect, and instead manipulated her aura to amplify its effects. The result was instant, as the fourth tier warrior stumbled and stepped back unsteadily, seeming as if someone had just punched him hard right in the face. At the same moment, Esperanza also noticed a dangling weak point that she hadn¡¯t ¨C or perhaps mentally refused to notice ¨C before, partially obscured by the man¡¯s long fur. After a brief moment of hesitation, she sent one of her bladed tentacles in that direction, while the rest struck at the man from many different angles to make full use of the momentary opening she caused. Whereas most of the other injuries he had taken ¨C even the ones that pierced straight through his chest ¨C had not seemed to bother the man much, when Esperanza struck him below the belt, directly slicing off an organ most men would have considered vital, the fourth tier warrior reacted in a greatly exaggerated manner as he fell on his back and curled into a fetal position. Right at the same time, the wound on his throat apparently healed enough to allow him to make a sound once more, and a shrill, pained scream full of indescribable agony echoed through the supply center that very moment. Needless to say, the demons that had yet to notice anything were alerted ¨C some woken from their sleep ¨C by the loud, piercing scream. Esperanza guessed that it should hopefully be a large enough ruckus for the others to make their assault unhindered, and she quickly moved to finish off the fourth tier warrior before he could recover. 120 - When Plans meet the Enemy To the surprise of the [Heroes], the [Mother of Monsters] somehow managed to react in time to avoid the brunt of their attacks. Well, perhaps the phrasing was wrong, as it wasn¡¯t the woman herself who moved fast enough to do so, but the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47] she was standing on. Even before the woman herself registered the lethal attacks aimed her way, the abomination twisted its neck a full one hundred eighty degrees to face the [Heroes] and moved with a speed that belied its hulking form. The undead abomination raised one of its massive arms and directly blocked Joshua¡¯s [Overcharge]d spell, at the cost of the annihilation of most of its arm, and swiftly lowered its shoulder, resulting in Ethan¡¯s blow to miss entirely, the blade of his pollax digging deep into the undead¡¯s flesh instead. Alissa¡¯s spear still managed to nick the [Great Champion]¡¯s shoulder, but it was a minor wound at best, even with all the active skills that empowered her blow. ¡°You kids must be the [Heroes] I was told so much about, then,¡± muttered the woman even as she clutched her bleeding shoulder, the bleeding far more profuse than it should be thanks to [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow]. That skill was likely also responsible for how the woman sounded almost out of breath while she spoke. ¡°No, no, this won¡¯t do at all¡­ [Misery Made me a Fiend].¡± ¡°Damn it!¡± cursed Joshua even as he barely managed to get out of the way of a blow from the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47]¡¯s stump of an arm. Missing most of its left forearm didn¡¯t seem to bother the creature much at all, neither did it hesitate to deliver a full-force blow using the stump that was left. ¡°That woman¡¯s mana is skyrocketing! The skill must be some sort of self-buff! Watch out!¡± Unfortunately, despite his warning, neither Alissa nor Ethan were in a position to actually attack the [Great Champion] since the woman was far above them, and by that point of time the two [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47] had joined the fighting as well. The undead abominations also bodily blocked Joshua from launching another magical blast at the woman, without any care for their own well being. ¡°[Beware, for they are Fearless, and therefore Powerful!]¡± said the woman from her perch above the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47]¡¯s shoulder. As she intoned the words, the name of her skill, Joshua could feel her a chunk of her abundant mana seep into the bodies of the three undead abominations, and almost immediately they all noticed how the monsters moved faster and struck with even more force than before. Of course a necromancer-type would have some skills to buff their undead. ¡°[Accumulation of Anguish!] [I Shall Cause Fear!]¡± said the woman as she used another pair of skills in quick succession. As soon as she used the first skill, all three [Heroes] almost stumbled as they were suddenly assaulted by agony. Joshua himself felt as if his left forearm was nothing more than a lump of pain. It didn¡¯t take him long to realize that the pain they were feeling was identical to the injuries they had caused to the [Great Champion] or her undead marionettes, however. More troublesome was that the skill apparently wasn¡¯t a one-time thing, as when Joshua launched another blast of magic at the woman ¨C which one of the [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47] took on the shoulder instead ¨C he felt searing, burning pain from his own shoulder. That was a quandary, though mostly for him, as Ethan and Alissa seemed far less bothered by the pain and kept fighting, with only the occasional scowl or wince that indicated that they too felt the skill¡¯s effects. He started to worry, worried that they would all fail there and be captured alive, the worst fate possible awaiting them at the hands of the demons. Worry that he would never be able to return home once more, that his entire life would be spent on this god-forsaken world that had summoned him without even bothering to ask. The worries compounded and started to accumulate in his mind, and made him start thinking about fleeing. Unbeknownst to Joshua, Ethan felt similar to him, in that various worries racked his mind, worries that were further amplified when they noticed how the undead abominations were each capable of taking them on in single combat, even if the [Great Champion] herself seemed pretty helpless. It was only when the thought that he should just abandon Alissa and Joshua as bait so he could escape crossed his mind that he shook his head and sobered himself. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. He noticed that Alissa seemed unbothered by her fears, unlike him. Then again he recalled Alissa saying how her very first skill was a passive that kept her emotions stable, and understood why she wasn¡¯t affected in the least. On the other hand, Joshua seemed to waver, an uncertain look in his eyes, and Ethan could tell that he was also struck by the skill, the same way he himself was. ¡°Snap out of it!¡± Ethan yelled. ¡°It¡¯s that woman¡¯s skill! She¡¯s making your fears manifest in your mind to shake you!¡± he added, with the hopes that Joshua would be able to shake himself off the effects of the skill. He himself had to focus back on the fight, as he only barely managed to block a blow from another of the abominations with his shield. It was a rather frustrating fight overall, as no matter what he did to the abominations, they seemed to just shrug it off, with no sign of pain on their features. They would keep fighting even while missing parts of their bodies, like the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47] that fought on without being bothered by its missing forearm. On the other hand, while they were effectively immortal thanks to [Respawn], Ethan¡¯s group couldn¡¯t do that. If they perished, they would not be able to return to life before ten minutes had passed. Unless their side was winning, returning to where they perished wouldn¡¯t be an option, so they would likely have to return to life in the chapel back at Fort Ixlay instead. Ten minutes might as well be an eternity in a battle like this, so he doubted that if one of them fell prematurely, the other two would be able to win the battle, unless the other fourth tiers from the fort managed to force their way through the Demon camp to get to their aid. The three of them had hoped to be able to cripple the demon [Great Champion] with their ambush, but that had clearly failed. Given how the woman also possessed three undead abominations of high enough grade to fight against them, the plan was clearly botched, and as such, Alissa decisively gave the signal to retreat. It was something they had discussed with the commanders of the fort, about what they should do should the ambush turn out to be a failure. Sir Marsten had decisively ordered for them to retreat in such a case, unless they felt there was still a chance to capture the target. Alissa judged that their chance had clearly passed already, so she started to retreat while she fought, towards where Sir Inolet was fighting. Both Ethan and Joshua noticed her gesture, and after a moment of hesitation, nodded in agreement. It was easier said than done for them to retreat, however, as the three undead abominations doggedly pursued them, giving Alissa and Ethan who held them at bay a hard time, whereas Joshua behind them winced in pain every time he launched a magical blast to strike the monsters. While it wasn¡¯t a long distance to where Sir Inolet and the rest of their party along with Sir Marsten and Magus Drummond fought against another eight abominations and four of the demon army¡¯s strongest warriors ¨C at least out of the ones stationed there ¨C it felt almost like an eternity for the three [Heroes] to reach there. The distance couldn¡¯t have been more than half a mile at most, nor did they take that long a time to reach the others, but to them, it felt like ages had passed, while the nagging feeling of fear caused by the effects of the [Great Champion]¡¯s mental disruption skill kept surfacing from time to time as well. It was definitely not a pleasant experience, even for Alissa who could ignore the fear. When they reached the others, the fighting was still going on. It was a hard-fought battle, since the humans had one less high-end fourth tier than the demons, while the undead abominations ¨C although these ones were notably weaker than the three with the [Great Champion] ¨C were each more than enough to give the rest of the party a run for their money. So it was a pleasant surprise for them when Joshua launched a large blast of fire and incinerated one of the abominations they were fighting, opening the way for the three [Heroes] to join the rest of their party to fight together. Fortunately for them, the [Great Champion]¡¯s skills didn¡¯t seem to affect the remaining weaker abominations, or maybe it was so strong because she focused it on the three higher grade undead with her, either could be true. When she too joined the fight, however, the humans were quickly put on a disadvantage. Both Sir Marsten and Sir Inolet gave the signal for a fighting retreat. They were located too deep inside the demon camp to simply turn and run, so they had to maintain cohesion at least until they reached their allies who were still fighting outside the camp itself. The group slowly retreated even while they fought, no longer resisting their foes as hard as they instead took the chance to escape where they could. The demons were far less willing to let them escape, however, and pressed them hard. Alissa noticed how the attacks from the abominations became wilder, more brutal, even while the demon fourth tiers pressed their human equivalents hard. At that point, Alissa exchanged a series of gestures to Ethan, asking him if he could hold the line against the abominations. When he returned her query with an affirmative and asked her in turn what she had in mind, Alissa only replied with a glance towards where Sir Inolet was fighting against two of the demon fourth tiers at the same time. Ethan instantly got what she had in mind, as he remembered all too well the last time they sparred against Sir Inolet at full force and managed to hold their own. It was a long shot, to be sure, but it was an opportunity for them to potentially turn the tide around, perhaps in a big way. As such, Ethan stepped in front of Alissa and held the line against the abominations¡¯ attacks, while Alissa herself quietly disappeared behind him. The cooldown for her [Walk in the Shadows] had just reset, partly thanks to how she had trained the skill a lot of late. Inside the shadow realm, Alissa quietly snuck towards where Sir Inolet was fighting the two demon fourth tiers, as she knew that if she could free Sir Inolet up, that could potentially turn the tide of the engagement right on the spot. Their mentor was one of the most powerful combatants amongst the humans, and it was not a hollow reputation. Quietly, she slipped behind one of the two demons Sir Inolet was fighting against, her various buffs still active, though approaching the end of their duration by that point. She quietly clad her spear in whatever actives she had on hand, the ones that had already refreshed by that time, and when the opportune moment came, she charged out from within the shadows. Her spear viciously thrust straight towards the back of a demon fourth tier who never expected her interruption. 121 - Turning the Tides This time, the demon reacted too late. By the time the fourth tier demon managed to react to her ambush, her spear was already mere inches away from his back, as the demon had been preoccupied by one of Sir Inolet¡¯s attacks while Alissa struck. It was far too late for the demon to do anything at that point of time, other than slightly shift his body so that Alissa¡¯s spear wouldn¡¯t go cleanly through his heart like she had intended. Instead, her blow pierced through the right side of the demon¡¯s back and went out his chest, the bladed spearhead smoothly slipping in between the demon¡¯s ribs and slicing through his right lung in the process. It was a grievous wound, but not one that would be instantly fatal. Still, it was plenty for Alissa¡¯s purpose, as the injured demon was clearly weakened greatly by the blow. The demon forcibly tore his body off the spearhead the next moment, causing the wound to bleed profusely but also freeing himself to retaliate, but even as he turned around all that greeted him was the sight of the edge of a shield approaching his face. The demon managed to tilt his head at the last moment, so instead of crushing his nose and worse, the shield only cracked his left cheek instead, leaving a bloody gouge in the process. It was obvious that the demon was reeling from his wounds and somewhat disoriented from her ambush, as he only barely managed to raise his blade to block Alissa¡¯s next strike. The demon should have been close to her in power, since he managed to block Sir Inolet while working with another demon, but instead, she had a clear advantage over him with her ambush. Naturally, Sir Inolet made good use of her ambush as well. The old knight immediately left the wounded demon to Alissa ¨C a gesture of trust to the girl he had been training for the past months ¨C and charged straight towards the second demon instead. The second demon was more of a defender, class and skillwise, and he was immediately put in the backfoot as Sir Inolet rushed him with full force. Alissa continued her assault on the injured demon, attacking with what most would have considered recklessness, but was actually a calculated move on her part. Even if she traded wounds with her opponent, she could just [Respawn] at worst, while her opponent wouldn¡¯t be able to do the same. Besides, he was already injured and desperately tried to stay alive. Whereas Alissa lacked that need to stay alive. She knew how the math goes. Even if she traded herself to take out this one demon, it would be worth it since that would in turn free Sir Inolet to kill the other demon. Then nobody would be left to stop the old knight, one of the most powerful humans in the Kingdom, from rampaging through the demon horde at will. As such she pushed relentlessly against her opponent, taking a few cuts to her body in exchange of landing more wounds on the already badly injured demon. Her spear lanced towards the demon at every opportunity, and she wasn¡¯t shy about striking with her shield either, when she wasn¡¯t using it to defend against the demon¡¯s blade instead. Finally, after several exchanges, Alissa spotted an opening and rushed in with her spear leading the way. This time the demon chose to fight back the same way, using his long blade to threaten to skewer her. He had seen her ignore light blows to land a blow on him, but he still believed that she wouldn¡¯t be willing to trade life for life. The demon hadn¡¯t realized yet that Alissa was one of the [Heroes]. As such, she only grunted slightly and scowled from the pain even as the demon¡¯s blade pierced through the lighter armor that covered her abdomen and out her back. At the same moment, her spear pierced straight through the demon¡¯s throat, the broad bladed spearhead nearly decapitating the demon outright, ending his life that very moment. The demon still had a look of disbelief in his eyes even as his body slumped down to the ground, as dead as he could be. Alissa gritted her teeth as she pulled the blade out from her abdomen. Fortunately the odd fabric that doubled as light armor ¨C the soulbound artifact she received before heading to the frontline ¨C was capable of repairing itself and would naturally put pressure on her wounds, so for the time being she didn¡¯t need to do more about her injuries. One look to the side showed her another very dead demon, one with his whole body charred to a crisp. That was clearly Sir Inolet¡¯s handiwork as Alissa remembered the old knight using the fire element to empower his blade earlier. The skills Sir Inolet possessed gave him a highly flexible fighting method that he could adjust to fit the situation by empowering his blade with different elements, but once he had one set, he was pretty much stuck to it until the cooldown refreshed. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Even while she winced from the pain of her injuries, Alissa turned back and ran towards where the battle was still raging. The situation had clearly turned for the better for the human side, as she could see Sir Inolet single-handedly fighting off five of the undead abominations, including the two [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47]. That naturally freed up the rest of Alissa¡¯s party to take on the other abominations, with Joshua even helping out Sir Marsten and Magus Drummond against their opponents. The demons also clearly noticed that they were disadvantaged. The lookalikes sent out by the humans had clearly done their job and kept the demons doubtful as to the location of the [Heroes] and their party, so they were somewhat caught off guard to see the whole party attacking them. Before long, another of the undead abominations made a mistake and Sir Inolet directly incinerated its whole form with one powerful blow, increasing the pressure on the remaining abominations. For the most part, the two [Advanced Patchwork Colossus Lvl 47] had taken the brunt of that pressure, clearly a higher grade than the rest, but even then they were still disadvantaged against the experienced old knight. Alissa heard a sound reminiscent of a horn being blown, and before long she noticed that the battle lines were shifting closer to where they fought. The demons were making a fighting retreat, the ones engaged outside the camp slowly shifting into the camp or to its sides, while keeping their human opponents at bay. It was a full retreat, yet also an organized one, with the demons still maintaining cohesion instead of routing uncontrollably. Naturally, it hadn¡¯t escaped the eyes of the human commanders either. While Sir Marsten ¨C the highest commander of Fort Ixlay¡¯s forces ¨C was still engaged in mortal combat with his demon foe, Sir Inolet had enough leeway in his own battle to yell out commands, which exhorted the human soldiers to push harder against their foes. As their lines pressed against the retreating demon lines, weapons met with flesh and people on both sides fell, some dying on the spot. The demons still retreated in a rather organized manner, despite all the pressure from the human side¡¯s offense. Part of the reason was due to the narrow valley, which slowed the human army, resulting in part of their numbers still stuck on the other side or in transit. That said, the human side had a decisive advantage when it came to higher tier combatants, and it showed. Since Alissa returned, Nadine led part of the party ¨C Moira, Maribel, Glenn, and Osmond ¨C to rampage across the demon lines and break their cohesion. Everyone in the group had capabilities that could match a lower leveled fourth tier, so there was nothing the demons could do to stop them. All of their own fourth tiers were already engaged at the time and unable to extricate themselves. By the time the sun began to set, the demons were already driven away from their erstwhile encampment, their forces in full retreat, while part of the human army doggedly pursued them. The other part of the human side¡¯s forces were cleaning up and reinforcing the demon encampment for their own use, because there was no reason to waste the already prepared camp. The demon fourth tiers fought as long as they could to delay the human advance, realizing all too well that should the entire army take unacceptable casualties they would bear part of the blame for that. Interestingly, the people that the demons prioritized for quick evacuation were their younger higher leveled third tiers. People who stood a good chance to reach the fourth tier in their lives, or even this war. As time went by, some of the fourth tiers started falling back, escorting the retreating demon soldiers with them. Those who fell back were all the younger fourth tiers, those with greater potential to grow further, while the older ones stayed back to delay the enemy, probably with their lives if needed. It was a pragmatic mindset, likely one forged by the endless war between the two sides. Of course, it wasn¡¯t as if the human side was unscathed either despite being the victors of the battle. At least four of the lower leveled fourth tiers on their side already died by the time the demons started retreating, and since then, another half dozen took injuries bad enough to force them to retreat for treatment. The demons were selling their lives dearly, and weren¡¯t taking no for an answer, it seemed. What came as a surprise was when the last batch of demons were retreating ¨C most of the ones who were staying back to block the pursuit were old demons who had pretty much already reached the highest level they would in life ¨C the female [Great Champion] and her last abomination, the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47], stayed with them despite the other high-level fourth tier demons retreating. The small group fought desperately, selling their lives as dearly as they could, some even pulling off suicidal attacks just to take a human down to the grave with them at their last moment. By that point, the human side was also quite fatigued after half a day of fighting, so they couldn¡¯t push as hard as they could earlier. Even so, that did nothing to change the outcome. One by one, the demons fell and died. The human side fought more carefully against the [Mother of Monsters], as Alissa had told them of the champion¡¯s class, so that they didn¡¯t accidentally kill her. As the demon group dwindled down to just four elderly fourth tier demons and their champion, success was seemingly close at hand. One after another, the elderly fourth tier demons showed their determination to fight to the end. One of them hurled his spear like a javelin even as Sir Inolet¡¯s burning sword pierced through his heart, though fortunately the victim of that thrown spear happened to be Joshua, who was too tired to notice the desperate attack and died on the spot. Another of the demons, a female mage of sorts, exploded herself, driving Sir Marsten back and injuring Magus Drummond slightly, though the old Magus was likely more bothered by his half-burnt beard rather than the slight injuries on his body. A third of the demons stabbed through Ethan¡¯s chest with all her strength even as a blow from him crushed her head. Ethan shrugged off the injury without much reaction, though. As for the last demon, he was the least fortunate, as he fell before he could make a desperate attack, leaving only the [Mother of Monsters] and her crippled abomination. One of the fourth tier combatants had just leapt with a length of enchanted rope in his hands, planning to subdue and secure the demon champion, when Alissa noticed the woman¡¯s mouth vocalize a pair of words. ¡°[Corpse Explosion]¡± The next thing they knew, a blinding flash emanated from the [Masterwork Chimeric Undead Titan Lvl 47] beneath the demon champion and a massive explosion engulfed both the abomination and the small woman, along with everything near it. 122 - An Acceptable Result You have Died. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Temple When Alissa regained her consciousness this time, she only vaguely recalled how she had reacted on instinct and bodily shielded a couple others from the explosion. The blast was powerful, and she recalled seeing how the fourth tier who jumped in to subdue the demon [Great Champion] was directly vaporized by the blast. Apparently it had been powerful enough to kill her as well, and probably others who were too close to the explosion when it happened. Fortunately, this time her soulbound artifact ¨C the one she received on her last visit to the capital, which was said to allow her to ¡°bond¡± other items through it ¨C worked as advertised, and she didn¡¯t wake up naked like she usually did. She did notice some things missing, things too minor to actually bond to her soul like underwear and the likes, but her armor and clothes ¨C which were heavily enchanted and protective as well ¨C were all still there, as were her weapons. She woke up to the sight of the healers ¨C including Leda, Cerilla, and Vesta ¨C busily trying to stabilize and heal the injuries of those who took the most damage from the explosion yet survived. It made sense, as none of them could help the dead after all. That said, there seemed to be less dead than Alissa had expected, though there were quite a few injured. ¡°Dame O¡¯Connor! Glad to see you back with us once more!¡± greeted Sir Marsten as he noticed Alissa¡¯s reappearance. The old knight himself was positioned quite close to the explosion, and from the soot-covered state of his armor and the way every bit of the hair on his head¨C including his facial hair and eyebrows ¨C had been burnt off, with some burn marks still healing, had taken the brunt of the blast as well. Fortunately the old knight was more of a highly durable physical fighter class-wise, and so he survived the explosion without too much damage, other than his hair and some burns, the former of which would regrow after some time anyway. The man was not quite as tough as Ethan, but he was tougher than Alissa herself, and wasn¡¯t already injured like her to boot. ¡°How is everyone?¡± Alissa asked to the old Knight. She spotted Joshua already some distance to her right, around where he was killed just before the explosion happened. He likely only [Respawn]ed recently, given how he was still in the middle of putting on his clothes. Neither Ethan nor Joshua had a convenient item to bond their clothing to them the way she did, after all. ¡°Three dead, around fourteen injured,¡± replied Sir Marsten honestly to her question. ¡°That¡¯s not counting you and Sir Smith, of course. Honestly, we¡¯d likely have lost more people if not for you and Sir Greene taking part of the blast with your own bodies. We owe you a bit for that, and some of us literally owe you our lives, so I say, thank you, Dame O¡¯Connor.¡± The way the old knight addressed Alissa was notably more respectful than before. Perhaps in his eyes she had proven herself qualified to be a [Hero], or perhaps it was because she helped save some of his people, at a cost to herself. She wasn¡¯t sure which. Given how few of the injured she noticed around them, chances were that only the badly injured ¨C those too injured to be moved ¨C were being treated right there, while the lightly injured were already moved away. Ethan was amongst the heavily injured, his greater durability once again keeping him alive despite the circumstances, though he clearly wasn¡¯t enjoying it, given the wounds he suffered this time around. He looked Alissa¡¯s way when he noticed her return and gave her a slight smile, though one marred by a painful grimace from his many injuries. Sir Inolet had apparently already left to oversee the work at the demon encampment. Now that they had broken through the valley, the humans had every intention to make use of the encampment as their foothold, after some remodeling work to improve its defenses, of course. Due to the natural ability of many of their kind to climb vertical walls almost like they were walking on flat ground, demons rarely put much value in fortifications compared to the humans. When Alissa had learned about that she had questioned whether it shouldn¡¯t have been the other way around instead, that the humans would be the ones less dependent on fortifications since their enemies were less affected by it while the demons should be building more since the humans would face a harder time assaulting a fortification. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. It turned out that the same also held true with fighting in and from such fortifications. The demons were ill-suited to defend a fortification as their generally more individualistic nature made it harder for them to maintain the same sort of cohesion and discipline the humans could, an issue that naturally amplified itself on the narrow walkways of a fortress. That combined with the generally aggressive nature of most demons meant that they were better suited for the offense rather than the defense to begin with. As for the humans, while they know that fortifications wouldn¡¯t pose much of an obstacle to some demons, they operated under the concept that every little bit counted, and indeed, fortifications would still improve their ability to defend against demon assault significantly. On the other hand, trying to defend an open camp from a demon assault was akin to committing suicide. ¡°So we fucked that mission up in the end, huh?¡± muttered Alissa quietly as she sat slouched next to Ethan, who was still being taken care of by one of the junior healers from the fort. Likely they all realized that he was so durable that his injuries, while horrible, were not life-threatening and besides he would just [Respawn] if they were proven wrong anyway, so the better healers were dedicated to those with more dangerous injuries instead. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say so, Dame O¡¯Connor,¡± interjected Sir Marsten before Ethan could reply. Even though Alissa spoke quietly, the fourth tier knight clearly had enough perception to notice her words even from the distance. ¡°It was always more of a wishful thinking to capture one of the [Champions], much less a [Great Champion], this early in the war cycle. Still, it was a chance we couldn¡¯t ignore.¡± ¡°While the demon escaped our hands, we still achieved a great deal today, far more than what we expected, in fact,¡± continued the old knight in a mollifying tone. ¡°We have broken through the valley and gained a foothold in the Demon Territories, on top of inflicting heavy casualties to the demon army. Neither of those are minor achievements, and none of them would have been possible without you and your party¡¯s help.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t do that much,¡± Ethan pointed out. Alissa nodded in agreement with him. All the three of them did was that they pretty much attempted to ambush the [Mother of Monsters] and failed to cripple her. Then again, now that they learned of the woman¡¯s skillset, they felt that capturing the woman while she had any undead around her would be difficult at best. After all, she could self-destruct a corpse and kill herself with such ease. ¡°No, you did plenty, young [Heroes],¡± replied the old knight with a shake of his now-bald head. ¡°Had we pulled off the same strategy without you or your party helping us, we might have reached the demon encampment, but then we would have been overwhelmed due to the abominations. Not even Henri¡¯s presence would be enough to turn the tables against that many foes had there not been others to occupy their attention.¡± ¡°Instead, we not only defeated the demons but also directly took over their camp, all while losing only seven of our own, three of which had been the [Great Champion]¡¯s victims at that,¡± continued the veteran knight with a slightly sad smile. ¡°It was an acceptable price for such a victory, and I¡¯m sure those who laid down their lives are pleased with what we achieved thanks to their sacrifice.¡± ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have considered a victory with that many casualties a victory where we came from,¡± commented Alissa bitterly from the side. The knowledge that seven of the fourth tiers from the fort had passed away during the battle naturally bothered her. Left unsaid was the number of the lower tier soldiers who must have also given their lives in the course of the battle. ¡°We even have a term for it: Pyrrhic Victory.¡± ¡°It might be different where you came from, Dame O¡¯Connor,¡± said the old knight with a shrug. ¡°What I do know for certain is that today we have won probably the biggest victory the Kingdom had over the demons for over¡­ many generations. We had been losing the last three wars after all, so it was mostly loss after loss for us over the past two centuries or so.¡± ¡°The demons lost fifteen of their fourth tiers today, two of which were amongst their most powerful ones,¡± elaborated Sir Marsten when he noticed that Alissa still seemed unconvinced. ¡°You killed one of them with your own hands, a feat most worthy of a [Hero], while Henri got another. That alone would be a blow to our opponents, not counting the rest we killed.¡± Even after the old knight¡¯s reassurance, Alissa still looked a little bit lost as she looked at the three bodies that had been covered with fabric. The three fourth tiers unfortunate enough to have perished from the demon [Great Champion]¡¯s skill. She noticed that the male half of the fourth tier couple she had fought alongside that one time knelt by one of the bodies, his tear-streaked face dull and full of dismay, looking as if his soul had left his body. The look of grief and despair etched on his features made her feel ashamed to look at him any longer than that. How many others were like the poor man? How many others had lost their family, friends, or loved ones just in the course of this single battle alone? She couldn¡¯t even help thinking about the demons that willingly gave their lives to cover the retreat of others. Surely they too have families, friends, and loved ones, no? The demons had clearly shown that they cared for each other to some degree. The decision to allow the younger demons in their late third tiers to escape first might have been pragmatic, but she didn¡¯t fail to notice that the demons also allowed all the other youngsters to escape first, while the elderly stayed behind to buy time with their lives. Even if the humans and demons of this world had millennia of bloodshed and hatred to build their animosity against each other on, she was a visitor from another world. She lacked any such animosity and couldn¡¯t help but to imagine herself in the enemy¡¯s shoes at times. Even if it was true that the only way to return home was to cooperate with the local humans, she couldn¡¯t help but think of other possibilities. That included possibilities like the locals actually fooling her to participate in their war, dangling a ticket back to her world as the reward, if there was any such thing to begin with. It was one reason she chose the classes she did, and did what she could in trying to learn more about this world together with Ethan, who also held similar doubts in his mind. With a sigh, Alissa stood up at last. Even though the thoughts weigh on her mind, she knew that it wasn¡¯t the right time to act on them yet. She still knew too little. She didn¡¯t even have any alternative ideas about what to do. It was something she would still need to work around, somehow, someway, without incurring the suspicion of others. She sighed at the thought of the long road ahead of her. CXXIII - To Devour or Not To Devour ¡°Sire Besonilase-¡± yelled a young demon dressed like a guard as he barged into the fourth tier warrior¡¯s room. The demon¡¯s words were cut off mid-sentence, however, as his eyes widened at the sight of the Ragah-Fiq fourth tier Defender, or to be specific, at his decapitated head in Esperanza¡¯s hand, still dripping fresh blood from the stump of the neck as it was rather freshly severed. Esperanza herself had assumed the guise of a human rogue once more. Now that she had greater control over her form thanks to [A Mask to Don]¡¯s higher level, she could form something that resembled clothes over her ¡°body¡±, though technically those ¡°clothes¡± were part of her form all the same, just of different coloration and texture. As such, the guise of a cloaked and hooded rogue was one of the easiest disguises for her to use, as it needed less detail, allowing her to hide the rest of her form underneath the ¡°cloak¡± regardless of what shape she was assuming. The ¡°cloak¡± around her then helpfully parted to allow one tentacular bladed limb to flash by and decapitate the young demon before he could raise the alarm, or at least, make it messier than it already was. Her fight with the dead Ragah-Fiq warrior already did that aplenty. Esperanza then took a moment to consider before she used [Consume] on the dead warrior¡¯s corpse. That skill had been stuck at level 9 for a good while now, despite its rapid rise when she used it freely against the arachnoids back in the forest. Then again, she had refrained from using the skills on the higher level arachnoids since their bodies held valuable materials, so she hadn¡¯t exactly fed the skill with many foes around her power level or higher. Sure enough, that proved to be the trigger for the skill¡¯s leveling and evolution as a notification flashed inside her mind. Class Skill [Consume] Evolved into [Essence Devourer] [Essense Devourer] Epic Skill Level 1 Nothing shall escape your gaping maw, o Devourer, not even the mind, the soul, or the very essence of life, lest you show mercy to them. Allows the user to consume everything that composes the target and absorb them for a bonus in experience and a temporary boost of power. User may selectively consume the body, mind, soul, and even the existence of any dead body within reach. *Cannot consume more than the body of a target greater than the user in level. Gains memories of the target should the target¡¯s Mind be consumed. Gains a boost in skill level to any compatible skill should the target¡¯s Soul be consumed. Target will forever cease to exist should its existence be consumed.* Level 1: Cooldown: 24 hours. Boost: 25% of the consumed target¡¯s major stats. Boost Duration: 1 minute. ¡°Huh,¡± noted Esperanza as she read through the description of the evolved skill. The skill previously didn¡¯t have a cooldown, and she could use it at will as long as there was a corpse in the vicinity. On the other hand, while the boost duration stayed the same, the effect was massively increased. The most she ever got out of [Consume] was a couple points of the sub-stats at best. The new skill turned that into a much bigger boost, though usable more rarely. More interesting were the effects of consuming other things than just the body of her target. She had a way to interrogate people effectively thanks to her ability to capture rather than manifest their souls, but directly reading someone¡¯s memory would be even more efficient for that purpose. The skill level boost was also tempting, though it brought with it the implication that the soul in question would be scattered and sent back to the cycle instead of being caught. But what interested her the most was the ability to directly devour the existence of another. Esperanza briefly wondered if the skill would work against one of the [Heroes] or [Champions], but then she considered how [Respawn] seemed to be of higher rank than her skill, so doubted that it¡¯d work that way. That said, maybe with a couple more evolutions the skill might just give her exactly such an option, some way to permanently remove pieces off the board. Maybe some way to touch those new gods themselves, for that matter. In the end, she temporarily shelved her thoughts as she heard more hurried footsteps climbing up the stairs of the keep. More of the guards had clearly arrived to check out the commotion she caused, so Esperanza decided to make an even bigger commotion to help draw attention from the attack that was likely arriving soon from the rest of her group. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She had already sent a signal to Dali and Gordy when she reached the fourth tier¡¯s chamber, so Ani and the rest had likely moved to silence the demons who were out patrolling while she fought. After a quick check of the room to save up anything that might be of use, Esperanza toppled over the oil lamp that kept the room illuminated, and soon other things in the room caught on fire, fire that was spreading towards the keep¡¯s wooden roof. Esperanza herself calmly walked out of the room like she had nothing to do with the conflagration that roared to life behind her. A group of maybe ten demons in the armor worn by the guards in the center accosted her shortly after she left the room, Esperanza herself still in disguise, pretending to be some sort of human rogue. She immediately struck out before they could react to her presence. Two long, tentacular limbs that had been narrowed down to the width of a rope served as her ¡°weapons¡±, one ending in a bone blade she fashioned to look like a crescent dagger to match the dagger she held with the other limb. That way, should any outside observer survive her rampage, they would only see a possibly human rogue who was using a pair of daggers attached to long ropes, instead of the eldritch abomination that she actually was. Five of the guards lost their heads or had their throats slit before the rest managed to gather their wits about them. Not that it mattered much. The demon guards were mostly late second to early third tier in levels, so none of them could hold a candle against Esperanza, who had capabilities to match a fourth tier in combat. Her daggers struck from impossible angles, facilitated by the fact that the ¡°ropes¡± that held them weren¡¯t ropes at all but were actually her limbs, which she could freely control. Esperanza¡¯s main body never moved a step from where she was, only the daggers danced at the end of the ropes, as if it was some sort of display of confidence or arrogance. Even when the guards fought back, all that did was to buy them a few more seconds to breathe, and no more. As Esperanza went down the staircase of the keep ¨C the guards that accosted her left behind as corpses ¨C the fire she started had spread through half of the third floor, and she could hear a louder commotion from outside. The sounds she heard didn¡¯t seem to indicate any attack, so it was likely caused by the fire she started. That was good. If the demons were busy with the fire, Ani¡¯s surprise attack would be more likely to leave no survivors. More demon guards had arrived on the second floor of the keep and were instantly cautious when they noticed Esperanza descending down the stairs. The moment she flung her blades out, the demons also fought back, even though their resistance was little more than a futile gesture at best. Esperanza wouldn¡¯t have even bothered to use [Soul Armament] if it wasn¡¯t to level the skill, given the power ¨C or lack thereof ¨C of the opponents she was facing. As a result though, the demons thought that there was some sort of deadly poison coating her blades, as some demons keeled over and died despite only taking a wound that shouldn¡¯t have been lethal at all. None of the guards present seemed to be good at noticing things related to the soul, and when a priest did show up, Esperanza beheaded them before they could do anything. Naturally there was no way to hide the noise from the fighting, and some of the demon guards escaped to report her presence and call for more guards, something she allowed to happen on purpose. She could have stopped the runners, but she figured that with the commotion she already made, might as well go further. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that. By the time she reached the first floor of the keep, there was a semi-circle of demons in guard armor pointing spears and arrows towards the staircase, clearly alarmed since they heard the sound of the fighting on the upper levels. Like before, none of the demons posed any real threat to Esperanza. She just walked towards them while projecting confidence. Dozens of arrows were loosed at the same time towards her, but she made use of her amorphous body to easily slip through the gaps, moving so fast that the demons would only see that she had somehow avoided every single one of their shots and came out unscathed. The realization definitely caused some of the demon guards to pale in fright, as they realized that anyone capable of pulling off that sort of feat was likely someone way above their paygrade. Then her daggers lashed out and half a dozen of the nearest spear-wielding demons fell to their knees while clutching their bleeding throats all at the same time. Esperanza wasn¡¯t sure if it was one of the archers or one of the spearwielders that ran first, but the guards around her started to break up their formation in their attempt to escape from her. Some others stubbornly tried to resist and were rewarded with swift deaths, which only further frightened the rest of them. Some of the demons even pushed others aside in their desperation to escape the avatar of death walking towards them. She guessed that the sight of someone who was clearly way more powerful than they were, walking slowly and confidently towards them while casually dispatching anyone who tried to resist must have been quite frightening indeed for these guards. That, and the side effect from [Far Down The Deep End] also affected them. Since Esperanza no longer had absurdly disproportionate Soul and Sanity values for someone of her level ¨C it was still very high, but not as relatively high compared to others unlike when she was still level 1 ¨C the effect wasn¡¯t that much stronger compared to back at the temple. Some weaker second tier demons dropped on the spot and likely died soon after, but the most notable effect on the others was how it seemed to amplify their emotions. In this case, the fear and dread that her presence brought them. Esperanza eventually walked out of the keep after killing at least a hundred or so of the demon guards, with other surviving guards running away or calling for help. The Supply Center was alert by that point, but it was an alert stature that guarded against her, inside the Center itself. As a result they were temporarily lax on security towards the outside. Which was why when the rest of the group struck, nobody noticed until a body happened to fall from the walkways near a very surprised demon below. Esperanza had done her job and kept the base occupied with her presence, allowing Ani and the rest of the group to take care of the demons patrolling as well as the sentries on the base¡¯s walls and watchtowers mostly unnoticed. By the time the demons inside noticed that there were other attackers from the outside, it was already far, far too late for them. All that awaited them was a merciless slaughter that left no survivors. CXXIV - A Merciless Slaughter Legisvula quietly crept behind the demon sentry on the walkway atop the supply center¡¯s wall. It was an easy task, even if he hadn¡¯t possessed his stealth skills, as the demon in question had her attention occupied by the ruckus happening in the middle of the base. It was far too easy to notice the now-burning keep, so the Exalted One had clearly outdone herself with the ¡°distraction¡± she was giving the rest. Before the demon could react or make a sound, Legisvula had already reached up ¨C he had to, since the demon was a Nevilosk almost twice his height ¨C and covered her mouth with one hand, while his other hand brought his short blade, crafted from the scythe-like arm of an arachnid, across the demon¡¯s throat, neatly slicing through her windpipe and blood vessels in one smooth motion. The demon in question gasped and whimpered as her lanky body slumped down to the walkway¡¯s floor, her struggles quickly weakening even as her lifeblood flooded out of her throat from the slit he just made there. Normally he would have used more of his skills to cover both him and his victim from sight, but in the present situation, the demons were too occupied to notice anyway. He quietly deposited the corpse against the wall, where it was mostly out of sight for anyone looking from below, before he crept towards the next sentry and repeated the process. In his mind he knew that Dali, along with two of Lady Ani¡¯s warriors were doing the same in different areas of the wall. One by one, the demons on sentry duty were taken out before they could raise any warning. The silence outside of the ruckus in the center of the base was proof of how efficient they were at their job. By the time Legisvula was done with his area ¨C something he knew when instead of another demon sentry, he only ran into corpses neatly tucked against the wall ¨C the fire in the keep at the center of the base had turned into a conflagration, and he could see the Exalted One walking out from the burning building, in her human-looking guise. He was not the least bit worried about the Exalted one, as they had already checked and found out that there was only a single fourth tier present in the base. That fourth tier was most likely within the very building the Exalted One just exited from, and therefore most certainly dead, if that was the case. Other than that single elite, none of the rest posed any real threat to the group. Not even to Iryl, who was weaker than the rest of them. Legisvula quietly sent out the signal that he was done towards those waiting outside, and within moments, he heard scrabbling from the outer walls as the rest of the group assigned to his section ¨C Val¡¯Kasj, Tiesya, and two grizzled warriors from Lady Ani¡¯s entourage ¨C climbed to the top of the wall and vaulted over with ease. A quick glance around showed him that the rest of their group had done the same on the other sections of the wall. After a quick exchange of silent gestures and nods, the other four descended from the walls and jumped towards the unsuspecting demons below. Legisvula himself stayed atop the wall. He and the others were tasked to keep an eye for runners and escapees, as they didn¡¯t want to let any survivors spread the news about their attack. They were bringing their whole force and not just the humans amongst them, after all. If the demons were to hear about a group of Old God worshippers being active and causing trouble in their territory, their reaction could be predicted. While the group could make use of such a reaction to distract the demons from the war effort, they felt that it wasn¡¯t the right time as of yet, and that such a move should be saved for later. Besides, to do so would likely cause the demons to hunt for any other hidden sanctuaries within their territories. None of the group wanted that, as that would likely lead to more tragedies like what happened to Navef. Like the very same tragedies that happened in their home village and turned the [Progenies of Yore] into what they were today. It was the sort of pain that none of them would have ever wished upon another. As such, Legisvula calmly kept his vigil atop the wall, keeping watch for demons attempting to escape ¨C who he¡¯d dispatch quietly from above ¨C while the rest of the group went deeper into the base to slaughter the rest of the demons present. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ****************************** Resitia felt that there wasn¡¯t much resistance from amongst the demons they ran into. While her group ¨C which included Mel-Ivas and Iryl as well as another of Ani¡¯s people ¨C were assigned to head into the base from the direction that would take them to the backside of the keep, there were still quite a few demons present in their path. None of the demons gave them much of a workout ¨C or experience for that matter ¨C though. In fact, even Iryl took down the demons that got in her way with ease, while Resitia just casually stabbed through the hearts or throats of any demon that crossed her path. Mel-Ivas was to their side, the girl getting more used to the combative part of her role instead of just staying back to heal them like before. It was quite surprising how far she had come in the short time that had passed, though to be fair she likely had some skills aiding her weapon proficiency as well. As it was, the group¡¯s combat medic was easily taking on several demons at once ¨C only one of them was even third tier, and low level at that ¨C with her mace and small shield, and while she couldn¡¯t take care of them as efficiently as Resitia or Iryl ¨C both of whom had far more combat-related skills ¨C she still took the demons out one after another with measured swings of her weapon and shield. Mel was never shy about using her shield as a bludgeoning tool as well, after all. There were a few demons ¨C mostly lower leveled ones ¨C that tried to run away from them instead of fighting. If the demons fled towards the supply center¡¯s interior, then they just let them do so, while those trying to escape to the outside would soon meet with another of Ani¡¯s warriors, a veteran scout who kept watch by the wall for the very purpose of intercepting such escapees. None would be getting away from their end. ****************************** On the west side of the base, Ilavakide took over the wall from where Dali had cleaned up the sentries. As an archer, she was particularly well suited to take care of escapees, and would be less useful in a melee anyway. On the other hand, Dali would be able to do more in the mess below, so it was a duty Ilavakide took to without complaint. She took an arrow out from the quiver slung across her back and nocked it on the string of her bow, drawing her bow to its full draw length while aiming in the same, practiced motion before she let loose. The arrow tore through the air and pierced through the throat of a running demon, with enough force behind it to pierce through the heart of the female demon behind the first one as well. Both demons slumped down to the ground as their life left their bodies, while Ilavakide just shook her head at the sight. The demons were probably lovers, or siblings, given the way the male one was half-dragging the female protectively behind him as they ran. Ilavakide had learned the hard way that there was no point in running unless one was strong enough to protect their loved ones, however. As for their deaths, she felt little from it. She was all too aware of the task imposed upon them as the [Progenies of Yore] by the deities that they worshiped and gave them their power. If she felt squeamish from just killing a pair of demons, then she wouldn¡¯t be qualified to help the Exalted One to end the world as they know it. After all, to end the world would also end all life that existed upon it. ****************************** ¡°[Winter Has Come]¡± intoned Dai¡¯Vasy quietly as she invoked one of her new skills. Lady Ani and the Exalted One had pointed out that the supply center¡¯s defenders were unlikely to pose much if any threat to the group, so it would be a good way for them to test out new skills under combat conditions without risking much. Dai¡¯Vasy had taken that advice to the heart and did just that. Her new skill was one that was close to the concept of a domain, where it would create an area around her that she could control through her mind and magic. It was not quite one yet at the time being, but she expected the skill to turn into one upon evolution, more likely than not. In its current state, the skills made an area around her far easier to affect with her magic, as she gave it a try by freezing everything within the range. Tents and buildings were suddenly covered by sheets of ice, whereas the demons in the area ¨C both those trying to fight back as well as those trying to escape were suddenly frozen still. None of the demons were powerful enough to fight the effects of her magical workings, and their bodies quickly turned stiff as a layer of ice covered them from head to toe. Before long, their hearts stilled as well as they quietly perished in the cold of her creation, turning the area she was in into a frozen wasteland where no life other than her could be found. ****************************** On the east, the corners of Belugur¡¯ani¡¯s lips slightly upturned as she noticed how the strike they planned was going better than what any of them had expected. The Exalted One had outdone herself, the distraction she caused made the demons far too busy and occupied to even notice the attack from outside until it was far, far too late. Ani had been worried about the possibility of some of the demons escaping and revealing their identity at first, since there were just too many people inside the supply center that the chances of them stopping everyone from escaping was low. With how the Exalted One caused many of the demons to gather in the center of the base, however, the chances of the demons successfully escaping dropped drastically. After all, they were being hemmed in by attackers from the four cardinal directions, and even if they managed to escape, there were still others waiting for them on the walls where the sentries used to be. Since the place itself was all locked up at night, that eliminated the chance of any quick escape, and anyone trying to escape would just be taken down by those on guard instead. A plan that worked out perfectly was a rare thing, and Ani knew all too well that it likely wouldn¡¯t be the case all the time, but the for the time being, she just cherished the rare feeling as she slaughtered any demon in her path as she made her way towards the keep where the Exalted One was still fighting. While she knew that the Exalted One would be fine, it wouldn¡¯t be nice to expect her to do most of the dirty work, after all. Her large harpoon in the lead, Ani charged through the demons who still had the presence of mind to defend themselves, and fought her way towards the center of the base. It took her longer than she liked to reach there, since she also had to pay attention so as not to let too many people get past her, but she made good time regardless. When Ani reached there, she couldn¡¯t help but to let out a whistle of appreciation at the carnage she witnessed. CXXV - The Next Step on the Road ¡°Es buena hora,¡± noted Esperanza as she noticed the other members of the group approaching her location. At that moment, there weren¡¯t too many of the supply center¡¯s guards and defenders left around her. She had already turned over a hundred of them into corpses, while the remaining thirty or so kept their distance and eyed her with dread visible in their eyes. The ones who hadn¡¯t already bled from all of their facial orifices while screaming gibberish due to prolonged exposure to the side effect of [Far Down the Deep End], that was. Esperanza had discovered ¨C by complete accident, at that ¨C that the skill¡¯s side effect actually worked in quite an insidious way. While it would show instant effects to people who failed the check by a certain margin, against others who were closer to passing the check, a prolonged, amplified exposure would erode their soul¡¯s defenses little by little, and eventually, their defenses would fail them, allowing the skill¡¯s side effects to claim them unchecked. More than a dozen other guards had already fallen to such an effect, and out of the remaining thirty, another dozen or so were showing signs that they too were on the verge of collapsing. Not that it mattered much for Esperanza. These guards were destined to die one way or another. They could end up falling into madness and die that way, meet with a more merciful and quick end by her blades, or try to escape and meet their end by her companions¡¯ weapons instead. One way or another, their lives were forfeit, and nothing would change that. Nothing in the vicinity has the power to change their fate. Esperanza casually flung her blades ¨C four of them this time, attached to tentacles thinned and disguised as ropes ¨C towards the nearest guards. Her blades moved as if they were alive, something that most people would have attributed to a skill of some sort, instead of them being literally part of her body. They slit the throat of five guards and decapitated three more in quick succession, causing the remaining survivors to take a step back in fright. The display also caused some of the guards to waver, which in turn resulted in their mental defenses breaking. As a result, another three of them wailed as they bled from every orifice on their head. One even clawed himself with his own hands, his sharpened nails tearing off skin and flesh with every move, screaming incoherently all the way until he dropped to the ground and stopped moving. It was a sight that broke the will of the few remaining guards as most of them turned and ran away. Not that it would have done them any good, as Esperanza could hear their screams and wails as they ran into the other members of her group before they went far. She already knew that no mercy would be shown tonight, and only destruction would be left behind. Of course, Esperanza had already secured documents and maps that looked like they would be of use to her group from the keep before she left. The keep behind her was already entirely engulfed in flames by now, which would burn everything and leave no traces of what had happened there. She knew that they would subject the rest of the supply center to the same treatment before they left. Let the mysterious conflagration and slaughter confuse the demons as to what had happened there, even if they likely had accurate guesses about it. Before too long, the noise in the distance quietened down, and most of the group gathered around Esperanza¡¯s location, save for the ones who were on lookout for escapees and survivors. They quietly exchanged gestures ¨C something they learned from Ani to allow them to communicate silently since using speech might have revealed their origins ¨C and confirmed that they had taken care of everything they planned to do in the supply center. With a final exchange of nods, the group then spread out once more as they tossed around lit torches or burning pieces of rubble to other buildings, causing the fire to spread out uncontrollably behind them. By the time the group had reached the walls of the supply center once more, all that was left behind them was a roaring conflagration that consumed most of the place, with the flames racing towards the wooden walls as well. Satisfied that they had left no witnesses behind, the group climbed over the wall and left, allowing the flames to erase the tracks they had left behind. The conflagration roared to life upon touching the wooden wall and soon engulfed it as well, with the fire visible from far away. Meanwhile, the culprits of said fire were gathered in the woods nearby. They waited a couple hours more to ensure that nobody had survived due to some fire resistance skills or the like and tried to escape. While Esperanza had [Soul Sense] to check, she disliked completely relying on the skill. Where there existed a skill to detect, there likely also existed ways to avoid said detection, after all. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. As such she considered blindly trusting something a skill told her to be unwise. ¡°What do we do next?¡± asked Val¡¯Kasj while they waited for the fire to die out. Some of the group were spread out around the supply center just to make sure there were no survivors escaping from the blaze, but more than half of them were gathered together to discuss their next steps. Val¡¯Kasj was naturally amongst them as he had become sort of a big brother figure to the other [Progenies of Yore] by virtue of being the first and oldest of them. The taciturn boy was not one for many words and usually went straight to the point, which also helped simplify things when they needed to discuss matters. ¡°The Demon Territories should increase their alertness after what we just did, so it¡¯s unlikely that we could hit any other place as smoothly in the near future,¡± stated Ani. As the most experienced one amongst them, the progenies put quite a bit of value in her words, and Esperanza herself also valued the advice of a local who knew the world better than her. ¡°I would suggest we lay low for a while before we do more.¡± ¡°Pretend that we¡¯ve done enough until they let their guard down again, then?¡± asked Esperanza from the side, now back to her more familiar guise which almost looked like her previous form. Her guise also wore a long dress that was actually just part of her body that had shapeshifted to mimic a dress, as some might have noticed from the way the dress seemed to merge into her arm or leg at times. ¡°That¡¯s what I have in mind, Exalted One. Do you approve?¡± asked Ani with deference. Despite her greater experience and at the moment, superior strength, she still deferred to Esperanza, as in her eyes Esperanza was a messenger from the Deities they worshiped, one that carried out their will in the mortal world. ¡°It might also be for the best if we lay low in the human kingdom instead. The demons wouldn''t even dream of looking for us there.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the humans be a potential problem in that case, though?¡± asked Mel-Ivas with some doubt. The children from Navef knew that the humans of the world were little better than the demons, even if they didn¡¯t have a direct animosity with them as of yet. They were all worshipers and tools of the new gods after all, and thus were not to be trusted. ¡°Ah, but there¡¯s the key, young one. We have yet to do anything that would cause the humans to look for our presence, so as long as we avoid their eyes while we enter their territory and find a hiding spot, we should be safe there,¡± replied Ani with an understanding nod. ¡°In fact, I know of a few hideouts of fellow adherents of the old ways in this region of the human kingdom, so we might be able to stay at their place if they still live there.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a pretty sound plan,¡± noted Esperanza with a nod. Ani made her point that the humans had no reason as of yet to look for them, since they had done nothing that would cause the humans to even be aware of their presence. ¡°Also, once we have rested enough, I might attempt to come into contact with the human [Heroes]. They come from the same place as me, so there might be a way for me to convince them not to trust everything they have been told since coming here.¡± ¡°Do you believe it likely that they would hear you out, Exalted One?¡± asked Ani with some surprise. It was the first time that Esperanza mentioned how she and the human [Heroes] came from the same place, which surprised everyone gathered quite a bit. ¡°According to what I know, I have never heard of a [Hero] or [Champion] turning their backs on the new gods.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have mentioned it if I didn¡¯t happen to know them personally,¡± replied Esperanza with a shake of her head. Alissa O¡¯Connor was one of the very few people she¡¯d consider a true friend of hers back in school, and while she wasn¡¯t as close to Ethan Greene, she was quite familiar with him since he and Alissa were almost always found together. Of course, she didn¡¯t exactly have a good relationship with Joshua Smith, but two out of three was not bad odds. ¡°One of them is my good friend, even.¡± ¡°Huh. That¡­ does make the situation an unusual one¡­¡± admitted Ani after Esperanza gave a quick rundown on her relationship with the [Heroes]. ¡°I guess no [Hero] before this had people they know telling them the truth about what is happening in this world either, so they never have any reason to turn against the new gods¡­ If even one of the [Heroes] were to sympathize with our plight¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯d be a complete change of the situation,¡± said Tiesya as she processed the information from the discussion between Ani and Esperanza. ¡°The [Heroes] are far more publicly noticeable compared to us, so if even one of them were to turn against the new gods, it would be quite a blow against them, moreso if more than one did so.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t plan to contact them until after we¡¯ve rested and moved again, though,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. ¡°I¡¯m not g¨¹ey enough to bet everything on just one meeting, besides, if Oldies were right, the new gods might also be influencing the [Heroes] in covert ways. I want us to be prepared to escape in case things went poorly during my attempt.¡± ¡°A good precaution to take, Exalted One,¡± said Ani as she nodded in agreement. The experienced warrior had always favored plans that were foolproof and had contingencies in case things didn¡¯t go as expected. She was not someone who would bet everything on a single throw of the dice, like some young people might. As it was, Esperanza¡¯s intention to meet and talk with the human [Heroes] posed some risk to their activities, as if it went poorly, the humans would be made aware of their presence. On the flipside however, the potential payoff should the meeting go well was tremendous, and more than justified the gamble, Ani felt. Besides, she had a strong faith in the Deities of Yore, and believed that the messenger they sent to this world, one brimming with their power, would certainly act in accordance with their will. While Esperanza considered her relationship with Oldies more of a cooperative one, she was smart enough not to clarify that to the others. After all, it might get a bit complicated to explain to worshipers of some gods that she didn¡¯t exactly share their faith despite being those very gods¡¯ messenger in the mortal world and all that comes with it. 126 - Speculation After Success ¡°Enter,¡± said the old voice ¨C now sounding more chipper than Alissa ever recalled hearing ¨C from within the tent. Alissa entered the large tent that temporarily served as the new fort¡¯s command center to find both Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten seated next to a large map of the surrounding area, the two old knights seemingly pondering the situation presented on the map by way of a multitude of tokens placed on it. Three days had passed since their victory and the former demon encampment had changed to an unrecognizable degree already. Groups of engineers from Fort Ixlay had already created the foundations of what would later be a new fort in the location, and were just waiting on more engineers to be sent from the back lines to set up the walls. Unlike what Alissa would have expected, the construction focused entirely on the defenses of the new fort to be, instead of amenities for the people living inside it, other than some basic needs like latrine pits and the like. The people who lived in the fort lived inside tents and the few structures the demons had left behind, at least the ones that weren¡¯t damaged too badly from the fighting. Not even the high-ranked commanders were exempt from this, though as the [Heroes] Alissa and the rest of her party were assigned a few of the remaining buildings which were in better shape as their place of rest. It was clearly a favorable treatment compared to most everybody else, but none of the rank and file seemed to begrudge them the favoritism. ¡°Nadine said you asked for me, Sirs?¡± asked Alissa after she stepped into the tent. Most of the base¡¯s current inhabitants had been busy one way or another in the past few days. She herself ¨C along with the rest of her party ¨C had helped out with the construction efforts, and while the camp would be turned into a fort soon, they still erected wooden palisades for the time being that encircled the entire area. ¡°Yes, we did,¡± replied Sir Marsten, still looking rather comical with the tiny bit of fuzzy hair that had regrown on his head after his close encounter with the demon [Champion]¡¯s explosion just days ago. The old grizzled knight then gestured towards the map on the table and invited Alissa to peruse it, which she did, though she remained standing as there was no extra seating around the table. ¡°Tell me, Miss O¡¯Connor, what do you see when you look at the situation on the map before you?¡± Alissa took a glance at the two old knights first before she turned her eyes towards the map. Sir Inolet seemed to be hiding a smile behind his hand, and had a look of confidence tinged with amusement on his features. On the other hand, Sir Marsten looked as if he had given up on something, yet with a look full of hope as his eyes turned to Alissa. As for the map itself, she was familiar enough with the notations used in this world already, and knew that it depicted the eastern half of the frontline between the humans and demons. She was similarly familiar enough with the tokens used to represent military units and what they meant, so the picture presented by the map quickly translated itself in her mind into the overall situation on the eastern front. She immediately noticed that many of the human positions were notably further ahead ¨C often encroaching into formerly demon-held territories ¨C compared to before. It had only been three days since their victory in the far east end of the area depicted by the map, and she knew that even with the fastest courier available to the military it would have taken at least half a day for the news to spread over the front. Similarly any news they received would likely be half to a full day out of date, which meant that the positions she was looking at were from the day before. Based on that, she quickly came to a conclusion from the information available to her. ¡°A successful coordinated push along the eastern front within the last two days? Probably after news of our victory had spread out?¡± she asked, earning herself a satisfied nod from Sir Inolet and a sigh of relief from Sir Marsten. ¡°Considering the delays for communication¡­ they must have initiated the push the day after we won here then I assume?¡± ¡°Good observation,¡± praised Sir Marsten. ¡°I know they didn¡¯t exactly teach you [Heroes] that much about army tactics and strategy since that¡¯s not what you¡¯re meant for, but it still annoys me greatly that out of your entire party only three people, including you, managed to note such nuances from the situation on the map.¡± ¡°Only three?¡± asked Alissa with some surprise. ¡°You, Mister Greene, and Her Royal Highness the Fifth Princess,¡± replied Sir Marsten with a shake of his head, while Sir Inolet just openly laughed at him from across the table. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect much from the temple kids. They only ever get scriptures and dogmas crammed into their heads other than their skills and whatnot, and as for the maid and the guard, I hadn¡¯t expected them to be well versed in this field either,¡± he explained. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°But for a noble scion and a confidant of a prince to have no such knowledge is just inexcusable! What the hell have those brainless idiots back in the capital been teaching their young!?¡± yelled Sir Marsten as he continued his tirade. ¡°And they blame us old folk when things go poorly at the front lines while they pamper and fail to educate their young! Bloody self-serving assholes¡­¡± ¡°Do excuse old Marsten,¡± said Sir Inolet while still chuckling in amusement at his fellow old knight¡¯s ranting and tirades. ¡°He has never been happy with how the Kingdom has been preparing for the next war despite how we had been losing the last three wars to date. He was always of the opinion that we should have implemented much harder and stricter training programs, especially for the youths, nobility or otherwise.¡± ¡°You know it yourself, Inolet!¡± yelled Sir Marsten from across the table. ¡°The youth these days are mostly pampered flowers who knew of no world outside the garden they were raised in! Did you even see the face that young de Jardine made when we were cleaning up the corpses!? He looked as if he was about to vomit at the sight while in dismay at being made to do a job that was beneath him at the same time!¡± ¡°Point taken,¡± replied Sir Inolet nonchalantly at his old friend¡¯s tirade. ¡°Anyway, Miss O¡¯Connor, did you happen to notice anything else about the situation on the map? Something outside what you have already said thus far.¡± ¡°The west end didn¡¯t seem to be making much if any progress,¡± replied Alissa almost immediately to the question. ¡°I¡¯m not too familiar with the situation further west, but wasn¡¯t that where the other two [Champions] had been spotted at last?¡± ¡°Correct, and now it¡¯s all three, actually. We received reports of another possible [Champion] present during the assault on this base,¡± said Sir Inolet as he pointed towards a demon base far on the western end of the map using a stick. ¡°They also reported the demons present there to be fielding an elite strike force with artifact weapons and armor of a style not seen before.¡± ¡°Weapons and armor of an unknown style? Is it possible that the [Champion] is a craftsman of some sort then?¡± asked Alissa in turn with some surprise. She had thought that [Heroes]and [Champions] would mostly be of a combative bent, so she hadn¡¯t really expected a craftsman to be one. Even the history books she had read hadn¡¯t noted examples of non-combative heroes either. ¡°It isn¡¯t too unusual. We had a [Hero] who could turn our soldiers fearless with just his words many generations back, one who excelled in speech and motivation rather than combat,¡± explained Sir Inolet. ¡°Unfortunately, that lack of combat ability proved to be his downfall, and to the present day he was mostly excluded from most records, with the few that recorded his existence using him as an example of an ineffectual [Hero].¡± ¡°Huh,¡± noted Alissa as she pondered about that bit of information. If they could hide one [Hero]¡¯s existence then they could likely hide more, like some who might not be¡­ cooperative with the Kingdom or the Temple, for example. ¡°What about the western front? Did we receive any news from there as well or are we still waiting for information?¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t have anywhere near as much success as we had here in the east,¡± replied Sir Marsten, his tirade expended for the time being. ¡°The two suspected [Champions] we noted before could pretty much be confirmed as [Champions] now. Each of them had overturned the battlefield on their own when they were last seen, also the main reason the western thrust of the offensive met with more failure than successes.¡± ¡°That Ma¡¯Varok [Champion] we pegged as a brute earlier on turned out to have a keen strategic mind. He had been spotted in command of a demon horde where he directed them into a series of rapid hit and run maneuvers, keeping themselves out of our reach each time we reacted to their attack only to hit us somewhere else. It is frustration itself to fight against his army, supposedly, and that¡¯s while discounting the devastation he caused us when he led charges in person,¡± explained Sir Inolet with an annoyed sigh. ¡°The demons he led are supposedly praising his names at this point. We mistook a general who leads from the front as a mere brute in our assumptions before, and are now paying the price for that mistake,¡± said Sir Marsten with an equally loud but wistful sigh. ¡°The other demon [Champion] also proved to be a general, though instead of clever tactics and maneuvers we mostly noticed a greatly increased morale and courage amongst the troops they led.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t the demons always courageous to begin with though?¡± Alissa asked as she failed to comprehend what the old knight meant. ¡°To a point, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said Sir Marsten in reply. ¡°The demons under this [Champion]¡¯s leadership exhibited such high morale that they willingly went into suicidal charges, even when they were grossly underpowered compared to their opposition. Their army had been noted to have more older and weaker demons amongst their numbers, but those weak demons had been putting up a fight far more vicious than any of our strategists had imagined, and that¡¯s not considering the elites with them.¡± ¡°The demons under that [Champion] went for a war of attrition on us, sacrificing weaker soldiers to grind us down, and there was little we could do to counter her, at least not without some major reshuffling of our forces at the moment,¡± continued the old knight. ¡°If your party was at the western front, I have little doubt that you could likely defeat any of those [Champions], but with them being spread out like that, it also allowed them to cover far more ground than your party could.¡± ¡°Before you ask, we considered doing the same in reply to their tactics, but we have our worries about that as well,¡± said Sir Inolet before Alissa could say a word. ¡°For one, you yourself have fought one of the demon [Champions]. I believe you have noticed that she was quite powerful, did you not? Would you have been able to take her on in a one on one duel? Maybe with a few of your party members aiding you?¡± ¡°Depends a lot on how many of those undead abominations she had with her,¡± replied Alissa after some thought. ¡°If she just had two or three, then with around the same number of people we should be able to defeat her. The woman herself didn¡¯t seem to have much battle prowess and is completely reliant on her undead to fight for her.¡± ¡°The problem is that there are only three of you, and four of them. The demons would have their own equivalents to your [Companions] and [Associates] as well, so this is an issue we are still debating about.¡± 127 - Wild Guesses ¡°So, what do you think? Ol¡¯ Henri often said that knowing is half the battle, so I figured that if we could take a good guess at the identities of the other demon [Champions] we might be able to interpolate some ideas on what they are capable of and the sort of skills they¡¯re likely to learn in the future,¡± said Alissa to Ethan and Joshua. The three were gathered together ¨C which was a rarity as Joshua mostly kept to himself ¨C since the topic of discussion was something only they, as fellow summoned otherworldlers, could likely contribute to. Alissa had gathered what intelligence the Kingdom had on the other three demon [Champions], and shared them with the other two. When she had asked Sirs Inolet and Marsten the day before whether it would be useful to know who the other demon [Champions], or rather, [Great Champions], and predict what they would likely be capable of in the future from their identities, both old knights had given their approval. Apparently some [Heroes] in the past had done that as well, but it was not always a feasible thing to do. Sometimes the [Heroes] had simply never heard of their enemies before. Nothing to be done when that was the case, unfortunately. ¡°Not a bad idea, honestly. I think we should start with the obvious one, namely the one we just fought a week ago,¡± said Joshua, who seemed to be in a less taciturn and more cooperative mood that day. It was a fortunate thing as most of the time he kept to himself and only really talked with his teacher, Magus Drummond, and Vesta. ¡°Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.¡± ¡°Her skills definitely took some inspiration from that, yeah. Those undead things she made use of were clearly patchwork ones made by combining more than one body together,¡± added Ethan to the discussion. ¡°Some of her other skills are pretty classical for the necromancer type too, buffing her undead, debuffs, and even that explosion one. I¡¯d guess she¡¯d be pretty typical of the type, maybe with more emphasis on the creatures she built.¡± ¡°Considering how weak she herself seems to be in actual fighting, I find that a likely case, yeah. Definitely a case where killing her would probably neutralize her undead, though we didn¡¯t have a chance to test that last fight,¡± noted Alissa. To their side, Moira and Bronwen were present and took notes of the discussion, as any potential intelligence they could glean from the talk might be of use to the strategists and tacticians of the Kingdom. ¡°Will have to test that next time, though her creatures seemed to be pretty vigilant against ambushes.¡± ¡°More confirmation that she herself is weak in a fight, I feel,¡± suggested Joshua. ¡°If she herself is a powerful combatant as well, she wouldn¡¯t need to be as vigilant as she would be able to beat back ambushers on her own. She clearly was unable to do that and relied almost completely on her undead when we struck her back then.¡± ¡°Good point. Anything else to add about her?¡± ¡°Her corpse explosion skill likely can only affect the undead that¡¯s still¡­ active, for the lack of a better word,¡± replied Ethan. ¡°One of them was put down shortly before she pulled it off and the corpse was close to where I was. It was damaged from the explosion but didn¡¯t explode with the rest, so putting her undead down would likely neuter that skill.¡± ¡°Very good observation there. Please keep note of that,¡± said Alissa to the two noting down their words at the side. ¡°Also got to keep in mind that she didn¡¯t do it in the last fight, but what if she made use of those undead as¡­ well¡­ suicide bombers? We¡¯d be pretty hard-pressed to stop that, as it¡¯d take some skills even from us to put one down quickly,¡± Ethan added after some thought. ¡°Not sure if she just didn¡¯t think of it or had other reasons why she didn¡¯t do so.¡± ¡°Another worry to tack on the list, I guess,¡± noted Alissa with a sigh. ¡°Unless any of you got more to add about her, what guesses do you have on the others?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we have anywhere near enough information to even make an educated guess about the identity of two of them as of yet,¡± answered Joshua in a rare thoughtful look. ¡°What information we received so far has been too general in nature. It does little in helping narrow down the options simply because there are far too many possibilities that fall under that umbrella.¡± ¡°I get what Smith is saying,¡± affirmed Ethan. ¡°Take the craftsman one for example. The books we found on past [Great Heroes] indicated that they¡¯re often summoned from different time periods, so I think it¡¯s safe to assume that the [Great Champions] would work the same way. Because of that just because we found out who one of them is, it doesn¡¯t help narrow things down for the others.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Neither are they summoned from the same place. In fact all the records I¡¯ve read indicated that most of the time all four [Heroes] were people that have never interacted with one another in their life, often due to being from very different times and places,¡± said Alissa as she completed what Ethan had to say. ¡°That does help narrow it down somewhat, in that we can exclude possibilities from around 18th to 19th century England, but that¡¯s about it.¡± ¡°What clues we have on the craftsman are far too vague. They could be just about anyone, with far too many people fitting the criteria. All we know for certain is that they are capable of producing artifacts in some way,¡± said Joshua analytically. ¡°There are many famous craftsman and artisans from history, so what we know is far too little information to go on.¡± ¡°Fair point,¡± admitted Alissa. ¡°Same goes for the general-type one,¡± said Ethan. ¡°All we know is that their skills improve their people¡¯s morale greatly and they seem to specialize in large-scale buffs. Since there had been no mention of them leading from the front, I am inclined to think that they might be from a period of history closer to our time, since generals leading from the back were more common then.¡± ¡°Greene made a good point. Other than that, we still know too little. Again, it¡¯s a case of there being far too many possibilities on who this one could be. Many generals from history were known to be good orators or motivators to their soldiers, so it could be any of them,¡± added Joshua. ¡°What he mentioned about not leading from the front also makes sense. That¡¯s something you see done mostly in older times.¡± ¡°Guess that¡¯s that on those two for the time being then,¡± conceded Alissa who also felt that they had far too little to go on when it came to guessing the identities of those two [Great Champions]. ¡°What do you all think about the other one? The one who led charges from the front?¡± ¡°Several points of facts come to mind about him,¡± said Ethan quickly. ¡°For one, that habit of leading charges from the front could likely be seen as the reverse of my previous point. It could indicate someone who came from the older part of history, when such a practice was still relatively commonly seen in battles and wars.¡± ¡°On top of that, you said that Sir Inolet informed you that he led his troops in a bout of hit and run attacks, pulling off mobile warfare tricks with expertise, didn¡¯t you?¡± asked Ethan, to which Alissa replied with a nod. ¡°That sort of mobile warfare would be hard to pull off using infantry, while the ability to arrange for thousands of cavalrymen to pull it off flawlessly couldn¡¯t have come easy.¡± ¡°He¡¯s also supposedly skilled with both the sword and the bow, on top of being a very skilled rider himself, wasn¡¯t he?¡± added Joshua as he caught on to where Ethan was leading the conversation. ¡°Not too many cultures in history practice mobile warfare while being skilled riders who use both melee and ranged weapons skillfully. That helps narrow it down quite a bit.¡± ¡°That it does. I have my own guesses about that one. We don¡¯t know enough to guess the exact person but knowing more about them would help us formulate proper responses I think,¡± said Alissa. ¡°Want to bet on where our mystery [Great Champions] likely hailed from? I¡¯m guessing they might be related to the Mongol hordes, probably Genghis Khan¡¯s era.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the safe bet and you know it, Allie,¡± mocked Ethan half-heartedly. ¡°I¡¯m not too certain on that, though. Whatever decided who gets summoned already kinda threw us a curveball with Mary Shelley of all people, so I¡¯m gonna bet that it¡¯ll be people from elsewhere. I say they¡¯re from Attila the Hun¡¯s horde of warriors.¡± ¡°Both of you are just picking the easy guesses,¡± complained Joshua with a sneer. ¡°That said, what Greene said makes sense. So I¡¯m placing my bet that it¡¯s some native american instead. All records agreed that they too were skilled with such tactics and were great mounted archers.¡± ¡°Bold,¡± admitted Ethan reluctantly. ¡°What matters now is what can we do with this information?¡± asked Joshua. ¡°I¡¯m going to have them pass on one copy to Sirs Inolet and Marsten for them to peruse, of course,¡± said Alissa as she pointed to Moira and Bronwen who were rapidly writing down what they had said so far ¨C not an easy feat using a quill ¨C while remaining silent on the side. ¡°We should add in everything we know about the civilization from our guesses in case it could help them out in making countermeasures. They should know better what to do than us in this sort of thing.¡± ¡°Yeah, they didn¡¯t exactly teach us that much about commanding soldiers on a larger scale and the like. Allie had it right in that they¡¯d be able to come up with countermeasures better than any of us could,¡± admitted Ethan. Most of the things they had been taught were either fighting skills or how to work in small units, with little to no lessons on larger scale tactics. It seemed that the locals were not too keen about the summoned [Heroes] subsuming their military and all. That said, the demons seemed far more willing to give their summoned [Champions] free reign and even command over their forces, if the reports that two of the [Great Champions] being in direct command of the armies they led were correct. All three of them then listed out everything they could recall about the cultures they guessed the [Great Champions] might be from. Anything that they thought might be helpful, they listed it. Even minor trivia like the lifestyles of people from said cultures ¨C or at least what little bits the three knew from what they read or watched in their previous world ¨C were listed to be scribbled down. None of them were certain how much what they had guessed would be of use, but Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten had informed Alissa that every little bit she could offer might be of use. Alissa had to admit that while she still held many doubts about the Kingdom and their cause as a whole, she couldn¡¯t help but feel some attachment to some people. Like to some of her party members ¨C namely Nadine, Maribel, and Moira, all of whom seemed to genuinely intend to befriend her not because she was a summoned [Hero], but for just being herself ¨C or Sir Inolet, who while a harsh teacher, seemed to actually care for her and Ethan quite a bit in a way that might be considered grandfatherly. Even if she were to discover that the Kingdom had lied to her and the others in the future, she had a feeling that those who were genuine to her might not have been involved, and might even listen to her. Either that or they were all the best actors Alissa had ever seen in her life. CXXVIII - Choosing a Route ¡°Which way, then?¡± asked Esperanza as she looked over a large map of the far eastern end of what was currently the frontlines of the war between the demons and the humans. The map had been one of their more useful loot from the supply center they had eradicated just two nights ago, and it even included some details of the closer regions of the human kingdom across the border. ¡°The closest hideout of our brethren that Agur-Bas had notes of used to be located here,¡± said Ani as she pointed her finger towards a mountain range on the far eastern side of the map. Esperanza noticed that the place was close to the current border, though the mountain range itself was flanked by fortifications on both sides. Likely meant to stop the demons from pushing into the human lands from that side, she guessed. ¡°That said, it was a small community, barely a couple hundred, and that was over a couple centuries ago, so I am not certain whether they would still be around or not,¡± admitted Ani openly. She then shifted her finger to trace along the mountain range until she pointed at a large mountain that capped the range¡¯s northern end, deeper in the human lands. ¡°On the other hand, there used to be a larger hideout situated in this mountain. We used to have direct contact with them as there were some water routes we could take directly to the underground shelter, and the last time we contacted them was closer to fifty years ago.¡± Esperanza nodded as she noticed how the mountain was located right next to a gulf that sliced through the land and basically turned the land to the east of the mountain range into an area mostly cut off from the rest of the continent other than to the south. Of course, she also guessed that the human kingdom likely built a bridge or something to traverse the gulf, since they bothered to build a fort at the southern end of that strip of land. If the visitors were of Gour-ug¡¯rech heritage like Ani, it would be easy enough for them to enter the hideout directly from the gulf, where underground rivers led straight to a cavern complex deep within the mountain itself. For Esperanza¡¯s group, though, they would have to take the more difficult land route, and likely scour the mountain for an entrance to the hideout. ¡°If the map is accurate, the humans didn¡¯t seem to develop that area too much, so the chances of at least the larger settlement being safe should be decent,¡± noted Dai¡¯Vasy. The young mage girl was always rather studious, and she had been learning from Ani¡¯s scouts on how to read maps and the likes, in case such skills would be needed and they happen to be separated from each other. ¡°Which route would we take to get there, though?¡± ¡°There are several options to take,¡± outlined Egalus, a Ma¡¯Varok-Gour-ug¡¯rech hybrid and one of the more senior warriors from Ani¡¯s group. He was a veteran fourth-tier scout, one who was highly skilled in reconnaissance and pathfinding. Dai¡¯Vasy had been taking lessons from him as well. ¡°The safest path if we prioritize stealth would be to directly climb the mountain range itself. The range is uninhabited, so neither the humans nor the demons would have much presence there.¡± ¡°Of course, the terrain would be difficult, and finding our way would be challenging. There are likely many wild animals and monsters inhabiting the region as well, but the chances of us being discovered should we take this route is nearly non-existent,¡± elaborated the old scout as he traced a path through the range with his finger. ¡°Of course, it would likely take the longest, due to the terrain involved, and we¡¯d be camping out in the open all the way until we reach a shelter.¡± ¡°What about the other routes?¡± asked Tiesya. Val-Kas¡¯j usually acted as a leader of sorts for the [Progenies of Yore], but when he wasn¡¯t around ¨C he was standing guard outside to make sure they were safe at the moment ¨C the youngsters usually listened to Tiesya. Perhaps it had to do with how they were the oldest of the children, or how they were the first two to reach the second tier back then. ¡°This route here would be easier to traverse, but we would have to pass quite close to the eastern fort, and there¡¯s no cover to be had around that area,¡± pointed out the veteran scout as he traced a route that hugged the mountain range¡¯s east side with one finger. ¡°Besides, the settlements were both on the western side of the mountains, so we would have to cross over the mountain range itself if we take this route.¡± The members of the group that were gathered nodded in agreement at the old scout¡¯s analysis. While saving time was good, it was probably not worth the risk to potentially expose themselves as they enter the human lands, and that route would force them to cross the mountain range anyway in the end, so there weren''t as much benefits as expected. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°This one has similar issues,¡± said Egalus as he traced another route, this time near the mountain range¡¯s western side. ¡°The humans kept the area between the mountain range and their fort clear of obstacles, so they would likely notice if we crossed through that area. On the other hand, this is probably the most expedient of the routes available to us, all considered.¡± ¡°There¡¯s another then?¡± asked Legisvula from the side. ¡°We could take a detour this way,¡± stated the old scout as this time he traced a route that started on the vast plains further west from the fort, then made a curve that cut east towards the mountain range. ¡°This entire plain is a dungeon of pretty high level, so the humans had been using it as a natural barrier of sorts. We will still risk meeting some people if we take this route, but they are likely in small enough groups for us to deal with in this case, while the dungeon itself should not be as dangerous as the arachnoid one we had gone through.¡± ¡°On the other hand, this detour would cost us quite a bit of time as well, and we¡¯d be crossing larger areas of the human kingdom in the process, so it has its own risks as well. It is likely the most comfortable route to take, but I¡¯m not sure whether it¡¯d be worth taking it due to those issues,¡± he admitted after some thought. ¡°Those would be the best routes we could take to our destination, I believe.¡± ¡°I concur with senior Egalus¡¯ suggestion,¡± stated the younger scout from Ani¡¯s group with a nod. The younger woman deferred quite a bit to the older Egalus, since she was one of his students as well. ¡°The routes he outlined should be the most efficient ones we could take, at least, if we assume that the map is accurate enough.¡± ¡°The demons should have their own spies inside the human kingdom,¡± noted Ani thoughtfully. ¡°They might not be able to find much in terms of military secrets, but things like terrain and location of fortifications should be something they could find out reasonably, I think,¡± she added. ¡°Therefore I think we could rely at least somewhat on this map we have, though we should be prepared to adjust if it turns out to be inaccurate.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± said Esperanza in approval of the suggestion. ¡°Any preference to which route we¡¯ll take then?¡± ¡°I favor going through the mountain range,¡± said Ani after some thought. ¡°The mountain range itself started within the demon territories, so we would be able to use it to avoid any potential pursuers as well. It would also be the path where we¡¯re least likely to be noticed. The humans likely paid close attention to the areas closer to the foot of the mountain, but not the higher regions.¡± Esperanza nodded as what Ani said made sense. The mountain range in question was tall enough that its higher regions were covered in snow and ice all year round, which made crossing through them difficult, and that was before considering the local wildlife. Still, though, their group was small and each of them had high personal power, so that should allow them to go through that route without too much trouble. ¡°We have been keeping our identity hidden during our activities in the demon territories, so I guess it makes sense to do the same in the human kingdom,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°Even if we won¡¯t act against them until the demons start failing badly, keeping our existence a secret seems to be the wiser course of action to take here, so I understand where you¡¯re coming from.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just more nights sleeping in the open and having to deal with wildlife,¡± said Resitia with a shrug. The young human girl was colder and more detached than the rest of the children. Then again, she also had the misfortune to witness her parents and older sister being slaughtered before she was brought to flee Navef back then. While she had attained some sense of closure after she talked with their souls, the girl was still changed by the tragedy. Esperanza remembered how the girl used to be more bright and cheerful during the early days of her stay in and near Navef, and how she sometimes visited her little hut to play with Dali and Gordy back then. These days, the girl was more taciturn and closed, and Esperanza also noticed how Resitia was often rather reckless when fighting. Almost as if she no longer had much of a care in the world. So far her higher stats from the high quality classes she possessed along with her powerful skills as well as friends who watched over her back while she fought had kept her safe, but Esperanza had noticed Resitia¡¯s tendency for recklessness and kept note of it. The other children were likely too young to understand why she behaved that way, but Esperanza had a good guess why. Trauma and its lingering effects were not too different, whether it was on Earth or Ephemera after all. It was why Esperanza often paired Resitia with Mel-Ivas when she could, as well as a couple of the older veterans from Ani¡¯s group. They were there in case the girl¡¯s reckless fighting caught up to her. Mel-Ivas¡¯ healing skills could mitigate any injury Resitia took, while the veterans would be more likely to notice when she got in over her head and would be able to interfere accordingly. She had informed Belug-ur¡¯ani herself about it as well, and Ani had agreed that trying to quietly take care of the girl until she eventually came to peace with herself might be the best they could do at the moment. None of the group were licensed therapists, while Esperanza herself, for all the worship that the others gave her, was just a teenager herself, and barely knew much more compared to them. Likely less compared to the veterans, she felt. It was one reason she often acquiesced to suggestions from Ani or her older warriors, as they were far more familiar with Ephemera compared to her and likely knew better on what to do and what not to do. It was not a case of submission on her part, but more of accepting the wisdom of the locals who had lived there all their lives, instead of foolishly trying to do everything herself. Even if she might not be sane anymore ¨C was anyone of them still sane with all their sanity values well in the negatives? It was something she had often wondered, and honestly felt that the explanation could make sense, or could just as easily be a convenient lie ¨C Esperanza still knew better not to be a fool whose ego would just end up getting others killed. CXXIX - Entering the Elefas Mountain Range ¡°Brr¡­ This is still summertime, right?¡± questioned Iryl as she wrapped her arms around her body, pulling the thick fur cloak that covered her form tighter. The group had traveled from their hiding place towards the part of the Elefas mountain range that lay within the Demon territories, and started their ascent from there. The first couple of days was normal enough, but as they climbed higher, the weather got colder and colder. Once they reached the upper third or so of the first mountain, the rocks were buried within layers of snow and ice, and the group had to carefully tread their way around, since it was far too easy to lose one¡¯s footing under such conditions, or to fall into a snow-covered crevasse. Fortunately, with their levels of power, even such incidents should be survivable. At the moment the group was around three-quarters the way up the first mountain¡¯s southern face, intending to go around the mountain where it was narrower and hop over to the next mountain, which was even taller than it. The first mountain was relatively uninhabited, probably due to its proximity to the demon territories, with mostly unthreatening wild animals living on its slopes. What few monsters the group ran into escaped in fear the moment they noticed the group¡¯s presence. Wild animals tended to have keen senses, and even the monsters would rarely try to attack creatures much stronger than itself. Because of that, their journey up the mountain, while rather tiresome and difficult, was quite safe and uneventful so far. Although the bone-piercing cold at the high altitudes ¨C despite it still being late summer ¨C was starting to bother some of the weaker members of the group, like Iryl. ¡°Actually, why are you two so relaxed in this weather?¡± asked Iryl towards Mel-Ivas and Dai¡¯Vasy who were walking near her with notably fewer articles of clothing on, unlike the bundled-up human girl shivering within the multiple layers of cloth and fur that covered her. ¡°I can get that Tiesya and Resitia didn¡¯t feel the cold that much, what with them having much higher Body stats and all that. Ila and Nali being unbothered also made sense, and I long stopped questioning whether Val and Legi ever felt cold since that time they had a snowball fight in their underwear that one time it snowed in the village, but what about you two???¡± ¡°Oh, one of my skills can passively adjust my body to its surrounding conditions, something about allowing me to do my job regardless of the situation,¡± said Mel-Ivas with a shrug of her shoulders. As a [Progeny of Yore: The Bringer of Mercy], apparently her class considered that she might need to help people in less than friendly environments, and gave her a skill to alleviate the issue. ¡°I do feel the cold, but it¡¯s not that bad, kinda like a comfortable autumn breeze, I¡¯d say.¡± When Iryl sighed and turned her face towards Dai¡¯Vasy instead, she found the younger girl giving her a look that showed surprise that she even asked the question. ¡°I¡¯m a [Mistress of Arcane Winter], Iryl. I¡¯m pretty much immune to the cold. If anything, I could likely bring out more power from my skills in environments like this,¡± said Dai¡¯Vasy in the end. As if to demonstrate her words, she conjured three orbs of ice and started to juggle them with one hand. ¡°I thought the class¡¯ name was obvious enough, you know?¡± ¡°Gah. I guess it did escape my mind for a while there,¡± admitted Iryl with a bashful look. The girl tightened her cloaks around her once more, still shivering in the cold as they carefully navigated through the rough terrain of the mountain. Fortunately the first mountain¡¯s slope was not too steep, so rather than climbing it, the group could pretty much walk up the mountain instead. ¡°Any chance you two got some skills that could make it more comfortable for me?¡± ¡°I can set up a ward that would prevent the cold from seeping in, but that''s something meant to be stationary, so at best I could do that when you¡¯re sleeping later tonight. As for something while we walk¡­ I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t have anything like that handy,¡± said Dai¡¯Vasy after some thought, giving Iryl a somewhat apologetic look as she said so. ¡°If you¡¯re that cold maybe you should ask Miss Ani for more warm clothes.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to move properly if I add any more than this,¡± admitted Iryl with a barely perceptible shrug of her own. As it was, she already wore so many layers on herself that she almost looked like a ball of fur from afar, and all the clothing she wore definitely proved quite detrimental to her ability to navigate the terrain, though it wasn¡¯t so bad to the point that she needed assistance¡­ yet. ¡°Well, afraid we can¡¯t help you much then, Iryl. Sorry about that,¡± said Mel-Ivas as she lightly hopped over a hidden crevasse that Tiesya had stepped into only moments ago. The half-nevilosk girl had somehow transferred her weight back to the foot that was still on solid ground and arrested her fall that way, before she leapt across the now-exposed crevasse. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Eh, was just hoping,¡± said Iryl in return. ¡°Guess I¡¯ll have to make do with shivering some more to keep warm till we stop for the night.¡± The group continued to hike through the mountain until they reached the point where the first mountain met the second. The second mountain in the mountain range was even taller and larger, and where the first mountain met it three-quarters of the way to its peak, it was only around two-thirds the way up on the second mountain. Instead of climbing further, since the next mountain in the range was shorter and lower, the group directly traversed around the mountain instead. The sun set before they managed to cross a quarter of the distance around the mountain, however, so they stopped for the night at a small plateau that was just large enough for them to set up tents on. Part of the group set up simple tents ¨C mostly just simple, low covers for them to sleep under ¨C while another part began to set up the campfire and cooked for dinner as the rest kept watch around the area. That high up on the mountain, the icy wind was the only thing that made a sound most of the time, though from time to time they could hear the shrill cries of some kind of bird that happened to be passing by. Dai¡¯Vasy kept her word and set up a ward around the area the group camped in, one that prevented the cold wind from blowing in. Since the ward stopped most of the wind, that also made it easier for the members who were setting up the campfire, who gave the girl several grateful nods when she passed by. Before too long, a bunch of low tents were set on the plateau, while the smell of food wafted through the air. Since they had pilfered quite a bit of fresh, good quality foodstuff from the bases they hit as well as the supply center, the group had no need to ration themselves much, especially since Esperanza¡¯s [Storage Dimension] and many of the packs they carried were still filled to the brim with plenty more food to go. Fortunately, the cold weather of the mountaintops helped preserve the food they carried and made them last longer. Of course, the items that were fresh were the first to spoil, so that night the group cooked the last of their fresh vegetables and meat into a hearty stew that they¡¯d dip their hard bread into to soften and flavor it. The hot stew did a lot to chase away some of the cold, though as the night fell upon them, the temperature dipped further and the group quickly retired into their tents for the night, other than a few who were taking up guard duty that night. None of the group complained about their sleeping arrangement. By that point, all of them were long accustomed to sleeping on hard ground ¨C or as the case was that night, on the hard stone of the mountain ¨C with little more than a thin bedroll as their bedding. The simple tent kept the air within the enclosure warmer than outside, and having them sleep two to a tent also helped. Iryl was woken up from her sleep by Tiesya a couple of hours before dawn. She and Resitia ¨C her tentmate ¨C happened to have the last shift that night, so they quickly got up and vacated the tent to allow Tiesya and Mel-Ivas who had the previous shift to make use of it. That way the inside of the tent was already warmed by their body heat, which allowed for a more comfortable nap for the other two. The night passed uneventfully until it gave way to dawn ¨C Iryl watching with some awe as the morning sun crested the mountain peak to their east ¨C and the rest of the group woke up. They made some quick and simple breakfast of porridge enriched and flavored with cheese and a bit of dried meat to warm themselves up before they packed up the tents and continued on their way. It took them most of the day to circle around the mountain even with their high stats, mostly because of the difficult terrain. Some parts of the mountain had steep slopes that made the group cross it by clinging to the mountainside while shifting their bodies towards the other side slowly. For safety reasons, Esperanza had everyone tied to each other by ropes around their waist while they did that. She herself was the only one who didn¡¯t need the rope for safety, but also tied it to herself regardless as she led them across the section. Her amorphous body was a great help as she could simply grasp onto even the slightest protrusions firmly as she led the way for the others. As she did so, Esperanza also marked out handholds and footholds for the others, or created some in regions without any convenient ones to use. Once they got past the steep section, the group found themselves within the territories of some monsters that engaged them shortly afterwards. The creatures they ran into reminded Esperanza a bit of the legend about centaurs, but with goats instead of horses. Also the ¡°human¡± portion of their bodies were covered with fur while their heads were very goat-like as well, albeit with three eyes set in a triangular manner and a mouth full of dagger-like fangs. Clearly no vegetarians, these. The creatures themselves were mostly only mid third tier or so, so they posed minimal challenge to the group, despite the home ground advantage the creatures enjoyed. With the way the goat-taurs agilely darted around the mountain slope as if it was flat ground, it was difficult for most of the party to catch them, so they fought defensively and let the creatures attack them and break their bodies on the group¡¯s defense instead. In the end, after around an hour or so of fighting, the goat-like creatures fled back to wherever their nest was. Esperanza thought that the turning point might have been when she killed an early fourth tier creature that was probably the herd¡¯s leader, since they retreated shortly after that, leaving the bodies of their dead behind. Out of curiosity, the group dragged the carcass of the leader of the herd with them and roasted it for their dinner that night. The goat-like creatures had fought in a simple manner and didn¡¯t show any sort of odd tricks, other than their uncanny agility on the mountain slopes. That sort of fighting style generally meant that the creature was edible, as poisonous creatures in Ephemera generally made use of their poison while fighting. As for whether the meat was digestible or not, with the whole group being in their third to fourth tiers, even the weakest of them wouldn¡¯t fall ill from eating bad food unless it actually contained poisons within them. Esperanza had tested the creature¡¯s flesh first, since her body was the one that was less likely to be affected by such things, but didn¡¯t feel anything odd, so they cooked and dined on the carcass that night. The goat-taur¡¯s meat was rather tough and quite gamey, but it was fresh meat after all, so that made it quite a treat to have. Some of the group favored that sort of meat anyway. CXXX - Came and Went ¡°Ani, I think I found it,¡± said Esperanza as one of the tentacular limbs she sent into the snow to look for the likely hidden entrance to the hideout reached an empty space. Given her amorphous anatomy, it was a matter of simplicity for her to shift one of her eyes towards the tip of said limb, which revealed a rather large cavern that went deep into the mountain, buried and hidden under the thick layer of snow. Belug¡¯ur-ani herself had never been to the hideout they were searching for, but she had been made aware of its general location by elders from the temple in Agur-Bas. One of the elders from several generations ago had apparently visited the hideout when he was young, and its location had been passed down to later generations. Still, the area they had to search to find the hideout was quite huge, and on top of all that, the whole place was covered in snow and ice. Esperanza wasn¡¯t sure if it was always the case, but if so, then the snow definitely made the hideout a safer place, simply because it was absurdly difficult to find it unless one already knew where to look. Most of the searching was done by Legisvula, the two scouts from Ani¡¯s retinue, Dali, and Esperanza herself, as only they had the abilities that would allow them to search for the hideout¡¯s entrance underneath all the snow. The scouts all had skills that enabled them to detect the lay of the land in their vicinity, while Dali could ¡°feel¡± the space around him and teleport over to check suspicious ones. Esperanza herself simply made use of her amorphous body to search the region by brute force, which was easier to do when she could just split her limbs into tendrils and use them to dig into the snow, shifting an eye to any that found large spaces underneath. It was exactly one such limb that discovered the large cavern just moments ago. The work to dig into the snow until they reached the cave was easy enough, as the group had many Body-oriented fourth tiers with them. It only took minutes for them to clear the snow around the entrance Esperanza found and expose the large cavern underneath. The cavern itself was deep, and none of them could really see through its depths. ¡°This seems about right, from the records I have read,¡± said Ani with a nod. They had been searching for the hideout for three days already, having reached the right mountain in the range roughly two weeks after they entered the region. The delay was somewhat bothersome, but everyone felt that it was the least they could do to ascertain whether their fellows in the hideout had survived the years that passed or not. As for the cavern itself, the insides were naturally so dark ¨C to be expected given its location and how any light hole would likely be buried under the snow ¨C that the humans in their group couldn¡¯t see a thing ahead of them, fourth tier stats or not. The group had come prepared though, and a few torches nearly solved that problem. Soon after they walked into the cavern everyone admitted that the hideout was a good one for its purpose indeed, though it must have been quite a pain to have to clean the air and light holes so often, as they regularly got covered with snow. Esperanza had cleaned several she found along the way, which helped bring some brightness and fresh air into the place. To their dismay, however, even after they traveled deeper into the cavern and found an area that clearly was inhabited at some point of time given the way how many small caves were fashioned into residences there, they found not a single living person within the old hideout. Esperanza couldn¡¯t find a thing even with her [Soul Sight] and [Soul Sense], neither did the other scouts of the group. On the other hand, they had not discovered any trace of corpses or violence either, which meant that it wasn¡¯t likely that the place had been discovered and slaughtered by others. In fact, once the group went into and checked a few of the former residences, they found that the places they checked were quite neat, as if the people who lived there had simply packed up and left instead. It was within those residences that they found more clues, and guessed that the place was likely still inhabited until a few decades ago, when for some reason the people living there made a decision to leave it. As for the reason itself, it was Dai¡¯Vasy who eventually pointed it out after they had searched more of the former residences. ¡°Don¡¯t you think that too few of these homes look¡­ lived in?¡± she asked the others. ¡°We¡¯ve gone through most of them and less than half look as if anyone had been living there at all compared to the rest. That¡¯s far too many empty houses if you ask me.¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°A population crisis of some sort then?¡± suggested Ani with a thoughtful nod. The people in Ephemera was familiar with the idea that inbreeding was a dangerous thing in the long run, but smaller places like this hideout, which didn¡¯t have that many people and couldn¡¯t really attract newcomers much, would likely run into that issue in the long run as eventually everyone would end up being relatives to each other. ¡°Agur-Bas had enough people to avoid something like that, and from what you told me of your old village, your place used to be larger too. This place might not have that luxury.¡± ¡°So you think they left because their population dropped so low they might not be able to support themselves anymore or risk excessive inbreeding if they went on?¡± asked Esperanza just as she left another cavern she finished checking. There were no real clues as to the whereabouts of the people who used to live in the hideout, but they still had a few more old cave residences to check. ¡°I think it¡¯s the most plausible reason. They wouldn¡¯t have left if things didn¡¯t get that bad. Egalus found the old mushroom farm deeper in the cavern just earlier. From his guess with how the place had looked as if it had at first been overgrown with them then died out, the people here left no longer than two or so decades ago,¡± said Ani in return. ¡°Pretty recent timing, all considered.¡± ¡°There¡¯s still a few places left to check. Hard to tell which of them might be the residence of whoever used to be chief here, but if they left peacefully, they likely left something behind there,¡± she added. ¡°The old priest told me that in such an eventuality they¡¯re supposed to leave behind a message to inform others of their departure, in case visitors from elsewhere like us came over after they were gone.¡± ¡°Bueno, est¨¢ bien,¡± approved Esperanza. It sounded like a good proposal to her to find out what happened to this place that made the inhabitants leave, in case it might affect their journey. Besides, it was likely getting late outside by then, so they would likely spend the night in the old hideout anyway. No reason not to search it some more. Not thirty minutes later, Legisvula called her and Ani over to what he assumed was the place where the former chief of the hideout lived. Sure enough, there was a message left there like Ani said. The message was carved in the stone walls of the cavern, which was as good an option as any when it came to longevity, done in the same letters she had seen the priests in Agur-Bas used. Most of the [Progenies of Yore], as children from an isolated village deep within the woods that had lost a lot of their people and history, were illiterate. Even so, Legisvula recognized the writing for what it was as they all had seen other similar writings in Agur-Bas, even if they couldn¡¯t read them. ¡°You guessed right,¡± said Esperanza after she read through the message. She had been closer and arrived there before Ani did, having read through the message by the time the warrior woman arrived. ¡°Their population kept decreasing until there were too few of them to sustain themselves in the long run. I¡¯m not sure what this word is, though, should be some sort of place,¡± she added while pointing at one of the words in the message. Esperanza could read the languages of Ephemera since she had [Language Understanding], but that skill only translated words and phrases she already had concepts for, so every now and then a word she didn¡¯t recognize would show up. This was one such case. ¡°If I remember right, This is the name of the larger settlement further north. The people here likely left to go there once they realized that they could no longer sustain their existence here,¡± Ani pointed out. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to trek further north from here, but we always had some plan to go there anyway, did we not?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s all in the same route anyway,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. The main reason they wished to reach another hideout in the human lands was not just to lay low and hide, but also to learn more about their surroundings. The locals would naturally be far more familiar with that, and would be of great help to them on the matter. ¡°I guess we should tell everyone that the mystery¡¯s solved and get ready to make ourselves comfortable for the night, then.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have them clean up a few of the places and get some dinner cooking,¡± replied Ani with a nod. The older warrior woman still considered herself beneath Esperanza or even the progenies, but if Esperanza gave a command, then technically she was just relaying her words over, so she had no qualms ordering the progenies around in that case. Which was a good thing, as the kids, while very powerful for their level, were still naive in many other ways, and having an experienced person they listen to would help with those issues. Esperanza herself was not only not that much older than some of the older progenies, but also had even less experience than them about life in Ephemera, so she couldn¡¯t take that role. Belug¡¯ur-ani was nothing if not efficient as a commander, as she had grown into that role over decades amongst the guards of Agur-Bas. By the time Esperanza left the former chief¡¯s residence after having made one last thorough check to make sure she hadn¡¯t missed something, several of the other old residences were already being cleaned by the progenies and ani¡¯s retinue alike. A few others ¨C the ones who were actually good at cooking, like Mel-Ivas and a few others ¨C were working on something that already started to smell nice in a large pot they found left behind in one of the houses. At first the group had rotated the cooking duties, but after several incidents of horrible food, including one that gave many of them stomachaches, everyone agreed to let those who know what they were doing do the job all the time instead. The hot meal did a lot to warm their stomach and help them feel comfortable, before the group retired for the night in the now-abandoned hideout. Since each of the cave residences were large enough to accommodate up to six of them, they split up into four groups for safety. Esperanza thought that they might not need sentries that night since they were sleeping in the hideout, but Ani disagreed so some of them still stood guard for the night. Fortunately, said night was uneventful, and the next morning, after a quick breakfast of soup and hard bread ¨C which they dunked into the soup until it becomes soft ¨C the group packed up and prepared to leave. There was nothing more they could do in the abandoned place, so they left it behind and continued their trek northwards. Esperanza also sealed the entrance with some snow to hide it from sight once more. It just felt like the right thing to do. 131 - Peaceful Days Long Gone ¡°Wake up, O¡¯Connor. It¡¯s your shift on the wall now,¡± said Joshua as he entered through the flap of the tent where Alissa was sleeping. Alissa woke up from her bedroll, one hand rubbing her still sleepy eyes. Privacy was at a premium at the temporary base they were constructing at the moment, and even having a private tent like her was a privilege few received. Of course, with the demons regularly assaulting the base at irregular intervals, everybody slept with their armor on anyway, just in case it was needed in a hurry. Even Joshua himself looked as if he had some rough nights of late. The dark bags under his eyes hinted at the lack of sleep that all of them had been experiencing in the past week, since the demons particularly love to attack during the time they slept. Even his usually clean face showed a growth of unshaved stubble since he probably hadn¡¯t got the presence of mind to shave in the ongoing mess. Given how tired Alissa felt at that moment, she completely understood the feeling. While the people from Fort Ixlay had rapidly set up a temporary fortification under Sir Marsten¡¯s leadership the day after they took the encampment from the demons, and more aid was on the way from the Kingdom, the demons had not just watched them do it quietly. If anything, their response could only be called a vicious one. On the fourth night after they took the camp, just one day after Alissa, Joshua, and Ethan had their discusion and went to bed, several demon fourth tiers ¨C nobody was sure whether they were survivors from the encampment or came from elsewhere ¨C struck at night. The demons immediately withdrew once they noticed the human fourth tiers rousing to meet them, but the damage had been done. A couple hundred lower tier soldiers had died, but more serious was the loss of nearly forty engineers and craftsmen who were working on the fortification. Despite those losses, work continued the next day, as everyone considered getting the fortification done as their top priority now. The temporary defenses were far too weak to deter a fourth tier enemy, so their only defense against them were their own fourth tiers. Attempts to snipe at the workers from afar were made during the day, while more night attacks ¨C all done with great discretion with the demons fleeing immediately once discovered rather than fighting back ¨C plagued the soldiers while they tried to sleep at night. In the end, after a couple days of such harassment, Sir Marsten had no choice but to have some of the fourth tiers, including Alissa and the rest of her party, stand guard at all times. To play things safe, the party was split into four groups, each of which was responsible for a six-hour shift alongside other fourth tiers from Fort Ixlay. Alissa had Nadine and Maribel with her on the morning shift, while Joshua was up late in the night shift with Glenn and Benedictus. A quick splash of water from the well to her face helped her drive away the remnant sleepiness. Fortunately the demons had paid attention to things like water sources and had already set up their own wells when they made the encampment, which made it easier for the humans to just take over and use those same wells for themselves. She was joined by Nadine and Maribel just as she lined up to get some breakfast. Breakfast was a thick grain porridge flavored with slivers of salted meat which had also been used to make the broth to cook the grains in. It wasn¡¯t particularly bad as military rations went, probably better than some of the school lunches she had in her previous world, even. Nadine and Maribel ¨C despite how they grew up in the royal castle and Nadine being literal royalty ¨C didn¡¯t seem bothered with the simple fare either and ate it up with gusto. All of them looked about as tired as Alissa felt, as none of them had gotten much of a good night¡¯s sleep in the past week due to the frequent night raids by the demons. The soldiers were less bothered by those, amusingly enough. They were experienced and used to going back to sleep the moment the commotion ended. On the other hand, despite all the training they went through, few of the people from the [Heroes]¡¯ party mastered that ability soldiers often had to just sleep anywhere, anytime. Out of the party only Glenn could do that. None of the members from either the Royal Guards or the Temple Guards could do it otherwise, so they have been quite frustrated at the disturbances at night. Part of the reason was because unlike Glenn, who grew up in the frontier and was part of the local militia before he was scouted into the Royal Guards, none of the others had needed to be able to sleep like that before. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Temple Guards were as their name suggested. Most of them guarded the temples scattered throughout the Kingdom, as well as guard members of the clergy when they needed it. They rarely fought unless it was against monsters or wild beasts that threatened the place or person they were guarding. As a result, they lacked some things that soldiers in the army were mostly capable of doing. As for the Royal Guards, they were similarly rarely deployed out of the royal capital. Their primary duty was to protect the royal family and the royal palace, and the only times they went to war was when the king or queen themselves led them to one. For that reason, they were similarly unused to having to deal with the high-stress environment on the frontlines. It was better when they were in Fort Ixlay. The defenses there were more than sturdy enough to deter even the fourth tier demons from making sneak attacks at night as they knew that it would mostly be futile and only waste their energy. The temporary encampment¡¯s defenses were much weaker, however, which necessitated the constant alertness and having the fourth tiers be on guard duty to counter such demons. In fact, at any given time eight fourth tier combatants ¨C or their equivalents, as Alissa and her party were all technically still in their third tier ¨C were guarding the walls of the base, prepared to act as needed. Joshua was actually not done with his shift yet, but he had woken Alissa up so she could get prepared for her own shift which was soon. Everyone needed some time to prepare after they just woke up after all. The three of them finished their simple breakfast quickly, washing it down with cold well water flavored with some juice from a large lime-like fruit. Apparently the extremely sour fruit juice was known in Ephemera for its purifying qualities. Even if the water from the well weren¡¯t the cleanest, they would become drinkable after the juice was mixed in and allowed to settle for a bit. Of course, that also meant that the water got quite a bit of a mouth-puckering sourness to it, but that was preferable to stomachaches or diarrhea, all considered. By the time they headed towards their posts on the wall, the shifts for Joshua¡¯s group of three just ended. Sir Marsten had arranged so that the [Heroes]¡¯ party had staggered shifts with the rest of the fourth tiers, which effectively meant that some fourth tiers were always on guard, even during shift changes. The two groups passed each other and exchanged nods when they met. Then Alissa climbed up the ladder that led to the walkway of the temporary palisades that encircled the encampment. Nadine and Maribel followed closely behind her, since the three of them were positioned on the south wall, which had faced the most attacks over the past week. In contrast, the western side was mostly quiet, though the east side also saw some assaults. In order to get to the north side, the demons would have to circle around the encampment to get behind them, so there had been no attacks from that direction so far. Sir Marsten kept a strong guard detail at the valley¡¯s mouth behind them to prevent such occurrences. The old knight himself awaited Alissa and the rest atop the wall, as he too was included in the guard shifts. Generally, out of the eight fourth tiers on guard, four would be in the southern wall, while two guarded the east side and one stayed on the west side, just in case. The last member would be someone who had mobility skills that allowed them to react quickly no matter which side got attacked and was stationed in the middle of the encampment. ¡°They are pretty stubborn about not letting us relax,¡± noted Sir Marsten with a sigh. The way the old knight¡¯s recently grown hair sprouted made it look like he just had a military-style buzz cut, which was a somewhat amusing thought to Alissa. ¡°I¡¯m guessing if not for the rest of the frontline making a concerted push they¡¯d have probably sent more troops our way by now.¡± ¡°I feel the same way, Sir,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. All the disturbances when she was trying to sleep made her all too aware of the fact that the demons were very unwilling to give up on the base. Still, as things stood, the situation was at a relative stalemate, as the human side also didn¡¯t have enough people to make a large-scale search of the demons that bothered them and guard the base at the same time. They had taken too many casualties from the battle to do that, though they had enough that Sir Marsten and Sir Inolet both believed that they should be able to hold on to the base even if the demons sent troops from elsewhere to force them away. The two old knights, both having served the kingdom since before the previous war, were old friends and rivals, so it was rather rare that they agreed upon something so easily. Just as they were about to continue the conversation, Alissa caught a blur of motion from the corner of her eyes and swung her spear in reflex. She struck down what turned out to be an arrow ¨C aimed at another soldier near her ¨C with the shaft of her spear, and realized instantly what it meant as she saw even more arrows raining down towards the camp. ¡°Enemy attack!¡± yelled Sir Marsten out, his voice echoing through the encampment, carried by one of his skills. Alissa wasn¡¯t surprised that the long-time commander had some skills that let his voice carry a longer distance as it was something that he definitely used often. She herself struck down another two arrows even as she blocked a third one that happened to be aimed towards her using her shield. The demons were apparently firing their arrows from within the forest a few hundred meters to the south of the encampment, using the trees as cover. Despite that, the human archers returned fire almost immediately. It was difficult for most of them to shoot accurately over such a distance, so they mostly shot at the general area they saw the enemy arrows came from. Osmond was the exception, as his build was very much one tailored towards archery. He dropped two demons from atop the tree branches they perched on in quick succession, though the next demon he shot at seemed to have jumped down on their own before his arrow hit. The assault itself quickly ended after that, the demons withdrawing once they started to encounter resistance. It wasn¡¯t that much of a threat, but it kept the human defenders on edge because of the frequent, unpredictable attacks. In terms of damage, the attack barely did any, to either side. One unfortunate soldier died because a demon¡¯s arrow hit him right in the eye, the arrow going straight into his brain. Around another ten were injured, but they would recover. When the scouts were sent to the forest, they found no signs of the demons, but chances were high that Osmond had taken out at least two of them. Negligible numbers, but an annoyance nonetheless. 132 - High Stress Environment ¡°Fuck!¡± Alissa cursed vehemently as the fourth tier demon ¨C likely an assassin type that had a shadow-related stealth skill, given how she noticed their presence despite them being stealthed ¨C slipped away into the shadows and beat a hasty retreat. The demons had struck just as Sir Marsten and the rest of his group were leaving for a shift change, which temporarily left ¨C if only for a single minute ¨C only Alissa, Nadine, and Maribel guarding the walls. The demons must have observed their shift change times and laid in wait until the right moment, when those leaving were far enough away from the walls to delay their return and their replacements were just as distant. It was a masterful display of timing, and if not for Alissa being particularly sensitive to shadow-related stealth skills ¨C likely due to her own skill being a similar yet more advanced type of it ¨C they could have likely done some damage. As it was, Alissa managed to hold off the fourth tier assassin demon while Nadine and Maribel, alerted by her, helped the soldiers on the east and west walls to handle other, lower tier demon assassins. Like before, the demons did not cause much damage. Seven injured soldiers on the human side with three deaths ¨C all second tier soldiers ¨C while in turn Nadine and Maribel made short work of four of the demon assassins, all of whom were at least mid third tier. On paper, the losses were heavier on the demon side, both in quality and quantity, but Alissa couldn¡¯t ¨C didn¡¯t ¨C want to feel satisfied just with that. If possible, she wanted to prevent the demons from doing any damage at all. Even when Sir Marsten returned to the wall in a hurry together with the fourth tiers from the next shift and praised her for her quick reaction, Alissa couldn¡¯t feel happy. People had still died because they weren¡¯t good enough. No, rather, people had still died because of this damned war that she was still no closer to getting the truth behind despite all her attempts so far. Given how she¡¯d be stuck in the frontlines in the foreseeable future, she doubted that they¡¯d allow her to ¡°take a break¡± back in the royal capital to scour the library for anything she missed either. Not that she could justify that even to herself, with desires of both wanting to help save as many lives as she could warring with the desire to find the truth behind the fishy situation that framed the constant periodical warring between the demons and the humans. The more she thought ¨C and discussed with Ethan ¨C about it, the more she realized just how fishy everything was. The locals might not have considered things suspicious, given that for them, it was all simply ¡°just how everything has been¡± for many generations. The strangeness was just part of the norm for them. For outsiders like her though, it was impossible to not notice the rather odd way things were set up. Given the grudges that had developed over countless generations of wars and blood feuds, the humans and the demons were clearly more than willing to slaughter the other to the very last. Yet it never happened. Not even when one side was so advantaged to the point that they ruled over three-quarters of Ephemera¡¯s lands. Instead, each time the situation reached that point, the winning side always lost the next war, and often a couple more after that as well, pushing the advantage back to the other side more often than not, while keeping the borders fluctuating. If the explanation that they only conquered as far as their gods allowed them during each war, with those trying to go for more receiving punishment by said gods, then that meant the gods had some sort of agenda that required prolonging the war or even never letting it end. Alissa could internalize and understand that much with ease. What she found harder to understand was the motive behind it all. Why had the gods made their people fight and kill each other endlessly, without allowing either side a lasting, permanent victory, over so long? She could have stomached it better if the gods of the humans and those of the demons possessed the same sort of hatred for each other that their subjects displayed. She doubted that was the case, however, otherwise the war should have ended for good with one side exterminating the other long ago, not stretch on for countless generations like this. Could it be that the gods derived power from the bloodshed? That had been the first thought that came to Alissa¡¯s mind, that the whole semi-ritualized war that went unabated between the humans and the demons might just be one elaborate blood sacrifice ritual to power the gods themselves. She had long ditched that explanation, however. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. There were simply too many holes in the theory. For example, why would the gods need otherworldlers like her to serve as [Heroes] and [Champions] if they were just after the bloodshed? Also if the gods were truly powered by bloodshed then they were going about it in a very sporadic and inefficient way. Surely a state of eternal war that never paused would be better for them, if that was the case. If some random high school kid like her could think of it, she doubted the so-called gods of this world would miss that point. So she refined her hypothesis. Clearly the gods of this world needed the otherworldlers for some unknown reason. She was not stupid enough to believe that they would just ¡°borrow¡± some otherworldlers only to send them back to their homes when they were done, so there had to be some reason behind the summoning, and the presence of otherworldlers in general. What that reason was, she had no idea as of yet, though many guesses percolated in her mind. From what bits of history she managed to learn so far, however, Alissa could theorize some things. For one, the somewhat random intervals between the summonings and the wars that always followed them. It implied that the summoning itself needed some sort of resource that did not come about all too often. Maybe it was power from the gods themselves, maybe it was just waiting for the stars to align right, she wasn¡¯t sure. Given the randomness and lack of any discernable pattern she could notice, she guessed that it was likely a combination of factors that governed when a summoning was feasible. Alissa still remembered that one time Cerilla ¨C the priestess who was in charge of the summoning ritual that brought her, Ethan, and Joshua to this world ¨C admitted to her that they only performed such rituals after receiving omens from the gods themselves. They didn¡¯t dare to perform such a ritual at any other time, in any other circumstance. That meant that the gods practically dictated when the summonings ¨C and the wars ¨C happened, which brought unpleasant implications with it. If Alissa assumed that they summoned otherworldlers because they had some use for them, then she had to suspect that the offered way back home was also a lie, just a lure to keep them fighting obediently. Of course, that was her pessimistic thinking. It might well be that the act of summoning had formed a gateway of sorts that just needed power to reopen and reuse. Or maybe returning summoned people to their origin was easier than summoning them to this world. She could find no details about the ritual itself, as it was apparently a closely guarded secret of the temple. Alissa had only ever shared her doubts about the world, or rather, its ¡°setting¡± with Ethan. While she had come to consider Princess Nadine and Moira as friends by then, she still doubted whether those two would be on her side. It was unrealistic for her to expect them to choose her side ¨C some otherworldlers they had only known a few months ¨C over the world they grew up in, should push come to shove. For the time being, Alissa and Ethan chose to cooperate with the Kingdom. They were still too weak to try to do things on their own, although the two of them ¨C together ¨C could match up to Sir Inolet, who was one of the strongest humans in the Kingdom. The problem was that there were others of Sir Inolet¡¯s caliber, and even with their classes, neither Ethan nor Alissa would fare that well when mobbed by multiple fourth tiers at once. Maybe when they were at the fourth tier themselves ¨C when they should each be as strong as the strongest people in the kingdom ¨C they might reconsider things. At that point, they could make themselves too troublesome to bother with, especially with the war still ongoing. Despite keeping the option as a possibility, Alissa felt that she would likely have qualms about adopting such a measure, however. Because if the inspirational [Heroes] were to abandon them, morale was certain to plummet amongst the human soldiers, which could very easily lead to a disaster that would have far greater impact through the kingdom. Compared to having that sort of guilt on her shoulder, simply fighting alongside those soldiers and helping them survive another day was a far easier thing to do. Even so, the situation in the temporary fort remained a highly stressful one. Not just for Alissa and the other fourth tiers, but also for the soldiers in general. It must have been so much worse for them, as every assault meant a possibility of some of them losing their lives. They were the ones who tended to be powerless to affect their own fates, with fortune ¨C namely whether they were on the section under attack or not ¨C playing the greater role. Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten, as veteran soldiers, had long noticed the issue, and tried their best to mitigate the issue, with some results. The promise that reinforcements from the kingdom ¨C including engineers that would build a proper fortification around the encampment ¨C were coming soon had so far managed to buoy the soldiers¡¯ morale, but everyone knew that that was temporary. As a countermeasure to the way the demons took advantage of their shift changes, Sir Marsten changed things up. Alissa and the rest of her party still went up in shifts of three people each time, but the other five that stood guard with them had their shifts staggered so that they¡¯d switch with another one at a time at intervals of a little over an hour apart from each other. Sir Marsten chose to make a point by having his group stay longer to align the shifts properly and left the wall last, so there were no complaints about the change. At least, not with the commander himself already leading by example. The alteration seemed to have thrown off the demons, since they did not dare to mount any focused attacks like before. Instead the demons limited themselves to harassment from the safety of cover and range, primarily using projectiles, though from time to time a mage had been sighted making attacks at the walls as well. Casualties remained low on both sides, but the constant and unpredictable harassment ground the nerves of the soldiers and made them fidgety. Many were unable to sleep properly due to the harassment, and fatigue started to rear its ugly head amongst the sentries. People made more mistakes, be it out of tiredness or stress, and things were looking bad for a while, despite the low casualties. It was only after another week had passed, when a caravan from the kingdom passed through the valley, bringing the first batch of reinforcements, that morale recovered and began to soar once more. The palisades used as temporary fortifications were made large enough to encompass the planned base in its entirety, so the engineers immediately began their work as they started to lay down the foundation for the walls of the fortification to be right behind the palisades. The demons had noticed the development and tried to interfere, but the additional reinforcements made it difficult for them to do so. CXXXIII - Unfortunate Travelers ¡°Aaaaaah!¡± ¡°Help!¡± ¡°Shit!!!¡± The shouts came in unison from Mel-Ivas, Dai¡¯Vasy and Tiesya as they were caught by surprise as the snow-covered crevasse crumbled apart beneath their feet and dropped them straight down to its depth. The group had traversed over the crevasse since it was the most expedient route between the mountain they were on and the next in line, and because it showed no signs of collapse even after some of them tread on it. To say that it was unexpected for the crevasse to collapse as the last of their group traveled on it was an understatement. Fortunately, as the group had ropes tying them to each other at the waist, none of them ended up plummeting to their deaths or something like that. While the three who were on the crevasse at the moment it collapsed under their feet were unable to react in time, Val-Kas¡¯j was next in line and he reacted fast enough to anchor himself to a rock outcropping with one foot, stopping the others¡¯ fall immediately. They had arranged it so the less physically fit Mel-Ivas and Dai¡¯Vasy would be positioned between Tiesya and Val-Kas¡¯j who were physically the fittest out of the [Progenies of Yore] in order to prevent troubles like what just happened from happening. In the end, since Tiesya was caught up in the collapse herself, she was unable to help the other two, but Val-Kas¡¯j did his role perfectly. Mel-Ivas, who was closest to the edge, ended up smacking face-first against the frozen cliff, causing her nose to bleed and disorienting her for a moment. Given her healing abilities, however, she quickly did away with the minor injury and found footholds in the cliff while her hands held the rope tightly. She was half-supporting the weight of Tiesya and Dai¡¯Vasy beneath her to help lighten Val-Kas¡¯j¡¯s load. Dai¡¯Vasy had a bit more time to react and managed to conjure panels of ice to break her fall and gently deposit her against the cliffside, where she then created more ice to anchor herself to the wall ¨C though she could move them at will, of course ¨C to not burden those above her too much. At the same time, she conjured a larger, more solid panel of ice that sloped towards the other side of the cliff to prevent the deluge of snow that followed their fall from washing them down deeper into the crevasse. Tiesya had the longest fall since she was the one furthest back, but her physique was strong enough to catch her fall with her legs against the cliff face, and the girl rapidly found hand and footholds to hold herself steady even as the deluge of snow barely missed her on the way down. She pressed herself flat against the cliff to avoid it, as despite Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s efforts the deluge only missed them by the barest margins. It took a while before the deluge of snow ended, as even Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s magic struggled against the force of nature that was magnitudes greater than what she could manipulate. As a result, her makeshift barrier eventually gave way beneath the weight of the deluge, and the falling snow washed over Dai¡¯Vasy and Tiesya on its way down. Mel-Ivas was spared since she was close enough to the cliff¡¯s top that the deluge didn¡¯t reach her. The two who were less fortunate hung on for dear life with all they had, Dai¡¯Vasy practically encasing herself in a cocoon of ice which anchored itself into the cliff to avoid getting washed away by the deluge. Tiesya was somewhat shielded from the deluge since Dai¡¯Vasy was directly above her, but still had to deal with quite a bit of it as well. She could only rely on her muscles to hold on to the cliff, her fingers pressing so hard to the point that they dug into the rock of the cliff face. After what felt like an eternity, the deluge eventually settled, and Tiesya felt a tug on the rope that was still tied around her waist. She noticed that the others were already loosening themselves from the cliff face and started to climb up, so she followed along, her hands gripping the now-taut rope tightly as she walked along the cliff face. It took a few minutes before all three girls finally managed to climb back up the cliff, with Val-Kas¡¯j and the rest of the group anchoring the line for them. Mel-Ivas and Dai¡¯Vasy looked somewhat shaken by the unexpected misfortune, though surprisingly, Tiesya, who likely had it worse, looked calmer than the other two by a good bit. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°All of you fine? Nothing broken or anything?¡± asked Esperanza with obvious worry. At the moment everyone was just glad of Esperanza¡¯s insistence that they remain tied to one another with ropes around their waist as long as they were moving on the mountains. Things might have gotten much worse for the ones who fell otherwise. ¡°We are, Exalted One,¡± replied Mel-Ivas as she blew some remaining blood out of her nostrils. ¡°At least, nothing that would bother us in the long term,¡± she continued with a shake of her head. The girl still looked a bit surprised and discombobulated from the experience, but relatively calm all considered. ¡°That¡­ was not a pleasant experience.¡± ¡°Nature really has its way to make us feel small¡­ which makes the arrogance of the new gods to think that they could wrangle the world to be their plaything even more grievous an offense¡­¡± muttered Dai¡¯Vasy under her breath. Despite the girl¡¯s elemental affinity meaning that her magic was strengthened in the cold environment, her magic still couldn¡¯t stand up to the wrath of nature, and the experience clearly affected her. ¡°It got pretty close a few times down there,¡± admitted Tiesya with a bit of a shudder. ¡°I¡¯m really glad that we followed the Exalted One¡¯s suggestion to tie ourselves to each other like this. I might have survived that fall, but it wouldn¡¯t be a pleasant experience even so,¡± she added before something seemed to come to her mind. ¡°Oh right, Exalted One, I believe I saw a glimpse of other people down there while the deluge was crashing down on us.¡± ¡°Others, you say?¡± queried Esperanza with some surprise. She exchanged a quick conversation with Ani to get the older woman¡¯s opinion, and they quickly came to the agreement that it might be worth their time checking further on what Tiesya saw. As Esperanza was the only one who could really do it without any risk, she would climb down herself, untethered to the others just in case. ¡°Show me where you saw them.¡± Tiesya duly pointed out the region where she claimed to see other people, which was now partially covered with snow from the earlier deluge. With a nod of thanks, Esperanza stretched her limbs and crawled down the cliff face like some sort of eldritch octopus, her amorphous body making the steep cliff almost as easily traversable as flat ground. It was too far for Esperanza to reach to the other side across the crevasse, but by spreading herself thin like a membrane supported by sturdier structures, she managed to turn herself into a living hang glider and glided over to the other side. Once there, she hugged the cliff face once more as she worked her way towards where Tiesya saw the people earlier. The region was covered in mounds of snow, but fortunately it was tall enough on the cliff that it wasn¡¯t completely buried. It only took a few minutes of work to move away the snow that covered the area before Esperanza spotted what Tiesya must have noticed earlier. Namely two huddled figures inside a shallow cave ¨C more just a large depression, really ¨C on the cliffside. What Esperanza found once she came into contact with the figures were that they were corpses, long frozen over by the sub-zero temperature. She had not exactly expected otherwise, but had hoped that the corpses might at least be able to shed some light as to how they got there. As such, she took them with her as she glided back across the crevasse. It was harder to glide with the added weight of the corpses and she lost quite a bit of height, but she reached the other side eventually, just a good bit lower than her launching point. From there it was a matter of climbing up the cliffside while simultaneously lugging the corpses behind her. A task that her amorphous form was well-suited towards, fortunately. She clambered back to the top after a few minutes with her grisly package in tow, depositing the corpses gently on the snow. Now that she had time to take a closer look, she realized that one of the corpses must have been a youngster or a juvenile, and the larger corpse ¨C likely the parent ¨C was curled around it protectively. Sadly, its efforts to save the life of its child was futile in the end. ¡°They¡¯re human hybrids,¡± Ani pointed out after some inspection. The corpses had decayed some, but were quite well-preserved thanks to the cold, so some features were still identifiable. Ani had no need to elaborate on her findings, as the only hybrids with human blood in them would only be found in enclaves of the worshipers of the Deities of Yore. ¡°Do you think they might be part of the migrating group from the last shelter?¡± asked Esperanza, who quickly put two and two together. The path they were taking was one that headed straight towards the larger shelter deeper in human lands, so if the migrating group were headed that way, they would have gone through a similar path. ¡°Very likely,¡± replied Ani with a grim nod. ¡°They would have passed through this way, and if that crevasse just now crumbled beneath them as well¡­ would have been met with a worse fate than us. More might be buried deeper in the crevasse, I think,¡± she added with a somber tone. ¡°Though chances are some of them should at least make it through¡­ I hope.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t know until we get there, I guess,¡± replied Esperanza with a sigh. The discovery of the corpses and their implication was a bit of a downer to the group, given their similar backgrounds, and they respectfully buried the corpses on the mountain after they were done checking. As for the ones likely buried deep within the crevasse, there was little that they could do about it, so the group just left them be with a disappointed sigh. They continued their trek towards the larger hideout several mountains away in a much more somber mood after the incident, and most of them also gained a habit of double-checking the ropes that connected them to the rest of the group. Apparently the incident had given them a healthy dose of paranoia about their own safety in the mountain. While the group were mostly strong enough physically to have likely survived the previous incident, all it would have taken was a little bit of bad luck for even a fourth tier combatant to lose their life in that sort of accident. In fact, if they reacted too strongly they might have ended up causing a bigger accident that might have affected the others as well instead. As a result, the group moved with far more care and alertness compared to before, as they carefully watched their step and thoroughly checked every region they would cross before putting their weight on it. It slowed their travel down somewhat, but nobody complained after the close call they had. There was no point in going fast when it would just end up costing their lives, after all. CXXXIV - A Well-Defended Hideout ¡°They sure hide their place well,¡± commented Esperanza after a day-long search to find the entrance to Zikeal, the hideout for worshipers of the old gods deep within the Elefas Mountain Range. Granted, the inhabitants of said hideout had good reasons to hide themselves deeply, given how the rest of the world saw them as heretics to be burned at the stake and all. None of that made the search any less annoying though. Unlike the previous, smaller hideout, where the members regularly went out to hunt in order to supplement what meager food their indoor farms provided them, Zikeal was a much larger hideout, and according to Ani, supposedly self-sufficient, with many large underground farms set in the base of the mountain itself. That combined with their having access to a ¡°safer¡± outside via the waterways made the place far more developed than most hideouts, with Zikeal being around the equal of Agur-Bas in terms of size and populace. All that still combines to make the entrance to the hideout on the mountain a pain to find, however. Those from the previous hideout might know the route better since the two hideouts were close enough to have frequent contact, but Ani had only heard of Zikeal from second-hand tales and notes from what might well be history for her. On top of that, the last time people from Agur-Bas visited Zikeal, it was a delegation that went there by sea. They naturally took the waterway to get to the hideout, and as such didn¡¯t have too much of an idea of the landside entrance¡¯s location beyond a general location, which was shared in the eventuality that someone might visit by land. Which still left a shitload of snow-covered mountainside to search, of course. Even with the whole group pitching in on the search, they still hadn¡¯t found the entrance even after a day, with as many as three false positives when they hit caverns that ran pretty deep but soon terminated into dead ends. One of the caverns even had a large polar bear-like creature hibernating inside which took offense at the disturbance and forced Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya ¨C who found the cavern ¨C to kill it. At least the bear-like thing made for some good dinner. In the end, it was not until near midday the third day of searching that the group finally found an entrance that looked promising, if in a deceptive way. The cavern¡¯s entrance was rather small, small enough that some of the taller members of the group would have to duck to enter inside. However, after a mere ten meters or so, the cavern widened, and clearly ran deep into the mountain, so Esperanza and Ani decided to investigate deeper. Esperanza was there because she was the one able to respond best to most situations on top of being, oddly enough, the expendable one of the group despite her nearly worshiped station amongst them. After all, she was the only one with [Respawn], so it was an argument that none of the others could beat, even if some of them tried to dissuade her from time to time. Ani on the other hand was there because she was from Agur-Bas and knew the sort of signals to give to the inhabitants of Zikeal to prove as much. Much like Agur-Bas, the locals of Zikeal would naturally be highly suspicious of any foreigners, unless they could prove their identity in some manner. The people from the other, smaller hideout had ways to do that unique to them, as did Agur-Bas. Because the method Agur-Bas used to prove themselves was a key phrase meant to be said in the Gour-ug¡¯rech tongue, however, they needed someone who was at least a hybrid of that race to voice it, as some sounds from that tongue were simply near impossible to replicate by people from other races. Not even Esperanza could replicate them correctly when Ani demonstrated for her, despite multiple attempts. On the other hand, Belug-ur¡¯ani herself, being a hybrid, was perfectly capable of reproducing the sound passably. Another two of her warriors could also do so for the same reason, though Ani chose to follow Esperanza in person while having the others stand guard on the outside. They only took the two scouts, Legisvula, as well as Dali with them. Gordy stayed outside with the rest of the group so Esperanza could signal to her to bring the others if they did find Zikeal inside the depths of said cavern. The cavern was naturally pitch-black, so dark that if Esperanza was still human, she wouldn¡¯t even be able to see her own outstretched hands. Fortunately, the eyes on her new body were more than capable of seeing through the darkness. Ani was also capable of seeing through the dark, which was no real surprise considering that half her parentage was from an aquatic race that lived in the bottom of the sea where the sun doesn¡¯t shine most of the time. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Similarly, the scouts and Legisvula had skills that allowed them to navigate just fine in total darkness, though likely using different means. Esperanza noticed one of the scouts making quiet, clacking noises by slapping their tongue against the roof of their mouth regularly, probably using the echoes to navigate by echolocation or similar. The other and Legisvula didn¡¯t seem to need such aid. As for Dali, she had no idea how he navigated through the dark but the calm, sure-footed way the hound walked alongside her at the front showed that he was doing so easily. Inside the darkness, the passing of time was difficult to tell, so the group resorted to counting their footsteps instead. After roughly five hundred steps into the cavern, it started twisting and turning, almost like a labyrinth. Once they reached that point, Esperanza took out a spool of thin rope and tied one end to a rock outcropping, letting the rope trace their path as they went into the labyrinth. It took them what felt like hours ¨C and definitely thousands of steps to navigate their way to the exit, using the rope to indicate the path back. At that point Ani ordered the two scouts to stand by in the area, one at the entrance and one at the exit of the labyrinth, to make sure that the rope wouldn¡¯t be tampered with after they had left. Esperanza, Ani, Legisvula, and Dali continued deeper into the cavern complex until they reached a large cavern that was easily at least thirty feet tall and twice as wide around a thousand steps later. Also awaiting them in that large cavern was a half-encirclement of clearly nervous and worried people, most of whom were hybrids. From her [Soul Sight] Esperanza could tell that these people were likely the inhabitants of Zikeal, given how some of them had the telltale purple threads woven around their souls, clear signs of being worshipers of Oldies. It seemed like they had found the right entrance after all, which only took them nearly three days of searching. ¡°Who are you? Why have you sought our hidden refuge?¡± asked a middle-aged hybrid man who sported some of the most epic sideburns that Esperanza had ever seen in her life. The man was tall and burly, with some part of his parentage clearly from a Ma¡¯Varok, but the strong features and prominent tusks instead framed his face in a sort of savage gentlemanly way, oddly enough. That he was also clearly a fourth tier who was on the combatant side led Esperanza to believe that the man likely had some clout amongst the inhabitants of Zikeal, considering how highly Ani was thought of in Agur-Bas. ¡°Peace, cousin,¡± said Ani in a placating gesture as she raised one of her hands with her palm open and laid the palm of her other hand over her heart. ¡°We hailed from Agur-Bas to the south, in search of others who still followed the ways of old, the teachings of the Deities of Yore,¡± she continued once the burly man waved his hand and made his men lower their weapons. ¡°We have important news to share, for the times are changing.¡± Even as Ani said her words, she gestured using her eyes towards Esperanza and Legisvula, practically telling the burly man to [Identify] them. The burly man caught on to her gesture and likely did so, given how his face suddenly changed to a look of shock for a good moment before he managed to recollect himself and regain his calm. ¡°I¡­ see what you mean, cousin,¡± offered the man after a pause where he tried to arrange his words properly. ¡°The elders and the priests will need to see this for themselves, I fear. If I may, I shall offer you and yours the hospitality of Zikeal in the mean time. Is that acceptable?¡± ¡°Belug-ur¡¯ani of Agur-Bas, daughter of Ever¡¯a-len, accepts your hospitality, cousin. May the Deities of Yore bless you and yours for this kindness,¡± replied Ani formally to his offer. ¡°Would you mind waiting for a little while? There are more to our group still waiting outside and we would like to invite them in as well to partake in your hospitality.¡± ¡°Certainly, cousin. Go ahead,¡± replied the burly man with a nod. Esperanza simply sent a telepathic message to Gordy outside the cavern telling her to lead the rest inside. The group outside noticed Gordy¡¯s reaction and quickly followed her into the cavern, where Gordy led the way, following the traces of Esperanza¡¯s group until they ran into the scout Ani left behind to look after the guide rope by the labyrinth¡¯s entrance. The group took the scout in and took the rope with them ¨C in case someone else accidentally found their way into the cavern, no reason to let them have it easy ¨C as they traversed the labyrinth to its exit, where they took in the other scout waiting there as well. From there it wasn¡¯t long before they reached the large cavern where Esperanza¡¯s group and the people from Zikeal awaited their arrival. ¡°Greetings, Honored Ones,¡± said the burly man with a polite bow once everyone had gathered. From the movement of the man¡¯s eyes, Esperanza assumed that he had likely used [Analysis] on the rest of the group as well, which would show him the unique classes belonging to the [Progenies of Yore], likely serving as more than enough of a reassurance for the man in question. ¡°I am Abr-Niz, Seneschal of this humble settlement named Zikeal. I wholeheartedly welcome your blessed presence amongst us and would like to invite you to enjoy the best hospitality our humble place could offer,¡± said the burly man with a formal, almost flourishy bow. ¡°If the Honored Ones would please follow me inside?¡± ¡°Lead the way,¡± said Esperanza. With the eight [Progenies of Yore] standing behind her and clearly deferring to her, as well as Dali and Gordy sitting at her flanks, it was obvious just who was nominally in charge of the group, and Abr-Niz gave a deeper bow towards her before respectfully gesturing for them to follow. The burly man led them through the dark caverns with sure steps, past some fortified areas that Esperanza figured would likely be hellish for invaders to get through. The locals had clearly prepared for the eventuality that someone hostile might be looking for them and had turned some areas of the cavern leading into their settlement into killing fields and choke points suited for defensive battles. Judging from how Abr-Niz and the rest of his group twisted and turned as they walked through a broad cavern, she guessed that more than a few spots in said cavern were likely trapped as well. The defensive preparation might have looked rather paranoid to some, but it was understandable when she considered how for these people, most of the world was their enemy and wanted them dead. After around five thousand more steps, they emerged from the cavern into a much larger cavern complex that had many people living in them. Zikeal spread out before their eyes. CXXXV - A Welcome Feast Once the group was brought to Zikeal proper, further identification only took moments and went without any trouble. All it took was for the priests from the local temple to take one look at the [Progenies of Yore] before everyone had to convince them not to prostrate themselves before the group. It took Esperanza undoing her aural camouflage and flaring her presence to get them to regain control over themselves. Of course, that also made them try to prostrate before her instead. Apparently, if Esperanza wasn¡¯t doing her damndest to keep it under a lid, her presence was so filled with the blessings of Oldies ¨C or the Deities of Yore as the locals insist ¨C that it was almost palpable to people attuned to it. Naturally, as priests worshiping the Deities of Yore, the local clergy was very attuned to such a feeling, which made it impossible for her to hide it. Fortunately, that also gave her a lot of clout with the locals who viewed her words as ones that came straight from the mouth of a messenger sent by the very Deities they worshiped. A direct command from her eventually stopped all the attempted worshiping and genuflecting that her very presence seemed to inspire in the members of the clergy. While all that went without any real trouble, it was still a bit bothersome and a little frustrating that she had to resort to giving what was basically considered a divine command to these people just to stop them from treating her like some god. Of course, Esperanza was well aware that the locals saw her exactly that way, as some sort of divine messenger, but it was still something that she found hard to get used to. After a quick, abbreviated tour of Zikeal, they learned that apparently the large cavern they emerged to was just the main and largest one, and there existed around a dozen smaller caverns each with their own settlements in the complex. Some of those caverns were even situated underwater to accommodate the Gour-ug¡¯rech members of the community, while other than the settled caverns, another couple dozen caverns were used as farms and ranches by the ingenious locals. The inhabitants of Zikeal grew various kinds of tubers and certain vegetables that thrived even in the darkness of the underground caverns, as well as various forms of mushrooms, lichen, and fungi. Some varieties of what they grew were either inedible to people as a whole or had inedible parts, but still served as acceptable fodder for the creatures the locals ranched. Some of those creatures resembled giant mole-rats that had scales instead of fur, which the locals apparently use mostly as beasts of burden and to expand their cavern complex as living, breathing, digging machines. On the other hand, the main creature they ranched for food purposes were gigantic worms as thick around as an adult man¡¯s thigh. It made sense that giant worms weren¡¯t the most picky when it came to fodder, Esperanza guessed. The aquatic members of the community also ran several maricultural projects in the underwater chambers, where they farmed things like edible seaweeds as well as seafood that could be easily harvested like oysters and other shellfish. Some bottom feeders like crabs and lobsters were also reared in large quantities in those underwater chambers. In the end, those farms, both the ones underwater and the underground ones, ensured that Zikeal managed to remain a mostly self-sufficient community to the point that they had no need to leave their safe abode in order to hunt outside. What few necessities they were unable to produce within the cavern itself, they acquired through trade with Gour-ug¡¯rech communities they have contact with in the nearby seas. At the very evening of the day Esperanza and the rest of the group arrived in Zikeal, the locals threw a massive feast to celebrate the arrival of the ¡°Divine Messengers¡±, which was apparently the first time Oldies had shown a direct touch in the world for many, many centuries. Given the enthusiasm shown by the locals, Esperanza didn¡¯t have the heart to say no, and left them to their merrymaking. It was quite surprising to see the locals seemingly conjure the setting for a grand feast in a large clearing ¨C a rarity, given how space was at a premium in the underground ¨C at the center of the main cavern. At least a couple thousand people gathered to help prepare the feast, which would likely feed so many people that just about everyone in the main cavern would get a share. Esperanza had to admit that some part of her nearly recoiled when she saw the locals carry the carcass of several giant worms on their shoulders and proceeded to chop them up into smaller pieces for the feast. They had already butchered and cleaned the worms before transporting the carcasses, so all that was left was to process the meat into food for the feast. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. In the end, after it was processed, meat was meat, and as long as she ignored the fact that it¡¯s worm meat, it¡¯s not really something that bothered her. None of the locals seemed to be the least bit bothered by it either, but then again, worm meat was likely part of their dietary staple given how it was one of the few creatures that could be raised and harvested effectively in the underground. The food was a bit similar to the fare they had back in Agur-Bas, though with a greater proportion of self-produced ingredients. Agur-Bas had mostly thrived thanks to the sea, while Zikeal was deeper inland and far less reliant on the oceans for their livelihood. As such, the foods they harvested from the underwater caverns were more often than not used as accents or flavorings rather than as the main ingredient in their cooking. Which resulted in stuff like a salad analogue where the main ingredient was large amounts of thin, thread-like mushrooms with tiny caps the size of a pinhead. The tiny mushrooms were mixed with a good amount of lichen and what looked like shredded seaweed before the locals doused it in dressings of sorts that reminded Esperanza of vinaigrettes from her previous life, as it was oily and tangy. Meanwhile minced bits of the worm meat went into a thick, oddly purplish stew with some tubers that grew in the dark underground and various mushrooms, as well as bits of prawn and lobster meat. The stew itself had a strong savory flavor from the organs and shells of those prawns and lobsters, which was used to flavor the broth that went into making it. Finger-thick slabs of the giant worm¡¯s flesh was directly cooked up over hot stones like slabs of steak on a grill. The meat turned a whitish-pink shade as it cooked up, and at a glance could have passed for a really big slice of sausage of some sort. It definitely did not look or smell bad, and the local ¨C as well as the rest of the group ¨C were devouring the worm steaks with gusto. Esperanza decided to give it a try and sliced into the piece to find that her knife went through it almost effortlessly, the meat having a texture more akin to some sort of pudding rather than animal flesh. Yet it was firm enough to stay on her knife when she speared the small piece she sliced off with the tip of the knife and lifted it up. At a glance, the cooked meat looked like a slice of poultry, but if she looked at the cut side, she noticed that the center of the meat wasn¡¯t thoroughly cooked and still had some of its original pinkish color visible. That part resembled some of those really expensive meat with all the crazy marbling she saw on her previous life rather than poultry. In the end, she took a bite and chewed on the piece of meat. The meat crumbled easily even before she chewed on it, as the act of simply pressing it against the roof of her mouth using her tongue was plenty to break it into smaller pieces. The taste was on the rich and fatty side, with only minimal meaty taste, but she assumed that it¡¯s what the sauce served on a separate platter was for. Everyone else dipped their meat into that sauce before they ate it, after all. As she gave a second piece ¨C this one liberally sauced ¨C a try, she realized that the sauce had a strong meaty taste, despite how it was apparently made mostly out of several kinds of mushrooms stewed together until they become a thick sauce. She did recall that some mushrooms were supposed to have a meaty flavor, so the locals likely made use of those to make up for the lack of meaty flavor in the worm flesh. The feast continued unabated ¨C complete with folk songs and dances ¨C until well past what would likely be midnight before the locals started to retire to their homes. Esperanza¡¯s group was housed in the temple itself, where the clergy had apparently taken the chance to clean and prepare their guest rooms for the honored guests during the feast. Once they returned from the feast, the somewhat inebriated group ¨C the locals served up some alcohol that was apparently brewed from certain varieties of lichen and had a sweet, herbal taste to it ¨C was led to clean, cozy rooms where they could rest for the night. It was not particularly luxurious accommodation as the temple in general was rather spartan in terms of decoration, but definitely plenty for the group used to sleeping out in the open. The night passed uneventfully as they rested in the comfortable rooms. Perhaps it was the fullness from having just had a large meal, or the light inebriation from the alcohol, but most of the group slept through the night, whereas normally they would be more alert. Some amongst them like Ani and Esperanza herself remained somewhat alert through the night, however, as they refused to take their chances. The locals of Zikeal certainly looked friendly, but one could never be too sure in this cruel world, and both of them favored to be prepared just in case something bad happened rather than believing that nothing of the sort would take place. Fortunately their suspicion and worries were unfounded as nothing happened throughout the night. In fact, they were left unbothered until some of the group woke up and went to the bathroom for their morning ablutions near midday, at which point a young clergyman from the temple politely came and invited the group to meet with the Council of Zikeal, if they so pleased. After the group refreshed themselves, they went to the temple¡¯s largest meeting room, where the shakers and movers from Zikeal already awaited their presence. The Council had fewer members than Esperanza had expected, as there were only nine of them. She noticed Abr-Niz, the man who had led them to the city the day before, sitting amongst them calmly, clearly also part of the council in question. Other than him, there was an old woman in the robes of the clergy that Esperanza assumed to be the senior priestess of the temple, an elderly ¨C easily visible from his wrinkled skin ¨C Gour-ug¡¯rech who probably served as a representative of the underwater community, and several other people who all looked old enough to be her grandparent age-wise, coming from a mix of all races. It was also notable that other than Abr-Niz and the Gour-ug¡¯rech elder, none of the council members had any sort of combative classes, with only those two in question being combatants. That said, both of them were in their middle fourth tier, and Esperanza guessed that they could each probably take on Ani in a one-on-one duel if needed. The old priestess seemed to have a healer class, while the others either had some sort of administrative class or some regular profession like farmer instead. ¡°We bid you welcome to our humble abode of Zikeal, Honored Ones,¡± intoned the old priestess respectfully with a deep bow aimed towards Esperanza and the [Progenies of Yore]. ¡°May we inquire to the nature of the message that the Extolled Deities have seen fit to pass on to their mortal servants and how we may be of assistance?¡± 136 - Work to Clear the Mind ¡°I swear, you really do only start appreciating some things after they were taken away from you,¡± said Alissa with a sleepy voice when she ran into Nadine and Maribel shortly after she woke up that morning. She had the privilege to enjoy some proper sleep over the past couple of days, as the demon assaults had dwindled down to almost nothing thanks to the reinforcements the human side had gotten. ¡°I used to take sleep for granted, but now I definitely cherish being able to sleep undisturbed for a good while.¡± It had been five days since the human side¡¯s reinforcements arrived at the location across the valley, where the demon encampment used to be. Construction of the new fortification was proceeding at a rapid pace, and the outermost layer of stone walls were already three-quarters of the way done. The engineers had prioritized safety over comfort, which was the main reason the walls were their first priority in the construction. Everyone in the army, both the original members from Fort Ixlay and the reinforcements, mostly still slept in tents, with a few people privileged enough like Alissa¡¯s party to sleep in the few wooden houses the demons had built prior to their eviction. The majority of the soldiers even slept on bed rolls out in the open, with no cover from the elements whatsoever. It was a fortunate thing that they were in summertime and the weather had been good lately. The additional reinforcements from the Kingdom included ten more fourth tier combatants. With their addition, it was possible to send out teams to scour the demon presence nearby while still maintaining a constant watch around the fort all day and all night. As a result, after a few days of such hunts, the demon presence dwindled as they likely retreated, and the past two days were particularly quiet, with no attacks happening at all. Morale had definitely risen since the disturbances lessened. The sight of the solid stone wall ¨C built by engineers with classes and skills that allowed them to create fortification-grade defenses at an absurdly rapid pace ¨C also lightened the mood of the soldiers, as it gave them a sense of safety. The frayed nerves and frustration of the previous week were practically all but forgotten by then. ¡°You never had anything like this in your previous world, Alissa?¡± asked Maribel with some surprise. As far as Alissa knew, none of them ¨C not even Joshua ¨C had said much about their previous world to the locals, so their being unaware about how it was like there was understandable. After all, all the previous [Heroes] were summoned from different places and times compared to Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua, so the knowledge they brought to Ephemera differed greatly. ¡°They made us wake up really early in the morning during training camp, I guess,¡± replied Alissa as she referred to the training she underwent as part of her school¡¯s track and field ¨C and later basketball ¨C team. ¡°Even so, we had a full night¡¯s rest every night during that, as we just tucked in earlier to make up for it instead.¡± ¡°I guess that sounds similar to our time back when we trained to join the Royal Guards,¡± noted Nadine with a somewhat nostalgic voice. ¡°Similar stuff, lots of training, get up real early in the morning before the sun even rose,¡± she added. ¡°That said, now that we¡¯ve actually fought here in the frontlines, I see that they¡¯ve coddled us way too much back then.¡± ¡°How so? I mean, in my case the training camp was just for sports, not for war, so it made sense that they didn¡¯t push us too hard back there,¡± replied Alissa with a query of her own. She knew that Nadine and Maribel went through the Royal Guard training and joined together. In Nadine¡¯s case it just made sense since as a fifth princess chances were that she¡¯d be married off for some political advantage if she didn¡¯t choose to make a living on her own some other way. ¡°Well, as you might have guessed by now, the only people who actually get to be a Royal Guard in this day and age are either people from families who had always been Royal Guards for many generations like Moira¡¯s, or else they¡¯re recommended by some noble,¡± explained Nadine. ¡°Some are actual nobles as well, of course, like me and Osmond. It¡¯s very common for third or later children who had a martial bent to look towards the Royal Guard as a path to take in their life since they¡¯re usually neither the heir nor the spare.¡± ¡°Yeah, I gathered that part pretty early on myself,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. As early as the first time Nadine invited her to a meeting disguised as a tea party, she had noticed the lack of people who had no sponsors amongst the Royal Guards. Later meetings when Nadine introduced some old friends to her just further confirmed those facts. Every single Royal Guard had connections either from their family or with some noble. Stolen story; please report. ¡°Well, as you might expect considering the fact that every Royal Guard apprentice has all sorts of connections, many of which were still active and probably highly positioned in the organization itself, what mentors we got were often too scared of us to truly push us hard,¡± Nadine elaborated. ¡°They were too afraid that someone would complain and get them relieved of their position.¡± ¡°Other than when we get people like Sir Henri Inolet, that is,¡± added Maribel with a smirk. ¡°Old knights like him were pretty much out of the command chain and answers only to the king, and even then it was more like the king asks favors out of them rather than command them. Doubly so since in Sir Inolet¡¯s case he is one of the strongest people in the Kingdom as a whole.¡± ¡°Yeah, Old Henri would always put us through hell and high water without giving any damn. Anyone who tries to mouth off with him would just get extra training until they collapse,¡± said Nadine with a nostalgic smirk on her face. ¡°Back then we all cursed him behind his back, but now, after fighting in the actual war, I wish we had gotten more lessons from people like him instead of the wusses we usually get.¡± ¡°Harsh teachers like Sir Inolet prepare you better for the hardships, yeah,¡± noted Alissa in agreement. Given how quickly the old knight managed to forge warriors out of her and Ethan despite them just being regular high schoolers months ago, he definitely had the knack for teaching people. ¡°At least things are winding down a bit though, since the demons seemed to have backed off.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t be too sure about that, actually,¡± replied Nadine with a slight frown. ¡°They might have retreated for the time being, but demons are nothing if not persistent. They probably only retreated so they can get some reinforcements to come at us once more, more likely than not. Though we¡¯ve been hearing of mysterious attacks in the demon territory by unknown parties, so that might have played a role as well.¡± ¡°I guess we better chip in and help with the walls after our shift¡¯s done today then? The sooner that wall gets finished, the safer we are in case the demons come back,¡± suggested Alissa. The first few days after the arrival of the reinforcements had mostly been used by the army already present at the former demon encampment to catch up on proper rest. Alissa and her party had done the same. At the moment the situation seemed to be more stable, however. After a few days of rest the party also felt rested enough, so it wouldn¡¯t be any trouble for them to help the engineers build the wall that would keep them all safe in their spare time. Nadine and Maribel nodded in agreement at Alissa''s suggestion before the three walked together to fetch some breakfast. One side benefit of the reinforcement¡¯s arrival was that they also brought some good food instead of just the usual rations, meant to lift the spirit of the soldiers in the front line and to allow them to celebrate the victory. Most of the fresh food had been consumed over the first few days, but some of the preserved stuff was still available, incorporated into the soldiers¡¯ daily meal. Naturally, given the status Alissa¡¯s group has as the [Heroes]¡¯ party, they were not missed, and nobody would complain about getting an extra link of good sausage along with the usual breakfast porridge. Or that more butter than usual had been mixed into the porridge to make it taste better than normal. It wasn¡¯t special treatment for just them anyway, as everybody got to enjoy a share of the bounty. Good food always did wonders to morale. Their shift at the palisades went uneventfully that day, and after it was finished, the three of them went over to help the engineers with building the wall. Alissa, Nadine, and Maribel might have no classes or skills suitable for such work, but their pure Body stat was far higher than most people in the camp, and they could easily do physical work that would have required either many people working together or something like the heavy machinery from Alissa¡¯s previous world all on their own. It still boggled Alissa¡¯s mind at times that she could now lift a wooden log as thick around as her body with just one arm holding it over her shoulder, while carrying a second log of the same size under her other arm. She could even jog and climb up stairs while holding them without too much difficulty. It was the sort of physical prowess that she had never even imagined back in her previous life. A whimsical thought crossed her mind while she worked, a thought about how if she managed to return home while keeping even a fraction of the power she had gained in this world, she would probably end up being one of the best athletes the world had ever seen. All that without any sort of the doping or drugs that kept causing scandals amongst the sports world of her previous life, at that. Alissa was not much into whimsy, but thinking happy thoughts while working definitely helped let the time pass faster. Not that she didn¡¯t feel any fulfillment from helping the engineers do their work, of course. By the evening she must have lifted a few tons of rocks in large chunks from the quarry to the fort, then up and down the stairs, work that was usually done by teams of people either pushing the large rocks on rolling logs or pulling the rocks up by way of rudimentary cranes. Nadine and Maribel also pulled their weight while helping with the construction, and that day''s construction progress was visibly faster than the previous five days¡¯. At that pace, another day or two and the fortification¡¯s wall should be finished in its entirety, at which point the engineers would begin work on the housing and citadel within the fort itself. While Ephemera lacked heavy machinery, magic more than made up for it in some ways. The engineers had not brought any of the stones they used to build the fortification with them. Instead, several engineers with specialized classes directly carved them out from the mountainside. There was a large supply of good stone on the mountains, after all. That said, while those engineers could carve out the rocks with their skills and even render it down to neat blocks, they lacked the strength to move those rocks themselves, which was where the soldiers came into play as labor. Even a second tier soldier was a good bit stronger than the average adult in Alissa¡¯s former world, after all. She herself had physical stats equivalent to many fourth tier combatants, and it was only while helping the engineers work that she realized what exactly that meant. Apparently it meant that she could lift a large slab of stone that must have weighed hundreds of pounds all by herself and carry it while walking to the fort with only some effort. 137 - Disheartening News ¡°You want this piece here, right?¡± asked Alissa as she casually supported a chunk of stone wider than she was tall on one shoulder in a relaxed way. The piece of stone must have weighed nearly a thousand pounds or so, yet she carried it casually as if it was light. And that was after climbing the ladder to the parapet of the wall with said stone on her shoulder, at that. ¡°Yes, please, Lady [Hero],¡± replied an old [Grand Master Sculptor] politely at her inquiry. The man was part of the engineer team that worked on building the wall, which already neared its completion merely a week after their arrival. ¡°A little bit to the left¡­ just a tiny bit backwards¡­ perfect, right there, thank you,¡± said the old man as he directed Alissa on where to place the slab of stone. As soon as Alissa laid the slab down, an old woman, whose class showed [Beloved of the Land], stepped in and gently touched the slab with her hands. Before Alissa¡¯s eyes, the massive slab of stone fused with the stone of the battlement beneath it, becoming one whole with no separation between the two. Then the old [Grand Master Sculptor] went to work and the blank, featureless slate of stone turned into square-shaped crenellations with arrow slits that were wider on the inner side but narrowed down towards the outer side. His skills allowed the old man to shape the stone as if it was putty in his hands, and he moved with practiced grace born from a lifetime of experience. It was the preponderance of such classes amongst the engineers who came along with the reinforcements that made completing the wall within such a short timespan possible. The engineers stationed at Fort Ixlay were mostly younger ones, second and third tiers looking for more experience. The ones sent as reinforcements however are the veterans and masters, many of which were fourth tiers. Needless to say, people with classes that even remotely relate to construction work at that tier were capable of doing things that more than made up for the lack of modern conveniences like heavy machinery. Those like the old woman, typically some sort of class related to the earth and capable of manipulating them, directly removed large stones from the mountainsides to be transported for use in the fort¡¯s construction. Then once the stones were in place, they would fuse it with the structure already built, which resulted in a fort wall that was effectively one massive, continuous piece of stone, without any breaks in it. That naturally did wonders for the wall¡¯s durability. On the other hand, those with classes like the sculptor used their various skills to shape the stones as needed, and Alissa noticed that they had apparently learned some tricks from her world, likely brought over by some previous summoned [Hero] and passed down the generations. Other than the fort¡¯s wall being one solid, continuous piece, there were other tricks that made it even more durable. For example, the fort¡¯s wall was actually thicker than the area where the walkways and parapets were situated by nearly a foot and a half or so. That thicker area jutted out and was actually formed by a thin layer of solid stone that was backed by struts that supported it and connected it to the main wall, though the topside was completely covered so it was unnoticeable once finished. In the gap between the thin layer and the main wall, they packed fine sand. The sand was packed so well that there was no room for much shifting within the gap itself, but Alissa saw the intention behind the practice. Alissa had seen how the engineers built what were basically self-contained sections out of the outer layer and the support struts and packed each one full of sand. The wall was built that way so that when a projectile struck that outer layer, its force would be dissipated by first the stone layer and then the sand behind it. Even if they failed to completely dampen the blow, it would result in a much weaker blow against the actual main wall, which was far more solid and durable. The way the sand was contained in individual sections also meant that a blow would only break the mechanism in a very limited section of the wall. It was like having a thin sheet of metal on top of a sandbag on top of your actual armor. She was not so arrogant as to believe that the locals wouldn¡¯t be able to come up with the idea themselves, but the specific way they set it up resembled reactive tank armor she had seen in the news before far too much to be a coincidence. Given the way the timeflow between Ephemera and earth seemed to be completely unrelated, it was not impossible for someone from Alissa¡¯s era to have been summoned over hundreds of years ago in Ephemera. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sure enough, when she asked one of the engineers during a rest period the man confirmed that it was a technique they learned from a champion that was summoned many generations ago. Originally the technique they learned was crude compared to how it was in the present day, but over the years they had made improvements upon the idea using the skills that some people happen to get. For example, fusing the stones of the fortification into a single, homogeneous slab made it far more durable, but was something that could only be done with the help of multiple people who had classes that allowed them to manipulate the rocks that way. It was not until a few generations ago that the Kingdom started to purposely groom such people amongst their engineers. Similarly, the sand that was packed in the gap used to be small pebbles and coarse sand. Over the generations, the locals discovered that using finer sand would improve the effect by quite a bit, so they created ways to make the fine sand needed on the spot. The engineers mostly ground down the bits of stone that formed the excess from the pieces used to build the fort until they reached the consistency of a very fine powder. Given that it was still only a couple hours past noon, around the time when Alissa¡¯s shift at the wall had just ended a short while ago, the fact that the wall was in the finishing touches meant that it would definitely be finished within the day. Alissa saw Nadine and Maribel team up to carry an even larger and longer piece of stone to be used for the crenellations above the gate. The large slab they carried was too unwieldy for just one person to carry up the stairs. It was shortly after they placed the slab of stone and while the engineers were working on it that she noticed Glenn walking towards them. He was in the shift before theirs, so she knew it wasn¡¯t his turn to be at the wall, which made her wonder what brought him to them. ¡°Beg yer pardon for the disturbance, Miladies, yer Highness,¡± said Glenn, who pretty much referred to everyone in the group as ¡®Milord¡¯ or ¡®Milady¡¯, probably due to his peasant upbringing. ¡°Sir Marsten bid me to ask for your presence in the command tent, said that he had important news to share.¡± ¡°Important news?¡± asked Nadine from where she sat against the wall to rest for a bit. The Fifth Princess had classes which were not as good as Alissa¡¯s in terms of quality, so her stats were somewhat lower in comparison. ¡°Guess we should head over? I don¡¯t think Old Marsten would call us if it¡¯s not something really important.¡± ¡°Guess so, let¡¯s go then,¡± replied Alissa as she got up and followed Glenn down the stairs. Since the keep, citadel, and housing weren¡¯t built yet, and there was no cabin of a suitable size out of the ones left behind by the demons, Sir Marsten used a large tent as his command post. The tent was large enough to accommodate Alissa¡¯s whole party as well as another couple dozen people, even if that would mean standing room only and pretty cramped quarters. ¡°You called, Sir?¡± asked Alissa once they reached the tent. She noticed that quite a few others were already waiting inside. Joshua and Ethan as well as the rest of the party were present, as were around ten of the other fourth tiers, as well as Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond. The lineup of people present in the tent pretty much meant that it was most likely a serious issue indeed that awaited them. ¡°Yes, good, now you¡¯re all here,¡± said Sir Marsten with a nod, his attention riveted to the opened map of the region set before him. Alissa keenly noticed the presence of several tokens that signified the demon army positioned around a few days'' march to the east of their current position around where Sir Marsten was looking. ¡°The news that just arrived ain¡¯t good news, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°People from Fort Savinal further east had noticed movement behind the enemy lines and sent some of their scouts to ascertain the nature of that movement. What they found out was that a detachment of demons numbering at least twenty thousand are marching west,¡± continued the old knight. ¡°As you all might have inferred by now, their target is most likely us.¡± ¡°They¡¯d be eager to avenge their loss, I¡¯m certain,¡± noted one of the younger fourth tiers in the tent. ¡°The demons had been dominating the previous three wars, so a loss this early in the war would be like an insult to their pride.¡± ¡°That is one reason, another is that we¡¯ve also beaten up one of their [Champions], which most people consider a good omen for our side, including the demons,¡± added Sir Inolet. ¡°They would want to return the favor to overturn the omen, some just out of superstition, but also to improve morale. They might not know whether the [Heroes] were still here or not, but they were last spotted here so chances are good that their [Champion] might be on their way back for another match.¡± ¡°What¡¯s more, the scouts couldn¡¯t confirm it, but we have suspicion that another of the [Champions] are part of this army marching our way,¡± supplied Sir Marsten as he pointed towards the tokens that represented the marching demons. ¡°The brute had not been spotted for the past few days, which was inconsistent with his usual behavior so far, so it¡¯s probably him that¡¯s on the way here. Meanwhile the Necromancer had yet to be seen again after the fight here, so we might expect her return as well.¡± ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, the demons are coming back, and they are expected to reach us within a week at the latest. I want everyone on alert from now on. Protection of the engineers is to be tripled. We will want them to finish their job as soon as possible so we can send them back to safety within the kingdom, is that understood?¡± asked the old knight to the gathered people. ¡°I want two fourth tiers with every group of engineers that leaves this base as an added security detail. We can¡¯t rule out that the demons might strike preemptively before their [Champions] arrive.¡± A chorus of agreements and ¡°yes, Sir!¡±s answered the old knight as the group dispersed shortly afterwards. As she left the tent, Alissa couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly worried and nervous that the peaceful days were ending so quickly and abruptly. She knew that being part of a war would be difficult, but it was not until she was truly involved that she fathomed the entirety of it. As she followed behind Nadine and Maribel, she thought about the situation, and the uncertainty she still felt about the Kingdom¡¯s motives with the summoning. The suspicion she had with the temple and the Gods. In the end, however, she realized that at the moment she was in no position to worry about such matters and that it was better to focus on the task at hand. So she prepared herself to do whatever would be needed to survive the coming ordeal. CXXXVIII - New Allies ¡°We would be all too happy to be of aid to the Deities¡¯ command, Exalted One,¡± proclaimed the old priestess of the Zikeal temple after Esperanza gave her an abbreviated version of the story. Even if she did not have Ani backing her up on the matter, the priestess looked so enamored that Esperanza guessed that she would get Zikeal¡¯s support either way. Despite the mentioned effect from [Gaze Unto the Abyss] which stated that it blocked all sorts of [Analysis] type skills from working on her, if Esperanza were to contain the skill¡¯s ¡°aura¡± within herself, she found out that she could allow others to identify her using said skills. A side effect of that, however, was that the one doing so would be subjected to [Far Down the Deep End]¡¯s side effect. Which did nothing whatsoever to people who worshiped Oldies in the first place, and if anything, only reaffirmed their belief that she was a divine messenger sent directly by their deities. It made some sense, since by the system¡¯s recognition all believers of Oldies had negative sanity, and as such rather than driving them mad like it would to believers of the new gods, all that Oldies¡¯ worshipers would feel was a sense of godly awe towards her. ¡°That said¡­ I am afraid Zikeal does not have that much to offer in terms of martial might, unlike what the presence of Seneschal Abr-Niz and Chieftain Ubra¡¯Neugh here might have suggested,¡± added the old priestess as a caveat. ¡°Our people¡­ barring a select few, most of us never left our caverns, as we are mostly self-sufficient here. Only a few had any interest in fighting and classes that leaned that way. The guards you had seen with the Seneschal were already the majority of our best ones.¡± ¡°I had noticed, est¨¢ bien,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. While she had relaxed quite a bit during the welcome and the feast, she had also taken the time to analyze everyone in her sight. The results brought her to a depressing conclusion, namely that there were far fewer combatants in Zikeal compared to Agur-Bas, despite the settlement¡¯s larger size. Agur-Bas had more than enough guards ¨C including multiple fourth tier ones, where Ani was the strongest mostly thanks to the quality of her class rather than her level ¨C that they could easily afford to part with the volunteers who wanted to follow Esperanza. She had yet to see another fourth tier fighter in Zikeal other than the two before her. The Gour-Ug¡¯rech living in the settlement likely had more, due to their more frequent jaunts to the sea outside, but unless they were hybrids like Ani, they wouldn¡¯t be of much help on land. Most of the other guards she had seen amongst the locals were third tiers at best, and out of those few were at higher levels of the tier. ¡°Zikeal had never been discovered by hostiles since its founding, and like others, most of the people here hid to escape the persecution and violence that those who worship the new gods would enact upon us,¡± offered Abr-Niz with a rather apologetic tone. ¡°Since the place is mostly self-sufficient, there was little to no incentive to go out and hunt, or to level in a combat class. Even our current force of guards is arguably the strongest this place has had over the past century or so.¡± ¡°I would have liked to offer my services to the Exalted One, but that would mean leaving Zikeal poorly defended, given my responsibilities. Chieftain Ubra¡¯Neugh is not familiar with fighting on land, so it would be a risk, since, as the Exalted One has explained, this world is about to change,¡± he continued. ¡°I can only offer my deepest apologies for that.¡± ¡°There is no need for apologies. Your settlement has its own situation, and we completely understand that. All we would ask is to be allowed to rest and replenish our supplies for a while here before we continue our journey,¡± replied Esperanza diplomatically. She figured assuaging the locals¡¯ worries and using polite words should go a long way given how much they put her on a pedestal. ¡°We would be most willing to provide, Exalted One,¡± said the old priestess with palpable relief. Did they probably think that Esperanza would have flown into a rage if her demands were not met or something? Then again, she did recall that Oldies once told her how it sometimes sent agents into the mortal world to weed out activities that threatened the cycle as a whole, like one time when some maniac mage tried to subsume the souls that were supposed to reincarnate to turn himself immortal. Given their rather eldritch-y nature, the agents Oldies sent would have been much like how she was in the start, terrible beings of hunger and devastation. Unlike her, however, those agents wouldn¡¯t have a rational mind keeping them under control. They would just arrive, do the task they were supposed to do with great violence, and be removed from the world once finished. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. So on second thought Esperanza guessed that the old priestess had reason to be relieved after all. ¡°Oh, right, a question,¡± interjected Esperanza as she recalled something. ¡°On our way to Zikeal we found another, smaller settlement that seemed to have been abandoned many years ago. All signs we discovered hinted that the inhabitants migrated to Zikeal, and we also found some unfortunate souls frozen in a crevasse, likely part of these people. Do you happen to know of their fate?¡± ¡°If I may be allowed to answer that question?¡± asked an old man who had been silent so far, seated at the side of the council. Esperanza noted how the old priestess was the one who gave permission instead of any of the others. ¡°Exalted One, I believe you have just described Baslem, the settlement my family originated from. My late father was the leader there who made the decision to evacuate the settlement and migrate to Zikeal after what was at that point decades of continued decay.¡± ¡°Ah, so some of you made it, then? That¡¯s a load off my shoulder,¡± noted Esperanza with a relieved sigh. After she and the rest of the group had found the abandoned settlement and the frozen corpses, she couldn¡¯t help but worry a bit about the fate of the people who used to live there. To hear a confirmation that some of them made it to Zikeal and apparently having integrated well ¨C given that one of theirs sat on the council ¨C was a good thing. ¡°I am familiar with the crevasse you mentioned, Exalted One. We had lost fourteen of our own to it, including my father. Fortunately the rest of our journey was spared from misfortune, and most of us made it to Zikeal after a while,¡± narrated the old man. ¡°At the time, I was elected as representative of our people since I was the only son of the leader, my late father, and I have served in the council since.¡± ¡°Glad to hear your people are doing fine, then,¡± offered Esperanza with a nod, which seemed to cause the old hybrid man to straighten up with pride. ¡°Anyway, priestess, my group aren¡¯t familiar with what Zikeal could offer for our cause since none of them have ever been here before. If you could help enlighten us on that matter, it would be helpful.¡± ¡°Certainly, Exalted One,¡± replied the priestess with another respectful bow. ¡°We would naturally offer to replenish your food supplies, as we have plenty of that to offer. We even trade our excess regularly with some nearby Gour-Ug¡¯rech communities,¡± she offered, accompanied by a nod of agreement from the Gour-Ug¡¯rech chieftain. ¡°Other than that¡­ I cannot help but notice that the clothing worn by the Honored Ones are not the most suitable for the climate here, we have skilled [Tailors] who could likely help with that as well.¡± ¡°Exalted One, may we inquire as to your plan once you leave here?¡± asked a middle-aged woman who, interestingly enough, was pretty much human without any obvious sign of heritage from other races. ¡°Me and mine might have some¡­ qualities that might be of use to you, depending on your chosen direction,¡± said the woman somewhat cryptically. ¡°We intend to lay low for a while in the human kingdom,¡± replied Esperanza honestly. ¡°We pulled off some sabotage in the demon territories with the hope that it would weaken the demons and hopefully make the war more even somewhat. The longer the humans and demons fight against one another, the easier our task will be since both sides are our enemies to begin with.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ To let the worshipers of the usurpers fight and kill each other on their own first, yes? It would definitely help weaken them, definitely better than what we could achieve on our own indeed,¡± replied the old priestess with a nod. ¡°There are far too few of us who still worship the Deities on land. Even if we were to gather all our forces, we would at most be a nuisance to those under the usurpers.¡± ¡°Exactly. We¡¯d be a nuisance to them while trying to slowly weaken them and prolong this ongoing war so they could slaughter each other to their hearts¡¯ content,¡± noted Esperanza with a nod. ¡°I am not so arrogant to think that just our interference alone would change the course of the war, but sometimes, taking out the right person at the right time can indeed result in disproportionate effects compared to the scale of the action.¡± ¡°In that case, Exalted One, would you be interested in¡­ gathering information from our enemies?¡± asked the middle-aged human woman from earlier with what seemed to be a twinkle in her eyes. ¡°If we could learn some intelligence from them, we might be able to do what you described with even better effectiveness, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°We have considered that angle, yes, but so far none of us has the necessary skills to do that sort of work. The way people who worship the new gods could tell that we worship the old gods easily meant that we could not infiltrate their society, even when some of us would be able to blend in physically and speak their language,¡± replied Ani as she explained the issue on Esperanza¡¯s behalf. ¡°Neither the Exalted One¡¯s current party nor my people back in Agur-Bas have been able to do this.¡± ¡°I myself could infiltrate for a very short term, but that involves a rather gruesome process and it¡¯d be easier to pull off against demons. Maybe if my skill evolves another time I would be able to change my form until it wouldn¡¯t attract suspicion from a human, but that¡¯s still only a possibility, and besides, it doesn¡¯t solve the issue of skills like [Analysis] or [Identify] finding out who we are.¡± ¡°If I may offer a suggestion, then,¡± said the middle-aged woman with a smile on her face. ¡°Our families¡­ that is, my family and a few others, have been keeping our descendants human, unmixed with the others, so that we could infiltrate the usurper-worshiping society outside from time to time. The successful ones amongst those descendants have earned skills that would allow them to blend into society unnoticed. Skills that would shield them from detection as well as present themselves as something they were not to those who tried to use [Analysis] or [Identify] on them.¡± ¡°Go on,¡± said Esperanza with some interest in the woman¡¯s words. ¡°If the Exalted One wishes, We would be willing to offer some of our best infiltrators for your perusal. Our society here in Zikeal might be too peaceful to be able to offer warriors that could match those already by your side, but we have our ways to contribute to the cause as well,¡± suggested the woman with a slight bow. ¡°If you find this approach to be worthwhile, I will have several volunteers from amongst our best gathered by tomorrow.¡± CXXXIX - The Spy Who Worshiped Me ¡°So how does this whole thing work? I mean, with the problem of gods meddling and letting people identify those like us at a glance and all that,¡± asked Esperanza to the human matron the next morning after said matron came to pick them up from the temple to meet the volunteers she had called out of her clansmen. Since there was some distance to walk ¨C the clan¡¯s abode was not in the main cavern but in one of the side caverns instead ¨C she decided to ask a bit about the more technical side of the spying business. ¡°I believe the Exalted One is familiar with manipulation of one¡¯s aura, yes?¡± asked the old matron back, to which Esperanza answered with a nod. ¡°Some of our ancestors wondered whether that would be a viable method to hide our presence from those who worship the usurpers. At first, their efforts bore nothing but disgrace and failure.¡± ¡°Since you¡¯re actively spying on the Human Kingdom these days, I assume that those efforts bore fruit later on, then,¡± noted Esperanza with a nod. She was familiar with how old people often liked to wax nostalgic over things like these, so she just let it be. Besides, listening to the matron¡¯s story would help pass the time while they walked to their destination. ¡°That is indeed the case, Exalted One,¡± admitted the Matron. ¡°After many generations of disheartening failure, one ancestor thought about going to the extreme. He suppressed his aura to such an extent that we feared for his life at first, as he had pushed himself to the brink of death in the process. Rather than suppressing his aura, he had sealed it, if temporarily.¡± ¡°And that was enough to fool whatever detection method the new gods gave to their followers?¡± questioned Esperanza rather skeptically. It sounded a bit too simple to be true. If it was true, then that meant the security system the new gods had set up after taking over had loopholes that could be abused, which was something to think about. ¡°More like, under such suppression he barely identified as anything, Exalted One,¡± explained the old woman. ¡°You are no doubt familiar with how our priests are capable of identifying those who were fellow worshipers of the Deities of Yore. Not even our priests noticed his presence under such a state. To all eyes and identification, the ancestor just looked like a low tier human suffering from serious ails.¡± ¡°Huh, so if you go that far¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be noticed by anyone? Not even the priests of the new gods?¡± queried Ani with some surprise evident in her voice. Likely some people had once floated similar ideas in Agur-Bas, but they either failed or were shot down before they could fail and potentially give away their location. ¡°From our old texts, it is noted that regular worshipers of the new gods would not be able to detect our allegiance at all. Most priests would only be able to notice if they come into touching distance, although there had been some high priests who were able to spot us even from afar as well, but those were rare,¡± elaborated the old matron. ¡°Of course, that was with the early version of the skill. We have developed it over generations to further improve it.¡± ¡°Ah, that makes sense,¡± replied Esperanza. Of course they would develop the skill further over time rather than just stick with the first one they found. ¡°And how does the current skill fare against priests like those?¡± ¡°In its base form, about the same as the original. After one evolution, most regular priests couldn¡¯t detect them even when touching, and the rare priests who could see through us had to do so from a closer distance. After a second evolution, we have not managed to gather enough information to be certain, but we believe that even the rare priest will need to be very close to be able to detect us.¡± ¡°No opportunity to actually test it, I assume?¡± questioned Ani, who by now looked very interested in this skill that the matron¡¯s family had developed over generations. ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. Powerful priests are rarely seen in the remote regions we usually operate in, and if we know they are around, we would mostly avoid them rather than risk ourselves just to test the limitations of our skill,¡± replied the Matron openly. ¡°Fortunately most of our senior members are present, as we usually left the spying outside to the youngsters to hone their skill further.¡± ¡°Are there any specific criteria one would need to be able to learn this skill, matron?¡± asked Ani once again. She was likely interested in the possible implications of the skill, or its potential use in covert operations. Not unsurprising when one considered that she used to be the head of the guard contingent at Agus-Bas. ¡°¡±Well, we mostly get it as a class skill. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯ll be learnable by others, other than actually getting the class for themselves,¡± replied the matron with some uncertainty in her voice. ¡°That said, the very first version our ancestor created was an evolution of a general skill, so it should be possible to replicate that feat of his, at the very least.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Also, in order to infiltrate, you would naturally need to not look out of place. In this case it meant either some sort of disguise skills, or just use people who wouldn''t look out of place for their target destination,¡± continued the matron as they walked towards the passage that led to a side cavern. ¡°It is one reason our tribe chose to remain as human as we could, though we do take brides and grooms from the other tribes from time to time.¡± ¡°Makes sense. You wouldn¡¯t need a disguise to infiltrate the Human Kingdom if you¡¯re already human to begin with,¡± nodded Esperanza in agreement. ¡°Resitia and Iryl here can likely do that as well, assuming they managed to learn the skill. I might be able to do it as well with one more skill evolution since I don¡¯t need to worry about the detection to begin with.¡± ¡°That sounds good. I know my people would welcome your presence, as our focus on the skill meant that we are poor at fighting,¡± replied the matron with a pleased voice. ¡°Every time some of my people go out there to look for information, they risk their lives as most wild beasts or outlaws could kill them easily despite their high levels.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take that into consideration, yeah. The Exalted One and Honored Ones generally take good care of those in our group, though, so you have no need to worry, Matron,¡± interjected Ani from behind. ¡°We left Agur-Bas as twenty, and despite multiple raids in the demon territories, still number twenty. Not a single one of us has been lost in the journey or the battles we fought.¡± ¡°That does put my old heart somewhat at ease,¡± admitted the matron. The woman led the group through the winding passageway to a different, smaller cavern. Compared to the main cavern, the side cavern had brighter lighting, and didn¡¯t seem to be as heavily inhabited, with large swathes of the ground being occupied by farmed land where the locals grow what crops managed to grow in the dark underground. Even as they entered the cavern, Esperanza noticed from a quick glance that the vast majority of the cavern¡¯s inhabitants were humans, or at least close enough to pass as one. Clearly the matron was taking the tribe¡¯s legacy seriously, though her tribe was also clever enough to avoid excessive inbreeding in the process. Some of the people present had obvious non-human features, but they were human hybrids, and Esperanza assumed it just meant that they and their children wouldn¡¯t take part in the espionage missions until their descendants were close enough to a human to be able to pass as one unnoticed. It sounded like a simplistic approach to a complicated problem, but it clearly worked for these people. As the matron led them towards a large building set by the far end of the cavern, the locals bowed in respect at their passing. Though only a day had passed, everyone in the settlement already knew that Esperanza and the [Progenies of Yore] were paying them a visit, and showed their deference as a result of it. The matron called out once they neared the large building, and from inside came five humans, male and female, from ones who were barely out of their teenage years to middle-ages ones. The five varied greatly and looked nothing like one another, though they bowed in unison upon noticing the matron and her guests behind her. Out of curiosity, Esperanza tried to use [Soul Sight] to look at them, and to her surprise, found that the purple threads that would normally intertwine around their souls were hidden inside it instead. When she attempted to identify them using [Gaze Unto the Abyss], the classes she got in return were along the lines of [Master Infiltrator], [Spymaster Patriarch], and [One Who Swims in the Dark]. ¡°These five are amongst our best and have volunteered for the great cause, Exalted One,¡± said the matron as she introduced the five one after another. She first pointed to the oldest of the five, a middle-aged man with a bushy beard and thick mustache. ¡°This is Murad, he is one of the few fourth tiers amongst us, and his skill is also at its second evolution.¡± ¡°Mora here is only in her third tier, and her skill is also only in its first evolution, but she is the most experienced of our operatives,¡± said the matron as she introduced a middle-aged, slightly chubby woman who gives a strong motherly vibe. ¡°She is also Murad¡¯s wife, and they usually work together, usually disguised as small-time traders.¡± ¡°Kurt and Leo here are brothers, they¡¯re both in the early third tier also with the first evolution of their skills. They¡¯re the most familiar ones with the area surrounding the mountain range as they were usually active there, claiming to be traveling hunters as their disguise,¡± she continued as she pointed to the pair of young ones barely twenty years or so in age as far as Esperanza could tell. ¡°Tiara here is my granddaughter. She¡¯s also the youngest amongst us who has gotten their skill to its second evolution, and the only one in our generation to have it while still being in her third tier class,¡± explained the matron as she pointed to the youngest girl who was likely still a teenager. ¡°She is not as experienced as the rest, but her skills should be satisfactory for any required purpose.¡± ¡°Everyone, this is the Exalted one and the Honored Ones, the ones you volunteered to help in their divinely mandated endeavor. Be sure to do your best and not to bring shame to our tribe now, and make sure to carry your weight, understood?¡± said the matron as she addressed the five volunteers, to which all five of them firmly nodded in response. ¡°Thank you for the help, matron,¡± said Esperanza in turn. ¡°We really appreciate it. This will help us a great deal while we¡¯re in the human lands.¡± ¡°Of course, Exalted One. We are honored to be able to serve,¡± replied the matron. ¡°That said, can we try having some of the people in my group learn to¡­ suppress themselves to the point of being undetectable? We would need some of us to be able to similarly keep ourselves if we want to follow them into the human towns and villages to keep them safe,¡± questioned Esperanza. The method was probably just as important as the skilled and experienced infiltrators that had volunteered. ¡°Certainly, if the Exalted One and Honored Ones would please follow me?¡± replied the matron as she led everyone ¨C including the volunteers from her tribe ¨C to a secluded room built deep in the large building. There were multiple chambers in the room that were mostly open at the moment, and in each chamber was a fist-sized crystal ball placed securely on top of a small desk. Every single one of the crystal balls lit with a blindingly bright light the moment the group entered the room. CXL - Infiltration Training ¡°My eyes!¡± ¡°What is this!¡± ¡°Someone close the doors!¡± Esperanza heard yells from everyone around her as the blinding light covered her senses. Fortunately, her eyes seemed to be able to adapt to the sudden glaring brightness within moments, and while it was still annoying to look through, she could see things relatively clearly once more. The first thing she did was to take measure of the situation, and she felt relief when she noticed that other than the brightness, there was nothing untoward happening. Then Esperanza noticed that the matron yelled for someone to close the doors, so she extended her limbs and did just that. The brightness died out as she closed the door to each chamber, either being contained within them or otherwise turned off. After she closed all the open doors, the chamber returned to its previous, more comfortable level of lighting. It still took a while for the others to rub the glare out of their eyes, though, since every one of them was caught by surprise. The matron included. ¡°Ahh¡­ Thank you! My deepest apologies, Exalted One and Honored Ones. We use these chambers to train beginners in the masking and infiltration skills of our tribes. Those orbs were designed by the local clergy to flare up with light when they detected the presence of those who followed the Deities of Yore in the vicinity,¡± explained the matron apologetically. ¡°I had been so excited by your presence that I had completely forgotten that your mere distant presence would have likely caused this sort of reaction from the orbs.¡± ¡°Apology accepted, matron. I was also at fault as I didn¡¯t consider reining in my aura in such a place. Should have expected you to possess something with a similar function to train with,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. ¡°Let me take care of that issue real quick.¡± With a flex of her will, Esperanza reined in her aura and confined it inside her body once more, the way she usually did it while they were traveling. She had allowed her aura to flare unimpeded after meeting Abr-Niz and throughout the previous days in Zikeal because it was honestly more comfortable that way, and the locals were also unaffected by the negative effects of her aura. If anything, they seemed to be invigorated by it instead. Given how she usually kept her distinctive and very noticeable aura under wraps though, it took mere moments for Esperanza to rein her aura once more. The [Progenies of Yore] behind her had no such skills for the most part, other than Legisvula who had a skill that hid his aura as part of his skillset. Similarly, out of Ani¡¯s people, it was the two scouts who had skills along that line. ¡°That should do it. Let me try to open one¡­¡± said Esperanza as she extended her arm to open the door of the nearest chamber once more. The moment she opened the door, bright light ¨C maybe a little less bright than before ¨C flooded the chamber once again, though, so she quickly shut the door closed once more. ¡°Guess that¡¯s not good enough, or else it¡¯s you kids who¡¯s triggering it this time¡­¡± ¡°It is probably the Honored Ones, Exalted One,¡± replied the Matron with a slight bow. ¡°They are far more attuned, far closer to the deities than the average person here. Not even the priests from the temple ever got that sort of reaction from the detectors, and there are many of them together on top of everything. It is not unexpected to have this sort of reaction as a result.¡± ¡°Would they still be able to train, then?¡± asked Esperanza. If the presence of the [Progenies of Yore] was enough to cause the orbs to overreact like that, it might cause difficulties if she wanted them to train the infiltration skills. ¡°The chambers are designed to isolate the inside from the outside, specifically when it comes to auras like these. As such, as long as they are alone inside a chamber they should be able to gauge the results of their training effectively. We could even have it open to have some people who are skilled in the technique watch their progress and guide them, if desired.¡± ¡°Interesting. Let¡¯s give it a try then, shall we?¡± asked Esperanza to the rest of her group. They all nodded as while many of them aren¡¯t suited for infiltration regardless of whether it is in the Human Kingdom or the Demon Territories, the ability to hide their aura could come in handy some day. Esperanza herself was already quite skilled with it, but other than the three scouts most of the rest lack such a capability. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Might as well,¡± noted Ani as she walked towards one of the chambers. She quickly opened the door while squinting her eyes, entered, then closed the door behind her. The others repeated her actions, one person to a chamber, until eventually only Esperanza, the matron, and the five agents that volunteered remained in the main room. ¡°Let me try as well,¡± said Esperanza as she opened the door to the next chamber over. To her surprise, however, this time there was no light whatsoever emanating from the room. The crystal ball that detects the presence of Oldies¡¯ power lay inert and quiet on its pedestal. She even touched it and saw no change before she turned to look at the matron questioningly. ¡°I believe this means that your control of aura is so perfect already that the power of the Deities of Yore couldn¡¯t be detected by others easily, Exalted One,¡± explained the matron with an unsurprised look on her face. The five behind her looked quite impressed as well. ¡°If you could try to leak a little bit of your aura? It should trigger some reaction from the detector.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Esperanza did as the matron bid and allowed a tiny bit of her aura to leak out. Almost immediately, the crystal orb shone with a blinding brightness which almost caused her to flinch. She quickly retracted and suppressed her aura once more, and the brightness faded right as she did so, returning the room back to normal levels of lighting. ¡°As expected from one of such exalted stature¡­¡± muttered the matron as she approached and seemed to inspect the crystal orb carefully, she ¨C as well as the other five ¨C had apparently kept their auras strictly confined as Esperanza saw the matron make the crystal orb light up with varying degrees of brightness with ease. ¡°It would appear that the Exalted One¡¯s aura is so pure with the Deities¡¯ power that the detector would immediately flare up even if only a little bit was leaked.¡± ¡°Is that bad?¡± asked Esperanza with some curiosity. ¡°No, not exactly, especially since Exalted One already knows how to control it. Otherwise its presence would have made Exalted One rather easy to find and track by anyone who is sensitive to auras,¡± replied the matron. ¡°From the orb¡¯s reaction, however, Exalted One should be able to hide it so well that it should not be detectable by most.¡± ¡°I see,¡± noted Esperanza. A confirmation that her control of aura was good enough to potentially infiltrate without having to cram herself into a grotesque corpse meat suit was a good thing. ¡°If the Exalted One pleases, we could observe how the others are doing now. Since we are the only ones present in the room and we all know how to hide our auras, we would not affect the detectors of the people we are checking on even if we open the chamber¡¯s door,¡± suggested the matron, which Esperanza accepted. She was curious to see how the others were doing. The first door they opened was the one to the chamber Ani occupied. The orb in her room had a bright glow, but not to the point of being blinding. The idea behind the chambers was to allow an individual to experiment with various ways to hide their aura, with or without guidance from others. The presence of the orb allowed them to check their progress and take note when something they did was more effective than other approaches. ¡°The level of brightness that the lady showed is about the higher end amongst the people here in Zikeal. We usually only see that in those who have achieved their fourth tiers, or particularly talented third tiers. I guess it was to be expected of the Exalted One¡¯s companion,¡± noted the matron as she observed closely at Ani¡¯s orb. After some small talk and a few tips from the matron they closed the chamber¡¯s door once more and left Ani to her own devices. When they opened the next door, which was the chamber Val-Kas¡¯j occupied, they were all nearly blinded by the bright light once more. Val sat cross-legged in the chamber itself just before the crystal orb, though with his eyes squeezed shut from the brightness. Given the level of intensity from the light, everybody understood why he did that. ¡°You know, Val, why don¡¯t you just sit with your back to the orb instead?¡± suggested Esperanza after a moment. ¡°That way you could still check whether the brightness had reduced or not and not get blinded from staring at it.¡± ¡°That¡­ The thought had not crossed my mind, Exalted One. I thank you for the suggestion,¡± replied Val-Kas¡¯j somewhat sheepishly as he turned around and opened his eyes. ¡°This is much better indeed, compared to before.¡± ¡°I guess we¡¯ll leave you to your training then? We¡¯re going to check on how the others were doing.¡± ¡°Go ahead, Exalted One, and thank you for the advice once again.¡± replied Val-Kas¡¯j with a nod. They closed the chamber as they left it behind and went to check on the rest of the group. In most cases, the orb shone brightly. Blindlingly bright in the case of the [Progenies of Yore], less so for the other members of the group like Iryl and Ani¡¯s people. In their case it was more of a bright but still relatively comfortable glow, not one that would strain the eyes if one were to stare at it for too long a time. Surprisingly, Iryl had already made some headway in her practice, as her orb already shone dimmer than it used to, which she demonstrated before the matron and Esperanza. As expected, Legisvula and the other two scouts from Ani¡¯s team also already had a rudimentary grasp on the sort of skill the matron and her tribe practiced. They were not able to hide themselves as well as the matron¡¯s tribe could, as their skills were intended to hide their presence rather than their aura, but it had some effect as well. The matron speculated that as long as they practiced for a few days, chances were that they would be able to pinpoint which part of their skill actually helped with reining in their auras and eventually earn a general skill from that, the sort that the tribe¡¯s ancestor discovered. From there it was simply a matter of practice to go further. Esperanza thought that it was a good idea, since being able to infiltrate either the human or the demon societies ¨C something her group could do since they had people capable of assimilating into those societies without attracting much notice ¨C would allow her group to not only learn things they wouldn¡¯t otherwise, but also would present them with opportunities that otherwise wouldn¡¯t be available to them. She herself would practice her bodily transformation skill instead, as at the moment she wouldn¡¯t be able to pass for a human under close scrutiny, even if she could do so from a distance or through a cursory check. By the time her skill reached its next evolution, she should be able to disguise herself any way she wanted to with ease. Of course, that course of action necessitated a prolonged stay at Zikeal, but fortunately the locals were all too happy ¨C or rather, honored ¨C to accommodate the group¡¯s stay. If anything, they acted the way most fans in her previous world would have if their beloved celebrity suddenly came to their place and asked if they could stay there for a while. It was a bit eerie at times, but she learned to accept the offered kindness and worship, as those came from pure intentions. 141 - Renewed Hostilities ¡°Looking at all those demons, sure made me glad we helped pitch in to get this fort done early,¡± commented Alissa as she stood on the fort¡¯s completed battlements and looked at the recently-built camp belonging to the demon army in the distance. The demons had arrived just the previous evening and had apparently spent the night building a camp for their soldiers to rest on. A massive camp to accommodate the tens of thousands of soldiers that they had sent to the region. By Alissa¡¯s best guess the demon army outnumbered the people gathered in the new, as of yet unnamed fort, but around two to three to one. Fortunately, on their side they had the completed fortification to help their defenses, and the fort¡¯s location on the valley¡¯s mouth meant that it would be harder for the demons to try assaulting them from above unless they took the circuitous route around. Which happened to be a route that would leave them wide open to archers from the front while they traversed it. Most of the defenders of Fort Ixlay had moved to the new fort, along with the ten thousand or so reinforcements that had trickled in from deeper in the kingdom. Despite being greatly outnumbered, they were prepared to fight the demons to the bitter end if need be, and morale was high due to the previous victory and the presence of the [Heroes]¡¯ party amongst them. ¡°Think they sent this much because they suspect we¡¯re all still here?¡± asked Ethan from beside her. While the Kingdom had indeed sent lookalikes to several locations along the frontlines, the fact that Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua had been present when they fought and beat the [Mother of Monsters] was something the demons were bound to notice, as the [Champions] could [Respawn] just like the heroes. ¡°Possible,¡± chimed in Nadine from the side. The Fifth Princess was probably the one who Alissa and Ethan are closest to amongst their party members, other than Moira. She got along with them nicely, and unexpectedly given her royal background, was neither arrogant nor pretentious. Then again, she was far enough down the succession line that she had to fight to have something for herself rather than being able to just have everything handed out to her. ¡°Many of the lookalikes are people who either had similar natural looks to the three of you [Heroes], or people who had [Disguise] skills. Either way, none of them are likely at our level of power, so if they ever fought it might be noticeable right away.¡± In comparison, none of the three were that close to the group who belonged to the Temple Guards, as they tend to get rather¡­ ideological and preachy at times. Similarly, they weren¡¯t that close with Osmond or Glenn either, who they knew were likely working for Nadine¡¯s siblings and might have ulterior motives. Of course, there was always the possibility that Nadine herself had set things up so the [Heroes] would be more favorable to her. If that was the case, then she was good at it. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen any sign of the demon [Champions] as of yet. Think they¡¯re hiding in that camp so they could surprise us?¡± noted Alissa. She mostly looked for signs of the large undead abominations she knew the [Mother of Monsters] used heavily last time. Due to their size, those would be difficult to hide away from prying eyes. ¡°There are ways to hide things even when they¡¯re that big if it¡¯s just to mask them from a distance, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± explained Moira. ¡°My late grandfather used to tell me stories on how we¡¯d use such techniques to mask the advance of siege engines and the like during the previous war. If it could hide a siege engine on the move, then it likely could hide the sort of abominations we fought.¡± ¡°Dammit. That means she could be down there preparing a group of those things and we¡¯d be none the wiser,¡± cursed Alissa at the obvious implication of Moira¡¯s words. It was an annoying feeling to know that the enemy might be preparing an unpleasant surprise to use against them but be powerless to do anything about it. ¡°We could probably get a closer look if we pull off a night attack, but I think they¡¯d be expecting that. They kept their encampment well-lit all through last night,¡± noted Nadine as she looked over the demon encampment in the distance. Both the demons and the humans mostly kept the fighting to the daytime out of pragmatic reasons. Neither side were nocturnal, so fighting during the time when they were usually awake was better for both sides. While it was true that the demons had better vision in the dark than humans did ¨C with the various kinds of demons having different ways to do so ¨C it also rendered their eyes more sensitive to abrupt changes in brightness. For that reason, all human armies brought flares with them that would cause a glaringly bright source of light to form for a good while. Something that would turn the demons¡¯ advantage in the night into a disadvantage as they would be blinded for long periods if exposed to such glaring light while actively using their dark vision. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. It was something the demons adapted to by keeping their encampments well-lit at night, something that would reduce the effectiveness of such flares to a notable degree. In turn, the humans rarely dared to pull off night attacks because the demons were already naturally advantaged by the dark, and if they were in their well-lit camp, not even using flares would be able to turn that situation around. The accidental equality born from one side¡¯s advantage and the other side¡¯s abuse to counter that advantage meant that night attacks were generally only done when it was considered worthwhile, or as a surprise maneuver. Given how the defenders were all in the fort and the demons had them observed closely all the time, though, it was unlikely that they would be able to pull off a surprise on the other side. Though the same also applied to the demons themselves. The defenders of the fort kept a close eye on the demon encampment all day and night long, so it would be difficult for either side to surprise the other. With such maneuvers mostly out of the question, that only left an open, up-front battle as the remaining option, where the demons¡¯ numerical superiority would be pitted against the human side¡¯s fortification. ¡°It¡¯s not in the cards, Your Highness,¡± said Sir Marsten who walked up to the group while they talked and apparently caught the last bits that Nadine said. ¡°They are too well-prepared to risk it, so for the time being we are working out a plan on the assumption of the worst case scenario instead. That way we would not be caught red-handed either way.¡± ¡°I assume that meant planning as if the demons have a bunch of abominations hidden in their camp?¡± asked Ethan with some curiosity at the old knight, whose hair still resembled a military buzz cut after the mere few weeks of growth. ¡°Those, and siege engines too, Mister Greene,¡± replied the old knight with a nod. ¡°We are preparing contingencies for most plausible scenarios, though we would be a bit troubled if some of the other demon [Champions] were also here as we lack a comprehensive knowledge of their skill, and thus can¡¯t plan as well as we liked around them.¡± ¡°I mean¡­ I thought we had knowledge about the brute one now, and the [Mother of Monster] we fought back then too, no?¡± queried Ethan in turn. ¡°Some knowledge, yes. We simply don¡¯t know if they still have other ways to do things that we simply haven¡¯t seen as of yet, maybe something they held back as a surprise. It has been documented for [Heroes] or [Champions] to do so in the past and only spring the surprise in order to capture their opponent.¡± ¡°Dammit, I¡¯m going to end up paranoid if I have to think about that sort of stuff all the time,¡± cursed Ethan with a shake of his head. ¡°And of course the gods wouldn¡¯t give us a guide or walkthrough on how to do things either, despite this setting being pretty game-like,¡± he grumbled. ¡°Should have expected that sort of shit unless it was literally our cheat, though, I guess.¡± ¡°I beg your pardon?¡± asked Sir Marsten with some confusion as he didn¡¯t understand the meaning of what Ethan said. ¡°Just something from our previous world, pay no mind to it,¡± explained Alissa quickly. ¡°Anyway, Sir, since these demons are still building their camp do you think they would start the attack before it was finished? It might not be a bad idea to rest properly for a couple days while we wait for the attack rather than be too tense waiting for it.¡± ¡°Orders to that nature were already passed down, Miss O¡¯Connor. It would be folly for the demons to fight when they don¡¯t even have their camp built yet to begin with,¡± replied Sir Marsten with an approving nod. ¡°Still gladdens me that you thought of it. When I was young I once suffered under commanders who didn¡¯t understand such basic logic and demanded everyone stay on high alert for days on end.¡± ¡°Oh? What happened then?¡± asked Alissa with some curiosity of her own. Sir Marsten and Sir Inolet rarely spoke much about their younger days for some reason, so her interest was piqued now that one of them was speaking about it on his own. ¡°We were defeated horribly, and the man who was in command at the time even tried to blame it on the soldiers for ¡®not being vigilant enough¡¯, the rotten cur,¡± replied Sir Marsten with evident disgust at the situation. ¡°Maybe we would have been properly vigilant if we weren¡¯t suffering from frayed nerves and lack of rest because of his idiotic orders.¡± ¡°And how did that situation resolve itself?¡± chimed Nadine in from the side, with as much curiosity on her face as on Alissa¡¯s. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve heard of this sort of incident before.¡± ¡°Makes sense that they¡¯d wrap it up and pretend it never happened. The commander we had was¡­ I think like a cousin thrice removed to the royal family of that time? Something like that,¡± said the old knight with a sigh. ¡°What happened at that time was that fortunately we had testimonies from others who happened to have witnessed the whole thing and made a big commotion out of it. It nearly led to a schism between the knights and the royal family, even.¡± ¡°The knights wouldn¡¯t stand for their people to be punished out of a false accusation to spare the feelings of some distant member of the royalty, while the royal family naturally stood on the side of their relatives. That being wartime, you could probably guess that it could have ended in a very ugly manner,¡± he continued. ¡°Hell, if that had gone on for longer we might have had to deal with a coup in the middle of a war against the demons.¡± ¡°And what prevented that sort of outcome from happening?¡± ¡°One of the [Great Heroes] of the time played the role of the mediator between the knights and the royal family. She had also been present nearby when the incident happened, and spoke on our behalf as well. In the end, a compromise was reached and we went back to the frontlines, under commanders we trust with our lives, while that commander who caused the issue practically vanished. Nobody knows what happened to him in the end. We were also asked to stay quiet about the incident. ¡°You¡¯re speaking of it now, though?¡± asked Alissa curiously. ¡°It¡¯s been long enough that it shouldn¡¯t matter either way. Anyway, that incident is also why many of the old knights like me and Henri tend to be practically unattached to the royal family. Many of us lost our trust in them after such an incident,¡± said Sir Marsten. 142 - War Never Changes ¡°Don¡¯t let them get a foothold on the walls!¡± resounded Sir Marsten¡¯s yell as the soldiers fought against the demons that were clambering up the walls and tried to enter the fort that way. As it turned out, the demons did have some siege engines hidden in their camp, things that reminded Alissa of trebuchets, as well as large ballistas that hurled large spherical rocks at the wall like cannons. They were placed a good distance away, though, which somewhat reduced their power, but it was necessary for safety as if they were placed closer some of the fourth tiers might be able to wreck them with a quick strike. The way it was, the fourth tiers on the human side were kept busy defending against the boulders that happened to fly above the walls, while at the same time keeping watch over the demon side¡¯s fourth tiers as well. As for the boulders that struck the fort¡¯s walls, they just let those be. The wall was designed to take such a bombardment to begin with, so there was no reason to waste their energy to prevent those strikes from landing. Where the boulders launched by the demon siege engines struck the fort¡¯s walls, the outermost layer was gouged out, but the projectiles rarely managed to even touch the true main wall behind it, its momentum killed off by the impact against the outer layer and the soft, sandy cushion that awaited behind it. Some of the projectiles were even stuck in the wall¡¯s outer layer. Surprisingly ¨C or perhaps unsurprisingly ¨C the demons showed minimal self-preservation instincts and placed ladders against the walls and tried to climb up even while the projectiles from the siege engines slammed against the wall from time to time. Arrows rained from both sides, which further added to the chaos of the battle, and it was not a particularly rare occasion for a climbing demon to be struck down by an arrow from their own side, or for a siege projectile to land a bit too close to them. Yet they kept coming, seemingly unbothered by the risk of friendly fire, with their morale strangely high. It made Alissa wonder if the [Champion] that supposedly used mass buffs was present amongst the demon army or not. In contrast, the human side mostly guarded the walkways of the fort¡¯s walls. Their focus was on preventing the demon army from creating a beachhead atop the walls. To that purpose, they rained down arrows on the climbing demons mercilessly, while other soldiers used long-handled bidents to push away the ladders from the walls, toppling the ladders and the demons clambering along its length over the throng below. Other demons attempted to assault the fort from above, from the mountains to the sides. Unlike the cliffsides of the valley, however, the demons were wide open during their approach to the fort. As such, they were often shot down by the waiting human archers before they could get anywhere near the fort. Those who did manage to get close typically just found their ends on the tips of waiting spears. So far, despite the seemingly intense battle, the demons had yet to commit their true forces to the fight. Most of the attacking demons were only second tiers and early third tiers, far too weak to actually pose a threat to the human forces defending the fort. They were being sent to die so the humans would waste their energy killing them. And those demons probably knew it, yet they still rushed towards certain death with gleeful abandon regardless. It was something that Alissa found rather disturbing, to say the least. She and the other members of her party were interspersed along the walls to match their skills to the needs of the defense. The direct combat members like her were mostly positioned on the southern wall, which faced the heaviest assault from the demons. On the other hand, people who were skilled at ranged combat like Osmond and Joshua were positioned on the western and eastern walls, respectively, where they made full use of their skills to wipe out the demons attempting to strike from the mountains. It was something they both proved particularly adept at, given the circumstances. Alissa and the rest didn¡¯t have much to do during these early stages of the siege, so they mostly helped along with the suppression efforts as they hurled the javelins and other throwing weapons they carried down at the throng of demons below, or at the ones climbing up the wall. Their throwing weapons often either had enchantments that would allow them to return to their owner after a while, or were cheap, mundane consumables, so nobody really minded using them that way. They only had to take action on the times when a stone projectile from the demon trebuchets sailed too high and would have fallen inside the fort itself, if they were the closest one to the projectile. Ethan struck one such projectile head-on with the hammer end of his pollax and sent it flying back towards the demon army where it fell upon the crowd of demons below the wall. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Not quite a home run, huh?¡± teases Alissa with an amused chuckle. Neither of them played baseball but they had seen some games before, so were relatively familiar with the game and its terms. The way Ethan struck at the rock had looked like a batter swinging hard at a pitch, but the result of his swing was far more disappointing than expected. ¡°That rock was unnaturally hard,¡± countered Ethan with a frown on his face. ¡°You¡¯d think that if I struck it with my weapon and used enough force to throw it back some distance, the small surface area would have driven my weapon into the rock and broken it instead, but it didn¡¯t. Something magical has got to be holding it together.¡± Alissa nodded in contemplation as she listened to what Ethan said. The stone projectiles from the trebuchets were huge, easily a meter and a half in diameter, so what he said had a point. A blow with enough force to throw the projectile away, concentrated on such a small surface area, should have indeed shattered the rock or driven his weapon into it. Her musings were interrupted as a moment later another projectile sailed through the air directly towards the section of the wall she was stationed at. Alissa immediately took a close look at the projectile with her skills, and [A Critical Eye] showed her that there was indeed some kind of force that seemed to be holding the projectile together. And that force had a weak point. Alissa reared back as she prepared to intercept the projectile, the other fourth tiers nearby turning their attentions elsewhere as they noticed that she would be taking care of the matter. As the projectile neared the wall, she leapt up and forward towards it, her left arm sending a punch that drove the upper point of her shield directly into the spot where she saw the weak point previously. The impact that followed shattered the large rock into hundreds of pieces that flew to the sides and back like so much shrapnel, while Alissa herself borrowed the recoil from the impact to land back on the battlements. She almost missed her landing and it was only the fact that a quick-thinking soldier offered his bident for her to hold on to that prevented her from falling face-first outside the fort¡¯s walls. ¡°Nice move there, Allie! Though you kinda botched the landing,¡± said Ethan from his section further to the right. They were close enough that just raising their voices was enough to allow them to converse over the distance despite the din and clamor of the ongoing battle. One benefit of increased stats, amongst many others that they had discovered and enjoyed so far. Normally one would think that the sensitivity of hearing needed to hear a voice from that far away ¨C raised or not ¨C would cause a case of sensory overload since they would also have to listen to every voice within that distance. However, the higher stats also meant that their minds were more able to selectively filter what they heard, which caused that issue to end up being a non-issue in the end. Somehow, the higher stats allowed Alissa¡¯s mind to listen to every voice in her now-extended hearing range clearly, all without overwhelming or distracting her. At the same time, she could still pick out Ethan¡¯s voice from the clamor with ease, which was what allowed them to converse so easily in the midst of the fighting. Sir Inolet had mentioned that what they could do was common amongst fourth tier people in general, as it was a function of their increased stats. Their improved Body allowed them the superhuman auditory range and sensitivity, while their improved Mind allowed them to process it all without them being overwhelming. Things like that were another reason why the norm in Ephemera was to go for a relatively balanced build. Because even without any examples or explanation Alissa could see how being able to hear everything that went on in a two hundred feet radius could be utterly maddening if their minds were unable to handle the sensory load. Definitely a practical reason why most people would still want to invest quite a bit in their Mind and Soul even if they focused primarily on the Body. After the small episode with the rock, Alissa returned to a vigil on the battlement, while hurling her short javelins from time to time. She always chose demons who were at the top of their respective ladders for her targets, so that when they fell, they ended up colliding with those below them, which often resulted in a domino effect that sent a whole group of demons back to the ground, with assorted injuries from the fall. Her javelins would return to its holster after a short while anyway, so she never ran out. Ethan did the same on his side, though unlike Alissa, he made full use of his greater strength and aimed for the ladders themselves instead. His javelins struck with such force that the wooden siege ladders would snap into halves around the point of impact, which in turn naturally sent the demons on it falling haphazardly on those below them. Despite their effectiveness with the javelins, they weren¡¯t positioned at the side walls, because there the distances involved were a lot greater than what they could hurl their javelins accurately at. Even if they managed to hurl their javelins accurately at a hundred yards or more, they would have lost quite a bit of force in the process. Something that Osmond and Joshua had far less issues with. A war bow was designed to shoot arrows to far greater distances to begin with, and with Osmond¡¯s set of skills, he boasted near pinpoint accuracy and effectiveness up to seven hundred feet away. While his arrows could only fell a demon at a time, he fired fast enough to do the job of a squad of regular archers all by himself. In Joshua¡¯s case, he was a lot less accurate over such a distance, but made up for it by simply resorting to spells that had a large area of effect. It didn¡¯t matter if he missed his target by ten feet when the fireball he threw ended up engulfing a whole thirty feet around it in flames, after all. Similarly, he didn¡¯t need to be too accurate with lightning spells as their nature would lead them to home onto things that could transmit electricity better, like demon bodies. Throughout the morning and all the way until near the evening, the fighting raged at the fort outside the valley¡¯s mouth. Thousands of demons perished by the defenders¡¯ hands, yet they continued to charge, unafraid. It was only when darkness began to fall that the offensive abated and slowly came to an end, as the demons retreated back to their encampment, allowing the humans to rest as well. Even so, the human defenders of the fort kept a vigilant watch through the night, just in case. 143 - A Gradual Escalation ¡°Damn it!¡± cursed Alissa as she noticed the sudden commotion to her left. She was watching and harassing the demons trying to climb the fort¡¯s walls as usual at the time, when the incident happened and some soldiers at the top of the wall a short distance to her left suddenly started dying all of a sudden, with injuries that looked like it came from a sword of some kind. It was already the fourth day of the siege, and the leadership ¨C including Sirs Inolet and Marsten ¨C expected that the demons would likely escalate their assaults around that time. Their prediction proved true, in the end, and although Alissa knew to expect it, when it happened it still caught her off guard for a brief moment. A brief moment too long for around a dozen soldiers stationed in the vicinity of where the demon hit. Thanks to her skills, Alissa quickly spotted the reason for the deaths of those soldiers. Between [See no Falsehoods], [A Critical Eye], and her newer skill, [Peer into the Unknown], she could see the slight shimmer in the air that the demon made when it moved, and link the clues together to interpolate its actual form in her mind¡¯s eye despite there being next to nothing to actually see in the real world. Since [See no Falsehoods] did not allow her to see through whatever it was that gave the demon its invisibility, that meant it was not an illusion of some sort, or was of higher rarity than her skill, which she doubted. According to Sir Inolet Epic skills were already rare even for fourth tiers, much less third tiers, and those who had skills above that rarity were typically [Heroes] and [Champions] or their retainers only. Illusion or not, though, Alissa had a solution for it either way. She activated [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow], [Perforate the Stars], and [Unravel the Firmament] all at once as she thrust her spear around where she expected the invisible demon¡¯s center of mass should be. The demon seemed to have seen her attack coming, and tried to parry away her spear, but the effect from [Perforate the Stars] blew its parrying attempt aside with ease. The demon still managed to dodge backwards at the last moment and prevented the spear from skewering them, but the tip still pierced through their skin and caused a light injury, which was enough to trigger the effects of both [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow] and [Unravel the Firmament]. Before Alissa¡¯s eyes, the demon was revealed as their previous invisibility suddenly vanished. To her surprise ¨C and the way the demon made a sudden gasp of embarrassment suggested that she had not expected something like this to happen either ¨C the Nevilosk demon was completely naked for some reason, and the ¡°weapon¡± Alissa mistook to be some kind of sword turned out to be the elongated, sharpened nails on the index and middle fingers of each of her hands. After an awkward moment of mutual surprise, both Alissa and the demon pressed on their attack at the same time. The demon slashed at her with the nails on her right hand, which Alissa blocked with her shield as she returned a thrust of her own. The nails struck her shield and made a sound that was little different than that of metal hitting metal, while the demon herself leapt back once more from her thrust, clearly feeling greatly threatened by it. For that matter, the demon clearly looked to be out of breath already, the effect from [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow] likely already making itself known. Alissa was just about to press the attack once more when the Demon before her seemed to have understood the predicament she was in and chose a different way out. Before her eyes, the demoness leapt away from the battlements and fell towards the throng of demons beneath. She used the nails on one hand to scrape against the wall and slow her fall somehow while her other hand was busy trying to cover her breasts and privates as she escaped that way. The demoness vanished from sight once more when she was just about to reach the ground, whichever skill of hers allowed the invisibility ¨C Alissa guessed that it probably made the demon completely permeable to light, which wouldn¡¯t count as an illusion as in that case the invisibility would be a natural one ¨C likely having finished its cooldown by then. Even so Alissa still managed to fire off an [Analysis] at the escaping demon and she frowned at the result it returned. [Orphan Lvl20/Cutthroat Lvl20/Champion¡¯s Retainer: The Unseen Blade Lvl18] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The first two classes were common enough, nothing unusual about them, but the third class and its high level was an unpleasant sight. Fortunately for Alissa, the demoness seemed to be one that¡¯s more about the ¡°unseen¡± part of her class rather than the ¡°blade¡± part, considering how quickly she gave up fighting and fled. That and Alissa would likely overpower her anyway, differences between an actual [Hero] or [Champion] and their companions and all that. After the little episode, she had a soldier send a message for Sir Marsten to report the incident, while she remained on guard where she was stationed. The fourth tiers ¨C or their equivalent like Alissa¡¯s party ¨C were all positioned a distance apart from each other on the wall, each responsible for a region and ideally being able to handle their assigned areas by themselves. The [Champion¡¯s Retainer] appearing in Alissa¡¯s section of the wall was probably dumb luck on her part. It could have been disastrous if she had gone to a section being anchored by a weaker fourth tier or someone like Osmond who was relatively weak up close. It would probably depend a lot on whether whoever ran into the demoness would be able to see through her invisibility or not, she guessed. Alissa happened to be a bad matchup for the demoness because she had multiple skills that allowed her to get a very good idea on the location of the demoness, despite her invisibility. She had to admit though, that the sort of invisibility the demoness had ¨C likely one that only affected her own body, given the being completely naked part ¨C was one of the harder ones to counter since most normal ways to see through invisibility would not react with it. She also noticed how the demoness seemed to have taken care to avoid the splattering blood from her victims or stepping on the blood on the floor. From that it looked like any foreign substance being on her invisible body would remain visible and thus betray her presence. Something to keep in mind for later. She would also need to ask the old knights whether that sort of invisibility was a common one or not. Another guess Alissa had was that the demoness likely had some method of sensing her surroundings that''s not sight-related, since if her guess about how she managed to turn invisible was right, then that would mean she couldn¡¯t see anything while invisible either. That was another thing they could potentially abuse to make fighting the invisible demoness easier. What really did worry her was the notably higher level the demoness had compared to her group. She did know that the demon [Champions] were far more active in the war compared to her party, but had thought that their levels would be similar, after the fight with the [Mother of Monsters] back then. That the demoness just now had over ten levels above her was a surprise. It was only later, after her shift was done that Sir Inolet pointed out how the [Mother of Monsters] mostly used her undead like siege engines so she had mostly struck down weaker soldiers or inanimate structures instead of higher-leveled people. That likely contributed to her lower overall level compared to the other demon [Champions]. The other demon [Champions], or at least, the ones they labeled the ¡°brute¡± and the ¡°buffer¡±, were known to be very active on the battlefield and the way they fought so often meant that they would likely grow more levels as a result. As for the invisible demoness, it was Sir Marsten who recalled something from a report he had heard before. ¡°There were indeed some reports from the center area of the frontlines where the buffer [Champion] had been suspected to be present before that mentioned several commanders being killed by an assassin that nobody managed to catch,¡± said the old knight. ¡°We had set up our defenses so that it would trigger an alarm should a demon cross its threshold during the night, though. I assume the demons had a way to notice that, otherwise we might have caught that demoness you mentioned trying to slit our throats in the night already.¡± ¡°The alarm is turned off during the day, I assume?¡± asked Ethan. ¡°Indeed. Otherwise it would sound every time a chunk of demon fell on the fort¡¯s wall, which I think you all realized by now isn''t an uncommon occurrence especially after the mages let loose,¡± explained the old knight with a nod. ¡°It would have been far too distracting and noisy so we turned the enchantments off when we¡¯re awake.¡± ¡°Makes sense, I guess,¡± admitted Ethan. ¡°So¡­ I guess we have another of the [Champions] likely around if their retainer is here, no? Unless the demons had them acting independently?¡± he asked, to which the old knight replied with a shake of his head. ¡°Right, so, a likely [Champion] on the table, likely the buffer one if this one stuck around the same champion since back when the report mentioned those assassinations¡­ probably the [Mother of Monsters] waiting for a revenge match too¡­¡± ¡°The demons had a similar setup as the one the Kingdom uses to groom [Hero¡¯s Companions] and [Hero¡¯s Associates] to get the equivalent for their [Champions],¡± stated Sir Inolet. ¡°We know this because we had never really recorded a particularly high or low number of those in the last several cycles, always roughly the same amount we ourselves had.¡± ¡°That this one had such a big level advantage is a bit worrisome, though fortunately the demoness didn¡¯t seem that adept in an open fight according to Miss O¡¯Connor?¡± noted Sir Marsten. ¡°That is correct, Sir,¡± confirmed Alissa. That one [Champion¡¯s Retainer] was apparently the only one anyone had spotted so far, though it was possible that others had shown themselves and kept their presence discreet by wiping out every human witness who had seen them. ¡°I gave her a slight injury, then we clashed all of once before she leapt off the wall and ran away.¡± ¡°Likely a sort that specializes in discreet assassinations rather than direct battles then, which does fit. [Cutthroats] rarely result in classes that were good at direct combat other than a few occasions,¡± hemmed Sir Inolet at Alissa¡¯s description. ¡°As for the invisibility you mentioned¡­ That reminded me of the sort that certain monsters have. It was a completely mundane form of invisibility, which made most magical methods to see through invisibility falter against it.¡± ¡°That was my guess too, Sir,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°It¡¯d be something to watch out for, but at the same time, it¡¯s also far easier to counter it using mundane means compared to magical invisibility. Just need to use different tools since it¡¯s a different task.¡± ¡°I had the same thought, yes,¡± noted Sir Marsten. ¡°I¡¯ll warn the quartermaster to prepare some counters for this kind of infiltrator and have them installed before we go to sleep tonight. That should make the night watch¡¯s work safer and easier, together with the alarm.¡± ¡°That said, Miss O¡¯Connor, the demons probably guessed that you had the chance to identify the demoness and thus would know of her class, and in turn, the implication that meant. They might step up their assault tomorrow as a result. Please tell your party to get a good and proper rest tonight, as tomorrow we might well be in for a fight of our lives.¡± CXLIV - Rapid Progress ¡°I have to admit, Exalted One, that the Honored Ones are truly blessed by the Deities themselves,¡± noted the old matron as she shook her head while looking at Tiesya before her. She had a somewhat exasperated look on her old, wrinkled features, and for good reason, too. Tiesya was seated cross-legged within one of the practice chambers, the orb before her not even giving off the slightest light. It had only been a week after the group had stayed in Zikeal, so their progress with learning how to disguise their aura was beyond rapid. Every member of the group had learned some sort of general skill to do it by this point, while a few found ways to use some of their present skills to achieve the effect instead. It was much, much faster than the speed at which even the tribe¡¯s greatest prodigies ¨C like Tiara, the matron¡¯s own granddaughter ¨C had ever managed in their history. The three scouts were the ones who grasped it the soonest due to already having skills that did similar things and thus easily adapted for this new purpose, but the others caught up pretty fast as well. At the present moment, even the worst of the group managed to control their aura to a point that matched the performance of the tribe¡¯s inherited skill in its first evolution already. Some of the best ones at controlling their aura had already taken it even further, to applications that the tribe had never managed in their long history. Like how Tiesya stood up and knocked on the door of Val-Kas¡¯j¡¯s chamber next to hers. When he opened the door, he seemed to understand her intention with just a look. The two left the door to their chambers wide open as they stood facing each other a few feet away and started to spar ¨C empty-handed because they didn¡¯t want to accidentally damage the room ¨C with each other. All while they kept their auras concealed to the point that neither orb brightened even the slightest bit. ¡°They are doing it differently to your tribe, from what I could see,¡± explained Esperanza to the matron while she watched exasperatedly at the pair squaring off with each other, exchanging blows so fast that the matron¡¯s old eyes were unable to follow. ¡°The way your tribe does it seems to be closer to compressing your everything to avoid detection, which is one reason why you grow weaker while suppressing yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not completely certain why this is so, maybe doing it that way makes it harder for your soul to interact with the rest of you, or maybe it weakens your connection to the system¡­ Those would be what I consider the more likely causes,¡± she continued. ¡°What we did is more like¡­ pulling a shroud over the soul to keep it hidden. No, wait, that¡¯s actually not a wrong analogy, but it¡¯s the soul itself that acts like the shroud in this case.¡± ¡°May I request some¡­ elaboration, Exalted One?¡± asked the matron with a strong hint of interest in her voice. The way their method of disguising their souls weakened them was something that had remained an unsolved problem for the tribe, and that weakness was also the reason why many of their people had perished while out on a mission. They were simply far too weak to defend themselves from anything that tried to prey on them while hiding themselves. ¡°Hmm, right, according to the priests skills like [Soul Sight] just aren¡¯t a thing other than people like me, isn¡¯t it? Do you have something to draw on? It¡¯s a bit hard to explain just by words,¡± noted Esperanza. She hadn¡¯t thought that much of the passive skill she got quite some time ago, but after conferring with the local priests, she realized just how rare that sort of skill was. It made sense, she guessed, as otherwise it would have been far too easy to notice people who were aligned with Oldies, if more people had the ability to directly see their souls like her. Apparently, skills that directly touch the soul was something that only the Deities or Gods themselves were supposed to have, though there had been stories of [Heroes] and [Champions] with skills that involve the soul as well. Few probably had a path that was as focused on the soul as Esperanza was, however. ¡°Here you go, Exalted One,¡± said the matron as she proffered several sheets of what looked like dried leaves and a thin stick inside a narrow container that had some sort of ink-like liquid inside to Esperanza with both hands. The matron had asked her granddaughter to fetch the writing implements and Tiara had done just that within minutes. ¡°Gracias,¡± said Esperanza as she received the ¡®paper¡¯ and writing implements. ¡°Anyway, this is generally how I see a soul, just take it as an image representation if you like, for all I know different people see them differently,¡± she continued as she drew a circle on the dried leaf using the stick. The wooden stick was rather porous and seemed to act much like a quill or a fountain pen would. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Those who worship the new gods have different markings on their soul, some of which I¡¯ve seen, while others I haven¡¯t, but for those who worship Ol- The Deities of Yore, it manifests like purple threads that wrap around the soul in my eyes,¡± continued Esperanza, barely managing to catch her words in time to avoid accidentally calling the Deities of Yore ¡®Oldies¡¯ like she usually called them. ¡°Like this, is the image clear enough? Drawing isn¡¯t exactly something I¡¯m good at.¡± ¡°It is more than adequate to help us picture it in our minds, Exalted One,¡± said the old matron. At this point Tiara had also called the other four agents who would be going with Esperanza to come and listen to her explanation, since it involves something closely related to their skill. Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya also stopped their sparring to listen in as well. ¡°Right, anyway, what I¡¯ve noticed your tribe do when you use your skill to hide yourselves is like¡­ you¡¯re shrinking your soul as a whole, compressing the whole thing until it¡¯s very small and hard to notice. I assume this hard to notice bit also extends to whatever method the usurping gods¡¯ priests use to detect our presence, since it worked against them,¡± explained Esperanza while she made a drawing of a tiny circle on the leaf. ¡°So rather than hiding your presence, what you did is to make it very hard to detect instead. It works fine, but that weakness problem you face is the side effect of this method.¡± ¡°On the other hand, what Val and Tiesya here did is more like this,¡± said Esperanza as she crudely drew another circle, but with the threads that used to be outside now inside the circle. ¡°They used the rest of their soul to engulf and cover the parts that signified their allegiance to the Deities of Yore and hid it inside. Apparently this works as well to prevent detection, but doesn¡¯t share the detrimental effects your method has.¡± ¡°This¡­ might well prove to be the solution our ancestors had been looking for, the one that we failed to discover even after many generations of trial and error¡­¡± muttered the matron with some evident surprise. ¡°This¡­ could change everything. You five! I want all of you to accompany the Honored Ones here in their training and see if you can adapt to their way of using the skill!¡± she commanded to the five volunteers from her tribe. ¡°I¡¯m not sure whether it¡¯ll be easy for them to adapt to this method, but given how similar the methods are in purpose, and since your own skill already involves some soul manipulation as well, it shouldn¡¯t be too hard for them to learn it, I think,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. If the locals could learn the method then they would be able to retain more of their power while they went out spying, which would keep them safer. She definitely didn¡¯t mind sharing the method if it turned out that others could learn it as well. When she considered how Ani¡¯s people were all also learning how to do the same thing with decent success, she was confident that the locals should be able to grasp the method used by her group before long. From that day onwards, the matron, along with the five volunteers as well as another dozen or so older locals from the tribe stayed in the training chamber with the rest of Esperanza¡¯s group, attempting to learn how to hide their presence using Esperanza¡¯s method. None of the group minded the larger crowd, as the training room had enough chambers to accommodate them all anyway. Surprisingly ¨C or maybe, not surprisingly considering the girl¡¯s prodigal nature ¨C Tiara was the first of the locals to have found a way to replicate what Esperanza and her group was doing, after a mere three days of doing so. She was not that skilled yet when using the new method, only managing to achieve what the tribe¡¯s skill could do on its base level for the time being, but she could actually make use of her third-tier stats much more freely compared to when she used the tribe¡¯s own skill. Esperanza suggested for the girl to try keeping her control over the skill while sparring to hone her mastery over it. Tiesya volunteered to help with that, as she was one of the ones who already gained pretty much full control over the technique, and could both hide her presence and fight at full power at the same time. That way they could spar before an open door and the orb would only detect Tiara¡¯s presence as Tiesya kept hers completely hidden. Tiara found it a lot harder to keep the skill under control while simultaneously engaged in a fight ¨C even if it was just light sparring ¨C yet at the same time, managed to improve her control rapidly while doing so. Tiara¡¯s class was one that apparently focused heavily on Perception and Agility, as it was a stealth-based infiltration class, and while she lacked combat skills, she still had the stats of a third-tier behind her. As such, as long as Tiesya took it easy on her, the girl still managed to put up a decent fight. Of course, they quickly noticed that Tiara improved faster when she was hard-pressed to maintain her control and fight at the same time. Since the girl already managed to improve her control, Tiesya decided to step up the fighting part instead and started to press hard on Tiara, though she took care not to actually injure the girl. By the fifth day of training together, Tiara had managed to improve her skill to the point that she could hide herself as well as the tribe¡¯s hereditary skill on its first evolution. She wasn¡¯t the only one, either. Murad and Kurt had managed to perform the rudimentary level of the skill, with performance equivalent to the tribe¡¯s skill at its base level, as did the matron herself and a couple other members of the tribe. There was lamentation, cries of why they didn¡¯t stumble upon such a better method for so long, grief over all the lives lost simply because they couldn¡¯t defend themselves at all while hiding. At the same time, there was joy, a celebration at the discovery of a better way, and how their future generations wouldn¡¯t have to suffer the same limitations as they had lived under. As such, Esperanza and her group weren¡¯t shy about offering what guidance they could. Due to the similarity of the nature of the skills they were using, it proved to be quite simple to achieve the desired effect despite using different skills to do it. By the end of their second week of stay in Zikeal, around a dozen members of the tribe ¨C including all five of the volunteers ¨C had learned how to hide themselves with the new method. By the end of the third week, Tiara had managed to achieve her previous level of subterfuge using the new method and keep it up even while she was engaged in an actual fight. Similarly, every member of Esperanza¡¯s group had mastered the ability to do the same. It was around then that Esperanza began to broach the topic of continuing their journey. CXLV - Airing some Grievances ¡°You plan on leaving, then, Exalted One?¡± asked the matron one evening when Esperanza happened to be visiting the training chamber. She had visited the place less after some of the [Progenies of Yore] caught on to the needed skills and started to teach each other as well as the locals in what they did. The way they explained things was simpler and based on their own experiences, which was easier for the locals to grasp. ¡°Not immediately, but probably in a week or so, yes,¡± replied Esperanza to the matron. It had already been the fourth week of their stay in Zikeal. While the rest was much appreciated and the hospitality was much welcomed, it would not do to tarry overlong and forget about their goals, after all. ¡°Most of my group had finished training how to hide their aura to a satisfactory level, so we figured that we might as well stay a bit longer and return the favor you have shown us.¡± ¡°We are most grateful for that. This has been¡­ the culmination of our tribe¡¯s efforts over generations, something that our ancestors dreamed of achieving. To think that I would live to see it realized in my lifetime¡­ is a boon I could never thank the Exalted One enough for,¡± said the old matron with another exaggerated bow. After Esperanza¡¯s group showed how they found a way to keep the subterfuge of the tribe¡¯s skill without weakening themselves and were willing to share it, the whole tribe seemed to practically worship them, or at least, worship them more than they did before. Left unsaid was the implication that if Esperanza¡¯s group succeeded in their mission, then the tribe¡¯s skills would no longer be needed. On the other hand, if their skills would still be needed in the distant future, then that would mean that Esperanza had failed in her endeavors. Neither of them brought that point up, though, both knowing better to let it lie where it was. ¡°It is we who owe you a debt of gratitude for your people¡¯s kind hospitality, matron, as well as your willingness to share your inheritance so freely with us,¡± coaxed Esperanza kindly. Even after the time that had passed, she still felt rather uncomfortable to have people treat her like such a venerated being, when she only became what she was by happenstance. As such, she still habitually tried to get people to not venerate her too much when she could. When she considered the progress shown by the locals, she was confident that given another week multiple of them would have mastered the new method well enough to be able to pass down the technique to others, which would allow her to depart with a clean conscience. It wasn¡¯t everyday that one came across an inherited technique of a tribe and improved upon it, after all. Her own group had taken to the modified technique swiftly as well, which gave them additional options in the future. Be it in the human kingdom or the demon territories, now some of the members of the group could infiltrate cities and towns unnoticed, which allowed them to gather information in ways they couldn¡¯t before. Of course, the ability to hide their presence also meant that they could escape more easily as well. There were many reasons to rejoice at the group¡¯s newfound ability, all considered. That evening, Esperanza communed with Oldies. For once, she wasn¡¯t mostly updating the Deities over the group¡¯s progress and situation as she had mostly done in the past months. Since they had been relaxing for a while, she chose to take the time to have a good chat with the possible eldritch Deities like she used to do often when she was still by her lonesome. ¡°Turns out you¡¯re all not quite as forgotten as you thought, huh?¡± she asked in her mind. We will not deny that it pleased us to see multiple communities of those who still remember the old ways to live, and even thrive despite the worst attempts of the new gods. We did know and have a general idea as to the location of these hideouts as their worship acted as a beacon for us, but without one such as you to serve as a medium, we could not inspect them for ourselves. For that we thank you, Esperanza. We have also noticed that you seemed to be more¡­ at peace? More willing to lend your aid where you were doubtful before? It is a bit difficult to describe what we wish to say in words at times. ¡°You all wouldn¡¯t be wrong, I guess,¡± replied Esperanza as she laid down on the bed in the room that was lent to her during her stay in Zekial. Her body did not need rest as much as when she was still human, but it was a habit she kept when she could get away with it. It was also more comfortable to lay down while conversing with Oldies. ¡°I guess¡­ when I started to let go of the suspicions that I had early on, I started seeing them like¡­ kindred spirits to myself.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Oh? This is news to us. What prompted such thoughts to manifest, if you would care to explain for us? ¡°Right, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve told you much about my previous world, have I?¡± noted Esperanza as she thought back to her previous life. It was odd how she felt so far and detached from that life despite only months having passed as far as she was aware. In some ways, it was like remembering a dream ¨C or a nightmare ¨C that she had some time ago. ¡°In my previous world¡­ not everything was perfect either, despite all the comforts and amenities that we enjoy,¡± she started to explain, somewhat haltingly as at times she paused in search of words to use. ¡°Much like here, we have some people who would hate others simply for being different from themselves. Whether that difference be in skin color, culture, which god they follow, or even some choices made in life, there¡¯d be people who hate you just for any or all of it.¡± Surprisingly, not unlike the situation here in Ephemera, where the worshipers of the new gods would persecute those who still followed the old ways just for that reason alone. We think we are starting to understand where you are coming from, but please continue. ¡°Right, anyway, the place I lived in before¡­ people like me, or my mother¡­ we aren¡¯t the ones who were the majority or in power there. Many hated our kind, seeing us as foreigners who snuck into the country to steal work and living from those who were already there before us. It didn¡¯t help that we look different to the ones who consider themselves locals either¡­¡± ¡°Amusingly, it¡¯s that bit about being ostracized just because you don¡¯t happen to believe in the same god as others that I can sympathize with the most,¡± added Esperanza. ¡°You see, Oldies, my mom, she wasn¡¯t a christian of any sort. She¡¯s from one of these families that still believe in the old ways, in the myths and deities that most everyone else had long consigned to the realm of old stories and history.¡± Interesting. We see the parallel that has to our situation here. Do you happen to also worship those old deities yourself, Esperanza? ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever really believed in any god in my previous life, to tell the truth,¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°Given how shitty my life back then was, though, I guess I would have leaned more to the ones mom liked to tell me stories about. It¡¯d be a greater comfort to believe in some deity that could and would bring terrible punishments down on sinners than ones that tell you to turn the other cheek.¡± ¡°Because fuck whichever pendejo came up with that bullshit to whichever hell actually exist!¡± she cursed vehemently. ¡°They always just say to suck up the indignities you suffer, that your reward would come later in life, that the ¡®good¡¯ people wouldn¡¯t be neglected. My mother suffered from all sorts of shit only to barely eke out a living, and never was she rewarded even until she died! I¡¯ve prayed to every one I can think of myself and none ever answered! Only when I took things into my own hands¡­ did something actually change.¡± We wish to express our condolences that your previous life was saddled with such¡­ unresponsive ones, Esperanza. We also hope that you feel better now that you have¡­ unloaded the feeling you have kept within yourself for so long¡­ You are supposed to feel better after airing your grievances if we remember correctly, aren¡¯t you? ¡°Heh, gracias, Oldies,¡± said Esperanza as she rubbed some non-existent tears from the eyes on her face. One thing her new body was unsuited for was crying, apparently. The rant she had just gone through reminded her of a lot of unpleasant things, like how she was often bullied at school. Or the abuse she and her mother had to go through at the hands of her step-father, abuse that they had to stomach quietly as being with him was the reason they were able to stay in the country. It was when it all became too much for her to bear that she finally took matters into her own hands at the end and gutted the vile pendejo of a pig masquerading as a man before choosing to end it all, because she knew that there was no way the situation at the time would have had any happy endings in store for her. Not after a very obvious murder, even given her circumstances. Life had already shat on Esperanza enough to extinguish such wishful thinking by that point of time. We are glad that you seemed to have achieved an understanding with some part of yourself We have not been privy to. Would you prefer for us to withdraw so you could have some time on your own? ¡°No, todo est¨¢ bien, thanks for the offer, though,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°You were right in that airing my grievances had done me some good. It was just that there was never anyone appropriate to air them to around here. The locals are all too worshipful for that, and there¡¯s no way I¡¯d air my grievances to the kids.¡± In that case We are pleased that we have helped you with the matter. You also seem to be quite interested in this¡­ intriguing method to hide one¡¯s presence before observers? ¡°It would allow us to glean far more information than just what we manage to get by raiding. That would prove useful one way or another,¡± explained Esperanza. It will also allow you to witness how this world runs under the rule of the New Gods with your own eyes. That is a good thing. If it were not so potentially problematic to have you and yours infiltrate the current society those usurpers established, We would have suggested it long ago, so you could make your decision with more certainty. We are surprised and pleased to have discovered that you found a solution to that approach on your own, unprompted. ¡°Things happen, I guess,¡± replied Esperanza with a chuckle. ¡°So you wanted to let us see how things are for ourselves as usual huh? Always big on letting people make their own decision as usual, I see,¡± she added with a smile. That was one quality that made her put a good bit of trust in Oldies despite their avowed goal to end the world. That they always told her to make her own choices, rather than force or even command her to do things. Oldies never did that. Oldies only asked, as well as let her see things for herself so she could make her own decision. It was why she trusted them thus far. CXLVI - Two Sides (of the Same Coin) We have to admit that We found it a bit¡­ off-putting, yet amusing at the same time how the people of your world so often considered concepts like death, darkness, and even chaos to be ¡°evil¡±, Esperanza. You know well by now that We are what remained of this world¡¯s deities, the ones that represented chaos to be specific. ¡°It¡¯s just how people in my world think, I guess? Death and the dark is scary, so they instinctively placed them under the evil category and all that,¡± said Esperanza. After her earlier airing of grievances, Oldies admitted some interest about how life in general was in her previous world, so she obliged and told them what she remembered. ¡°How do you view them? I imagine being deities of chaos yourself, your point of view ought to be quite different.¡± Very simple, actually. Life and Death, Light and Darkness, Order and Chaos, Good and Evil¡­ they are all merely two sides to the same coin. One could not exist without the other also coming into existence, and often one is defined by the complete absence of the other. Would you not agree then that they are all so intimately connected as to be merely different facets of the same thing? ¡°I¡­ guess so? I¡¯ve never thought of it that way, to be honest,¡± admitted Esperanza with some surprise. She had never been into that sort of philosophical thinking before, so the way Oldies simply stated their opinion so openly was a bit of a surprise to her. ¡°I guess I could see it pictured that way, now that you mentioned it.¡± Exactly, Esperanza. For what is darkness but the absence of light? In a world without light, both light and darkness would lose their meanings. Similarly, Life leads to inevitable death, that is a law of nature that all beings fall under, whereas in turn, death brought about new life in its own way. All too often people fear and even come to hate the idea of death, when it is just another step in the cycle of existence itself. The same applies to concepts like Order and Chaos, or even Good and Evil. Your previous world, as far as We could tell from your retellings, seems to value ¡°Order¡± and ¡°Good¡± far above their alternatives, but that in itself might lead to an imbalance that would result in disaster in the future. Everything needs a counterpoint, at least in moderation. It would not be healthy for the world for one side to dominate far too much. If you have too much order, to the point that everything in your life is structured, that everyone simply did what they were told to do, at the determined times, is that really living? How much better would that sort of life be than being mere cogs in a contraption, always moving along to the predetermined whims of others, never having the freedom to do anything or decide anything on your own? Similarly, could you imagine a life where Good takes prevalence above all else, where people would not even say things that might invite the dislike of others because they were so fixated on their idea of goodness? Even if such a society could manage to exist without imploding upon itself after a while, there would be others who disagree with their point of view, and they would soon find that ideas often fail to survive the harsh reality of life itself. ¡°Heh, the last bit you said actually struck a bit close to home,¡± said Esperanza with a chuckle. ¡°People were trying to accommodate everyone so much that they were afraid to offend anyone, it was fucking silly,¡± she continued. ¡°I guess it started with good intentions, but when they kept widening the umbrella to include pendejos that preyed on children on the list of people we shouldn¡¯t offend, I went all me cago en la leche on that mierda. Fuckers like those should be fucking offended, for all I care.¡± Somehow, it did not surprise us, given what you have told us of the people in your world. Those who overvalue some things would tend to fall into a pit made out of those very things they worship, after all. That has happened here as well, on many occasions. We have seen it so many times that we lost count of the number of times that it happened. A society that was taken too far into any extreme would collapse unto itself given some time. A measure of balance was always needed for anything to last longer. ¡°I can see that, yeah,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°Too much of a good thing ends up being bad in the end and all that, but I guess that¡¯s also part of the point you¡¯re making, isn¡¯t it? Things like good and bad are just as much social constructs as order and chaos, unlike the naturally occurring ones such as life and death, or light and darkness.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. That would be correct, yes. All too often mortals make their own definitions of things and fixate on it too hard, even when it leads them into disaster in the end. We have seen it happen before, and we have seen others refuse to learn from history and repeat the mistakes their ancestors made in the past. It is something we have come to expect out of mortals. ¡°Guess I can¡¯t blame you for that,¡± admitted Esperanza with a chuckle. ¡°All too often people like us, who don¡¯t live for all that long, can¡¯t think of much beyond the immediate future. I¡¯ve learned that myself in my previous world. In a way, kinda reassuring to know that people don''t change that much, all considered, even though they¡¯re from different worlds.¡± The long chat she had with Oldies that night helped lift Esperanza¡¯s mood quite a bit, and when she woke up the next day, she walked out of her room with a refreshed look on her features. Immediately, she began preparations for departure, since the group planned to depart from Zikeal within a week¡¯s time at the latest, once their training was done. Some of the group members were still finishing up their training or helping teach the method they use to the locals. Esperanza had the ones who had already finished their training and were free to help her in the preparation instead. Part of it was to procure supplies for the next leg of their trip, since once they left Zikeal they would only be able to rely on what they stole or hunted to supply themselves with. When it came to food and rations, the group was still well-off, thanks to the demon supply camps they raided prior to their journey towards Zikeal. In fact, a good part of their emergency rations which they stocked up in Agur-Bas was still with them, so they mostly just added a bit more to their larder from what was available in Zikeal. Instead, what they focused on in their procurement of supplies was clothing. Esperanza and the rest wore clothes that were tailored to the common style worn in Agur-Bas, which had a resemblance to the style usually worn in the Demon Territories. All of them had clothing of the same style, regardless of their race or heritage, and that was the problem. Even if they wanted to infiltrate the villages and towns in the Human Kingdom, their human members didn¡¯t have appropriate clothes to wear to do that. As such, Esperanza asked some locals from Zikeal who made clothes to help measure the members of the group ¨C with extra focus on the humans, since they were the ones who could infiltrate along with the volunteers ¨C and make them several sets of clothing in the style commonly worn throughout this region of the Human Kingdom. Since it was something that would take some time to get satisfactory results in, she tackled that issue first during the preparation. The clothes themselves would be finished within a few days, well before they planned to depart from Zikeal. Of course, the addition of five new members to the group ¨C the volunteers from the matron¡¯s tribe ¨C meant that they also had to keep them in mind. While none of the five were particularly combative in nature, Esperanza still saw to it that they had proper equipment, since they would likely end up needing to defend themselves from time to time when out in the world. She and her group couldn¡¯t always be there for them, after all. As such, while some of the others were training the locals in the methods they used to emulate their hereditary skill, Esperanza and the ones with her were training the five volunteers on how to defend themselves as best they could. While the five had no real combative classes or skills, they still had the raw stats as befit their levels, and in Tiara¡¯s case in particular she had high stats as her classes were a notch higher in rarity compared to the other four. It wasn¡¯t too hard to teach them how to make the most of their elevated stats to deal with weaker dangers like animals and the like. While the lack of combat-related skills would hamper their ability to fight, their stats alone would allow them to at least hold their own for a while against an enemy of similar power, hopefully long enough for one of the group to help them. The older couple ¨C Murad and Mora ¨C were probably the worst at fighting amongst the group, while the younger three were more enthusiastic and had some skill at it. Then again, the old couple had probably gotten used to solving issues the non-violent way, which would explain why they were rusty at actually defending themselves. Even in the short week that was left prior to their planned departure from Zikeal, Esperanza and several of her group ¨C Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya had volunteered to help train the five ¨C got the five volunteers from the matron¡¯s tribe to a point where their ability to defend themselves was at least passable. It was clear that for most of the volunteers, they would prefer to avoid violence if it was an option, though, as they learned all too well just how much they were outclassed by those with proper combat classes and skills during that training. It was a sentiment that Esperanza and the rest could understand well. The sole exception was Tiara, the matron¡¯s granddaughter. Even when the younger siblings Kurt and Leo were demotivated by the gap between them and an actual combatant of their level, Tiara remained enthusiastic and interested in learning how to fight. As such, Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya sort of took the girl ¨C who amusingly enough, was actually older than them by nearly a decade, even if their appearances suggested otherwise ¨C under their wing and kept training her in fighting techniques like she requested. Time quickly flew by and before Esperanza knew it, the last week of their stay at Zikeal was almost over. The locals insisted on throwing them another feast on the night prior to their planned departure, which they were practically forced to agree to, though they didn¡¯t really mind the feast either. They had just thought that the locals shouldn¡¯t expend so much of their stores at their expense. The morning of their departure, the local clergy supplied them with a detailed map of the local region, one annotated with notes from their people¡¯s experience and effort, including espionage work by the matron¡¯s tribe. It was another thing Esperanza expressed her gratitude for, despite how her arrival and mission meant that she was either taking some of their people out to die, or that everyone would die in the near future when the world ended. It still felt somewhat unnerving to her to see the locals so at peace with the notion of the world coming to its ¨C supposedly deserved and much-needed ¨C end, even if she understood the logic behind it. 147 - A Battle of Attrition ¡°Don¡¯t these demons ever get tired!?¡± complained Alissa two days after her encounter with the naked demon assassin. The fighting had not ebbed in the least after the incident, and had only intensified, yet at the same time, the demons kept sending low-end soldiers, those in their second and early third tiers at best, as if they did not care about the lives of their own people. ¡°I think you¡¯re killing them too quickly, Alissa. They¡¯re already dead before they get tired,¡± joked Nadine from nearby. While the Fifth Princess had delivered her words in a joking manner, she was resting by putting her weight on her sword with her knees half-bent, a brief reprieve in a short lull during the intense combat. The intensified fighting put quite a lot of pressure on the fort¡¯s defenders as the demons kept swarming them without end, seemingly unafraid of death as they rushed towards the fort. Even with their fortified physiques backed by their Body stats, people from the [Heroes]¡¯ party left the walls exhausted once their shift was over, as they were practically fighting for hours on end with barely any rest. Due to the intensity of the fighting, it was not only their bodies that were fatigued, but also their minds, as they had to keep up their concentration all that while. More than a few of the fort¡¯s less powerful soldiers had already fallen as their bodies or minds failed to keep up with the intensity of the fighting, and while the casualties taken by the defenders were still a low fewer than what the demons took, they had to keep in mind that the demons had yet to truly bear their fangs upon them as of yet. In the few days of the siege, the demons had gotten another batch of reinforcements, which further increased their numerical advantage over the defenders. Their willingness to sacrifice as many of their own soldiers as it took to wear down the defenders, coupled with the fearless advance of the demon soldiers despite their high casualty rates, were starting to take its toll. Even if the defenders managed to kill three to four demons for every one they lost, they would end up running out of soldiers first at the current rate. The constant attrition also meant that the human defenders had not only lost second and early third tier soldiers, but also some who were higher in the third tiers, who had grown fatigued from the fighting and made mistakes which cost them their lives. Logically, Alissa knew that siege battles like these could last months, maybe even years, at least in the history of her world. With how solid the fort¡¯s defenses were, and the fact that they had a secure supply line to the rest of the Kingdom behind them, it was not an impossibility for them to hold out for that long, though that would only likely happen if the demons adopted a more passive stance. As it was, with the demons assaulting them like ants crowding around a pile of sugar, that was unlikely to be the case. If even members of Alissa¡¯s party were being worn down by the intensity of the battle, it must have been even worse for those weaker than them, which amounted to the vast majority of the troops that defended the fort. It was no insidious plan done discreetly. The demons plotted against them openly, trying to grind down the perseverance of the defenders using their numbers. It was the hardest sort of plot to fight against, as there was often little that could be done about it, even though the defenders knew full well what was being done to them by their foes. They were already stretching the shifts to the limit in an attempt to keep the people fighting from succumbing to fatigue, as well as rotating the night guards so that every person could at least have a proper night¡¯s sleep every third day or so. Once their number started to noticeably decrease, however, it was inevitable that the shifts would have to be prolonged, and there would be fewer chances to get proper rest for everyone involved. The demons unfortunately did not face the same issue as they simply rotated in a fresh batch of lower-leveled soldiers every day, while allowing the injured from the previous day¡¯s battle to recuperate from their injuries. Despite their heavier casualties, Alissa remembered that the demons had a larger populace than the humans since they had been winning the last three wars in a row, and thus had more territory to support their growth. Especially in the past few generations, where they held over half of the continent under their reign. ¡°They¡¯re also keeping that into consideration,¡± said Nadine when Alissa brought the point up with her after their shift on the wall was done later that day. Each of them must have killed dozens of demons throughout their shift, but it felt as if they were trying to chip away at an endless army with how more always came behind the ones they killed. ¡°You probably noticed already, but most of the demons we faced were either Tesh¡¯ka or Ma¡¯Varoks or their hybrids.¡± ¡°I did, yes. What¡¯s the reason for that, though?¡± asked Alissa back at Nadine. The smaller-bodied Tesh¡¯ka as well as people who looked like they probably had parentage from both the larger Ma¡¯Varoks and the smaller Tesh¡¯kas made up the majority of the demons they faced over the past few days. It was rarer to see full-blooded members of the other three demon races in comparison. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Well, Tesh¡¯kas were known to be the demon race who were the most fertile. Supposedly they almost never just give birth to only one child, with two being a rarity. More commonly, they birth entire litters of three to seven children from a single pregnancy,¡± explained Nadine. Alissa¡¯s lessons in the Royal Capital had not really delved deep into the demons themselves, so the information was new to her. ¡°As a result, they¡¯re the most numerous of the demons by far, and thus had the most people to throw away as sacrifices in battles like these.¡± ¡°Cannon fodder, then,¡± noted Alissa, earning herself a slightly confused look from Nadine, who wasn¡¯t familiar with the term. ¡°Sorry, that is a term from our world, for soldiers whose only real purpose was to die and exhaust the enemy.¡± ¡°About right, then,¡± noted the Fifth Princess with a nod. ¡°I don¡¯t know what a cannon is supposed to be, but fodder is about right.¡± ¡°What about the Ma¡¯Varok, though?¡± asked Alissa, who nudged Nadine to continue her explanation. ¡°Allow me to front that question, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± interjected Maribel who arrived at their gathering bearing bowls of hot stew. The three of them were still in the same shift so they had been working together a lot of late. ¡°You and Her Royal Highness can sup first while I explain,¡± offered the curly-haired Royal Knight with a smile on her face. Alissa and Nadine did as she bid and carefully sipped on the thick, piping hot stew. The stew still had plenty of meat and vegetables in it, but that was a luxury that would likely go away after another week or two, so they cherished it while they still had some to enjoy. Not even the Fifth Princess bothered with table manners as she just directly sipped the stew from its bowl. ¡°The demons often interbreed between the different races, but not all such unions were fruitful. Some combinations are more prone to miscarriages than others,¡± explained Maribel in between sips from her own bowl of stew. ¡°The Ma¡¯Varok and the Tesh¡¯ka however, were very compatible, and as a result, there are probably as many hybrids of the two races as there are pure-blooded Tesh¡¯ka out there, and likely far more than the pure-blooded Ma¡¯Varoks.¡± ¡°Their hybrid offspring would be weaker than a full-blooded Ma¡¯Varok, but they would also be more fertile, and those qualities in turn get passed down over generations. Some later generation descendants that leaned heavy to the Ma¡¯Varok lineage might not be much weaker than a full-blood, while likely having more offspring than them at the same time.¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing those that leaned the other way would keep the fertility while being stronger than their Tesh¡¯ka ancestors then,¡± suggested Alissa with a nod. She understood the idea and reasoning behind the interbreeding, especially when the descendants would inherit desirable qualities from both of their parent races like that. ¡°About right. Usually those with particularly strong Ma¡¯Varok blood would be able to advance further since they are stronger, but there¡¯s so many of the Tesh¡¯ka that out of their numbers, some talented individuals who could make up for their physical deficits would emerge and even the numbers,¡± noted Maribel. ¡°Since the demons are mostly sending those against us, they¡¯re definitely still keeping their best soldiers behind, likely waiting for an opportunity to launch an all out attack on us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s obvious, yeah,¡± said Alissa with a shake of her head. ¡°The only issue is that we don¡¯t know when they¡¯re going to spring those and any other unpleasant surprises they may have brought on our heads.¡± ¡°Moira also told me that her group ran into a different [Champion¡¯s Retainer] at the end of their shift earlier. We¡¯ll probably get briefed about them later, but at this point the buff-focused [Champion] is likely amongst our arrayed foes out there,¡± added Maribel. ¡°Both of the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] identified so far were supposedly working closely with them.¡± ¡°Great¡­ So that¡¯s likely two [Champions] we got bearing down on us then? I don''t doubt the [Mother of Monsters] we fought would be looking for some revenge match after that loss,¡± noted Alissa with a groan. One oddity that Alissa found was that for some reason, she couldn¡¯t name the [Mother of Monsters] when she was speaking to natives of Ephemera. The translation from her language skill automatically took over and translated the name to their class or title instead. She could use the woman¡¯s name when she was talking with Ethan and Joshua, and she had also learned that the natives could speak of the names of previous [Great Heroes] from the past, like how she learned from Sir Marsten that one of the [Great Heroes] of the previous cycle was the Empress Catherine of Russia, better known as Catherine the Great. It was odd that they couldn¡¯t seem to communicate the identities of enemy [Great Champions] even when they knew of it, though. Alissa wasn¡¯t sure why that was so. What purpose was there to prevent one side from learning the names of the [Champions] the other side had? Was it perhaps to prevent them seeing some relations amongst them? But that made no sense either. The natives were clearly aware that both the [Heroes] and [Champions] were summoned from the same world, seemingly at random. As such they should have also realized long ago that it wouldn¡¯t be strange for people related to each other to possibly be summoned on opposing sides, so Alissa further questioned why she couldn¡¯t communicate that tidbit of information. To be fair, it was not like the natives knowing those names would have done them any good, since they would lack the context and history to associate with the names, but still¡­ It was just another bit of curiosity on top of the many unknowns that bothered her about Ephemera in general. If she wasn¡¯t so busy being embroiled in a messy battle with a horde of what looked like bloodthirsty raving lunatics with no regard for their own lives, she would have loved to get to the bottom of things, but as things stood, she just had no chance to snoop around and look for information. Not when lives were on the line and she could help directly with the matter at hand, at least. Still, Alissa promised herself that she¡¯d try to look deeper into the mysteries when she next had the chance. 148 - Fraying Nerves An entire week had passed since the incident with the nudist demon assassin. In that time, the defenders of the fort found themselves wrung ragged like a piece of cloth that had been used to clean the place one too many times. Over the past four days, the demons had further intensified their assault, all the way to the night, without any pause or rest. As a result, the fort¡¯s defenders were forced to fight through the night as well, with very few being able to get any proper rest. The demons had apparently gotten more reinforcements, which gave them enough soldiers to harry the fort through the day and night in multiple shifts. Even though the fort¡¯s defenders employed a similar system to stave off fatigue, as their numbers slowly decreased due to the casualties they had taken, people were forced to fight for longer and rest for less as time went on. Due to the numerical disparity ¨C by that point of time there must be at least three to five times as many demons swarming around the fort as there were defenders in it ¨C it was not like the defenders could afford to spare their best either. Alissa and the rest were on the walls for more than half of the day, every day, even in rotating shifts. They mostly slept through the rest of the time they had, in fitful, often disturbed sleep. The fighting never stopped all that while, and the sounds of battle haunted them even in their sleep. Despite the lack of experience with such conditions, Alissa actually held out the best out of the group, likely thanks to her [Weather the Storm] skill which helped her mind stay calm. Ethan and Joshua had dark circles beneath their eyes after only a couple days of the constant, unceasing battle, and even the Royal and Temple guards amongst their party started to look the same by the current point of time. Everybody was getting tired, though the older soldiers seemed to be able to handle the situation in stride. The same unfortunately had not applied to the younger soldiers amongst the defenders, however, which formed the majority of the soldiers they had. People got sloppy due to fatigue, made mistakes they normally wouldn¡¯t, and all too often a price was paid for those mistakes, either by themselves or by those around them. The fort¡¯s healers were fully occupied by the ever-increasing number of casualties by that point, to the point that Leda was often tapped in to help there instead of on the fort¡¯s walls. Fortunately for healers like her, experience gain was plentiful regardless of whether she was helping out with the battle directly or indirectly, as a person healed was a person healed no matter what. Even the healers were run ragged by the constant work, however, even with high level individuals like Leda, Cerilla, and Vesta pitching in to help. There were simply always more people to heal than there were healers to take care of them, and as the battle continued, the number kept increasing faster than the healers could handle. Several had died simply because there were more badly injured people at the time than there were healers to treat them. So far, most of the injuries and deaths happened primarily to the soldiers who were lower in level, as they had less stats to support them in the continuous fighting. The stronger, higher-leveled defenders managed to hold their own for the most part still, relying on their more robust bodies and minds to persevere through the grueling battle. Even they weren¡¯t immune to fatigue, however. Slowly but surely, those higher in the third tiers grew more tired and made more mistakes. Thanks to their higher stats ¨C and the fact that most of the enemies they faced were weaker than them ¨C they usually managed to recover from the mistake in time to prevent anything undesirable from taking place. However, that was not always the case. On that day one of the third tiers who was close to his maximum level made a fatal mistake which led to him being pulled bodily off the wall, where he fell into the throng of waiting demons below. The third tier warrior still did his utmost and slew dozens of the weaker demons around him, but he was eventually overwhelmed and torn to pieces by the horde. In a way, that soldier¡¯s death served as a wake-up call for the rest who were still fighting on the walls, to not lose their concentration lest a similar fate happen to them as well. Even then it only managed to keep the fighting soldiers more alert on a temporary basis, as even though their minds knew that they had to do their best, sometimes their bodies failed them. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. So it was that near the evening, another high leveled third tier defender perished due to a mistake that could have been avoided. That day, Alissa fought on the wall from roughly six in the morning until well into the night. If she had a watch she would be able to tell better, but she guessed that it would probably be around nine to ten in the night. Even with intermittent rests every now and then during the fighting, and despite how she had one of the strongest physical bodies amongst the people defending the fort, she felt exhausted by the end. Her other party members ¨C even those who had stronger physiques as they focused on their Body stats more like Ethan ¨C looked just about as exhausted as she was, though surprisingly enough, some old soldiers, who were mostly in the latter levels of their third tiers, looked less tired than they were. On the other hand, younger soldiers around that level range looked so exhausted like they might drop to the ground at any moment. ¡°Here, get something in your stomachs before you sleep. You¡¯ll feel better when you wake up that way,¡± said Sir Inolet ¨C whose shift had ended earlier since he was fighting since before Alissa even woke up ¨C to them as he handed bowls of hot stew over. ¡°If you¡¯re wondering how those old bastards could keep up with this pace even though they got less stats then you do, it¡¯s because they¡¯re used to something like this.¡± ¡°So this sort of fighting was common, Sir?¡± asked Alissa with a thankful nod as she plopped down and sipped the hot stew directly from the bowl. Nadine and Maribel, who shared her shift, did the same next to her. ¡°When they have the numbers to do it? This is how the Demons usually fought in the previous war. There were also many smaller scale conflicts after that war where they fought this hard, though it had petered out somewhat over the last thirty years or so,¡± explained the old knight. ¡°Maybe they were just saving up their people for this war instead during that time. The idiots living in luxury in the rear thought that the demons were running low on manpower, hah! What a joke their guess turned out to be!¡± ¡°Sir Inolet and many of the other senior knights were of the opinion that the lull in demon attacks were just the calm before the storm and had called for training our newer soldiers in high intensity fighting, but were rejected,¡± said Nadine as she explained some bits Alissa had no idea about. ¡°The main reason they were rejected was a petty power struggle by the nobles who felt threatened by the influence that the senior knights held. That turned out to bite all of us in the rear spectacularly now.¡± ¡°Some of those fools were better off drowned at birth. They can¡¯t seem to get it in their skulls that all their power and influence would be pointless if the demons win and run over the Kingdom in the end,¡± spat out Sir Inolet with quite a bit of vehemence. ¡°Honestly, I find even your father to be a weak-willed fool for always listening to them instead of trying to find his own opinion on matters, lass. I miss your grandpa. He was far more suited for ruling.¡± ¡°That¡¯s technically insulting His Majesty the King, but you know what, Sir Inolet? I¡¯m finding myself in agreement with you at this particular moment. Screw dad and his nobles for leaving us unprepared,¡± said Nadine ¨C who was also the Fifth Royal Princess of the Kingdom ¨C in a huff. They did talk quietly enough to not be overheard, and given their status, even if the King were to hear them, it was doubtful that he could do much at this point. ¡°If the demons were known to fight this way we should have been prepared for it, not caught unprepared like idiots!¡± ¡°It¡¯s how bureaucracy fucks things up, Princess,¡± replied the old knight with a sigh. ¡°Training people takes money, since nothing in the world comes for free. The nobles around your father think that the money could be better used elsewhere, like probably lining their own pockets,¡± he spat out vehemently. ¡°As if money would save their fat arses when the demons come for them, fucking idiots.¡± ¡°That¡¯s also why us old timers do better when faced with this kind of warfare, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said Sir Inolet as he turned to Alissa. ¡°The old soldiers who served from the previous generation or the generation before that still remembered how the demons fought. Many had experienced it for themselves when they were young, so they are more used to this sort of fighting intensity. The youngsters had no such luck. Their training, yours included, are lacking, and now they¡¯re tossed straight into the cauldron, where lady luck will probably decide who manages to swim out and who drowns in the stew.¡± ¡°The knights can¡¯t do the training on their own?¡± asked Alissa with some curiosity. ¡°We tried, Miss O¡¯Connor, we tried our best, but while we have some power in our hands due to our personal strength, we have little in terms of authority. We cannot make people come to be trained, even if we were willing to train them at our own expense,¡± said the old knight bitterly. ¡°I did try to slip in what I could to improve your endurance while I was training the three of you, but just training like that pales before the real thing, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°Perhaps I wouldn¡¯t be able to answer that a week ago, but now, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. None of the training we have done back in the capital prepared us for¡­ well¡­ this,¡± said Alissa as she nodded in agreement with the old knight. ¡°Also, Sir, I know you aren¡¯t that worried due to the situation here and Nadine likely could get away with it since she¡¯s a princess, but aren¡¯t you worried that the King or nobles might act against you if they caught wind of you badmouthing them like this? I¡¯m pretty sure they have ears in this army.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t have the guts to plot against me while I¡¯m still one of the strongest individuals in this kingdom, Miss, O¡¯Connor, especially when they know that three of the other five strongest people in the kingdom would side with me, since we¡¯re old friends who had waded through thick and thin together,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a shake of his head. ¡°You didn¡¯t think us old knights could be semi-independent just by reputation, now could you? No, we could somewhat ignore the throne because seven of the ten strongest people in this kingdom are part of our little group of old coots.¡± ¡°I guess power does speak for itself in a world like this,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°You all still fight for the Kingdom, though? Even though you dislike the direction it was headed towards?¡± ¡°Just because I no longer give a shit about the mule wearing the crown and his stooges doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t care about the people that lived in this kingdom, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said the old knight solemnly. ¡°I fight on the behalf of those too weak to do so themselves. I became a knight in order to protect those who needed protection, and those oaths, I will follow as long as I draw breath.¡± 149 - At The Precipice of History The grueling siege on the fort continued the same way for a good while more, with the demons keeping up an unending offensive against the fort day and night. The outnumbered defenders quickly found themselves stretched thinner and thinner, as more and more of their number fell with each passing moment, forcing those that remained to take up an ever greater share of the burden. Every single day, Alissa fought with some dread, expecting the demons to strike out with their real attack anytime. All that worrying got her were frustrations, however, as the demons seemed perfectly content to drown the fort¡¯s defenders in their own corpses, if needed. If their intention was to let the fort¡¯s defenders break down from fatigue and frustrations first before they even make a serious attack, it was working. While the human defenders of the fort had slain at least four to five demons for every one of them that was lost, the demons clearly had more low-level cannon fodder to spend and a willingness to spend them, coupled with such high morale that the casualties they had taken did not seem to bother them in the least. Meanwhile, on the defenders¡¯ side, every single casualty was felt, and in the past few days, those who had lighter injuries or were still recovering from their wounds had been forced to rejoin the defense due to a lack of manpower. It was not an optimistic sign of things to come, to be sure. The demons had always been more prolific than humans, with some races being so much more fertile it wasn¡¯t funny. A common idiom in the Kingdom was that if a Tesh¡¯ka couple was let loose in the wild, within a human generation they would return as a rampaging warband a hundred strong or more. That story was not even an exaggeration. Alissa thought that the demons must have lost at least thirty to forty thousand people in the battle so far, a number that would have been a grievous loss¡­ if they were not mostly youngsters that were primarily still in their second tiers. The forces in Ephemera barely counted losses of such youngsters as much of a loss, as they would be easily replaced by others after a little training. Simply put, young soldiers still in their second tier were just not worth much in the economy of the battles that went on in Ephemera. Only when people start reaching their third tier would they be considered more valuable, with talented people who managed to reach the higher end of the third tier in their youth being greatly valued. Those who were slow and mediocre received barely better treatment than those still in their second tier. Such a point of view was mostly forced by necessity, as a single fourth tier could easily take on a thousand or more second tiers on their own, if left alone. It was primarily the threat of enemy fourth tiers that forced them to play it safe and to hoard their mana and stamina for when it would be truly needed. It was also the reason why the defending fourth tiers had not gone wild and blasted apart the horde of demons that kept attacking the fort. They were all too aware that should they exhaust themselves doing that ¨C and they would, for the demons were so numerous that it would have taken a serious effort from them to repel the horde ¨C then the demons¡¯ own fourth tiers would swoop in to harvest their heads while they were unable to fight back properly. And that was taking into consideration that even amongst fourth tier combatants, those who possessed skills suitable for fighting against an army were few and far between. The majority were better suited for smaller scale battles, like Alissa¡¯s own party for example. Those like Sir Inolet who was both a fearsome duelist yet equally capable of mass destruction were the rarest of all. The logic that the demons were merely weakening the fort¡¯s defenses for a devastating assault was not one that was only known to Alissa and the higher-ups of the defending force either. Even the lower-ranked soldiers were all too aware of the fact, and the few who were too green to know it soon found out from more experienced soldiers. Reactions varied. The older soldiers mostly adopted a stoic attitude, along the lines of that if the time to die had finally arrived, then they would die. Many of the younger ones were somewhat intimidated by the constant demon attacks, with a few even panicking. For most, however, the reaction they displayed was that of a dull acceptance. Acceptance that they might well not leave the fort alive at all. Such a fatalistic outlook was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it allowed the younger, less experienced soldiers to continue fighting despite their fear and fatigue. On the other hand, it also meant that casualties kept increasing in numbers as more and more of the defenders succumbed to the continuous onslaught of the demons. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. By the time the situation changed, Alissa thought that perhaps only half of the fort¡¯s original defenders were still able to fight, with the other half either dead or too injured to see a battlefield again. The change in the situation was not for the better either, at least for the defenders. It took place sometime in the evening on the third week of the siege, when Alissa¡¯s group was near the end of their shift and was just about to go down to rest. They couldn¡¯t help but to stop on their tracks when they saw what was coming towards them, however. Before their eyes, the throng of demons that were crowding the surroundings of the fort parted to the side, all while they yelled raucous cheers easily heard even from the fort¡¯s walls. In the corridor that was formed, one that led straight towards the fort¡¯s southern walls, marched another army of demons with slow yet firm steps. Unlike the low level demons that had harried the fort¡¯s defenders so far, who often wore mismatched armor and had low quality weapons, the army that marched towards the fort now was geared from head to toe with proper armor and good weapons. Alissa used [Analysis] on them from the distance, and knew from the looks of the people around her that she was not the only one that did so, and that the others also saw what she had seen. Every single one of the well-equipped demons were at least in their third tier, with many in the higher levels of the tier itself. It was a far cry from the mob of lower leveled demons that they had been fighting for the past weeks in terms of quality. The classes she noticed also hinted at a combat specialization for the most part. At that moment, Alissa also realized another reason why the locals of Ephemera didn¡¯t mind sacrificing a large number of lower level soldiers to whittle down their enemies. People who were already at a higher level received far less experience when they killed enemies that were of a lower tier than themselves, to the point of the experience being negligible at best. The demons whittled down the defenders¡¯ numbers, morale, and readiness all without giving the higher leveled combatants amongst their foes an opportunity to improve their levels. While some of the lower leveled soldiers amongst the defenders did gain quite a bit of experience and levels, they remained a negligible factor in a true fight of the powerful. Given the emphasis and focus the locals placed on their higher level combatants, it all made sense, if in a twisted and rather horrible manner. Probably the humans would have resorted to similar tactics without blinking if they had the numbers to do so as well, so it likely wasn¡¯t a mindset that was limited to only the demons. In the midst of the marching demons¡¯ formation, Alissa also noticed the unmistakable figure of a dozen corpse abominations, not unlike the ones she fought back when she was fighting against the [Mother of Monsters]. This time, however, the diminutive [Great Champion] was not seated atop the shoulder of one of her creations, but was walking alongside another, the two guarded from all directions by demons Alissa guessed to be in their fourth tier. The demon next to the [Mother of Monsters] was a tall, gangly Nevilosk who held a long spear that had a flag fluttering from its shaft. She was likely female given the lack of facial hair, though the demon wore armor that hid their body¡¯s lines which made it harder to guess. Surprisingly, the demon likely also had some skill that caused Alissa¡¯s [Analysis] to fail when used on them, despite the boosts it received from her other skills. She still managed to notice that the demon was a third tier like herself though, and from the long name of the classes ¨C she managed to catch a glimpse of a blurry result for a fraction of a second, though with nothing legible on it ¨C was likely another of the [Great Champions]. Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten had speculated that the one skilled in mass buffs might be present, so the demon was likely that one. Either way, the presence of two [Great Champions] as well as what Alissa suspected to be the demon main force meant only one thing: That the battle was about to enter its decisive phase very soon. Alissa could see the fear and worry on the expression of many of the younger soldiers near her, and even the older veterans had an ugly look on their faces as they saw the strong enemy force headed their way. The archers on the walls looked nervous, most keeping an arrow nocked on the string even as they watched the procession of the demon army that walked towards them one step at a time. Everybody, from the old and experienced veterans, to the noble and lofty fourth tiers, down to the lowest foot soldier, knew that all the fighting they had gone through in the past few weeks would pale before the battle that was about to begin for real. It was likely what would decide the fate of the fort and its defenders, and whether the Kingdom could hold on to what it had painstakingly taken from its foes or not. They knew in their hearts that the result of this one battle might well be what invigorated the Kingdom¡¯s army to leave behind the shame and humiliation of its previous losses in the last three wars and turn the tide against the Demons, or it might be the first rock to crumble away from the Kingdom¡¯s defense instead, depending on the result. The stage was pretty much set, in the first fort the humans had erected in demon territory in the past two hundred years. All three of their [Heroes] were present, as were two of the enemy [Champions]. One way or another, the battle would be one that would make its mark in the history books of both races, an unexpected turning point early in this cycle of the war between the humans and the demons. Restlessness spread amongst the people from both sides, both the attackers and defenders, who were either eager for or dreaded this next stage to the battle. The air was thick with tension as the demons continued their march until their vanguard halted, just far enough away that an arrow fired by an average archer wouldn¡¯t be able to reach them. After a seeming eternity of silence, where even the wind didn¡¯t blow, the tall demon [Champion] raised her flag and waved it. Moments later, the demons roared out a deafening battle cry as they rushed towards the fort like a tidal wave of flesh and steel. The defenders immediately reacted as projectiles of all sorts were shot and thrown towards the approaching demons. Everyone present knew that they stood on the precipice of history, and fought all the harder because of it. 150 - Fangs Bared ¡°All hands on the wall!¡± Alissa heard Sir Marsten yell out. He was calling out to the people who were resting below to help with the defense. In the long run, they would likely continue the shifts as it was impossible to fight on for long without rest, but they needed everybody to help out with the first wave of attacks that were coming, at least. Other than a few who happened to be close to the wall, most of the rest didn¡¯t even reach the wall yet when the first wave of the renewed demon assault began. The first attacks that arrived were a wave of siege engine projectiles, followed closely by a volley of arrows as the demons renewed their offensive with gusto. One of the stone balls hurled by the trebuchets went for the section of wall Alissa was on, so she jumped to meet the projectile with a blow from her shield, which shattered it into a rain of stone shrapnel. As she used the recoil to fall back towards the wall, however, she noticed that the volley of arrows behind the projectile was still dense ¨C even after the shrapnel caused by her blow took some out ¨C and more than a couple dozen arrows were headed straight towards her. Alissa¡¯s response was to twirl her spear like a propeller in front of her, relying on her by now superhuman physique to do it so fast that none of the arrows headed her way made it through, the shaft of her spear swatting them out of the air as they passed through the twirling spear. She landed on the fort¡¯s wall safely this time ¨C it was no longer the first time she pulled off such a feat, and she had learned from the mistakes she made in the past ¨C while keeping her spear twirling in front of her to block off enemy arrows. To her sides she saw how the other soldiers lifted up huge shields for the archers to take cover behind, at least for the ones who weren¡¯t making use of a murder hole. Both sides had their archers shoot at each other intermittently, as they took cover behind large shields while nocking a new arrow and only revealed themselves briefly to aim and shoot. A few did have the misfortune of revealing themselves right when an arrow arrived at the gap where they were shooting from and died that way, but such instances were few and far between. Meanwhile, the majority of the demon troops were charging towards the fort¡¯s walls, which were now pitted and scarred all over, far unlike its pristine appearance only weeks before. Siege ladders were laid against the walls and anchored into the ground to make it harder to push away, while others threw grappling hooks from which a rope ladder hung. The defenders atop the wall fought them off as best they could. Some hurled javelins at the climbing demons. Others chopped down the rope ladders while risking themselves as they were exposed while doing so. Yet others used long bidents to push away the siege ladders the demons set up, working in teams to uproot and topple the ladders. Other, more primitive means were also used by the defenders, as large stones were hurled down at the demons from above. Large buckets of dirty water were boiled and then poured over the wall to the demons below, the heat from the water directly scalding the demons unfortunate enough to be splashed by it. Even with how the defenders made use of every means at their disposal, however, the situation atop the walls was less than stable, as every now and then, a fourth tier demon would leap up and strike, often creating a temporary foothold at the top of the wall. Their presence meant the deaths of many defending soldiers, as the only real way to match a fourth tier was with another. While the defenders sent their own fourth tiers to counter such incursions, the damage had been done, and the demons weren¡¯t so foolish as to overstay their welcome. They leapt back down after a short clash against their defending counterpart, for the most part. Only when they felt that they had an advantage would they attempt to push the matter. Of course, the defenders would send in more people against them, to the point that the demon¡¯s life might well be at risk. Alissa made that point when she rushed over to help out the fourth tier fighter to her east who was struggling against a large demon who overpowered him. The demon had been so engrossed in its fight against the human fighter that it failed to notice Alissa coming until it was too late, and only a last-second dodge allowed the demon to avoid getting impaled through the heart by her spear. Despite that, Alissa still pierced through the demon¡¯s lung with her strike, and as she had activated [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow] ¨C by this point the skill practically refreshed itself every ten minutes or so, so she made use of it as much as she could, given its lasting effects ¨C the wound hemorrhage badly, while the suffocation effect was further emphasized given that she damaged the demon¡¯s lung. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The demon managed to step back before Alissa could wrench her spear sideways in an attempt to cleave through its heart, so her strike only resulted in a large, bleeding gash on the demon¡¯s chest instead. At the same time, however, the fourth tier fighter she saved struck back and sliced across one of the demon¡¯s eyes despite its attempt to block. Had they gotten a chance to make another move, the fourth tier demon would probably be forced to die where it stood, but at the last moment, a second fourth tier demon leapt up from below and parried their strikes with the pair of axes she held in her hands. Then the she-demon ¨C a late third tier [Champion¡¯s Retainer], Alissa noticed ¨C bumped off the injured demon and fell back off the wall together with it. Unfortunately it was too much to wish for the fall to take care of the rest for them, as the demons below noticed their descent and worked together to catch them before they could hit the ground. The injured demon was carried away towards the back of the demon lines, while the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] Alissa noticed vanished amongst the throng once more. Alissa kept the [Analysis] result in mind for later reporting. [Hunter¡¯s Child Lvl20/Axe Warrior Lvl20/Champion¡¯s Retainer: Cleaver of Bones Lvl17] The [Champion¡¯s Retainer] was higher leveled than herself by quite a bit, but Alissa felt that she was stronger than the demon even so. Someone like Nadine might have more trouble with them, however. She kept that in mind to give the Fifth Princess a warning later on. More than that, however, the presence of the demon reminded her of the invisible assassin she ran into a while ago, and Alissa couldn¡¯t help but look around with some vigilance. Such a chaotic battle would be an ideal place for such an assassin to take advantage of the situation and strike unseen, though given how Alissa had shown that she could counter the assassin¡¯s invisibility, they might be wary of her presence. As she noticed nothing out of the ordinary ¨C other than the ongoing battle, of course ¨C Alissa continued to roam around the wall. They were told to not remain stationary, as if they did so, it would be far too easy for the demons to skirt around them. As such, Alissa and the others roamed around the wall in irregular intervals instead, only stopping when they needed to lend a hand. A couple dozen steps further east, Alissa found another situation where the demons were making another foothold at the top of the wall through a siege ladder. The defenders of that section were fighting with all they had, but they were being pushed back step by step, and all their attempts to dislodge the siege ladder failed as a particularly large Ma¡¯Varok held it steady and acted as an anchor for it. Alissa barged into the fight as she stabbed through one demon and another behind them at the same time with a thrust of her spear, then dove in closer while she pulled her spear out from their bodies and landed a brutal uppercut using her shield on another demon. The blow directly tore the demon¡¯s lower jaw off and snapped its neck at the same time, as the dead demon toppled over backwards like a felled tree. Before the rest of the demons managed to react from her sudden appearance, Alissa leaned into the swing of her punch and spun around completely, lashing out with her spear in a backhand sweep. The bladed spearhead at the end of the spear sliced through the throats of two demons, before she caught and snapped a third¡¯s neck with the shaft and sent the body flying against a fourth. Two demons behind the ones she just killed ¨C both in the late third tier ¨C charged at her with a deafening bellow before she could withdraw her spear. Alissa avoided the first demon¡¯s axe by leaning further into her spin and narrowly avoiding the blow, while she used her shield to shove the second demon¡¯s blade careening off to the side. Before either demon managed to recover from their all-out attack, Alissa stomped down on the blade wielder¡¯s foot with her left heel, hard enough to shatter the bones in the demon¡¯s foot. She followed it up by driving her other knee as hard as she could into the demon¡¯s groin, which caused him to keel over, curled up like a shrimp. At the same time, she delivered a downwards chop using her shield arm towards the back of the axe-wielding demon¡¯s neck. The edge of her shield directly struck the nape of the demon¡¯s neck and shattered his spine like it was a twig, killing the demon on the spot as his dead body collapsed like a sack of potatoes on the walkway. One quick downwards stab with her spear finished off the other demon before it could recover, and the sudden loss of nine of their number caused the remaining demons to pause for a moment. She did not know whether it was out of fright or some sort of tactical decision on their part, but that pause bought the defenders enough time to rally themselves and pushed the remaining demons back towards the wall¡¯s edge once more. Since the soldiers were doing well enough to push the demons back, Alissa switched her attention to the bottom of the wall, where the large, troll-like Ma¡¯Varok was still holding the siege ladder steady, unaware of what was happening above. Alissa pulled one of her short javelins out, took aim for a moment, then hurled it towards the Ma¡¯Varok from above. The demon noticed the coming danger too late to avoid it, and the javelin pierced through its head from above, the tip emerging out below its chin. With the demon removed, the defenders in that section soon managed to drive away the rest of the demons and topple the siege ladder they used. As for Alissa, she had already moved on by then, as she roamed the section of the wall in search of other situations where she could lend a hand. The intensifying battle meant that she was never wanting for such situations, as new trouble sprouted out mere moments after she put one down. All she could do at that point was to rush from one troublesome spot to another, as fast as she could. All over the wall, similar situations played out as the demons made their push while the humans did their damndest to keep them out of the fort. People disregarded fatigue, and at times, even their own lives, in order to keep fighting, knowing all too well that all might be lost ¨C at least for them ¨C should they give in. Fangs were bared as both sides met each other at their most savage. 151 - An Unsettled Rest Alissa nearly jumped out from her bedroll late in the morning two days later when she heard ¨C and felt ¨C a particularly large explosion from the distance. To say that her sleep that night had been fitful at best was an understatement, as she kept finding herself at the edge of her bed from every loud noise that made its way to her ears, which was plenty of them. Not to mention that she had barely rested for maybe three hours by that point, as it was not dawn yet. She and the rest of her shift, as well as pretty much everyone else amongst the fourth tiers, were up on the walls fighting off the first wave of the demon¡¯s assault through the day of the assault, all the way to the next day, until well past midnight the day before. It was only very recently that things had calmed down enough to allow some of them to take a rest in shifts. To say that she felt exhausted was similarly an understatement, after only brief moments to catch her breath in a battle that otherwise went on unabated for nearly two days straight and was still ongoing outside, as far as she could tell. If anything, a few hours of fitful sleep hadn¡¯t helped her by much, as every ache she was feeling felt even worse instead. It was similar to the feeling she used to experience a day after particularly rigorous exercise in her previous world, albeit amplified several times over. By the time Alissa left, she had been fighting for nearly two days without any proper rest, and while she could take the chance to save her energy against the weaker foes, the opposing fourth tiers ¨C and the [Mother of Monster]¡¯s abominations ¨C made incursions often enough that she had to fight seriously quite often as well. Now she understood why old Sir Inolet had always drilled her to not expend more power than needed when dealing with her enemies. He was preparing her for this sort of scenario where she would be forced to fight continuously without any chance of proper rest. To say that she had not enjoyed the experience back then was an understatement, but now that she felt the real thing, she realized that the old knight was still taking it lightly on them in the past. The demons on the other hand, did no such thing and came at them with every intent to kill. In the past two days alone, the fort¡¯s defenders had taken more casualties than in the entirety of the siege up to that point put together. Clashes between fourth tiers atop the fort¡¯s walls went from an occasional thing to something that kept happening, as every time the defenders managed to repel one incursion, another would take its place soon after. It was only the fact that the demon fourth tiers were not fighting with the reckless abandon of their lower tiers that allowed the defenders to persevere. Then again, the demons likely understood that there was little point in a victory where they spent themselves to achieve it. It was far better for them to utilize their numerical advantage to keep the humans tired and fatigued until they eventually crumbled instead. As much as Alissa hated to admit it, that approach was clearly working. The only reason they still managed to defend the fort to this point was the advantage the fortification gave them, which somewhat evened out the enemy¡¯s greater numbers. Even though fourth tiers were mighty, they were not at the blow-up-the-wall level mighty, so the walls still served some deterrent even to them. Unfortunately, despite their great power, one thing fourth tiers ¨C even the toughest ones like Ethan ¨C lacked in this world was inhuman durability. While a fourth tier was tougher and harder to injure, they were still very killable should someone hit the right spots where their armor didn¡¯t cover them as much. Alissa herself had killed a couple that way, so she knew that for certain. The same applied to the humans¡¯ own fourth tiers, and already they had lost another the day before, while the demons had yet to lose any of theirs, even if Alissa managed to almost kill one, and Joshua reportedly managed to do the same to another whose life and death was unknown as they fell off the wall after taking his strike. They did manage to destroy three of the undead abominations they fought against, as those fought with far more reckless abandon and the [Mother of Monsters] who controlled them at times failed to withdraw them in time. Unfortunately, they had also seen the woman create a new one to take up the place of the fallen ones on the spot, and she likely could create another by the next day. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. At that point, the only real hope the defenders had to win the battle was either to outlast the demons ¨C a possibility that seemed to grow fainter by the day ¨C or to make taking the fort a too costly affair for them to continue their assault. As such, their own fourth tiers had been attacking any demon fourth tiers ¨C as well as the occasional [Champion¡¯s Retainer], of which five had been identified so far ¨C viciously in the hopes of crippling or killing them. It was hard to catch the demons that way, though, as their fourth tiers were prone to bailing out of the fight when pressed hard like that, and they had others around to help them buy time if needed. Alissa and another assassin-type fourth tier amongst the humans had the best success as they managed to heavily injure a couple of demons by attacking them unawares, but they failed to go for the kill as the demons immediately pulled back. In the end, Alissa found herself unable to get more sleep as she fidgeted under her blanket. She ended up choosing to just forgo the remaining half-hour or so of sleep she could still get as she got up and walked out to get some quick breakfast instead. While she was on the wall, fighting the demons, food and drink were things that were limited to a quick bite or gulp here and there during the rare downtimes where they managed to take a short break. Something that was actually warm and recently cooked, one that she could take her time eating, would probably do her good, since it was not like she was going to be able to get more sleep at that point anyway. She didn¡¯t feel as mentally tired as two days without sleep ought to have rendered her, so that was probably her higher stats making her mind more resilient to the lack of rest. Her body still ached, but moving actually helped relieve the aches somewhat, so that was a relief, at the very least. After quickly washing her face to freshen herself and putting up her armor, Alissa walked out into the fort¡¯s interior to see that the battle had indeed not stopped at all during the time she was resting. Others who were given the opportunity to rest were also already up and about, some in the midst of preparing themselves for another jaunt at the walls, while most of the rest were eating. The snores coming from many tents told her that most of the rest were still catching up on their sleep and would likely remain that way until someone woke them up in a half hour. Alissa went to where she could see a cloud of steam rising up from a cauldron. A middle-aged matron ¨C part of the fort¡¯s support staff who refused to evacuate to safety even with the impending demon attack ¨C smiled and nodded at her before she ladled a large portion of the thick, gloopy soup into a wooden bowl and passed it to Alissa with a wooden spoon thrown in. The soup reminded Alissa of some chinese soups she had before with the way it was so thick and almost slimy at times. Bits of meat and vegetables floated about the heavily thickened soup, which itself used a broth of bone as its base. It was pretty good, hearty and flavorful, though at that point she¡¯d welcome anything warm and edible to eat after only being able to chew on bits of dried rations every now and then for two days. Alissa finished the bowl quickly, and to her relief, the matron offered her second on the spot. Maybe a hot bowl of hearty soup wouldn¡¯t make the demon problem they faced go away, but at least it helped her calm down and prepare to deal with it better. With a grateful nod to the matron after she finished her second bowl of soup, Alissa got up and stretched her aching muscles a bit. By this point nobody really cared all that much that she was a summoned [Hero] or whatnot. Everybody was in the fight together, bound by the purpose of mutual survival and the implications of what might happen should they fail to hold. Morale was a finicky thing, as was symbolisms. The fort represented the first minor victory the humans had over the last few wars against the demons, which in turn made it into a symbol of hope that was dangled before the soldiers to raise their morale. Conversely, however, should the fort fall, the effect that would have on the morale of the soldiers would be nothing short of disastrous. And such an event would likely be followed by the demons pushing back just as hard if not harder, taking back the lands they had lost so far and then some. By that time, it was nearing the end of the time people who were sent off the wall to rest along with her to wake up. A few of the people already awake took up the task of walking around to wake up the still-sleeping ones, while Alissa herself picked up her spear from where she laid it down while eating. She looked up once more towards the people still fighting at the wall. The fighting was still intense, though it was not as bad as the worst it had been during the first two days. Even the demons needed rest as well, so their best fighters were not always leading the attack. It was the only reason some of the defenders could afford to rest briefly in shifts like Alissa just did. Already she saw another group of tired soldiers ¨C including Ethan, who gave her a weak wave of his hand from afar when he noticed her ¨C walk down from the walls to have their turn at resting. As Alissa returned Ethan¡¯s wave, she walked back towards the wall and climbed up the staircase towards where she spotted Sir Inolet. Sir Marsten had been resting with Alissa¡¯s group and had not returned to the wall yet, so the one in command at the moment was Sir Inolet instead. The old knight spotted her arrival, gave her a tired but grateful smile, and quickly pointed out a section of the wall for her to look after. They naturally kept the defenders of each section changed from time to time, as otherwise the demons would be able to arrange for a counter to the particular fourth tier in charge of a section. It was Sir Marsten¡¯s and Sir Inolet¡¯s jobs to make sure that the demons didn¡¯t get such a chance by keeping things varied on the defense. Alissa gave the old knight a military salute ¨C a habit she had picked up from the other soldiers ¨C before she left towards the region she was assigned to. Just as she arrived, a demon force managed to gain another foothold at the top of the wall, likely using a weakness that was left when the resting batch of soldiers left. She tore into them mercilessly and stabilized the situation within moments, as she rushed from one point to another to handle the ever-changing situation atop the wall. The battle promised to be a long one, so it would be a question of whether the demons broke first, or if the humans did. 152 - To the Bitter End Not even an hour after she rejoined the fight, Alissa¡¯s cleaned clothes and armor were soaked thoroughly in blood once more. She must have slain at least a hundred if not more demons during that hour ¨C sometimes it was hard to tell when they fell off the wall after she struck them, so she couldn¡¯t get confirmation either way ¨C and defused at least half a dozen situations that threatened to spill out of control. There was barely any chance for her to rest during that hour. At best, the times when she managed to slow down to a light jog while patrolling her area between situations she needed to defuse served as her ¡°rest¡±. By that point all the people who went off-shift to rest with her were already back on the wall, fighting. Some unfortunate ones were already dying, even. Some of the younger soldiers did not adapt well to the lack of rest coupled with an all too short period of rest and failed to do their best, losing their lives as a result. Fortunately, even the demons started showing signs of fatigue after all the fighting as well, which was a boon to the defenders of the fort. The demons were the most vicious during the past two days, but apparently they decided to make their final push then because their own people were starting to fall victim to fatigue as well. High morale and suicidal courage did little when their own bodies started to fail them, after all. The demons clearly tried to break the defenders while they were still at their best, but that effort had failed and the intensified combat of the past two days started to affect the demons as well. As such, Sir Inolet had speculated if the fort managed to last another week at most, the demons would either be forced to pull back to rest their troops ¨C which would give the defenders a chance to recuperate and reset the battle condition ¨C or make a true final push where they¡¯d commit everything they dared to commit. It was either one or the other. Tension was high amongst the fourth tiers ¨C as well as Alissa¡¯s party ¨C as they were aware that if such a final push were to come, it would likely happen soon. They couldn¡¯t afford to slack off in their duty while they were on-shift, in case the attack happened to hit right then. The constant tension frayed on their minds even though the threat had yet to manifest itself. And then, all of a sudden, it happened as if someone opened the floodgates of a dam. The demon forces surged almost like a wave and struck the wall with overwhelming force before most of the defenders could react to the sudden ferocity. Those who expected it coming were prepared, however, and they immediately did the best they could to blunt the assault from their respective positions. Alissa also heard the bell atop the tower at the center of the fort being rung, a signal for full mobilization. As in they were calling everyone still able to hold a weapon and fight, even if they were still resting or recovering, back to the walls. It was only done in emergencies but clearly Sir Inolet had either decided that the demons were committed to their final push. People were running from the interior of the fort towards the walls but Alissa couldn¡¯t pay any attention to it. All her attention was taken with the unfolding situation at the section of the wall she held, where she rushed from place to place to relieve the defenders of the pressure by either taking down or driving back their assailants. She was rushing towards another problem spot when a shadow suddenly covered her, which triggered her instincts to put up a defense. None too soon either, as mere moments later a heavy blow landed against her shield and nearly slammed her arm into her face. The force pushed her back, though she managed to keep her ground with some effort and bracing against the impact using her whole body. The culprit behind the blow was a burly, hairy, ape-like Ragah-Fiq demon with white fur, who had struck at her using its weapon, which looked like a spiked mace head on the end of a long, metal pole. Alissa was just about to engage the demon ¨C a fourth-tier one close to level ten ¨C when she noticed another demon climb to the top of the wall behind it. She recognized the demon as the axe-wielding [Champion¡¯s Retainer: Cleaver of Bones] that she fought once before. The female demon ¨C another Nevilosk ¨C stood beside the burly Ragah-fiq and faced her together. That forced her to fight more carefully as she was fighting against two. If they saw fit to send two at her location, then likely the others would be facing similarly tough opponents. A glance from the corner of her eyes showed that indeed, nine undead abominations were attacking the wall at different spots, and she noticed a couple others being engaged either by the abominations or by other demons. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The two demons didn¡¯t give her time to think or formulate a response either, as the Ragah-fiq gave a hoarse bellow and swung its pole-mace towards her once more. As she had experienced the demon¡¯s strength earlier, Alissa didn¡¯t try to block this blow but instead took a short leap to the side to get out of its way. A deafening noise sounded as the macehead slammed into the walkway and cracked the stone. Before Alissa could make use of the opening and counterattack, however, she found that the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] had already closed in on her and swung the pair of axes she held in her hands. Alissa caught one axe on her shield and pushed it aside, and blocked the other one with the shaft of her spear. At least this demon wasn¡¯t stronger than her, so Alissa made full use of that advantage to shove the demon¡¯s weapon aside and viciously stabbed with her spear. Between the demon slightly altering the attack¡¯s trajectory by striking the shaft of Alissa¡¯s spear with one of her axes and the way the Nevilosk contorted her body to get around the strike, Alissa only managed to cause a cut on the demon¡¯s clothing instead of actually hurting her. That was also all the time she had to strike at the demon as the Ragah-fiq struck at her once more. Alissa had to bend her body backwards to avoid the blow, which was aimed at her head, and even then one of the mace¡¯s spikes still scraped against her forehead near the hairline and left a bleeding wound. That distraction in turn gave the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] time to regain a proper stance and strike again towards her. This time, however, Alissa took a different approach as she forcefully sprung forward and intercepted the axes before they would swing properly using her shield. While she used her spear to push the Ragah-fiq¡¯s pole-mace further away, she also pushed hard against the Nevilosk and leveraged her greater strength to force the demon back. Caught off guard by her sudden tackle, the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] failed to brace herself against Alissa¡¯s push and was forced back until her feet stumbled upon the stone railing along the wall¡¯s edge. Together with the force of the push, that gave Alissa enough force to shove the demon off the top of the wall just before the Ragah-fiq struck at her once more and forced her to evade. She had much more confidence taking on the Ragah-fiq one against one, as the burly, broad demon was rather ponderous, if very powerful. As it happens, Alissa had many skills that were practically designed to hurt or incapacitate a tough opponent, so she immediately began applying them one after another, coating her spear in layers of iridescent light. It was a shame that she already made use of [A Small Step] to help out another group just a short while ago and the buff¡¯s duration had already expired, while its cooldown had not finished yet. Instead, she activated all but one of her combat buffs at the same time. [Perforate the Stars], [Grasp the Soul], [Unravel the Firmament], [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow], and [Lies may Please, but it Doesn¡¯t Heal] were all layered over each other on her weapon, with only [Moment of Truth] held back as Alissa doubted she would need it against this particular opponent. What she wanted was to take her enemy down or at least incapacitate them as soon as she could, before the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] could get back into the fight. In order to do that, she couldn¡¯t exactly hold back much, especially when her opponent looked like the sort who likely had high durability to boot. She would probably need every help she could get from her skills. Her opponent also noticed the skills activating and instantly became warier. They ¨C it was hard for Alissa to tell any difference between the genders, if any, when it came to the Ragah-fiq ¨C even adopted a more defensive posture rather than carry on with their assault as they had done so far, Her opponent likely already activated their own skills, though Alissa had no idea what they could do. The Ragah-fiq parried her first spear strike using the shaft of their weapon, and gave a short swing to force her to step back in turn. Her second attempt at a strike ¨C going low this time ¨C resulted in a similar scenario playing out, so Alissa decided to mix things up a little bit for the third strike. She still had another active skill, one she learned relatively recently, that she had not applied to her spear as it didn¡¯t help too much there, but she had long found another use for it. Alissa made a third strike much like the previous ones, and her opponent deflected it carefully as before, but this time she dove in close before they could force her back with a swing of their own. Her left arm with the shield was naturally cocked back due to the stance she took to thrust with her spear, and she layered her skill, [Weight of Responsibilities], Around her fist and the tip of her shield. What the skill did was to cause the force of an impact to ¡°echo¡± inside whatever she struck, and while it wasn¡¯t of much use with her spear unless she was to strike someone using the shaft, it suited her habit of using her shield offensively. With a twist of her body, one that flowed from her toe to her ankle, along her leg to her waist, through her torso to her shoulder and then through her extended arm, she threw a perfect straight punch aimed around where the solar plexus would be in a human¡¯s body, a bit below the center of the chest of the Ragah-fiq. The demon failed to stop her blow in time and the tip of her shield dug into their sturdy flesh, followed by her gauntleted fist behind it, and discharged the entire force of the blow into the Ragah-fiq¡¯s body, amplified by her use of the skill. Even the burly demon had to step back after such a blow and coughed up some blood, likely due to an internal injury. Alissa didn¡¯t miss the chance and shifted her grip along her spear to be able to stab better with it up close and stabbed right into the side of the demon¡¯s throat, causing a large, profusely bleeding wound, then followed it up with another stab to the chest. Impressively, the blows proved to be less than immediately fatal on the burly demon, and while they dropped their weapon in order to clasp at their pierced throat with one hand, their other hand grabbed the shaft of Alissa¡¯s spear with a vice-like grip and refused to let go. Meanwhile, the axe-wielding [Champion¡¯s Retainer] had just climbed back up the walls and set upon Alissa with a bellow of rage. 153 - At What Cost? Alissa found herself in a quandary as the dying Ragah-fiq grabbed her spear and refused to let go even as she was being assaulted by the axe-wielding [Champion¡¯s Retainer]. It placed her in an awkward position as she was in the middle of trying to pull her spear out of the body of the dying demon. She gave it a try even with the incoming threat nonetheless. She managed to block the first strike with her shield, but was forced to let go of her spear when she had to dodge the second attack. As she dodged, Alissa noticed a fallen spear, likely belonging to a dead soldier ¨C whether it was a demon¡¯s or a human¡¯s she could care less at that point ¨C and grabbed it as she tried counterattacking against the axe-wielding [Champion¡¯s Retainer]. To her dismay the axe-wielding [Champion¡¯s Retainer] directly cleaved the spear¡¯s shaft into halves with one of her axes, the weapon clearly a lower grade than Alissa¡¯s weapon and unable to bear with the rigors of higher-tier combat. Alissa ended up throwing the remaining half of the shaft in her hands towards the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] before she unsheathed her falchion instead. While Alissa had trained quite a bit with the weapon and used it from time to time, she wasn¡¯t as skilled with it as she favored the reach of a spear. At least, however, the blade was better attuned for her usage given her level of power, which meant that it was much sturdier than the random spear she picked up and broke just earlier. Sure enough, the falchion¡¯s curved blade took on a blow from one of the [Champion¡¯s Retainer]¡¯s axes without any issue, while Alissa blocked the second blow with her shield. Atypically for an axe-wielder, the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] was fast and agile, almost as fast as Alissa herself was, even. That said, the female demon clearly lagged behind in strength, and if Alissa guessed right, likely in durability as well. As such, she shifted from the defensive to the offensive as she caught another blow from the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] with her Falchion and pushed against the female demon, leveraging her advantage in strength to force the demon back. As the demon stumbled, she still managed to swing her other axe towards Alissa, but Alissa took a gamble. Instead of avoiding the axe strike, she chose to tilt her body so the axe struck against the side of her chestplate, where her armor was at the sturdiest. Her gamble paid off and the axe careened along the front of her armor with some sparks, but failed to do much other than leave a slight nick at the corner of the plate. It felt a bit like someone punched her on the side, but it was worth it. Because it gave Alissa the chance to slug the demon right on the side with her shield¡¯s tip, which likely broke a rib or three. A shame that her skill was on cooldown, as it could have been an incapacitating if not fatal blow with it, but the way the demon¡¯s face distorted from the pain was a good sign nonetheless. As was the way the demon frantically backed away from Alissa. Unfortunately, while Alissa managed to get the situation at her side under control and even triumphed against two of the stronger demons, the same did not apply to the rest of the wall. The demons had struck in full force, and every single one of the human fourth tiers ¨C even Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten, as well as Magus Drummond ¨C as well as the rest of her party members were occupied by one or more demons around their power level. The defenders were being pushed back, hard, and the demons already gained footholds on many areas of the fort¡¯s walls. Those who had the power to turn the tables were occupied by either the stronger demons or abominations, which left the weaker soldiers to their own devices. At that point, it was only a matter of time before the defenses would truly fail and the demons would break into the fort proper. Surprisingly, the fulcrum that actually turned the tables at that point was not one of the summoned [Heroes], but was instead one of their party members. A young woman of devout faith who had been inducted into the temple early in her life and walked the path of a [Temple Guard], only to later receive the honor of being chosen as one of the [Hero¡¯s Associates]. ¡°[Hallowed Retribution]¡±, intoned Silvia under her breath. Despite the soft whisper she said the skill¡¯s name with, everyone in the vicinity felt as if something echoed within their eardrums, something that was more than mortal in nature, which caused both demons and humans to pause briefly in their grueling fight against one another. Then everyone¡¯s eyes turned towards her the next moment when her entire body seemed to glow with a golden light. A light that commanded respect and awe and even a desire to worship. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. At least for the locals, that was. Alissa also saw it ¨C if from a distance ¨C but didn¡¯t feel most of those things. What did happen in the distance was more impactful to those nearby. Under the skill¡¯s buff, Silvia suddenly turned the tables on the demon fourth tier she was fighting against. The Temple Guard girl moved so fast that her opponent failed to react before Silvia¡¯s spear skewered them through the heart, casting off their dead body from the top of the wall with a yell of triumph. Silvia had not stopped there either. The girl immediately rushed towards the next fight between fourth tiers near her ¨C which in her case happened to be where Bronwen was fending off two demon fourth tiers ¨C and interjected herself, killing every demon she passed by along the way. While the demons had seen her coming since there was no missing the eye-catching manner she used her skill, they proved to be ill-prepared for the force she actually brought with her. One of the demons ¨C the one that turned to face Silvia while the other continued to fight Bronwen ¨C only barely avoided getting skewered through the face by Silvia¡¯s spear when she struck with far more speed and power than any of them expected. Even though the demon managed to avoid the thrust, the spearhead still scraped a bloody wound along their cheek. Worse, the demon found out that Silvia was much faster than they themselves were, and before they could react, Silvia had withdrawn her spear and thrust a second time, this time going for the demon¡¯s solar plexus. The demon couldn¡¯t react in time to stop her with their weapons and the spear went straight through their body and out their back. The swift demise of their compatriot surprised the other demon greatly, but across from them, Bronwen¡¯s face turned into a dismayed frown in realization of an ugly truth. Even so the Temple Guard turned [Hero¡¯s Companion] just stoically gritted her teeth and attacked the demon she faced once more, while Silvia joined her from the side. It did not take long for the second demon to fall before their combined onslaught. After the demon fell, Silvia looked at Bronwen and only gave a firm, resolved nod, which the other woman returned with some sad acceptance. The two of them immediately split off, Bronwen headed east where Silvia came from, while Silvia herself continued westwards where there were more demons and abominations assaulting the wall. The girl continued her solo rampage across the wall, slaying hundreds of demon soldiers as they crossed her path, as well as two of the abominations created by the [Mother of Monsters]. She helped another three fourth-tier defenders deal with the demons they faced, but all that paled to what she managed to accomplish in the end. Namely how she tackled one of the three high leveled demons which kept Sir Inolet busy fighting them and killed it in a surprise attack. The sudden aid allowed Sir Inolet to turn the tables on his assailants, swiftly slaying one of the remaining two demons, while the last one apparently decided that discretion was the better part of valor as they turned and fled before Sir Inolet had the time to take care of them as well. Much like Bronwen, Sir Inolet seemed to understand what was going on and gave Silvia a nod of respect before he leapt down and took the fight to the demons. The domain from his skill expanded and enveloped hundreds of demons even before he landed, and the large-scale skill that followed directly crushed them into pieces. Silvia herself continued her rush across the wall, killing or driving away demons in her path with all the strength she could muster. After they noticed that Sir Inolet had been freed and now took the fight over to them, however, the demons lost much of their motivation to keep up the offense, and most of the demons she ran into later on fled before she could kill them. The demons as a whole started to retreat little by little, with the ones who retreated the fastest being the ones closest to where Sir Inolet rampaged with his large-scale fourth tier skills, slaughtering them by the hundreds with every strike. Even so, he couldn¡¯t move as fast as he normally would while using the destructive skills, which gave the demons a chance to escape with their lives. Around the time Silvia drove away Maribel¡¯s demon opponent ¨C just further east of where Alissa herself was ¨C the rest of the demons had run off, with their fourth tiers actually buying time for the rest of their army to escape. Even Alissa''s opponent, the [Champion¡¯s Retainer], had fought her viciously despite taking multiple injuries, and only retreated after the Ragah-fiq demon Alissa thought dead lunged at her and made a distraction the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] took to escape. It was only then that Alissa had the time to look around properly and noticed the change on the battlefield, with how Sir Inolet, Sir Marsten, and Magus Drummond were viciously chasing the demon army while using their skills as often as they could. The demon army itself was in full retreat now, leaving thousands of their dead piled up around the fort. Even the abominations had all been eradicated at that point of time as they were used up to slow the three human powerhouses down in order to prevent them from catching up to the demon army. Alissa saw that the receding tide of demons was already a good distance away, so there was little point of her joining in at that point, especially since she didn¡¯t exactly have any large-scale spells to contribute with. Instead, she walked over to where Maribel, Nadine, and Silvia stood, Silvia¡¯s body still emanating the same iridescent glow as before, if notably dimmer now. For some reason it gave Alissa the impression of a candle¡¯s last spurt of brightness before the flame extinguished itself. The way both Nadine and Maribel had melancholic looks on their faces redoubled the gut feeling Alissa had that whatever the buff Silvia used was, it likely had some horrible drawback to it. She was still walking towards them with feet that felt like lead ¨C perhaps now that the fighting seemed over, her body decided to let her feel all the fatigue at once ¨C when it happened. Silvia seemed to have noticed something, and knelt down on one knee as she clasped her hands in prayer. The glow around her body seemed to grow brighter for a moment, and even from the distance Alissa could see the serene, accepting look on the girl¡¯s features. Then what took place next was something Alissa would never forget about. Before her eyes, Silvia¡¯s figure dissolved into motes of light that seemed to ascend into the sky, leaving nothing behind, not even her weapons or armor. Not a single sign of the girl¡¯s existence was left behind. 154 - A Clash of Views ¡°What the FUCK was what!?¡± demanded Alissa with some bafflement, her voice breaking the involuntary vigil of silence that fell upon those who witnessed what happened just moments ago. They had just watched one of their own ¨C one of Alissa¡¯s party members ¨C dissolve into light before their eyes, and she wanted to know why and how that happened. Alissa might not be that close to Silvia, as the four Temple Guards in the party tend to keep to themselves more often than not, and the way they were so¡­ devoted to their gods sometimes bordered on the creepy as well. It reminded her a little too much of certain people from her previous world whose entire lives seemed to revolve around their religion. The way her whole form dissolved into particles of light like that most definitely looked¡­ final. The sort of thing there was no coming back from. Alissa could guess that it was likely related to the skill she used earlier, the one that seemed to give Silvia a massive increase in her abilities and allowed her to turn the tables on the demons. Because the enemies had not accounted for another figure at that level of power. They had clearly accounted for Sir Inolet, Sir Marsten, and Magus Drummond given how multiple demons were sent to occupy each of the three and keep them under control, so another figure at such a high power level was all it took to throw the demons¡¯ plan into chaos. Silvia¡¯s actions had allowed Sir Inolet to break free from the demons that kept him occupied and use his devastating skills on the demon army below, which spelled the end of the battle, even if the actual fighting did not end until a while later. The demons clearly had no desire to lose more of their troops at that point and had beat a hasty retreat. Even now, Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond were still out there wreaking havoc on the retreating demons, though neither pursued them much. They were all too aware that doing so might cause them to fall into a demon ambush instead, and kept their activities close to the fort where support would be forthcoming when needed. Meanwhile Sir Marsten stayed on the wall as he coordinated the people there to recover from the long battle. For a while, only silence ¨C and the distant screams of the running demons who fled before Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond ¨C answered Alissa¡¯s question. It was only after a short while that Maribel finally snapped out of the fugue she had been in and turned to face her. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about it and read passages describing them in some history books, but this is the first time I saw something like this myself,¡± said Maribel. ¡°Supposedly the Temple Guards have a skill that allows them to exchange their vitality for power, with the blessing of the gods. What Silvia had used¡­ might well be a higher tier or evolved version of such a skill.¡± ¡°It is as Miss Maribel said,¡± cut in a voice from behind them. Alissa, Nadine, and Maribel turned to see that Leda had made her way from the infirmary closer to the center of the base to the wall and was climbing the last few steps. ¡°We all received the skill Miss Maribel mentioned when we became a Temple Guard, though not everybody made much use of it. Mine had barely reached halfway up to the next tier, even after all this time.¡± ¡°Sister Silvia must be truly blessed by the Gods to have been granted such an honor and a boon,¡± Leda continued with that too-devout look Alissa had been wary of. ¡°Even amongst the Temple¡¯s records there had only been very few who were granted such a privilege to serve the Gods in such a direct manner¡­ May their blessings fall upon us¡­¡± Alissa did not trust herself to speak after she heard what Leda said. Even with [Weather the Storm] anchoring her emotions, she almost lost control of them for a brief moment, as she couldn¡¯t stomach how these people ¨C or at least the Temple Guards, since everyone else seemed halfway torn between being glad that the battle was over or being disturbed by the way it ended ¨C looked upon the death of one of their own so nonchalantly. In fact, from the way Leda spoke, it was almost as if they celebrated it. As if it was a privilege to give away their lives for the sake of their so-called gods. Hell, from the way Leda spoke, she was clearly envious that Silvia got such a chance and she didn¡¯t, clearly equally willing to throw away her own life for such a ¡°boon¡± from her gods. It was something that reminded Alissa far too much of religious fanatics and extremists from her home world to be comfortable with, though she schooled her features in order to prevent that feeling from showing up on her face. Once more she was glad for the first skill she received upon her transmigration, as without [Weather the Storm] she would have likely said something that wouldn¡¯t be taken nicely by the Temple Guards and other devout believers of the gods by this point. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Leda seemed to have taken Alissa¡¯s silence as an invitation to preach more, but fortunately, before she could do so, Sir Marsten¡¯s figure walked over from the other side. His old face slightly frowned as he took in the situation, but he seemed to quickly understand what was going on. That he quickly called them away before any conflict could happen proved that. ¡°Miss O¡¯Connor, Fifth Princess, come with me for a bit,¡± said the old knight in his usual commanding tone. While both Alissa¡¯s status as a summoned [Hero] and Nadine¡¯s status as a Princess were higher than his own, the old knight remained the commander on the base, and as such they fell under his authority while they were helping out there. ¡°The demons seemed to have beaten a retreat, but I¡¯d like the rest of you to stand guard a while longer just to make sure,¡± he added. Alissa and Nadine followed Sir Marsten as he led them down the wall and towards the command tent at the center of the fort. The demons had attacked before the central keep could be built, so they had been relying only on the outer walls to fight them off, which definitely made things a bit harder for them. As they walked, Sir Marsten suddenly spoke to them with a low voice. ¡°Don¡¯t speak too loud in case you get overheard, but something like this¡­ sadly isn¡¯t a new occurence,¡± he told the two quietly as they walked. ¡°I¡¯ve fought alongside a contingent of Temple Guards during the last war, and they had the same¡­ zeal about them. They burned their lives for more power a bit too willingly back then as well.¡± ¡°Now, I can¡¯t really disparage their sacrifice, as they did save many of us at the cost of their own lives back then, much like what happened here,¡± he continued. ¡°Our defenses were crumbling when the lass did her thing and turned the tables. Had she not done that, we might well be retreating through the valley by now, with the Kingdom¡¯s first meaningful victory over many generations negated. So by sacrificing her life, she might well have saved many thousands of lives, both directly and indirectly.¡± ¡°Logically, I know and understand that much,¡± replied Alissa after churning her thoughts for a while. She had to bite back a couple more heated remarks as she realized that the old knight was not to blame for what Silvia had apparently decided on her own. ¡°It just¡­ bugged me to see someone so willing to throw away their life like that, even when it was done in order to save others. I¡¯m sorry if that makes no sense to you people, the world I come from is just¡­ very different.¡± ¡°Believe me when I say that some of us here also found it rather disturbing, even when we owe our lives to those who did so,¡± replied the old knight with a shake of his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never been that devout myself as a person, could never get the people who¡¯d throw away their everything for the sake of the gods. Most of us older knights are the same way, actually. It¡¯s why the temple never really liked us.¡± ¡°But yeah, as you might guess, it¡¯s best to keep such opinions away from the ears of those affiliated with the Temple in general. They don¡¯t take too kindly to people doubting things. Honestly it¡¯s one thing where the King and us see eye to eye, that people who got in deep with the Temple often get disturbingly fanatical,¡± he added. ¡°Of course, if some of them ask, you didn¡¯t hear that from me, all right?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t help that the current Head Priest is a cousin twice removed of my father¡¯s,¡± added Nadine quietly from the side. ¡°I¡¯m not certain whether there¡¯s any truth to the rumors, but there have been worries amongst the nobles that the Temple might plan to try to aim for the throne and do away with separation of the state and the temple.¡± ¡°Could he actually do that?¡± asked Alissa with some surprise at what Nadine told her. ¡°It would require my father, all my uncles and aunts, as well as all of their children dying off, but in that case he¡¯d be next in line of the throne, yeah,¡± replied Nadine solemnly. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth I don¡¯t think the Head Priest had any such ambitions. He¡¯s¡­ much like most others who joined the Temple. The Gods are their everything to them.¡± ¡°For what it might be worth, though, Alissa, I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m in a position to critique the decision Silvia chose either,¡± admitted Nadine. ¡°What she did saved most of our lives at the cost of her own, in the end, and while I don¡¯t like the idea of sacrificing others just to save myself¡­ sometimes the situation at hand gives us no other option. At least we know that Silvia did it all willingly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s what this damned war forced us to,¡± grumbled Sir Marsten under his breath, though still loudly enough for Alissa and Nadine to hear. The old knight clearly wasn¡¯t all too comfortable with what just happened, though his role as the overall commander forced him to look beyond that and consider the bigger picture. ¡°That Silvia lass was no older than some of my granddaughters. That someone that young had to die while us old bastards live on bothers me like you wouldn¡¯t believe.¡± ¡°I do believe and understand you, Sir,¡± said Alissa in a somber attempt at reassuring the old knight. Unlike what stories loved to portray, things were a lot more complicated in Ephemera, with multiple factions all aiming for their own interests even when they were supposed to be on the same side. Sometimes it was both heartening and frustrating to see that people never change even with an extinction-level threat in their faces. ¡°So what are we going to do now?¡± ¡°For now, Miss O¡¯Connor? We rest. We recuperate and regain our lost strength after the long battle, and prepare ourselves for the next ones to come,¡± said Sir Marsten with a long-suffering sigh. The old knight looked tired and older than he used to look in that moment of weakness, though he soon inhaled and reassumed the posture of a proud knight like he usually did. ¡°We treat our wounded, bury our dead, and count the enemy dead while we¡¯re at it.¡± ¡°I know that the lass did a number on the demons back there and killed at least a few of their fourth tiers, though I didn¡¯t get too good a look since I was far away,¡± he added. ¡°I just hope that she at least turned her life into a worthwhile trade and took a bunch of them down with her.¡± CLV - A First Look ¡°I have to admit¡­ that out of everything I thought the human villages would be like from what I¡¯ve heard so far¡­ I had not expected to see this,¡± said Esperanza quietly, keeping her voice audible only to those right next to her. Resitia and Iryl nodded in agreement with her words, the two similarly in a struggle to keep the surprise from their features. Esperanza had a much easier time with that, though, since her ¡°features¡± were things she consciously molded out of her form to begin with. ¡°It all just looks so¡­ normal,¡± Resitia pointed out the word that was hanging on the tips of all their tongues just as quietly. The six of them ¨C together with Murad, Mora, and Tiara ¨C were currently walking the streets of a village called Farnham¡¯s Hold, one of the larger villages in the vicinity of the mountain where Zikeal was hidden. Of course, the term ¡°vicinity¡± was liberally used in this case, as the village would be at least two weeks worth of walking from the mountainous hidden city for most normal people in their second tiers or so. Esperanza¡¯s group easily made the trip in half that time before they split up. The bulk of the group stayed well out of sight of the village, hiding in the forest, while a smaller group of those who could pass for humans headed to the village itself. Apparently Murad and Mora were known quantities in the village, which made sense, given their cover identity as traveling small-time traders. They had visited most places around the mountain on an irregular schedule, sometimes visiting a couple times within a month, sometimes not showing up for over a year or more. It was nothing unusual for them to show up there at the time. As for the others, the couple introduced Tiara as a niece ¨C which worked fine as they themselves were second cousins to the matron and there was some noticeable family resemblance ¨C while they portrayed the other three as surviving children of a friend and fellow trader of theirs who met with misfortune. It was an easy way to excuse the scars that riddled Iryl¡¯s body, which made the guards wince in sympathy when she showed some of them. It was also a very convenient excuse for Iryl and Esperanza to keep themselves covered with a hooded cloak. Such an act was not uncommon amongst those who had visible scars as many considered them blemishes and were embarrassed to show them. Both Iryl and Resitia had visible scars on their skin, though Resitia played the warrior tomboy girl and proudly showed hers off instead. That had the side effect of practically telling people why Esperanza and Iryl kept themselves covered as she remained close to them at all times. When someone asked Iryl would simply show her scars and the person asking would naturally assume that Esperanza must be worse off and thus refrain from asking her to show herself out of courtesy. All considered, it was a most simplistic ruse which when combined with the group¡¯s mastery of aura control, which kept their aura ¨C and the fact that they were aligned with the old gods ¨C hidden allowed them entry to the village without much fuss. The presence of known quantities in the form of Murad and Mora vouching for them helped greatly as well. After all, Ephemera was not a world which was systematic enough to register every person living in a place. There was no form of identification for the most part, other than for those whose occupations lean to the combative side. Those people were the few that the Kingdom bothered to keep a registry of. Even then, it was mostly something only done in bigger cities. In places like Farnham¡¯s Hold where at most you¡¯d get some [Militia] or [Hunter]s around, there was no such thing. To go with their covered Aura, the group had also learned a general skill from the tribe in Zikeal that would allow them to present a fake class and level to others. The skill itself was barely an uncommon rarity, which meant that any sort of [Analysis] or [Identify] type of skill at the rare rarity or higher would see through it easily. It was enough for the places that the tribe usually visited, though. Farnham¡¯s Hold itself was a quaint little village, barely over a hundred households or so. It looked pretty typical for a village, with the one building that stood out the most being the Temple situated in the center of the village, its tall bell tower towering over every other building around it. In fact, it was pretty much as normal as a village could get¡­ other than one thing that Esperanza couldn¡¯t help but notice. Namely how the locals were extremely subservient to the priests and guards from the temple. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. For what it was worth, the head of the local temple at the village was a kindly looking old priest with a long beard that the locals greeted warmly before they gave the man a respectful bow. The old man clearly had difficulty walking but seemed to favor walking with the aid of a cane rather than having someone help him or let others carry him in a palanquin or the like. Esperanza and the rest gave a slight bow to the old man as they crossed his path and was greeted with what Esperanza felt was likely a genuine smile. She also discreetly identified the man ¨C her [Gaze Unto the Abyss] skill was absurdly high in rarity and most people would never even notice her using it on them, unlike lower rarity skills of the type ¨C and noticed that his classes were all very low in rarity while not being combat-related, which explained his frailness despite being in the early levels of his fourth tier. Not all of the members of the temple behaved so nicely, though. Later on the same day they also saw how a young member of the temple guard nonchalantly grabbed a fruit from a vendor¡¯s cart and walked away without paying, looking all smug and entitled about it. The vendor himself said nothing and only gave a bow despite seeing what happened, which bothered Esperanza quite a bit. Sure, a short while later she saw an older temple guard smack the young one upside the head before dragging them back to the temple by the ear, tossing a coin to the vendor and a murmured apology as they passed by, but the fact that something like that happened and the locals had no thought of going against or even reporting it bothered her. The way the locals viewed the temple seemed a bit too worshipful for her liking. They acted as if the people from the temple could do no wrong, no matter what they did. While the local priests and temple guards seemed like decent people overall, what the young temple guard did earlier was a warning that if they weren¡¯t, then things would likely have gone ugly rather quickly. A quick talk with Murad and Mora confirmed as much once they were safely absconded in their rooms in the village¡¯s only inn. ¡°I have seen it get ugly like you mentioned, Exalted One,¡± admitted Mora after Esperanza¡¯s questioning. ¡°It was a smaller village on the other side of the mountain range. There the temple¡¯s priests practically acted like tyrants and worked the locals as if they were their slaves, and none of them raised any objection of any sort¡­ it was a rather eerie place so we had not stayed for long there.¡± ¡°The priests and guards would often drag away the more attractive young men and women to have fun with, and their parents would just see them off with smiles on their faces,¡± added Murad with a scowl. ¡°It was a rather nauseating sight to witness, and we warned our youngsters not to risk going there. It¡¯s better for us old ones to go there as there would be less risk of being noticed.¡± ¡°The people here are fortunate. We¡¯ve actually chatted with Father Patrick before. The old man is a genuine kind soul who just wanted the best for everyone. Unfortunately, those like him are rare, and most of the temple¡¯s priesthood tend to be more concerned with how to eradicate everything with a drop of demonic heritage in them over anything else,¡± Mora continued. ¡°At least that¡¯s been the case in most places we visited.¡± ¡°They even developed ways to screen for demon heritage and had lynched innocent people just because one of their distant ancestors was a demon, believe it or not,¡± added her husband. ¡°Fortunately those skills are rarer and those who have it rarely bothered to visit small villages like these. It was still a sickening sight to witness how some people would willingly kill themselves just because a priest claimed that they had demon heritage.¡± ¡°Not like they had much choice, dear,¡± quipped Mora. ¡°It was either killing themselves quickly or getting lynched by the mob. Incidentally, that¡¯s one of the reasons why our tribe only sent those who had pure or nearly pure human bloodlines out to do this. They risk getting discovered by that sort of skill otherwise, and unlike with our auras, or souls, as you called it, we haven¡¯t found a way to hide from that yet.¡± The couple¡¯s words gave Esperanza some things to think about. They had headed to this village because the volunteers from Zikeal had vouched for it as a ¡°rare good place to live in¡± amongst the places they frequented, and so far it had lived up to that praise. Esperanza had yet to see much of the human lands, but from what she saw in this village, it was obvious just how dependent the locals were on the local temple. Apparently that was not something unusual, and most smaller villages or towns were either dependent on their local temple or to the local lord, one or the other. As most such places barely had some [Militia] or [Hunter]s to defend themselves in case of danger, they were pretty much dependent on the military force led by the temple or local constables to deal with such cases. While the village looked peaceful, the fact that the main village itself was fenced up with stakes pointed outward hinted that the local wild beasts and monsters likely paid the village visits from time to time. Other than that, banditry was not a particularly uncommon threat in the Human Kingdom as well, as even during dire times some people would still put their own benefits ahead of everything. To be fair, such cases weren¡¯t too rare in the demon territories either, though there rather than small bands of outlaws it was more common for a tribe to outright raid a rival tribe for resources and whatever else they needed. The demons were far less homogenous than the humans and their society was more often split along tribe and clan lines, even within the cities. As for Farnham¡¯s Hold itself, though, much like the volunteer spies had claimed, it was just a nice, quaint little village in what practically counted as the middle of nowhere as even the closest medium-sized town was at least a week away. It was the sort of place where the locals¡¯ biggest worries was perhaps losing a sheep to wolves from the nearby forests while the typical gossip was whose son was going out with whose daughter. They seemed so far removed from the ongoing war between the humans and demons other than the fact that a few youths from the village had enlisted to the army in an attempt to make a name for themselves and likely paid with their lives in the fighting. Esperanza and the others had no plans to disturb the little village¡¯s peace. They would stay there for a day ¨C as was normal for Murad and Mora to do ¨C while buying and selling some items before leaving and going elsewhere. If anything their arrival probably helped ensure that the locals would see less animal issues for the near future as some beasts too stupid to make way had ended up dead under the group¡¯s blades. CLVI - Not so Different ¡°In the Name of Courage, I will defeat you vile demons!¡± yelled out one of the village children, all bedecked in the glory of her toy swords and armor as she gleefully ¡®charged¡¯ at a group of other children similarly wielding all sorts of toy weapons. It was a common sight in human villages, apparently, according to the Zikeal natives. When Esperanza thought about it, it was really not that much different to kids pretending to be cops and robbers in her world, although the children in this world tended to be far more active and surprisingly, violent even in their play. She saw at least a few of the children walk to their homes with bruises from the play, as their toy weapons, while edgeless and made of wood, would still hurt to get hit with. Where parents in her old world would have kicked up a ruckus at such things however, in Ephemera it was considered normal and even encouraged, especially for children who came from warrior lineages or had dreams of becoming warriors in the future. The play-fighting would grant them more options along those lines when they reached adulthood and their second tier classes. It made sense, but the sight of young children fighting each other to the point of bruising and crying still tugged some heartstrings regardless of what Esperanza thought. ¡°Reminds me of¡­ dammit¡­ it¡¯s just months ago, wasn¡¯t it?¡± quipped Resitia from her side. Resitia had also been watching the human children at play with a rather melancholic look on her face. With the girl¡¯s matured looks, it was all too easy to forget that in her heart Resitia was still just a ten year old or so child who had been forced to grow ¨C figuratively and literally ¨C beyond her years. ¡°Uh-huh,¡± noted Iryl with a nod from where she sat on a nearby bench. Since there were six of them they booked two rooms at the village¡¯s inn, which conveniently enough were larger rooms each with two bunk beds. Murad, Mora, and Tiara took one room while Esperanza, Resitia, and Iryl took the other. The rooms themselves were sparsely furnished, with just a long bench and a table set by the window, the beds, and one chest to store the traveler¡¯s belongings by the foot of each bed. ¡°Just a few months ago. How things have changed since then¡­¡± ¡°Funny how life could be sometimes. Here we are on a mission from the Deities themselves along with their messenger, so much like the tales grandpa used to tell me when I was younger¡­ I just wish that things that lead to this could have been less¡­ painful, I guess,¡± noted Resitia quietly with a shake of her head. ¡°Just a few months ago we were little different to those children out there.¡± ¡°It is how it is. There are many things I wished could have gone differently, but there¡¯s no changing our past so we have to live with it,¡± said Iryl. She was one of the older of the children back then, though that just meant she was only a year or so older than Resitia at most. ¡°That said¡­ I hope the sights you¡¯ve seen today won''t affect you when we have to fight some of the humans¡­ You know they would treat us they way they did demons, or even worse.¡± ¡°No need to worry about that,¡± said Resitia. ¡°I¡¯m well aware that the humans would have done just as the demons did to us had they been the ones to find us back then. Just because I¡¯ve seen some of their children at play doesn¡¯t mean it would stay my spear when the time comes to fight,¡± she stated confidently. ¡°Also, mister Murad said that this is one of the better places in the region¡­ so I¡¯m rather curious to see what the worse places are like.¡± ¡°You girls know? That¡¯s actually going to be our next destination after we leave tomorrow,¡± said Esperanza with a slightly saddened voice. She too had wished for the children to be able to remain as they were, to enjoy their childhood normally, but fate had disagreed and forced these children to walk a path strewn with hardships. The least she could do was to watch over them and lead the way. ¡°Anyway, since we came here to spy on them, what do you two think of this place so far?¡± she asked afterwards. ¡°The other three visited the human villages and towns frequently already, so their understanding would naturally be different. I¡¯m curious what you two in particular think of this place in general.¡± ¡°Well¡­ It sorta reminded me of home, of Navef. It¡¯s got that same small, tight-knit group of people feel to it, if that makes sense?¡± said Resitia after some thought. Iryl nodded in agreement to her words and let the younger girl continue instead of joining in. ¡°That said, there¡¯s some bits that are different, like with the priests and all. We respect the priests back home too, but not to this extent. These people¡­ they look almost like they worship the ground those priests walk on. That¡¯s kinda disturbing, even when the priests we saw so far are nice people.¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Agreed with what she said, for the most part. They¡¯ve also been raising their children to hate demons from young by the looks of it, but I expect that to be something normal in the Human Kingdom,¡± added Iryl. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen anything related to us in particular, but we probably don¡¯t show up often enough to be a problem they prepare for.¡± ¡°Sounds about right. From all I¡¯ve read and heard so far they would only mobilize against people like us if they happen to stumble upon one of our hideouts. I don¡¯t think they actively search for us anymore these days,¡± noted Resitia. ¡°The folks from Zikeal also said that in general we¡¯re pretty safe in our hideouts. Navef would probably have been safe as well had we still lived deeper in the jungle, but luck was not with us.¡± ¡°Bad things happen in life, often to people who don''t even deserve it happening to them,¡± said Esperanza in a wistful tone. ¡°Fact of the matter is that all too often some people, be they human or demon, from this world or another, might bring suffering upon others just to satisfy themselves in some way. More often than not their victims could only take it in silence, unable to fight back. In some ways, you girls are both lucky and unlucky.¡± ¡°You¡¯re unlucky in the sense that you have had such suffering happen to you through no fault of your own, yet you¡¯re also lucky that now you have the power to fight back,¡± she continued. ¡°That is something far too few victims ever had the chance to do.¡± The sunset slowly fell over the quaint little village while the girls mulled over what Esperanza had said to them, and they were left with those thoughts over the night as evening turned to night to morning again. They woke up around dawn the next morning, and after some quick and simple breakfast at the inn ¨C some local black, grainy bread and soup that was mostly vegetables and bits of salted meat ¨C bid their farewell to the innkeeper. It was normal for travelers to depart early in the morning so that they could travel further during the day, after all. To most of Farnham¡¯s Hold, the visiting strangers were just more of the usual slew of visitors they got from time to time. None of the locals even thought that much about them. Murad and Mora were familiar faces, especially to their frequent business partners in the village. As for the others, some lamented the misfortune that they had suffered and directed some prayers for them, unknowing that those prayers would be less than useless for the people in question. From the quaint little village, the group first returned to the forest where the rest of their people awaited them and relayed what they had seen in the village. The younger children were quite surprised that the village in the Human Kingdom had been so normal, though they naturally trusted the words of their compatriots, much less Esperanza¡¯s. The next place they intended to visit was one of the less nice places in the region, however, so this time the group decided to just send Kurt and Leo, together with Resitia there. They chose to do so because they wanted to minimize the possibility of conflict for the time being, and fewer people would attract less suspicion than many. It was rather unfortunate that the people of Ephemera did not seem to have tamed wolves in their past, and thus had no habit of keeping dogs as pets or partners. Otherwise Esperanza would have sent Dali or Gordy with the group for additional security. Beastmaster-like classes were also rare and almost always on higher tiers, so it would have attracted attention to pretend to be one. Amusingly, on the way to their next destination, the group ran into a bunch of outlaws that had just finished their business with some unfortunate small-time merchants. The merchants looked to be a middle-aged couple with their son and daughter, all of whom had met with grisly ends at the hands of the outlaws, especially the daughter who had the misfortune to be abused as well by them. The bandits were still ransacking the family¡¯s wagon in search of valuables when Esperanza¡¯s group noticed them, and while it has nothing to do with them in particular, none amongst the group liked what they saw. As such, they quickly came to a quiet decision that sealed the fates of those bandits, all of whom were unaware of the disgust they had garnered by accident. Moments later, after the group had encircled the area ¨C and removed a couple bandit lookouts in the process ¨C to ensure that none of the bandits would get away and tell any tales of their presence, they struck. Many of the bandits never knew what hit them, and were dead often before their bodies hit the ground. A few others saw what was happening but had no chance to even make a sound before they too were silenced eternally. A lucky few who were not killed in the first wave ¨C there were nearly forty of the bandits which was massive overkill for robbing a wagon with just a family of four ¨C turned tail and ran when they saw more than half their group killed on the spot by what were unmistakably demons, but they weren¡¯t spared either. Their lives were reaped before they even managed to take a few steps. After the killing was over, the group carefully carried the dead bodies of the poor family and buried them in simple graves by the side of the road. They might hold no particular sympathy for people of the Human Kingdom, but it was just common decency in this case. It was not like the unfortunate family was the one responsible for their ordeals, after all. The ruined wagon, they similarly moved to the side of the road. It was a narrow road that was more a forest path ¨C albeit one large enough for small wagons to traverse ¨C than anything, and probably one of the few roads to connect the village they had just been in to other places. It was the least they could do to at least keep the road unobstructed. After all, the people who lived simple lives often already lived hard lives, there was no need to make things worse for them when a little bit of courtesy would spare them the trouble. As for the bandits, however, the group gave no such courtesy. They just tossed the corpses to the side of the road for the animals to feast on later. Should another person reach the site in the near future, all they would be able to tell was that a group of bandits likely ran into a powerful person or persons who frowned upon their actions and wiped them out before burying their victims and little more. CLVII - Those who Tread upon Others ¡°Well then, Miss Resitia, that little hamlet over there is the town of Anglerton. It¡¯s a small town, but already one of the bigger ones for this region,¡± said Kurt as he pointed towards a small town in the distance. Compared to the village, the town was better defended against wild animals and the like, with a short palisade probably about three meters tall surrounding the houses in the center. The fields outside were out in the open, though. Some fields had fencing around it, but the different ways they were constructed hinted that they were likely made by different people on their own expenses, likely by the owner of those fields. There were some men and women with [Militia] classes patrolling the outer regions, but not many of them. Farnham¡¯s Hold, the village they were at the day before, also had only rudimentary fencing around its houses and left the fields in the open, but at least in their case they lived in a quiet place, relatively distant from creatures that could be a threat. Most of the animals ¨C and the few monsters ¨C in the vicinity of that village were only around the mid first tier at worst. Something a fresh second tier farmer could likely deal with on their own. In contrast, the forests near Anglerton teemed with more dangerous creatures. Even on their way to the town, Resitia, Kurt, and Leo had to deal with a few beasts that were not clever enough to run from them. Kurt and Leo both had skills that allowed them to sneak around unnoticed and other hunting related skills, so they usually avoided such creatures. Resitia was nowhere near as capable of hiding herself like that, but she soon found out that skewering one of the creatures on her spear was just as effective a deterrent to the other creatures around. The creatures themselves were of minimal threat to her, only in the late levels of the second tier. For villagers or local hunters, however, such creatures still posed quite a bit of danger, and they might even lose their lives to them on bad days. As such, the three damaged the creature¡¯s carcass more to give the impression of a hard fight as a clean kill would have been suspicious. With the carcass carried by a pole that Kurt and Leo carried on their shoulders ¨C none of them wanted to draw undue attention to Resitia¡¯s unusual prowess ¨C the three of them headed to the town. The place was rather quiet that day. The [Militia] that patrolled around town stifled yawns as they walked around, protecting the farmers who worked the land under their protection. There were quite a few surprised looks and gasps directed their way when they came into sight, the [Dire Boar] carcass they carried likely the cause of the surprise. It was rare for the town¡¯s [Hunter]s to bag one of those. More often the beasts were the ones who hunted the hunters, with more than a few having lost their lives to one. As such the town always considered it a cause for some celebration each time someone managed to hunt one. Kurt and Leo were familiar faces to the townspeople, known to them as some hunters who lived in the wilderness and came to villages and towns to trade their catch from time to time. This was the first time they brought something as big as the boar though. A few noticed Resitia walking behind them, and the easy way she carried herself, or the practiced manner with which she rested her spear on her shoulder. The people who were in a more martial path immediately noticed that the girl was likely one like themselves, and guessed that she likely helped the brothers with the kill. Of course, Resitia had changed her clothing to more common ones and even traded her crafted spear for a simpler one in order to disguise herself properly. Some things were harder to hide, however, and the way a warrior carried themselves was one of those things. Fortunately, given her attire and the fact that she was following Kurt and Leo, it was mistaken as the habits of someone used to living in the wilderness instead. ¡°Mister Edgar, think you could use this for dinner?¡± asked Kurt as he cheerfully greeted a middle-aged man who came out from an inn in the town. The man was apparently the inn¡¯s proprietor and chef and looked positively giddy at the sight of the [Dire Boar] carcass. The beast was one of the most dangerous monsters in the vicinity, but its meat was also known to be a delight when cooked properly. ¡°Why, I certainly do!¡± replied the middle-aged man with a beaming smile on his face. ¡°Why don¡¯t you take it over to my kitchen first, then we¡¯ll talk compensation inside? Drinks are on me!¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Resitia gave the siblings a questioning look, which Leo answered with a nod, indicating that the man was trustworthy. The three of them lugged the carcass around into the Inn¡¯s kitchen, where it took up all the space of the largest table they could find, and even then the beast¡¯s limbs still hung over the table¡¯s sides as it was too large to fit entirely. Then they walked to the inn¡¯s common room and met with the proprietor who immediately plied them with mugs of ale as he cheerfully bargained with Kurt over the beast¡¯s price. In the end Kurt gave the man a cheaper deal as he conceded that the carcass had been quite damaged, keeping up his disguise as a hunter from the woods. On the other hand he also extracted part of the cut back in exchange for offering to dismantle the beast. Typically only hunters knew how to dismantle monsters properly, as most people wouldn¡¯t come into contact with them often. The coins were quickly exchanged and they toasted with their mugs to celebrate the deal¡¯s conclusion when a commotion from the outside reached their ears. Almost as one, the group walked towards the windows to see what was causing the ruckus outside, and while the other three ¨C as well as the inn¡¯s patrons ¨C looked used to the situation, Resitia was definitely unused to it. A small group of men on horseback rode through the town streets while the people on the side of the road knelt and lowered their heads in obeisance. The riders looked particularly smug and arrogant to her eyes, while the way they dressed made it quite clear that it was likely some noble with her retinue of guards riding behind. The noblewoman was riding along the town¡¯s main road ¨C likely headed towards the manor at the center of town ¨C when a child crossed the road in front of her horse, causing it to rear back in surprise. Resitia had no idea why the child was there. Maybe their parents were occupied and the kid ran off on their own, maybe they were just coming out from a side alley and had not noticed the procession. Either way the point was moot. What she saw was how the noblewoman screeched like a harpy, apparently affronted that one of the townspeople had not only not knelt, but even crossed her path. She saw a rather young couple ¨C likely the child¡¯s parents ¨C rush out hurriedly from the side and knelt to plead with the clearly angry noblewoman, but to little avail. The noblewoman then raised the riding crop she held and whipped it at the child. Fortunately the child¡¯s mother managed to cover them with her own body, taking the crop to her back. That just seemed to infuriate the noblewoman more, however, as she whipped harder at the woman¡¯s back, over and over. She lashed the man as well, who was still kneeling and pleading for his family, and only after a while did her temper tantrum subside. Only after the noblewoman and her guards left for a good distance did the bystanders dared to move in to help the unfortunate family. The child was fortunately unharmed, as they were shielded by their mother throughout the ordeal, but the father took many lashes that left bleeding wounds all over his chest and shoulders, even a couple across his face that would likely leave lasting scars. The child¡¯s mother was worse off, as most of her back was a raw, bleeding wound. The woman had long fainted under the whipping but remained crouched over her child regardless. Several of the townspeople rushed her over to an infirmary, but Resitia knew that unless the infirmary happened to have a skilled healer class with magical healing capabilities those injuries might very well cripple the woman for life. She also noticed that none of the townspeople seemed to dare to raise their voice in protest over the torment that the family suffered for shielding their child. It was something that looked unthinkable to the girl, who had the thought that any person with decency would have stood up for them. Instead, at most a few people shook their heads sadly at the going-ons. That included the inn proprietor and some of the patrons who had crowded near the windows to get a glimpse of what happened. Soon after the spectacle ended they returned to their seats and resumed what they were doing as if nothing happened, and nobody said even a word about it. That really puzzled Resitia, and her questioning glare made it obvious. ¡°The lass ain¡¯t ever been here before, hasn¡¯t she?¡± asked the inn¡¯s proprietor to the siblings. ¡°Yeah, she usually stuck to her family, but they ran into misfortune of late, which is why she¡¯s with us today,¡± said Kurt as he used the cover story they agreed upon. Resitia not speaking much was also something they agreed on, as they were worried that she might say the wrong thing in a fit of emotion that might make people suspicious of them. To avoid that she just pretended to be mute. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this is her first time in Anglerton.¡± ¡°Better remind her not to go against the lady then,¡± said the innkeeper with a shake of his head. ¡°Lady Rosaline Carlsburg is the Baroness that rules over Anglerton and most of the surrounding villages. In this region, her word is law, so it¡¯s best not to get on her bad side. I feel sorry for the Cairns but they really should have known better than to let that happen.¡± Resitia noticed that the man had not mentioned whether he meant the family should not have let the child run off from their watch and thus anger the noblewoman, or whether he meant they should have known better than to try to shield the child from said woman¡¯s wrath. Leo discreetly gave her a shake of the head to tell her not to pry further though, so she held her peace. One thing she was quite certain about, however, was that the Human Kingdom also had its darker side much like the demons¡¯ territories. The way the noblewoman treated the townspeople as beneath had and so gleefully visited violence upon them for such a small ¡°affront¡± was quite repulsive to Resitia. She also understood why the tribal spies had suggested that Iryl and Esperanza might be better off staying behind for this trip. Someone who was clearly willing to whip a child would not have cared for people hiding themselves under hoods if they piqued her curiosity. While Iryl was there as a buffer of sorts, it was still unsafe to allow people to get a close look at Esperanza¡¯s features under her hood, as while her shapeshifting has indeed improved greatly over the months it was still noticeable under close observation. Such a thing might well have busted their infiltration and leave them with little choice but to burn the town ¨C and all the people in it ¨C to the ground to eliminate witnesses, and none of them wanted to take such a drastic action at the moment. 158 - Paying the Butchers Bill ¡°So what we¡¯ve managed to confirm so far are the deaths of two of the stronger demon fourth tiers and eleven weaker ones,¡± Sir Marsten stated to the apparent delight of the assembled people in the base¡¯s command tent. The announcement brought smiles ¨C often melancholic ¨C to dour and somber faces, which was quite impactful when one considered that most of those faces belonged to rugged, middle-aged military types. At least Alissa thought so. The mood was somber in the command tent prior to the announcement because while confirming the dead demon fourth tiers took time ¨C it needed eyewitness reports and confirmations after all, since often the bodies were gone by the end of the battle ¨C it was far easier for the humans to count their own dead. Which, unfortunately, was not a small number by any means. They had lost six of their fourth tiers during the final battle ¨C including Silvia ¨C and out of the over fifty thousand soldiers that defended the fort, over a third had laid down their lives in the line of duty. Out of the survivors, a good quarter had injuries that would require some extended rest and recuperation, if they were even fit to ever return to duty once more. Nearly everyone had injuries of some sort from the fighting, though the rest got off lighter. Alissa herself had some injuries on her body from her fight with the [Champion¡¯s Retainer] who managed to put her on the backfoot after a third demon came up to join the fight while her spear was still stuck in the grip of the dying demon. She was the only one who managed to take down a fourth tier demon on her own during the battle, apparently, as most of the rest were killed by either Silvia or Sir Inolet. As for the demon side¡¯s casualties, it was difficult to count them up, but they lost at least three to four times as many soldiers as the humans did, even if most of those were low-tier ones. That the demons could even afford such losses with a shrug was testament to how they just had far more people than the humans did, even if many had difficulty reaching the higher tiers in their lifetime. On the other hand, the fourth tier losses ¨C especially the two powerful ones ¨C would be much more felt. Sir Inolet had showcased why fourth tier combatants were the ones who decided battles even when it was between such large armies. Once he was on the loose, there was nothing the demons could do but to beat a hasty retreat as they had no more fourth tiers to keep him occupied. A single fourth tier combatant with the right sort of skills like Sir Inolet could easily turn the tide of a battle as they shattered formations. Others who had less wide-ranged powers could often still do the same, by way of decapitation strikes towards enemy commanders for instance. All in all a fourth tier enemy on the loose when one side had nothing to counter them with was nothing short of a nightmare scenario for the strategists and tacticians of Ephemera. If that fourth tier had been a weaker one, then massed higher level third tiers might be able to hold them off or even take them down, if not easily. However, nothing could do the same to the more powerful fourth tiers, and even if one wanted to use numbers they¡¯d need at least several weaker fourth tiers to do so. Not an easy task when fourth tier combatants were so rare to begin with. For all the tens of thousands of people involved in the fighting over the fort ¨C over a hundred thousand counting the demons ¨C There were less than a hundred fourth tiers in total involved in the fighting. Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua, as well as the rest of their party were already included in that number, with the three of them considered to be amongst the powerful, if on the low end of the scale still. The consideration of a fourth tier combatant¡¯s power was just that: Power. Their levels or class rarity did not matter, as long as they were able to show that they possessed more power than most of their counterparts. It was why some lower leveled fourth tiers could be considered as the powerful ones even if they lacked rarer classes. Some of them were just that good at utilizing what skills they had. Silvia¡¯s burst of power had granted her enough capability to downright dominate most of the weaker demon fourth tiers and even hold her own against the powerful ones. It was a drastic boost of strength, one that the girl literally fueled with her very life, but it showcased well why having even one more powerful fourth tier than what the enemy expected might be enough to turn the tides of a battle. Since Silvia lacked the ability to cause mass destruction like Sir Inolet could, she had hunted down many of the dead demon fourth tiers and freed him up to go wild. The sudden loss of so many fourth tiers combined with the human fourth tiers mounting a counterattack was what broke the spine of the demon assault on the fort. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Neither the [Mother of Monsters] nor the as of yet unseen buffer demon [Champion] had been able to turn the tides even as they turned their considerable power to the task, which forced the demons to swallow the defeat and slink off with their tails between their legs. The former sacrificed all of her undead abominations to buy time for the demons to escape, and even then they still took grievous losses in the process. ¡°I guess the girl sold her life dearly,¡± said Sir Inolet somberly as he made a gesture that reminded Alissa of the sign of the cross. Something she had not seen him ever done before. Sir Marsten had made it clear that he had little love for the Temple, and Sir Inolet likely had similar opinions regarding the temple, which made the gesture an unexpected one. The faces of the Temple Guards present in the room brightened up, though, and they ¨C together with quite a few others present ¨C repeated the gesture themselves with solemnity. It was a gesture of respect from Sir Inolet to show that Silvia¡¯s sacrificial choice was one that had earned his respect, even if he personally disagreed with such an approach. It was a concession the old knight rarely gave. ¡°She did well. We might well have lost the fort if not for her sacrifice,¡± acknowledged sir Marsten with a nod of his head. The old knight was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of young people willingly sacrificing their lives like that while old veterans like them lives on, but he acknowledged it for what it was, and showed his respect as well as he repeated the gesture. ¡°With this setback the demons should not force another offensive in the meantime. We should have enough time for reinforcements to arrive and to repair the fort as well.¡± ¡°How long is the estimate until our reinforcements arrive?¡± asked another of the fourth tiers present, a younger woman whose left eye was covered by still-bloody bandages since she had lost it during the fighting. ¡°The last news we received indicated that they should be no more than a day or two out,¡± replied Sir Marsten. The proximity of the reinforcements was likely known to the demons, who had their own spies in the Human Kingdom, which might have been why they pushed for the final offensive when they did back then. ¡°They also sent another dozen fourth tiers to allow some of us to rest and recuperate, so you¡¯re all getting some time off, in turns.¡± ¡°Now, before some of you will inevitably ask about it, this is mandatory. Get some proper rest, people. The battle is ongoing throughout the whole front. We¡¯ll survive a week without you no problem,¡± added the old knight with a weary smirk on his face. He was clearly all too familiar with soldiers refusing to leave their post even when relieved after an intense battle, especially young ones. ¡°This also applies to your party, Miss O¡¯Connor, though again, you would have to take the break in turns.¡± Alissa nodded at the old knight¡¯s proclamation and upon hearing his words, thought about what she had been doing ever since she arrived in Ephemera. She realized that she had not relaxed at all other than for brief moments when they were still in the safety of the Royal Capital. Part of her cheered at the chance to finally do something on her own, but she kept it from showing on her features. Something [Weather the Storm] was really good for, to say the least. ¡°Is there even a place close enough for us to take a break on and return within a short time, though? You hinted that we¡¯d have a week of break earlier, Sir,¡± asked Alissa after the old knight finished speaking. She didn¡¯t mind having to separate from the rest for a while, as fewer people would make it easier for her to try to find things out on her own. It was easier to ditch two people than it was to ditch eleven, after all. ¡°Yes, there is. The closest town to here is called Clearridge, it¡¯s around a day¡¯s travel away by carriage, to the north-east. If you¡¯re willing to go there on foot instead, with your capabilities you could likely cut the travel time by half or more so you can relax an extra day, but I¡¯ll leave that choice to you when it¡¯s your turn,¡± said Sir Marsten with a nod of his head. ¡°It¡¯s a quaint little town. The valley¡¯s presence and Fort Ixlay meant that it¡¯s safe there, so it¡¯s a good place to rest when you¡¯re tired. My people regularly took their breaks there so they know to expect us.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the biggest town, but it¡¯s home to one of the better academies of the Kingdom,¡± continued the Old Knight. ¡°Their library is known to have one of the better collections of books both old and new. I figure this might interest you, Miss O¡¯Connor, since I heard from Henri that you are quite an avid reader yourself.¡± ¡°Indeed, Sir,¡± replied Alissa with a smile. ¡°Thanks for the information.¡± ¡°We will arrange the schedules for who goes on break when by tomorrow and start rotating people in and out once the reinforcements arrive,¡± continued Sir Marsten without missing a beat. ¡°Until then, I ask everyone to have patience and remain vigilant, just in case. We have driven the demons back, but they would likely still attempt to strike at us in more cowardly manners instead, so keep your guard up. It wouldn¡¯t do to lose your life after winning the battle.¡± Sir Marsten¡¯s words brought the occupants of the tent back into a solemn mood. More than a few of them glanced towards the exit of the tent, where they could see the soldiers carrying and sorting out corpses of their compatriots. Corpses of people they might have broken bread with, sang and told ribald jokes with, or even cared for just days ago. Most of the corpses would be cremated in a mass cremation ceremony. There was simply not enough room or time to opt for any other approach with the number of casualties they had taken. Though the cremation would be done en masse, the corpses would still be spaced out, so that their ashes wouldn¡¯t mix together. The collected ashes would then be sent home to the Kingdom. Much like the caravan Alissa¡¯s group passed on their way to the fort. A few more important people ¨C nobles, commanders, and fourth tier warriors ¨C would have their bodies sent back home for burial, but that was for the fortunate. For a few, like Silvia, there was simply nothing left of them to send home other than a few personal effects they left behind at the base. 159 - A Prescribed Break ¡°Packing up already, huh? Hadn¡¯t expected you to be that excited for a break,¡± asked Nadine when she visited Alissa¡¯s tent a few days later. The reinforcements from deeper within the Kingdom had arrived and relieved the fort¡¯s manpower issue, which allowed them to send the original soldiers and fourth tier warriors to go on breaks, if in rotating shifts. ¡°Do I look like Ethan to you? That guy¡¯s turning out to be quite a bit of a battle addict since he came here, but I for sure still favor my hot baths and comfy beds, thank you,¡± shot Alissa back though her tone was light. She had developed a bit of a friendship of sorts with Nadine in the months since she had been summoned to Ephemera, and found the Fifth Princess to be a genuinely nice person to be around so far. Since they were taking their breaks in shifts, only three of the fourth tiers at a time would go out to rest and relax, along with a batch of soldiers to help cover their movements. Alissa happened to be part of the second group to get their turn, together with Nadine and Maribel, so she would be going out with them and the soldiers whose turn came up soon. Their destination, Clearridge, was a large town of around thirty thousand inhabitants, so they were well suited for groups of a few thousand soldiers taking a break there. In fact, due to the place¡¯s proximity to Fort Ixlay, a good chunk of the town¡¯s business specifically catered to such soldiers, so there were taverns, brothels, and inns aplenty. Other than that though, the town was also the home of one of the oldest academies in the Human Kingdom. The current academy was its third incarnation, as the original buildings had been lost to demon invasions in the past twice when the demons pushed the furthest. Even so, the present academy still boasted a history of nearly four centuries, with an extended history that lasted over a thousand years if one counted from the original. The town itself gained its name from its location by a ridge that happened to act as a watershed that split a large river into two. The rivers in question flowed down from the Elefas mountains to the east, and the water was mostly pure water from the molten glaciers, which resulted in its crystal-clear state that made the early settlers choose such a name. While the entertainment that the town typically catered for the resting soldiers tended to be on the cruder end, none of the three were particularly picky at the moment, and there were better establishments for those who had more money in their wallets anyway. Naturally, as Nadine was a royal princess she was not hurting for money, and Alissa herself had a hefty sum given to her to use while in town, so she had no issues on that field either. As for preparation, none of them really had much to pack up. They had not gone to the frontlines carrying much at all in terms of personal belongings, mostly just their weapons, armor, and several changes of clothes that were practical and easy to move in. Dresses and the like had no place in a battlefield, after all, and even a royal princess agreed to that. In fact if Nadine had arrived just five minutes sooner or later, Alissa would have finished packing up her meager belongings as it was. They would carry their weapons and armor with them, sure, and keep at least some of it on their body at all times in case of emergencies, but they wouldn¡¯t be wearing them all too often otherwise. From what the old knights had informed her, Clearridge was well-guarded and peaceful, so the worst they should run into would be some rowdy drunks at worst. Like most towns, there were naturally some criminal elements around, but none of those were foolish enough to mess with soldiers who came straight from the frontlines. Like most criminals, they much favored preying on those who were too weak and cowardly to fight back. It simply wasn¡¯t worth it to mess with someone who would likely react with violence instead and had absolutely no qualms with murder to boot. That was just a recipe for either some very dead thugs, or a horde of angry soldiers turning the town¡¯s underworld inside out for revenge. Naturally, neither case was desirable for the criminal elements of the town. After she was done packing up her stuff, Alissa went with Nadine to help her and Maribel pack up theirs as well, more out of camaraderie rather than because they needed any help at all. With her help they were quickly finished packing up as well and were soon ready for their break to come. Much like Sir Marsten had informed her, Clearridge¡¯s academy was famous for its library, which was known to house copies of many ancient texts. The originals were supposedly hidden in some secure vault in the capital, as the academy¡¯s people refused to risk the priceless originals to losses from demon invasions. The copies they had were certified ones, though, and other than in the academy¡¯s library, no other place held such copies. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Both Nadine and Sir Marsten had mentioned the library because they knew that Alissa had a penchant for reading back in the royal capital. They were unaware that she read all those books partly to learn of this world she had been summoned into, and partly to look for any bits that might have slipped into the books despite all that the powers that be tried to do, however. Typically, books would be censored to ensure that only things the government in power wanted to see were included in them. Given how Ephemera was stuck at the equivalent of earth¡¯s medieval period, however, Alissa felt certain that such a process would involve people reading the books one by one. People make mistakes, so it was not too out of expectation to find some things that slipped in despite attempts to erase knowledge about them. She had already seen such tidbits in some of the books in the royal library, bits that painted the Kingdom at a rather bad light or embarrassing moments they likely would rather forget ever happened. The ancient books in Clearridge¡¯s library had a good chance of having more such content, she felt. Given her status as a summoned [Hero] she doubted that she¡¯d have any issues gaining access to the library. Worst case, she could ask Nadine to pull some strings anyway. There were benefits to being friends with a Royal Princess. Fortunately, the demons seemed to have retreated for real this time. The fort was unbothered by more demon attacks or harassment despite their vigilance until the reinforcements came. To say that everyone let out a collective sigh of relief was an understatement. Once the reinforcements took over the responsibility of the defense from the tired defenders, most of them just went straight to sleep for half the day or more. Soon enough, they received confirmation that the first batch of soldiers were on their way back, and that the second batch ¨C which Alissa was part of ¨C could depart. The soldiers departed to the city by carriage, as it would be too tiresome to walk there on their own for the lower tiered and leveled soldiers. Alissa, Nadine, and Maribel had no such issue, though. The three of them chose to travel to Clearridge on foot, as with their much higher stats they could reach the town in half the time the carriage would take. The carriages would only arrive there by morning of the next day even if they departed in the morning, while the three of them could easily reach the town by the evening without pushing themselves. If it was an emergency and they needed to get there as soon as possible at all costs, they likely could reach Clearridge by noon. As such the three of them just leisurely headed towards the city at a pace that was more of a fast walk than anything. One benefit of that method of transportation was that they also had more time to appreciate the scenery on the way, something Alissa had not had the chance to do since she arrived in Ephemera. She had been occupied with training and battles most of the time, with her free time mostly spent in the library, or sleeping when she was in the fort. The world around them was somewhat alien in some ways, the way there were more purple plants than there were green, and the odd coloration of the woodland creatures to match was just one way the worlds differed. It had a beauty of its own regardless, however, one that even Alissa could appreciate despite her situation. Alissa still harbored many, many doubts and questions in her heart, about the actual situation of the world she had been summoned in, and even the motives of those who had summoned her, or even whether the offer to send them back once they finished their task was even a real one or not. Even so, she knew better not to stress herself overmuch, something her very first skill had helped out with greatly. Everytime she felt herself becoming agitated by such thoughts, the skill helped calm her down and allowed her to think more clearly. There was little she could do with no information, or even any certainty about the things around her. She felt almost certain that there were some things being hidden from her, but was not sure of the nature of the hidden things. Similarly, while she had struck a friendship of sorts with Nadine, she was left somewhat uncertain on whether the Fifth Princess was as sincere and genuine as she portrayed herself to be or whether she was a really, really good actress. Alissa felt that Nadine was likely sincere with her though, not out of any logical reasoning but because that was what she felt with her gut. That would probably mean that the things kept away from her were similarly kept away from Nadine, as it would have been difficult to remain so sincere and genuine if she knew something that would have been detrimental to her friend. Either that or the Fifth Princess was a master actress and manipulator and Alissa had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. At the moment she chose to trust the young women she knew, though not to the extent of voicing her questions yet. Partly because Alissa herself was still unsure what questions she would have asked, if any. The three of them made good pace towards Clearridge, and soon found one of the rivers that split from the larger one by the ridge itself. Much like its reputation, the water ¨C even this far downstream ¨C was nearly crystal clear, so clean that they could look at the way down to the bottom of the stream and see the small crabs and other bottom dwellers flit about. From there, they simply followed the river upstream and sure enough, when the sun was starting to drop towards the horizon, they spotted the town of Clearridge in the distance, right where Sir Marsten said it would be, perched behind a ridge that split the cascading river into two smaller ones. The town itself was walled, though much of the space outside the walls were occupied by farms and ranches, and even from afar it was easy to notice that the place bustled with life. The three of them picked up their pace and walked past the many farms ¨C some with crops Alissa felt looked familiar to ones from her own world, while others with very different ones ¨C and the ranches that contained the various breeds of different animals. Some were ranched for their meat, milk, or eggs, while others served as beasts of burden. They arrived at the town a good hour before sun had set. CLX - The More Things Changed, the More they Stayed the Same After the first two places they visited, Esperanza¡¯s group visited another six human villages and towns, going counter-clockwise around the mountain range¡¯s periphery. Each time they sent in different groups, in combinations that would still make sense in case some of the locals happened to meet each other and talked about them, yet also kept things different each time, partly to match the cover stories the more experienced spies had been using all these years. What they discovered was that the first village they went to was a bit of an exception, where the people had nice lives and those who had power over them were good people in general. Sights like what they had seen in the town they visited where the nobles treated those below them like they were worth nothing was more common, sadly. For the riskier villages where there were risks of running afoul of the local nobility or clergy or whoever was in power, it was usually Kurt and Leo who went there. They were young, strong men, and since they displayed themselves as third tier [Hunters] instead of [Merchants] like Murad and Mora, people knew that if pushed, they might fight back harder than they would have liked. Even with such precautions though, the siblings had some scars on their backs from unfortunate run-ups with such types in the past. They were less capable of fighting back at that time since the skill they used to hide their presence also weakened them, so they just played it off as being too nice to hit back¡­ yet. Fortunately those who picked on them got the message and went off soon after. After all, bullies generally disliked dealing with people who fought back. As such, it was more common to send the siblings ¨C sometimes together with Resitia, sometimes with Iryl, sometimes both ¨C to the more troublesome spots. Esperanza would keep watch of the situation from afar. While she wanted to go herself, it was not worth it to risk exposing themselves on the off chance that some asshole decided they wanted a closer look at her. In four of the six places they visited ¨C interestingly enough, all of them were pretty close to the mountain range and thus quite far from the bigger human cities ¨C there was some sort of local bully who pretty much held the reins of power in the village or town. In one, it was the village chief and his family that often flaunted their authority, mostly due to the backing of their brother who was a fourth tier [Hunter]. It was authority backed up by simple brute force as even if the other villagers disagreed, they simply had no power to fight back. Amusingly enough, when Kurt, Leo, Resitia, and Iryl visited the village, the son of the village chief tried to get handsy with Resitia, and she responded by directly breaking the offending arm in an almost casual motion. Naturally, one thing led to another, and in the end the youth¡¯s uncle, the fourth tier [Hunter] got involved, for injuring his nephew meant going against his authority and he could not tolerate that. Of course, Resitia just showed him exactly what she thought about his ¡°reign¡± over the village by way of a thorough beatdown that more than likely left the man a cripple, if he even lived through his injuries. While she was still in the mid third tier, her stats were far higher than the man¡¯s already since his classes had very poor rarities. They left the village shortly after, but Resitia also noticed how a mob had formed, with most of the other adult villagers gathered together. She thought they would accost them on their way out, but the villagers had not bothered them in the least. Some of them even said words of gratitude or thanked them on their way out. Only then had she noticed that the mob was moving towards where she had left the beaten up brother of the village chief, likely in preparation for lynching the man while he was down. The village chief and his family would likely get caught up in the mess as well given how they had been abusing their power, but that was none of her business. Just some people getting their just desserts. In another village, the clergy basically acted like they owned the place, while the locals were driven to a fearful obedience by threats of going against god¡¯s will and the like. The group that went there actually had less problems, however, as the clergy was not stupid enough to act out while there were outsiders around. They didn¡¯t want word of their behavior to spread, clearly. As such, the group that went to the village just left them be as well. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it There was no need for them to attract attention to themselves, after all. At another small town, where Murad and More once again brought Esperanza, Iryl, and Resitia with them ¨C though not Tiara, interestingly enough ¨C as they went into the town. The reason for that was made clear soon enough, as they watched a scene from afar where a richly dressed young man was pulling away a crying woman and forcefully pushed her into his carriage before he drove off. Apparently, the local noble landlord ¨C a minor baronet of little significance ¨C was one that doted greatly on his only son. As a natural result, said son grew up a spoiled, entitled brat that lived a life of debauchery and excess. He often preyed on the pretty young women of the village, even ones who were already married, and there was nothing the villagers could do about it. After all, the nobleman had his own retinue of men at arms, while the villagers had very few people who had any sort of combat-related classes. The sight actually disgusted Esperanza to the point where she decided to do something herself. She knew that if the world would be destroyed, then all these people would die, probably by her hand directly or indirectly. However, if what she did could allow them to live their lives somewhat more happily until then, then that alone would make the act worthwhile in her opinion. Rather than let the others take any risks ¨C not that there was much of a risk, given their power, but having more people would mean they would be easier to notice ¨C Esperanza went to the noble¡¯s place later that night. With her ability to shapeshift it was trivial to sneak in unnoticed, and with [Gauze of Oblivion] active people wouldn¡¯t notice her even if they stared right at her anyway. The jaunt in the noble¡¯s manor also happened to be the last bit the skill needed before it hit max level and evolved, apparently, as it turned into a new skill called [Veil of Entropy]. It retained the effects of the original skill, while also making her able to expand the area affected. When she tested it out the ¡°veil¡± expanded to encompass a sphere of roughly seven feet radius around her, and everything in that range would be unnoticed by those outside. Between her skill and shapeshifting, Esperanza easily made her way to the private chambers of the noble¡¯s family. Unfortunately, however, she came too late for the young woman she was dragged away earlier. The woman must have resisted, as the young nobleman who dragged her away had bruise and claw marks on his face, but apparently her resistance angered him enough to kill her, as Esperanza saw the scene where a couple men ¨C likely the house¡¯s retinue of men at arms ¨C carried away her body. One of the men even joked that the woman was ¡°still warm¡± and that maybe they could have a bit of fun with her before they buried her somewhere in the woods. They never had the chance to act out on their depredations, however, as Esperanza lashed out with two tentacle-like limbs that wrapped around their necks and strangled them on the spot. She then snuck into the room of the young nobleman and caught him just as he was about to go to bed, clearly unrepentant about what he had just done. So she also strangled him to death, but slowly. With that done, she then left and searched the place until she found the older nobles, the parents of the spoiled young man she just killed. She gave them the same treatment as well, and left their bodies on their bed. Then she did the same to the rest of the men at arms, who from the chatter she heard along the way were clearly all too aware of their masters¡¯ proclivities and were even regularly complicit in them. When everyone was dead, she then set the whole mansion on fire to help obfuscate her actions a bit. That way hopefully someone would just think that an angry villager has had enough and burnt the place while the people inside were unable to escape the inferno. People often panicked when surrounded by fire after all. Just to sell the illusion a bit further, Esperanza had dragged most of the men at arms¡¯ corpses to the perimeter of the mansion, to make it look like they tried to escape but were caught by the flames. Or at least that was what she hoped people would infer from the position of the bones they discovered. The inferno made for a good crematorium, and while the fire likely didn¡¯t burn hot enough to turn a person¡¯s bones to ashes, it would scour their flesh clean off their bones and blacken the bones that remained, at the very least. That would make it nearly impossible to tell that they had been killed prior to the fire, which further helped. When Murad and Mora looked at Esperanza the next day, it was with no small sense of wonderment. They had been spies for decades after all, and seen all sorts of things, as well as having gone through some indignities themselves to keep up their facade. To see someone that dared to do something about the things that had always bothered them was quite a revelation for them. The villagers were naturally abuzz with conversations about the fire that engulfed the baronet¡¯s mansion the previous night. Fortunately the mansion itself was situated a short distance away from the town proper, at the top of a hill where the noble¡¯s family could enjoy a scenic view of the surrounding area, so the fire had not spread elsewhere. Some of the townspeople rejoiced and cheered at the death of the noble and his family after some of the more inquisitive ones went to check on them and found only rubble and burnt bones left behind. Many of the cheering townspeople shed tears at the same time, some falling to their knees in prayer. Esperanza happened to catch some of what they muttered thanks to her sharp hearing, and noticed that they prayed for some loved ones to find peace in the afterlife as the ones who had defiled and murdered her had received their much-needed comeuppance. Apparently cases like what she saw yesterday wasn¡¯t the only one, or even a rarity, which made her more glad that she had taken the time to strangle the bastard of a nobleson slowly. Amidst the excitement and chaos surrounding the mansion¡¯s burning, Esperanza¡¯s group quietly slipped out of town. They weren¡¯t the only ones either, as a few other traveling merchants or other travelers decided to do the same. Everyone knew that it was better not to linger around a place where such a thing happened, in case suspicion fell on them as the outsider. It was as they say, better safe than sorry. The other merchants and travelers that Esperanza¡¯s group happened to run into echoed that sentiment, and sighed that while it was a good thing that such an abusive noble was gone, those above them might not take kindly to it. Apparently whole villages had been purged in the past over similar cases. CLXI - The Trappings of Power Amusingly enough, the closer they got to the more populated areas, where the regional seat of power was, the better the local situation tended to be. People were clearly still afraid to misbehave so close to the seat of power, as it was far more likely for their behavior to be reported to the powers that be, who naturally wouldn¡¯t take kindly to such behavior under their watch. After all, even if the nobles at the top of the local hierarchy of power might dabble in such behavior themselves, it would undermine their authority if it became known far and wide that those under them also acted that way. As such, if only for the sake of appearances, they would stamp down on such behavior where it became known widely. Of course, if it wasn¡¯t widely known, it wasn¡¯t strange for the people affected to instead be silenced one way or another, be it through bribery or through a dagger across the throat. From what the volunteer spies explained to her, it was pretty much public opinion that held some nobles back from going overboard. Even if they had absolute power in the local area, if word of their actions reached the ear of those situated even higher up than them, they would be in deep trouble. Appearances needed to be held to keep the people appeased, so it was not rare for such nobles, if discovered, to be thrown under the wagon, at times rather literally. One of the methods of public execution reserved for nobles in the human kingdom was to stuff them into a sack and then run over the sack repeatedly with a horse-drawn carriage, after all. Apparently, sometimes it was not even the noble in question that was placed into the sack, but a body double or a lookalike, while the noble themselves were sent to a remote place where they would live for the rest of their lives. In effect that turned a death penalty into mere exile and house arrest, with a particularly unpleasant fate for the body double or lookalike involved. It was the sort of dirty politicking and corruption that made Esperanza shake her head. Humans turned out to be pretty similar no matter the world, it seemed. The fourth town Esperanza visited that was ruled by a corrupt noble had the mildest case of them all, as the noble there merely demanded that the locals offer him some of their best products as well as a sum of money as ¡°tributes¡± every once in a while. It was a way for the noble to enrich themselves behind the crown¡¯s back while maintaining some plausible deniability on the matter, she guessed. Although the fact that the noble was a new replacement after the previous noble was caught red-handed at abusing his authority and stripped of their position just a generation ago likely played some role in the matter as well. The state of the people in the human kingdom showed an odd contrast to Esperanza, however. The people seemed to be fine with the idea of reporting or even rebelling against a noble¡¯s authority if things went too far, and had caused the downfall of quite a few in their history, even, at least according to their local sources. On the other hand, when it came to dealing with the clergy, the people she saw mostly had a reverent, worshipful attitude, even when the members of said clergy thoroughly abused their position to do whatever they wanted. It was as if in the eyes of the people, those who served their gods could do no wrong, and that if they were being punished, then it must be the will of the gods that it happened. It was an attitude that spoke of many generations of fierce indoctrination, one that had long seeped into the bones of the people involved. It also meant that there were dismal odds that Esperanza might find people willing to turn against their gods in the human kingdom. At least amongst the peasantry. In the two larger towns she visited afterwards, she noticed that the more educated members of the populace ¨C which naturally included the nobility themselves as well ¨C were nowhere near as devout to the gods that the clergy and the rest of the populace worshiped so fervently. In fact, many of them were pretty close to secular, in her opinion. That circumstance likely happened because the crown and the clergy were not seeing eye to eye and competed against each other for power. In fact, Esperanza guessed that if the demons didn¡¯t exist, the crown and the clergy might well have gone for each other¡¯s throats already. As it was, there was an uneasy truce between them while they fought against their common enemy. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Though that truce likely didn¡¯t mean that the two sides never jabbed at each other in underhanded ways when they thought they could get away with it. Given that the gods worshiped by the people of the kingdom and their clergy were the new gods that had deposed Oldies¡¯ generation and would likely be very much against Esperanza carrying out what Oldies asked of her, she knew she¡¯d likely have to deal with them in the future. At the moment, the best thing she could do was to try to cause the current war between the humans and the demons to damage both sides, which would make things easier for her side. She also knew that she would likely have to deal with whichever side won afterwards. Both the humans and the demons had their own internal issues which could be exploited. The demons had plenty of rivalry between different tribes and races, which led to frequent conflicts between them, conflicts that were often paused only during the great wars against the humans. On the other hand, the divide between crown and clergy would probably be harder to exploit, as the two sides mostly made their battle in politics and underhanded tricks, rather than enter open hostility. Already Esperanza was wondering if things could be pushed in certain ways to make the two sides fall out more publicly though, which might be one way to make them fight if done right. While on the surface both sides gave the impression that they were on friendly terms and worked with one another, it was noticeable that the nobles at times seemed to scoff at the clergy and hated that they had to share the power with them. They did not make it obvious, but while the subtle signs might be missed by the typical uneducated peasant of their world, someone who came from a different, more advanced world where knowledge was considered a near-mandatory pursuit was capable of grasping such nuances better. Similarly, at times Esperanza felt as if some of the higher ranked members of the clergy ¨C they ran into them several times in the larger towns, which also served as a test to see how well their modified skills worked ¨C looked at the nobles like they were uneducated barbarians that just happened to be born into power. It was very noticeable that the clergy almost exclusively recruited from the peasantry, and very few of the nobility ever joined their ranks. If that was something she could notice within weeks of coming in touch with the kingdom¡¯s society, it was probably something the demons also noticed, as she doubted that they did not have any spies in the human kingdom. Then again, the demons might have lacked a frame of reference for what they saw and missed it, since she did not recall anything that suggested a similar struggle amongst them. At least not ones that involved the clergy. With how the more educated townspeople tended to be less devoted to the gods than most, that piqued Esperanza¡¯s curiosity on how the academics of Ephemera actually viewed their gods. When it came to those who worshiped Oldies, pretty much everyone that remained ¨C or at least the ones she had met ¨C encompassed all sorts, with the priests generally all being highly educated as well. All of them shared a nearly fanatical faith to their deities, though. Compared to that, the humans she saw seemed to be split into two extremes in general, namely those who truly believed in their gods and those who likely thought that the temple was merely making use of their ¡°divine authority¡± to garner more power or riches unto themselves. Given how many corrupt members of the clergy Esperanza had seen in a short few weeks, the latter line of thinking wasn¡¯t a strange one to have either. This was a case where her local sources ¨C the five volunteers from Zikeal ¨C were of little help either, as to them, the gods that the humans worshiped these days were usurpers and pretenders that had deposed their rightful deities, and as such they would naturally view things very differently. To them, the fact that the clergy of these ¡°gods¡± often ended up corrupt and abusive of their powers was just further proof of that. Which did not help Esperanza much when it came to making plans for the future or how to best exploit the divide between the crown and clergy. For that reason, she spent quite a while after they visited the sixth town and asked the Zikeal natives about the layout of the area. By that point, they had tested their modified skills in the presence of high level priests of the temple and realized that it worked perfectly for hiding their true allegiance, so the group had more confidence to do things they hadn¡¯t dared to do in the past. Murad pointed out that if Esperanza wished to learn more about the human kingdom¡¯s internal situation, an academic city might be the best place to do that. People in such places tended to be better educated and knowledgeable about the matters of the kingdom. Best of all though, they were prone to gossip and often liked to boast of their knowledge to strangers. All that combined made them easy, if somewhat less reliable, sources of information for someone looking. As for the nearest such city, Kurt and Leo described the surrounding area to her as best they could. Their own experiences were mostly limited to the places in the vicinity of the mountains, but they had learned quite a bit about the local region from their visits over all the years. As such, they were aware of the general location of the larger cities near the region. There were three such cities in the relative vicinity, one further north, deep in the human kingdom, another to the east, on the other side of the mountain range, and a third to the south-west. Esperanza immediately discarded the northern city as an option when she heard that the temple supposedly had their largest base in the region situated there. Their skill camouflaged their allegiance perfectly so far, but they had yet to truly test it against the truly powerful, like fourth-tier priests with rarer classes. Similarly, she discarded the eastern city as an option as it was the smallest and least populated of the three. Rather than call it an academy, the place was more where local youngsters who had higher aspirations in life gathered and attempted to teach themselves as best they could from the decently-supplied local library. On the other hand, to their south-west was one the larger academic cities of the kingdom, which even boasted one of their oldest academies. The city was also a more secular one compared to most due to its nature, so Esperanza felt it was the safest direction to head towards. As such, the group quickly packed up and headed south-west to their next destination. To the academic city of Clearridge. None of them were aware of it at the moment, but their choice of destination was something that might have made some of them believe in the so called concepts of ¡°fate¡± or ¡°destiny¡±, given how it would impact things to come. CLXII - The Academic City From the vicinity of the Elefas mountain range, Esperanza led the group towards the south and a bit westwards as they followed one of the rivers that flowed down from the mountain range. The river had crystal clear water that was so clean they could look straight to the bottom of it since it was primarily pure water from the molten glaciers at the mountaintops mixed with some springs found on the mountain. The lack of human habitation along the main body of the river likely helped keep it clean as well, and when she considered that there was a major city downstream of the river, it made sense why things were kept that way. People in the city likely forbid others from settling down upstream of them because they did not wish for their water source to be polluted. From where the river flowed at the foot of one of the mountains in the range, it took the group three days of travel ¨C a distance that would have taken a carriage at least a week and a half to two weeks to cover ¨C before they saw the city of Clearridge in the distance. Since it was already late at night by then, the group chose to camp in the wilderness some distance away from the city, at least far enough away to be unnoticed, since most of the group would hide there and wait for the others who would go into the city proper. This time, everyone who could pass as a human would do so. Esperanza herself would go along as well, combining her shapeshifting with an effect from her newly evolved [Veil of Entropy]. When she used the skill lightly, she realized that it had an effect that was less hiding the people under its effects, but made them less noticeable regardless. If she kept the effect just to herself, it should help her avoid attracting unwanted attention. Esperanza would go into the city with Murad, Mora, Tiara, as well as Iryl. The group kept to the same cover story as what they used in the previous towns and villages, just in case they ran into someone that recognized them. Kurt, Leo, and Resitia would join them in the city after several hours, entering from a different direction. They would pretend to be acquaintances when they met in the city itself, as the more experienced spies had also established that bit to their cover story in the past. Esperanza liked how they covered all their bases, and did not neglect even the minor things that might have poked holes in their cover story. It showed a good sense of professionalism to their actions. Clearridge itself was built behind a ridge that split the large river into two smaller ones, both of which flowed through the city. The city itself was definitely a larger one than any of the towns they had visited so far. That was both a good thing and a bad thing for them, but they would take it as things come, as they deemed the risks acceptable with Esperanza¡¯s new skill to help them out. The good part was that such a large city would have a large population. It was far easier to hide in the crowd with so many people, and even if they ran into trouble, it would be difficult for anyone trying to act against them to do so when they were in the middle of a crowd¡­ unless their foes did not care about collateral damage at all, which they doubted. On the bad side, a larger city would mean a stronger presence from the temple and the human military, and there would probably even be fourth tier combatants present. Esperanza herself had nothing to fear, for rather obvious reasons, while Resitia and Iryl could likely hold their ground against one without trouble either. It would be more difficult to protect the others who had much lower combat strength in such a fight against a strong opponent, however. Then again, this would probably also be the best chance they got to test out the modified skill against some truly strong priests from the temple. It was something that would be crucial for future plans, so it was to their interest to at least give it an attempt. From where the group camped to the city was only a short distance, one they could have covered within an hour. To do so would expose their high stats, however, so instead they set out early in the morning and walked at a more normal, sedate pace towards the city. A pace that would not look out of line for some middle-aged third tier merchants and some late second tier to early third tier youngsters. The three of them covered the distance to the city in around four hours and reached the gates around a couple hours before noon. The guards stationed at the gate only did a cursory check on them. Iryl showed them her scars while Murad discreetly slipped a bribe to the guards, so they did not trouble Esperanza and gave understanding nods as they let them pass through the inspection and go into the city proper. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Clearridge was indeed a large city, with the north-eastern section of town dominated by tall buildings that often had a tower or two jut out from their upper side. It was the location of the vaunted academy, one of the oldest in all of the human kingdom, at least as far as their history went. The rest of the city itself was practically built around the academy in question, with many parts of the city catering to it. Compared to the smaller towns, a very noticeable difference was the presence of multiple bookstores in the city, most of them situated near the academy itself. Esperanza guessed that even in a different world, students are likely expected to procure their own textbooks to study with. There were libraries of course, but there would only be so many copies of any one book there. As such, it was a lucrative business to scribe and copy books commonly used to teach the students of the academy, to the point that the bookstores which did so ¨C with permits from the academy, as they proudly boasted on the signs of their shops ¨C were fixtures of the local economy. Similarly, a lot of the city¡¯s economy was catered to the students of the academy. Since the academy itself only had dormitories for their staff members, students who came from elsewhere needed to find places to stay for the duration of their study. As such, many locals opened inns and boarding houses to accommodate such students and provide them with affordable places to stay. Naturally, there were also many eateries that catered to such students, and other places that might interest them. Brothels and theaters were commonly found in the entertainment districts of the city, as were other places that catered to more ¡°educated¡± tastes like poetry clubs and the like. Overall, the city itself was bustling with life and activity, and the academy was part of the reason for the prosperity it enjoyed. Interestingly enough, Esperanza¡¯s group quickly learned from the locals that the other half of the city ¨C the southern half, specifically ¨C catered to an entirely different crowd altogether. Due to the city¡¯s proximity to Fort Ixlay, which served as one of the frontline bases of the war effort, Clearridge regularly received groups of soldiers on break. Where there was demand, there was opportunity to earn money. As a result of the frequent visits from soldiers on break, a good part of the city had adjusted their businesses to cater to said soldiers. The southern half of the city generally focused on cheaper items and baser entertainments, as the soldiers tend to be less discerning or picky compared to academy students. They also learned that there were around five thousand soldiers on break in the city at the moment, and supposedly other groups of soldiers would switch with them in the near future. There were also rumors that someone had seen famous warriors of the kingdom present, though the rumors were vague and questionable. It was rare for a warrior to be famous in Ephemera¡­ unless they were at least in the fourth tier. Since the rumors they heard mentioned two different names, The group concluded that there might be multiple fourth tiers from the human army inside the city, likely on a break much like the soldiers. They decided that they would lay low and do things carefully as they had no desire to provoke those warriors for the time being. The rumors were confirmed by Resitia¡¯s group when they met up later that evening, as the latter group had entered the city from the southern entrance and thus passed through the area that catered the soldiers. Resitia confirmed that she felt the presence of a strong individual in the area, who had not even bothered to rein in his aura. Fortunately the individual did not seem to notice them and they had walked through the city untroubled For that matter, Esperanza¡¯s group crossed paths with a group of clergymen from the temple during their walk around the city. They made no move to interact with the clergymen, but they passed each other on the road with no more than a couple feet¡¯s distance between them. Two of the clergymen were fourth tiers, if in the lower levels of the tier. Neither of them seemed to notice anything amiss about Esperanza¡¯s group either, which confirmed that the modified skill worked perfectly so far. Once they met, the two groups gathered in a crowded eatery, where Esperanza used her skill to make them less noticeable and Murad used one of his skills to keep what they were talking from being overheard as they hashed out what they would investigate while in the city. An attempt to glean some information from the soldiers on break was a must. It was a golden chance to get some reliable intelligence on how the war went, and soldiers on break tended to boast of things especially after they were plied with a few drinks. Kurt¡¯s group would gather what information they could that way, while pretending to celebrate with the soldiers in question. Murad and Mora would take a closer look at the students of the academy, which was not hard to do as long as one hung out in the north of the city, where the students often roamed around when they were outside the academy itself. Iryl and Tiara would go with them, both to provide extra topics to talk about and to lead the students on. Esperanza herself had hoped to be able to gain access to the academy¡¯s library after she heard the boast that the place contained copies of many tomes that could not be found elsewhere in the kingdom. That plan ran into a snag, however, since the library was limited to staff and students of the academy itself, and the part where the precious copies of the positively ancient books were stored was even further off-limits to most. Naturally, it was not an option to join the academy, and annoyingly enough the library was not just guarded closely, but also warded magically, which made infiltration difficult. She attempted to sneak into the academy on the first night in town, but found it to be well-protected so she chose not to risk it for the time being. She had no wish to alert all those soldiers in town, much less the fourth tiers around. Not only were there several fourth tier combatants from the army present in town, but the temple had at least a few more, and the academy itself had some amongst their staff, though those likely had little actual combat experience. It was a risky situation for Esperanza¡¯s group, so they chose to tread lightly in order to avoid stepping on toes. 163 - Clearridge City ¡°Looks like a pretty nice place, though on the rowdy side,¡± said Alissa as she looked around the city¡¯s interior. The three of them were naturally let in without any fuss, as all it would have taken at worst was an [Identify] or [Analysis] before they were allowed to proceed. They skipped all that as Maribel presented a letter from Sir Marsten that stated their identities ¨C if it kept the actual bits like Alissa being the [Hero] and Nadine being a Princess quiet in order to avoid making a fuss ¨C and reason for visiting Clearridge. ¡°Well, we¡¯re in the southern half of the city, so no surprise. This area pretty much catered almost exclusively to soldiers from Fort Ixlay who were on break, and since most of those wouldn¡¯t really care too much for the finer stuff, they adjusted their offerings to match their customers,¡± explained Nadine with a nod of her head. The southern part of the city indeed had a rowdy atmosphere, and a pervasive smell of alcohol and smoke that sort of reminded Alissa of cigarette smoke but was more pleasant to the nose. Drunken brawls were apparently common enough in the southern half of the city ¨C not too surprising given the thousands of off-duty soldiers, many of which had probably lost friends or even family just recently in one place ¨C that Alissa saw two in her first five minutes in the city. Both cases involved off-duty soldiers who were clearly quite a bit into their mugs. That said, the brawls also resolved themselves peacefully after the people in question vented their emotions, with the victor helping the loser get up and even half-carried them back to the tavern for more drinks, in most cases. In fact, the brawlers seemed perfectly happy to laugh and joke together with the same person they were beating up just moments ago. ¡°It¡¯s how it is with career soldiers,¡± noted Maribel with a smirk on her face. ¡°Many of them are used to venting off their emotions as they fight their enemies, or at least with some physical work. If you put multiple soldiers together with some booze? A brawl is pretty much guaranteed, though rarely would they result in bad blood. That¡¯s just their way of expressing themselves.¡± ¡°The brawls are usually not even over anything serious,¡± said Nadine with an amused smirk on her face. ¡°Sometimes they¡¯d fight over their preference in rations, for example, or because someone boasted of their sister or daughter and another called them overdoing it. It¡¯s just a common occurrence for those types. We just didn¡¯t see it much back in the fort due to the tension with the demons being so close. Once you let these types relax, this is what you get. It¡¯s rarely serious, and the commanders like Sir Marsten consider it a good way to let them get some exercise while on break.¡± ¡°I guess soldier types are the same everywhere,¡± noted Alissa with a nod of her head. ¡°Definitely also explains why they had curtains instead of doors there. Would get expensive if they keep having to fix doors every time some drunk people break it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something they changed to soon after the southern district was remodeled to accommodate the soldiers, I heard,¡± said Nadine with a giggle. ¡°The story went that it only took three broken doors before people wised up and changed the doors for curtains made from cheap cloth instead. They do still have doors they could close, they just keep it open during operating hours.¡± ¡°That¡¯s one way to go about things all right,¡± replied Alissa with a laugh. ¡°So¡­ is the southern part of this city pretty much just one big entertainment district? I¡¯m seeing a lot of taverns and inns, and from the way some of those barmaids are dressed, I¡¯d bet that they offer other services for their patrons too¡­ Nevermind the ones at the actual brothels.¡± ¡°As we said, this part¡¯s for the soldiers, and by that we mean the rank and file,¡± said Maribel with quite a bit of mirth in her voice. ¡°The higher-ups like the officers and those of high levels like us usually stick to the north side of town, where they mostly cater to people from the academy instead. More examples of fine entertainment there, plays, bards, the like. The library you¡¯re interested in is also on the north side of town.¡± ¡°Okay, that¡¯s nice,¡± noted Alissa. The three of them kept walking towards the north and it was very noticeable how Clearridge changed around them. Between the northern district and southern district of the city, there was a central district that was more¡­ normal. It was the area aimed towards the city¡¯s regular citizens, instead of towards academics or soldiers like the other districts. It reminded Alissa a lot of the typical idea of a medieval European city from her history classes, except for one major difference that she was honestly very glad about. The place was much cleaner, as apparently some [Hero] in the past must have introduced the idea of a sewage disposal and sewer system. They had fortunately spread widely enough that larger cities generally had functioning ones. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Would have been far less pleasant a walk if the city turned out to be as filthy as medieval cities were supposed to be. The military fort being less clean on the other hand was something she could understand, as they mostly kept things clean enough to avoid health hazards more than anything. Otherwise things like getting a proper bath was nothing short of a luxury in such places. When Alissa ran a hand through her hair, she couldn¡¯t help notice how it had become rather tangled and matted. Neither Nadine¡¯s nor Maribel¡¯s hair were any better, and while they had the chance to wash themselves clean in a stream not far from the new fort before they left, that was already the day before yesterday. At least they didn¡¯t smell so ripe that their stench would drive people away though. As for the northern district, it was obvious that the place paid more attention to their architecture and decor so as to evoke more of an¡­ upper class feel to the establishments there. Most students at the academy were either children of nobles or otherwise came from rich families, as it was extremely unlikely for the poor to be able to afford the academy¡¯s tuition fees. As such, they expected certain standards in things, and the rest of the district naturally catered to their needs and adjusted as necessary. Since many of the higher-ups in the military tend to be of the nobility themselves, they naturally gravitated towards the more luxurious establishments of the northern district rather than mingle with their troops in the southern district. Because of that, many of the establishments in that area were also used to dealing with military officers on break. It was more complicated when it came to fourth tier combatants, however, as those came from every sort of background. Many had been peasants who simply managed to grow into power over time, while others might be of noble heritage. In general they were always a mixed bag, and each person was just set free to choose where they¡¯d prefer to spend their time while on break. ¡°I know you want to hit your beloved books as soon as you can, but what do you say we wait until tomorrow?¡± suggested Nadine as they walked closer to the northern district. ¡°We ought to get ourselves some proper food first tonight, and for the love of all the gods, a proper hot bath! I would kill for a tub of hot, soapy water right about now!¡± ¡°Not a bad idea, honestly. I think Sir Marsten did say that we¡¯re supposed to meet with the academy¡¯s headmaster first before I could get access to the library, no? It¡¯s already pretty late today so it¡¯d be rude to bother them when they¡¯re likely already off work,¡± replied Alissa with a nod of agreement. ¡°Tomorrow¡¯s fine with me. You got any place you¡¯d recommend for us to stay in?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, but old Henri suggested a place he preferred and told me to mention his name there,¡± said Nadine. ¡°He said it would likely fit us better compared to the more¡­ well¡­ opulent places. Those tend to attract clientele that look for more than just a place to rest for the night or good food, if you get what I mean?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, I think I can do without listening to some fat bastard moaning through the walls at night. Sometimes having too good hearing can be a curse, I swear,¡± noted Alissa with a shudder. ¡°Lead the way then? It¡¯s not like I know the way around this place.¡± ¡°Sure, right this way.¡± Nadine let the small group towards an inn that was situated around the border of the northern and the central district. The place was one of the better ones in the central district, but lacked the more obvious luxury and opulence of its equivalents in the northern district. When she opened the door, though, they were welcomed by a cozy, homey atmosphere and felt comfortable and relaxing. Most of the clientele seemed like locals that were reasonably well to do, but none seemed particularly rich either. They were likely the better off segment of the populace, but not amongst the wealthiest of the city. Alissa also noticed a larger proportion of old people which made her think about how Sir Inolet was the one that recommended the place. Sure enough, a quick and discreet swipe of [Analysis] showed her that nearly half of the place¡¯s clientele were old soldiers, mostly in their late third tiers, so they were likely already retired. Nadine quickly arranged for their rooms, and her request for hot baths was something the inn¡¯s proprietor seemed to have expected. In fact, they were told that the inn had communal baths they could use for free, so the three headed there together. after they left their belongings in their rooms. Fortunately, the baths for men and women were separate. The bathroom itself was mostly dominated by a large tub built into the floor itself, around the size of a small swimming pool, likely large enough to fit a good ten people in it comfortably. The three girls stripped and washed off the worst of the sweat and dirt that stuck to their bodies over the past couple of days before they went in the tub, which they discovered was kept to a pleasantly hot temperature. Alissa just sighed and allowed herself to soak in the warmth of the water. The water itself would probably be too hot for her in the past, but the heat felt just right for her current self. It made sense when she considered that there were many high-leveled old soldiers as part of the inn¡¯s clientele, which meant that they might be sturdier than the average person by a good as well and thus had similar preferences. There was nobody other than the three of them in the women¡¯s bath for most of the time they spent there just lazily soaking in the tub. None of the three even talked as they just allowed their tired bodies to truly relax after a long period of tension. Alissa even thought that she might well have fallen asleep in the bath had some old ladies not entered the bath after some time had passed. It was easy to tell that the old ladies ¨C they looked to be in their fifties to sixties ¨C were likely retired soldiers themselves, given their still fit, muscular bodies and the scars that they wore almost like a badge of pride. Alissa needed no [Analysis] to infer that much. The three of them got up and vacated the tub, greeting the old ladies as they went out, which the ladies returned with smiles and nods. After they changed into fresh clothes, Alissa felt almost as if she had been reborn, though it also brought some disturbing memories of the few times she [Respawn]ed already. She shook her head to clear her mind off those thoughts while Maribel went and ordered them some dinner from the inn¡¯s proprietor. 164 - A Taste of Home Perhaps it was just a coincidence or maybe a case of convergent evolution, or perhaps a [Hero] from the past had influenced things, but Alissa couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of nostalgia as she tasted the dinner served before her. In the southern regions of the Kingdom, where Clearridge was situated, the common staple crop was not wheat like in the north, but corn. At least, Alissa thought they were what passed for corn in Ephemera. The stalks were smaller and thinner compared to the cobs she was familiar with, and each only held around forty or so kernels, albeit with each kernel roughly the size of the nail on her index finger. The taste was very similar, though, perhaps even sweeter than what she was used to. The ¡°coincidence¡± was in how the locals processed those kernels ¨C and stalks, which were apparently soft enough to consume as well ¨C and the local preference for food with some spice, which resulted in flavors that were similar but not quite like the mexican food she had in the past, in her previous world. Rather than call them similar, it was more like they were distant cousins to each other that just happened to taste sort of like each other, maybe. Neither the corn nor the spiciness ¨C which in Ephemera was apparently considered a more ¡°peasant¡± taste and was disfavored by the high nobles ¨C were things Nadine and Maribel were familiar with, as both of them had lived their lives entirely in the north until recently. Even in the fort, those who were considered important like them often were given different rations to the rank and file. Dinner was brought to them by a smirking daughter of the inn¡¯s proprietor, which consisted of a large bowl of thick stew that had a hearty aroma, a small pile of flat, toasted cornbread that looked halfway between a tortilla and a pancake, as well as several links of sausages fresh off the griddle that looked rather alarmingly reddish in color. Rather than use utensils, they ate the stew by picking up some of it using chunks of torn cornbread, holding the solid ingredients with the bread which also soaked up the thick stew before they popped the whole thing into their mouths. Normally, Alissa would have expected that a Royal Princess like Nadine would be unused to eating with her fingers, but after their many dungeon delves and their experience during the war, she knew that the latter would have no issue whatsoever nowadays. Sure enough, Nadine just nonchalantly ate along with them. The stew itself was hot and hearty, with chunks of tender, fatty pork as well as some beans that soaked up the flavors of the stew yet remained on the crunchy side. There was a sweet-sourness to the stew as well that reminded Alissa of tomatoes, a sweetness that was further amplified by the rather sweet cornbread. All that was capped off by a spiciness that slowly built up at the back of their tongues as they ate more of the stew. Similarly, the sausages, while savory and very rich, had a heat to them that slowly built up as they ate. Alissa herself found the spiciness pleasant. Nostalgic, even. She enjoyed wrapping a link of sausage as thick as her thumb and twice as long in a leftover cornbread and eating it almost like a wrap, the natural sweetness of the bread a complement to the spicy, rich sausage contained within. By the time they polished off the food it was evident that both Nadine and Maribel were feeling the heat, though, given the way they sweated. Since they mostly polished off the food with some local ale, Alissa flagged down a passing waiter and asked him to bring them a couple mugs of milk. The waiter acquiesced to her request with a knowing smile on his face. As Alissa guessed, it was apparently common for northerners to react like Nadine and Maribel on their first taste of the local cuisine. She had no idea if the locals pranked them by making their food extra-spicy or not, but guessed that was not the case since she found them just pleasantly spicy. Then again, she had food similar to that in her previous world, while Nadine and Maribel clearly had very little to no experience with spicy foods. ¡°Haaaaaahhh,¡± sighed Nadine after she chugged down half of the milk in her mug in one go. Her face was still a touch reddish, and she still sweated quite a bit, but she seemed to have the spiciness under control for the time being. ¡°I¡¯m not going to say that was bad or anything, but that did get a bit hot at the end there. I¡¯ve been burned in battle before, but none of that fire got in my mouth!¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s part of the appeal,¡± replied Alissa with a smirk while Nadine drank some more. Maribel had finished her own mug of milk and ordered for more from another passing waiter, clearly still feeling the heat from what she ate. ¡°We had similar food where I¡¯m from, and sometimes people would even try to outdo each other in eating the spiciest things they could find, go figure.¡± ¡°That¡­ just sounds like madness to me,¡± admitted Nadine with a shake of her head as she thankfully received a fresh mug from Maribel. ¡°Wait, I don¡¯t see you sweat like we do. Is your food less spicy than ours or something?¡± ¡°Not really, I think it¡¯s pretty much the same. Want to give it a try?¡± asked Alissa as she picked a link of sausage from Nadine¡¯s plate. The Fifth Princess did the same with one of Alissa¡¯s remaining sausages and both of them took a bite at the same time. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d say they taste the same, so this is probably just the local standard.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t feel the¡­ spicyness?¡± asked Nadine with some surprise as she took another gulp of milk to alleviate the heat in her mouth. Alissa looked completely unaffected by the food she ate, without any change to her expression other than a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve had worse, so this is pretty much just mild for me. Still feel it, but won¡¯t make me put my tongue out or something,¡± said Alissa with a smirk as she took another big bite out of the sausage. ¡°I guess I¡¯m just more used to it than you are, is all.¡± ¡°Sure took it like a champ, lass!¡± said the inn¡¯s proprietor as he visited their table and apparently caught the tail end of the conversation. The man placed three clay mugs filled with steaming, dark liquid that had a pleasant fragrance Alissa thought she recognized on the table. ¡°On the house, some of Clearridge¡¯s local specialty! I¡¯d wait till the burning in your mouths subside first before you try it, though. Hot drinks make the burning get worse!¡± ¡°Keep up the good fight out there, you hear!¡± added the man as he left with a chuckle. ¡°Were I younger or my kids any good at soldiering we¡¯d be out there as well, but nobody wins against age, I guess. Also tell old Henri that we¡¯re doing just fine and that he should visit more often!¡± ¡°Huh, I guess he must know Sir Inolet well if they¡¯re on a first name basis,¡± noted Alissa with a raised eyebrow once the proprietor left earshot. ¡°They were old war buddies, I think. Sir Inolet told us that he was an old friend who retired because of injuries and age. Being in the third tier helps keep us fit for longer, even at an older age, but it has its limits compared to those that manage to reach the fourth tier,¡± explained Nadine. ¡°You probably noticed that he¡¯s not moving particularly faster than most people despite being a third tier in a combat profession. That¡¯s his injuries, pretty much. If he wasn¡¯t a third tier combat class with a focus on the Body attribute those injuries might well have crippled him.¡± ¡°I see,¡± nodded Alissa as she picked up the mug placed before her and took a sniff at the dark beverage. The smell was fragrant and vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn¡¯t place it. It likely wasn¡¯t coffee, since the fragrance was different, and unlikely to be some sort of tea either. In the end, she shook her head and just took a sip from the mug. ¡°Huh¡­¡± she noted as she tasted the hot beverage. It was bitter, but the bitterness was a pleasant one. The drink felt smooth on the tongue, and had a richness to it as well that meshed well with the bitterness, which was what finally clued her in on its actual identity. The drink was some sort of hot chocolate, unsweetened and with nothing to dilute the original taste. It tasted almost like drinking diluted, molten dark chocolate that was all cacao. It was also a pleasant drink that warmed her stomach and definitely hit her with a pang of nostalgia for the easy life she used to have. Across the table from her, Nadine and Maribel seemed to enjoy the drink as well, given the appreciative looks on their faces. The three slowly enjoyed the hot beverage as they chatted for a while more and finished off the last of their food before they retired to their room. As it happened, since the three of them came into town a bit early and the soldiers from the previous batch were still in town, that meant many of the town¡¯s inns were full thanks to those soldiers, who would not be leaving for another day. Because of that, the inn was pretty full as well, but as fortune had it, one of the larger rooms was vacated just earlier that day. The three of them had no issues sharing the same room, so they took it. The room itself had a larger bed that could fit two to three people at once and two smaller, single-person beds. Clearly it was intended to be used by families or the like, which were quite commonly seen amongst travelers or wandering merchants. Alissa herself took one of the smaller beds while Nadine and Maribel shared the large one. Not long after they retired to their room, the three fell asleep, comfortable and feeling safe for the first time in a while. They slept soundly through the night until the distant crowing of roosters woke them up the next morning. The roosters were far away, and the sound was faint at best, but it was clearly audible to their sharp hearing. Alissa felt refreshed after the first proper night¡¯s sleep in an actual bed in the past while. She stretched her muscles a bit as she rose up and felt the tension just loosen as she did so. After another visit to the bathroom ¨C albeit a brief one this time ¨C the three went to the inn''s main room which served as the dining room for a breakfast of more cornbread, this time served with a plate of what looked like scrambled eggs that had slices of the spicy sausage mixed into it. They had plans and things to do that day. Alissa had no doubt that Nadine and Maribel had their own plans to relax, while she herself had made her desire to peruse the academy¡¯s library known before they left. Nadine would accompany her to pay a visit to the academy¡¯s headmaster and get her access to the library, since Nadine¡¯s identity as the Fifth Princess was more of an open secret, while Alissa being one of the summoned [Heroes] was something they were asked to keep a secret for the time being. Sir Marsten was worried that if the demons got wind that one of the [Heroes] was outside the fort they might attempt another attack, or worse, send assassins on a suicide mission to strike at Alissa, so he would rather they keep her identity hidden whenever possible. CLXV - A Nostalgic Flavor ¡°We really should have visited here sooner,¡± said Esperanza with a satisfied sigh after she finished off her double portion of the dinner the inn¡¯s proprietor brought to their room. It was a rather unexpected good fortune that by some coincidence, the flavors of the food in Clearridge happened to be rather similar to what her mother used to cook for her when she was young. There were differences of course. The ingredients used were quite a bit different. What passed for ¡°pork¡± in Ephemera was more akin to boar meat than what modern people of her world were familiar with, with the animals being ranched probably somewhere halfway between domesticated pigs and wild boars. Similarly, the beans favored by the locals had a rather different flavor and a crunchier texture, and the corn had large kernels that sprout off a tiny cob instead of a multitude of small kernels on a large cob. Even so, the local preference for food that was on the spicy side and their use of corn as their staple food resulted in cooking that was somewhat reminiscent of what Esperanza had in her younger days, which struck her with pangs of nostalgia. The villages and towns she visited before had different, simpler fare in comparison, but she guessed that Clearridge being a prosperous large city afforded the locals with more leeway in exploring the culinary arts. Other than being unable to access the academy¡¯s library, their scouting and observation of the city had gone well in the past three days. From rumors and hearsay, they guessed that there were three fourth tiers from the frontline fort a day¡¯s travel away currently resting in city, along with around five thousand off-duty soldiers. The locals claimed that having soldiers take their break in city was the norm, which made sense given how the city¡¯s southern region had been converted to cater to such soldiers. Those soldiers also brought news from the frontlines, and apparently, the humans had some success in pushing the demons back so far, which brought the city into a mood for jubilation. Anytime Esperanza walked around the south side of the city, she saw soldiers toasting the locals to their cheers, more than a few of which regaled the local citizens with tales of the fighting. It was useful information to know, as she had no need to get too close and risk discovery thanks to her sharp sense of hearing. Maybe walking around so many potential hostiles while in disguise was a way to gain experience for her shapeshifting skill too, as she had leveled her [A Mask to Don] skill regularly in the past month or so, especially when she was part of the group infiltrating the human town and villages. In fact, just yesterday, after another peek at the academy and another aborted attempt to sneak into the library after she discovered that a fourth tier human combatant ¨C likely from the fort ¨C chatting with the academy¡¯s headmaster who was also a fourth tier, she maxed out the skill and it evolved into a new one called [A Role to Play]. The new skill granted her even greater finesse in controlling her shapeshifting, which while not that helpful for combat, allowed her to take any guise she wanted with ease. With it, she altered her form in such a way that she was completely indistinguishable from a normal human, in every way thinkable. A close inspection was no longer a worry at that point. Naturally Esperanza took on a guise that was identical to what she looked like before, when she was just a normal person living her life in a different world. She made sure to simulate heavy scarring on her face and body, though, in case someone did get curious and checked closely, in order to match the cover story they used. Of course, she could make them go away at a moment¡¯s notice too, as they were all just part of her body that took shape according to her mind¡¯s wishes. The skill¡¯s evolution meant that she would have far greater options when she needed to infiltrate a place in the future, as she could easily turn herself into another person with ease. She was still limited by her original mass, however, and thus couldn¡¯t really turn herself much larger or smaller in size. Esperanza guessed that the proximity to such high-leveled people might have been what gave her skill the final push to hit its max level, but she wasn¡¯t completely certain. Either way, despite the added danger and challenge of infiltrating the town while it was teeming with soldiers and had more high tier combatants, the whole thing has proven fruitful so far. After her group and Resitia¡¯s met at the eatery on their first evening in town, they pretended to ¡°get along¡± with each other and went to the same inn where they booked four rooms for the lot of them. Fortunately the inn they went to still had enough room for them all, as many inns were full thanks to the visiting soldiers. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Murad naturally roomed together with Mora, while Kurt and Leo shared another room. Resitia took another room with Tiara, which left Esperanza and Iryl together, to fit their cover story. While the older spies showed little reaction, the younger Tiara ¨C as well as Iryl and Resitia ¨C were clearly quite surprised by what they saw in the city. Fortunately that surprise helped sell the impression that they were bumpkins from the countryside who were seeing a city for the first time, which made their cover story more believable, if anything. During the day, the group split up into twos to check out the city. Esperanza actually went with Tiara during those jaunts, though, as it would be rather suspicious for two cloaked and hooded people to go around together. On top of that, while the older infiltrators were experienced and knew how to take care of themselves, Tiara was less so, so Esperanza decided to accompany the girl to keep her safe. Resitia and Iryl should be fine on their own, as while Resitia was a bit of a hothead, Iryl tended to be calmer and would hopefully keep her out of trouble. As for Tiara, the young girl played the part of an excited, naive country girl taking her unfortunate friend out for a walk flawlessly. She simply radiated a force of personality that occupied the attention of the people that interacted with them, which left Esperanza a lot of leeway to stay out of people¡¯s attention while she kept an eye out for things of interest. Other than the Academy and the soldiers though, the city itself didn¡¯t have that many points of interest otherwise. Esperanza thought they could stay for a week or so, while she attempted to get into the library during that time. Keeping things quiet was still their priority, however, as they were still far too weak to get into a direct confrontation with either the humans or the demons. As for the rest of the group who waited for them deep in the forest north of the city, she was not worried. There was nothing in the forest in question that could threaten the group, and they stayed in the deepest region of the forest where third tier wild animals ran around. It was a place that was safe to use as a hideout as the local hunters almost never dared to venture that deep. At worst, the biggest issue they would have to face would be boredom as they would have little to do but to wait for the infiltration team to return. They knew what to expect though, and Esperanza had also already told them beforehand that her group might stay in the city for a week or more, though if she chose to stay longer, she would notify them. If there was no notification from her after eight days and nobody from the infiltration groups had returned either, that meant that they likely ran into trouble, in which case, the rest would force their way through the city if they needed to. While they walked around the city actively in the day, once the sun was close to setting Esperanza¡¯s group mostly stayed in the inn. The city itself had a rather active nightlife, which often got rather rowdy with all the drunk soldiers around. They avoided it for the most part, though Murad, Mora, Kurt, and Leo still regularly went out to listen in on the conversations those soldiers had while drinking as well. The main reason Esperanza¡¯s group avoided the night was because when crawls happened, things could get complicated if they were to get caught up in one. The members of their group were very powerful, and after fighting for their lives in the wilderness for so long, tended to react to violence reflexively, which could easily blow their cover. As such, they mostly stayed in their rooms once darkness fell. That night was the same, as Esperanza sat by the room¡¯s window ¨C the inn they stayed in was situated at the corner of a major crossroad, close to the center of the city, and her room had a good vantage point to look at the city center from afar ¨C while she munched on a few links of sausage left over from her dinner. The local sausages were small, each only about as large as her index finger, made from roughly minced pork that was flavored with some herbs and spices ¨C which included spicy chilies ¨C stuffed into small intestines and then smoked for preservation. The taste sort of reminded her of chorizo, even if it was not quite the same. Perhaps it was just the nostalgia that spoke. Honestly, it was also the first real instance she had of spicy food since she was summoned to Ephemera. While early on her new body¡¯s senses were rather chaotic and confusing to her, she had long since gained control of it, and discovered that she could do things like numb her sense of taste ¨C quite useful when literally devouring opponents ¨C or make her sense of taste approximate that of a human being instead. She mostly did so while eating proper food as she was quite curious about the local cooking, but perhaps due to how most places had to think of survival first, the culinary art of Ephemera seemed rather limited to her, at least until she reached Clearridge, where the locals showed more creativity with their food. She also learned that spicy foods were not very popular as amongst humans it was seen as more of a low-class thing. Amongst demons on the other hand, Tesh¡¯kas could not handle spicy foods, while on the other hand, the Ma¡¯Varok does not notice spiciness at all. As such, spicy foods were rarely seen in demon cities as well, as while hybrid demons might have taste buds more akin to a human¡¯s, the cultural norms alone was enough to keep spicy things from being common. While she munched on a link of sausage, Esperanza suddenly saw something that made her sit up straight in surprise. Despite the darkness and the distance, she was able to see the people that walked through the city center clearly, as her eyes were not exactly human eyes and were capable of far more than what most races¡¯ eyes could do, as far as she could tell. What made her sit up in surprise was the familiar face that walked through the city center and headed towards the north side of the city. It was a face that looked somewhat thinner and harder than what she remembered, with a noticeable tiredness in its miens, but Esperanza still recognized it as the features of one of the very few people she¡¯d call a friend back in her previous world. And also someone she knew had been summoned into Ephemera as one of the [Heroes], as she recalled seeing her back when she first came to be in this new world.. CLXVI - An Unexpected Sight ¡°Alissa!?¡± muttered Esperanza in surprise as she kept her eyes glued to the distant figure. In her surprise she even lost control over her shapeshifting for a moment and multiple eyes sprouted up along her cheeks and neck, all focused towards the same thing. She managed to get herself under control and hid all the extra eyes once more before anyone could react, though. Which was fortunate, because people at high levels tend to have sharp enough senses to notice if they were being watched. From the way Alissa had not reacted, she was probably too far away or the feeling of being watched was too brief for her to register it. ¡°What happened, Exalted One?¡± asked Iryl with caution. The girl noticed how Esperanza briefly lost control over her shapeshifting and was naturally alarmed as a result. Within the short moment that passed after her noticing it she already stood up halfway from her bed and drew a small dagger she carried for self-defense. ¡°Are we in danger? Should I warn the rest to prepare to evacuate?¡± ¡°Ah? Oh, no, no, calm down, Iryl, there¡¯s no danger,¡± said Esperanza as she got over her surprise and turned to address Iryl. ¡°Though I guess her being present would mean there¡¯s more of them and that would be a threat to us, in some way¡­ that said it could present us with a unique opportunity as well¡­ I wonder if¡­¡± ¡°Who have you seen to affect you so, Exalted One?¡± asked Iryl more quietly, now seated once more on her bed. ¡°I do not think I have seen you flustered like this¡­ ever.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s someone from my previous world,¡± said Esperanza openly. She had never hidden the fact how she was originally from a different world from her allies, and they understood that her coming to this world was rather analogous to how the [Heroes] and [Champions] were summoned. ¡°One of the very few people I would call a friend there¡­¡± ¡°Someone from your world? Wait¡­ then that means¡­¡± muttered Iryl as she quickly put two and two together in her mind. It was obvious that she understood the implication of Esperanza¡¯s words given the way she fidgeted and couldn¡¯t seem to sit still as she pondered about it. ¡°Yes, she should be one of the summoned [Heroes],¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°In fact, I saw her once before, when I arrived in this world, as we ended up arriving in the same temple. At that time I had far less control over my body and instincts, however, and things got rather¡­ messy in the end. I distinctly remember seeing her from afar there, so yeah, she should be one of the [Heroes] from this batch.¡± ¡°Does that mean the [Heroes] are in the city!?¡± asked Iryl with more urgency. It was obvious from the way the girl sat that she was tense and worried, even to an amateur at reading body language like Esperanza. ¡°Do they know that we¡¯re here? Are they looking to hunt us down or-¡± Iryl¡¯s half-panicked rambling was something rather understandable, as for the worshipers of the Deities of Yore, the [Heroes] and [Champions] were mostly known to them as those who executed the will of the new gods, or the usurpers as they called them. It definitely didn¡¯t help that there was a [Champion] present amongst the demons that raided and destroyed Navef, even if the [Champion] in question had not actively participated in the atrocity in question. ¡°Calm down, girl, I also know the other two [Heroes], the [Warrior] and the [Mage], and they¡¯re not with her. Alissa was walking with a couple girls who looked rather friendly with her, so they¡¯re probably people from the kingdom she got close to in her time here,¡± said Esperanza in an attempt to soothe Iryl¡¯s worries. ¡°Besides, if she had been present in that fort where the humans won just a while ago and is now taking her turn to take a break, it would make her presence here understandable, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°I- I see, thank you for the explanation, Exalted One,¡± said Iryl with a nod after she calmed down somewhat. ¡°If that¡¯s the case and we¡¯re still safe here, then what should we do about it?¡± ¡°For now? Nothing. We¡¯ll need to discuss this with all the rest as well, so we¡¯ll do that as soon as they all return,¡± answered Esperanza with a shake of her head. Murad and Mora were still out in the city, though she heard Kurt and Leo return to the inn just a short while ago. They were presently downstairs in the tavern part of the inn, chatting and drinking with some locals. ¡°Understood, Exalted One.¡± They waited a few more hours before the middle-aged couple returned shortly before dinner time, and gathered together around a larger table to eat their dinner together as a group. Mora happened to have a convenient skill that would hide their conversation from anyone else in the vicinity, with everyone else only able to hear what sounded like small talk between them if they were to listen in. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Under the skill¡¯s umbrella ¨C coupled with a light helping from Esperanza¡¯s [Veil of Entropy] to make them less noticeable ¨C the eight of them talked about Esperanza¡¯s sighting of her old friend¡­ who was also one of the summoned [Heroes] on the human side. ¡°So one of the [Heroes] are in the city¡­ I guess that matches what we heard from many of the soldiers, that they¡¯ve won a great victory at the frontlines and were taking turns having their break here,¡± noted Murad thoughtfully. ¡°They never mentioned anything about the [Heroes], but it wouldn¡¯t be strange if the kingdom tries to keep their location a secret when possible. Every war we know of had been decided by which side lost all their [Heroes] or [Champions] to the other first. ¡°The human side is fighting with a handicap then, since they are short one [Hero],¡± Esperanza said with a nod of her head. ¡°I was likely supposed to be their fourth, but Ol- the Deities of Yore managed to get to me before the usurpers could,¡± she added, as she almost accidentally used her pet name for the Deities of Yore and quickly corrected it. ¡°Do you all think there¡¯s any chance I could convince Alissa to help us?¡± ¡°We¡­ have never heard of any such case ourselves, though in the distant past our ancestors did hear of a rumor that supposedly one of the [Heroes] was on the run and that the humans were turning everything upside down searching for them,¡± admitted Kurt. ¡°The incident made it to the records we kept because it was the time when the humans came closest to discovering our hideout.¡± ¡°So they don¡¯t always execute the will of the usurpers then,¡± Esperanza noted with interest. ¡°Yet what your elders and the priests conveyed to me before indicated that it was more normal for them to act as faithful agents of the usurpers¡­ Do any of you know the reason? Do you think it¡¯s likely that when the [Heroes] and [Champions] are fresh to Ephemera they might not be under the usurper¡¯s control at all?¡± ¡°That is a possibility,¡± said Mora with a nod. ¡°While our tribe managed to gather information from the human kingdom, most of what we get are just superficial information, hearsay and rumors, at most. Things that their common populace could hear as well,¡± she admitted. ¡°Such things like matters that touches on the [Heroes] are something we never managed to get much information on.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s possible that they only fall under the usurper¡¯s control some time after they arrived here, and it might be a gradual process even so, huh?¡± Esperanza noted with a more hopeful voice. The worst case scenario in her head was if the new gods somehow brainwashed the [Heroes] and used them as pawns from the moment they arrived in Ephemera. Esperanza only had vague impressions from the short moment she saw Alissa and the others back at the temple. At the time, she was not really in control of her body, and all she managed to get were glimpses of them in the distance. At the time, Alissa seemed to cower, perhaps afraid of her grotesque form, while Ethan and Joshua looked like they were affected negatively by her passive skill¡¯s effect. She was uncertain if they were under any controlling effects at that time, and couldn¡¯t tell anyway as she had no way to detect such things. At the present, if she got close to them she might be able to notice something with her [Soul Sight], but Esperanza was certain that such an act would likely alert a [Hero] about it. If it turned out that she could not reason with Alissa, it would risk the rest of the group for her to make contact. On the other hand, if she could reason with Alissa, or even get her help or turn her to their side, it would be an unspeakable boon for her mission, even if she would have to wrack her brain to think of a way to send Alissa ¨C and maybe the others ¨C home first if there was a way to do so before she could carry through with the mission. Either way, it was worth the shot, even if she would need to arrange for some precautions first before she made the attempt. ¡°Morad, Mura, Kurt, Leo, I will need you four to discreetly look for the [Hero] and observe her from a distance, but don¡¯t risk yourselves,¡± said Esperanza after some thought. ¡°She¡¯s a tall girl, pale skin with straw-blonde hair, and moves like a warrior. I¡¯m not sure whether she would be going around with the others I noticed with her or not, those two look like locals, and Alissa¡¯s pretty noticeable in this crowd so I think even if you get caught looking at her you can make a believable excuse.¡± ¡°As you will, Exalted One,¡± said Murad with a slight bow. ¡°Do you happen to know where she might be? It would help us narrow the search.¡± ¡°She was walking to the north when I spotted her earlier, so she¡¯s probably going to the northern district? It would make sense for a [Hero] to stay in the better part of town, even if she¡¯s keeping her presence here a secret,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°Like I said, don¡¯t risk yourselves, keep your distance, and stay safe. I just need a general idea of where she would be going towards in the city.¡± ¡°Are you planning to meet the [Hero], Exalted One?¡± asked Tiara with some apprehension in her voice. As she was a native who only knew vague things about the [Hero], her worry was understandable. Esperanza knew Alissa as a person, though, and she was willing to bet on her friend¡¯s character to at least give her a chance to make her case. ¡°As for the rest of you, be extra cautious while you¡¯re going around. I¡¯m not sure if a [Hero] would be more sensitive in detecting us than a priest would, but don¡¯t take the chance,¡± she added as she addressed the other three. ¡°Once we¡¯re reasonably sure where I could find the [Hero] and confront her in relative privacy, I want all of you to leave the city and regroup with the rest. I will meet the [Hero] alone.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°No buts,¡± said Esperanza as she raised a hand and stilled the protests before they could be said. ¡°All of you are going to leave the city and regroup with the rest before I attempt to make contact. ?Entiendes?¡± ¡°Unlike the rest of you, I have [Respawn]. Even in the worst case, I would just die and come back in a while. None of you can do that, and this is not the place or situation to risk your life in,¡± she continued as she persuaded the group. ¡°So do as I ask and wait for me with the rest of the group while I do this, por favor. I¡¯ll be fine, and I would very much prefer if all of you are out of potential harm¡¯s way as well.¡± CLXVII - Planning and Execution ¡°So how did it go?¡± asked Esperanza. Inwardly she cringed at herself for being such a coward that she hadn¡¯t personally gone out to look for Alissa herself. Esperanza was worried that if they were to accidentally meet she might not be able to control herself and thus might blow their cover as a result, something that she did not want to happen, so she had mostly stayed at the inn in the past couple of days. The others kept an eye out for Alissa on her behalf instead. ¡°The three of us didn¡¯t see the person you described today either, Exalted One, but we did see a couple of women that matches the description you gave us visiting the southern district a couple of times,¡± reported Tiara. She had gone out and prowled around the south with Resitia and Iryl as her escort, just in case Alissa as a [Hero] was more sensitive in detecting people with strong connection to Oldies like them. As for the volunteers, Esperanza was actually less worried about them, as they had records of running into [Heroes] in their history and got away unscathed. Just to be safe they were using the old version of their skills, though, rather than the modified one the group had worked together to create. Who knew if there might be something about the old method that would prevent a [Hero] from noticing them that the new method lacked? It was only a slight inconvenience to use the old method anyway, and definitely better than risking their lives unnecessarily. ¡°Anything you noticed about them?¡± she asked the three, as they happened to return first that day. The other four usually returned later in the evening, as they had established such a pattern during their earlier stay and saw no reason to break it as that might cause suspicion. ¡°Anything that comes to mind as important might be, so just say whatever comes to mind.¡± ¡°Well¡­ One of the soldiers definitely called the nice-looking lady something like ¡®Her Royal¡¯ something before she shushed them. From that, I¡¯d guess she¡¯s connected to the Royal Family, probably one of the younger Princes or Princesses, as it¡¯s not uncommon to have them become part of the [Hero]¡¯s retinue,¡± said Tiara. ¡°At least, that¡¯s what the human history books we had said.¡± ¡°I do recall such a passage in the books I perused back in Zikeal, yes,¡± noted Esperanza. She had helped herself to the tribe¡¯s library, which they acquired from the human towns and villages they visited regularly. Naturally, since they could only visit smaller towns and villages, their collection of books were mostly made up of the common ones that even such poor and far-flung places could access. ¡°Apparently it is common for members of the human royalty that joined the [Hero]¡¯s retinue to become the next king or queen,¡± supplied Tiara, ¡°Some of the older books I read stated that the grandfather of the current human king was one such person, as was his great-great-grandfather. They served as part of the [Hero]¡¯s retinue one cycle and two cycles ago respectively.¡± ¡°Got it, so there¡¯s plenty of motivation for a young member of the royal family with the right sort of class and level to join the [Hero]¡¯s retinue and fight alongside them, and even to befriend the [Hero] in question, I bet,¡± Esperanza said. ¡°Let¡¯s chalk that one off the side first. If the person you refer to was the one I noticed walking with Alissa, they looked like genuine friends, and that girl isn¡¯t easily fooled in that regard.¡± The thought made Esperanza hold back a chuckle as she thought back of their days at school. Alissa, being one of the school¡¯s ace athletes, a straight-A student, and pretty to boot, naturally attracted a whole host of people, both boys trying to woo her and girls trying to be part of her nonexistent ¡°clique¡±. Alissa mostly kept to herself and a few people close to her like Ethan, though, and saw through the shallow desires of those who flocked to her for their own purposes. She was always good at noticing them. Just around then, Kurt and Leo returned, with Murad and Mora following them into the Inn. Esperanza waved her hand and beckoned for them to join the group at her table, and they did so. Once they were close enough, Mora checked the sound dampening skill Tiara used around the table and gave a satisfied nod since the responsibility fell to the younger girl when Mora wasn¡¯t around. ¡°We have returned, Exalted One, with some confirmations,¡± reported Kurt as he sat on the table. Resitia had already ordered more drinks for the four of them the moment she saw them appear at the door, and soon enough a waitress passed by and deposited her order. ¡°So, what news?¡± asked Esperanza after the waitress left their skill¡¯s range. She and Mora naturally put up their skills once again, as they had dropped the skills temporarily to allow the four to notice her when they arrived at the inn. ¡°I see from your faces that you seem to have discovered something that might be of use?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°We might have done so, Exalted One,¡± said Murad politely as he nodded. ¡°As you are aware, yesterday we confirmed that the [Hero] mostly went around with her¡­ friends, mostly in the northern district, though their place of stay straddles the border between the central and northern districts. Today they went their own ways, though, and the [Hero] went to the academy and only left in the evening.¡± ¡°Huh, so she¡¯s doing something there? You did mention that the three of them visited the academy briefly yesterday, so could yesterday be arranging for permission to get her access to the place maybe?¡± pondered Esperanza with the information she was given. ¡°I don¡¯t think she''d be studying at the academy, especially if she¡¯s on a leave, so she¡¯d probably hit the library?¡± ¡°Considering that the academy¡¯s library is known to house one of the best collections of old manuscripts in the kingdom, that sounds likely,¡± noted Mora with a nod. ¡°I am unfamiliar with the [Hero], unlike the Exalted One, but if she is indeed like you said and is not under the control of the usurpers while harboring doubts about this world, that sounds like a good place for her to trawl for information that might not be readily available elsewhere.¡± ¡°If Alissa is not under the control of the usurpers, then I highly doubt she¡¯d look at the situation of this world, especially the war between the humans and demons, and not feel suspicious about it. They aren¡¯t even trying to hide it, the whole thing just feels staged if you look at it from an outside perspective,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°And if they stopped Alissa from looking into the situation, that would just make her even more suspicious, so unless she¡¯s fallen under the usurpers¡¯ control, there is absolutely no way she would not find this world¡¯s situation as anything but suspicious, if she¡¯s still the same girl I know.¡± ¡°What would you like us to do, Exalted One?¡± asked Leo. The way the man looked was as if he was prepared to jump into a fire if Esperanza told him to, which both flattered and bothered her at the same time. She could never get used to people literally worshiping her like that, even after months. ¡°We are at your command.¡± ¡°Like I said a couple days ago, I want all of you out of the city, just in case. Regroup with the rest and be ready to run in case things go south,¡± said Esperanza sternly. ¡°You can consider that an order,¡± she added to cut off any protests. ¡°Kurt, Leo, you two take Iryl and leave together tomorrow evening, relay the situation to the rest and tell them to wait first.¡± ¡°Resitia, you escort the rest. I want you to leave in the afternoon, two days from now. The four of you will relay the latest situation to the others at the time, and tell them to prepare to escape in the worst case,¡± she continued. ¡°If Alissa keeps staying at the library these next few days, I will try to infiltrate and confront her there, where there¡¯s less people. Otherwise, we¡¯ll see when the time comes.¡± ****************************** Two days later, Esperanza was alone in Clearridge as everyone else from her group had already left the city. It was already evening, and Esperanza herself had altered her appearance to disassociate herself from the group, as she had ¡°left¡± the city with them earlier and re-entered discreetly on her own. It appeared that some god ¨C probably Oldies ¨C heard her prayers, as Alissa had been staying longer in the library the day before, only leaving well after the sunset. It was already sunset by then, and Alissa was still in the academy¡¯s library as far as she could tell. Esperanza herself had attempted to break into the library during the nights, and she managed to slip through the wards and protections the night before, but left them be instead of slipping through, as she wanted to make her first ¨C and probably only ¨C visit to the place as useful as possible. After she glanced left and right to ensure that nobody was looking at her, Esperanza shifted her form and blended together with the wood of the balcony she was looking at the academy from. Her amorphous form then slid over to the roof below her, spreading herself thin and changing her body¡¯s color and texture to match the roof beneath her so anyone that happened to look her way would not notice a thing. It was easy enough for her to slide across rooftops ¨C fortunately the buildings in Clearridge were built pretty close together ¨C while turning her body transparent when she needed to leap over gaps. Within a few minutes, Esperanza had oozed into the academy¡¯s garden without anyone noticing either her presence or her passage. The academy grounds were mostly safe, other than the occasional patrolling guard. It was obvious that the academy took its security seriously, given the otherwise sparse presence of patrols in Clearridge as a whole. Even so, between [Veil of Entropy] and her amorphous, camouflaged form, it was easy enough for her to slip past those guards. Once she reached the academy building proper, things started to get more complicated. The academy¡¯s builder was clearly rather paranoid about its security, so they had the building warded in a way that would sound an alarm if people coming in or out were not in the vicinity of someone that had a token keyed to the ward itself. Previously, Esperanza had contemplated risking it and entering at the same time as when someone walked in or out of the academy. However, she discovered a weakness in the ward the night before. The ward did not extend under the ground, and while the academy kept its grounds clean¡­ some moles still nested beneath the building. Esperanza simply turned her body into a slim enough form to navigate the mole tunnels then quietly seeped through the wooden flooring of the academy¡¯s interior, from where she navigated her way towards the library. Her [Soul Sense] greatly helped her in avoiding any people still in the academy at that time, and also showed her where Alissa was, as her soul shone like a miniature star to Esperanza¡¯s [Soul Sense]. The library itself was a challenge to tackle, as the wards around the area were far more secure. However, while they guarded well against intrusions from all directions and even the top, the floor was similarly far less secure than the rest. She turned herself into an amorphous form once more and slipped beneath the academy¡¯s floorboards, careful not to trigger the wards that permeated the library¡¯s walls. Once she was inside, she searched for an area that was unoccupied and as far away from Alissa¡¯s position as she could find. She did not want to surprise her old friend by oozing out from the floorboards, as such an action would likely provoke a violent reaction instead, so she tried to slip into the library unnoticed, away from any prying eyes. As Esperanza found herself in a secluded corner of the library, separated from Alissa by multiple filled bookshelves, she took a deep breath and set her appearance to her original appearance from the previous world, and slowly walked out. 168 - A Day Around the City ¡°Why, certainly, Your Royal Highness. Since someone of your vaunted status is willing to act as the guarantor, we would be all too happy to allow your friend access to the libraries,¡± said the academy¡¯s Headmaster from behind his desk. The way the old scholar looked in his robes reminded Alissa of some popular stereotypical looks for old wizards in her previous world, though unlike most there, the Headmaster was completely bald, wore his beard and mustache neatly trimmed, and had no pointy, wide-brimmed hat. They went to the Academy before noon on their second day in town, since they slept in during the morning and had a late breakfast in the inn first. The rest was something the three of them needed greatly, and it helped them feel more refreshed to rest in proper beds while getting hot, freshly made meals instead of bedrolls on the ground and army rations. Alissa had also promised to tag along with Nadine and Maribel for the rest of the day, in exchange for Nadine helping vouch for her to the academy. Since they were keeping Alissa¡¯s identity as a [Hero] a secret, they could not use it to gain entry, so instead Nadine would act as her guarantor. An easy enough thing given her status as the Fifth Royal Princess of the Kingdom. Sure enough, they were granted entry to the academy without a fuss, one of the instructors personally guiding them through the complex while giving them a tour, as the Headmaster was still busy at the time. Alissa had no idea whether some sort of skill was used to notify the instructor when the Headmaster was ready to see them or it was just some good time management on their part, but right after the tour ended, they were brought to the Headmaster¡¯s office and welcomed moments later. The academy¡¯s Headmaster himself was one of the highest leveled persons Alissa had ever seen so far, at the eighteenth level of his fourth tier, with many high rarity classes to boot. That said, his classes were obviously ones that emphasized organization and pursuit of knowledge, rather than power of any sort. As such, the man himself was rather frail with age, and likely wouldn¡¯t give much of a challenge even to a second-tier soldier or the like. In fact, practically none of the people in the academy ¨C other than the guards ¨C had anything resembling a combat class at all. It was indeed a facility dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, instead of the typical fantasy tropes of having such places also teach magic or fighting skills as well. In some ways, it was both disappointing and refreshing to see. ¡°I would like to impress upon the young lady that you may only read the books within the library itself, and may not take them out of the premises, is that understood?¡± continued the Headmaster, to which Alissa nodded firmly. ¡°Naturally, we would request that you remain quiet while in the library¡¯s premises, so as to avoid disturbing others who are perusing the facilities there. Should you wish to take notes, you may do so. You can either bring your own writing implements, or the librarian could provide you with some for a reasonable price.¡± ¡°Other than that, you are free to use the library as long as the academy grounds are still open. While we do have staff members who live here in the academy itself, the librarian only works until the ninth bell at night, so please vacate the premises by then at the latest,¡± added the Headmaster in a tone not unlike a teacher that was lecturing his students. ¡°Oh, right, you will also need someone from our staff to accompany you when you enter or leave the premises, as we have wards set up to detect unauthorized people. It would be annoying if the ward triggers because you entered or left on your own.¡± ¡°Understood, Sir. I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± Alissa said with a nod. ¡°Good. You can get yourself a token of permit from Professor Ageli, he was the one that showed you around. He should be waiting for you outside,¡± noted the Headmaster. He did not say it out loud, but Alissa and Nadine understood it as a silent dismissal since they had finished what they came there for. Perhaps the Headmaster didn¡¯t dare dismiss them due to Nadine¡¯s status, but that was not something Alissa wanted to dwell on. Sure enough, the instructor that showed them around the academy was seated outside the office, waiting for them, and brought Alissa to where a clerk processed her temporary entry permit. Unlike the tokens used by the students and staff, the permit was just a sign that she was allowed entry to the academy grounds and library, but she would still need someone else to bring her inside without triggering the wards around the academy building. Alissa didn¡¯t know whether that was because there was a limited amount of tokens that were keyed to the ward and thus the academy reserved them for those who would need it more often for longer periods of time, or if they just did it out of principle. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. They definitely took pride in the ward set up around the academy building, which was supposedly done by one of the greatest mages in the Kingdom¡¯s history many generations ago. Such wards were rare, though the Royal Castle and the main temple complex in the capital had similar wards as well, which were much older, even. Of course, Alissa had a token to identify herself with back there as a summoned [Hero]. After they were led out of the academy, it was still close to noon, so she allowed Nadine to take the lead. While Alissa wanted to check the older books and see if they had any possible hints to her suspicions, she had to admit that she did need some time to rest and relax as well. As such, going around the city with friends she made in this new world ought to help with that. They did save themselves nearly a full day of time by traveling on their own to Clearridge after all. The caravan of wagons that brought the soldiers whose turn it was to take a break along with them only arrived in the city shortly after they woke up. If they traveled on their own on the way back to the fort, they would be able to save themselves another day¡¯s worth of time in the city. Nadine first brought Alissa to a theater in the city that performs plays for the public from noon to nightfall. There were multiple showings a day, and they were on time to catch the first showing of the day after they left the academy. The play itself was a typical romance story that reminded Alissa of a soap opera ¨C it might well be one, if it was written by a previous [Hero], she thought ¨C and focused on the tale of a couple of star-crossed lovers. As if whoever wrote the play wanted to make the story as typical as possible, the man was from a rich noble family, while the woman was of low status, the stepchild of a vicious old hag who favored her own daughters over the actress playing the lead. Alissa thought it looked rather like some old fairy tales combined with some more modern stories in execution, which reinforced her guess that it was probably written by a fellow otherworldler. Naturally, the male lead character encountered the female lead coincidentally and fell madly in love with her, yet the two could not be together due to opposition from the male lead¡¯s family. The female lead¡¯s stepmother on the other hand, was all too happy to pawn off the female lead to a brothel on the bequest of the male lead¡¯s family. Apparently, however, the male lead somehow caught wind of the plot and rushed to the brothel right as the place¡¯s customers were in the middle of bidding, as the female lead¡¯s first night was being auctioned. He naturally won the auction with an exorbitant sum of money and eloped with the female lead that same night, supposedly living happily ever after with her. Maribel told Alissa that there was actually another version of the tale, but that one ended with the couple committing suicide together as they were unable to make ends meet after they eloped. That version was far less popular, though, which was why the version with the happy ending was the one that was shown more often than not. Even so, supposedly the tragic end was the original one. Maribel heard of it from an older maid when she was still younger and training to be Nadine¡¯s lady in waiting. Of course, that was all before Nadine chose to join the Royal Guards and took Maribel along with her. They had a hearty late lunch after the show, enjoying more of the town¡¯s cuisine along the way. Alissa found herself quite enamored with the way the locals prepared their roasted pork, which was roasted whole over a slow fire from the early morning, slowly cooked to perfection over time to ensure that the meat was as tender as it could be. The insides of the pig¡¯s cavity was rubbed with spices which had seeped into the meat during the long cooking process, while the skin on the outside had turned into a crisp, shattery layer that also helped contain the pork¡¯s meat juices within itself. Despite the light seasoning, the natural flavor of the rather gamey meat made it an excellent dish in itself. Something Alissa could say was one of the best things she had eaten since coming to Ephemera. Of course, the locals had to offer them some stuffed chili peppers as well. Since the peppers were given a strong sear on the outside, neither Nadine nor Maribel realized what it was and bit into them before their mouths gaped open from the spiciness. The seared peppers were stuffed with a mixture of minced meat and what seemed to be some local cheese, and Alissa quite enjoyed them, though the same could not necessarily be said about her companions. They spent most of the rest of the afternoon touring some art galleries in the city¡¯s northern district. The art scene in Ephemera was not an obvious thing for Alissa back in the Royal Capital, as she rarely left the Royal Castle, but in Clearridge, at least, there were art galleries which showcased paintings, sculptures, and even poems done in beautiful calligraphy. Some of them were pretty impressive, some sculptures were lifelike in their detail, though what Alissa found odd was how the locals loved to paint their statues in all sorts of garish color, which felt like a clash with their lifelike portrayal to her. Similarly, the style of painting that was popular amongst painters in Ephemera was very much high on the realism when it comes to the detail, yet they also portray things in unusual colors all over the place, which gives the paintings a strong sense of dissonance. The poems and calligraphy was at least more normal, though the locals also enjoyed using colored inks for their work. At least it was simpler and not as garish as the rest to Alissa¡¯s sensibilities, so she could appreciate them more compared to the sculptures and the paintings. They went sightseeing in multiple such places until the sun had set at which point they returned to their inn for another hearty dinner before they tucked themselves in bed early so as not to oversleep too much the next day. Alissa planned to browse the academy¡¯s library for older texts that might have more of the sort of information she was looking for, while Nadine and Maribel would go out and enjoy themselves some more in the city. Alissa woke up the next day as the roosters crowed, and stretched herself a bit before she washed her face and went down to the main floor for breakfast. After she finished her meal, she said her goodbyes to Nadine and Maribel and took off towards the academy. 169 - History and Intrusion When Alissa reached the academy that morning, she was allowed to enter without any fuss once she showed her token to the stationed guardsman outside. A junior member of the faculty greeted her and accompanied her in so that her entry would not trigger the alarms from the wards set around the building. The young man then guided her the rest of the way towards the library itself. "Please take extra care while reading the books you will find inside," said the young man as he led her inside. "While we mostly keep copies and transcriptions here instead of the originals, some of these copies are penned by the original authors themselves, and thus nearly as priceless as an original would be." "I will keep that in mind, thank you," replied Alissa with a nod. The academy''s faculty members seemed to take great pride in their library, which did not surprise her much. She too would have been proud of it if such a treasure trove of ancient manuscripts belonged to her school. The library itself was huge, easily large enough to fit in tens of thousands of books in the myriad shelves Alissa saw. Each shelf extended from the floor to the ceiling, easily fifteen feet or so in height, laden with books and tomes of all kinds as far as the eye could see. There were a half-dozen librarians on duty at their station near the entrance, mostly younger people, either junior faculty members or senior students who found work in the library, Alissa guessed. On the other hand, the head librarian looked every bit the part. The woman must have been at least in her fifties if not sixties, with her graying brown hair collected in a severe bun tied behind her head. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, while she dressed in a nondescript black frock. The woman looked at Alissa with some suspicion but likely thought that the warning given by the junior faculty member that brought her to the library was good enough, as she returned to the book she was reading soon after. That said, the old woman did give Alissa a look that practically screamed ¡°Try me, and I¡¯ll get you thrown out of my library before you even know what happened¡± though. Alissa wisely decided not to test the old woman¡¯s patience and just went to where a thick book lay, underneath a sign that stated ¡°Catalogue¡± in bold letters. She would need to peruse the book to get the sort of reading material she was looking for, after all. Fortunately ¨C and conveniently ¨C for Alissa, there was a separate section for ¡°ancient records and literature¡± in the library¡¯s catalogue. She supposed that she shouldn¡¯t have been too surprised as those ancient records were something the library prided itself on, and was glad that the librarians nearly categorized the texts in that category into further sub-categories. It took her only a couple minutes to find out which section in the library the ancient texts related to [Heroes], [Champions], as well as the overall war with the demons were located. On the other hand, it took her another good fifteen minutes before she found the shelf that corresponded with the section, and another few minutes before she located a stair, climbed up, and picked an ancient book from the shelf. Then she sat down on one of the many tables scattered around the library and began to read. The text Alissa found did not immediately unravel the many mysteries and doubts she had, of course. She was not so lucky so as to discover exactly what she was looking for in the first book she checked. Such luck was mostly relegated to fiction, unfortunately, and none of her skills had anything related to luck either, so they were of no help. Even so, there were a few interesting tidbits in the book she read, especially in its early parts, which recorded a time that was closer to the Rise of the current Pantheon of Gods than the present. The records mentioned purges and hunts targeting ¡°heretics¡±, those that still clung to the belief of the old gods overthrown by the current Pantheon. It was something that the newer texts she read in the Royal Palace¡¯s library also mentioned occasionally, but mostly as an off-handed mention of something from a time long past. Meanwhile, the ancient text recorded the circumstances of one such ¡°purge¡± in notably greater detail. Of note was how the text described the ¡°inhumane¡± ways of the heretics where they forced humans to breed with demons, resulting in hybrid abominations being born from the unholy union. The narrator described with notable enthusiasm how the forces of the Kingdom¡¯s nobles rounded up such heretics and burned them down to the last, at the time believed to have rid the Kingdom of their taint. Stolen novel; please report. That said, later parts of the text noted that the purge apparently failed to properly cleanse the heretical taint from the Kingdom, and that a few heretics were discovered and ¡°cleansed¡± over the following decades. No other large settlement of such ¡°heretics¡± were found during the narrator¡¯s time, however, and given how the newer texts made no mention of other, more recent purges, chances were the one recorded in the ancient text was one of the last major purges the Kingdom did. Alissa found it curious that she had never been briefed or notified of such a matter, but then again, given the lack of attention given to this issue in the recent history of the Kingdom ¨C at least as far as she learned about it from the books she read ¨C it might well be that the Kingdom no longer considered them as an issue. Given the existence of the Demons and the constant outbreak of war with them, Alissa could understand such a point of view. A minor, perhaps nonexistent insurgency by members of what might be considered a cult would be a lesser threat compared to open war with the fate of the entire race hanging on it, after all. If there had been no activity from the so-called ¡°heretics¡± of late, then it made sense that the Kingdom had not devoted much attention to them. After all, there might not even be any more heretics around in the Human Kingdom¡¯s territory. Alissa also read about the chronicles of victories and defeats of the wars in that period. Most of the time the [Heroes] and [Champions] involved were people she could not identify at all, but on a few occasions, even from the text¡¯s relatively vague descriptions, she was quite certain that she could identify who certain [Heroes] were. Like how the text mentioned a [Great Hero] from several thousand years ago, Ephemera time, who was noted to be an imposingly tall man, with a gaunt face and scruffy beard, who led the Kingdom¡¯s soldiers by example with great feats of mighty strength. Another was noted to be a rather short man who was a master strategist that inspired great courage in the soldiers he led. There were also chronicles from another period of time that detailed a woman so charming that not even the demons could resist her charms, as well as that of an archer who was so accurate that it was said that he never missed a single arrow, no matter the distance or the situation. And all of those were just from the first book Alissa read through. Granted, it took her a couple hours to go through the book¡¯s content, during which time she was completely engrossed in her reading. Alissa then went back to the shelf that contained the ancient texts, returned the book to its original location, and picked another to read. She repeated the process until she noticed that the sun was about to set and she left the library since she had forgotten to inform Nadine and Maribel that she might be staying until late in the library so they should not wait for her. Apparently some of the librarians noted how she was engrossed so much in the books, since they offered her kind smiles and understanding nods when she passed them by. The looks the offered were that of people who had discovered a kindred spirit, which was something Alissa couldn¡¯t exactly disagree with either, given how much of a bookworm she herself was. She returned to the inn just in time to have dinner together with Nadine and Maribel, during which time she informed them that she would likely stay until late in the library for the following days, and that they shouldn¡¯t want for her to have dinner. She would handle her own dinner arrangements. The other two girls nodded though they also shook their heads at Alissa¡¯s ¡°addiction¡± with the books. Alissa made good on her word as she spent the entire day and even a few hours into the evening in the library the next day, subsisting only off a quick breakfast in the inn when she woke up and a quick snack off some street vendors when she returned at night. Fortunately, the academy had its own mess hall where she could get some refreshments as well during her reading binge, though like most libraries, they didn¡¯t allow people to bring any food or beverages into the place. While Alissa had yet to make any concrete findings from the texts she had read so far, she did notice a pattern that further reinforced some of her doubts. Many of the past [Heroes] were noted to be quite involved in the Kingdom, with how some introduced new farming or smithing techniques, others reproduced recipes from their previous world in Ephemera, and so onwards. Yet for some reason not a single one of those heroes ever stayed even if they clearly had quite a bit of attachment to Ephemera. It was one of the unexplained doubts Alissa had kept quiet on for a while, as she could imagine some simple excuses on why the heroes never stayed. Perhaps they were never meant to stay for too long. Maybe their continued existence in Ephemera might result in undesirable things due to their otherworldly nature. There were many possible reasons ¨C or excuses ¨C for such a case, but none that were documented. Alissa imagined that if there truly was such a reason, it should have been plastered somewhere unmissable in bold letters as a warning, and perhaps even explained to the summoned [Heroes] as soon as they arrived. That there was no such thing noted anywhere she looked was rather suspicious in itself, especially when combined with how all the [Heroes] returned home in the end. Even the ones whose original lives had ended in the other world. It was late in the evening of the third day Alissa spent in the library, when the sun had already set a while ago and Alissa had just picked up one last book to read for that night and sat by the table when she noticed something different. The feeling was a very, very vague one. The sort of feeling that made her feel as if someone was observing her, although Alissa couldn¡¯t tell from where the feeling originated. The seat Alissa chose was pretty deep in the library, close to the section of the shelf which housed the ancient texts she perused, so she was not in direct line of sight to anyone else in the library, and as far as she knew, there were no other seats deeper in. At first she tried to ignore the feeling, but it persisted, like an itch behind her back at a place she just couldn¡¯t reach to scratch. It was a rather annoying feeling, and while the feeling itself never intensified, Alissa somehow felt as if the source of the feeling was getting closer to her. She even looked around herself with the aid of her passive skills just to be sure, but saw nothing. Until she suddenly felt a presence deeper in the library. A presence that seemed to beckon to her for some reason. It was a presence that she found somehow familiar, despite it being utterly alien to everything she had come across in Ephemera so far. Curious, Alissa left the open book at her table and walked towards the source of the presence. There in a dark corner deep in the library, stood a figure clad in a dark gown, facing away from Alissa. The figure slowly, calmly turned around, and Alissa caught sight of a face she never expected to see again. At least not here, not in Ephemera. A face she was all too familiar with. ¡°Zaza¡­?¡± asked Alissa with a doubtful tone. ¡°Is that you?¡± 170/CLXX - A Fateful Meeting ¡°Zaza¡­? Is that you?¡± Esperanza turned around with a deliberate slowness and regarded her old friend from the corner of her eye. Part of the deliberate slowness was to ensure that she maintained control over herself, as part of her wanted to just run over and glomp Alissa and just air her grievances like she often did back in their previous world. She knew that things were not the same here in Ephemera though. ¡°Heya, Allie,¡± replied Esperanza quietly, though loud enough for Alissa to hear given the short distance, she expected. Her old friend had grown in power, and the way her status screen looked was rather interesting as well. Level wise Esperanza still had a bit of an advantage over Alissa, due to her constant practice with her skills and the previous powerleveling hunts, but Alissa was pretty up there as well. ¡°Long time no see.¡± More interesting, however, were the implications behind the system designation that showed [Hero Lvl20 / {Truthseeker} Consecrated Warrior Lvl20 / {Pathfinder of Hidden Trails} Laurelled Lancer of Legend Lvl14] and what they meant for her old friend. Esperanza was familiar with the doubled-up classes. It was what she saw when others used a skill that covered their class with another. Interesting that one of the summoned [Heroes] chose to hide her classes that way, though given the name of the classes in question and what they implied¡­ Esperanza could understand why even without much thinking. ¡°How in the name of all that¡¯s holy are you even here-¡± stammered Alissa excitedly before her excitement abated and she took a guarded stance instead, her eyes looking at Esperanza with some surprise and suspicion. ¡°Wait¡­ I can see some sort of alteration or illusion on you, though I can¡¯t tell what it is. Who are you? And if you¡¯re really Zaza, prove it. You should know how.¡± ¡°I guess this is kinda inevitable, but sure. You probably remember meeting me for the first time in the first grade of middle school, but we actually met before that, when we were still in elementary, like second grade I think?¡± said Esperanza as she calmly recited what she remembered. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you remembered it that well, but you shooed off a bully in the park and bought me an ice cream that day since I wouldn¡¯t stop crying, then kept me company until my mom came to pick me up a while later. It was late summer.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ that kid was you??? I had not recognized you when we met again and I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever told anyone about that story either¡­¡± noted Alissa with some surprise in her eyes. It was exactly what Esperanza did from time to time, namely mentioning things that Alissa had not realized for some reason or another, but ones she had clear recollections of. ¡°How did you even get here? This is a whole other world for God¡¯s sake!¡± ¡°Well¡­ I would like you to brace yourself first before I tell you, because you are going to be upset by the time I finish talking. Maybe even consider taking a seat, up to you,¡± said Esperanza with some trepidation as she looked straight into Alissa¡¯s eyes to assure her old friend that she was being very serious. Alissa responded by holding on to one of the shelves to the side with one hand. ¡°Long story short? I was summoned together with the rest of you. Ethan and Smith are with you, right?¡± ¡°Summoned together with us? How? There were only the three of us that came out of the portal back then-¡± Alissa¡¯s face distorted to a grimace as the implication of Esperanza¡¯s words ¨C and her own words ¨C caught up to her mind, and she gave Esperanza a questioning, pleading look. Esperanza replied to the look with a sigh, then raised her right hand, which morphed as if it was made out of putty and formed a grotesque shape that Alissa would never forget in her life. ¡°That thing back then was you!?¡± ¡°It was me, though in defense of myself, I admit that I was new to the body back then and could only react by its own ingrained instinct and reflexes. Found out the hard way that most of those were along the lines of ¡®eat whatever troubles me¡¯, unfortunately,¡± admitted Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°It took me a good couple of weeks before I could even think clearly and assert myself again instead of running on instincts like a beast¡­ though I did recall seeing you three in the distance back then.¡± ¡°How¡­ did things end up so differently? Why were the three of us summoned here normally and just you ended up¡­ like that?¡± asked Alissa after she regained her composure from the surprising revelation Esperanza had given her. Part of her wanted to be on guard, to call for help, because there remained a tinge of doubt about her old friend¡¯s identity, especially with the rather uncertain layers that seemed to cover her, that Alissa¡¯s skills couldn¡¯t pierce through. ¡°Also are you hiding something? There¡¯s¡­ layers over you that I can¡¯t see through at all, despite having several skills to that purpose.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Yet on the other hand, the more they spoke, the more Alissa felt that this was truly her old friend before her. Perhaps more jaded-sounding than her usual cheerful demeanor, but otherwise the same girl she had known and befriended for years, despite all odds. The same wisp of a girl that did her utmost even in the poor conditions life had given her. ¡°That one¡¯s a longer story, but as for the latter, I can fix that real quick, though if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to use another skill of mine to ensure that this remains private between us for the time being,¡± replied Esperanza, to which Alissa thought for a moment, then nodded and braced herself once more. ¡°Bueno, this skill of mind will keep prying eyes away by making us be less noticeable. I¡¯ll show you first before including you in the skill, all right?¡± said Esperanza as she activated [Veil of Entropy], keeping its radius strictly around herself to show it to Alissa. After she noticed Alissa nodding to give her permission, Esperanza enlarged the skill¡¯s radius to engulf Alissa in its effects as well. Then she dropped the part around her [Gaze Unto the Abyss] passive that prevented people from identifying her properly. So Alissa saw her designation as a [Spark of Hope Lvl20 / Emissary of the Forgotten Lvl20 / Chronicler of Departed Souls Lvl 17] and all that implied. ¡°Huh¡­ those classes are very high in rarity. Higher than my own, even,¡± noted Alissa with some surprise. She had not seen anyone with higher rarity classes than herself or Ethan and Joshua in Ephemera until then. ¡°Wait¡­ Emissary of the Forgotten¡­ Zaza, did you¡­ come across the previous gods or something like that? They¡¯re the only thing that comes to mind when I think of the forgotten in the context of this world.¡± ¡°In a way, yes, but to explain it, first I need to explain other things that lead to it. I¡¯d like you to take a seat for this, because this will likely take a while, and also to save your questions for the time being,¡± said Esperanza. This time Alissa listened to her and guided her to the reading area where she was earlier and took a seat there, with Esperanza sitting across the table from her. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll just put it bluntly, but the main reason why things went differently for me, was that while you three got summoned ¡®properly¡¯, the summons only snagged my soul instead of my body, which in turn allowed the Old Gods, I call them Oldies, by the way, to bring me over to them before I landed here,¡± explained Esperanza as simply as she could. ¡°They were also the ones to give me this body to inhabit, and you know what happened after I arrived.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I could ever forget that sight, yeah. You sure made quite an¡­ impression on everyone present back there,¡± replied Alissa as she made a face that was halfway between a frown and a grimace. ¡°Wait, I remember them actually killing you back then. Did you just fake that out and then use a skill to get out of there or?¡± ¡°I have [Respawn], just like the rest of you, and the [Champions] for that matter,¡± replied Esperanza with a shrug of her shoulders. ¡°I came to meet you today not just to talk about my circumstances, however, but also to warn you. You should not trust the new ¡®gods¡¯ and those who worship them too much, if what Oldies said could be trusted.¡± ¡°Do you trust them?¡± asked Alissa back. She had no direct experience or encounter with the Gods of Ephemera¡¯s current Pantheon, but all the incongruencies she noticed had long made her suspicious of them, to some extent. If not the Gods themselves, then at least the clergy, as it was far too common for people to turn the words of their ¡®Gods¡¯ to serve their own benefits, sadly. ¡°For what¡¯s probably the equivalent of this world¡¯s eldritch gods, they have been surprisingly open and upfront with me so far. I can speak directly to them every week or so, perk of being their emissary and whatnot,¡± answered Esperanza with a firm nod. ¡°Naturally, I won¡¯t deny that they have a very strong motive to dislike the current pantheon and want to bring them down, but what I have observed myself matches what they said, as far as I could tell. Surely you too have noticed something that makes you doubt whatever was told to you, no?¡± ¡°Several things, yeah. All right, consider me interested so far. Tell me the gist of what these Oldies gods have to say about the situation. I¡¯ll reserve judgement for myself though,¡± said Alissa with a nod as she sat down more comfortably in her seat. They kept their conversation to a low whisper to avoid others from overhearing, though given how the two of them with their high attributes could only notice the sound as a whisper, it was unlikely that others could do the same, unless they had even higher attributes than them and were nearby. ¡°Well, to really sum things up, the current so-called ¡®gods¡¯ were once like us, people who were summoned here from out world, though back then they were summoned then made to fight each other by opposing nations, I think you get the idea,¡± said Esperanza as she began her explanation. ¡°They later got strong then overthrew their summoners, and kept climbing up until they discovered the slumbering Deities of old, and¡­ well¡­ Some of what they did, I bet you can imagine.¡± ¡°They cast them down and took their place as Gods, I assume,¡± replied Alissa with an easy guess. ¡°You¡¯re saying they did other things with the old¡­ Deities then?¡± ¡°In their words, the new gods apparently butchered and dismantled some of the old Deities and constructed this¡­ system we¡¯re all under out of them. In the process, they also fucked up with this world¡¯s reincarnation cycle, and as a result souls are slowly unraveling to nothingness, which is something I¡¯ve confirmed myself, at least,¡± explained Esperanza. ¡°Mind you, what Oldies asked me to do was to basically do a hard reset for this world as a whole. Destroy it so that a new one could be born out of its remnants, continuing the cycle.¡± ¡°And you played along with that request?¡± ¡°More that I¡¯m on the lookout for alternatives, and worse comes to worse, I¡¯d have looked for ways to at least send you three back home first, one way or another,¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°Honestly, though, the more I see of this world, the more I feel that they were telling me the truth.¡± ¡°I see¡­ That definitely gives us something to consider¡­¡± noted Alissa with a thoughtful look. ¡°Wait, can you roll back a bit? You said that only your soul was brought here when you were summoned. How did you know that wasn¡¯t their doing?¡± ¡°Oh, that one¡¯s simple,¡± replied Esperanza perhaps too nonchalantly. ¡°I could believe that without much questioning because when the summoning happened, I was dying, or probably already dead.¡± ¡°You what!?¡± 171/CLXXI - The Sordid Past ¡°I was dying, likely dead, even. Can¡¯t really remember all too well, too busy dying and all that, you know?¡± replied Esperanza all too nonchalantly. She used to feel wistful about dying when she was freshly summoned to Ephemera, but the months that had passed since then helped her come to terms with it, to the point that she was comfortable joking about it presently. ¡°Come to think of it, I did vaguely recall hearing the doorbell ring back then, and something that sounded like someone shouting for me¡­ were you at my place when you were summoned here?¡± ¡°Right, me and Ethan went to visit you since we were worried about you, and met Joshua along the way. We were worried about you since you¡¯ve been absent for a while back then, and Joshua was made to check on you as the class president,¡± replied Alissa automatically. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t go change the topic like that! What was that about you dying!?¡± ¡°Exactly what I said, honestly,¡± replied Esperanza with a shrug, clearly far less bothered with the discussion of her own death than Alissa was. ¡°Around the time you rang my place¡¯s doorbell and shouted for me, I was lying in the bathtub, with my wrists slit and submerged in the running water,¡± she added with just as much nonchalance. ¡°Had you been a day or two later, the cops would probably have gotten there ahead of you, I think.¡± ¡°Oh, Zaza,¡± lamented Alissa quietly, her hands covering her mouth in surprise. Esperanza had always known her to be a rather sensitive and sympathetic girl, so Alissa¡¯s reaction to the revelation was not that surprising to her. Neither was her follow-up query on the situation. ¡°How¡­ Did that happen? What made you do such a drastic thing!?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit of a long story, but sure,¡± replied Esperanza as she sat more leisurely on her chair, leaning against its back and angling her body to a more relaxed position. ¡°To begin with, though, how much do you know about my family¡¯s situation, Allie?¡± ¡°Not that much, to be honest,¡± admitted Alissa with a shake of her head. ¡°I know you and your mother came from the south, I remember you telling us about it once. Other than that¡­ let¡¯s see¡­ your mother died when you were like ten, I think? And since then you have been living under your stepfather¡¯s guardianship? I did hear my dad say some rather unpleasant rumors about him, but I didn¡¯t ask at the time. Is this related to him?¡± ¡°S¨ª,¡± said Esperanza with a serious look on her face at last. ¡°That filthy madero is a real hijo de puta. He plasters on a pretty mask when he¡¯s out of the house, plays the model citizen, cop, and father and all that, but all I remember of the pendejo was how he laid hands on my mother since I was old enough to remember. When Mam¨¢ died in that car accident I wasn¡¯t even sure whether it was his doing or truly an accident.¡± ¡°Oh, sure, he was clever about it and only hit her in places where people wouldn¡¯t see the bruises as long as she¡¯s clothed, and he knew all too well that we could only stay in the states because we were with him, and the puto cabron made full use of that knowledge, too,¡± she continued before Alissa could get a word in. ¡°It wasn¡¯t just mom either. A lot of the bruises you probably saw on me wasn¡¯t from the bullying at school. It was from him.¡± ¡°My God¡­ I¡¯m so sorry, Zaza¡­ I never knew¡­¡± muttered Alissa partly in shock at the revelation. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you and your mother have just¡­ gone elsewhere? Seek asylum, maybe? Or even return to the south where you were from? Did he have something on you that forced you two to stay with him despite the abuse?¡± ¡°Go to where? Remember that the pinche madero¡¯s a copper! He got the other coppers on his side too, so if we tried to run away while staying nearby they would¡¯ve just rounded us up and sent us back to him!¡± said Esperanza with some noticeable vehemence in her voice. ¡°As for going back down south¡­ That was never an option¡­ though I guess that¡¯s a story I¡¯ve never told you before. Only heard of it from Mam¨¢ a couple months before she died myself.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, I would like to hear it,¡± said Alissa sympathetically. ¡°They say that sharing the pain helps make it lighter. It¡¯d be the least I could do for you.¡± ¡°Well, keep in mind that all this is just what I heard from Mam¨¢, and I never got to verify anything, though I believe her. She told me that we used to live just fine back there. Abuelo was even a cop, a respected, clean one, but that ended up being our family¡¯s undoing,¡± Esperanza narrated. ¡°Abuelo was too stubborn and refused to let off a criminal, and that pissed off one of the big narcos.¡± ¡°Did you know that the narcos gives no fucks when they set their mind to something down there? They directly sent their men to our family house and gunned everyone down. Mam¨¢ and Pap¨¢ happened to be out with me that night, so we escaped the massacre by chance and managed to go on the run,¡± she continued, ending her sentence with a wistful sigh. ¡°Mam¨¢ said that Pap¨¢ played the bait to buy time for her to escape and that she never saw him ever again since. I don¡¯t even know what he looked like.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°How did the two of you get¡­ to the states, then?¡± Alissa asked curiously. She might not speak Spanish, but she could very well guess just who ¨C or rather, what ¨C sort of enemy Esperanza¡¯s family had provoked. ¡°As ironic as it may sound, Mam¨¢ and I owed our lives to another group of narcos back then. One that was rivals with the one who went after us. They basically shipped us over the border just to spite their rivals, could you believe it?¡± replied Esperanza with some rather forced-sounding laughter. ¡°Of course, that ends up just sending us to a different hell, but we did at least live a good while longer. The pinche madero¡¯s one of their men in the states. If you¡¯ve seen anyone doing drugs in town back then, it likely went through him at some point.¡± ¡°Cabron¡¯s always been good at playing the model copper, nobody even suspected him for being the narcos¡¯ stooge in town. Ironic, ain¡¯t it?¡± said Esperanza as her laugh took on a higher, stressed pitch. ¡°The one supposed to arrest the drug dealers turned out to be the boss of the ones supplying them in the first place.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why¡­¡± noted Alissa quietly as she understood the implication behind Esperanza¡¯s words. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have gone back because both cartels would¡¯ve gone after you if you did that¡­¡± ¡°Pretty much. If that was just it, I could¡¯ve probably just bear with it. It¡¯s just beating, not even that much worse than bullying at school. If anything, Mam¨¢ had it so much worse than I do, having to play the pendejo¡¯s wife to everyone she ran into¡­ I think if I wasn¡¯t there, Mam¨¢ might well have taken her chances and ran away again, but that would have to remain hypothetical, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°But nah, you were asking what drove me to take such drastic measures, didn¡¯t you?¡± said Esperanza eventually, coming to the point of what Alissa asked her about. Alissa nodded from across the table, though not without a small measure of worry and dread that she could still notice even through [Weather the Storm]¡¯s dampening effect, as the skill mostly asserted itself only when the emotions would have impaired her rationality. It was very helpful in allowing her to keep her calm so far, at the very least. ¡°Well, the puta madre couldn¡¯t keep his hands to himself after Mam¨¢ died and I got old enough. That was what drove me to do it,¡± stated Esperanza with the same nonchalance she used when talking about her death earlier. ¡°You could probably guess what happened next. For what it¡¯s worth, it wasn¡¯t like I was so depressed by it that I killed myself or something, none of that.¡± ¡°What¡­ did you do then?¡± ¡°Fucking cabron was cutting up some cheese before I came home, apparently, and he left the knife right by the table,¡± recited Esperanza with a deathly calm to her voice, as if it was something that didn¡¯t happen to herself. ¡°I managed to get my hand on it while he was to busy and engrossed with his fun, then I knifed him right at the kidney, as deep as that fucker would go in.¡± ¡°I must have stabbed him like another dozen times or two, even chopped off his bloody verga y cojones while I¡¯m at it, then stabbed him some more after he flopped to the floor on that fat belly of his. Pendejo squealed like the madero he was all the time he was bleeding out down there, to say the least. It was quite¡­ relaxing to hear.¡± Alissa was mildly horrified by what Esperanza told her, not of the murder itself, which she felt quite warranted and understandable given the circumstances, but about the nonchalant, detached way Esperanza recited the tale, as if it was merely something she watched on the television rather than had happen to herself. She was lost for words for a while, as she could only offer a sympathizing look towards her old friend, uncertain what she could even say. She sort of understood why Esperanza did what she did. Alissa knew that Esperanza likely felt as if there was no way out for her, and that she¡¯d be damned no matter what she did, which was why she chose to take her own life in the end. So that she could at least go out on her own terms. ¡°All that probably happened not too long before you came over, honestly. I recall not staying by the puta madre¡¯s carcass for long after I was sure he was as dead as can be, and just went to the bathtub and soaked myself there, even if I felt as if I would never be clean again after that. I had the knife in my hand all that time. Must¡¯ve been too stressed to let it drop all that while, heh.¡± ¡°That probably gave me the idea to just end it all, honestly. What else do I have to look forward to anyway? If I stay, they¡¯ll just toss me in jail and some of the people the narcos got in their pockets in there would make sure to get rid of me, likely in some very unpleasant way. If I try to run away, either I¡¯d get caught or the narcos themselves might send more of their people directly after me. It¡¯d be the same ending either way. At least I could go out on my own terms, I thought. Sorry if that got a bit too morbid for you.¡± Alissa was left speechless by the story she just listened to. She never had any idea of her friend¡¯s situation, with part of her practically screaming in her mind ¨C or it would have, if not for her skill¡¯s effect kicking in ¨C that she should have noticed things before it came to such a point, that she should have done something to help her friend before it was all too late. Still at a loss for words, Alissa instead did the best thing she could offer in the situation. She slowly stood up from her chair, walked around the table to Esperanza¡¯s side, then enveloped her friend in a warm, gentle hug. It was the best thing Alissa had to offer, and Esperanza seemed to understand the intent, as she allowed Alissa to embrace her, before hugging her friend back just as gently. The two remained that way for a timeless while, each one silent and pondering what they should say in their minds while they simply lent comfort to each other. 172/CLXXII - Truths and Falsehoods ¡°Okay, now that we got that part out of the way, at least, I didn¡¯t come here just to make you listen to my sob story or anything like that, Allie. I¡¯m sure you can already guess that much, no?¡± said Esperanza with a smirk on her face after they hugged for a while. Alissa responded with a sigh and slowly released her from the embrace, and looked at her with a more serious look on her face this time. ¡°Right, there¡¯s that business about destroying the world and whatnot,¡± Alissa said as she shook her head and let out another wistful sigh, then settled back down in her chair across the table. ¡°You said that you¡¯re on the lookout for alternatives, but that you also saw many things that validated the claim of these¡­ Old Gods, right? What sort of things did you see to make you so certain?¡± ¡°It¡¯s thanks to one of my skills, honestly. I have several skills related to the soul, like how I knew where you were even from afar and behind walls thanks to [Soul Sense]. Another skill I have is [Soul Sight], and what that skill allows me to do¡­ should be rather self-explanatory from the name, no?¡± explained Esperanza honestly. ¡°Yours is a pretty one, if a bit on the too-bright side, by the way.¡± ¡°Thanks for the compliment, I guess,¡± said Alissa rather uncertainly at the revelation. That Esperanza had a class focused on the Soul aspect was not surprising. If anything, it fitted with the ¡°template¡± she noticed between the way she, Ethan, and Joshua received their early classes. ¡°What have you seen through that skill that convinced you that the Old Gods were telling the truth, though?¡± Alissa¡¯s class was balanced between the three main attributes of Body, Mind, and Soul, although she could choose to lean one way or another with her choice of stat allocations and later class choices. In contrast, Ethan¡¯s focused heavily on the Body, with far less flexibility in his choices, while Joshua¡¯s did the same, only with the mind. Under that sort of template, their fourth member ¨C which Esperanza was likely meant to be at first ¨C would likely receive a class that focused on the Soul, which Esperanza ironically ended up focusing on, despite the lack of communication between them. It reminded Alissa a lot of the sort of typical starting parties in role-playing games. ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you,¡± placated Alissa with a raised hand before Esperanza could reply. ¡°It¡¯s just that¡­ I¡¯ve seen so many questionable things since we were summoned here, and if even the so-called gods of this world could not be trusted¡­ I hope you¡¯ll understand that I find it difficult to simply believe in what other so-called gods say.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s perfectly understandable,¡± replied Esperanza with an understanding nod. ¡°If I were in your situation I¡¯d probably be just as paranoid as you are now. Can¡¯t really argue against it too since I already told you that Oldies want my help in destroying this world, now can I?¡± she added with a chuckle. ¡°That said, to answer your question, what I saw with my skill is that the souls of everything in this world are¡­ for the lack of a better word¡­ fraying at the edges. They¡¯re like a knit sweater that has loose threads¡­ once someone or something pulls on one of those threads, everything would unravel.¡± ¡°And the¡­ old gods says that this is caused by what the new gods are doing with this world?¡± asked Alissa, somewhat skeptically. ¡°Indirectly,¡± came Esperanza¡¯s answer. ¡°Oldies do not believe that the current gods actually wanted this to happen, but their interference isn''t helping matters and in fact only further exacerbates it. This world runs on a cycle of reincarnation, according to Oldies. Souls that spent their lives as a complex life, with thoughts and worries, would incarnate into simpler lives, to heal the stress such a life caused to the soul, and then return to a more complex life form later on.¡± ¡°What the new gods did ever since they came to power was to prevent that cycle from taking place properly. It probably doesn¡¯t help that they practically¡­ dismantled a good chunk of the old pantheon and built this system of theirs out of their guts either,¡± continued Esperanza. ¡°As things stand, in perhaps a few more centuries the fraying would get so bad that the souls would just start disintegrating into the ether, and that¡­ would be a true death for the soul involved.¡± ¡°Destroying the world doesn¡¯t count as a true death?¡± asked Alissa once more, this time with more curiosity. ¡°I would¡¯ve thought that the end of the world would sort of be the definitive end and all that, you know.¡± ¡°The way Oldies put it¡­ I¡¯d say it¡¯s more like¡­ recycling. The old world would be broken down and used to give birth to the new world, the souls passing through to live life anew,¡± explained Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°I cannot personally confirm or deny the reincarnation bits, since that¡¯s supposedly one of the things not working properly at the moment, but I have personally checked the fraying, and can confirm that a soul that frayed¡­ does indeed disappear completely. One of my skills allows me to store the souls of those that died in the vicinity, so I wouldn¡¯t miss that.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Okay, I sort of get the gist of what you mean with that,¡± replied Alissa. You said that souls would incarnate into simpler lives to sort of relax, though, so I do need to ask. While I get that the souls that get constantly stressed by being people would degrade, what about those that keep reincarnating into¡­ the animals and bugs and whatnot?¡± ¡°Those degrade as well, though rather than because they were too stressed, it¡¯s because they were never stressed enough,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°You¡¯re an athlete. You know that to maintain your fitness, you can¡¯t afford to train too much or too little, right? The need to keep a healthy balance and all that? The same applies here, I assume.¡± ¡°When you put it that way¡­ I guess it does make some kind of sense,¡± admitted Alissa after she heard the explanation. ¡°Still feels a bit iffy that you¡¯d need to destroy the whole world to fulfill the cycle, though, but then gain, we got summoned to a whole different world that has a game-like system that the new gods supposedly made out of the carcass of dead old gods¡­ so it wouldn¡¯t be out of place, all considered.¡± ¡°More like putting a patient on extensive life support out of their misery, Oldies said,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°The world itself is overdue for such a cycle, and it¡¯s the new gods and their system that¡¯s been forcibly maintaining it well past its expiration date, so to speak. It¡¯s one reason why things like the souls unraveling even took place.¡± ¡°Question for you, though. Did you ever ask the old gods what will happen to them after such a cycle? Would they be the gods of the new world after it is born? You did say that they have plenty of motive to hate the new gods¡­ so I¡¯m just wondering if there might be more to that,¡± asked Alissa. ¡°For that matter, have they made you do anything you don¡¯t want to do so far?¡± ¡°No, they haven¡¯t. If anything, Oldies seem almost insistent that I see things and decide what to do for myself, rather than simply follow their words. It¡¯s one of the reasons I feel that they might be worth some trust, honestly,¡± was Esperanza¡¯s reply. ¡°And to answer your other questions, it did come up during one of our chats.¡± ¡°Oh? What did they say, then?¡± ¡°The gods that preside over the world would be consumed, their very existence the fuel that allows the cycle of reincarnation to apply to the world itself as a whole in the first place. When the new world forms, it would birth a new pantheon, infant deities who would watch over the world and continue the cycle accordingly,¡± said Esperanza. ¡°At least, that was how they said their innate understanding goes. Also explains why the new gods would try to preserve this world as much as they could¡­ they¡¯re the gods of this world now, so if the cycle happens, they might well be the ones consumed by it instead.¡± ¡°Huh. They seem pretty nonchalant about their own death, and for that matter¡­ so do you, rather disturbingly so, I must admit,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°Are you sure that they¡¯ve done nothing to you in particular?¡± ¡°Honestly, actually dying probably did most of it for me. That and Oldies themselves admitted that my soul might well be somewhat fragmented and incomplete since I was already dead at the time of the summoning, so that might also be a reason for change,¡± Esperanza replied honestly. ¡°Also, the system seems inclined to label everyone associated with Oldies with negative sanity, so if you could see mine it would be well in the negatives, though otherwise the numbers and math seem to work normally.¡± ¡°Any¡­ idea why that would be the case?¡± asked Alissa with obvious worry. ¡°Likely bias against them by the new gods. Everyone that still worships them is labeled with negative sanity, Allie, everyone. This includes young children and newborn babes,¡± said Esperanza rather vehemently. ¡°My version of [Analysis] can see a lot more than most, and there is no way that you could convince me that young children are somehow born insane just because their parents worship a different set of gods.¡± ¡°Okay, okay, I get where you¡¯re coming from,¡± said Alissa placatingly. She was at first rather suspicious with Esperanza¡¯s admission of having negative sanity, but hearing that it was apparently also the case with young children and babies changed her mind rapidly. ¡°Definitely lends some context to some of the things I¡¯ve noticed myself, at least. In fact, I happened to have recently read some books that mentioned¡­ people who worship the old gods, the last time the kingdom tried to purge them many generations ago.¡± ¡°I can say that their so-called purge, and whatever the demons called their equivalent, did not get everyone,¡± replied Esperanza with a rather bitter tone. ¡°I even saw how the demons slaughtered most of a village just because they worship the old gods with my own eyes, a good while ago. It was part of what convinced me to try to be more proactive in doing things, honestly.¡± ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind if I refrain from telling you the location of such places, though,¡± she continued with a shake of her head. ¡°No offense, but they¡¯d probably evacuate in a hurry if they caught wind that a summoned [Hero] was headed their way, just to be safe. Millennia of seeing the summoned people as tools of the new gods kinda does that.¡± ¡°No, I get it, and it¡¯s also why I have some of my own doubts that the locals who summoned us might not be completely truthful about things,¡± replied Alissa with a nod of her head. ¡°Ethan harbored similar suspicions, though it¡¯s harder to tell with Joshua. He¡¯s been rather taciturn and mostly keeps to himself since we were summoned, and we only really interact while fighting together.¡± ¡°Doubts of your own, you say? And Ethan shares them?¡± Esperanza queried with obvious interest. ¡°What can you tell me about them?¡± ¡°Quite a bit, honestly, though we might have to save it for another meeting. It¡¯s almost time for the librarian to close up the library, and I need to leave before then. Think you can come to the library again, tomorrow?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure, actually. I managed to get through the wards with my own methods today, but if they have someone competent watching the wards, the signs of my passage might be noticed, which would prevent me from being able to get here, at least not without causing some sort of ruckus. Think we can meet outside instead?¡± ¡°That would probably be less conspicuous. Maybe at some sort of eatery or the like? Would not be uncommon to share a table with a stranger in such a place.¡± ¡°Sure, then. Tomorrow around an hour after noon? I¡¯ll wait at an eatery called the ¡®Maiden¡¯s Shanty¡¯, it¡¯s near the northern section of town, a bit on the east side.¡± 173/CLXXIII - Clandestine Meeting in Town Esperanza looked up from where she was seated, on a table far in the back corner of the eatery, where she was left undisturbed. Her eyes ¨C both the visible ones on her ¡°face¡± as well as the myriad others hidden in various parts of her body and ¡°clothes¡± ¨C looked towards the eatery¡¯s door, as through her [Soul Sense] she had noticed the approach of a particularly bright, shining soul. One that she now knew for certain belonged to Alissa O¡¯Connor. To her relief, Alissa seemed to be moving alone, with no other souls in her vicinity moving together with her. Esperanza had been somewhat worried that Alissa might have fallen to the new gods¡¯ control and would try to capture her during this meeting ¨C one reason she asked to meet at a relatively secluded place to bait them ¨C so it was nice to put that worry behind her. One could never be too careful, after all. A short while after Esperanza noticed Alissa¡¯s soul, the girl entered the eatery, her neat clothes and well-cared for hair instantly making her look rather out of place. The eatery was in a somewhat seedier part of town, even if it was close to the northern side, and many of the patrons were less well-to-do locals who naturally couldn¡¯t afford to put so much care into their clothing or hair. For what it was worth, the food was excellent, though, which was the reason Esperanza picked the place. Esperanza deactivated her [Veil of Entropy], then raised her hand and waved so that Alissa could notice her at the corner. Alissa noticed her before long and made her way through the eatery to sit at her table, directly across from her. Before Alissa could speak out, though, Esperanza halted her with a raised hand and instead beckoned a waiter over. ¡°Order some food first. They made some really good stuff here, despite the unassuming looks. The cochinillo is to die for,¡± said Esperanza with a chuckle. She could understand Alissa¡¯s impatience to talk more about this world they had been summoned to, but figured that it might be better to do so when they were both more relaxed. ¡°Oh, sir, can you get us a pitcher of that sour ale you got here? And a quarter of a roasted suckling pig as well. Not sure what she¡¯s going to order.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯ll take the same ale, and if you got some of those spicy sausages I¡¯d like a platter of those as well,¡± said Alissa as she was caught up in Esperanza¡¯s rhythm. The waiter was close enough to hear them by that point, so she figured that they wouldn¡¯t be talking about anything sensitive until he left anyway, so might as well get herself something to eat. She did skip out on lunch to meet with Esperanza after all, having spent most of the morning reading in the library to give the appearance that nothing untoward was going on. Esperanza¡¯s worry about her entry being noticed proved to be quite prescient, as while Alissa made her way to and from the library that morning, she noticed a few older faculty members who had classes that leaned along the lines of [Ward Artisan] and [Barrier Creator] gather around a section of the academy building, discussing something about an unnoticed intruder. What snippets Alissa herself overheard suggested that they thought a nest of moles under the academy might have accidentally caused some parts of the anchored wards to loosen, somehow. The old men threw around a lot of technical magical jargon that Alissa couldn¡¯t even begin to make heads or tails from, and she didn¡¯t exactly stay around overlong other than to show the appropriate amount of curiosity that would have been expected out of anyone, anyway. It had been far easier for her to do such things since she got [Weather the Storm]. Alissa then made some small talk with Esperanza, talking about inconsequential things like the weather and the like, as they waited for the waiter to return with their orders. Said waiter did so after a mere five minutes or so, the eatery clearly a prepared one, and laid down their orders at the table before he left with a smile as Esperanza paid him up front and asked not to be disturbed while eating. The moment the waiter walked far enough away from the table, Esperanza used that skill she showed Alissa the previous night, the one that made them less noticeable to everyone around them, and enveloped the two of them as well as the table in its range. To the people outside, it was as if the two girls and their table never existed to begin with. ¡°Alright, now that we got some privacy for ourselves, let¡¯s continue where we left off last night,¡± said Esperanza from across the table as she all too casually poured herself some of the ale and drank it down in one go. ¡°No silly age limits that lets you drive cars and buy guns but not drink anything with alcohol in it here, so don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Then again, you did ask for some ale as well, so I¡¯d guess you already know that, anyway,¡± she added with a bit of laughter as she tore off the pig¡¯s hind leg off its body with one hand and took a big bite out of it. ¡°No reason to not have some good stuff to snack and drink on while we talk, isn¡¯t it? Even if we¡¯re going to talk about serious stuff, that isn¡¯t a good reason to make ourselves less comfortable.¡± ¡°Fair enough,¡± replied Alissa with a smile. Esperanza felt quite different from the shy, demure, quiet girl of her memories, but then again, the experiences the girl had gone through would have changed anyone, and while Alissa was not used to having her friend be so much more open and exuberant like this, she didn¡¯t exactly mind either. After all, from the story Esperanza told her, her previous quietness was more due to how she was made to keep a lid over her many grievances by a variety of factors. It was better that the girl could let loose freely like now and be true to herself instead. ¡°So, you¡¯ve told me a lot about the old gods and the past, but what can you tell me about the current gods? Other than that they used to be summoned people like us who had since overthrown the old pantheon and rose to godhood themselves and what not, that is,¡± asked Alissa. ¡°Those parts are pretty well documented, interestingly enough.¡± ¡°No surprise that they¡¯d want their greatest achievement immortalized in history. From what Oldies told me they likely grew quite a bit of an ego due to, you know, being gods and all that, and might have allowed the power to get over their heads,¡± stated Esperanza. ¡°Pretty typical stuff, all considered. We have heads of state doing that already in our world, much less if someone with that tendency becomes an honest to god¡­ well¡­ god.¡± ¡°As to answer your question¡­ you already know that this summoning and war cycle is a recurring one, yes, one that looks like someone or something¡¯s been orchestrating it so that neither side would ever win a final victory?¡± Esperanza asked back. ¡°Should be a lot of clues pertaining to that I think. Doubt they could hide those from their history books that well.¡± ¡°It is as you said, and one of the biggest suspicions I have about this world as well,¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°Let me guess, the current gods are the ones behind the situation?¡± ¡°Honestly, given that Oldies have every motive to blame the new gods for everything, they would have probably said that even if it wasn¡¯t the case. That said, I do believe that the new gods are at the very least, supportive of the current state of this world, if not the director behind the scenes themselves,¡± said Esperanza while nonchalantly gnawing on the pork leg in her hand. ¡°It would imply a great deal of incompetence on their part that something this big and obvious somehow managed to keep going under their watch, after all.¡± ¡°That is a very good point to make, honestly, and yeah, I¡¯ve mostly suspected the new gods themselves, or at least their clergy, on both sides,¡± replied Alissa. ¡°Anything you know in particular about the summoning? Since these¡­ old gods were able to take you during one, they should be able to at least observe what went on there, no?¡± ¡°They are, and according to them, the summoning has only ever gone one way,¡± said Esperanza as she all too casually dropped a bombshell that rendered Alissa speechless with its implications. ¡°That is, people were only ever summoned from elsewhere to here, but they had never sent anyone back the way they came from.¡± ¡°Why¡­ Why do they bother to make us fight and catch each other to fuel a so-called ritual then?¡± asked Alissa who kept her emotions under a strict control using her skill at the revelation. It was something she expected to be confirmed about one day, yet was also something she hoped she wouldn¡¯t ever hear. ¡°Or is there¡­ another purpose behind that?¡± ¡°Smart as always, Allie,¡± praised Esperanza with a smile. She took a deep drink from her flagon of ale before she continued her words. ¡°I myself have no real information on this, and all I can say is what Oldies told me. They said that the so-called ritual seemed to make¡­ use of the summoned otherworldly soul in order to maintain and feed the system. It¡¯s like¡­ we¡¯re batteries for the system, and they summoned new ones and repeated this farce of a war all over again to get us strong enough to work as proper batteries to replace the used ones.¡± ¡°That¡­ makes an unpleasant amount of sense, actually, and would also explain why none of the summoned people ever chose to settle down and live here instead of ¡®returning¡¯,¡± noted Alissa with a thoughtful look on her face. ¡°If these new gods really had an agenda of their own, they wouldn¡¯t want any of the summoned to have the time to look behind the corners and notice the going-ons they have kept hidden away.¡± ¡°One of many possible reasons for that, yeah,¡± replied Esperanza as she gnawed off the last bits of meat stuck to the bones of the pork leg she had and put the now cleaned bone back on the plate. The way she clearly enjoyed the food made Alissa feel hungry herself, so she picked one of the sausages on her plate and munched on it as well. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right, this place does make some good food.¡± ¡°You got to try these, takes you straight to para¨ªso, I swear,¡± said Esperanza as she gleefully offered Alissa a portion of the roast pork on her plate. The portion she handed over was the meat over a pair of the pig¡¯s ribs, with the bones still attached. ¡°Sure, then, thanks,¡± said Alissa with a smile as she took the offered chunk of meat and in turn pushed her own plate a bit closer to Esperanza. ¡°Have some of mine too. I¡¯d feel bad if I just mooch off your food like that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more like it!¡± said Esperanza with a chuckle. ¡°You were so tense and nervous yesterday that it didn¡¯t feel like we could talk properly. This is far better, just the two of us having some good food while talking about things the gods didn¡¯t want anyone to know about and all that! A toast to getting summoned by asses that didn¡¯t even ask for consent first!¡± Alissa raised her flagon of ale and toasted Esperanza¡¯s, while being all too aware of the sarcasm in her voice. Indeed, a lot about their situation might seem like a dream come true for some, adventure in another world and all that, but in truth their situation was nowhere near as idyllic and pleasant as what fantasy stories loved to imagine. They were made to fight at the whims of others, their lives on the line, with perhaps no real way to return home. 174/CLXXIV - Opening Up to One Another ¡°Oh my god how in the name of all that¡¯s holy did they manage to make something this good with just what they have here!?¡± exclaimed Alissa in wide-eyed surprise. She had been laboring under the age-old stereotype that food in the medieval ages ¨C which Ephemera was a decent analogue for ¨C was on the poor end, and her experiences so far matched that expectation. The food while she was at the Royal Palace looked pretty, well decorated and all that, but were mostly on the bland side when it came to flavor, all things considered. It was only recently that she learned how that was mostly due to the preference of the northern nobles and the Kingdom¡¯s so-called ¡°high society¡± who believed that excessive flavors would ruin the essence of a meal. It was so bad to the point that Alissa found herself favoring the meals she had while on dungeon delves, as the simpler rations, which were mostly composed of preserved items, had far more flavor in general, as the typical methods of preservation would impart flavor to them. Of course, the Royal Palace¡¯s chefs prided themselves in only using the freshest ingredients instead, so none of those were to be found there, most of the time. Which was fine with fruits and vegetables, but when it came to meat and fish and the like, the way the food was prepared in the north of the Kingdom resulted in mostly bland things. The sort of things that brought ¡°health food¡± from her previous world to mind, even, to the point that she questioned if one of the previous heroes had been a health food fanatic and imparted those beliefs on the locals. She did find the food in Clearridge far more palatable and tasty, but the meat Esperanza offered her was on a whole different level altogether. It was so good that for a moment she forgot all about the situation she was in, the gods and whatnot, or even possibilities of going home, and just focused on enjoying the bit of pure ecstasy in her mouth. It was not like the cooks even used much in terms of spices. At most she tasted some salt on the meat, while the rest of the flavor was present thanks to the skill of the cook responsible. The roasted suckling pig had crisp skin that shattered under her bite, juicy meat that parted under even the slightest pressure, and sweet, rich fat layers that literally melted in her mouth to make what was probably the best bite of pork Alissa ever had in her life. There were no complicated spices, not even complicated techniques. Just perfectly cooked meat by a chef who knew how to handle a fire for the perfect doneness, with a hint of smoke imparted from the open flames that permeated the meat and added an aftertaste to it. Alissa thought that there was a bit of a smoky aftertaste that reminded her of apples and oranges at the same time, so it was probably wood from a local fruit tree that imparted the flavor. ¡°Just because they don¡¯t have pressure cookers or ovens or a hundred variety of spices in their kitchen cabinet doesn¡¯t mean the people here doesn¡¯t know how to eat well, Allie,¡± said Esperanza with a smirk on her face as she chewed on one of the sausages she took from Alissa¡¯s plate. ¡°Oh, this tastes a lot like chorizo, pretty nice to have something like this over here.¡± ¡°Hey, waiter!¡± yelled Esperanza over the din of the eatery after she temporarily turned her skill off. She also waved her hand to get the nearest waiter¡¯s attention, who soon came to their table with a smile on his face. ¡°Can you get us another half- no wait, might as well make that a whole roasted suckling pig. Another platter of these sausages and two more pitchers of ale as well. Here¡¯s the money, keep the change,¡± she said while casually flicking a couple of silver coins to the smiling waiter¡¯s hand. ¡°Right away, ma¡¯am! We¡¯ll get you one that¡¯s fresh off the grill!¡± replied the waiter enthusiastically as he ran off to the kitchen. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit too much?¡± asked Alissa with some amusement in her voice once the waiter left earshot. ¡°Eh, I¡¯m a pretty big eater now, pretty sure I can chow down on a whole adult pig, much less a suckling one, so no need to worry about being wasteful,¡± replied Esperanza with a shrug of her shoulders as she filled her flagon with more ale and drank it while chewing on another sausage. ¡°Also, I figured that you could make use of the relaxation. No offense, Allie, but you look like someone has run you through the wringer lately, and I don¡¯t think that¡¯s all from just what I told you yesterday.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°It still shows, huh?¡± replied Alissa with a sigh. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right. It¡¯s not like having gone through that battle would be something I could just sleep and pretend to forget,¡± she confessed. ¡°It was a horrible thing, Zaza, all the killing day and night, almost without rest, and even those times when you get to rest haunted by the possibility that things might go south while you sleep¡­ I¡¯d have probably gone mad if not for one of my skills helping me deal with that.¡± ¡°Well, the bloody pendejos fucking kidnapped some high schoolers, put some swords in their hands, and then made you all go fight their war for them. Is it really surprising that you all end up stressed and traumatized by all the shit you had to go through!?¡± replied Esperanza rather bitingly. ¡°Honestly, that part alone would have made whoever did the summoning a cabr¨®n in my books, but those stories Ethan likes so much rarely ever bother to address that part, didn¡¯t they?¡± ¡°They never ask for our permission, or care about what we think on the matter, don''t they? Oldies, I can kinda let off a bit since they had nothing to do with the summoning and whatnot, and only really took advantage of something that already happened, but the ones who initiated the summoning? Those people have far less excuse for what they did to us,¡± she continued. ¡°Part of the reason why I feel little qualm in wrecking their little game while I¡¯m at it, to be honest.¡± ¡°And have you- oh, the waiter¡¯s here,¡± said Alissa as she noticed the waiter approach from the corner of her eye. The waiter in question somehow held the platter with a whole roasted suckling pig on his right hand, while balancing another smaller platter of sausages on his left arm, and holding two pitchers of ale with his hand at the same time. He cheerfully placed them all on the table and bit them a good eating before he left cheerfully. Esperanza covered the whole table with her [Veil of Entropy] once more the moment the waiter left, and gestured to Alissa to have some of the food with one hand. ¡°As I was saying, while I understand completely that you would prefer to keep things a secret and not divulge the details of what you¡¯ve done so far, have you done anything to directly progress that mission you have been given?¡± Alissa asked once more once their privacy was secured. She then tore off one of the suckling pig¡¯s legs and took a hearty bite before she gave a sigh of appreciation. ¡°By god, that¡¯s some good stuff.¡± ¡°Understandable question. I will honestly say that I¡¯ve made some strikes, but so far those have only been against the demons, as I happened to fall in their territory after that incident at the temple back then,¡± said Esperanza. ¡°I will say that I wouldn¡¯t exclude the human side from my target list in the future, however, and I believe you might understand why yourself if you think about it.¡± ¡°No need to think about it, I do get what you mean. If you really do intend to go against the very gods that currently rule this world, that¡¯s pretty much the same as making this whole world your enemy,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. ¡°All I can really do is to ask that you follow your conscience and try to target those who truly deserve it, rather than those who were just misled or doing their jobs.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s something I can do for the time being, at least, though if I can¡¯t find another way in the end, and this world truly comes to an end because of me, then I¡¯ll have to apologize that I can¡¯t do better,¡± said Esperanza frankly. ¡°Honestly, I still have no real idea on how we¡¯d have to deal with the gods to begin with. That level of power just seems hilariously outlandish to contemplate, though since those gods rose to power by growing stronger¡­ it might well be that we could do the same as well¡­¡± ¡°You mean¡­ the fifth tier?¡± queried Alissa, though from her voice it was pretty obvious that she was less asking and more confirming a guess she already had. ¡°It did always find it suspicious that the strongest people amongst both the humans and the demons here were only in their fourth tier, and that everytime some fifth tiers came to be, it was usually heroes who were about to ¡®return¡¯ or people who vanished without a trace soon after.¡± ¡°If you didn¡¯t pay attention to it, it might just look like a coincidence, doesn¡¯t it?¡± noted Esperanza with a mocking smirk. ¡°But take a closer look and a sniff and you¡¯ll easily notice that the whole thing smells fishier than a rotten fish.¡± ¡°Yeah. It stinks too much like people in power pruning those that grow powerful enough to threaten them before they could truly reach the point where they were an actual threat,¡± said Alissa with a nod. ¡°With the locals, it¡¯s also partially because their classes tend to be of lower quality, and lower quality classes have a harder time leveling up. I can¡¯t help but feel that this is intentional as well.¡± ¡°It likely is. Definitely explains why there¡¯s not more fifth tiers amongst the natives I¡¯ve encountered so far, unless you count mindless monsters. I¡¯ve seen some that might be fifth tier from afar, but didn¡¯t take any chances so I didn¡¯t [Identify] them,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°If you can answer, how strong is the strongest person you have seen in the human kingdom so far?¡± ¡°That would be Sir Inolet, the veteran knight they had as a teacher for me and Ethan early on, and these days accompany us as a guard and chaperone of sorts,¡± Alissa said honestly. ¡°He¡¯s in the middle levels of his fourth tier, but has very high class quality, probably just a notch lower than the classes we get, and by his admission, he¡¯s one of the five most powerful people in this kingdom. That¡¯s despite his handicaps.¡± ¡°Handicaps?¡± Esperanza asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Sir Inolet¡¯s missing an eye and half a lower leg from injuries he took during the previous war, around some fifty years ago. If not for those and his advancing age, I think he might be a contender for the most powerful fighter in the kingdom,¡± clarified Alissa. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t take it against me if I don¡¯t feel comfortable with telling you what I know of his skills.¡± ¡°Nah, that¡¯s understandable, especially if the old man¡¯s been good to you, and from the way you speak fondly of him, I wager that¡¯s the case,¡± replied Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°Just knowing the general level range of the strongest is good enough. It would help me better understand what I might be dealing with should I begin to deal with this kingdom in the future.¡± ¡°But let¡¯s save the depressing talk for a bit later, shall we. We should eat first before the food gets cold.¡± 175/CLXXV - A Hero and A Monster Conspiring Alissa and Esperanza mostly remained quiet while they enjoyed the food, which was indeed amazing like Esperanza had promised. For a good while the only sound around the table was that of munching and gnawing as the two girls set upon the roasted suckling pig and sausages without even a hint of decorum, knowing that they were amongst friends and there was nothing to hide. Esperanza even took the pitcher of ale and drank directly from it. Like Alissa said, she couldn¡¯t exactly finish the copious amount of food they ordered. After she ate about a third of the roasted pork and some sausages, Alissa gestured that she was full and could eat no more. Fortunately, Esperanza was not boasting when she earlier told Alissa that she was now a big eater, as she quickly and cleanly devoured the rest of the food on their table, down to the bones, even. All that was left after around half an hour were clean plates that only had some bits of oil left on them. They did keep half a pitcher of ale to drink while they conversed, however, and Esperanza poured for both of them while they settled down after the meal. Both of them knew that it would be time for more serious talks soon, but they chose to savor the moment of peace while they could first. Both of them knew that such chances might be fleeting in the days to come. ¡°So¡­ Zaza¡­ I know you don¡¯t want to describe things too much, and likely shouldn¡¯t either, given that we¡¯re technically on different sides for the time being, but what do you have in mind going forward?¡± asked Alissa with some worry in her voice. ¡°I get that you don¡¯t consider this kingdom a friend, and that it might well be an obstacle in your way, but I also can¡¯t help but to worry for the people who have nothing to do with all these¡­ conspiracies and bullshit going on around us.¡± ¡°Well, you can rest assured that I wouldn¡¯t be going around burning villages at random or anything like that,¡± said Esperanza in a somewhat placating tone. ¡°That said, I cannot promise the same with the temples and nobles, though. I think you can figure out why if you think about it, so I won¡¯t bother to explain the reasoning.¡± ¡°Yeah, if this whole mess is indeed something ordained by the so-called gods, then there would be at least some of those who are active participants in this, if not most of them,¡± said Alissa in reply with a shake of her head. ¡°I know how shit like that goes. If it benefits them in the short term, people in power would often do all sorts of shit that makes you wonder whether they even have a conscience at all.¡± ¡°¡±You catch on quick, as always,¡± praised Esperanza with a smile as she took a sip from her flagon of ale. ¡°Anyway, when I do act in the Kingdom, I will try to refrain from harming those other than the ones who really deserve what I will bring to them, though I hope you understand that I cannot promise that there will be no collateral damage whatsoever.¡± ¡°I expected that,¡± said Alissa with a nod. ¡°If you were to act like that in the Kingdom¡¯s territory, would that not being unwanted attention your way, though? I thought from what you said, people who still worship the¡­ old gods prefer to remain in hiding?¡± ¡°They do, and no need to worry about me. I can make any action I take look like they are done by demons, to the point that nobody would even think of such an alternative explanation as those who worship Oldies,¡± assured Esperanza. ¡°I can say that I am not alone, Allie, and amongst those with me are both humans and demons as well as hybrids from both sides.¡± ¡°Heh, meanwhile here in the kingdom they make it sound like there is no discussion to be had with the demons, no possible way to coexist, and that all this fighting would only even end when either the humans or the demons are completely wiped out from existence,¡± scoffed Alissa. ¡°Bet the old priests who preach that would have aneurysms when they learn of the existence of hybrids between demons and humans.¡± ¡°Then they would immediately try to scour every proof of their existence from this world, probably with fire,¡± added Esperanza all too nonchalantly. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, the demons seem to have the same propaganda going on amongst themselves. I was present when some demons put an entire village of Oldies¡¯ worshipers to the sword and managed to eavesdrop on some of them talking¡­ before I put an end to them.¡± ¡°They seem to consider relations between any of the demon races with a human to be utter depravity, and that those who did it need their soul purified lest they go to the deepest, cruelest hell in their belief,¡± she continued. ¡°I will let you guess how that purification was done.¡± ¡°Let me guess¡­ hmm¡­¡± mumbled Alissa for a moment, though it was more for show than anything. ¡°Purification by Fire?¡± ¡°Got it in one. Those demons were lamenting that the villagers were resisting them and thus had to be killed, and that they could not strap them to stakes so they could purify their souls by burning them alive,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°I guess to them it must look like a kindness, given their belief, but to anyone else it would just look like unnecessary cruelty.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What did they do to the human half of such couples?¡± asked Alissa with curiosity. ¡°I know how the propaganda the temple spreads all over this kingdom goes. The demons are the enemy, soulless fiends who would feast on your unborn children, merciless and capable of the worst cruelties, you get the idea. An enemy that only exists to be destroyed.¡± ¡°Pretty much the same, from what I can tell,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°Whatever propaganda they feed to the demons seem to instill a hatred against humans that would at times even cause them to make suicidal attacks if they spotted a human. I used the form of a human when I struck several of the demons¡¯ bases back then, so I heard their screaming and yelling enough to know that.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ You can understand the demon language?¡± Alissa asked in complete surprise. ¡°My [Language Understanding] skill doesn''t allow me to understand what they¡¯re saying, other than that one time we ran into a demon [Champion] who happened to speak english!¡± ¡°Mine allows me to speak and understand both the human and demon tongue, yeah. Both I and Oldies suspect that your skills are sabotaged on purpose by the gods so that you would not be able to come to an understanding with the demons and vice versa, though I guess they sometimes missed things if what you said about the [Champion] is right,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°Though, I¡¯m guessing by the look on your face that you didn¡¯t get to discuss much if anything with that person when you met them, huh?¡± ¡°We were in the middle of a vicious battle where every moment counts and a great many lives were on the line,¡± said Alissa with her head down. ¡°I only even realized that I could understand what she was saying after the battle was done, so the thought of talking with her never even entered my mind at all at the time. I also felt really dumb when I realized it back then.¡± ¡°It happens,¡± placated Esperanza. ¡°While skills and the like help, it is far from easy to change our mindsets in such a short time. You were never trained or prepared for anything resembling what you had to deal with here until we all were summoned all of a sudden, so it¡¯s no surprise that you miss things every now and then.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you, Allie,¡± said Esperanza with a more solemn tone. ¡°I had considered many possible scenarios in my head on how our meeting might go, practically all of them being far less pleasant than how it actually went,¡± she added. ¡°But when I actually saw you, I knew that things would be all right, since you were looking for your own way to deal with this mess we were brought into.¡± ¡°Wait a moment there, how bad are the scenarios you imagined in your mind? What was the worst scenario you imagined and how would you have dealt with it if that was what happened?¡± asked Alissa with more than a little amusement in her voice. ¡°Also¡­ I¡¯m not sure I get what you mean in the end there. Care to elaborate?¡± ¡°Oh, my worst case scenario would be if you ended up being sort of a puppet to the new gods and was doing their bidding like a good puppet would,¡± replied Esperanza honestly. ¡°If that was the case, I would have fought you, and if I somehow managed it, restrict and abduct you while I try to figure out a way to get you away from their grasp, somehow.¡± ¡°That is a very plausible scenario, actually. In my class choices I¡¯ve received classes that promised a lot of power each time, but they also make it sound like I would be pretty much a tool for those so-called gods to wield at their discretion if I picked those classes, so I always avoided them,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°Also, you haven¡¯t answered my other question.¡± ¡°Ah, right. Back when we met at the library I let you see my classes, remember?¡± ¡°Yeah, what about it?¡± ¡°Well, I did that partly to make things even. You see, Allie, one of my skills is a very high grade variant of [Analysis] or [Identify]. It can pretty much block any such attempts, or pierce through skills that hide or cover your classes in some way as long as they¡¯re of lower rarity. Apparently, whatever skill you used to cover up your classes are lower in rarity than mine,¡± explained Esperanza. ¡°So yeah, I¡¯ve seen your real classes and from them, know that you were also trying to find the truth and your own path in this world.¡± Alissa was at first alarmed and her hand instinctively went for the sword she wore at her waist at Esperanza¡¯s unexpected proclamation, but she halted her movement halfway as she realized what Esperanza was saying. Part of her was panicking at her secret being revealed like that, but she used [Weather the Storm] to help suppress that part of her and keep her calm. ¡°Sorry¡­ just wasn¡¯t expecting you to say that of all things,¡± said Alissa as she breathed out slowly and moved herself back to a more relaxed pose. She also took a long drink out of her flagon of ale to further help calm herself. ¡°I guess that explains why you were so open with me from the start, then. You already know that I have my own doubts about this world.¡± ¡°We are kindred spirits in that matter,¡± admitted Esperanza as she poured more ale into Alissa¡¯s flagon and then her own. ¡°As much as I trust Oldies, I still confirm as much as I could out of what they told me, just to be sure. Though the way they encourage me to not believe in things I have not confirmed myself also goes a long way to make them feel more trustworthy, I guess.¡± ¡°One thing I have yet to find a way to confirm one way or another but feel that they are very likely telling the truth is about how the ritual to ¡®send you home¡¯ is likely a trap of some sort, though,¡± she continued ¡°If you ever do find yourself in a position where you¡¯d be involved in such a thing, please exercise the utmost caution, Allie, and trust no one.¡± ¡°I know, Zaza, and thanks for the warning,¡± replied Alissa. ¡°That said¡­ How will we see each other again in the future? It would probably be hard for me to try to find you, given my position and all that¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you worry about that. I¡¯ll find you when we happen to be in the same area and the situation allows. I have more ways to go about such things than you do, so it shouldn¡¯t be too hard¡­ unless if you¡¯re in the middle of a military camp, of course.¡± 176/CLXXVI - Heading their Respective Ways After her first clandestine meeting with Esperanza in the eatery, Alissa kept to her usual schedule for the rest of her stay in town, or at least, that was what it looked like to any outside observers. She continued going to the academy¡¯s library in the morning, and other than an hour or so where she left to have lunch, spent the rest of her day there and only returned to the inn in the evening. Nadine and Maribel were used to Alissa¡¯s preference for the library by that point, so they never really questioned it. Neither of them expected that Alissa was meeting with Esperanza during those lunch breaks, however, and the two were discussing things that would have incited the temple priests to declare them heretics or worse. In truth, Alissa and Esperanza met during each of those ¡°lunch breaks¡± and discussed what they intended to do together. Esperanza offered Alissa information she was not privy to beforehand due to the temple¡¯s censoring or just because they were unavailable in the kingdom, like some details about the demons people would only know by living amongst them. Those were things Esperanza experienced for herself since the refuges had people from all the races, so she had lived amongst demons and demon descendants while she stayed there. Part of that knowledge were weaknesses specific to each of the demon races that few know about as it was kept a tightly guarded secret outside of their own communities. Perhaps some of the human warriors who fought the demons in the past had discovered those weaknesses through trial and error, but if so, they either failed to propagate the knowledge or failed to consider the value of such a discovery. Out of the ones Alissa listed, only the weakness of some demons with good night vision to sudden exposure of bright light during the night was a known one to Alissa. That said, considering the situation, Esperanza did ask Alissa to mostly keep the knowledge to herself and only reveal some she ¡°accidentally¡± discovered when truly necessary. When Alissa considered how both the humans and the demons were enemies to Esperanza, she agreed and promised that she would not reveal the information unless it was truly an emergency. Esperanza did also mention that she would prefer the humans to win this war, as the demons were the dominant force in this world and weakening them a good bit would help her endeavors. It was not like the humans would win such a war easily either, so both sides would be weakened even if the human kingdom ended up the victor. On the other hand, if the demons won, they would take less losses comparatively, since they were already in a position of strength to begin with. Alissa herself spent some of her time researching in the library to look up topics Esperanza wanted to know more about, like anything related to the old gods as well as a clearer glimpse on the temple¡¯s propaganda campaign ¨C one that was likely endorsed by their gods and had gone on for millennia ¨C so she could better deal with those. Perhaps it was a betrayal to the mission a [Hero] summoned to Ephemera was supposed to do in letter, but Alissa felt that she was actually adhering to the spirit of what a Hero would have done. The two of them plotted their future course of action together. Esperanza would stay in the human territory a while more, ranging further as she observed things and searched for weaknesses that she could exploit when the time is right, whereas Alissa would return to the frontlines, keeping their meeting a secret even from Ethan and Joshua, as it was something they were iffy about informing the others on. It was not easy to accept that someone they know got incarnated as some sort of eldritch abomination by the power of some old gods after all, and Alissa only came to accept that fact after a while herself. There was no telling how Ethan or Joshua would react to the news, and worst case it could mess things up for both of them, so they agreed to keep it their secret for the time being. One benefit Alissa definitely felt from their meetings was that because Esperanza had been in the city for longer, she was also more familiar with the local eateries and the like, and thus kept showing Alissa the good spots. While the inn Alissa stayed at also served good food, it was nice to be able to change things up with other good stuff as well. Time flew by, and before long, it was the last day of Alissa¡¯s break. She would need to return to the fort that very evening, and she managed to stay that long in the city because she and her companions would cover the distance to the fort on their own, as they were able to move faster than the wagons that carried the soldiers on break while moving on foot. ¡°Good luck out there, Allie, and stay safe,¡± said Esperanza as she gave her old friend a parting hug. The past few days were a bit tense, but she was glad that Alissa seemed to be able to accept her for who she was, not what she became. Alissa probably didn¡¯t take everything Esperanza informed her of at face value, because some bits were ones where Esperanza herself was not completely certain about, but they had arrived at a mutual understanding of sorts. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The information Alissa provided were mostly things Esperanza and her group would likely find out on their own with time, instead of anything particularly confidential. That said, both of them noticed that the kingdom sure kept their summoned [Heroes] away from quite a bit of confidential information that they probably should know about. The way the temple was particularly tight-lipped outside of the dogma they preached and what¡¯s written in their holy books was suspicious in particular. Of course, Alissa already had her doubts prior to their meeting, so meeting with Esperanza and listening to her side of the story mostly affirmed her own doubts that there was something wrong that the kingdom was likely hiding from them. ¡°You too, Zaza¡­ Take care of yourself out there, you hear?¡± said Alissa as she returned the hug before letting go of her old friend. ¡°And tell your friends I said hi.¡± ¡°I will, sure,¡± replied Esperanza with a chuckle. Her companions knew that she would be trying to contact the [Hero] but probably placed low odds on her succeeding to win them over. The way Alissa chose to cooperate with her, if indirectly, was likely something they would not expect at all. She wondered what sort of faces they would make after she went to gather with them after this. ¡°I guess this is it, huh. Goodbyes said and all. Let¡¯s both try to make sure they aren¡¯t the last ones, bueno?¡± ¡°Yeah. See you again, Zaza.¡± ¡°Hasta Luego, Allie.¡± The two went their separate ways after Alissa paid for their meal, on her insistence. Alissa returned to the inn where she would meet up with Nadine and Maribel after their last day of having fun in the city, while Esperanza discreetly left the city and headed towards the forests north of it, a half day¡¯s travel away from Clearridge itself. Once she reached the forest ¨C which only took a short couple of hours given the speed Esperanza could travel at when she really went for it ¨C Esperanza headed deeper in. Her companions made their camp in the deepest part of the forest to avoid discovery, so it was easy enough to head to that part and from there seek out their traces. She caught a whiff of food being cooked not too long after she reached said depths, though the scent was so light that a human wouldn¡¯t be able to even notice it, and followed it to its source. Sure enough, before long she reached a small clearing where the rest of her group were gathered around a small campfire, some local wild beast roasting on a spit over the fire. None of the people on watch duty noticed Esperanza¡¯s approach, but then again, she made full use of her [Veil of Entropy] to hide her presence to see how well it would work against the rest of her group. The skill was new, after all, and only those who went with her to Clearridge even knew about it. Even then, they mostly knew that her skill evolved and not the details of the evolved skill. Esperanza held her giggles in while she quietly snuck around the sentries on guards and slipped towards the main group around the roasting meat, which she identified as some sort of deer-like creature once she got closer, just a very large one. She slipped behind where Murad and Mora were seated, unnoticed by everyone, and reassumed her human shape as she turned [Veil of Entropy] off. The way half of the group almost jumped out of their skins in surprise made her unable to hold it and finally break out in laughter on the spot. It took a good while before Esperanza stopped gasping and wheezing from laughing too much and too loud, tears flowing from her many eyes as she lost some control over her shapeshifting during the bout of laughter. Half of the gathered group had a relieved look on their faces, while the other half couldn¡¯t help but give her the side eye after surprising them like that. ¡°Sorry, hahah- Was testing to see how good my evolved skill was when I use it for sneaking on people for real,¡± said Esperanza after she finally regained control of herself. She seated herself next to Ani as the group opened a gap in their circle for her. ¡°Guess it¡¯s doing a real good job since none of you even noticed me before I dispelled it.¡± ¡°You slipped through the sentries, and they are definitely keeping watch,¡± noted Ani with a nod of her head as she offered Esperanza a slice of roasted meat from the spit. ¡°And they also have more skills meant to detect such intrusions compared to the rest of us, so I would say that your skill should be able to slip by most fourth tiers, Exalted One.¡± ¡°It is also good to see that you are safe and sound. I know you sent the rest back while telling the rest of us to wait and not to worry, but we can¡¯t help but be worried for your sake.¡± ¡°Oh, I was fine, took me a while longer because I was discussing a lot of things with Allie while she was in the city, honestly,¡± replied Esperanza nonchalantly before she took a bite from the offered chunk of meat and chewed. ¡°We kinda have a mutual understanding, and she¡¯s looking for the truths in her own way, so there¡¯s no reason to trouble her. As such, we¡¯ll mostly focus our activities on the demons, though there¡¯ll be some things we should clean up while we¡¯re here in the kingdom as well.¡± ¡°Certainly, Exalted One. We will follow your directions,¡± replied Ani with a half-bow of respect as she usually did before she raised her head and looked at Esperanza questioningly. ¡°Uh¡­ pardon the question, but who is this ¡®Allie¡¯ you speak of?¡± ¡°Oh, right, I never did tell you all her name,¡± said Esperanza in realization. She had said that she possessed some connection to the summoned [Heroes] before but did not specifically name them, so it wasn¡¯t too strange for Ani to not put things together. ¡°That would be Alissa, an old friend of mine from my previous world, also one of the summoned [Heroes] of the kingdom,¡± she said to the surprised looks of many from her group, who likely had not expected for her to successfully contact the [Hero], much less come to an agreement with them. ¡°Or maybe it¡¯d be more accurate to say she¡¯s the [Hero]?¡± she added nonchalantly. ¡°She¡¯s the one who got that specific class as the starting one after all.¡± 177 - Returning to the Front ¡°There you are,¡± greeted Nadine cheerfully when she saw Alissa walk through the door of the inn they had been staying at for the past week. The Fifth Royal Princess and Maribel had been seated around one of the tables in the inn¡¯s large communal room that doubled as a tavern when Alissa entered, and waved their hands to catch her attention. ¡°Had thought you¡¯d end up enjoying yourself in your books and forget that we¡¯d be leaving today.¡± ¡°Puh-lease, I¡¯m not that much of a bookworm, and besides, I think this¡¯ll be the last library I get to see for the next couple of months, so got to make the best of it while I can, you know?¡± replied Alissa with a nonchalant smile. Some part of her felt guilty about keeping her meetings with Esperanza a secret from Nadine and Maribel, but her more rational side knew that was the right thing to do, since there was no way to gauge how those two would react to Esperanza¡¯s existence in general. While Alissa felt that Nadine and Maribel were more open-minded compared to most people she met in Ephemera ¨C probably courtesy to the better education they received during their youth ¨C they were still people who had been raised on stories that pretty much placed the old gods and their worshipers as taboo and heretical, if they even heard of such stories at all. Even if many of the Ephemeran locals never even heard of the old gods, however, the doctrine of the new ones was most definitely not one that would accept any sort of rival, so their reaction to having their worldview challenged might range from being overly defensive to absurd violence. It was something she had seen and experienced for herself in her previous world. How some kindly people might suddenly turn into screeching harpies when the beliefs they held to be true for their entire life were brought into question. Even when the question was a logical one and there was little to no proof for said beliefs. Alissa had learned to just keep her mouth shut instead. Far too often it was not worth the trouble to confront such people. Unfortunately, in Ephemera keeping her mouth shut might not even be an option for her, as she needed to find out whether what Esperanza alleged about the ritual supposed to return them was true or not. She had a feeling that it would not be easy to pry the truth to that situation, one way or another. Instead, she chose to keep quiet while she learned and observed more about the situation. Perhaps some of the people she knew might be receptive to the idea that their gods were not the benevolent, almighty beings they have been taught all their lives. She knew that some people, like Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten, were clearly no lover of the temple, though she was as of yet uncertain whether that dislike also translated to the actual teachings as well or just to the bureaucracy instead. Either way, those were thoughts for the future. At the moment, Alissa was packing up her meager belongings ¨C a few changes of clothes, mostly, as well as her weapon and armor ¨C to prepare for travel. She wore the artifact cloth that worked as her inner armor directly on top of her clothes for the past week she had been in town, so she was not exactly unarmed and unarmored while she was going around. If she wore her armor for the trip back, it would actually feel lighter. Armor was designed in such a way so as to distribute its weight equally over her body, which made it less tiresome to wear than to carry in a bag like she did. It was pretty warm out, however, and armor would make that warmth far worse with how it traps the heat, so Alissa chose to pack up her armor and just carry it slung over her shoulder in a bag tied to her spear instead. The route was pretty much safe and she would still wear her inner cloth armor anyway, so a little more comfort wouldn¡¯t be too bad to have. As Alissa walked downstairs from her room, she noticed that Maribel and Nadine had similarly already brought their packed belongings with them in bags slung behind their shoulders. Clearly the three of them thought alike and favored having some more comfort for the trip rather than wear their armor for the route. They paid the last of their bills with the innkeeper and said their goodbyes, before they walked out of the inn and headed south, towards the town¡¯s south gate. The next batch of soldiers on break had already arrived in town in the afternoon, as the previous batch ¨C the one Alissa, Nadine, and Maribel was part of ¨C already left in the morning. Stolen novel; please report. It was not long before the three of them left the city through the south gate, and the girls stopped for a bit just outside the gate, a bit to the side from the lines formed by people and wagons that were entering the city. The three of them stretched their bodies and flexed their muscles for a bit, especially their legs, and made sure that the bundles they carried sat comfortably and securely behind their backs, before they looked at each other and nodded. Then all three girls took off in a sprint, running so fast that the wind caused their hair to cascade like banners behind their heads while whooping loudly in excitement. If there was one thing Alissa liked the most out of her experience in Ephemera so far, it was the way the world¡¯s system of stats and attributes truly enhanced her body. She was a track and field athlete before she switched to basketball, and the feeling of running with the wind on her face was always something she enjoyed greatly during those times. Ever since she was summoned to Ephemera, she found that she could run faster and longer than ever before, reaching speeds that would have broken world records in her previous world with ease and performing other feats that would have likely been considered superhumanly. Even after months, the thrill and excitement she felt when she did something like that had yet to fade, probably furthered along by the way she was still growing in prowess as well. Clearly, Nadine and Maribel shared some of her feelings, as while they did not whoop and cheer as loudly ¨C perhaps out of a sense of decorum ¨C they too clearly had excited looks on their faces as they ran along and tried to catch up to Alissa. The two of them had classes that were inferior to hers, which meant that they had less stats, but they also focused more on their Body attribute compared to Alissa¡¯s rather more balanced build with a slant to Body, so the three were pretty close to each other in speed. Of course, even for them, it would be rather unsustainable to keep up the speed they used in the sprint all the way to the fort nearly half a day away. They slowed down after a while ¨C though by then Clearridge was pretty much reduced to a smudge on the distant horizon ¨C and went for a more relaxed jog that still ate up ground faster than most people running at full speed would achieve. ¡°Always nice to be able to let loose every once in a while, eh?¡± asked Alissa while they jogged relaxedly. The three of them had enough attributes to maintain such a pace for hours on end without issue, other than pauses for things like bathroom breaks or the like. If they kept that pace up, they would likely reach the fort that very night, around the time the soldiers from their batch returned. ¡°I was a bit skeptical when you first mentioned it back then, but now I am definitely a fan of the idea,¡± replied Nadine with a smile and a nod. Most people with high Body attributes often had to restrain themselves to some extent in everyday situations out of concern for other people around them. It was far too easy for them to accidentally swing their arm or leg a little too hard and accidentally hit someone otherwise, which might well cause serious injuries or even death. It was a bigger problem for those who had less fine control over their power. The three of them were the sort who focused on keeping themselves in full control, so they did not face that issue overmuch, but even so they too had to restrain themselves quite a bit when they were in town, mostly for the sake of other people around them. Even during battles they often had to restrain themselves a bit to avoid accidental collateral damage to their own allies. It was rare for a situation to develop where they would be able to use their full power freely, as that would imply that they had no allies around them at such a time. It was an often frustrating limitation to deal with. Which was why Alissa had suggested to Nadine and Maribel ¨C and many others through Ethan as well ¨C to let loose every once in a while. Running on the road between Clearridge and the fort was a good way to do that. Once they distanced themselves from the city ¨C easily enough done on the sides of the actual road ¨C the traffic on the road greatly diminished, which made it safe for them to run and jog at high speed through the road itself. The three girls chatted relaxedly while they jogged through the road at high speed, at times grabbing some snacks from their packs to munch on. It was easy for them to eat while running at the same time, what with the improved coordination their physical bodies possess as their attributes kept increasing higher and higher. At times they had to swerve around some wagons that were headed to the city or the fort, and the girls would cheerfully wave at the surprised occupants of said wagon as they either overtook them rapidly or flashed past. It might be a bit of a surprise for the people in the wagon, but otherwise it was just a bit of harmless amusement for everyone involved, and those who saw them would have stories to tell others in exchange. As they expected, they made good speed, and as the sun set and the night began to set in, they continued unabated in their path. While none of the three possessed a true form of night vision, their vision had become far more acute than before and they were quite capable of seeing to some extent in the dark. As such, traveling in the night no longer possessed much of an obstacle. Even the light from the moons and the stars were plenty for them to navigate with, and the road itself made for an easy guideline for them to follow to their destination. The girls actually caught up to the wagons that carried the soldiers from their batch around a mile from Fort Ixlay, and waved to them as they passed, which the soldiers returned with raucous cheers. Even if the soldiers might not be able to tell their actual identities in the dark, from the speed and ease with which they overtook the convoy of wagons, it was obvious that the three were powerful people, and most if not all of the soldiers present likely owed their lives to the powerful fourth tiers that fought alongside them in the fort back then. As such it was only natural for them to cheer on their heroes. From where they met the soldiers, it was only another five minutes or so before Alissa¡¯s group reached the fort once more. She heard that the fort would likely be christened Fort Silvia, after the girl who gave her life in its defense. It was a nice gesture, one that Alissa could appreciate, yet a rather empty one at the same time. Getting things named after you wouldn¡¯t bring you back from the dead, after all. CLXXVIII - Addressing the Crowd While Alissa returned to the frontlines at Fort Silvia and would likely stay there for the foreseeable future, Esperanza regrouped with the rest of her companions and discussed with them about the path they would take going forward. Their main goal still remained mostly the same, that was to weaken both the demons and the humans through the ongoing war by making it last longer, thus forcing both sides to devote more of their resources and people to the war effort. At the moment, the most efficient method to do that was to help the human side as they were the ones who were the underdogs. The demons had a far greater populace which translated to a much stronger military, so they always had the advantage. If anything, the victory Alissa mentioned at the frontlines was a welcome surprise, as it coincided with Esperanza¡¯s own plans. What Alissa described to her about how said victory was achieved, on the other hand, worried her quite a bit. From the description Alissa gave of the battle, the girl who sacrificed herself in order to make the victory possible was only about as strong as one of the [Progeny of Yore], maybe even a little weaker. The self-sacrificial skill she possessed however, allowed her to rise in power to a point that she was about as powerful as the strongest of the humans present in the battle. Esperanza had yet to run into anyone who possessed such an absurd skill, but she knew that if she was to continue meddling in the ongoing war, chances were that she¡¯d likely run into such people sooner or later. They posed quite a bit of threat for rather obvious reasons, especially since Alissa also informed her that it was mostly the people associated with the temple that had the skill. The members of Alissa¡¯s party who were from the Royal Guards looked as surprised as everyone else when they witnessed what happened, while the ones from the temple had looks that showed their understanding of the situation. Based on that, Esperanza guessed that there would be equivalents of said people on the demon side, just that Alissa was fortunate enough not to run into one in her battles so far. Or maybe she had run into one, but they decided that the situation was not important enough for them to lay down their life for. The skill killed its user after its effects ended, after all. When Esperanza considered the stakes involved on both sides, and how for the humans the fort was a symbolic sign of the first victory they have had in a long while, whereas the demons might view it as a minor setback at worst, it was obvious how for one side, there was far greater pressure to not lose the battle, to the point where burning their very life and soul might seem to be the natural option to take. Doubly so when it came to religious fanatics like how Alissa hinted the people from the temple might be. People who were so drunk on their own beliefs and ideology were often driven by them to do both great and horrible things. It was a phenomenon Esperanza herself was all too familiar with from her previous world. To see such a thing happen in this other world was no real surprise, especially when they had gods which were more actively present and tangible. ¡°So that¡¯s the gist of things, at least from what Allie and I managed to talk about in the few days we had,¡± said Esperanza in closing after a long, extended discussion with the rest of her companions that went all the way past the midnight and then some. ¡°Given the activity on the frontlines, it might be a bit too soon for us to return to the demon territories already, so I¡¯m thinking we might stay in the kingdom a bit more and see what we can find out, what do you all think?¡± ¡°We will follow your decision, Exalted One,¡± offered Tiara, speaking for the five infiltrators from Zikeal, who nodded to show their support of her words. ¡°We lack knowledge of the more distant areas of this kingdom. Our ancestors have never dared to venture so far away from our home, and the few who did so, never returned, so this will be a first for us.¡± ¡°To be honest, however, I personally feel excited at the prospect of going to where none of my ancestors have gone before, to tread on paths none of ours have tread yet, and to see things for myself which lay there,¡± added the girl with a smile. ¡°So even if we were not at your perusal and would follow your command to begin with, I would still follow you all the same.¡± ¡°¡±Well, gracias for the support, Tiara,¡± replied Esperanza with a smile to return the girl¡¯s enthusiasm. ¡°What about the rest of you?¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Tiara said her words well. It is something that¡¯s in our blood as those who spent our lives infiltrating our great foes¡¯ cities and villages to want to find out more, so I can definitely speak for myself and my lady that we would be honored to come along as well,¡± said Murad with a wide smile on his face, after which Mora laid her head on his shoulder affectionately. ¡°I think the youngsters feel the same,¡± he added, to which Kurt and Leo replied with nods as well to signal their agreement. ¡°That¡¯s one group, I guess¡­¡± muttered Esperanza as she looked towards where the [Progenies of Yore] and Iryl sat, the children who she rescued out of Navef and had since been made to mature ahead of their time, even if it was partly with their agreement. ¡°I assume you lot would follow me no matter what I say, regardless of the danger before us, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°We will go through hell fire and high water with you, Exalted One,¡± replied Val-Kas¡¯j with a confident smile on his face. It was not a boast he was making, but a promise, or even an oath, that much Esperanza could hear from the way he said the words. Almost as one, the other [Progenies of Yore] gave her a sort of a salute with one fist over their chest, the group stating their agreement in unison. ¡°We followed you because we believed that you will have use for us for whatever the Exalted Deities of Yore had in mind, Exalted One,¡± stated Ani from the side, sounding just as pious and confident as the rest. Sometimes Esperanza forgot that for all that they were mostly normal, her own people were quite fervent worshipers of Oldies as well, and could be a touch fanatical too, at times. ¡°Whatever you command, we will follow.¡± ¡°I know, I know,¡± replied Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°It¡¯s just that that sort of attitude isn¡¯t of much help when I¡¯m trying to look for second opinions on our possible future path to take, comprende? I would much rather you assess the situation presented and offer me what insights you may have.¡± ¡°Why, certainly, Exalted One. All you needed to do was to ask,¡± replied Ani with a bit of a chuckle. ¡°From a more pragmatic point of view, I would say that there is nothing wrong with the idea of performing an extended reconnaissance in the kingdom, especially now that we have a potential ally in the [Hero]. We would not be able to truly work with them unless we are familiar with the challenges they face in this place.¡± ¡°Risks are relatively minimal since logically most of the powerful people in the kingdom, those powerful enough to actually present a threat to us in their lonesome, would likely be either at the frontlines or deep in the back, where the important people of this place lives,¡± Ani elaborated after a moment of thought. ¡°As such, chances are minimal that we might run into such people and endanger ourselves as a result.¡± ¡°Allie did mention that two of the strongest people in this kingdom were at the fort she was fighting at, so that hypothesis is likely true. Just to be safe, however, we will exercise extra caution while infiltrating larger cities, and should we ever be discovered, priority will be to escape while minimizing bloodshed. Massacres should only be the last option to take.¡± ¡°Your will be done, Exalted One,¡± noted Ani with a nod. ¡°On that field, however, I have to note that the technique you developed and taught the infiltrator clan at Zikeal seems to be functioning flawlessly so far, has it not?¡± she returned with a question of her own. ¡°Clearridge was a rather large city that we safely infiltrated, and by your own words, not even the [Hero] could detect you until you showed yourself to her.¡± ¡°Yeah, Allie did say that, but my own skills are a bit unique and they likely helped with that. We should try at another large city to be sure, with at least one of us who can fight well going with each of your groups while in the city, just in case,¡± said Esperanza as she looked towards the five infiltrators. ¡°Better safe than sorry in cases like these.¡± ¡°Worst case, we can most likely make a quick exit without hurting many, if any people. The only way it would devolve into an actual fight would be if the humans somehow knew of our coming and prepared an ambush that would be difficult for us to escape from,¡± noted Ani thoughtfully. ¡°In such a case, we might well have to massacre quite a few of them to get out.¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s try to avoid that for now, where we can. We want both sides weakened by this war, and there¡¯s no real point in helping give the demons an upper hand when they¡¯re already at an advantage,¡± noted Esperanza after a moment. ¡°Getting rid of a pendejo noble or two might just be seen as some internal conflict or those people getting what was coming for them, but if we start massacring people in the hundreds or thousands, that would be a lot harder to disguise as something else.¡± ¡°I guess our course is settled, then, Exalted One,¡± said Tiesya from the side where the [Progenies of Yore] gathered together, ¡°We will be heading westwards to more human cities and learn more of our foes for the time being, yes?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan, at least. I¡¯m afraid most of you will have to be camping out in the woods again since you can¡¯t disguise yourself as humans, so sorry beforehand about that,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°We¡¯ll try to bring you more souvenirs from the city though.¡± The group that went into the cities or villages would indeed bring some souvenirs for those who were stuck waiting outside. Typically they bought them some local delicacies, as there were not too many things of interest to the group otherwise, especially given how they would have to be on the move again in short order. Good, local delicacies increased their variety of food and helped keep their morale high, so those were always a safe bet to get as souvenirs. Deities know that Esperanza left Clearridge with at least a couple dozen pounds worth of preserved meats and sausages in her [Soul Storage], bought off several vendors to make sure nobody got suspicious of the large purchase. Some of the younger [Progenies of Yore] were caught off-guard by the spiciness in them, but most of the older ones like Ani¡¯s people enjoyed them quite a bit. ¡°All right then people, it¡¯s already morning now, so let¡¯s take a good, long rest first,¡± said Esperanza in closing now that her immediate concerns were addressed for the time being. ¡°Once we wake up later, we¡¯ll pack up and continue heading westwards, to see what else this kingdom of humans has to show us. Now go get some sleep. Buenas Noches.¡± 179 - New Assignment ¡°You called for us, Sir?¡± asked Alissa as she entered the office Sir Marsten used for himself. By then three weeks had already passed since the battle of Fort Silvia, and the fort¡¯s construction had progressed noticeably. For once, the officers no longer used a large tent as a makeshift office to hold their meetings, as a proper one had been built in the meantime. As Alissa entered the room, she noticed Ethan¡¯s presence as well as Moira¡¯s, who was in the same shift as him during the previous battle. Their third member had been Silvia, who was quite naturally unable to attend. The other half of their party were not in attendance, but that was to be expected. Bronwen¡¯s group was still on their way back from their break and would not reach the fort until later in the day, while Joshua¡¯s group had just departed earlier that morning. Alissa also noticed Sir Inolet being in the room, which meant that they likely had something important to tell them, given how the veteran knight would not need to be present if it was just to give them a regular task or the like. ¡°Yes, I did, please be seated, everyone,¡± said Sir Marsten as he gestured towards the seats already arrayed before his desk. There were exactly five seats, just enough for everyone present, while the two old knights sat behind the desk and eyed them with thoughtful looks. It was the exact sort of situation that made Alissa want to immediately ask why they had been called there. Fortunately, the silence did not linger for long. ¡°We have a new mission for your party,¡± said Sir Marsten. The simple statement naturally brought questions to Alissa¡¯s mind, such as why such a thing was announced when only half of their party was present. The old knight seemed to understand what she was thinking however, and continued with his words. ¡°As well as some things to say that I would like to keep between just those of us within this room.¡± ¡°Given how none of the Temple Guards are present, I take it you don¡¯t want them to hear whatever you¡¯re about to say to us, huh?¡± asked Ethan, who quickly caught on to the implication. All three of their party members present were part of the Royal Guards, instead of the Temple Guards. ¡°Probably something related to¡­ what happened three weeks ago?¡± ¡°Quick on the uptake as usual, Mister Greene,¡± said Sir Inolet with an approving nod. ¡°Yes, this involves what happened three weeks ago, when we achieved our miraculous victory, as they called it,¡± the old one-eyed knight added. ¡°The story had been spreading far and wide already, and the Temple had not missed the chance to pounce on such an opportunity delivered straight to their door.¡± ¡°What Henri is trying to say here, is that people have been flocking to the temple¡¯s door after the news spread, and even amongst some of the nobles, there are clamors about elevating the temple¡¯s priesthood to positions of true power, with rhetorics along the lines of surely with the blessing of the Gods there are no need for mundane authority and the like,¡± added Sir Marsten in explanation. ¡°Needless to say, neither the crown nor us old fogeys are all too happy with that.¡± ¡°I can see why, yes,¡± commented Nadine with a nod. As the Kingdom¡¯s Fifth Royal Princess, she received some education on politics even though she eventually opted for a path that took her to the Royal Guards. She was probably the most politically savvy person in Alissa¡¯s party as a whole because of her position and education. ¡°The more rabidly fanatical sides of the priesthood have been growing to be a thorn on dad¡¯s side since I was young. No surprise they¡¯d jockey for power after such a miracle happened.¡± ¡°Exactly, Your Royal Highness,¡± noted Sir Marsten. ¡°We are worried that this jockeying for power might have adverse effects on the frontlines. Gods know that as fanatical and courageous as the Temple Guards might be, they barely have any proper military-minded commanders amongst them. There¡¯s a reason we could maintain our presence as a sort of a neutral faction all this time, after all.¡± ¡°Oh god, the idea of having one of the loonier priests tell us to go charge forward because the gods are with us without any proper planning is making me shudder in terror at the possibility,¡± admitted Moira. ¡°That would have been no way such a scenario ends in a good way. Either we¡¯d get massacred or we¡¯d win but with hideous casualties.¡± ¡°Such a possibility is indeed one we are trying to avoid, so I believe you all can see why I would like to have this talk without the Temple Guards listening in. I hope you can understand, Miss O¡¯Connor, Mister Greene,¡± said Sir Marsten. ¡°As for the mission, they are sending you towards the west, as they are confident that with the current force stationed here and the incoming reinforcements, Fort Silvia will be able to fend for itself.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Basically they want to see if you can replicate the victory here elsewhere, regardless of how you do it,¡± added Sir Inolet with a shake of his head. ¡°The delusional priests are probably hoping for another miracle, uncaring that such a thing would deplete your party of another member and weaken you in the long run. Meanwhile, the crown wants a victory without one, so they could counter the Temple somewhat. For either of them, your party just happens to be a convenient tool to be used, and will be that way until you can stand firm on your own two feet.¡± ¡°We noticed, yes,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. ¡°That said, Sir Inolet, I am surprised that you¡¯d be so open about this matter now.¡± ¡°When you all were just fledglings without any power you can call yourself, what would be the use of knowing? You can¡¯t do much of anything about it,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a scoff. ¡°Nowadays you kids have grown powerful enough that they cannot quite ignore you anymore, even if you¡¯re still far from making them sit up and take notice. I figure it wouldn¡¯t hurt to let you know of the real fuckery going on behind the scenes.¡± ¡°I guess I should thank you for the vote of confidence, sir,¡± replied Alissa with a bit of a chuckle. Over the time they had spent together, she had realized that despite his rough exterior, the old knight cared for his charges, perhaps too much, even. ¡°When would we be strong enough to make them sit up and take notice, in your opinion?¡± ¡°When you can match me one on one, with no holds barred. At that point they will have to give you their attention, no matter who they might be. You would be too powerful as either an asset or detriment to ignore at that point,¡± replied Sir Inolet. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s not what we called you to talk about today, so I¡¯ll let ol¡¯ August take over from here.¡± ¡°Thanks, Henri,¡± replied Sir Marsten with a nod. ¡°Anyway, what we would like to ask is for you to try to prevent any of your remaining party members from the Temple Guards from repeating what Silvia had done three weeks ago,¡± he said openly. ¡°Mind you, this is not entirely about politics or power struggles behind the scenes, but also for your own good.¡± ¡°If your party kept losing members to win battles like this, it would not be long before you run low on people, and the war would likely still be ongoing at that time, so this sort of self-sacrificial behavior is not exactly in your favor either. I will admit that I am grateful for the girl to have made the sacrifice back then, as it would have been a bloody mess for us otherwise, but it still pains my heart to see a youngster sacrifice themselves so old farts like myself could live on like that. I do not wish to see it happen again if I could avoid it.¡± ¡°The gist of what August said is basically to try to avoid a situation where you were stuck between undesirable results like back when we were being besieged,¡± added Sir Inolet. ¡°Try to direct your companions to victory or retreat together with you, hell, knock them out cold if they try to pull off that sort of self-sacrifice if you need to!¡± ¡°The area of the frontline you will be sent to is under Leonhart¡¯s lead. He¡¯s another of our old companions and also one of the few people who can boast of being stronger than Henri here in the Kingdom, so between him and Henri, you should have plenty of high-end firepower in that region,¡± continued Sir Marsten. ¡°We have also sent him a letter asking him to watch out for you all, but he has his responsibilities as well and could not be everywhere, so please try to keep yourself safe there, all right?¡± ¡°Of course, we¡¯ll repeat most of this after the rest of your party returns from their break, minus the parts about the temple. I hope the five of you can agree to keep this a secret between us and not tell them about it?¡± he asked. ¡°The reasons why we excluded Joshua, Ormond, and Glenn from this talk should be obvious.¡± ¡°Glenn and Ormond are my brothers¡¯ men, so they¡¯d be reporting this to their respective lieges if they caught wind of this, and knowing my third brother, some of it will definitely leak to the temple, so yeah. I¡¯m not even sure that my first brother can keep a lid on this sort of talk,¡± noted Nadine with an understanding nod. ¡°Makes sense to keep them out of this.¡± ¡°Smith¡¯s been very close with that priestess who¡¯s been his minder since we were summoned, rather suspiciously so, so I also understand why you wanted to exclude him,¡± said Alissa. ¡°In that regard, is Magus Drummond also potentially a leak? I know he¡¯s still out with Smith at the moment, but I thought he was pretty close with you.¡± ¡°Murdock is neutral in this, but the old fart tends to be a blabbermouth when drunk, and as his student, Joshua Smith is definitely in a position to catch some of his drunken rants, so we usually keep him out of things like this until the last moment,¡± admitted Sir Inolet with a chuckle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about the old fart¡¯s feelings. He¡¯s used to this and knows how much of a noisy drunk he is.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°While you¡¯re out in the west, listen to ol¡¯ Leo, and if push comes to shove, stay close to him. Even if I die, that old coot will find a way to survive. He¡¯s a survivor by heart, so sticking with him would be your best chance of getting away in an emergency,¡± added Sir Inolet with a more solemn tone. ¡°He will take care of you if push comes to shove, though we should of course do our best to make it so it doesn¡¯t reach that point.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all we can do for you for the time being, so please do take care of yourselves when you¡¯re out west. Your departure won¡¯t be for at least another two weeks, so you will have some time to prepare until then,¡± concluded Sir Marsten. ¡°We do thank you for your willingness to help with problems that should have been ours to handle. I truly wish circumstances had been different and we wouldn¡¯t need to have youngsters like you deal with problems caused by us people who got too old for our own good, but I guess the world just isn¡¯t that nice.¡± ¡°Either way, I wish you all success in your new postings, and may the gods be with you, if they ever do bother to trouble themselves with us mortals. Godspeed.¡± 180 - Chores and Menial Tasks One thing stories love to just skip on or gloss over was the amount of menial labor and chores that go into preparing an army for battle. Even the amount of preparation a single person needed to do was quite a list, though Alissa was not too surprised by it, used as she was to similar things from her clubs in the previous world. Apparently many [Heroes] from previous summonings would often just tell someone to do their chores for them, so that was clearly an option too. Alissa felt that it was not a good sort of behavior to emulate, however, as if they never did any of their own chores or maintenance on their own, they wouldn¡¯t know how to do it should the circumstances needed them to do so. Part of it was because she disliked that sort of entitled behavior, having seen more than her own share in her previous world, and part of it was out of pragmatism, as she felt that it would not be a bad idea to know what to do in order to maintain her own equipments and keep them in good working order just in case she was away on her own. Of course, most of Alissa¡¯s equipment were categorized as artifacts, and to actually perform any major maintenance or repair on them would need the help of at least a fourth-tier [Blacksmith] or the like, so she couldn¡¯t do that much on her own. That said, she could at least keep her weapons and armor clean and free of grime and the like, while keeping the edges of the blades to a keen, polished sharpness. Which was exactly what she was doing that day, just a day after the talk she had with Sir Inolet and Sir Marsten about the Temple Guards. Bronwen¡¯s group had already returned but they slept in that morning, which was a privilege rarely allowed and afforded in a battlefield, So Alissa just took her time that morning while she was alone with her thoughts to do some minor maintenance on her gear. Out of the artifacts she used, her soulbound cloth inner armor was the one that needed the least maintenance, as it could repair itself over time. That said, Alissa still took care to wash it clean every now and then, whenever she got the chance to do so. Such chances were rare during battles, but after the battle, she made sure to clean the artifact from all the blood, gore, and other unmentionables it had been dirtied with during the fighting. Fortunately it washed well and shedded all the filth easily even with just some water, probably part of its enchantment, now that Alissa thought about it. She knew that fabric ¨C much less white fabric ¨C stained easily, but her inner armor, despite getting drenched in all sorts of shit on the regular, never truly stained at all. All that did not belong to it simply washed away when Alissa had the chance to clean it. Her metal armor was a bit more finicky in that regard, surprisingly. While presently the armor was already in a relatively clean state and all Alissa really needed to do was to wipe off some of the dust that had settled on it in the previous few days, she remembered the time when she actually had to clean all sorts of things off it in the past, like after the battle at the fort. It had not helped that at the time, there were many other more important things for her to help out with, so she always postponed cleaning up her armor until later, as she figured out that the artifact armor wouldn¡¯t decay and rust just from being left dirty for a few days, unlike regular armor. She guessed right on that detail, but neglected to think about another thing. Namely that dried blood, excrement, and god knows what else was caked on to that armor was a major pain to clean after than had a week to really stick to something. Alissa must have spent a good hour or so scrubbing the hell out of her armor to get it clean when she finally got to it, and even then some of the really stubborn bits of filth needed some more extreme measures to remove. She remembered how she literally scraped off some of the last, most stubborn bits using the blade of her falchion before she could finally get them off her armor at long last. And that was just her chest plate, too, with the other parts still waiting to be cleaned. As a result, that day was one that she would not forget about anytime soon. It was not often that Alissa spent most of a day scrubbing all sorts of dried unmentionable filth from pieces of armor, after all, much less ones that required her to use actual strength ¨C and she did have a lot of that to spare these days ¨C to even get them off the metal. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Thankfully, somehow, her weapons had far less filth stuck on them ¨C which after she thought about it was probably by design, since a spearhead was designed to easily enter and exit a body after all ¨C and only took a fraction of the time to clean. They even shed off the filth far more easily, at that, though of course, with weapons that was not the only bit of maintenance she needed to do on them. Alissa also needed to keep the edges on her weapons properly sharpened. They might be artifacts that held their edge far better and longer than a regular weapon would, but the constant wear and tear of battle would still get to them over time. As such, she made it a habit to keep the edges cleaned and re-sharpened after every battle if she had the time to do so. Sharpening a blade was a skill she never thought she would learn, as she had not even sharpened a kitchen knife in her previous world, so it took her a while to get used to the technique. One needed to keep the edge at a proper angle, as if they used too deep an angle when they sharpened the blade they might worsen the edge¡¯s geometry, which would in turn affect its performance. On the other hand, if they used an angle that was too shallow instead, it would result in a too-fragile blade that would need its edge retouched far more often, so the knowledge of the proper angle to use ¨C as well as how to grip the blade so that it maintained that angle throughout the sharpening process ¨C was crucial to the job. It took like a couple dozen cuts to her hands ¨C which fortunately just meant more experience for Leda as she healed them ¨C before Alissa finally got a grasp on the proper technique and could handle the resharpening of her weapons herself. Her falchion was the easy one to sharpen, as it was just an oversized knife in some way, and did not trouble her much, but her spear was another matter altogether. While spears were typically built with the spearhead separate from the shaft ¨C which meant that they could be detached for easy sharpening ¨C her artifact spear was entirely solid, with the spearhead fused together into the metal shaft. While that method of construction does give the weapon more strength and durability ¨C which was much needed given the greater amount of force it needed to tolerate from its intended wielders ¨C it also made some routine maintenance like sharpening the edges of the spearhead more challenging. In the end, Alissa managed to make it work by moving the grindstone against the spearhead instead of the other way around, as she kept the weapon immobilized in place. Some would probably say that such menial chores were beneath a [Hero], but Alissa disagreed about that. If anything, it gave her some sense of security knowing that she had personally checked and maintained her own equipment to the limits of her ability, rather than just relying on others for such a need like many did. It also gave her a moment of peace when she was busy with such chores, a bit of quiet which allowed her to think many things over more thoroughly. While she was inclined to believe what Esperanza had told her, neither side had any solid proof on the matter as of yet, so Alissa tried to keep an open mind for the time being until she ascertained the truth for herself, one way or another. She knew that such a path would have a high likelihood of putting her on opposite sides with people she called friends by now, but there was likely no path where she could have her cake and eat it too, so to speak. Life was generally not that nice, and so-called ¡°ideal¡± solutions were absurdly rare, if they existed at all, which they don¡¯t in most cases. Alissa let out a long sigh at that thought and shook her head to clear her mind. Such thoughts would likely not even come into play until the far future, and at the present, she had more obvious problems to deal with. What Sirs Marsten and Inolet said about the Temple Guard bothered her indeed, and she could see the logic behind their request, both from a pragmatic and from an emotional point of view. It was rather troublesome that even while a war raged on, those far in the back, in the safety of the capital, would play such power games over each other for their own benefits, but it was not something unexpected. Such things were just as commonly seen in Alissa¡¯s previous world, so she had not been all that surprised to learn that this world was no different in that regard. Apparently people with ambition and a desire for more power remained the same no matter which world they were in. At least she hoped that such an internal conflict wouldn¡¯t affect those at the frontlines too much, given how little direct control either the royal family or the temple had over those who were fighting out there. In fact, a majority of the highest ranked commanders on the frontlines were people who considered themselves part of the old knights¡¯ faction, who remained neutral in the power struggle between the crown and the temple. Much like Sirs Marsten and Inolet, they mostly cared about their duty, which was to protect those who were unable to protect themselves behind them. These people had little in terms of ambition or worldly desires, almost an ideal depiction of how a noble knight should be, even, in many ways. While Sir Inolet did mention that sometimes there were some bad eggs amongst the bunch, apparently most of the people aligned with their faction were just those who wished to do their utmost to defend their homeland and families. They said that the commander on their next post was one of their old comrades as well. The group who would depart there would just be their party of now eleven people, pretty much, with their four ¡°chaperones¡± on top, though the fort would also send out convoys heading out to different directions on the same day as well in order to disguise the movement as just another routine one. Some part of Alissa wished that they could do away with such deceptions and do things in a more aboveboard manner, but she understood its necessity as well. Perhaps if they were stronger they could move more openly, but at the moment, if they did not hide their movements, there was the ever-present risk of the demons finding out about said movements and sending a strike team to cut them off, which would have ended in an ugly way, no matter what. After all, even if Alissa, Ethan, and Joshua had [Respawn] and could just revive elsewhere in the worst case ¨C as long as they avoided live capture, that was ¨C none of the rest of their party had such an advantage. CLXXXI - Hunters and Hunted The path that Esperanza and the rest of her group took as they traveled westwards in the human kingdom¡¯s territory was not one that most travelers would have even considered. Part of it was because a large part of Esperanza¡¯s group could not afford to be seen by the humans, lest it would incite panic and intensive searches for demon infiltrators and the like. Because of that, they avoided the main roads, or other such well-trodden paths, and mostly traveled in the depths of the forests which were inhabited by dangerous wild beasts. Of course, with their level of power, the wild beasts posed no danger to them for the most part and in fact actively fled upon noticing their presence. Esperanza was none too shy to blare her own presence out since it helped them progress through the forest faster. For the most part, they were able to avoid the major roads that way, and thus kept themselves away from the eyes of other travelers. Their passage went unnoticed, the increase in wild beast activity taken in stride by the locals as something that happened from time to time to begin with, with none of them the wiser of the true cause behind the most recent ones. After around a week¡¯s travel, however, Esperanza¡¯s group decided to go through a dungeon instead, since something that Alissa confessed to her during their talks had bothered her. It was the fact that there were quite a few people against whom her group still stood practically no chance against should they be unlucky enough to run into them, so she thought that they should take the opportunity to improve their strength if they could do so. The dungeon in question was one that encompassed a dense forest, which was quite convenient for Esperanza¡¯s purposes. While the human kingdom regulated the use of their dungeons, that was mostly done with the ones that had an easily controllable entrance point. The open ones like the fields and forests were nearly impossible to regulate the same way, and were generally free for anyone daring enough to use. At most, people who went into such dungeons would report their use to local officials in the nearest town, if they were the rule-abiding type. Otherwise it was just too difficult to monitor and regulate such dungeons, and the kingdom had long given up on such an endeavor. Of course, there were other signs that a group might be headed to such a dungeon that could be easily noticed, like for example the sudden presence of groups of high level combatants in otherwise peaceful towns. There were typically little to no reasons for such groups to head to such places unless they were headed to the dungeon, since the towns were rather out of the way of the main roads. Since there happened to be a dungeon where the creatures within were in the fifties to seventies in level right along their westward path, Esperanza felt that it would be a waste if they did not make use of the opportunity to increase their power a little bit. Such dungeons regenerated quickly anyway, and if someone noticed the carnage, they would probably just attribute it to some people who hunted there illegally, which was far from an uncommon occurrence at such places. The creatures that inhabit the dungeon were some odd amalgam of reptiles and primates, the creatures each possessing four arm-like limbs that they used to traverse the canopy of the dense forest along with their long tails. It was a physical form more similar to that of apes than anything, yet the scaled creatures were clearly reptiles. Their bodies grew up to six or seven feet long ¨C at least the ones Esperanza¡¯s group had run into ¨C with their tails nearly just as long, and the creatures were very agile in their home ground, the forest. They made for some decent challenges for the [Progenies of Yore] who were less physically inclined, and the higher level ones even posed some threat to the stronger ones like Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya. Of course, the group mostly only sent out part of their fighting force to engage the creatures in combat, while the rest stayed close to the five infiltrators from Zikeal to keep them safe as they were less capable of fighting. From time to time, though, when they could isolate a lower level creature, Tiara, Kurt, and Leo often took the chance to participate as well to train their fighting skills. It also gave the group their first true chance to gain some levels since they entered the human kingdom, as the dungeon¡¯s creatures were at a high enough level to give them some proper experience. The experience needed to increase their levels kept rising as their levels increased, which was something Ani and the other fourth tier veterans confirmed as well. It was only due to the blessings ¨C their classes needed less experience to level up ¨C they had that Esperanza and the [Progenies of Yore] managed to level up so fast. Apparently it was something shared by the [Heroes] and their companions, according to Alissa. It made some sense, as otherwise it would take too long for the [Heroes] to be powerful enough to be useful in the wars they were summoned into. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Are you not partaking in the hunt, Exalted One?¡± asked Tiesya as she landed nimbly on the ground, having just finished hunting down one of the higher level creatures. She was one of the few who could match the creatures¡¯ agility in the forest and actively hunted them, while most of the rest adopted a more wait and counter style to deal with the nimble creatures. ¡°These ones are too low in level for me to gain useful experience from,¡± replied Esperanza. Out of her original group ¨C that was, herself, the [Progenies of Yore], and Iryl ¨C she was the one with the highest level, so she needed targets of higher levels to gain appreciable experience from. The penalty for killing things too far below her own level practically made such creatures useless for her at the current stage. ¡°You all can still gain decent experience from them, so you should get as much as you can.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One. Thank you for your care,¡± replied Tiesya with a slight bow. The group was well aware that Esperanza would have the easiest time navigating the forest canopy with her amorphous form. She did it more than often enough during their escape from Navef that the [Progenies of Yore] would not forget it. At the moment, however, there was indeed little to none for her to benefit from the creatures, so she left them to the lower leveled members of her group. The first couple of days of their passage through the dungeon went relatively uneventfully. The hunt was fruitful, with some of the [Progenies of Yore] even gaining levels out of it. There were a couple creatures along the way that Esperanza could have gotten some decent experience from, but she left them to the kids, as she felt that the level of the creatures they faced should grow higher the deeper they went into the dungeon. There would be enough for her when they got to that point. It was during their third day in the dungeon that the group halted in its tracks because they ran into an unexpected discovery. Before them were the corpses of a group of the ape-lizard things, already dead for a while by the time the group found them. At first, they thought it might be the doing of other creatures in the dungeon. Open dungeons like the one they were in generally formed its own ecosystem, so it wasn¡¯t odd for there to be more than one kind of monster in it, like they had seen in the Arachnoid dungeon back then, near Agur-Bas. Closer inspection showed that it was not likely the case, however. The dead creatures showed wounds that were likely caused by spears and swords and the like, and a few further away still had a few broken arrows stuck in their corpses. While some monsters do use weapons and equipment, such creatures were typically only found in the more contained dungeons, not in open dungeons like these. As such, the discovery led to the conclusion that the group was likely not alone in the dungeon, and there was likely a human party somewhere in there with them. From the direction they guessed the human party took after observing the traces of the battle and the tracks left behind, it was clear that said party was headed towards the center of the forest as well, so they risked running into the party by accident if they headed there as well. It was a potential problem Esperanza didn¡¯t really like, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and bid the group to stand by while she would trail and scout out said human party to see what sort of action they should take against them, if any. Esperanza swiftly shifted to a shapeless mass with long, tentacular limbs extending from the center of her form which allowed her to swiftly move through the treetops. She also kept her [Veil of Entropy] active and hid her aura as best she could, with the hope that anyone that even noticed some movement amongst the treetops would likely attribute it to just another of the ape-lizard things. Both to her delight and consternation, it had not taken her too long ¨C maybe a couple hours away from where they found the corpses ¨C before she discovered the party that was in them with the dungeon. Her consternation was partly due to the identity of said party. The way they dressed themselves made it all too obvious that they were affiliated with the temple. Alissa had asked her to spare what humans she could, but the temple ¨C and the people affiliated with them ¨C had been pointedly excluded from that request, both because Alissa herself held no high regard for said temple after what she had seen, and because she was aware that the temple and Oldies were pretty much mortal enemies. Esperanza herself had no personal qualms with this group of temple guards ¨C which was what they were from the snippets she heard of their conversation, a group of temple guards accompanied by a few priests on a leveling expedition ¨C but neither did she sympathize with them. Doubly so when she caught them discussing the situation at the front and the [Heroes] and how it was their ¡°holy duty¡± to make some more achievements that would make it so that the [Heroes] would not be able to overshadow the temple in the eyes of the populace. The way they also praised the girl who saved the fort with her life for taking the limelight off the [Heroes] in particular disturbed her to no end, and right then and there, she made her own judgment that these people would be better off never leaving the forest. There were too many of them ¨C Esperanza counted twenty-four temple guards and six priests ¨C for her to take on her own, though, given that most of them were in the high third tiers and a couple were even in their fourth tiers. She could probably do it on her own, but it was a touch risky, and besides, the rest of her group would likely appreciate the experience anyway. With that in mind, Esperanza left the group of temple guards and priests without them even noticing her presence and rushed back towards where her group was waiting. The priests were a few hours ahead of them ¨C since she could move much faster through the forest compared to most everyone else ¨C but they could likely catch up to them within a day or two, without their prey noticing them, if all went well. It was time to remind the humans ¨C even if none of them would likely ever know the truth of what happened in the forest ¨C that they were not the only hunters around. CLXXXII - Hunting the Prey ¡°Are we there yet?¡± asked Brother Artorius for the fourth time that day. The only reason nobody snapped a rude reply or slapped the young priest upside the head was because his father was one of the bishops of the temple and was known to dote on this son of his. Otherwise someone would have put the noisy upstart in his place already out of annoyance. ¡°No,¡± replied Father Poligenes curtly at the question. The middle-aged man was one of the temple¡¯s more skilled priests, and one of the three fourth tiers that took part in this leveling expedition. If the more experienced priest had not been entrusted by the annoying boy¡¯s father to look after him during the expedition, he would likely have been the first to slap him upside the head. ¡°And stop asking. We will not reach the center of the dungeon for another day, at the very least.¡± Their group of thirty ¨C or two Temple Guard Teams, as they were commonly called, each consisting of a dozen temple guards and three accompanying priests ¨C had set out from their temple to increase their power on order from the High Priest, like many other similar groups from other areas. Each group was to head to the nearest dungeon that was still conductive to their leveling to increase their power before they were to reconvene in the frontlines of the war. Poligenes understood the political maneuvering and intent behind the action, but could not care less. He was an orphan who was raised in the temple and had served the temple all his life. That he happened to be talented ¨C and fortunate ¨C enough to reach the fourth tier was a blessing from the Gods, as was his present life in general, so he would do whatever he was commanded, be it by the temple or the Gods they worshiped. Not like there was much difference between the two to him anyway. Leveling expeditions were effective and efficient means to increase one¡¯s strength, but it came with its own risks, since it involved fighting monsters who would fight back with all they had. Typically the more privileged people who walked the combative path would seek out safer methods to grow their power, even if it did so more slowly. Such expeditions were typically reserved for the ambitious, the foolhardy, the desperate, and the [Heroes]. They needed to go through such expeditions themselves because the [Heroes]¡¯ party garnered quite a bit of attention of late, and the higher-ups in the temple didn¡¯t want them to take the limelight too much, unless it was their members who hailed from the Temple Guard who did so. This expedition had already proven fruitful and Poligenes expected at least four or five of their members to step up to the ranks of the fourth tier at its end, even if the younger and more affluent temple guards complained about the harsh conditions. Their complaints mattered not, all that mattered was the will of the Gods, which shall be done at all costs. ¡°Speaking of which, Sister Maetel, is it not time for the scouts to return and report?¡± asked Poligenes to one of the fourth tier temple guards in their group, a middle-aged woman who led one of the two teams. Out of their group of thirty, six of the temple guards were deployed as scouts further out to warn the main groups of any potential trouble, and they were instructed to report at certain intervals. ¡°It is probably still a bit early, Father,¡± replied Brother Brodwick, the other fourth tier temple guard, after he glanced upwards and measured the position of the sun with his splayed fingers. ¡°I would say perhaps another five minutes or so before they should report back, at the latest.¡± ¡°I see, pardon my impatience, then, Brother,¡± replied Father Poligenes. He didn¡¯t usually ask such nitpicky questions, but for some reason he had been feeling somewhat bothered for the past while, which probably made him more irritable than usual. Perhaps it was this accursed forest of a dungeon. He hated such ¡®open¡¯ dungeons where threats could come from anywhere and very much preferred the more contained ones, if he had to go into one. Unbeknownst to him, his gut feeling was far more accurate than he thought it to be. ****************************** ¡°Sssh, now, this won¡¯t hurt much,¡± whispered Legisvula as he soundlessly pierced the female temple guard¡¯s torso from behind with his short blade, his other hand already covering the woman¡¯s mouth to prevent her from screaming or otherwise uttering a cry that might alert others. His blade expertly slipped through the woman¡¯s rib cage from her back, right between the fourth and fifth ribs, and found the woman¡¯s heart without any notable resistance. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Then to make certain of the kill, Legisvula shook his blade from side to side as well, which caused its sharp tip to slice through the woman¡¯s lungs and tore her heart apart in the same motion, ending her life swiftly and without much fuss. The woman went limp and collapsed in his hands, and he took care to carefully perch her corpse on the tree branch she was standing on previously, so that it would not fall off, at least until some local creatures smelled the blood and cleaned her up for him. He himself casually wiped his blade clean on the woman¡¯s clothes ¨C which were, against all common sense, white, in a forest of mostly greens and browns ¨C and departed just as soundlessly as he came. He, along with Esperanza and some of Ani¡¯s people, had gone out ahead of the rest to deal with their enemy¡¯s scouts in order to keep them unaware of their approach. It helped that it was already in the afternoon by the time they caught up, with their targets already somewhat tired from the day¡¯s trek, whereas Esperanza¡¯s group made better time as they simply followed their targets¡¯ trail. Legisvula went for the kill since he did gain some appreciable experience for the act, while the others mostly tried to capture their targets alive and brought them back to camp where the lower leveled infiltrators like Tiara, Kurt, and Leo could benefit from some shared experience as they finished off the incapacitated targets. The operation itself went smoothly, and as Legisvula returned to where the group was, he saw that he was the last one to return, which was not unexpected, as he had taken one of the scouts who were ahead of their target group and to the side. The one who took on the scout opposite his target, on the other side, had the benefit of being already in their fourth tier, while Esperanza personally took care of the forward scout since she was the fastest. He saw no sign of the bodies, but given how Tiara had gained a level, the deed was likely already done anyway. The bodies would likely be left for the forest¡¯s creatures to dispose of, which would also make determining their cause of death an impossibility at best. ¡°Good, you¡¯re back, all went well I suppose,¡± greeted Esperanza as she noticed Legisvula¡¯s arrival despite his various concealment skills. ¡°It is done, Exalted One,¡± he replied, no longer bothered by how easy he was for her to notice by now. He knew that the Exalted One had her own blessings which were far greater than his own. ¡°What shall we do next?¡± ¡°They would get suspicious if their scouts do not report back before too long, so we should use that time to get in position around them,¡± replied Esperanza after some thought. ¡°When they¡¯re distracted with discussing the possibilities of why their scouts had yet to report back, that¡¯s when we strike.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One,¡± noted Ani who was walking just behind Esperanza. ¡°Should my men participate as well, or do you wish to give these foes to the [Progenies]?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like your people to surround the area and be prepared to intervene in case they proved too much, but otherwise, their levels are mostly in the high third tiers. The kids will benefit most from them,¡± said Esperanza. ¡°I¡¯ll handle the fourth tiers myself, so they shouldn¡¯t trouble the kids too much. If they were to split off a bit more it¡¯d be ideal, but we¡¯ll see what they¡¯ll do after they realize that their scouts are missing.¡± ¡°As you willed, Exalted One,¡± replied Ani. She turned to the rest of the group and quickly passed down Esperanza¡¯s commands, and the group quickly separated into three. Esperanza and the children, the [Progenies of Yore], made up the first group and rushed towards their target at the front, though they did so while also maintaining stealth, partly aided by Esperanza flaring out her [Veil of Entropy] over a wider range. That way, it was unlikely for their approach to be noticed too early by whoever they were dealing with. Ani and most of her warriors followed closely behind Esperanza¡¯s group, spread out in a wider formation to better deal with whatever got past the former. Her two scouts ranged out front and to the side, and would inform them of the enemy¡¯s movements once they spotted them. The two missing warriors from the group were further in the back, as they escorted the five infiltrators from Zikeal who were unable to move as fast as either previous groups could and kept them safe from the creatures of the forest. Both Esperanza¡¯s and Ani¡¯s group made good time and caught up to their prey before too long. They found the group of temple guards in the midst of a somewhat heated discussion ¨C or at least it looked like one, with the three fourth tiers debating in the middle of a circle formed by the rest ¨C that reached even their ears some distance away. Apparently they disagreed on how to deal with the fact that their scouts were missing. The fourth tier priest insisted that what was left of their group should stick together closely to guard against whatever caused the situation, but the two fourth tier temple guards wanted to send out a group to search for the missing scouts instead, probably out of a feeling of camaraderie and not wanting to leave their people behind. The debate lasted a few minutes more while Esperanza and the rest of her group ¨C Ani¡¯s people formed a wide cordon around the area to deal with any escapees while the five from Zikeal waited for them a short distance way ¨C watched. Finally the temple guards came to a decision, and a small group of six people were sent out towards the way they came from. They had rationalized that their forward scouts might have found something notable that made them range out to check things, which might excuse their lateness to return and report, but that should not be the case with those in the rear. As such, they sent out their troops to check up on the scouts to their rear, the small team of six walking cautiously into the forest, taking the same road they used so far. All considered, it was a pretty ideal situation for Esperanza¡¯s plan, as the enemy splitting up would make it easier to deal with them. She sent out five of the [Progenies of Yore] as well as Iryl to stalk the small group of six with the intention to take them down once they have reached far enough away from the main group. Mostly just letting them get far enough so that the sound wouldn¡¯t get noticed by the main group. Esperanza had no desire to alert her enemies. The six people she chose nodded and quickly slunk away into the forest on the tail of their targets, while the rest settled down and kept themselves hidden as they watched over the main body of the temple guards. Their enemies were now somewhat nervous and agitated, and the wait would not make that any better. It was a pretty ideal situation for Esperanza¡¯s plan to take them down. CLXXXIII - A Nightmare in Broad Daylight ¡°This place is eerier than before for some reason,¡± Sister Mikaela heard Brother Artorius mutter under his breath. While some part of her ¨C the part that was already annoyed by the pesky brother¡¯s continued pestering for the past week ¨C wanted to lash out on him for making that comment, she could not help but to agree with him to an extent. They had passed this route before, fought and killed some of the lizard-like creatures that inhabited the dungeon along the way, yet it had not felt as eerie back then. Perhaps it was the relative silence, as their fighting must have scared off the dungeon¡¯s weaker inhabitants and made them too afraid to get close to the path, but in such a condition, with her team practically isolated inside the dark forest, her thoughts often went wild with unlikely possibilities. Like the way the shadows ¨C there were plenty given the dense forest canopy above them ¨C seemed to jump at her every time she took her eyes off them, or the way some of the bushes shook as if they hid some menacing predator about to pounce on her¡­ only to reveal that the source of the motion was some tiny pest instead. Those critters were pretty much the only few things that remained in the path the Temple Guards had taken, as their fight with the lizard creatures ¨C most likely the top of the food chain in the forest ¨C already scared off the other, weaker creatures with enough survival instinct to get the hell away from the battle of what seemed like titans to them. On the other hand, the tiny pests were not only too weak and small for most larger creatures to bother with ¨C they were the food of the food of the food that the larger beasts eat ¨C but most of them likely wouldn¡¯t survive if they scampered off beyond their home ground, so they instead hid in their nests and burrows and waited for the storm to pass. None of that stopped their occasional movement and noise in the otherwise silent forest from being nerve-breaking for the already nervous temple guards, though. Sister Mikaela would have felt more secure if one of the strongest of the temple guards like Brother Brodwick or Sister Maetel was with her. Hell, she would even settle for the dour, always frowning Father Poligenes if she had to. Anything was better than her current situation, where she was sent out without any powerhouse to back up her team. Even if she knew that the route they had already taken should be the safest part of the forest, it did little to assuage her fraying nerves, and she kept expecting the worst at every turn. Most unfortunately for her, her gut feeling turned out to be right in the worst possible way. ******************************* Inside the forest, to the sides of the group of temple guards, six figures stealthily moved through the undergrowth. They barely made any noise, the only signs of their passage being the shaking leaves where they walked by, without the knowledge of any in their vicinity. Their unaware prey were waiting for them, and it would just be rude to let them wait for too long. Val-Kas¡¯j led the group to the left of the temple guards, which consisted of himself, Resitia, and Iryl. None of the three were that blessed when it came to hiding their tracks or moving quietly, lacking skills that would help with it like what Legisvula or Tiesya possessed, but they made up for it through sheer training and experience gained over the tumultuous last few months of their lives. The three of them got into the agreed upon position, where the forest was just a bit denser, and waited there in readiness. Tiesya¡¯s group would initiate the ambush, they had agreed upon that, and while the targets were distracted by her group, Val-Kas¡¯j would take advantage of their distraction to deliver the killing blow. After all, it was only respectful for a hunter to use their full power to bring down their prey, even if they could have taken on the prey in question with ease. ******************************* A slight rustling of the leaves were all the warning the Temple Guards received before a short, bulky, thickly furred figure burst out from the undergrowth to their right and directly tackled Brother Artorius, who as the group¡¯s priest was the one blessed with the divine skills¡­ which included the way the alert the main group if they were to run into trouble that was beyond them. Mikaela herself only had that moment to spare as the next moment, she hastily defended herself with her sword and shield as a pair of wicked-looking blades designed like the scythe-legs of some insects flashed towards her. She only barely managed to parry one blade, while the other left a tear on her shield, which gave her no illusions as to what would happen if she was to take a direct hit from those blades. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. What jolted her more than the sudden assault, however, was the identity of the figure that held the blades. It was a slim, slender figure that was most definitely not a human, but one of their sworn enemies, the demons they had been fighting for countless generations. She recognized it as a Nevilosk demon, while the previous one was another type of demon called a Ragah-fiq. ¡°Demons! Rally to me!¡± she heard herself yelling in as stern a voice as she could manage to her companions. If they could rally together and pool their power against these demons they would be able to return alive, she told herself. She should just do as she was trained to do, and surely the Gods would bless her stand against the foul creatures, she thought. Maybe even the noisy Brother Artorius might be blessed and live to fight another day! She was rudely disabused from such thoughts by the sudden sound of violence and screams of pain from behind her, however. She risked a glance backwards to assess the situation, and all she saw just made her feel as if she had fallen into a deep, inescapable pit of despair right on the spot. Brother Edgar, the one she always remembered as the pious, energetic kid from the small village who was recruited by the temple partly because of that boisterousness of his, the mood maker of her group, was gurgling on his own blood at that moment. A smaller figure was nested against his back, clearly pushing some sort of blade into Edgar with unthinkable consequences. Constantine, the older senior temple guard who claimed that he no longer had any dreams of advancing to the fourth tier and was brought to this expedition to help impart his wisdom to the youngsters, was pinned to a tree by a wicked spear that had gone all the way through his chest and a good bit into the tree behind him besides. He had a look of surprise and disbelief on his face as he looked towards the forest, probably looking at his attacker which Mikaela couldn¡¯t see from the angle she was at. Sister Adelia, who had been the little sister of the group, was similarly being pinned against a tree, though in her case, her attacker had bodily rammed her with a shield held up and pushed her until she was backed up against a tree and unable to resist. Mikaela winced as she saw the cloaked figure move their arm ¨C which held a bloody hand spear ¨C back and forth as they stabbed Sister Adelia over and over again while she was helpless. What truly broke her resolve, however, was what happened to Brother Martin, the gentle giant of the group who everyone jested as looking a decade older than he actually was. She saw a brutish Ma¡¯Varok demon directly bisect him from shoulder to waist with a fearsome polearm, in a single blow that gave Brother Martin not even the slightest chance to resist. It was only then that she noticed how she had taken too long to look at the situation already and should return her attention to her opponent, yet couldn¡¯t turn her head for some reason. Was her field of view always so wide? Sister Mikaela knew that she had good eyes, but she was still surprised that she managed to glance at the entire situation at the same time. Then she felt her view shift again at last, towards the Nevilosk that struck at her. The demon actually stood still for some reason, in a pose with one arm across their chest and their other arm extended forward. Sister Mikaela saw that the demon held one of the wicked blades in each hand, and that the blade on the extended arm was impaled through the chest of a headless corpse that seemed all too familiar to her for some reason. It was not until her field of view began to drop and her consciousness started to dim that Sister Mikaela realized that the headless body was none other than her own. ******************************* ¡°Rare to see you need two strikes when we got ours in one, Ties,¡± teased Val-Kas¡¯j as he walked over to Tiesya with a smile. The ambush had gone off flawlessly, with none of the temple guards able to react much before they perished under their hands. That Tiesya of all people needed two strikes to take down her target was the only surprise. ¡°Guess she was alerted by Nali rushing down their priest, or maybe she was just the good one of the bunch, who knows?¡± replied Tiesya with a shrug. She herself did not care that much whether she did the deed in one or two strikes. Her enemy was down without being able to alert the main group, and that was all that mattered. ¡°Maybe, I guess. Anyway, you all already made sure that none of them¡¯s still breathing?¡± asked Val-Kas¡¯j to the rest of their small group of six. ¡°This one¡¯s a goner for sure,¡± replied Iryl as she moved away from the temple guard she pinned against a tree with her shield. The temple guard¡¯s corpse had been perforated over a dozen times, all in locations that they knew would be lethal to a human, so the chance of the temple guard surviving without some sort of utterly broken skill like [Respawn] was nonexistent. ¡°This one¡¯s dead too,¡± stated Resitia as she yanked her spear out from the tree it was embedded in. She had thrown her weapon with a bit too much force which resulted in it getting embedded deeper in the tree than she liked. Once she got her spear freed, she swiped it across the dead temple guard¡¯s neck and separated the man¡¯s head from his body. ¡°Just to make sure.¡± ¡°Oh, good idea, that,¡± noted Legisvula as he grabbed the hair of the temple guard he took down and raised the man¡¯s head before he severed the man¡¯s neck with his blade. ¡°Always much safer when you get rid of their heads, so even if any of them were playing dead, they¡¯d be dead for real instead.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ guess this¡¯ll have to do¡­¡± muttered Nalihimatu as he looked at his mace and then crushed the young, chatty priest¡¯s head into pulp with it. His weapon had no cutting edge so he didn¡¯t have the option to cleanly remove the head off the corpse. To be fair, the priest was likely too dead to complain anyway, as Nali¡¯s charge and tackle had crushed his ribcage and driven many shards of bone into his vital organs before he made them burst apart under the excessive force of his charge and the impact it caused. ¡°Think we need to take the heads back so the Exalted One can take their souls?¡± asked Tiesya after everyone confirmed their targets¡¯ deaths. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary. The Exalted One sent one of her agents with us and she could claim them through him, I think,¡± noted Legisvula as he pointed at Dali¡¯s barely visible figure, half-hidden by the leaves of the branch he was resting on, to the side of the path. ¡°Then let us return and deal with the rest.¡± CLXXXIV - Ambush ¡°Good work,¡± said Esperanza to the [Progenies of Yore] as they returned from taking care of the group of six temple guards quietly. She was made aware of her success from the souls she received ¨C she found out that Dali and Gordy could act as extensions of herself in that regard since the souls of their kills were always conveyed to her as well regardless of the distance ¨C and made full use of it in this case. The two dogs ¨C she knew that they were most definitely not what they seemed, but whatever they truly were, they were clearly content to play the part of pets, so she didn¡¯t care either way ¨C had been bored with little to do of late. Due to how the humans in Ephemera did not have a habit of rearing dogs for whatever reason, she could not bring them to the cities while they were infiltrating, so the two had mostly stayed with the rest of the group that hid themselves in the forest. They relieved some of their boredom by hunting ¨C in fact, ever since they entered this dungeon, Esperanza had let them loose to both scout out their flanks and to allow them to unleash the pent off frustration on the dungeon¡¯s creatures ¨C but she could feel that they wanted to do things together with her like they used so, which was why she made sure to give them a vital role in the battle to come. ¡°Are we going to strike at them now, Exalted One? Or should we wait until they send off more people first?¡± asked Val-Kas¡¯j politely. ¡°There¡¯s eighteen of them left, I¡¯ll take on the three fourth tiers myself with Dali and Gordy, so that leaves fifteen for the nine of you, should be doable, no?¡± Esperanza asked back to the [Progenies of Yore]. The kids looked at each other and exchanged glances briefly before they turned back to her and gave a firm nod together in reply. ¡°Try to give two to Mel, Di, and Ila, they didn¡¯t get to kill one already after all. The rest you kids can divide amongst yourself.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One,¡± nodded the [Progenies of Yore]. ¡°Anyway, we got them at a disadvantage and even took out a bunch of them already, but that¡¯s no excuse to go into a fight stupidly, so here¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do¡­¡± ****************************** ¡°They haven¡¯t returned yet,¡± grumbled Father Poligenes in a rather frustrated way as he complained yet again to the two Temple Knights. While the two were technically the ones in charge of this expedition, as the ones more used to combat, Father Poligenes outranked them in the temple¡¯s hierarchy, which probably made them a bit nervous about his dissatisfaction. ¡°Perhaps they are delayed, Father,¡± replied Brother Brodwick with a rather exasperated tone of voice. He somewhat understood why the Senior Priest was troubled, but in his mind, he still associated it more with a civilian being unnecessarily paranoid. Sure, the scouts not reporting back was potentially alarming, but he knew people, and also knew that such cases were more often than not just people forgetting the time to report back or getting distracted or the like. The six he sent out towards the path they took had not even gone for ten minutes, for Courage¡¯s sake. Even if they ran into the ¡°missing¡± scout at his presumed location, who Brodwick thought maybe just got entangled with some creature but felt they could take them out on their own ¨C a typical case of bravado amongst youngsters ¨C then given how far out he sent the scouts to range for the main group, they wouldn¡¯t be back until at least another five minutes. If they fail to return in another ten minutes, then Brodwick and Maetel would consider going into high alert and mobilize the rest of their group to search for their missing members. Where possible, the temple guards left no one behind. It was something that had been drilled unto them since young, and they adhered to it even decades later. Brodwick was just about to add another retort to Father Poligenes and his paranoid worries when he caught a glimpse of something in the forest that he recognized as a speeding arrow a moment later. Before he could yell out in warning, however, the arrow reached its target and pierced through Brother Jaraven¡¯s head from one side to the other, killing the temple guard on the spot. At the same time, the temperature suddenly started to grow colder, as a multitude of figures rushed out from the woods around them. ****************************** Ilavakide had struck the first blow because she had the best-suited skillset to do so. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. While the Ragah-fiq girl could unleash arrows at a fast pace from her bow, her best skills needed her to focus the effects of several skills on a single arrow and that took a moment of concentration, so using it to open an ambush was the most effective use of her skills. She aimed for the highest level temple guard who happened to be one of the furthest away from the fourth tiers, just to make sure she would be able to score the kill. Sure enough, her arrow, enhanced by multiple skills, went straight through her target¡¯s head ¨C pulping his brain in the process due to an effect from one of her skills that emitted a destructive shockwave inside the target struck by her arrow ¨C and out the other side. The temple guard at the cusp of the fourth tier dropped dead right where he stood. Ilavakide did not revel in her kill, and instead she nocked more arrows on her bowstring and loosed another barrage aimed at the temple guards and priests as a whole. Alerted, they naturally blocked or otherwise stopped her arrows from landing, but those arrows were meant as a distraction anyway. They acted as a cover while the rest of the [Progenies of Yore] revealed their presence as they rushed out from the forest¡¯s cover. The Temple Guards had been focused towards the direction Ilavakide shot her arrows from, and they were prepared to take on Val-Kas¡¯j, Nalihimatu, and Tiesya who emerged from that side. In doing so, however, they turned their back towards the real threat which emerged from behind them, as the rest of the group made their presence known. Dai¡¯vasy took an opening and froze the legs of a female temple guard to the ground, which stopped her mid-turn, while at the same time, several lances of ice flew out and skewered the unfortunate woman through her torso and at least several of her vital organs. The fourth tier priest managed to react a moment later as he conjured a translucent barrier that covered the rest of the group and held against the [Progenies of Yore] for a moment, but it was too late for Dai¡¯vasy¡¯s victim by then. Not that the barrier lasted for long. Before the [Progenies of Yore] could land a second round of attacks on the barrier, Dali and Gordy rushed in and directly shattered the barrier by ramming through it with their bodies. Dali then rushed towards the fourth tier female temple guard, who had brought out a large two-handed mace by then, and forced her to back off as he came close to nipping a chunk of flesh from her throat. Gordy on the other hand barreled past a couple surprised third tier temple guards ¨C she only shoved them out of the way, leaving them to the [Progenies of Yore] ¨C and headed straight for the male fourth tier temple guard, who held a pair of short swords in his hands. The man clearly considered Gordy a threat, and moved at a blinding speed to strike at her with his swords. Except he only found that Gordy¡¯s form dissolved into mist just before he could reach her. Mist that soon enveloped him and his surroundings, and started to gnaw at him from multiple directions as he tried to get out from the envelopment. The [Progenies of Yore] rushed through the shattered barrier one after another, each one peeling off to take on a temple guard or two. Ilavakide and Dai¡¯vasy continued to support them from a distance while the others closed in on their chosen opponents and took them one with all the ferocity they could muster, their weapons swung with all their power and skills behind them. Even under the assault, the old fourth tier priest still kept his calm and was chanting some sort of skill. Skills that needed to be chanted like that were always bad news, so Ilavakide and Dai¡¯vasy immediately focused their ranged attacks on the priest, only to have two of the third tier temple guards intercept their projectiles midway. Just when it looked like the priest was about to get his skill off, however, something flashed past him and the priest stopped his chant as he nearly toppled backwards with his right cheek torn open to the bone. A moment later Esperanza landed on the forest floor, still wearing the ¡°human¡± guise she used when she struck the demon bases back then, and gave an audible tsk of disappointment that she had not beheaded the man with that strike. The curved antler dagger held by a length of a tentacle-like limb disguised to look like a rope flew back to her hand, and was matched by an identical one made out of bone in her other hand. The second dagger was actually Esperanza shapeshifting part of herself to give the impression that she was someone who fought with daggers that were tied to ropes. She did not say any words and just manipulated her disguised limbs to another assault towards the priest, who now defended himself with translucent barriers, smaller versions of the large one he used before. He managed to block the first few strikes, but was clearly on the backfoot. The man did not seem used to fighting, and he frantically looked around at his compatriots, perhaps in search of the other two fourth tiers. Too bad Esperanza had Dali and Gordy occupy those two for this exact reason. The rest of the temple guards were kept busy by the [Progenies of Yore], with two of them forced to constantly defend the others ¨C and themselves ¨C from the arrows and ice lances that Ilavakide and Dai¡¯vasy kept sending their way. Most of the rest were occupied in combat with the kids, other than another one that fell to a sneak attack from Legisvula shortly after the barrier broke. Val-Kas¡¯j, Tiesya, and Nalihimatu each kept two of the temple guards occupied. The temple guards might have higher levels, but their classes were of lower quality compared to those that the [Progenies of Yore] possessed. As a result, the fighting was far more even than the temple guards expected out of their opponents¡¯ level, and in fact the [Progenies of Yore] were the ones who gained the advantage and pushed them harder and harder. With their superiors occupied in a fight for their lives, the temple guards lacked leadership, which proved to be a disadvantage against the [Progenies of Yore], who were more used to fighting on their own. Esperanza guided them, but the kids mostly fought their own fights, so they were used to fighting either alone or with others, regardless of the situation. In contrast, the temple guards clearly had a more rigid training and were used to fighting like a military unit, which did little to benefit them now that they had been thrown into chaos like this. They were also clearly reliant on the fourth tiers and some of them looked almost as if they had no idea what to do even while they fought back. The first of the fourth tiers to fall in the end was the priest. His class was clearly a strong supportive one, but he was never meant to fight directly, so the temple guards already failed the moment Esperanza reached the priest. The man defended himself desperately, but he could not cover all angles and soon found his guts spilling out from a tear on his abdomen. Before the man could recover from the shock of the injury, Esperanza removed his head off his shoulders with her curved antler dagger. CLXXXV - Reunion in the Afterlife ¡°Father Poligenes!¡± screamed Sister Maetel as she saw how the sole fourth tier priest of their group was killed. Despite the Father¡¯s skillful use of healing magic, which he often applied to his own injuries, she knew all too well that a decapitation was famously an effective way to kill such people, and Father Poligenes had his head removed from his body in no uncertain terms. ¡°Gah!¡± she yelped out in pain as the moment of inattention nearly cost her her own life. The slender beast that kept her occupied so far had taken the opening and nearly ripped out her throat with its fangs. She managed to lean back just enough in time, though it was not enough to prevent the beast¡¯s fang from tearing a chunk of flesh off her chin. With an angry bellow that was closer to a beast¡¯s roar Sister Maetel called upon her [Divine Body] skill, which reinforced her physical capabilities to superhuman level. She brought down her two-handed mace with terrifying power towards the beast that was still recovering from its lunge, intent on turning it into minced meat with the blow. Yet her blow only found the forest floor and kicked up some dirt and leaves instead as the beast suddenly vanished from beneath her mace to reappear a short distance away, to the side. Sister Maetel made a second swing with a snarl of frustrated rage, but the slender beast just casually leapt away and stayed out of her range. It had always acted that way, staying out of her immediate range yet lunging in to bite at her the moment she showed any opening or tried to head to the others in order to render them aid. It was as if the beast knew that she was one of the strongest and took upon itself to buy time for the rest of the attackers by keeping her busy. Sister Maetel was just about to pursue the beast once more when she saw the odd cloaked and hooded figure that murdered Father Poligenes rush towards her from the corner of her eye, with the figure¡¯s pair of dagger already flying her way. She had no choice but to turn her attention to the new threat as she deflected away one of the daggers with her mace and got the other to wrap around the shaft of her weapon. She was just about to drag the hooded figure over to get her into her range when she felt a sharp pain in her leg. Armor like what she wore mostly focused on covering its wearer¡¯s vital parts. There were compromises that had to be made between coverage and durability against weight and mobility, especially for those on the higher tiers. While it was easy enough to make an armor for a second tier that could encompass their whole body, provide excellent protection, and not hamper their mobility too much, the far greater levels of power and destruction fourth tiers were capable of meant that things could not be the same for them. It was practically impossible to create an armor that was not only durable enough to provide reasonable protection from another fourth tier, covered the entire body, yet not affect the wearer¡¯s mobility, even with the use of rare materials. In general most fourth tiers opted to retain their mobility, even the more heavily armored ones like Sister Maetel. As such, their armor did not cover some areas, which were particularly vulnerable to enemy attacks. Their joints were a typical weakpoint, as it was the hardest to create armor that could move with them without hampering their mobility at the level of protection fourth tiers needed against one another. The pain Sister Maetel felt came from one area her armor did not cover, namely the back of her right knee. Sure enough, when she glanced back, that infernal beast had not only returned to the fray but bit deep into her right leg from behind. Her leg wasn¡¯t hurt so bad that she couldn¡¯t put her weight on it yet, but she knew that if she gave the beast time, it would make the injury far worse, so she shifted around and tried to bring her weapon to bear on the beast while it was stuck to her leg. She failed to notice how the ¡°rope¡± that wrapped around her mace¡¯s shaft and the bone dagger tied to it came to life like it was some sort of snake, the bone dagger rearranging itself into a set of teeth that sprouted out from a three-part maw the ¡°rope¡± opened up to. Sister Maetel only noticed the danger when it was too late, and turned only to have the maw clamp down on her face. Then she felt something trying to force its way into her nostrils and mouth and eye sockets, accompanied by excruciating pain. Perhaps as a final blessing from the gods she worshiped, the pain only lasted a short while before she felt something breaking, and then she knew no more as darkness descended upon her consciousness and claimed her. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Alas, her soul was not meant for the promised afterlife preached by the priests, but for the gullet of a hungry, soul-devouring thing her gods would have considered to be the highest form of heresy just for existing. ****************************** Brother Brodwick was unaware of everything that happened, be it the death of Father Poligenes, or that of Sister Maetel. He was a [Devoted Fleetfoot Blade], a blessed class that fought and defeated his opponents with overwhelming speed and precision strikes. He had been paired with Sister Maetel, a [Blessed Behemoth of Faith] who excelled in raw power for a decade now, and the two always made a good team. For the first time, however, he faced an opponent that completely stymied him. None of his skills and abilities allowed him to escape the envelopment of the mist that still covered everything around him, and while he managed to get away from it, the mist still attempted to devour him everytime he came into direct contact with it. He had no idea how that worked, or how the creature could turn into mist like that for that matter, or how it could still try to gnaw at him everytime he came close. One thing he knew for certain was that his own body was already riddled with shallow teeth marks ¨C from when the mist came into contact with him but he was fast enough to escape its grasp ¨C and he needed to get out of there before it was too late. Yet no matter what he tried, the mist continued to envelop his surroundings and block every avenue of escape he could think of. He even tried going above or below, but the mist remained all around him as if it was attached to him in some manner. All the while, he slowly but surely grew weaker from the injuries ¨C slight as they might be ¨C and the bleeding. He had no illusions about what would happen to him should he actually allow the mist to engulf him. The creature ¨C mist, beast, whatever it was ¨C already made that clear with the many, many bite marks already on his body, which directly bypassed the armor he wore and directly formed on his skin when the mist seeped in underneath it, even. Nothing he did seemed to seriously affect the beast once it turned into mist, which he knew likely just meant that he had yet to stumble upon something that would actually hurt the damn thing. Nothing was invincible and everything had a weakness, Brother Brodwick was certain of that. Unfortunately for him, he had yet to realize that he happened to be in one of those cases where his skillset happened to be a poor matchup to his opponent. Worse, with the way Gordy kept Brother Brodwick¡¯s awareness of his surroundings limited to just the things in his immediate vicinity, he had absolutely no idea that those on the outside could see just fine into the mist¡­ if they were on the same side as it was. As such he also had no idea that several bloody figures were approaching him from all directions and were preparing their attacks. So when the mist suddenly dispersed and reformed into the large shaggy beast all of a sudden, he was caught by surprise. Surprise that lasted all of a brief moment before attacks of all kinds flew towards him from every direction. Brother Brodwick wanted to use his god-given speed to escape, but to his dismay, found that his feet were encased in ice and was stuck to the ground. He shattered the ice that shackled him using his swords, but that cost him a precious moment, and as a result, he was too late to avoid some of the attacks headed his way. He still managed to deflect a sword-like claw that was swung towards his face, and barely avoided a vicious-looking polearm that sliced through some of his long, flowing hair as it passed by his face, but other strikes found purchase. An arrow moved faster than he could react to and went into his left arm at the bicep, where it exploded and directly shattered his arm on the spot. Another shackle of ice covered his right foot, yet this time the shackle did not stop at only encasing his foot, but grew spikes that dug into his flesh and kept him in place. A pair of spears shot out and pierced through his abdomen before he could bend down to shatter the ice, and he also felt another blade enter his body from the side and slice through one of his kidneys. A Ragah-fiq demon wielding a large shield and a hefty-looking mace charged him and Brother Brodwick only barely managed to block the vicious blow, even if it sent him careening backwards until he landed on his back, wrenching his leg painfully as the spikes of ice dug into his flesh and enlarged the wounds they created there. Brother Brodwick knew that he probably dislocated his ankle or worse from the pain that shot up his leg, but at that time, it was clearly the least of his worries. As he fell he realized just how bad the situation was, as everywhere he could see, the other temple guards all lay dead, and not even Father Poligenes or Sister Maetel, both fourth tier powerhouses in their own rights, managed to survive. In his heart Brother Brodwick knew that the chances of his survival was slim to none at best, though what alarmed him more was the identity of these enemies that had slaughtered his party. He saw both demons and humans, working together with one another, and knew only one group that had members of both races like that. The heretics. The accursed followers of the old gods that had been overthrown by their gods, fools who followed the words of long cast out deceivers. His thoughts were cut short, however, as the shaggy beast he fought against, the one that turned into the mist that enveloped him, walked over and approached him all too nonchalantly. Brother Brodwick tried to raise his remaining sword but found his arm pinned down when he did so, while the beast came closer and closer¡­ The last thing Brother Brodwick ever saw while he was alive was a large, toothy maw opening up to engulf his face in its entirety. He had vague awareness of whatever happened after that, only that he knew his soul would go to the embrace of his Gods, who would hopefully forgive him the dismal failure that was his last battle. Vaguely, he noticed other, familiar faces near him, ones he recognized as Father Poligenes and Sister Maetel, and the others as well. Were they perhaps already in the promised afterlife? It made sense since they died together¡­ yet an uneasy feeling crept up his soul regardless. Was the promised afterlife supposed to be so dark and quiet¡­? 186 - Leonhart DelVillar ¡°Leo, old bastard!¡± greeted Sir Inolet cheerfully once he disembarked from the wagon. He walked towards the senior-most ¨C easy enough to tell with the way the man dressed and the rank epaulets on his chest ¨C of the welcoming officers from Fort Abernal, the next posting of the [Heroes]¡¯ party and gave the man a big, friendly hug. ¡°Good to see that missing an eye and a leg had yet to drag you down to the afterlife, you lily-livered old fart!¡± greeted the old officer back as he hugged Sir Inolet just as warmly and patted him on the back a few times. ¡°You¡¯ve been gone from the front for so long that I thought you¡¯ve gone soft in the capital like all those noble windbags!¡± ¡°Hah! Nah, just got saddled with training the latest batch of [Heroes], is all,¡± replied Sir Inolet all too nonchalantly, though Alissa noticed that the younger officers present did not seem the least bit surprised at the way he talked. Then again, they were officers in a fort led by one of the old knights, so it would be unsurprising if they were used to such talk, especially if they were trusted ones. ¡°They the younglings behind you, then?¡± commented the old knight from the fort as he glanced over Alissa and the rest of her group. All eleven of them were present and lined up while Sir Inolet greeted his old friend. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem as impressive as the last batch, also, not many [Companions] and [Associates] this time around, huh?¡± ¡°Only nine of those off their first dungeon,¡± answered Sir Inolet. ¡°Not really something you can blame them for, you know how it goes with [Companions] and [Associates]. Always depends on their own luck, for the most part. It was already rare enough that we had fifteen back then, and even then only one survived that war.¡± ¡°Fair point, I guess,¡± admitted the old knight with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°Hm? Is it just me or is the [Cleric] missing? That girl there¡¯s clearly one of ours and with the temple guard, so it can¡¯t be her,¡± he then asked as he glanced towards Leda. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that we got shafted right from the start and are missing one of the [Heroes] already¡­¡± ¡°Summoning complication,¡± explained Sir Inolet with a shake of his head. ¡°Even so, they did pretty well. We managed to beat the demons back in the east when we caught them by surprise. The kids did their part,¡± he added, clearly putting in a good word for the [Heroes]¡¯ party. ¡°They even listen well to my teachings.¡± ¡°Let me judge that for myself,¡± replied the old knight as he finally moved away from Sir Inolet and allowed the group to get a good look at him for the first time. Sir Leonhart DelVillar ¨C Sir Inolet had introduced him and his famous feats during the journey to Fort Abernal ¨C was not an impressive looking man at the first glance, or at any subsequent glances for that matter. He was rather lanky and gaunt, and not that tall either, probably nearly half a head shorter than Alissa herself. The old knight kept his gray hair in a severe ponytail and his beard trimmed short, but looked nothing like what Alissa had imagined one of the most powerful combatants in the Kingdom would be like. Of course, a glance with [Analysis] told of another story altogether. [Orphan Lvl20 / Shield Soldier Lvl20 / Mighty Stone Bulwark Lvl20 / Unbreakable Guardian Knight Lvl15] The old knight was the one of the highest level humans Alissa had seen thus far, not counting some like the High Priest or the non-combat classes. That said, his appearance was even more confusing when juxtaposed against his classes. In Alissa¡¯s experience thus far, defensive class combatants tend to lean to large, robust physiques, which made the old, gaunt knight look like even more of an anomaly. ¡°I know that look, ain¡¯t no stranger to it,¡± said Sir DelVillar with an amused scoff. Alissa was likely not the only one who had those thoughts, and clearly some of the others were worse at preventing their thoughts from showing on their features. Then again, Alissa sort of cheated since [Weather the Storm] helped her do so easily. ¡°You. You¡¯re the [Mage], aren¡¯t you?¡± continued the old knight as he pointed towards Joshua with a wrinkled, gnarled finger. ¡°Come at me. Hit me with everything you have. I¡¯ll see for myself whether this batch is really any good or not.¡± ¡°Just do what old Leon tells you to, boy,¡± encouraged Magus Drummond from behind Joshua with a wide smirk on his face. ¡°He knows what he¡¯s doing. Besides, if you can drop him, it¡¯ll just mean that it¡¯s time for the old bastard to retire and start raising sheep instead!¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Well¡­ okay then¡­ Here I go, Sir. [Spell Combination]! [Mana Overload]! [Overcharge: 300%]! [Lens of Focus]! [Double Cast]! [Elemental Enhancement: Lightning]! [Incarnation of Elements: Bolt of Lightning]! [Elemental Arts: Piercing Bolt]!¡± said Joshua as he triggered one skill after another, overlapped and combined them. He had gained some new skills since he last did such an all-out strike, though lightning still remained his favored element since it has the best speed and penetration out of the elements he could use. The way he stacked and combined his skills together created a blinding lance of lightning that struck towards Sir Leonhart DelVillar the very next moment. The resultant impact temporarily blinded everyone present ¨C though Alissa guessed that the fourth tiers likely recovered faster or had ways to shrug off the blinding flash ¨C for a while, and for a brief moment Alissa worried for the old knight. That was, until her vision returned to normal and she saw the old knight standing unperturbed where he was, with nary a scratch on his person. Not even his uniform was damaged by the magical blast, and the only sign he did something was the presence of a thin slab of stone that floated before his chest. The stone has scorch marks on its surface, likely where Joshua¡¯s spell struck it. Somehow the thin slab of stone dissipated the spell without taking any notable damage despite the power involved. Alissa knew that Joshua might need some time to overlap and use his many skills together, but the resultant spell was one of the strongest attacks that their party was capable of, and not by a small margin either. ¡°Is that all?¡± asked the old knight as he stifled a yawn with one hand. ¡°I said give me all you got, youngster. Don¡¯t be cutting corners, now. I¡¯m old, but that doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t whoop your arse all the same, you know? Go ahead and wait till your skills cooled down and your mana refills first. I got time.¡± Joshua remained silent for a moment and waited as he was told. He looked back at the old knight a few minutes later, then with a look of concentration on his face, he raised his arms once more. ¡°[Spell Combination]! [Mana Overload]! [Overcharge: 500%]! [Lens of Focus]! [[Double Cast]! [Elemental Enhancement: Lightning]! [Incarnation of Elements: Rampaging Thunder Dragon]! [Elemental Arts: Thunder of Judgement]!¡± he chanted as a much, much higher concentration of mana focused itself between its hand and turned into a serpentine dragon made of lightning. The combination of spells was one Joshua never actually used in combat yet because it took too long to get it together and such an opening would be potentially fatal, yet since the old knight incensed him and told him to do his utmost, he decided that he would do just that. The combination drained almost every drop of mana from his body, and he kept it charged until he couldn¡¯t hold it anymore before he let the spell loose. This time, the flash of lightning was even more blinding ¨C Alissa still saw white for a moment despite having closed her eyes ¨C and deafening as it struck the old knight¡¯s floating stone slab. It took at least a couple minutes before Alissa finally blinked away the spots in her vision and managed to take a good look at the old knight. Sir Leonhart DelVillar was unscathed, though this time, the slab of stone he used to block the blow had crumbled for the most part, with over half of the slab¡¯s thickness shattered, but the rearmost layer still intact. The old knight himself had a satisfied smile on his face, however, despite his defense nearly being breached. ¡°That¡¯s better,¡± he said nonchalantly. ¡°At least you got some bite when you put your back to it, though you definitely need to work on getting those skills out faster and in a less noticeable way,¡± commented the old knight with a shake of his head. ¡°Also go to work on your endurance, I¡¯d say. Did that spell empty your mana already?¡± ¡°Just¡­ about,¡± replied Joshua with difficulty as he was suffering from the throes of mana overuse. ¡°I got¡­ maybe some dregs left in me after that spell¡­¡± ¡°Still better than most mages I¡¯ve seen. Take pride in that you¡¯ve done more to my defenses than that old charlatan you call your master ever did!¡± replied Sir DelVillar with a bark of laughter over Magus Drummond¡¯s protestations. ¡°Don¡¯t deny it, Murdock. You¡¯ve never even managed to get halfway through a slab of mine!¡± ¡°You very well know that this brat takes a very different path compared to me you dotard!¡± yelled Magus Drummond back. Indeed, the old Magus had skills that were more focused towards endurance and being able to keep firing spells over long periods of time, unlike Joshua¡¯s which went towards a far more explosive approach. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s one of them. What about you?¡± asked Sir DelVillar as he pointed towards Ethan. ¡°Uhh¡­ My classes lean towards the defensive, Sir,¡± replied Ethan somewhat nervously. The old knight reminded Alissa and Ethan a lot of the sort of demanding coaches they sometimes had back at their schools. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have strong enough attacks that can match what Smith did earlier.¡± ¡°Oh, nevermind then. I¡¯m more curious about what the current [Heroes] could do on the offense for the time being,¡± replied Sir DelVillar nonchalantly. ¡°What about you, girl? Want to give this old man a try too?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, I would like to give it a shot, Sir,¡± replied Alissa as she brought out her spear and held it in both hands in a low stance. She could use her spear one-handed, sure, but since the old knight seemed to want to test their most powerful attack, Alissa figured she should do as he asked, so she used both hands instead. ¡°All right,¡± noted the old knight as he nodded and formed a new slab of stone, one just as solid as the one Joshua partly shattered with his supercharged spell earlier. ¡°Go ahead, girl. Come at me with all you got.¡± Alissa held her spear with the thinner spearhead ¨C the one meant for penetrating strikes ¨C pointed towards the old knight and took a deep breath as she activated her offensive skills one after another. She had quite a few skills that supposedly aided in penetration and made her strikes able to pierce through many forms of defenses, but she was uncertain how well they would work against the old knight¡¯s defense. She took a moment to calm herself and double-checked to make sure that all the relevant skills were already applied properly, then took another deep breath before she lunged towards the old man and thrust her spear towards the stone slab he used for defense with all her strength. The impact that followed made her feel as if she had struck against solid metal, and almost made her lose her grip on her weapon. ¡°Quite impressive,¡± noted Sir DelVillar as he looked at the point of Alissa¡¯s spear which managed to pierce through his stone defense, even if only by an inch or so. The spearhead was embedded into the stone slab and only barely penetrated it, but it was still a better result than any he had seen other than his contemporaries. 187 - The Shield of Arh-Getlam ¡°Impressive indeed,¡± noted Sir Inolet from the side. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen anyone actually breach your defense in the last couple decades or so.¡± ¡°First time in decades that someone actually managed to go through my defense all the way, yeah,¡± replied Leonhart DelVillar with a more relaxed tone. The old knight did not seem the least bit annoyed that his defense had been broken for the first time in a long while, and instead looked positively pleased. He grinned at Alissa and gave her an appreciative nod, even. ¡°Very nice combination of skills, girl. If you can punch through my defense, I doubt many, if any, demons can withstand that strike.¡± ¡°The hard part with her skills is to hit somewhere fatal with them, to be honest,¡± mentioned Sir Inolet with a shrug of his shoulders. ¡°Her skills combine to give O¡¯Connor here a lot of penetrative power that would overwhelm most defenses, but they do nothing to increase what damage she does other than what she achieves by stabbing them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s sometimes a bit hard to land lethal blows on faster opponents, and my stealth skill¡¯s cooldown isn¡¯t short enough to use frequently in battle yet,¡± admitted Alissa with a nod. ¡°Because of that I¡¯ve focused on making my first strike count, and to just get what I could when I no longer have surprise and stealth to work with.¡± ¡°Not a bad approach, and I expect Henri would have drilled you quite a bit on how to fight with that spear, though nobody would be able to become an expert in a mere few months,¡± noted Sir DelVillar with another nod. ¡°Do you have a skill to help you with using your weapon, girl?¡± ¡°I do, Sir,¡± replied Alissa. ¡°It has evolved a couple times and is at level nine, now, so it might evolve again in the near future. It has helped me a lot, though I am also trying to not be too reliant on the skill and keep up with my practice as well.¡± ¡°Good attitude to have,¡± praised Sir DelVillar. ¡°Sorry for making you all exert yourself so soon after you arrive, but I figured it was best to get that out of the way as early as possible. I need to know what you kids can do before I can make any informed decisions about you,¡± he explained. ¡°I¡¯ll see all of you tomorrow on the training grounds, until then, you can follow Deena. She¡¯ll show you to your accommodations.¡± ¡°Understood, Sir!¡± ******************************* Deena turned out to be a granddaughter of Sir DelVillar¡¯s who worked at the fort as an administrative staff member. She was the youngest of the fort¡¯s officers who had welcomed the group together with Sir Delvillar, and while the party¡¯s chaperones left with the old knight to discuss things, Deena led the group of eleven towards their quarters. Compared to Fort Ixlay, Fort Abernal was at least twice if not three times the size, a fortress that pretty much contained a city inside its defensive walls, though its primary function remained that of a defensive fortification and military base. The civilians that lived inside the fort were mostly family members of the soldiers stationed there and typically served the fort in all sorts of supportive roles. There were buildings of all sorts inside the fort¡¯s walls, but Deena directly brought Alissa and the rest of the party towards an area further west, where the buildings had a more crude, function-over-form look to them. There were several squarish, multi-story buildings that probably served as the dormitories for the people stationed in the fort. Deena led them towards one of those buildings, which reminded Alissa a lot of apartment buildings in her previous world, just far more basic and cramped and with far less amenities. ¡°These are our officer dormitories, where you all will be staying,¡± explained Deena. For an officer¡¯s dormitory the place was extremely basic, with each floor having a dozen simple rooms that only had curtains in the place of a door. Some of the rooms were empty and left with their curtains open so Alissa managed to get a look at them. The inside of the rooms only contained a simple cot as well as a deck with a chair on the other side. There was a wooden chest set at the foot of the cot, likely meant to hold the belongings of the person staying in the room, but little else. The simple window was just an opening on the building¡¯s wall, and had wooden shutters to cover it. Under Deena¡¯s lead, they climbed up to the fourth and highest floor of the dormitory, which was entirely empty. The party would get the floor to themselves, while Deena explained that Sir Inolet and the rest would stay at the third floor. Each of the floors had a couple of shared washrooms where they could tend to the call of nature or clean themselves in a rather rudimentary shower of sorts. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Deena left the party alone as they unpacked and placed their belongings into the chests in their respective rooms. Since the party did not exactly carry that much with them ¨C several changes of clothes and their respective equipment, mostly ¨C it had not taken them long to unpack, and before long, they went back down as Deena led them towards the fort city to get some lunch. There was a mess hall where the soldiers ate most of the time, but the fare there was basic military fare, so it was not exactly the most appetizing thing. On the other hand, there were some eateries and pubs in the fort city, which provided their services to both the civilians and the members of the military. Soldiers who were in the mood for something better would often spend part of their pay there, while the officers were frequent customers to such places. It was a far cry from the quality that could be found in more peaceful and prosperous cities, sure, but it was plenty for the inhabitants of Fort Abernal. Together with Deena, the party went to one of the better establishments in the fort. The eatery in question used a shield as its signboard, and as it turned out, was run by Deena¡¯s own parents. They were warmly welcomed and ushered to the second floor where the twelve of them shared one large, long table and sat down as they waited for their food to come. ¡°I did not expect your parents to also be working here in the fort,¡± noted Alissa while they sipped on some ale and snacked on some small, cracker-like crisps. ¡°Most of our family works and lives here, actually. Seventh Aunt is the only one that doesn¡¯t,¡± replied Deena with a shake of her head. ¡°Many of my cousins are working in or for the military like I do, as do my brothers. Two of my sisters help mom and pop run the eatery, so they¡¯re good anyway. We figure we might as well help Grandpa out.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit risky? There¡¯s a large demon base around a couple days to the south if I remember correctly,¡± asked Ethan with some curiosity. ¡°Ar-something? I don¡¯t remember the name.¡± ¡°Arh-Getlam,¡± supplied Deena with a melancholic sigh. ¡°That base is the main reason this fort is guarded so well, because we would be in the best position to react to the demon movements from there. That¡¯s the strategic consideration. For many of us who live in this fort, however, there are also personal considerations when it comes to Arh-Getlam.¡± ¡°Many of us living and working here, be it the soldiers or the civilians, are people who once lived in Arh-Getlam or are descended from people who lived there,¡± she continued. ¡°Arh-Getlam was part of the Kingdom until the previous war around half a century ago. That was when we lost it to the demons. To many who survived the battle back then, the desire to retake their hometown from demon hands becomes one of their main drives in life. It is the lifelong desire of many of them.¡± ¡°Half a century ago¡­ so your grandfather, Sir DelVillar, also fought there at the time?¡± asked Joshua in a rather rare show of curiosity. ¡°He did, and it was then that he gained the nickname ¡®Shield of Arh-Getlam¡¯ when he fought to defend the people escaping from the city as part of the rear guard. To him, the nickname is a reminder that despite all his efforts he still failed to defend his hometown back then, and it gnaws at him. He would like nothing more than to reclaim the city with his own hands one day, which I suspect is why Grandpa pushes himself so hard all the time.¡± ¡°We were sent here likely for a reason unknown to us. Given what you said though, maybe there¡¯s plans to assault Arh-Getlam in the near future,¡± speculated Alissa after she gave the matter some thought. ¡°Has there been activity from the demon [Champions] near here?¡± ¡°We faced attacks from the suspected demon [Champion] that used wide-ranged buff skills several times, but last I heard you all faced and defeated them at Fort Silvia?¡± asked Deena in return. ¡°We did, though not easily,¡± admitted Alissa. ¡°I heard Sir Marsten mention that he expected the demons to retreat and recuperate after their grievous losses, and in the weeks since the battle there was indeed no demon activity near the fort.¡± ¡°Our own scouts concur with that assessment. The demons had not returned this way, so they likely withdrew deeper into their own territory,¡± said Deena with a nod of her head. ¡°I believe that is one reason why Grandpa and the others managed to convince the higher-ups that now would be a good opportunity to attempt retaking Arh-Getlam.¡± ¡°It makes sense when you put it that way. The¡­ barbarian [Champion] is mostly active further west while we just turned away another two, though that still doesn¡¯t account for the fourth one¡­¡± muttered Alissa. ¡°Does anyone have any inkling on where the fourth demon [Champion] is, by the way?¡± ¡°So far, no. We are quite certain that they are a creator type, which means that their direct combat ability will likely be below the others, but the artifacts they created had been seen all over the place, so we cannot pinpoint their whereabouts so far,¡± replied Deena with a shake of her head. ¡°I do not know that much, so Grandpa will likely be able to answer your questions more clearly when you meet with him tomorrow. He will want to assess your party first anyway, no offense intended.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an understandable thing to do,¡± nodded Ethan. ¡°I would be wary of going into battle with people I¡¯m not familiar with too, so for Sir DelVillar to desire a better understanding of what we can do makes perfect sense,¡± he elaborated. ¡°In exchange, we would also learn more about him and his capabilities, as is only fair.¡± ¡°Oh, Grandpa¡¯s abilities are no secret. He¡¯s pretty famous after all,¡± replied Deena with a proud grin. ¡°I don¡¯t think Sir DelVillar is a mage, but the way he used the stone was rather similar to how Master conjures them,¡± commented Joshua from the side. ¡°Still can¡¯t narrow it down by much though.¡± ¡°Well, tomorrow you¡¯ll see for yourselves,¡± replied Deena with another teasing smirk. ¡°I doubt Grandpa would keep you in the dark, but I¡¯ll just say this for now. Looks can be quite deceiving, especially when it comes to Grandpa. The way he fights is nothing like what most people expects when they see him or hear of his title.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s something to look forward to I guess,¡± noted Alissa. ¡°Oh, I think that¡¯s our food?¡± Sure enough, Deena¡¯s older sisters came to their table with large platters held on each arm, each of which had several smaller plates set on them. Deena got up from her seat and helped her sisters distribute the plates on the table before she sat back down and invited everyone to enjoy the meal. 188 - Eat Well, Train Well ¡°Got to admit, I expected something that¡¯s not much better than the typical army rations given that we¡¯re in a fort,¡± noted Ethan while he gnawed happily on the drumstick of a large bird. It was far too large to be some sort of chicken, more the size of a turkey drumstick, though none of them recalled seeing anything resembling a turkey in Ephemera. ¡°This stuff¡¯s good, though, real good. What meat is this?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the leg meat of a [Fleetfoot Snatcher]. They¡¯re this sort of small-ish feathered lizard monster that¡¯s endemic to this area. People thought of them as pests at first, but we changed our minds after we tried eating them,¡± replied Deena with a smirk on her face. ¡°We ranch them up after that. Pretty easy too. The little buggers eat almost anything with gusto.¡± ¡°Lizard, huh?¡± noted Ethan with a hint of surprise on his face. ¡°Always thought those were supposed to taste more like fish. Guess this is an exception or I heard some false info back then,¡± he said as he continued munching on the roasted leg meat. ¡°Either way, really good stuff, like I said. Kinda missed eating like this after having army rations for so long.¡± ¡°Come on now, you had your vacation in Clearridge just a few weeks ago,¡± chided Alissa as she elbowed Ethan on the side. ¡°I know for a fact that they got good food there too, and from the way you look like you gained several pounds after you returned from there, I know you definitely gorged yourself quite a bit during your stay.¡± ¡°I think all of us did, haha,¡± replied Ethan as he laughed out loud at Alissa¡¯s accusation. ¡°Either way, Ol¡¯ Henri sure did make us train hard enough to lose all that weight right away once we returned, so I guess it evens out,¡± he said while reaching for another roasted drumstick. ¡°Any idea how your Grandpa would treat us, Deena? Figured you¡¯d have an idea since you¡¯re the local here.¡± ¡°Grandpa likes to train people to their limits, but since you¡¯re all accustomed to Sir Inolet, I doubt you¡¯d find him too harsh or anything. From what Grandpa told me Sir Inolet is even harder on his students than he himself ever was,¡± replied Deena after a moment of thought. ¡°Just be prepared for some bruises and the like, I guess.¡± ¡°Eh, nothing we aren¡¯t used to,¡± replied Alissa as she enjoyed a dish that was reminiscent of cabbage rolls, except that the leaves were more fibrous and still had a crunch to them despite having been steamed for a good long while. She guessed the minced meat inside was more of the [Fleetfoot Snatcher], mixed with some sort of vegetable that had a crisp texture and refreshing flavor. ¡°But yeah, compliments to the chef. Ethan is right in saying that this is good stuff.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll pass it on to pop later then,¡± Deena replied with a smirk. The food was truly good and definitely satisfied everyone, to the point that even the ones who were born into privilege had nothing to complain about. The group enjoyed their dinner before Deena took them to visit one of the [Fleetfoot Snatcher] ranches run by one of her uncles. There they saw the form of the creature they just enjoyed, and some of the group were rather torn upon the sight they saw before them, because almost to a man, they all agreed that the [Fleetfoot Snatcher] was a downright adorable creature. Each [Fleetfoot Snatcher] was roughly the size of a large turkey and had a rotund, feathered form full of brightly colored plumage, supported by legs that ended in wicked claws. The claws were quite large for a creature of their size, and the rather blunt snout filled with sharp teeth made it clear that the creatures were likely capable predators in the wild. In captivity with plenty of food and little room to move, though, they grew lazy and rotund rather quickly, which made them quite easy to domesticate and treat as a ranch animal. A hungry [Fleetfoot Snatcher] was a pest that would eat whatever edibles it could find, while a sated one used to eating its fill every day grew too lazy to hunt even when it was hungry before too long. Other than its meat, the creatures also laid eggs on a regular basis, which made them pretty ideal to raise, since they were not picky about what they eat. Kitchen scraps and the like were usually fed to the creatures, which were able to digest both animal and plant matter with equal ease. As a bonus, feeding them most of the fort¡¯s ¡°trash¡± meant that the fort was kept clean as a side effect. After the visit to the ranch, the group returned to the dormitory and went to sleep on their respective cots that night. It was not exactly the most comfortable bed, with a simple straw mattress on top of the cot, covered with a bedsheet, but it was better than a bedroll on the hard ground, to say the least. By then they were used to even that, so the cot felt positively comfortable and they slept soundly through the night. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. They woke up around dawn the next day as the party were used to from their training and took turns to refresh themselves in the shared bathrooms before they put on their equipment and headed towards the training grounds under Deena¡¯s lead. Deena had come to fetch them just as they finished getting ready, which was good timing on her part. As for the training grounds itself, the place was heavily in use even at the early hour, with hundreds of soldiers clearly in the middle of training already. That said, there was a space left open in the center of the training grounds where Alissa spotted Sir Inolet, Magus Drummond, and Sir DelVillar already waiting for their arrival. ¡°Quite punctual. That is a good trait to have,¡± commented Sir DelVillar as the party reached the clearing. ¡°I assume you all are prepared, then? Form up into combat formation, all of you. I will see what you can do for myself,¡± said the old knight with obvious confidence. Alissa questioned the wisdom of taking on the whole party on his own, but then she remembered the previous day¡¯s test. If neither she nor Joshua could even properly punch through the old knight¡¯s defenses with their best effort, chances were that none of the rest could do so either. If the old man could keep his defenses against all of them then they wouldn¡¯t really risk hurting him at all. They followed his instructions and formed up into their usual battle formation, with Ethan, Bronwen, and Glenn at the front, Alissa, Nadine, Maribel, and Moira at the sides, while Joshua, Ormont, and Benedictus nestled in the middle. The toughest people were at the front, while those who were more offense than defense held the flanks, and their ranged support was covered from three sides by the formation. ¡°Good, you¡¯re ready, then?¡± asked Sir DelVillar to which the party nodded. As the old knight received their affirmation, he mumbled something under his breath, likely the name of some skills of his own, and everyone soon noticed the change. An armor of stone coalesced around the gangly old knight¡¯s body, forming a protective layer around him that took the shape of a suit of plate armor. A shield of stone also formed in his left hand, while a long-handled pole-mace of the same material formed in his right hand. ¡°Come at me, then, kids. I¡¯ll let you have the first strike,¡± said Sir DelVillar as he beckoned the party to make the first move against him. Alissa and the rest of the party obliged the old man¡¯s invitation. Since he clearly meant for this to be a spar, neither Alissa nor Joshua went for the all-out strike they did the day before. Such strikes took too long to prepare in actual combat conditions, so instead Ethan¡¯s group charged at the old knight with their shields held high. All three of them bodily rammed the old knight shield-first, but to their surprise, found him not moving even a single step back from the impact. Sir DelVillar had not even raised his shield to defend himself. Alissa, Nadine, Moira, and Maribel then assaulted the old knight from the sides, trying to find chinks and weak points in his defenses. Unfortunately, other than openings for his eyes and nostrils, there was no weakness to be found on his armor of stone, and when Alissa did try to target his eyeslit, he simply moved his head a bit, which was enough to throw off her aim. The attacks from Ormont, Joshua, and Benedictus failed to find any purchase as well, and even though Joshua shifted to using fire ¨C probably in an attempt to exploit the eyeslits and breathing holes in the old knight¡¯s stone armor ¨C Sir DelVillar was clearly used to such attacks as the openings sealed themselves before any of the flames managed to reach them. Even though the old man should have been blinded that way, he still reacted swiftly against the party and swung his mace with enough force to send Glenn stumbling backwards. At the same time, he raised his shield and pushed back against Ethan and Bronwen, the two finding the old knight to be impossibly strong and heavy as they too were forced to take steps back. Unlike most cases, the old knight¡¯s shield was not held in his hand, but was instead directly attached to the ¡°gauntlet¡± on his left arm. The shield itself was capable of shifting its shape and moving independently as it was clearly part of Sir DelVillar¡¯s skill, which allowed it to flow and shift in order to intercept attacks that came at him. That quirk allowed the old man to wield his polemace with both hands, something he was clearly well-accustomed to as his strikes came fast and furious against the group, each blow delivered with brutal force yet also directed with great finesse and skill that were clearly born from decades of experience and training. Alissa blocked one such blow with her shield and almost had her arm dislocated as a result as she misjudged the force behind the cleverly-placed blow. She only managed to save herself from injury by leaping back, which only gave Sir DelVillar more room to leverage his weapon¡¯s long reach and devastating force, causing the party to be thrown on the backfoot. Those with longer weapons like Moira and Nadine also tried to contest the old knight, but found themselves unable to match his power and skill, while at the same time, none of the attacks the party used managed to even damage the old knight¡¯s stone armor appreciably. Alissa made a couple skill-enhanced strikes that caused small chinks to form, but the stone armor repaired itself in seconds, which rendered her efforts useless. Each time Joshua tried to charge up a spell, Sir Delvillar would shift his focus towards him, which in turn forced Joshua to cancel his channeling as he had to scramble away from the old knight. The party¡¯s efforts to block Sir DelVillar were ineffective at best, and completely ignored at worst, as the party quickly realized that nothing they did managed to even give the old knight a pause. The stone armor that wrapped his entire body was exactly as durable as the small slab he had Joshua and Alissa test themselves on the previous day, and the old knight seemed perfectly comfortable with maintaining the armor on himself ¨C even with the occasional repairs ¨C throughout the duration of a battle. Alissa recalled that Sir Marsten had offhandedly mentioned that Sir DelVillar was considered one of the strongest three in the Kingdom, though there was no clear segregation of power between the three at the top. She could see why, as the old knight was a true juggernaut who was simply unstoppable. If he had a weakness, is was probably his lacking variety on the offense, but the ridiculous defense he possessed was a big enough problem on its own. CLXXXIX - No Rest for the Wicked(?) Brother Artorius found that consciousness returned to him in a slow and hazy way. At first he recalled little to nothing, but slowly and surely, memories returned to him, his past, growing up happily in a privileged family as his father was one of the Bishops of the Temple. Those memories eventually led to the expedition he was to undertake, where a group of young and promising priests and guards from the Temple were made to delve into an active dungeon to temper themselves and grow their power. Such troublesome matters were normally beneath him, with his position as the local bishop¡¯s son, but due to the war with the demons, every skilled priest and guard was called upon to serve. As such, Artorius had dusted off his old barely-used mace and went to the dungeon as part of a party of thirty chosen priests and guards from the temple. In his mind, he was likely safe. They likely wouldn¡¯t let anything untoward happen to him as they didn¡¯t want to risk his father¡¯s displeasure. Besides that, their party even had the local Temple¡¯s strongest three, who were all in their fourth tiers. Certainly such a party would be more than enough to complete a dungeon delve in perfect safety. He recalled entering the dungeon with confidence. As a priest his duty was to stay in the back and to support the guards assigned to him with his skills and spells, which he did as best he could because while Artorius was rather lazy, he did quite like the feeling of getting stronger. If he could reach the fourth tier that would win his family great prestige and he was certainly not against that! The boredom of walking through the forest dungeon was something he recalled vividly, and vaguely, he recalled asking whether they had reached their destination yet or not many times, likely to the irritation of the others, which he couldn¡¯t care less about. Then his memories caught up with more recent events, and the nightmare played once more in his mind. Not like he would forget the ugly sight of the squat, furred demons that suddenly emerged out of the undergrowth and rushed him. He remembered the feeling of being pushed by a great force he couldn¡¯t do anything against and how he lost consciousness after the brute crushed his body between its shield and a great tree. That was a nightmare, right? Certainly he wouldn¡¯t be remembering it if he was actually dead and was in the promised afterlife? Vaguely, Artorius started to be able to perceive his surroundings. He could make out the forest canopy above, if barely. It was dark, so he sighed in relief as it looked like he had just dreamed the whole thing. He had only just done so when he couldn¡¯t help but notice an oddity, namely how everything around him seemed to be bigger than they should be. Then he noticed some blurry figures in his surroundings that his eyes started to make out. He thought they were likely his compatriots. Maybe he ate something bad and the nightmare exacerbated his illness or something and he was hallucinating because of it, he thought. It was only when his sight slowly cleared that he tried to rub his eyes with his arms only to realize that he could not move his arms. Or anything, for that matter, for all that remained of him was but a mere wisp of a disembodied soul that floated in the air somehow. ****************************** ¡°Looks like he¡¯s starting to realize the situation he¡¯s in,¡± noted Esperanza. She was the one responsible for allowing the soul of Brother Artorius to manifest using her [Soul Manifestation] skill, which by that point was so well-used that it had leveled enough that she could use it a couple times a day if she wished to. Most of that practice was naturally from the late villagers of Navef, who she regularly allowed to manifest just so they could get some relief from the eternal limbo that was their current state. Many of the villagers have asked to be allowed to rest in peace after they had a final chat with their surviving children, so Esperanza left them undisturbed in order to respect their wishes. Some of the others though, were willing to actively advise and suggest things to her group, mostly the ones who had more experience in life, like old Adan-Zil for example. She used her skill to let them manifest on a regular basis, partly to train her skill as well through the constant usage. Esperanza had not really used her skills on enemies much, though she did make use of it on the demons a couple of times to get more information out of them. This time she did the same to the dead humans, opting for one she figured would be the most likely to squeal once he understood the situation he was presently in. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The older fourth-tier priest and the two veteran temple guards were almost certain to know more, but they were also far less likely to crack under the pressure. From her limited observations, this one priest whose souls she manifested was one who acted like a typical spoiled brat from a privileged household. Those tend to break down far more easily than fanatical priests or veteran warriors, in Esperanza¡¯s experience, so he got chosen for the dubious honor. She could feel the realization sink in and how fear began to seep through the soul she manifested as it likely recognized the figures of the demons around it. Esperanza herself was hidden, her shape shifted to blend into the ground and the forest around her, all with the intention to give more of a sense of mystery and horror to the manifested soul when she started to address him. Of course, she heightened the effect by allowing the soul¡¯s memories to recover slowly, so that he remembered what happened only at the very end, while at the same time she limited what he could perceive to the minimum and only slowly allowed the limitations to loosen as time went on. Those were things she learned to do when she was interrogating the souls of the demons she caught, so it was something quite practiced by now. ¡°Why have you come here? What brought you here to disturb us with your presence?¡± she asked, purposefully making her voice sound more ethereal and ghostly, especially with the way it seemed to echo from all around the disembodied soul. The effect was probably heightened with how the rest of her group ¨C including Ani¡¯s people ¨C merely stood there, their lips sealed, with their arms crossed before they chests like mute sentinels. In reality, though, Esperanza simply spoke from multiple mouths at once, from all directions. Her shapeshifting was capable of handling such fine details at present, even with the finicky way she had to adjust her vocal chords in order to produce the ethereal-sounding voice. It was a feat she wouldn¡¯t be able to pull off in the past, at least before her skill evolved to its current state. ¡°D- Demon! Ghost! What- Why- How do you have me in your clutch!?¡± yelled the disembodied soul in obvious panic, or at least, what pitiful mewling it managed to pass off as yelling. She had only manifested the soul with the least capabilities, something she could adjust at will with her skill, as there was no reason to allow the dead priest the same sort of semi-autonomy she allowed Adan-Zil and the others when she manifested them. ¡°I am bound for the promised afterlife, Heretic! I command you to let me go or suffer the consequences!¡± Esperanza nearly chortled out loud at the show of false bravado the soul put out at the end there, but she held it in and turned it into a chorus of haunting, mocking laughter instead. Her actions clearly further unnerved the soul as it shrunk down into itself in fear and nervousness, an effect she desired. She figured that this soul was definitely the right choice. It definitely felt cowardly enough to spill all the secrets it knew about given the correct nudge. ¡°Your so-called pretenders who call themselves gods have no power here, mortals. Also, you do not question us. You provide answers, or else¡­¡± she replied in the same ethereal tone of voice, though this time Esperanza inflected her voice with a bit of authority and made it a command. ¡°Instead of the so-called promised afterlife we can offer you an eternity of being devoured alive. How do you feel about that?¡± In order to drive her point home more clearly, Esperanza shifted part of her body into long tentacles that had toothy maws on their tips and closed in on the soul from all directions, the maws making a show of opening and closing as they did so. She even nibbled at the edges of the disembodied soul carefully, as her teeth were coated in her [Soul Armament] skill. As such, the tiny nibbles brought great agony to the dead priest¡¯s disembodied soul. The effect would not have been so exaggerated if the priest still had his body to mitigate the effect somewhat, but as he was reduced to a disembodied soul, he took all the pain from the damage caused to his soul in a far more direct manner, with no buffer between the torturous pain and his perceptions. ¡°Now speak, mortal, or be devoured. There are many of us and we hunger.¡± stated Esperanza coldly as she had Gordy approach closer in her mist form. This time, however, Gordy allowed the form of countless toothy maws to be visible from the mist that was her body, which made the disembodied soul shiver and shake as it was frightened by the horrifying display. ¡°I¡¯ll speak, I¡¯ll speak!¡± yelled the soul in a panicked voice as the slavering maws inched ever closer to him. He then launched into a far too detailed explanation of who he was and his life at the temple which led up to the reason behind his presence in the dungeon, namely that the war effort called for all ¡®talented¡¯ priests and temple guards to increase their power before heading to the frontlines. What the dead priest said was quite insightful, and Esperanza guessed right that he was born into privilege, which played to her advantage as that also meant that the man knew more than what most in his position would be aware of. Most of what he said lined up neatly with the information she received from Alissa, that the temple was making a play for power and tried to make it look like they contributed greatly to the victory against the demons in the current war. It was not that Esperanza doubted Alissa, but she did not completely trust the source from which Alissa acquired the information, so it was always better to make sure. As Alissa admitted to her, the semi-independent faction of knights who warned her about the temple had their own interests which ran contrary to what the temple and its priests desired. The politics of the human kingdom was a total mess with the factions all fighting for their own benefits despite how they were at war with the demons, in Esperanza¡¯s opinion, but that was probably just part of human nature. In some ways, it made her job easier as long as she stayed undiscovered, as it should be relatively easy to pit the already antagonistic factions against each other. Of course, in order to do that, she would need more detailed information to be able to frame something she did as the work of one faction or another, as the situation asked for. Since they were going to stay at the kingdom for a while more before shifting their operations back to the demon side of the border, Esperanza figured that learning more about the kingdom might well be something she needed to do. CLXL - Might as Well ¡°That helps confirm a few things, at least,¡± noted Esperanza after she finally dispelled the disembodied soul and returned it to her [Soul Storage]. If she ever had need of it in the future she could always manifest it once more anyway, and just to be safe she kept the souls apart from the demon souls she regularly used to fuel her skills. ¡°What shall we do now, Exalted One?¡± asked Belug¡¯ur-ani from where she stood by the side. The veteran warrior was long used to Esperanza¡¯s manifestation of souls, and had even struck up a friendship by chatting with Adan-Zil on the times when he was manifested by her skill. Naturally, she had nothing against Esperanza using said abilities to interrogate their foes. People, especially those of a high rank, might be trained in various methods to ignore torture and other crude interrogation methods. However, most of these methods relied on the person still being amongst the living, often with either some sort of hope to keep them going or some drive like loyalty or patriotism to see them through the suffering. Being a disembodied soul was something nobody prepared for, as everyone had logically thought death to be the end. Nobody prepared against interrogation that was done after death, with various methods and tricks that no living person could have even thought of. Even amongst the teachings from the temple the soul was often considered part of the domain of the gods, so most would be wary of messing with the subject. Similar beliefs were present amongst the demons, likely instilled by their gods who did not wish for their followers to poke around in the realm of the soul in case they might notice the glaring problems that were developing there. In the end, however, this method backfired on them as it also instilled the belief that anything capable of messing around with the soul must be something divinely ordained. Needless to say, the frightened disembodied souls that Esperanza interrogated for information likely thought the same way, given how quick they were to crack. It was one thing to risk death in the name of king and country. Loyalists and patriots did that all the time. On the other hand, to risk their eternal soul when they were already in the hands of ¨C what they thought ¨C a divinely ordained being that could do whatever it wanted to them was something that crossed the bottom line of all but the most fanatically devout of people. It was also why Esperanza had not bothered with the fourth tier souls she collected and instead chose the cowardly and noisy third tier priest. ¡°We continue to the center of this dungeon and clean up whatever we find there,¡± said Esperanza to Ani¡¯s query after some thought. ¡°We¡¯re already going to cross through this dungeon anyway, no reason we shouldn¡¯t take the chance to grab ourselves a few levels too while we can. It¡¯s already getting harder for most of the [Progenies of Yore] to gain levels these days, so we should cherish every opportunity we can get.¡± ¡°I understand, Exalted One. Shall we depart immediately or will we rest first before we continue on?¡± questioned the older warrior after she gave Esperanza a nod of agreement. ¡°Rest first. We just had a fight, and whatever is in the center of the dungeon is clearly strong enough that they considered a team of thirty to be needed to deal with it. We might have dealt with these priests and temple guards with relative ease, but that is no reason to be arrogant,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°Overconfidence is never a good thing, especially for the kids.¡± ¡°As you will.¡± The group rested that night some distance away from where the fighting took place. They mostly took their distance because they worried that the scent of blood and entrails would attract predators from the forest. It was not like such predators pose an actual threat to them, but they remained nuisances even so, and nobody liked being disturbed while they rested. Fortunately throwing the worst of the mess and the bloody corpses into the forest seemed to have achieved the desired effect and kept most of the ravenous creatures away from the resting group. Their rest was mostly uneventful, with only a couple creatures wandering in their direction which were soundlessly dealt with by those who were standing guard. The group woke up at dawn the next day and had a quick breakfast before they continued their trek towards the center of the forest. To their surprise, the forest actually thinned out as they approached the center, whereas normally the center of a forest would be where the vegetation was the densest. It was something that surprised them until they ran into some of the creatures that inhabit the central area. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. For the most part, the creatures that inhabited the central region of the dungeon were still the same ape-lizard hybrid things they had to deal with throughout the dungeon, except for two differences. One was that the creatures in the central region had horns growing out of their heads and could channel magic through those horns. The other major difference was that the lizard-apes in the central region were easily twice to thrice as large as the ones they had to deal with so far, which was probably why only sturdy, large trees managed to survive in that area. The smaller trees likely broke and died under their mass long ago, which naturally only left the larger and sturdier ones behind. Despite their massive size, the lizard-apes moved with great speed and agility amongst the trees, often only visible as blurs when they leapt from one tree to another at breakneck velocities. It had not taken the group long to realize that the creatures were all around them, and even the route they had taken had been covered by several of the beasts. It was an obvious encirclement as the creatures slowly tightened the noose on the intruders to their territories. In the distance, Esperanza barely caught glimpses of three even larger figures, creatures whose levels were in the seventies, likely the ¡®bosses¡¯ of the dungeon itself. Meanwhile most of the creatures that encircled them were already in their sixties as levels went, which were enough to give a decent challenge even to the [Progenies of Yore]. ¡°Well, everyone, looks like the creatures found us before we can find them,¡± said Esperanza as she maintained a nonchalant tone. There was no reason to show worry or panic as it would only have detrimental effects in this case. ¡°Fight at your utmost, everyone. Keep the infiltrators safe and take care of the smaller ones. I¡¯ll hunt down their leaders myself with Dali and Gordy.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One,¡± replied Val-Kas¡¯j with an eager and confident tone of voice. ¡°We will keep our fellows safe and teach these creatures a lesson they will never forget.¡± ¡°Good, I¡¯ll leave this place to you, then. See you in a bit,¡± said Esperanza as her figure changed from its human shape into a free-flowing amorphous form that leapt up and dashed between the trees with speed that was not inferior to the lizard-apes. Dali leapt and teleported around to catch up with her, while Gordy charged through the undergrowth below, leaving only wreckage and trampled bushes in her tracks. ¡°So, we finally got some worthwhile opponents to tangle with, eh? Those priests and temple guards didn¡¯t really put up that much of a fight,¡± said Tiesya cheerfully from beside Val-Kas¡¯j after Esperanza left. The Nevilosk hybrid girl held her paired blades in her hand and her eyes kept track of the creatures that were moving around in her field of sight. She entrusted her back to her allies as the group formed a tighter circular formation with the five infiltrators from Zikeal in the center. ¡°Take it seriously, Ties,¡± chided Mel-Ivas from nearby as she brought out her own shield and mace. The girl¡¯s class was still one of the weakest when it came to direct combat out of all the [Progenies of Yore], as she was still a healer at her core, but she could hold her own well these days. ¡°We do have some squishier people to look after this time, after all.¡± ¡°Honored Ones, please do not be so troubled on our behalf. We can fight and defend ourselves-¡± Murat tried to argue. ¡°No can do,¡± said Resitia as she cut the older man off mid-sentence. ¡°The Exalted Messenger had given her command, and besides, I think we could use the added challenge anyway. More experience when we do things the hard way, so no reason not to when we can afford it,¡± she added. ¡°If any of them got through us, then you can deal with them yourselves, though.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll also be amongst you anyway, so they will have to cover for someone regardless,¡± said Ilavakida with a bit of a chuckle as she nocked an arrow on her bowstring. ¡°Not all of us are suited to beat things up in melee, after all, like me and Dai here,¡± she added, gesturing to Dai¡¯Vasy on the other side of the five infiltrators. The two of them had also positioned themselves in the center as they were the group¡¯s ranged support after all. There was no point for them to engage in melee unless it was a desperate situation, and their time and skills were best suited to providing cover from behind. The two kept an eye on the creatures that slowly tightened their encirclement all around them, but had yet to pounce. It was not an unusual tactic employed by predators. They would encircle and cause their prey to run to and fro only to realize that there was no way out. Their prey would end up tired from all the running around and become easy targets after a while. The [Progenies of Yore] and the rest of the group had not run around, however, and instead waited calmly for the creatures to lose their patience. While the creatures had not reacted to Esperanza¡¯s rush towards their leaders, that probably stemmed from a certain amount of confidence, as the leaders of such packs were typically the strongest of them all. Besides, Esperanza had flared out her aura, which dissuaded the lizard-apes from either blocking her route or chasing after her. Sure enough, the creatures lost their patience first, and three of their numbers ¨C smaller, likely younger ones ¨C rushed out from the trees towards the group¡¯s formation. One of the three was met with an arrow that pierced through its head directly between the eyes and killed it on the spot, causing it to land as a corpse a few feet away from the group. The second was met with a barrage of ice lances that turned it into a pincushion on the spot and it similarly fell dead, while the third managed to land safely, only for Ani herself to rush out and skewer it through the heart with the harpoon she used as a weapon. As Ani yanked her weapon out from the creature¡¯s dead body, its ruined, yet still-beating heart was pulled out as well by the barb of her harpoon. Most wild creatures would usually retreat out of self-preservation when they saw that their target was not easy prey but were instead dangerous and could fight back. Monsters inside dungeons lacked that instinct, however, and instead had a strong territorial one that drove them to attempt to kill whatever trespassed their land, no matter the strength disparity. As a result, the onset of violence only resulted in the rest of the lizard-apes seeing red and their brethren¡¯s deaths and further incensed them. Within moments, dozens of the large lizard-apes flung themselves off the trees towards the group¡¯s formation. Some of them even hurled themselves with enough force that they would have landed directly on the group¡¯s formation, which forced them to move at last. CLXLI - The Progenies Mettle Nalihimatu grunted and supported his large tower shield with both arms as he caught one of the falling lizard-apes on it. Despite the size disparity ¨C Nali was at most five feet or so tall and wide, while the lizard-ape was easily a good twelve feet or so tall and around a third as wide ¨C he took on the hefty burden and roared as he heaved and sent the off-balance lizard-ape aloft and straight into the path of another of its brethren. The two creatures fell in a tangle and Nali immediately rushed in even as he blocked a heavy blow from a third creature as befit his class as a [Progeny of Yore: Stalwart Eternal Protector]. He raised his hefty mace and slammed it down on the head of the lizard-ape on top once, twice, three times. The first blow further dazed the surprised creature. The second blow cracked its skull and made it bleed. The third blow shattered its head and splattered its brain over the vicinity. A couple of Ani¡¯s stronger warriors directly clashed and pushed away another two lizard-apes that tried to land on their formation, using their respective weapons to engage the creatures in melee. While the lizard-apes were strong, Ani¡¯s people were already in their fourth tier, after all, and they had a qualitative advantage over the beasts. They mostly fanned out and took care of the lower leveled creatures in order to ensure the safety of the five Zikealians though, leaving the stronger of the beasts to the [Progenies of Yore] as they knew that the progenies needed the experience and levels more in order to catch up to them. That naturally placed more pressure on the youths, but they were up for such a challenge. Val-Kas¡¯j blocked the blow from an almost level sixty lizard-ape¡¯s claws using the shaft of his polearm even as he ducked under the monster¡¯s other claw. At the same time, he stabbed out with the short spear in his other hand and pierced the creature¡¯s abdomen, causing it to cry out in pain and anger. It launched a wild flurry of attacks against him. Faced by the wild strikes, Val-Kas¡¯j remained calm as he weaved and dodged the creature¡¯s claws, at times adopting strange, awkward postures that would have had a spectator exclaim on how he could do that and not fall down. Of course, it was partly thanks to a passive skill from his [Progeny of Yore: Warrior of the Equillibrium] class, which helped him maintain his balance under any circumstance. He stabbed the beast¡¯s elbow with his spear, which crippled the arm in question and threw the beast off-balance, then used the momentary opening he created to rush closer towards the beast, where he took the chance to slam his polearm¡¯s blade into the same wound he created on the beast¡¯s abdomen previously. Then he yanked the weapon hard to the side. With a splash of purplish-grey blood, the beast¡¯s abdomen was cut wide open and its entrails spilled out from the wound, some already cut and lacerated by the polearm on its way out. The effect was immediate as the beast fell to its knees and tried to keep its organs from escaping its body using its healthy arm, leaving it wide open for Val-Kas¡¯j. Val simply ended the beast with a decapitating strike of his polearm, sending its head rolling on the ground with a trail of blood leading to its headless body. Off to the side, Tiesya pulled off a deadly, yet graceful dance as she took on two of the lizard-apes at once. The [Progeny of Yore: Dancing Blades of Carnage] was obviously in her element, and the only thing the lizard-apes achieved was to tire themselves out while she landed slash after slash on their extended arms. Already one of the lizard-apes was reduced to one arm, its left arm turned into a mangled mess of flesh by her blades. The other one had multiple lacerations over both of its arms and was little better off. Tiesya did not even have to risk herself to finish off one of her opponents, since before too long, the one-armed lizard-ape collapsed weakly as its lifeblood kept flowing out from its many wounds. She left the beast to bleed out where it fell as she intensified her assault on the other beast, which had also weakened and turned rather sluggish by then. Her twin blades cut and maimed the beast mercilessly until she finally saw an opening and skewered the beast¡¯s heart in a smooth strike, her blade slipping between the creature¡¯s ribs to slice through its vital organs deep within. The second beast collapsed on its back, dead, as she withdrew her blade. By then the first one she left to bleed out also breathed no more as it too had perished from excessive blood loss. Ilavakide, the [Progeny of Yore: Shooter of the Magic Arrow], was a bit out of her element since she had to deal with a multitude of enemies rather than being able to charge up a powerful shot in ambush of a single, strong foe. That said she still acquitted herself well regardless, as she took it upon herself to take care of the weaker lizard-apes that managed to slip through Ani and her people, shooting them down with her arrows. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. She even left a few of the creatures crippled but not dead, practically immobilized with her arrows through their shoulders and hips, for the Zikealians to level off. At the short range she simply did not miss her target, and even when her target moved away, she could use her skill to guide the arrow where she wanted it to land. Dai¡¯Vasy similarly lived up to her class of [Progeny of Yore: Mistress of Arcane Winter] as she froze the legs of any creature that got too close to the ground, immobilizing them on the spot before she skewered them with lances of ice. At other times, she simply created a thin sheet of ice on the ground instead, causing the beasts to slip and fall as they rushed towards the group. Meanwhile, Resitia used her skills as a [Progeny of Yore: Unstoppable Soul Lancer] to pierce through one creature after another. Her strikes were not fatal ones, on purpose, but her spearhead was laced with her skills¡¯ effects and as a result they directly damaged the souls of the creatures she stabbed. The resultant pain from the damage to their soul rendered the creatures temporarily insensate. This allowed Iryl ¨C who followed closely behind Resitia ¨C to easily finish off the creatures with a few well-placed thrusts of her own weapon. The girl was always a notch weaker than the progenies, since she lacked the blessing they had, but she made an active effort to keep up and the youths were loath to leave their friend behind. Resitia gave Iryl some easy kills to help her keep up with the rest of the group for that reason. Legisvula made use of his stealth skills to ambush unsuspecting creatures that were further away from the rest of the pack and took them out before they could react. His strikes were guided with a certainty and purpose by now, no longer the nervous strikes of a youth thrown into a battle far beyond their means like early on. He accurately struck the base of the creature¡¯s skulls, where their spine connected to their skulls, his blade severing vital nerves, blood vessels, and damaging part of the brain itself, killing the creatures often before they could even react at all to his presence. Before his victim¡¯s dead body even finished collapsing, the [Progeny of Yore: Finder of Lost Paths] already vanished from sight once more as he went towards his next victim. Mel-Ivas was the one who had the hardest time dealing with the lizard-apes out of the youths, other than Iryl. Her class, [Progeny of Yore: The Bringer of Mercy], had some combat skills, but overall it leaned more towards being a healer than anything. Mel-Ivas was nothing if not determined, however, and had discovered a way for her to use that skillset to fight effectively. The approach she took was a ruthless one, both to her enemies and to herself, where she simply traded blows with them and only bothered to block or avoid strikes that were truly dangerous. She allowed most of the rest to land on her body and simply healed them up as she fought on. Needless to say, she still felt the pain from those wounds, but simply pushed through with sheer willpower. Her own mace had spikes embedded into its flanges, which meant that her blows delivered plenty of force and would likely leave a wound behind. Mel-Ivas then used another of her skills ¨C a newer one this time ¨C to enlarge and worsen those wounds, such that a relatively ineffectual pinprick would turn into a deep, dangerous wound after a bit. The way Mel-Ivas fought was a bloody and prolonged one, but it worked for her, as she slowly but surely weakened her opponent until she could finally take it down once and for all. Perhaps as an ironic twist to her healing class, delivering the final blow ¨C or rather, bringing down mercy ¨C upon her foes gave her a lot more experience than usual, which helped her keep up with the rest, something she had trouble with previously when her class was purely focused on healing. There were around fifty of the large lizard-apes, with their levels mostly varying between the fifties and sixties. Val-Kas¡¯j had handled the highest level one which was at level sixty-eight, while the rest of the [Progenies of Yore] took on the rest of the pack, with most of the weaker ones kept at bay by Ani and her warriors. Despite the numerical disparity, the fighting was quite one-sided, as the beasts were not particularly intelligent. Although they were blessed with great physical prowess, they had little else to show, and the blessed of the Deities of Yore were more than what they could deal with. One after another the beasts fell to the youths, some crippled for others to kill, yet others directly killed in at times miserable ways. Before too long, most of the lizard-apes lay dying or dead on the forest floor. None of the group was even injured, though Mel-Ivas had her clothes reduced to tatters due to the way she fought. The last few creatures were being finished off by Tiara and Iryl who needed the extra experience, while everyone else remained vigilant of their surroundings. The sight of some rapid movement alerted those who were on guard and they immediately turned their attention ¨C and weapons towards the direction they saw the movement in. They lowered their weapons and breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that the source of the movement they saw was a familiar figure, though. It turned out that Dali had returned. Moments later, Esperanza emerged from the forest, once again in her human guise. She was still moving rapidly through the branches, using extended tentacles to hold on to and swing from them, but it was not in a hurried manner. Rather, one could notice that she was moving in a leisurely way, likely a show of her confidence in the [Progenies of Yore]. Gordy followed after her from the ground, similarly taking her time to go around shrubs and bushes rather than barreling through them without a care. ¡°You¡¯re all done here too, I see. Bueno,¡± said Esperanza as she landed lightly on the forest floor not far from where the group was situated. ¡°Got myself a level off the pack leaders, so all in all, it was time pretty well spent I¡¯d say. What about the rest of you? Did you get yourselves some levels too?¡± The [Progenies of Yore] nodded and signaled that they had gained a level or even two out of the battle. Iryl and Tiara even gained three each, since they got to finish off quite a few of the crippled creatures, and even a couple of Ani¡¯s warriors signaled that they had gained a level as well. 192 - Proper Impressions ¡°Not bad, your coordination with each other clearly has improved, even if it¡¯s yet to become second nature to you. I guess it¡¯s passable considering some of you have only trained for months in total,¡± said Sir DelVillar ¨C once more looking like a frail, gaunt old man without his armor of stone ¨C to the group after their spar was done. To call it a spar was a bit of an overstatement, as it was more about the entire party getting thrown around or beaten black and blue by the old knight. In terms of power and offense, the old knight might be rather lacking and even some of the party¡¯s members could match or exceed him, but when none of them could break through his defenses, that became an entirely moot point. There was nothing they could do other than to get beaten up. Compared to when the party sparred against Sir Inolet in the past, it was a completely different experience, a far more helpless one. Sir Inolet possessed skills that allowed him to deliver widespread damage or concentrated powerful blows, but his defenses were limited to the armor he wore and his own reflexes. In comparison, Sir DelVillar was the polar opposite, where he lacked offense but had what was for all intents and purposes a nearly impenetrable defense. ¡°Leon here¡¯s considered one of the three strongest in the Kingdom, since in a fight with him, everyone else would simply be exhausted without being able to seriously hurt him,¡± explained Sir Inolet to the group in an appeasing tone. ¡°You¡¯re all still youths, there is no shame in not being able to overcome this old bastard¡¯s defense when even us old ones could only barely do it, and even then that¡¯s only when we were at our best.¡± ¡°One of the three?¡± Alissa asked. She had not learned all that much about the strongest people in the kingdom other than about the ones she had already met directly. The locals like Nadine and the rest also knew them mostly by reputation, and little else, which was one reason they were rather caught off guard by Sir DelVillar¡¯s abilities. ¡°Old Leon here, the scumbag that calls himself the King¡¯s Sword, and the previous High Priestess of the temple. They¡¯re the strongest three people in the Kingdom,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a nod. ¡°There¡¯s no consensus about which of them are the strongest because the three of them were at an impasse. They could not do anything to each other even if they fought. Their skillsets just happened to nullify each other¡¯s advantages and reduce them to a state where neither side could do a thing to the other.¡± ¡°Pretty much what he said. I could never catch Ferrel since he¡¯s too slippery, and no matter how much I beat up that old hag, she would just heal it off like it was nothing. On the other hand, neither of them could get through my defenses either, so we were always at an impasse,¡± said Sir DelVillar in confirmation of Sir Inolet¡¯s words. ¡°As such people just called us the three strongest these last few decades. We could beat everyone else in the Kingdom but each other.¡± ¡°And by coincidence your positions also formed mutual restraint between the bickering sides, with Ferrel firmly on the Royal Family¡¯s side and Karen being the fanatical old bitch that she is,¡± said Magus Drummond with a shake of his head. ¡°Things would¡¯ve probably been different had Svetlana or Tomas survived the war back then, but alas¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re old friends of ours from the previous war,¡± explained Sir Inolet with a wistful tone when he saw the questioning look on Alissa¡¯s face. ¡°They passed away in the final stages of the war under circumstances that were rather¡­ suspect. They were also just as talented as we were, so had they lived they would likely be as strong as us or even stronger. We never found any proof, but always had some suspicion that they were¡­ removed because their existence was discomforting to certain people.¡± ¡°Messy politics like those were responsible for why we failed so badly in the previous war, I feel. How can we fight properly if those behind us couldn¡¯t even agree on whether they should send us reinforcements or not a week after we requested it?¡± said Sir DelVillar rather heatedly. The old knight seemed to be talking from experience. ¡°It was incidents like those that disappointed so many of us who were fighting at the front to the point that we refuse to be associated with the Royal Family or the Temple in any direct way, as most of you should be aware of by now.¡± Everyone in the party nodded at the statement. While only a few were aware of the deeper details, all of them were aware of how the Kingdom¡¯s political scenery was roughly divided between the Royal Family and the Temple, with the veteran knights and other powerful warriors forming an unattached third side to the equation. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Typically the knights kept themselves neutral, their stance more that they refused to be involved in the political clashes between the Royals and the Temple, their unity and strength being their asset to stay uninvolved. However, they also placed the defense of the Kingdom as their top priority, and would not compromise on it just because one of the other sides wanted to muddle things up for political purposes. The war with the demons made the position of the knights both stronger yet also allowed the other two sides to interfere more, so it was arguably the most volatile time of all. Alissa knew that even the party was divided in the same way, with some of them having clear loyalties to one side or another, and only a few remaining neutral while trying to do their best to salvage the war situation. ¡°But I digress, enough with the politics. That shit would only give any honest person a headache,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a shrug. ¡°As August or Henri might have told you, you were all sent here in order to join in on our planned offensive against Arh-Getlam, which is currently used by the demons as their main base in this region. The place is too far from here to reach quickly so any large-scale movement we make will likely be detected prematurely, therefore the plan is to attack using a smaller group of elites and dismantle their defenses before the main army follows. Now that I have seen your mettle, I would like to include your party in the assault if you are willing.¡± ¡°How many people would the¡­ smaller group be?¡± asked Joshua with some evident worry. He clearly still remembered the battle back at Fort Silvia and knew all too well how even their greater individual power would eventually fall before too many weaker enemies. He had seen it with his own eyes on several occasions, after all. ¡°Around two hundred of us. One of the fourth tier subordinates I have could hide that many people from the senses of others as long as we do not move too fast, so we cannot use more than that number. I do admit that it is a tall order to conquer a base with just that number, but if we use our personnel in a clever way, we should be able to do it,¡± stated Sir Delvillar. ¡°Of course, I myself, Henri, and Murdock will come along. We and several others will play the distraction that should lure most of the enemies our way and allow the rest of you to attack from an advantageous position.¡± ¡°That would be risky for your group, then, since you are playing the bait,¡± said Ethan as he stated the obvious. ¡°Obviously, Mister Greene. That is why it will be a voluntary thing where only those of us who were most confident in their skills would do it. While we attract the attention of the demons in the base, the rest of you are to spread out and pull off decapitation strikes on the enemy force. Some should help us too, of course, but you should do so in ways where you maximize the advantage you could get from the distraction.¡± ¡°Around how many demons are situated in Arh-Getlam if we have that information?¡± asked Alissa. ¡°Approximately twenty thousand presently, Miss O¡¯Connor. Double that if you count the non-combatants as well. Arh-Getlam was a city so it is built as a place to live and a fortification second. They have plenty of people to take care of the soldiers stationed there like we do,¡± explained Sir DelVillar. ¡°Of course, of those twenty thousand there¡¯s probably only twenty or so fourth tiers, which is the reason I dared to propose this bold plan.¡± ¡°How many of our own are we bringing there, then?¡± queried Alissa some more. ¡°Also, would there be reinforcements?¡± ¡°There will be forty fourth tiers or equivalent, counting each of you as equivalent to one. I already confirmed that each of you can indeed match a fourth tier without much trouble,¡± said Sir DelVillar lightly. ¡°The rest will be the best combatants out of our third tiers who were close to their maximum level. Luck willing, they might get the last bits of experience they needed and add another fourth tier to our number.¡± ¡°As for reinforcements, our main army will be stationed a couple hours away from Arh-Getlam. We will make our presence known first, but then simply camp there for a few days until their vigilance starts to drop,¡± added the old knight. ¡°Once that happens, we will initiate the assault, open the gates, and allow our army to enter the base without having to deal with the walls and other defenses.¡± ¡°So we will have to fight for at least a couple hours or more on our own then,¡± noted Alissa as she thought about the situation. Given their individual power, it should not be too difficult for them to stay alive for that period of time even within the enemy base, unless the strength of their enemies were far greater than what the report indicated. ¡°Exactly. We feel that it should be feasible for the elite strike force to persevere for that long even inside the enemy base. As for signaling those outside of the assault, that is also taken care of, so there¡¯s no worry in that department,¡± replied Sir DelVillar. ¡°That said, of course I cannot directly command you given your status. I can only ask for your cooperation instead, as you are the [Heroes]¡¯ party. Would you like to join us in this attempt to reclaim our home?¡± The party looked at one another, many unspoken words communicated through sights and gestures, while others murmured in low voices. It had not taken them long, maybe just a couple minutes at most, before Nadine and Bronwen gave nods to Alissa, as representatives of the Royal Guards and Temple Guards in the party. Alissa had also already discussed it with Ethan and Joshua and returned their nod with her own. ¡°We will help, Sir DelVillar,¡± said Alissa to the old knight, which caused a smile to form on his wizened features. ¡°It is a weight off my shoulders that we will have your aid,¡± said the old knight honestly. ¡°The assault itself is still in preparation, and we will not depart until another couple of weeks at the earliest. In the meantime I would like to invite all of you to enjoy what hospitality our fort could offer. Please be warned that we do not have too much in terms of luxuries here, however, so I hope you can find satisfaction in what amenities we do have.¡± ¡°Deena will be your guide around the town should you have a need for one. I have arranged for her to stay at your dormitory as well for the time being, so you can find her there at your leisure,¡± he added. ¡°Until then, I wish you and yours a pleasant stay, [Heroes], and thank you again for your willingness to help us.¡± 193 - To Retake Ones Home ¡°Nervous?¡± asked Nadine towards Alissa at the army camp that evening. It had already been three weeks since their spar against Sir DelVillar, and the [Heroes]¡¯ party had spent much of the time since then training to work together with some of the fourth-tiers from the fort. They knew that chances were good that they might have to work together during the mission, so while it was not much, honing their teamwork a little wouldn¡¯t hurt either side. The army had set off from the fort towards Arh-Getlam just a few days ago, and had since camped out around a couple hours away from where the city now turned into a frontline base by the demons were situated. The demons had not looked too alarmed by the movement, as according to Sir Delvillar, they made such maneuvers, both big and small, on a regular basis to incite the demons to fight over the years. After a few years the demons had caught on that such maneuvers were mostly bait, and other than to heighten their defenses, they no longer paid too much heed to them. Sometimes younger demons who were newly assigned to the base might be rash and lead out their units to be devoured alive by the waiting ambushes, but otherwise, typically nothing serious happened. In fact, the last time Arh-Getlam itself saw a serious attempt from the human side to retake it was over twenty years ago. All those factors combined made the demons less alert than they should be, confident as they were in that even if the humans really attacked, they had a solid fortification to protect themselves with. As it was, they assumed the army was there to posture and try to lure out some unsuspecting young fools like usual. Not even the size of the force worried them that much, as forces that size weren¡¯t even a rare thing in the times past. Sir DelVillar had clearly planned out the retaking of his hometown for a long time, probably since the failed attempt twenty years ago. It was just the lack of manpower ¨C specifically on the higher end of the scale ¨C that prevented him from enacting his plan until Alissa and the rest happened to be summoned. As it was, the old knight had practically set up a feint that lured the demons into a false sense of security for twenty years, which must have taken a great deal of patience and perseverance on his part. He probably even intended to pass down the opportunity to his successor should no such chance come during his lifetime, which said a lot to his dedication. ¡°A little bit,¡± admitted Alissa with a shake of her head. ¡°This will be the first time we really took the fight back to the demons, won¡¯t it? Last time the base we took was just a temporary setup much like our own right now. Arh-Getlam on the other hand is one that¡¯s truly fortified and prepared for war¡­¡± ¡°Mostly because they took it from us. The demons don¡¯t really bother to build fortifications to the same level that we often do, as they place less value in them, but they¡¯re still smart enough to make use of what¡¯s already there,¡± replied Nadine with a thoughtful nod. ¡°I¡¯d wager that in the years since they took the place, the demons had only repaired the damages they did to it at most instead of reinforcing the defenses.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell that the wall was once damaged, to be honest. I know we¡¯re pretty far off, but my eyesight¡¯s one of the best amongst us, and I still didn¡¯t notice such signs,¡± commented Alissa. ¡°That¡¯s because we¡¯re on the north side of Arh-Getlam. The damages would be mostly to the south of the place, since that¡¯s where the demons assaulted it from. By comparison the north side mostly made it out unscathed,¡± noted Nadine. ¡°I know you¡¯re worried for us, since it is a rather risky endeavor to attack the enemy base with just a couple hundred people like this, but have some faith. Sir DelVillar isn¡¯t the sort to waste his men¡¯s lives unless he believes that there¡¯s a good chance of success in the plan.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t help it, you know. Me, Ethan, and Joshua, if we happened to die, we¡¯d just [Respawn] back at Fort Abernal,¡± admitted Alissa with a sigh. ¡°None of the rest of you can do that. If you die, you die. No takebacks or retries. Honestly, I¡¯m more surprised that you aren¡¯t anywhere near as nervous as I am considering what we¡¯re about to do.¡± ¡°In some ways, I am nervous,¡± said Nadine with a shake of her head. ¡°On the other hand, this is also exactly what I have trained and dedicated most of my life for. When I chose to pursue a path as a knight in order to avoid being used as a political pawn and most likely married off as is common for people in my situation, I always dreamed that I might be able to do something that could make a difference one day. Something like this¡­ is pretty much my dream come true, Alissa.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Alissa nodded at Nadine¡¯s explanation. It was true, Nadine had pretty much abandoned a luxurious lifestyle that she would be granted without any conditions given her status as the Fifth Royal Princess, a status that would remain with her even if she was later married off to secure some political backing for the royal family or the like. Instead, she shed her blood and tears and underwent grueling training to forge herself into a warrior, leaving the life of comfort behind. While she did still possess part of her privileges ¨C she remained a Princess no matter what she did, after all ¨C the difference between her and the rest of her family was a palpable one even to outsiders. While Alissa had yet to meet most of Nadine¡¯s family ¨C she had met the King and the Crown Prince on formal occasions a couple of times and that was about it ¨C it was obvious how despite the family resemblance, they were clearly not cut from the same mold. For the lack of a better word, the King and Crown Prince were soft. If someone with bad intentions came at them the most they could do was likely to scream and flail about ineffectually. Nadine on the other hand trained herself until her body was a weapon in itself, which spoke of dedication and hard work. The system in Ephemera might have balanced things out a bit between men and women ¨C the initial bit of physical differences already shown in their stats and became irrelevant as people grew more and more powerful ¨C but to toil so hard despite being born into privilege was still something praiseworthy. ¡°Part of the reason I¡¯m not as nervous is because I know you,¡± stated Nadine all of a sudden, looking Alissa straight in the eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve only known you for a few months, and I know you probably never asked to be summoned here or interested in being a [Hero] of all things, but I feel that I¡¯ve gotten a decent read of you as a person, Alissa. You would be there for us and do your best to keep us alive because that¡¯s what you feel to be the right thing to do, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I guess I can¡¯t say anything but plead guilty to that, heh,¡± said Alissa somewhat amusedly. Nadine had the right of her in that statement, in that despite her many doubts, Alissa did consider the Princess a friend and would indeed strive to keep her safe. ¡°Thanks for the chat, I think that helped my nervousness a bit, at least.¡± ¡°Happy to help. Take it easy for now, all right? We might make the strike in the next few days, so it¡¯d be best if all of us are prepared for it,¡± replied Nadine with a smile. ****************************** Three days after Alissa had the conversation with Nadine, it was time for them to enact the daring operation. The group of two hundred had gathered, amongst them forty-two fourth tier combatants or equivalent, as well as one hundred and fifty eight third tiers who were near the level cap of their tier. It was a deadly force to say the least. It was deep in the night, just a couple hours after midnight, in fact. Sir DelVillar had chosen the time as by the time they reached Arh-Getlam and began their attack, it would be the time when most people slept the most deeply. Their own army had slept in earlier in the day in shifts to avoid suspicion from the demons to prepare themselves for the night assault to come. The group themselves would depart ahead of the rest of the army and strike first. The army themselves would only begin marching around the time the assault group reached Arh-Getlam and began their infiltration. Sir DelVillar¡¯s intention was to use the movement of the army as an additional distraction to help mask their covert strike, though it also helped the army reach the target location earlier. One way or another, though, the assault group would still be on their own for at least two hours deep within enemy territory, so they would have to rely on themselves to survive that period of time while also accomplishing their mission. It was a risky and daring attack, though hopefully it was also an unexpected one. Alissa also understood why the kingdom would spend so much effort in sending lookalikes that pretended to be the [Heroes]¡¯ party all over the frontlines, as it helped disguise their presence and allow them to strike by surprise like this. As it was, the demons likely had yet to realize that Alissa and the rest of her party was already at their doorstep. It only took the infiltration group ¨C all hidden from sight thanks to the skill of a fourth tier [Scout of Shadows] ¨C around half an hour to reach the northern walls of Arh-Getlam, without the notice of the demon sentries stationed atop the walls and the towers. In fact, on a closer look Alissa could see that some of the demons in question were dozing off or otherwise failing to pay attention to their work. Typical behavior of the complacent who probably thought that there would be no true danger headed for them, which Alissa realized was what Sir DelVillar had fomented amongst the base¡¯s guards with the constant false alarms they had to deal with for the past decades. Even if the group had not been cloaked and hidden from sight, Alissa felt that the demon sentries might not have noticed them anyway. The sleepy and dozing ones on the walls were bad enough, but Alissa saw that the ones in the towers actually took advantage of their more secluded position to do things that sentries would have probably been flogged for if caught. The sentries in the north-western tower of the town were likely playing cards or something from the way they were positioned, while the ones on their opposite tower¡­ were probably having an affair. Alissa turned her eyes away from that tower with a slight blush on her cheeks. ¡°All right, here we are,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a low voice. The stealth skill that hid them also muted their voice and scent to an extent. ¡°We¡¯ll need those of you with the personal stealth skills to go up there and take care of the guards before they can raise any alarm. Anyone got any place they¡¯d like to handle personally?¡± ¡°Uh, I¡¯ll take the north-western tower if nobody minds,¡± said Alissa quietly as she raised her hand. ¡°My stealth skill should allow me to get there without alerting anyone, and I believe I¡¯ll be quick enough to take care of the sentries there,¡± she added. ¡°Somehow I get the feeling that there¡¯s something more behind your request, but I have no reason to deny it either. All right then, Miss O¡¯Connor. The north-western tower is yours to handle.¡± 194 - Night Assault on Arh-Gethlam If there was one skill Alissa trained in an almost religious manner ever since she acquired it, it was [Walk in the Shadows], as the skill just had far too many potential applications she could think about. Besides, having a powerful stealth skill would be beyond useful in case she needed to strike out on her own, which was not outside the realm of possibility given what she had learned so far about Ephemera. Due to that diligent training and the fact that such a skill which affected herself could level effectively in pretty much any situation ¨C unlike her combat skills which needed a real target for the best leveling effectiveness ¨C she had gotten the skill to evolve just a week ago, in Fort Abernal. It was a pleasant surprise to have it evolve before the assault, at least. The new skill, [Living in a Dream] kept most of the characteristics from the original skill, except Alissa no longer needed shadows as a medium for her to enter or emerge from the realm her skill brought her to. She also gained a far greater freedom of movement while inside the alternate realm, where she could simply flow through solid objects or even fly at will. It even had some direct offensive applications, as Alissa tested using a spare spear and some target dummies in Fort Abernal. If she were to re-materialize into the real world while some part of her or some item she held was inside an object, it would result in a terrifying situation where the two objects would merge together, with likely gruesome results. Alissa had never tried it against a living opponent as of yet, but the way the wooden shaft and metal spearhead of the spare spear she borrowed merged and mutilated the head of the wooden target dummy was a sight she was unlikely to forget anytime soon. Of course, it was not like the skill was omnipotent. A powerful magical barrier ¨C or even artifact armor ¨C would prevent her from going through them at all, and after some experimentation, she found that the same applied to things like Sir DelVillar¡¯s conjured stone armor. In fact, wearing a piece of artifact armor of sufficient quality was enough to prevent Alissa from either going through or from being able to place an object inside another while in her alternate realm. Even then, it still proved highly useful for dealing with weaker foes, like the demon sentries atop the north-western tower of Arh-Getlam Alissa was assigned to. Alissa invoked [Living in a Dream] and seamlessly entered the alternate dimension, from which she could see the real world through some sort of filter. She then floated gently towards the north-western tower. There was no worry about being detected, as with her evolved skill, even Magus Drummond admitted that he could only detect the barest hint of her presence even while he looked specifically for her while knowing where she was at the time. If the Magus, one of the strongest human mages, could only barely do that, she had no worries from lesser foes. There were four demon sentries atop the north-western watchtower of Arh-Getlam. Two of them were occupied in some sort of card game, while a third laid down and was snoring leisurely against the side of the tower. The last demon seemed like he was watching the surrounding area from his seat from afar, but in fact, he was reading a book under the illumination from the torch. None of the four took their duties seriously, it seemed, which definitely explained what she saw happening in the other watchtower. Two decades of constant false alarms that never led to anything had thoroughly desensitized these demons to the actual danger before them, it seemed. Alissa took out the hardwood staff she brought along with her for this exact purpose, and slipped it through the heads of the two demons that were playing cards with each other. At the same time, her other hand held her spear in a ready pose, the spearhead aimed directly towards the back of the reading demon¡¯s neck. Then with a thought, she shifted her presence from the alternate realm to the real world. The effect was immediate. Both demons jerked and convulsed as a piece of hardwood suddenly shared the same space and materialized inside their heads, the pressure from the process directly shattering the head of one of the demons. The other¡¯s skull directly bulged as the hardwood staff snapped inside, as seen from how the end of the staff shifted quite a bit behind the demon¡¯s head. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. At the same time, Alissa thrust with her spear towards the reading demon. The spearhead of her weapon pierced directly through the base of the demon¡¯s skull, severing the skull from the spine and killing the demon before he could even make a noise of surprise. The only sound to be heard in the quiet night was the noise made when the bodies ¨C and the book that the demon was reading ¨C hit the floor. Even that little bit of noise was apparently enough to wake the sleeping demon, and as Alissa¡¯s spear was still extended towards the wrong direction, she resorted to different means instead. She directly kicked the demon in the face as it woke up, which threw it into a temporary daze, long enough for her to deliver a crushing blow with the tip of her shield against its skull. The demon¡¯s skull was broken from the blow and bits of its squashed brain splattered over Alissa, but at least she managed to take out all the demons in the watch tower without causing any ruckus. Cautiously, Alissa peeked out over the low walls of the watch tower. Since its evolution [Living in a Dream]¡¯s cooldown was low enough that Alissa could feasibly use it again within a couple minutes as long as she still had mana, but she preferred to save the skill unless it was needed. The watch tower was built waist-high walls on every side, the upper side open to each cardinal direction other than the supporting beams in the corners, so she could take a look at the situation on the top of the wall that way. It was likely made that way so that the sentries could maintain a clear field of view of their vicinity. From her high vantage point, Alissa could see how several other people from the assault group, some third tiers, while others were fourth tiers, emerged out of the darkness and took out the sentries on guard. In each section, this happened all at once, as they likely had coordinated their strike so that the sentries had no chance to warn each other of the situation. Alissa chose not to pay any attention to the going-ons in the other watch tower. She was no peeping tom and was doubly uninterested in seeing the demons in question getting killed while in the throes of passion. Instead, she uttered a silent prayer for their souls, as nobody really deserved to die under those circumstances. Too bad for the demons in question that they never had a choice in the matter. All considered, however, the grisly work had not taken long. Within less than three minutes or so, all the sentries atop the wall had been taken down, their corpses propped up against the wall to make it look as if they were still standing in their original positions. One of the people involved in the strike must have signaled those who still waited below the walls, because shortly afterwards, the rest of the two hundred strong party climbed the wall and reached its top as well. Since the rest of the group were clearly gathering together, Alissa slipped down from the watch tower and walked towards them, careful to keep herself from being silhouetted against the horizon. It was only when she reached the area of effect of their [Scout of Shadows]¡¯s skill that she stood upright once more, since everybody else there was also doing so. It had not taken long before the entire group gathered together on the northern wall of Arh-Getlam. Alissa noticed how the two third tier women who had gone to the north-eastern watchtower came down with slight blushes on their cheeks and gave her a quick glare before they shook their heads. It looked like the poor demon couple were still at it when the strike came, then. ¡°Everyone did their part well, I see. That is good,¡± said Sir DelVillar. He stood next to Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond, the gaunt old knight looking tall and large somehow despite his actual size. ¡°Gather in your respective groups, as we planned. You all already know what to do, so I will not repeat it. Not like we have the time anyway.¡± At his command, the group of two hundred split into smaller groups. Some groups had as many as twenty people, while Alissa¡¯s group was one of the smaller ones at only eleven, consisting only of the rest of her party. Sir DelVillar¡¯s own group had twenty people in them, all of them fourth tiers, including Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond. They would be the ones playing bait, so they needed the extra power. In fact, Alissa¡¯s group, each of whom had power equivalent to a lower-end fourth tier, was already extremely luxurious in terms of lineup. The other groups other than hers or Sir DelVillar¡¯s had two to three fourth tiers at most, while most had none at all. The plan was simple, all considered. The teams with only third tiers ¨C going together in small groups of five to cover more ground ¨C would infiltrate the city inside Arh-Gethlam and hide themselves, to later create chaos in order to throw off the enemy response. It was a risky task, but on the other hand, there were bound to be plenty of hiding spots inside a city. Of course, they might well run into demon civilians in that task, in which case, they would need to silence them to keep themselves safe. Alissa did not envy that group and was honestly glad that her team was not assigned to similar duties. She had fought and killed demons in battle, sure, but she doubted that she could bring herself to kill some of their civilians, demons or not. The remaining teams, the ones led by the fourth tiers, including Alissa¡¯s group, would hide themselves near the gatehouse and wait there. Sir DelVillar¡¯s own group would assault the gatehouse and open the city¡¯s gate wide to allow for the approaching army ¨C they should have begun their march by that time ¨C to enter the city. Sir DelVillar¡¯s team would then hold the gatehouse against the demons that would certainly come their way in droves, while the teams that lay in wait would in turn ambush said demons when they saw a good chance to hurt the enemy¡¯s command elements or their combat power. In other words, Sir DelVillar and his team were bait, while the ambush teams were there to aim for the demon commanders or their fourth tiers. Since Alissa¡¯s team was the strongest one by far compared to the rest, they were responsible for taking out as many demon fourth tiers as they could. Alissa¡¯s evolved skill, [Living in a Dream], even made it possible for them to do this task more than once, as Alissa could transport all eleven members of her party with the skill, which allowed them to strike and retreat with impunity. Everyone gave nods, and the teams of third tiers quietly descended the wall first. Those teams had to enter deeper into the city, so everyone else stayed stealthed at the top of the walls until they had gone for a while. Sir DelVillar gave a nod, and the remaining teams ¨C five of them, including Alissa¡¯s party ¨C dispersed as they seeked out hiding spots from where they would launch their ambush. Naturally, all of them remained in the general vicinity of the gatehouse itself. It was only after everybody was in position that Sir Delvillar conjured his stone armor and leapt down from the city wall, landing directly in front of the gatehouse¡¯s door. CLXLV - Even the Best Laid Plans... Bishop Uther, formerly of the Noble house of Avellar ¨C though that was four generations back, as his ancestor had been ousted from the house following a family dispute and escaped to the Temple instead ¨C was a man of power and influence. He was the nominal head of the Rijesca Monastery in the south of the Kingdom, which placed him in an enviable position amongst many, even to those outside the Temple¡¯s hierarchy. Unlike the more common temples built within cities and towns where they catered to the local populace and helped encourage worship of the four Gods, monasteries like Rijesca were the Temple¡¯s own military academy equivalent. They were places where young people ¨C often orphans or otherwise recruited from amongst the peasantry ¨C were trained to devote their lives to the Gods and to take on all threats in their name. Rijesca was one of the Kingdom¡¯s biggest monasteries, one of the largest ten, to be sure. While nobody would dispute that the monastery within the main Temple at the capital was undoubtedly the largest, the others weren¡¯t that far behind either, especially in the quality of the devoted and fanatically loyal Temple Guards they turned out. Just over a week ago, the order to send talented youths into dungeon delves before they would be sent to the frontlines were delivered all over the Kingdom, and Rijesca naturally received such an order as well. Bishop Uther, as the nominal head of the monastery, selected fifteen of the most talented third-tier youths in the monastery ¨C including his own son Artorius, whom he doted one ¨C and sent them out to meet with the appointed fourth tier chaperones hailing from nearby temples who would each bring their own youths for the mission. He was not too worried. Dungeon delves of the sort he sent the group to were a common thing, and he himself had gone through several in his younger days. On top of that, the fourth tiers assigned to the group were people he was familiar with. Father Poligenes was an old acquaintance since he presided over the temple of the closest town, whereas the two fourth-tier Temple Guards were graduates from the monastery who were assigned to a larger city a bit further away. While Bishop Uther was known as a doting father and spoiled his only son Artorius greatly, he could not deny that his son ¨C while lazy ¨C had a lot of talent, so he figured that participating in the dungeon delve would be a good experience to have. Besides, with the fourth-tier chaperones it was not like anything bad was likely to happen to the group, which was more than powerful enough to handle the dungeon. Other than that, Bishop Uther also gave his son a Soul Lantern as a precaution. A Soul Lantern was a rare artifact, one that the Temple was well-versed in making, but rarely made due to the rather exorbitant cost of the materials needed to create one. As a wealthy and influential member of the establishment, Bishop Uther was naturally able to procure one. The artifact itself had only one use. It detectedt its bonded user¡¯s condition at all times and relayed the information back to its pair, which was kept by Bishop Uther on his person. Should the bonded user be in a distressed state, that would be reflected on the paired artifact. Similarly, any harm or injury on the user¡¯s body would be reflected upon the paired artifact. Simply put, the Soul Lantern was a method to keep an eye on the condition of important people from afar, one that was far too exorbitant in cost to be used by people other than the Royal Family, Nobles, or higher-ups within the Temple. It was just the previous day, during the noon sermon, that Bishop Uther heard the sudden, unmistakable cracking noise from the paired artifact he carried with him. In a rush, he immediately ceased his sermon and fished the artifact out of his robes. Sure enough, the paired artifact was cracked. In fact, mere moments after he brought it out, the whole thing shattered and crumpled apart into dust in his hand. That was only supposed to happen in one case: The death of the bonded user. The Bishop¡¯s son Artorius, in this case. Understandably, the sermon had to be stopped as the Bishop flew into disbelief and then rage at the sudden, unexpected death of his son. Most of the people present in the sermon fled the room as they didn¡¯t want to be caught up in the fourth-tier Bishop¡¯s out-of-control wrath, with only the other fellow fourth tier members of the monastery remaining in the sermon hall. The Bishop¡¯s rage demolished a good chunk of the front half of the hall, the wooden stage and lectern reduced to mere rubble, as was most of the benches on the first four or five rows. The only exception were a couple of benches where some people were seated. People similarly in the fourth tier and thus able to block the impact from the Bishop¡¯s wild strikes. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. In fact, it already showed a great deal of subconscious control on the Bishop¡¯s part that the hall itself was still standing. As a fourth tier he was very much capable of annihilating the whole sermon hall along with a chunk of the monastery if he truly wanted to, but he must have held back even while deep in the throes of his rage and grief. ¡°I presume you would like to have our best warriors assembled for an expedition, Your Eminence?¡± asked Brother Savan, one of the senior instructors in the Rijesca monastery and a fourth tier Temple Guard in his own right. He talked as if nothing had happened instead of the Bishop having just demolished half the sermon hall in a fit of anger. ¡°That would be appreciated, thank you, Senior Instructor,¡± said the Bishop as he took a deep breath to calm himself down. Uther then seated himself on top of some of the stage¡¯s wreckage that still happened to be solid enough to take his weight. ¡°Have rations and equipment prepared for up to a month¡¯s worth of travels as well. Judging from the time it happened, Artorius must have perished pretty deep inside the dungeon.¡± ¡°As you willed, Your Eminence,¡± stated the older Temple Guard with a polite bow. ¡°It might require a while to prepare all the required necessities, but we should be able to depart by sunset if we push it.¡± ¡°No, have it prepared properly. The milk had already been spilled. Even if we rush, it wouldn¡¯t bring Artorius back to life,¡± said the Bishop with a shake of his head. ¡°I would rather have the expedition depart tomorrow morning with everything prepared properly rather than rush out this evening only to find out that we neglected some things due to the rush.¡± ¡°Understood, Your Eminence,¡± replied Brother Savan as he gave another bow and left to give the command. ¡°Sister Melvina, if I remember correctly you have a skilled soul-tracker amongst your inquisitors, do you not?¡± asked the bishop as he turned towards a cold-looking elderly woman who wore a nun¡¯s habit. The Inquisitors were a branch of the Temple dedicated to hunting down heretics and handling any internal corruption and the like, and they were typically based in the larger monasteries like Rijesca. They were feared amongst the populace for their tendency to suddenly appear out of nowhere, broadcast their identity, and then summarily capture and punish those that had been deemed guilty, be those heretical worshippers of false gods or otherwise. That said, they were also known to hunt down members of the Temple who had either let things get to their heads too much or otherwise failed their duties, so while they were seen as a boogeyman figure, they were considered as a neutral one for most people. A boogeyman that was not likely to come for you personally was less scary than one that might do so after all. The soul-tracker mentioned by the Bishop referred to a rare ¨C and strictly limited path only seen amongst the Inquisitors ¨C class that could see traces from a soul on others. This was primarily useful in things like murder investigations and the like, and if they arrived at the scene of the crime they likely could track the criminal as long as not more than a week or so had passed. It was only four days from the monastery to the dungeon Artorius died in. If it was the work of monsters, then the Bishop planned to track down the specific monster responsible ¨C if it still lived ¨C and visit untold cruelty upon it for as long as he could. Naturally, part of his wrath would also fall upon the rest of the group that had been with his son, and they would likely get sent to the worst battlefields possible as a result. On the other hand, if the culprit turned out to be other people¡­ The Bishop had enemies, as was typical of his station. Some Noble families he had offended in the course of his duties, rivals within the Temple¡¯s hierarchy, the typical ones. Other than that, he also had bad blood with the Marquis house of Avellar, where his ancestor originated from. The bad blood was mutual between him and the present noble house. As it stood, the current Marquess Avellar was a cousin to the Bishop thrice removed, and the two branch families always viewed each other with hostility. The Noble house ¨C rightfully ¨C feared that the Bishop might try to use his position to forcibly take over the house itself, and while Bishop Uther would love nothing more than to kick his spoiled cousins to the ditch, he lacked the necessary power to push for such a resolution, to his dismay. Prior to his rise to power, the Noble house barely paid any attention to the distant branch family they practically exiled long ago, but when Bishop Uther rose to power, to the point that he became Head of a Monastery, they sat up and took notice. It wouldn¡¯t be out of character for them to arrange for the Bishop¡¯s only son and heir to meet with an ¡°accident¡± during a dungeon delve. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t have predicted that the Inquisitors based on the monastery possessed a skilled soul-tracker. The existence of soul-trackers was a highly classified secret that was known mostly only to the Royal Family and the higher-ups within the Temple itself, so it was unlikely that a mere Marquisate house would be aware of them. The very next morning, Bishop Uther led a group of forty veteran Temple Guards ¨C four teams of ten with each team headed by a fourth tier and the members in the late third tier, but all older individuals ¨C together with the other six senior fourth tiers of the monastery. The lineup was practically the vast majority of the monastery¡¯s high end power, as they left only a single fourth-tier to hold the fort. Bishop Uther was determined to root out the cause of his son¡¯s death and to visit gruesome vengeance on those responsible, and nothing would stop him from his course. The expedition group of fifty people ¨C The Bishop, the six seniors, three members from the Inquisition including the soul-tracker, and forty veterans ¨C departed that morning and headed towards the dungeon where the Bishop¡¯s son perished. They were fully decked out for an intense battle, be it with monsters, forces working for other elements of the kingdom, or even the unthinkable like covens of heretics, which had not been heard of in centuries but remained as warnings in their history books. To most, it would appear like an abuse of power on the Bishop¡¯s part, but he was well beyond caring about that or the impact it might have on his position, or on the potential political fallout that might result, for that matter. He would go through hell and high heaven to avenge his son, and nothing, nothing, will stay his course. CLXLVI - Enemies are Bound to Meet in a Narrow Road ¡°Your Eminence, I can feel traces of the late Brother Artorius in that direction, around three to four day¡¯s travel away in that direction,¡± reported Sister Nadia, the [Watcher of Departed Souls] from the inquisition just a couple hours after the expedition made camp for the night on their third night of departure from the Rijesca Monastery. Sister Nadia sounded rather surprised, as the expedition had been stationary, which could only mean that whatever carried the traces of the soul that belonged to the late Brother Artorius was moving. ¡°Three to four days away? Are the traces still on the move?¡± asked Bishop Uther, who clearly also caught on to the implications of Sister Nadia¡¯s words. If whatever carried the traces were moving, that likely meant they weren¡¯t native to the dungeon. Dungeon creatures simply didn¡¯t leave their dungeons, barring a rare case of overflow, which never happened to a well-maintained dungeon. ¡°Can you feel anything else about it?¡± ¡°It is still very distant, Your Eminence, so I can only get a muddled feel of the traces, I fear,¡± apologized Sister Nadia as she shook her head in the negative. ¡°All I can feel is that the traces have been moving in a very small range. Perhaps whoever or whatever the traces were on had set up camp as well? Maybe it is our brethren on their way back?¡± ¡°I guess that remains a possibility,¡± noted the Bishop as he fell into his thoughts for a moment. It was not impossible for the rest of the first expedition ¨C especially the fourth tiers ¨C to return after taking some casualties due to unexpected difficulties. That said, if they had returned on the day that the soul lantern broke, they should have been much closer already, so the distance didn¡¯t match, unless the group was slowed for some reason. Either way, they were too far away to tell for certain, and since there was no way to communicate over that distance, the Bishop was left with various thoughts that kept him up that night. The anxiety and grief made it difficult for him to rest, and he only managed to get some intermittent bits of sleep while the expedition rested for the night. ¡°Has there been any changes?¡± asked Bishop Uther to Sister Nadia when he woke up the next morning. The monastery¡¯s expedition woke up around dawn and quickly prepared their breakfast, as they were all disciplined from their life at the monastery itself. Just from such patterns alone, Bishop Uther believed that there might be some conclusions he could make out of the situation with his son¡¯s death and those who had traces of his soul. ¡°They started moving around five minutes ago, Your Eminence, in a westward direction,¡± stated Sister Nadia as she looked up in surprise from her bowl of gruel. Neither the Temple nor the Monastery advocated the need to give up luxuries or the like, but travel rations were always made more for convenience than anything else, so it was gruel for breakfast unless they were really influential or important. ¡°I suspect that they woke up before dawn, even earlier than we did. I could detect minor movement over a small area for a while, then stillness, before they moved on.¡± ¡°So they¡¯re either the dungeon expedition on their way back, probably in haste, or possibly someone else,¡± noted Bishop Uther. The discipline to wake up so early and finish everything that needed to be done in an efficient manner was not something the average person has, and most definitely not something monsters would possess. If the group had been monsters, then they wouldn¡¯t have even stayed and did things for breakfast after waking up, therefore all signs indicated that it was other people who carried the traces of the soul lantern he gave his son. ¡°That is likely the case, Your Eminence. They are traveling westwards at a rather fast pace, so we should run into them within two days at the latest, if they keep up this pace,¡± said Sister Nadia after some thought. ¡°Will we need to adjust our marching orders in regards to this new information?¡± ¡°No, have everyone keep moving at our usual pace, but do inform me if the soul traces change their direction of travel, immediately,¡± said the Bishop as he thought about the matter. ¡°If they changed directions while we were marching, I want you to immediately adjust our march to chase after them, unless they were headed our way.¡± ¡°Understood, Your Eminence. Your will be done.¡± ****************************** Meanwhile, several days¡¯ worth of travel to the east, Esperanza¡¯s group continued their journey unaware that they had been marked from afar. The group went on a more relaxed ¨C though still a rapid one for most considerations ¨C pace after they cleared out the dungeon, and had just left the dungeon¡¯s area the night before. After a good rest for the night and a quick breakfast they continued their journey west, keeping to the less traveled forested areas as they were wont to do. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°That¡¯s strange,¡± noted Esperanza while they traveled through the forest. For their group, even the depths of a normal forest, which not even experienced hunters would go to due to the dangerous beasts, was of no threat, so it was easy for them to proceed through the region. It slowed down their pace somewhat since they had to deal with the undergrowth, but it was a worthwhile tradeoff considering the group¡¯s nature. ¡°What is it, Exalted One?¡± asked Ani from nearby. The fourth tier veteran warrior from Agur-Bas was one of the few who could keep up with Esperanza when she went all-out. As such, the two of them along with Dali often scouted ahead of the group to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t be running into unpleasant surprises, while the other scouts like Legisvula watched their sides and back. ¡°I keep getting the feeling as if someone or something is observing me since yesterday night,¡± said Esperanza. ¡°It was really vague last night, so I just thought it might be some curious animal or something similar, but the feeling persists until now and only seems to get stronger, if slowly. Makes me wonder if it might be something else altogether¡­¡± ¡°Have you tried hiding yourself, Exalted One?¡± asked Ani. ¡°If this is indeed some sort of observation or tracking skill, your stealth skill should cancel it out in some manner, at the very least. Of course, if it is actually just some curious beast looking at you from a distance¡­ that would prevent it from looking as well, so it can¡¯t really be used to confirm things.¡± ¡°Good point, but there¡¯s also no harm trying, I guess,¡± said Esperanza as her existence seemed to face away underneath [Veil of Entropy]. Esperanza kept it up for a minute or so before she returned to their sight and senses. She shifted back into a more human form and Ani could see the frown on her face, which was unexpected. ¡°No good,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°You can still feel something observing you even under the effects of your skill, Exalted One?¡± asked Ani with some surprise. Esperanza¡¯s skill was one of the strongest stealth skills the veteran warrior had come across in her life, which was the cause of her surprise. ¡°Rather, I managed to pinpoint it a bit more. It was not looking at me, but something around me. I can¡¯t be completely sure, though, the feeling was quite vague, so I couldn¡¯t really nail down what exactly it was looking at,¡± explained Esperanza with some doubts of her own. ¡°I thought Soul-related classes were rare under the reign of the usurper gods?¡± ¡°Very rare. I believe Mora said that only members of their clergy, people who are fanatically loyal to them, would even have such classes,¡± said Ani with a nod. She had talked a lot with Murad and Mora and learned as much as she could from them, in case the information became useful. ¡°At least, that was what their tribe believes to be the truth.¡± ¡°Whatever this feeling is, it feels more like it was looking directly at the soul, hence my question,¡± noted Esperanza. ¡°Tell the others that we will speed up our march today. We¡¯ll see whether this feeling changes or not and make our next move based on that.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One.¡± The group did as Esperanza bid and covered around a quarter more distance than they usually did in a day. By the time they chose to settle down for the night, however, not only had the feeling of being watched not disappear, but it intensified instead. Perhaps people with weaker sense might not even notice it, but for someone like Esperanza whose attributes were easily on par with most fourth tiers, there was simply no way that she would fail to notice such a thing. ¡°It would appear that we¡¯re getting closer to whoever is watching us,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°Rather, they might be getting closer to us as well. I can feel the feeling get stronger at a faster pace while we traveled earlier. Does anyone else feel such a thing too? Or is it just me who noticed it so far?¡± she asked the gathered group when they sat down together for dinner. ¡°Umm¡­ I¡¯m not certain if it¡¯s the same thing, but now that you mentioned it, I do also kind of feel like someone was looking at me, Exalted One,¡± said Nalihimatu as he raised his hand. ¡°Maybe it is just my imagination, though.¡± ¡°Did you only notice it lately?¡± questioned Esperanza back. ¡°Yes, only for like the past two hours or so, Exalted One,¡± replied Nali shyly. His classes were focused on defense and endurance, but in turn his perception was one of the worst ones of the group, so it made sense that he didn¡¯t notice something Esperanza noticed a long time ago until recently, even if they were both subjected to the same thing. ¡°I see. Anyone else got anything similar to report?¡± queried Esperanza to the rest of the group, only to be met with shaked heads. ¡°Curious. Why would this skill only watch me and Nali? Did the two of us do anything special of late?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid I couldn¡¯t think of anything in particular, Exalted One,¡± said Ani apologetically as she too had no idea on the unusual situation. ¡°Let¡¯s try changing our route a bit tomorrow. We¡¯ll head towards the north-west instead of straight west. If whoever is watching is actually chasing after us, we should notice it by tomorrow night,¡± said Esperanza to the acclamation of the rest of the group. ****************************** ¡°They are changing course, Your Eminence,¡± reported Sister Nadia the next morning. ¡°They are moving towards the north-west now, instead of straight west as before.¡± ¡°Not our people, then,¡± stated the Bishop with a frown. ¡°Poligenes and the others would be returning toward the monastery to drop off our people first, even if they took casualties. At the very least they would drop by to report things. These ones are headed towards a completely different direction, so we should consider them as potential enemies. Perhaps the demons managed to infiltrate our land with a strike team¡­ in which case it is our holy duty to purge the very existence of these filthy creatures.¡± ¡°Wise words, Your Eminence,¡± said Sisted Nadia in acquiescence to his words. ¡°Shall we set off in pursuit of these unknowns, then?¡± ¡°Yes, set off immediately, double-time it. We will still rest as usual, though. I want everyone to be in fighting fit when we catch up to whoever these scum are. They likely have the blood of our brothers and sisters on their hands, so it is only just and fair that we return the favor,¡± said the Bishop vehemently. ¡°Sister Nadia, you are to provide the direction for our march. Lead us to these foul cretins.¡± ¡°As you command, Your Eminence. It will be my great honor and pleasure to be of service,¡± replied Sister Nadia. Within the hour, the expedition continued their march, their path altered to cross the path their quarry was taking, and the distance between the two groups shrunk as the day went on¡­ CLXLVII - Pursuit and Tracking ¡°These people sure are persistent,¡± noted Esperanza on the evening of the next day. Not only had the feeling of being watched not diminished one bit, it actually intensified throughout the day, though she could tell instinctively that the source of that feeling was still some distance away, if inching closer throughout the day. All that was despite how she and her group had diverted their route further northwards through some of the denser woods in the region. At the moment, the geography of the region actually played against her, as further north and west of their location was a small mountain range, which would take some time to traverse, probably enough for whoever was closing in on them to cover the rest of the distance between the two groups. Given her identity, Esperanza could not imagine that whoever was tracking her group meant anything good. Sure, if it was Alissa, then that would be a possibility, but last she heard Alissa was stationed much further to the south-west from where she was, and shouldn¡¯t be anywhere near the region. Besides, the timing was off. Even if Alissa somehow had the luck to find people she could trust enough to send to Esperanza, it was unlikely that she could do so in the short time since they had separated. Based on those facts, she deduced that whoever was tracking them was likely related to the group¡¯s recent activities. The only thing that came to mind from those was the group of Temple Guards and priests they killed in the dungeon. It was not impossible that one of them might be important enough that their death would not go unnoticed and might even leave a trace upon their killers. It was not something unbelievable considering how Ephemera was set up. Esperanza herself possessed skills that allowed her to allow the souls of dead people to manifest into reality once more and carried around well over a thousand souls ¨C demon, human, and beast ones all put together ¨C within her [Soul Storage] at the moment. Skills that allowed others to notice such things were quite common in certain types of fiction she read before, and given how Ephemera seemed to have similarities to such fictional settings, it wouldn¡¯t be out of place for similar skills to exist there as well. By that point Esperanza was pretty much certain that whoever was tracking them did so on purpose. Otherwise the alteration to their route should have put some distance between them. This mysterious tracker was closing in pretty fast, and while Esperanza felt confident that her group could likely lose them by backtracking towards the east, she was in no mood to do so. The idea of leaving behind someone who could trace her from such a far distance was an unacceptable risk to her group as a whole. Such a person would likely be able to repeat the feat even if she were to lose them this time, so instead Esperanza sought to deal with the matter in a more¡­ permanent manner. Her group was a powerful one, she knew that, which gave her the confidence to do what she had in mind. ¡°We¡¯ll head north-west towards the mountain range tomorrow. According to this map I got from the library back then, there should be a narrow valley around here,¡± said Esperanza as she pointed towards a section of the mountain range in question on the map using one finger. ¡°We will head there while slowing our pace in a believable manner and engage our pursuers there.¡± ¡°An ambush, then, Exalted One?¡± asked Val-Kas¡¯j as he looked at the map. The map was a relatively detailed one from the collection of the Library of Clearridge Academy. Esperanza had made a copy of the original to prevent any suspicion over a missing map. ¡°We should manage to find some places to hide ourselves in such a valley.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan, Val,¡± affirmed Esperanza with a nod. ¡°Whoever is tracking us seems to be focused on me and Nali, so I will take him deeper into the mountain range to give the illusion that we¡¯re still traveling unaware of the pursuers,¡± she added. ¡°Once you spring the ambush on them, we will race back to support you. I will leave Dali and Gordy with you as well.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One,¡± stated Ani in approval. ¡°If the skill they use to track us so far is indeed just focused on the two of you, this should lower their guard against our ambush.¡± ¡°I know we have grown powerful, but it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry, especially since we have no idea on the mettle of our pursuers. You should take care to allow only those with good stealth skills to observe our pursuers from afar, and if their number and strength are pretty good, let them mostly pass through our ambush spot. Only spring the ambush against their rear after most of them have already passed, understand?¡± ¡°Your will be done, Exalted One,¡± said Tiesya. If there was one thing Esperanza could be certain about, it was that her people would indeed listen to her commands to the letter, due to the exalted status she held in their eyes as a Messenger from the Deities of Yore. Fortunately her people were not stupid either and knew when they would need to deviate from her orders when needed, so she was not too worried about them foolishly adhering to them when it was a bad call. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. With the arrangements done, the group turned in for the night. Esperanza noticed that their pursuers had remained at roughly the same distance since they stopped to rest. Perhaps they felt confident on catching up to the group the next day and had rested around the same time, then. Not that she cared all too much about it. After all, should things go as planned, they¡¯d be free of these pursuers by the end of the next day. ****************************** ¡°They are still proceeding in the same direction, at the same pace, Your Eminence,¡± reported Sister Nadia near noon the following day. She had been keeping a constant watch over their quarry with her skills throughout the day. ¡°At the rate we are going, we should be able to catch up to them close to the evening, around when they would reach the mountain range.¡± ¡°And they made no changes in the direction they are heading in?¡± asked Bishop Uther for confirmation. Since their targets seemed to be unaware of the pursuit, his expedition had been able to take a route which would allow them to head their quarry off. They had to cut their way through some uninhabited regions, but his expedition was more than powerful enough to do so quickly. ¡°They have headed in the same direction since yesterday, Your Eminence,¡± said Sister Nadia. ¡°I have been able to discern two clear targets with traces of the Young Master¡¯s Soul Lantern. They are clearly traveling together and so far I have seen no sign that they are trying to obfuscate their path or otherwise avoid us.¡± ¡°That is good. Have everyone continue on at this pace. Make sure to pace yourselves. I want everyone ready to fight when we catch up to them later,¡± said the Bishop after some thought. He had worried whether the quarry was aware of their pursuit since some creatures ¨C or high tier classes, for that matter ¨C were known to be particularly sensitive to any attention being paid to them. While skills like Sister Nadia¡¯s methods of soul tracking should be exempt from such things, there were always exceptions. From the looks of it, however, the quarry had no such sensitivity. If they were aware that they were being tracked, they should have changed their direction instead of continuing on a path which would allow the expedition to catch up to them easily. As it was, while the monastery¡¯s expedition was not traveling that much faster than their quarry, they still managed to shorten the distance between them since their respective paths would converge around the mountain range. It was a blessing from the Gods he would happily accept, especially since it will allow him to accost those likely responsible for the death of his beloved son a bit sooner. The Bishop had no worries about the potential enemy¡¯s capabilities. He doubted that they got away unscathed against Father Poligenes and the rest of the expedition, and besides, the force he brought with him was not only over twice the number of the dungeon expedition team, but also far superior in power. The dungeon expedition team was composed of talented youngsters who reached their third tiers early and three fourth tiers who were middling amongst their number, at best, with Father Poligenes being the only truly powerful one. On the other hand, the Bishop was not only more powerful than any of them, but he also brought six other veteran fourth tiers with him. Similarly, the rest of the expedition¡¯s members ¨C with the sole exception of the inquisitors who served as their trackers ¨C were older veterans who had fought in skirmishes against the demons. They might have lacked the talent of the youngsters in the dungeon expedition team, but they made up for that with experience and skills that had been honed through their decades of life. If Bishop Uther had taken any three fourth tier and twenty-one third tiers from his group at random and pitted them against the team that went into the dungeon, he had full confidence that his group of veterans would handily defeat the youngsters with minimal to no casualties on their side. As such, he was not too concerned about the quarry¡¯s strength. After all, if they turned out to be overwhelming in number, his people would notice them from afar and they could adjust their plans as needed. The monastery¡¯s expedition team made good time towards the mountain range, and reached the entrance of a narrow valley between two mountains around an hour or so before sunset. They spotted little in terms of tracks, which meant that their quarry was either intelligent enough to hide their tracks or were so light-footed and skilled so as not to leave any tracks behind. ¡°Are they still going in the same direction?¡± he asked Sister Nadia to confirm once more. Now that they were so close he was brimming with the desire to go forth and unleash holy wrath upon those responsible for his son¡¯s death, but he held his urges back. He was experienced and knew that such urges were not to be followed. Haste made for waste and it was better to prepare properly to ensure success instead. ¡°They are, Your Eminence. Probably no more than ten to fifteen minutes ahead of us. I can feel them moving deeper in this valley before us,¡± reported Sister Nadia after a few moments. That report affirmed the Bishop¡¯s decision on the spot. ¡°Then we proceed onwards. Tread lightly. We do not want to alert our quarry to our presence prematurely,¡± he commanded the expedition group. They moved into the valley, which was fortunately wide enough to allow them to walk five abreast, keeping up their speed but maintaining a good amount of stealth while they did so. For a group of heavily armed and armored individuals, they could move with surprising quietness. They found the first traces of passage from their quarry as they walked further into the valley. The marks were slight and well-hidden, but people were never perfect, and in the cramped quarters of the valley it was easy to miss out on some signs of passage. From the signs, the group¡¯s trackers concluded that they were probably following a group of around ten people or so, or at least humanoid beasts. The Bishop¡¯s suspicion mostly lay with the demons or his enemies within the kingdom, as beasts wouldn¡¯t have the intelligence to attempt hiding their tracks. Even so, the small number of the quarry encouraged him and he silently ordered the expedition group to continue deeper into the valley. 198 - Battle at the Gatehouse There were surprisingly few changes to the layout of Arh-Getlam compared to when the demons took it over decades ago. Other than when they made repairs to the damages on the southern walls, the city¡¯s structures were mostly left as it was, as the demons apparently viewed it as a waste of time and resources to rebuild the city any further. They were not inclined to the use of fortifications in the first place, to begin with, though they would use ones they took from the humans since it was already there and convenient to use. Arh-Getlam was the same case, and as such, a lot of its architecture was still the same as when it was still a walled city. That included how the warehouses and granaries were mostly built on the north side of the place, where they would be safer from demon attacks. Naturally after the demons took over the city, that design ended up putting them at risk to attacks from the humans who came from the north instead, but instead of moving and rebuilding them, the demons simply used them to store consumables they would use for battle. It was in a narrow alley between one such warehouse and the northern wall that Alissa and the rest of her party hid themselves. If they positioned themselves flush against the wall of the warehouse, they were practically impossible to see from most angles, other than a specific few, mostly from above the north wall which was still under the strike team¡¯s control. From their position they also had a decent vantage point to the gatehouse, which allowed them to monitor the happenings of the battle so that they could make an informed decision to strike out. Said gatehouse was a small fort in itself, set into the northern wall as part of it. The structure completely encompassed the city¡¯s northern gates underneath it and was three stories tall, with steps leading up to the northern wall from its roof. Such places were always well-defended, so the plan was to launch a twofold assault. Sir DelVillar and Sir Inolet would lead the majority of their group in a massive distraction in front of the gatehouse¡¯s doors, whereas Magus Drummond would lead a smaller contingent ¨C which included their stealth fourth tier ¨C and enter from the top of the gatehouse. Their hope was to prevent the enemy from realizing that the gatehouse itself as well as the northern wall was compromised for as long as they could, because if they enemy found out that the gatehouse was in their hands and they caught wind of the incoming troops, it was likely that they would deploy their soldiers out through the other gates and entrap the strike team within Arh-Getlam. Instead, the way Sir DelVillar did it would hopefully make it look like a smaller team managed to infiltrate within the base and was trying to fight their way into the gatehouse. If they managed to keep the best combatants on the demon side focused on them, it would provide their incoming army with a great advantage, even if it was at a risk to the infiltration team. Sir DelVillar made quite an entrance as he landed before the gatehouse clad in his conjured stone armor. The ground beneath his foot crashed from the impact of his landing, which naturally alarmed the demons guarding the gatehouse. They immediately sounded the alarm, but that was part of the plan. The gatehouse was far too large and well-defended for there to be any chance of the group taking the whole thing over without being noticed, so it was better to draw the enemy¡¯s attention on purpose instead. Other members of the chosen squad landed one after another next to Sir Delvillar, until all fifteen of them stood openly before the gatehouse. The ones who had sharper hearing amongst them could hear how the demons scrambled towards the gatehouse¡¯s doors from inside the structure, just as they planned. After all, Sir DelVillar¡¯s team was the bait and the distraction. That said, just because his team was the bait, it did not mean that they would leisurely wait while their enemies deployed their forces. Instead, Sir DelVillar led the charge as the entire team overwhelmed the third tier demon guards by the gatehouse¡¯s doors and directly crashed through the entrance towards the first floor of the structure. The mechanism to open the gates would be located at the highest floor, which was where Magus Drummond would strike once enough of the enemies had been drawn away. Until then, Sir DelVillar and his team would wreak havoc and make it look as if they were trying to rush towards the gate mechanism from below. The gates of larger cities like Arh-Getlam were heavily reinforced and enchanted, to the point that even if a fourth tier powerhouse specialized in offense like Sir Inolet stuck it with the intent to destroy, it would still take them a long while ¨C and a great expenditure of energy ¨C to break through the structure. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. As such, claiming the mechanism that opened and closed the gates was a more viable and effective alternative to pursue. Since the demons were caught unprepared, the team easily broke through the entrance of the gatehouse. As befitted such a defensive structure, however, the first floor in its entirety was designed as an extension of the gate itself, a region which was meant for the defenders to use against any enemies that broke through the first, outer gate of the city. As such, it was quite a vast space, a good four meters or so to the ceiling, and mostly wide open other than the small fortifications people could hide behind on the side that faced the city. Those small fortifications were meant for the defenders to use against invaders from outside the city, so they were of little use against attackers from inside. Instead, Sir DelVillar and his team took full advantage of their existence and had their three ranged attackers hide themselves behind the small fortifications while another small team held the personnel entrance they came in from. The rest of the strike team fanned out and prepared themselves to face the large number of demons that were even then still descending from the upper floors of the gatehouse. There were the powerful auras of at least five fourth tiers amongst the demons that arrived, while most of the rest were in their third tiers. Clearly the demon army realized that the gatehouse was important enough to warrant the deployment of their stronger people to defend it, but while the demons had a numerical advantage, it was of little use. After all, Sir DelVillar¡¯s entire team was composed of the best fourth tier combatants from Fort Abernal. Fourth tier combatants would easily demolish hundreds of weaker opponents, but even so, with only forty fourth tiers against up to twenty thousand demon combatants, they were bound to run out of mana or stamina and fall before the tide eventually. It was why Sir DelVillar only planned for them to hold on for a few hours at the most. Fortunately the intelligence they received seemed to be correct and the demons didn¡¯t have all that many fourth tiers in the city. In the past, when there were only twenty or so fourth tier demons compared to the nearly thirty in fort Abernal, the demons could achieve parity as long as they stayed on the defensive. The addition of Alissa¡¯s party completely tilted that scale to the human side¡¯s advantage, however. The demons in the gatehouse were clearly aware of the disadvantage they suddenly found themselves in. Sir DelVillar¡¯s team had not hidden their auras, which made it obvious that all of them were fourth tiers, and as such the demons formed themselves into a tight formation to fight against such overwhelming power, attempting to compensate for the lack of individual power through numbers. Too bad that Sir Leonhart DelVillar wasn¡¯t the type to just stand there and let them do that. While the demons were still working on their formation, the old knight rushed ahead of the rest, confident in the protection bestowed to him by his nigh-impenetrable stone armor. He swung the polemace in his hand viciously and sent several of the frontmost demons flying with broken bones and shattered organs as he waded into their ranks without a care in the world. Despite the best efforts of the demons, all their counterattacks did nothing to the stone armor that covered the old knight, with the strongest ones only leaving vague marks at best. More often than not, it was the demons¡¯ own weapons that bent, broke, or shattered upon striking the unyielding stone armor. It left them stymied and confused, which the experienced veteran knight naturally used to his advantage. Sir Henri Inolet followed behind Sir DelVillar¡¯s charge with another two fourth tiers from the group that were suitable to such frontal offense. Due to the enclosed nature of the gatehouse¡¯s interior, Sir Inolet did not imbue his blade with the fire element. Nor did he use the ice element since he would be fighting in close proximity with his allies. Instead, he imbued his blade with the wind itself, and his old form moved with a swiftness that belied the fact that he only had one good foot to stand on. The wind element imbue allowed Sir Inolet to move with extreme speed and grace, and while it did not help his offensive prowess much, it was quite useful for dealing with a large amount of weaker enemies in a relatively open space like where they were at the moment. He gracefully danced between the demons¡¯ strikes and retaliated with fatal blows, reaping lives where he passed. It only took a short while before some of the demon fourth tiers came before them in an effort to stop the two old knights. It was only those two that could be spared, as the others were kept busy trying to protect their soldiers from the ranged bombardment of the human fourth tiers further back. They knew that if they lost their supporting soldiers then they would not even stand the slightest chance against the greater number of human fourth tiers. Unfortunately, the fourth tier demons were no match for the veteran knights, and they were put on the backfoot almost immediately, even though other nearby demons did their damndest to help out. The difference in skill and power were just overwhelming, and it was only thanks to their allies'' support that the demons managed to hold on against Sirs DelVillar and Inolet. Since the alarm was sounded, demons from other parts of the base were made aware of the attack. They too rushed to put on their equipment and ran towards the gatehouse as fast as they could. The first few who reached the gatehouse found their entry blocked by the fourth tiers that Sir DelVillar¡¯s group had stationed to guard the entrance they used, but other demons headed towards the other personnel entrance at the other side of the gatehouse. The teams that were left outside to lie in ambush allowed the weaker demons entry to the gate, but when a force led by a fourth tier demon attempted to do so, they found themselves under attack from one of the ambush teams. The strike practically stopped the demons on the spot and prevented them from reinforcing the gatehouse as they had to deal with the attackers that were upon them. When another group of demons rushed to aid those under attack, more ambush groups revealed themselves and struck from their hiding spots. Only Alissa and her party had yet to make a move, as they had been given orders to wait for an opportune moment where they could catch several enemy fourth tiers off guard, if possible. It was only some time later when a group of demons led by six fourth tiers came towards the gatehouse that Alissa decided that a fat enough prey had arrived and struck out. 199 - A Premeditated Ambush ¡°I count six of them, Allie. Do we go for it?¡± said Ethan quietly as he carefully peeked out from the shadow of the warehouse they hid beside. He had been paying careful attention to a distant group of demons that were headed towards the gatehouse without using his skills and counted those which felt powerful enough to be fourth tiers. Out of their group Ethan was the best at that sort of approximation, as it was more of a gut feeling rather than any sort of skill. From the intelligence provided by Sir DelVillar¡¯s men, there should be around twenty fourth-tier demons in Arh-Getlam, with the expectation being that there would be more of them present on each of the base¡¯s two gatehouses, and the rest being stationed elsewhere. So far they had accounted for however many were in the northern gatehouse, plus another eight which had been intercepted by the ambush teams who were now fighting them in delaying actions. The large, powerful group of six fourth tier demons followed by nearly a hundred third tier demon combatants was late to the battle, likely because they had to run the length of the base from the southern gatehouse all the way to the northern one. They were also the exact sort of prey that Alissa¡¯s group had been waiting for all this while. All around the city turned military base, chaos reigned as the smaller teams also set fire and otherwise wreaked havoc where they could before vanishing one more. Their actions forced the demons to send some of their troops to search and hunt for them, reducing the number of demons that could be devoted to the northern gatehouse as a result. ¡°We are. Everybody hold on to me or to someone touching me,¡± said Alissa decisively. She waited a short moment to make sure that everyone had gotten into contact with her or with someone who did, then she activated [Living in a Dream]. Immediately, their surroundings took on an ethereal appearance as the group felt as if their bodies were no longer theirs. Like [Walk in the Shadows], Alissa could carry others with her into [Living in a Dream], but it was difficult for the others to do anything other than to follow her as if they were being carried along by her presence. She could communicate with them, but not the other way around, though at the very least with the evolved skill those she brought along could still see what happened around them, unlike before. Alissa carefully navigated her way towards where their target demon group were headed. It was trickier to carry so many people with her, so she strived to minimize the amount of contact with anything as much as she could. Slowly and deliberately, Alissa brought the group floating upwards towards the roof of a building that some other demons had previously used as a shortcut and settled them there. It was not as ideal an ambush as materializing directly beside their enemy and assaulting them at point blank range, but to do so against moving enemies with such a large group was a risky endeavor in and of itself, so Alissa chose a safer method instead. Even so, she waited until the last moment, when the demons they were targeting were just passing beneath them, before she canceled the skill and allowed the group to materialize on the rooftop. They leapt towards the unsuspecting demons below and brought nothing but death with them as presents. The demons were caught off-guard by the sudden ambush, especially when Joshua hurled a powerful [Overcharge]d fireball directly into their midst, which caused the demons to disperse out of surprise and self-preservation. Joshua, Ormont, Leda, and Glenn had stayed on the rooftop. The former three because it was easier to provide ranged support from a height advantage, while Glenn was there to guard them against retaliation from the demons. Everybody else leapt straight at the demons, with each of the seven taking on one of the fourth tier demons other than Benedictus, who instead fought a defensive action to prevent the rest of the demons from coming to the aid of their commanders. The team that stayed above mostly also focused their ranged support on the pack of third tier demons separated from their commanders by the sudden ambush. Alissa picked out the strongest of the fourth tier demons for herself, a Ma¡¯Varok that wielded a wicked-looking glaive with both hands. The demon saw her attack coming before it was too late and skillfully deflected her spear using the shaft of his weapon, even attempting to skewer her with the weapon¡¯s blade while he was at it. Alissa blocked his counterattack with her shield, though, and landed safely on her feet. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Unexpectedly, the demon had not pursued her immediately. Instead, the demon took on a low guard position, with his polearm held at a diagonal position, its blade pointed downwards. It was a typical guard position seen in many fighting styles, usually used with the intent of chaining a parry into a counterattack, which definitely fit what the demon had done against her first attack. As such, Alissa did the same as she lowered her stance and raised her shield diagonally before her, holding her spear further back with her other hand and resting its shaft on the side of her shield. It was a position from which she could either attack or defend easily, which she took since it was obvious that her opponent this time was more skilled than the typical foes that relied more on brute force or speed like before. The demon grinned at her reaction, and the next moment Alissa could see how the demon¡¯s muscles bulged and grew larger as a reddish sheen of light covered his entire body. Probably some sort of buff skill in use, which was not unexpected. Alissa and the rest of her group had also cast their buff skills before they launched their attack after all. After a moment where both sides held their position and observed the other, it was the demon that made the first move as he took a large step forward and flicked his blade upwards with a smooth motion. Alissa managed to take the blow on her shield, but the force behind it was enough to push her back a step and almost shove her shield out of position, which was somewhat expected given that it was a two-handed blow. At the same time, she also gave a tentative thrust with her spear to test her foe¡¯s defenses only for her opponent to catch the side of her spearhead in the same smooth motion and pushed it aside as he twirled his polearm around for another swing from the top. This time Alissa didn¡¯t try to block the blow but instead leapt a short distance back, just out of the descending blade¡¯s reach. From the short exchange, Alissa realized that her opponent was more powerful than she was, though she was maybe a little faster. He was pretty high up on the levels, at the mid fourth tier, so the demon was probably one of the strongest in the base, as those in the late levels of the fourth tier were rare. The only reason Alissa could take the demon on despite still being in her late third tier was due to her better classes allowing for a parity in attributes. The demon had more skills than her, though, even if his first tier skills were likely mostly useless in the grand scale of things. Before the demon could begin another series of strikes, Alissa chose to pre-empt him as she lunged forward and thrust her spear towards the demon¡¯s face. She noticed that the demon was particularly proficient in chaining his moves together, so if she allowed him to take the initiative, it might not bode well for her. As her spearhead neared his face, the demon calmly bent his neck as far backwards as it could go, while at the same time, he used the shaft of his polearm to push Alissa¡¯s thrust upwards, causing it to miss the demon¡¯s face completely. He was just about to start another swing of his glaive when he noticed that Alissa had not stopped there, and instead of just withdrawing her spear and falling back, she actually twisted her body around forcefully and struck out with her shield. Caught off guard, the demon took the strike against the armor plate that covered his chest and abdomen. The point of Alissa¡¯s shield landed directly against the center of the armor plate and only slightly dented it, but the force behind the blow was enough to send the demon stumbling back a few steps, off balance. It was about as Alissa expected and hoped for, since she had not reinforced the blow with her skills yet. Her skills were mostly intended for one-off strikes with her spear, and didn¡¯t mesh too well with percussive blows from her shield, so she saved them up for an appropriate time. As the demon was stumbling back, Alissa took the chance to grasp her spear with both hands and brought the weapon down in a vicious swing from above with all her strength. The demon was unable to parry the blow gracefully as he did before and could only block it crudely with the shaft of his own weapon. The force of Alissa¡¯s blow forced the demon to use his own considerable might to block the strike, until he felt the force behind it weaken and he pushed out. Little did he know that the weakening was intentional on Alissa¡¯s part as she had let go of her spear with her left hand at that time. While the demon¡¯s arms were high above as they were pushing away her spear, Alissa slipped below his guard and landed another blow to the abdomen with her shield¡¯s edge, striking the same area she already dented on her previous blow. She used the force of the recoil from the demon¡¯s pushing away of her spear to add to the power of the blow and sent him reeling further back this time. Alissa saw her chance and activated several of her skills at the same time. She clad her spearhead with the effects of [Seize the Spirit], [Unravel the Firmament], [Truth is a Bitter Pill to Swallow], and [Lies may Please, but it Doesn¡¯t Heal], all at the same time while it was mid-swing and struck out with a one-handed hewing slash. Her slash caught the side of the demon¡¯s upper arm which was not covered by his armor and drew blood. The wound was not a heavy or incapacitating one, but the effect of her skills kicked in all at the same time. The demon suddenly found himself with his buff skill forcefully deactivated, hard of breathing to the point of near suffocation, bleeding profusely from the small wound, and suffering from pain like he had never felt before. [Seize the Spirit] was an evolution to [Grasp the Soul], which retained the effects of the previous skill ¨C allowing a strike to affect an opponent¡¯s Mind and Soul as well ¨C and further amplified the damage the target suffered to their Mind and Soul. The damage it did was far from fatal, but the pain and discomfort it caused would likely distract most people and cause them to leave an opening, which might well be fatal in a battle. Such an opening similarly presented itself to Alissa as her opponent was assaulted by the sudden deluge of unpleasantness her skills caused him and she was not one to waste such a chance. Alissa stepped in close to her reeling opponent and landed another shield bash, this time straight against the underside of the demon¡¯s chin, hard enough to nearly snap the demon¡¯s neck on the spot. The shield blow was merely a prelude, one meant to daze the demon so that Alissa would have enough time to stop the momentum of her spear and jab upwards using its other end, which ended in a spike, directly into the demon¡¯s lower jaw and further upwards, through the roof of his mouth and into his brain cavity in one fell swoop. 200 - Making a Stand Even as the demon¡¯s dead body fell towards the ground, Alissa took a quick glance at her surroundings to judge the situation of the other battles. Benedictus was struggling at keeping the rest of the demons back, but with the help of those who stayed on the rooftop, he managed to keep them at bay for the time being, so Alissa turned her sights elsewhere. Ethan was pushing hard against another Ma¡¯Varok demon that fought with two axes, likely a berserker sort from the way the demon fought. The demon¡¯s wild flailing strikes were coldly met with calculated blocks or allowed to land on armor even as Ethan landed his own blows at the demon¡¯s body, which was already bleeding and bruised from many injuries. Even so, the demon seemed to ignore the injuries on his body and kept attacking, though Ethan managed to handle its attacks calmly. Bronwen fought viciously against a demon that wielded an odd weapon in the form of a chain flail without a handle, the spiked metal balls at the end of the long chain whipping around almost as if they were living creatures. The demon landed many strikes on the Temple Guard, but she shrugged off the blows and returned threatening blows with her own spear. While the demon was agile enough to avoid most of those blows, Alissa noticed that it was bleeding from one leg, and that Bronwen kept the demon well-contained to the point that it was unable to divide its attention. Nadine engaged a female Nevilosk demon that incidentally also wielded a two-handed sword in a roughly even duel. The demon was on the backfoot, however, as the fighting style it had was more of a graceful and flashy one. Good when it came to slaughtering masses of weaker foes in style, but less effective against a skilled opponent around their own power level. In contrast, despite her background as the Fifth Royal Princess, the swordsmanship style that Nadine used was focused entirely on practicality and brutality, methods to swiftly bring a fight to an end by murdering one¡¯s opponent as efficiently as possible. Amongst those techniques were various grappling methods intended to fight against an armored opponent, and at the moment Nadine had clearly employed such methods to bring her opponent down to the ground, where their long two-handed blades were hard to use. Instead, Nadine decisively used one hand to keep her opponent¡¯s blade out of play, pinned her foe using her knees, and started raining down vicious blows from her other fist against her opponent¡¯s face mercilessly. She quickly drew blood as she broke her opponent¡¯s nose, but didn¡¯t let off as her gauntleted fist went up and back down again and again. Moira was fighting a burly Ragah-Fiq demon that carried a pair of wicked-looking cleavers. The Royal Guard girl made full use of the length of her glaive as well as her superior agility to avoid the demon¡¯s devastating slashes and strike back whenever the demon left openings. Unfortunately, the tough demon only took minor injuries from her attacks, so while she was technically at an advantage, she was the one who had to keep on her toes during the fight. Alissa judged the situation stable enough that Moira wouldn¡¯t need her help right away, though. Maribel danced around another Ma¡¯Varok demon that wielded a hefty two-handed maul, a dangerous dance where she avoided the crushing blows by mere inches or less. She had a harder time hurting the demon back, however, as her opponent was fully armored from head to toe, and her pair of sabers lacked the force to go through said armor. Perhaps if Maribel was to commit and struck with her entire force and weight, she might be able to land an injury to her opponent, but such an act would also leave her open, which was far more disadvantageous to herself unless she could guarantee a killing blow. Since everybody else had their fights well in hand or at least at a stable point, Alissa decided to go to Maribel¡¯s aid first. The demon fighting Maribel noticed Alissa¡¯s approach, though, and after it pushed Maribel away with a forceful swing of its maul, it allowed the momentum of the swing to carry it along as the demon turned to face Alissa. Said demon then allowed its maul to revolve around itself into another vicious swing aimed at Alissa instead. It didn¡¯t take a genius to tell that the demon obviously had a Strength-heavy build, given its heavy armor and weapon and the vicious strength it used them with. Alissa wisely chose not to defend against the blow and instead leapt over the strike, her feet briefly stepping on the maul¡¯s head as she leapt off it towards the surprised demon. Even then, Alissa found to her dismay that her thrust failed to pierce deep into the demon despite the use of [Perforate the Stars] to enhance it. The demon¡¯s armor was just far too heavy and thick for her spear to penetrate far into it, the wound she caused at most a flesh wound, even with the skill¡¯s aid. In fact, if not for the skill Alissa might not have managed to injure the demon at all. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Although the damage she actually managed to do was rather underwhelming, the injury still surprised the demon, and that drew its attention long enough for Maribel to strike at it from behind, her sabers stabbing into the back of the demon¡¯s right knee, one of the few locations on its body that was not clad behind thick armor. The demon hollered in pain from the surprise and stumbled, almost falling to one knee, but still managed to use its maul to strike behind itself, which forced Maribel to disengage in order to avoid the blow. The injury to its knee visibly hobbled the demon, however, as it limped and clearly favored its uninjured leg when it moved after that. Alissa took the chance to deliver a few more stabs while the effects of her skill were still active, but found no greater success compared to her first blow. The demon¡¯s armor was nowhere near as inviolable as Sir DelVillar¡¯s armor of conjured and compacted stone, but there was simply more of it, as the demon wore ridiculously thick armor. On the other hand, all that armor and the heavy maul also meant that the demon was sluggish for a fourth tier, which was what had allowed Maribel to hold her own against it so far. The demon had a fighting style that was indeed reminiscent of Sir DelVillar¡¯s, but far less refined and a lot cruder, relying on its prodigious physical strength to wield heavy, nearly impenetrable armor instead. It might be an annoying foe to have to deal with quickly, but fortunately, Alissa wasn¡¯t alone. Together with Maribel, the two danced around the demon¡¯s strikes. Their counterattacks were more perfunctory unless they happened to be in position to strike at a less-armored spot, and they were focused more on trying to tire the demon out. No matter how strong the demon was, it would run out of strength after lugging around its absurd armor for long enough. Fortunately the other battles also went to the party¡¯s advantage. Nadine had apparently already finished off her opponent and went to Moira¡¯s aid, the two women fighting side by side and forcing the Ragah-Fiq Moira had been fighting back as wound after wound landed on its sturdy body. They would probably be done with their opponent than Alissa and Maribel would, at this point. Bronwen had apparently already finished off her opponent as well, as she joined Benedictus in holding back the third tier demons. The arrival of the defensively focused temple guard instantly solidified their teetering defense line and stabilized the situation there, the crowd of demons trying to force their way through turned into target practice for those on the rooftop. Ethan was still tangled with his berserker opponent, who by that point was pretty much a mass of bleeding cuts and bruises, yet refused to give up the fight. Alissa thought that the demon must have some sort of skill to ignore pain or the like to keep going in that shape, and that it might well just drop dead the moment said skill¡¯s effect ended. Her guess proved rather prescient because a few minutes later, that was exactly what happened. The demon was roaring as he rushed towards Ethan once more when all of a sudden, he just suddenly dropped to the ground in mid-motion. The bloody mess of a body just fell right there and moved no more, so Ethan went over to help Alissa and Maribel with their opponent as well after he made sure the demon was gone for real by chopping its head off. With the three of them working together, the armored demon was truly put at a disadvantage. Ethan was capable of taking its blows head-on, which allowed for more openings where Alissa or Maribel could strike, for greater effect at that. They immobilized the demon by savaging the backs of its knees first, then from there, ducked under its desperate swings and stabbed into its armpits until its arms fell limp on its side. Only then did Ethan step closer and forcibly removed the demon¡¯s helmet off, revealing the desperate face of a Ma¡¯Varok ¨C none of them were sure of its gender, as it was a bit hard to tell with that type of demon at times ¨C and allowing for Maribel to finish the demon off by slitting its throat wide open using her blades. Even that took the girl some effort, because the demon¡¯s body was definitely on the tough side compared to most fourth tiers. Moira and Nadine had just finished off the Ragah-Fiq demon too by then. The demons were outmatched and in a desperate situation, but since they were rushing towards the gatehouse to aid in its defense, they were left without the option of retreat. They knew that the base was important and that they would be punished if they escaped without doing their damndest. That, combined with the misleading strength of Alissa¡¯s party made the demons stay too long, until it was too late for them to even try to retreat. After all, the demons thought that they were ¡°just¡± facing third tiers at first, until they realized that Alissa¡¯s party had strength far beyond typical people at their level, at which point they were already entangled in a battle. Once the fourth tier demons were gone, the remaining seventy or so third tier demons were of minimal threat to the party, and after a quick skirmish where the party slaughtered a good twenty-five or so of the demons in short order, the remaining survivors scattered away in fright. That left Alissa¡¯s group with little to do, so they went around and helped the other ambush teams deal with their targets. With the help from Alissa¡¯s party, the other teams managed to deal with their respective targets easily, though some of those teams had already taken casualties by the time Alissa could get to them. By then, only around fifteen minutes had passed since the battle had started, and Alissa could see a large crowd of demons surging towards them from the base¡¯s interior. The ambush parties gathered together in the gatehouse by tacit agreement, since they needed to defend the place at all costs. Meanwhile, the fighting inside the gatehouse had pretty much ended, and Magus Drummond¡¯s group had apparently also taken over the gate mechanism room at the top floor. Everyone set up formations to defend the two personnel entrances on the sides of the gatehouse as well as the entrance on the roof. They would have to battle an unending tide of demons for at least the next hour and a half or so, since the main army was still on its way. At least for the time being, the gatehouse was secured, and it was vital to keep it secured for the sake of the assault team. Without control of the gatehouse they would be left stranded in the enemy base, and both their stamina and mana were already halfway used up after the hard fight with the enemy fourth tiers. CCI - When the Hunter becomes the Hunted ¡°Around fifty of them, at least five or six in the fourth tier,¡± reported Legisvula as he returned from where he kept an eye on the group¡¯s pursuers above the valley¡¯s ridge. Legisvula had some of the best stealth skills of the group other than Esperanza, so he was the one who volunteered to keep an eye out for the enemy, a task that placed himself at risk of discovery or worse. Fortunately, while their foes seemed capable of tracking Esperanza and Nalihimatu through some esoteric means, they didn¡¯t have skills capable of piercing Legisvula¡¯s stealth from a distance, or if they did, they had no inkling of his presence and thus had not used any such skills. ¡°Both more and less than what the Exalted one expected, then,¡± noted Ani at the numbers Legisvula mentioned. Esperanza had expected whoever was tracking them to have a small party of maybe twenty to thirty but with a far higher proportion of fourth tiers. The party they discovered on their tail was larger in number, but with fewer fourth tiers than they expected. ¡°They all looked pretty strong and skilled, Miss Ani,¡± commented Legisvula. ¡°Experienced, rather. Even their third tiers look like people who have been doing their job all their lives. I feel that we should not take these foes lightly, since they clearly have ill intent towards the Exalted One. They¡¯re all wearing the same sort of clothes as the group we faced in the dungeon. People from the temple of the human usurper gods.¡± ¡°I guess that at least answers the questions of who these people are and why they are following us,¡± said Ani with a nod. ¡°One or more of the people we killed in the dungeon must have some artifact that would alert others if they are slain. I have heard of such things, but as far as I know they were exorbitantly expensive, and thus rare.¡± ¡°Still doesn¡¯t answer why they are specifically capable of tracking down the Exalted one and Nali, though,¡± questioned Tiesya. ¡°Such things work by way of the Soul, I would assume. Maybe Nali happens to be the one that dealt the human in question the finishing blow back then, and thus a bit of the person¡¯s Soul was stuck to his as a result. They could very well be tracking that residue,¡± guessed Ani after some thought. ¡°The Exalted One also carried the human souls for questioning, so they might be tracking her because of that as well.¡± ¡°Are we sticking to the plan the Exalted One laid out?¡± asked Val-Kas¡¯j for confirmation. The greater number of skilled foes was a surprise, but not an unexpected one as they had planned for several different contingencies before Esperanza ran ahead with Nalihimatu to make their foes think that they were still running away unawares. ¡°We should. Let most of them pass by our position, then we strike their rear and flank at the same time,¡± said Ani with a nod. Other than Esperanza and Nalihimatu ¨C who would rush back once the battle was joined ¨C the rest of their group was present, even Dali and Gordy, who waited on the other side of the valley with nearly half their forces. Ani¡¯s group would be the one to signal the start of the ambush, while the rest followed. Esperanza had entrusted the responsibility to Ani since the woman was the most experienced of them all, something none of the group disagreed with. Normally Ani might have requested that Esperanza take the lead instead, but since Esperanza had to range ahead to play bait, it had to be someone else, so she had no objections either. ¡°You¡¯re all familiar with the plan, so I won¡¯t repeat it. Let us do our best so as not to disappoint the Exalted One,¡± said Ani, to which the rest of the group with her nodded. ******************************* ¡°They are very close, Your Eminence, maybe four to five minutes ahead at most,¡± Sister Nadia said after a moment of concentration to use her skills. They had nearly caught on to their quarry and the Bishop¡¯s eagerness was palpable at this point. The expedition group had even restrained their own scouts after a quick inspection of the valley so as not to forewarn the targets they were pursuing. Their targets were very good at keeping their tracks obscure and difficult to find, they had to admit. Even in the valley they barely saw any signs of passage, which indicated that they were either aware that they were being tracked, or more likely, a habit of hiding their tracks, perhaps from a life of hiding or perhaps because they were in enemy territory. The Bishop¡¯s thoughts had gone a bit wild on the possibilities of the latter scenario. It was certainly possible for it to be a team of infiltrating demons. He had heard rumors that the [Heroes]¡¯ party themselves ran afoul of one such group of demons a good while ago. Despite the dangers, dungeons were actually some of the best hiding spots in the Kingdom, if one was powerful enough to mostly ignore the threat of the monsters in them. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After all, while the lower level dungeons were regularly cleaned and harvested for the useful things they provide, the same could not be said about higher tier dungeons. Dungeons with creatures in the third and fourth tier equivalents were maybe harvested only once or twice a year, each time with a rather risky expedition which carried a significant risk of injury or death. Naturally, such expeditions were not the most popular outside of those who truly chased after power at all costs, which made such dungeons pretty much abandoned land for most of the year. If someone could ignore the weaker monsters in such places ¨C which was easier said than done given that they would still be third tier equivalents or worse ¨C then they made for great hideaways. By this point the Bishop was almost certain that the dungeon delving expedition likely ran into a group of elite demon infiltrators who were hiding in their target dungeon. It would be a decent bit of merit on his part if he successfully uprooted such a group of infiltrators, and besides, it would allow him his much-desired revenge as well. Bishop Uther was still thinking about those when a commotion suddenly erupted behind him and he saw several members of the expedition fall to unexpected attacks from the side, followed by the presence of around two dozen figures that charged at his expedition group from both sides of the valley, descending from atop the ridges. For a moment, he was uncertain on what kind of enemy he was facing. He saw demons of all sorts, sure. Even the elusive aquatic Gour-ug¡¯rech demons, but there were also humans amongst them, clearly working in tandem with the demons without hesitation. It was only after the moment of surprise that he recalled old stories of heretic unbelievers that persisted in believing the toppled pagan gods which fit the description. Such tales often mentioned demons and humans living in unholy unions, and now that he saw them for real, Bishop Uther wished for nothing more than to rid their stains from the face of Ephemera. He was just about to call upon the name of the Gods he worshiped and activate his mightiest skills when he noticed an aura of palpable wrongness approaching from behind, forcing him to turn his attention that way. All that greeted him was a sight from the nightmares itself. ****************************** Esperanza tsked in annoyance as her surprise attack ¨C she had rushed back as fast as she could in her amorphous form, which could reach ridiculous amounts of speed under the right circumstances ¨C failed to take down her intended target, one of the fourth tiers from the group that had chased after her. At the last moment, one of the women in black next to him saw the attack coming and shoved the old priest that was her target away, taking the attacks intended for him in the process. Sure, Esperanza¡¯s extended tenebrous limbs tipped with bone claws sheathed in [Soul Armament] directly eviscerated the woman in question ¨C directly sheared her in half around the waist, in fact ¨C but missing her actual target and possibly the strongest enemy of the bunch was still annoying. At least the ambush went well as they planned. She had told Ilavakide and Dai¡¯Vasy to focus their skills on some of the weaker enemies rather than the strongest if the enemy had greater numbers. The stronger enemies were far less likely to succumb to a single attack, after all, so it was better to cut down on their number advantage instead. Both girls had clearly followed her instructions judging from the three dead temple guards with arrows sticking out of their bodies and another four frozen or skewered by spikes of ice. Those more skilled with ranged combat ¨C Ilavakide, Dai¡¯Vasy, the five from Zikeal, mostly for their own safety, and three of Ani¡¯s people ¨C stayed on the ridgelines and continued to deliver fire support to the rest of the group who were fighting below. The enemies had powerful fourth tiers, but not overwhelmingly powerful ones, other than the one man Esperanza tried to get rid of herself. That one would likely give anyone else a hard time. As it was, Dali and Gordy each occupied one of the enemy fourth tiers, while Ani, Val-Kas¡¯j, Tiesya, and Mel-Ivas occupied the other four. Normally Nalihimatu would be doing the same, but he was still rushing towards the battlefield as he couldn¡¯t do so as fast as Esperanza could. Esperanza lunged towards the strongest of the enemy fourth tiers without hesitation as she knew that she had to keep that one occupied or even take him down. They were still outnumbered by nearly two to one, and even the weaker foes had great skill and experience, but Esperanza hoped that the difference in quality would more than make up for it. A high level third tier with good classes were easily as powerful as a low level fourth tier with worse classes, and all the [Progenies of Yore] had some of the best classes in existence, according to Ani, which meant that they punched well above their levels. Combined with how almost all of Ani¡¯s group were in their fourth tier by then, Esperanza¡¯s group had a good advantage in quality if not quantity. Still, the battle wouldn¡¯t likely be an easy one. Already the priestly man she was assaulting managed to conjure a shield of light that covered him from her assaults, though it only held with difficulty. Typically priest types like those had the ability to grant buffs to their team and the like. She saw the other priests in the group do that already, so Esperanza put her effort into keeping her target too busy fending for himself to help others. She had no idea what an experienced fourth tier priest¡¯s buff skills and blessings could be like, and if she could have it her way, she would prefer to not know about it and instead get to kill the priest before he could make use of them like she originally intended. Her amorphous body sprouted another four limbs tipped with claws of bone, and with the six of them she struck blow after blow against the priest¡¯s defenses from all angles. From behind her she heard the sound of a yell followed by a heavy crash and a few people¡¯s grunts. It would seem that Nalihimatu had finally caught up and joined the battle as well, which further diverted their enemies¡¯ attention. While her group had the advantage, Esperanza still kept an eye over them, because unlike her enemies, her people could ill afford to lose members of their group in a fight like this. While her tenebrous limbs continued their assault on the fourth tier priest, Esperanza also blared the full presence of her [Far Down the Deep End]¡¯s passive effect, which visibly took a toll on the mental state of her enemies and forced a couple of the priests to change their blessings to counter it. CCII - The Servant of the Gods and the Messenger of the Devils ¡°By the Might of the Courage of the North! [Shining Bulwark of the Heavens]!¡± yelled Bishop Uther as he invoked one of his fourth tier skills. Immediately, a far sturdier barrier of shining light formed behind his flagging [Shield of Faith], which was a weaker defensive skill he received from his second tier. The weaker skill took less concentration and time to cast, though, and with the Bishop¡¯s stats would normally hold against most assaults with ease. His opponent that day was not normal, however. Whatever the abominable creature was, its limbs were coated with some sort of power that did grievous damage to the Bishop¡¯s defenses with every strike, and his weaker shield was already teetering on the brink of annihilation by the time he managed to get his stronger defense between them. He was glad that he managed to do so in time because moments later his weaker shield shattered before the claws of the strange creature, which he could not identify properly because its shape kept flowing around as if it had no fixed form. That and the creature also resisted his attempts at using [Analysis] on top of everything. Those very same claw-tipped tentacles which eviscerated his prior defenses clashed against the [Shining Bulwark of the Heavens] but failed to break through the sturdier defense. As an experienced combatant, the Bishop could tell that his shield wouldn¡¯t hold on for too long, so he would need to make use of his other skills to turn the tables to his advantage while it lasted. As it was, the creature radiated some sort of strange, perverse aura that assaulted the minds of everyone in the vicinity, though not its own fellows somehow. The bishop chose to tackle that issue first, as it was the most far-reaching effect the creature brought to the battle since its arrival. Fortunately for him, he had a skill to do just that. ¡°By the Blessings of Innocence, [May the Gods Clear My Mind]!¡± intoned the Bishop as he used a skill he received early in his life, in his second tier, but had used so often to the point that it had evolved twice to its current form. In the past, the skill mostly helped people keep their minds clear and stable under stressful situations, which helped when he was consoling people who lost loved ones or the like. In its present form, however, the skill was instead one that also functioned against every sort of foreign intrusion to the mind, which the Bishop expected the creature¡¯s aura to be, given how he managed to remain mostly unaffected by it. He attributed that to his strong faith and powerful attributes as befit a fourth tier, as it was mostly the weaker people in the expedition that was affected. Contrary to his expectations, however, his vaunted skill failed to completely relieve the expedition members from the ill-effects of the unpleasant aura the creature was giving out. It seemed to alleviate the effects somewhat, but not completely, which surprised the Bishop, as the skill never failed him before. That moment of surprise and inattention nearly cost him, and it was only the intervention of a Temple Guard that saved his life. The creature had apparently taken that moment to focus its strength towards its tentacle-like limbs and delivered a vicious blow that went straight through the Bishop¡¯s [Shining Bulwark of the Heavens], though most of the defense was still intact other than the single hole the strike created. Fortunately a nearby temple guard managed to bring his shield up and interposed himself between the creature and the Bishop before the strike could land on him. That cost the temple guard in question quite a bit, as the blow was forceful enough to dent his shield appreciably and sent him careening off his feet, rolling on the ground a couple times before he landed flat on his back. Fortunately the man didn¡¯t seem to be overly harmed, other than his left arm which held the shield and was likely broken by the blow. Bishop Uther himself realized that he had no time to invoke another skill given the proximity of the creature¡¯s limb and himself, so instead he swung his staff of office and struck at the offending appendage. The Bishop¡¯s staff of office was a weapon in its own right, an artifact designed to amplify and strengthen his skills, while also serving as a very solid bludgeon when needed. His strike was a trained ¨C if rather basic ¨C one and the metal staff struck against the tenebrous limb¡¯s point, where the claw-like bone protruded. Clearly, however, the Bishop overestimated his physical prowess as the only thing his strike managed was to shove the limb away a couple meters without doing much hard to it. In fact, he had to leap back to avoid getting hit when the limb whipped back towards him right afterwards. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Before his eyes, the single large tentacle suddenly split into four smaller ones, each still tipped with a claw-like bone shard. While the Bishop had a couple temple guards to help him by his side, the flailing limbs still put them on the defensive, as the attacks came from unpredictable trajectories and often aimed for their blind spots. At first he thought that the creature merely had good sensory skills and could direct its limbs well even through the barrier, until he realized with horror that many small, black eyes with terrifying blood-red pupils had sprouted along the limbs that he was fighting against. Surprised by that transformation, he failed to notice something more important. Namely that the limbs were growing thicker as Esperanza shifted more of her mass through the hole in the barrier and towards the inside. She purposely kept the bulk of her mass ¡°hidden¡± out of sight in the back of the tentacles, so the people she was fighting failed to notice the increase in mass until she already got most of her body through the gap. With one final slip, she moved the last part of her mass into the Bishop¡¯s protective enclosure and allowed herself to fall to the ground before the startled Bishop and his guards. They only noticed the anomaly by then, when it was far, far too late, as Esperanza was already inside their strongest barrier. It had only taken her so long to push herself through because the damned barrier kept trying to recover the damage she caused to it, which resulted in a prolonged tug-of-war between her forcing it to remain open and the barrier attempting to close on her. Now that she no longer exerted pressure to keep the barrier open, it sealed shut behind her. Which left the Bishop and his three guards locked inside its perimeter with Esperanza. Esperanza herself reassumed a more human-like form ¨C she still felt more comfortable in that shape compared to going full amorphous, especially when fighting ¨C but deliberately made her form appear particularly monstrous to demoralize her opponents. She shifted to a wrinkled humanoid shape that had eyes and toothy maws all over its body, the eyes all staring at her opponents unnervingly. She got the effect she wanted as one of the temple guards inadvertently stepped back in fright upon seeing her, and even the Bishop looked unnerved by her appearance. Naturally, that hesistance of theirs presented an opening that Esperanza pounced upon. As their attention were directed to her ¡°body¡±, she elongated her legs into tentacular limbs that slithered over towards the legs of the one temple guard that stepped back in fright. Before the surprised man could react, Esperanza¡¯s limbs already tangled themselves around his legs and yanked hard until he fell flat to the ground. At the same time, Esperanza split her arms into three claw-tipped tentacles each and whipped them towards the other three to prevent them from coming to the man¡¯s aid. The bishop and one healthy temple guard managed to block or avoid Esperanza¡¯s strikes, but the other temple guard already had one of his arms broken by Esperanza¡¯s blow earlier in the fight, and only managed to block one of the tentacles. The other one pierced into his shoulder blade as the man grimaced in pain. That grimace turned into a horrified scream mere moments later as the claw that tipped the tentacle shifted around and split into myriad sharp teeth in a maw that gnawed its way through the man¡¯s flesh from the shoulder. Similarly, the man Esperanza took down started screaming in pain and horror as her tentacles grew maws and started gnawing on the man¡¯s leg. It was obvious that the Bishop and the remaining temple guard was in distress upon witnessing the suffering of their compatriots, so Esperanza allowed them to slip through her strikes on purpose. As she expected, the two rushed towards their screaming compatriots, unaware that their reaction was well within Esperanza¡¯s plans. The last temple guard never made it far before one of Esperanza¡¯s tentacle-limbs skewered his right knee from behind. Before the man even hit the ground, another limb that already grew a maw forced itself into the man¡¯s open mouth and began devouring him from the inside to his muffled screams. Even with the obstruction, the man still managed to scream loud enough to be heard by the Bishop. Normally Esperanza would have killed her victims swiftly rather than in a slow, horrifying, and rather excruciating manner as she did then, but she noticed how the Bishop was visibly disturbed when she did what she had done, so she kept it up in the hopes of forcing the man into a mistake. The Bishop was a powerful one, so Esperanza felt no shame in pulling out every trick she could use to tilt the tables to her favor. Fortunately she had read the man right. While the Bishop had some experience in battle, he was clearly unused to seeing his compatriots being eviscerated in some gruesome manner and flinched for a moment too long. Long enough for Esperanza to grab his staff with two of her limbs. With her many limbs, Esperanza then catapulted her ¡°main¡± body towards the Bishop, turning her form into a wider, thinner sheet as she enveloped him within her. Trapped in such a restrictive position, the Bishop still tried to resist with what skills he could use from the position, but Esperanza simply shifted her form to allow any offensive skills the Bishop used to pass through unhindered. At the same time, she tightened and constricted her hold on the man¡¯s body until he was left unable to move any of his limbs. Since the man had openly invoked the name of his gods ¨C and being a Bishop of the temple, as she heard the temple guards address the man, he was likely a devout and religious one ¨C Esperanza found herself unable to resist putting in one final jab to the struggling man. She opened one maw next to the man¡¯s ear, and in clear, human tongue, said words that drove the man into impotent fury and despair. ¡°Where are your gods now?¡± she whispered into his ear. While the Bishop wailed in anger and despair, Esperanza shifted the maws she had been using to try to gnaw on the old man into drill-like fangs as the artifact robes he wore proved to be very difficult to bite through. Instead, she bore small holes into it and slithered parts of her through the holes before she started to rip the Bishop apart from the openings she created. Bishop Uther perished in a painful and gruesome manner that day, his sincere and despairing prayers to the Gods he worshiped all his life left unanswered as a Messenger of their old enemies tore him apart piece by piece until all that was left intact of his body was his severed head. The decapitated head served as a silent testament on how little the Gods of Ephemera ¨C actual or fake, usurper or native, new or old ¨C were able to affect the lives of the mortals that still existed there, and the Bishop¡¯s death simultaneously sounded the death kneel for the rest of the expedition he led, especially once they caught a glimpse of his gruesome fate. CCIII - Returning the Favor While the situation of the battle was relatively even ¨C despite how the monastery¡¯s expedition force fell into a premeditated ambush ¨C for a while, Esperanza¡¯s foray into the battlefield turned the tables almost instantly as the side effect of witnessing her presence from her [Far Down the Deep End] skill made itself known. Due to their trained habit, the monastery¡¯s warriors kept an eye on their surroundings through their peripheral vision while fighting. That habit backfired when Esperanza came into play. Almost every member of the expedition was affected, though none took the blow that badly due to their strong Souls and high levels. Even so, the momentary distraction alone proved to be fatal for some as they were in direct combat at the moment. At least half a dozen people fell during that brief moment when they were affected by the skill¡¯s side effect and allowed their opponent to land a mortal blow. Only when the Bishop used a skill of his to help against the effect of Esperanza¡¯s skills did the temple guards manage to regain their calm, even if some of them still suffered from the effects of the skill, in a milder way. That fragile equilibrium, however, was shattered when Esperanza took the Bishop down and ended the man viciously, naturally causing the effects of his skill to cease as well when she did so. While the expedition party had more people and plenty of experience, they were still fighting against people whose raw abilities were a good bit above their own. Each of the [Progenies of Yore] had the raw attributes of a low to mid leveled fourth tier on average, and skills of similar quality as what one would have expected out of a fourth tier despite being only in their third tiers. Ani¡¯s people were not as exaggerated, but almost all of them were in their early fourth tiers as well, with the warrior woman herself solidly in the middle levels of the tier. In fact, Ani had directly engaged the strongest fourth tier other than the bishop, an old woman clad in black cloak and hood, and kept her at bay throughout the fight. The woman was tricky and agile, and it was only thanks to Ani¡¯s ability to freely manipulate water ¨C which she had plenty of thanks to the melting ice from Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s spells ¨C that she could even contain the woman. Fortunately while the old woman ¨C the Head Inquisitor, if Ani heard another call the woman correctly ¨C was tricky and hard to catch, she was not all that powerful as a combatant. Her fighting style seemed to involve poisons and other unpleasant agents that she smeared across her blades, which unfortunately met a perfect counter this time around. Ani¡¯s skill with the manipulation of water included the water contained within her own body, so even when the old woman managed to nick her with the poisoned blades, Ani would simply force the venom out of the wound along with the infected blood. It was an ability she gained very early in her life, when she was still in her first tier, after she survived an accident where she was stung by a venomous lionfish. The ability had since stayed with her through her whole life and even evolved three times. It might not be powerful in most meanings of the word, but it rendered her nearly immune to poisons and venoms that needed to travel through blood, which had saved her skin more times than she could count over the decades. Like it did that day with the clearly frustrated Head Inquisitor. It didn¡¯t matter that the poisons she used could kill her targets within a few heartbeats when they were forced out of the body before a single heartbeat could even pass, while the woman was unfortunately lacking in more direct means of combat, having specialized her skills and classes to make full use of her poisons. The old woman even tried using poison sprays, only to be met with flowing water barriers that washed away her poisons before it could do any harm. Due to her fighting alongside her allies, she couldn¡¯t use her gaseous poisons either, as that would cause horrific casualties to her own allies, who were physically weaker than their foes. In the end, the old woman made a mistake as she stepped too close to a puddle left behind by Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s magic where the ice had melted and Ani capitalized on that opportunity to manipulate the water to grab at the old woman¡¯s ankle. Caught and unable to escape, the old woman was unable to block or parry Ani¡¯s subsequent attack and ended up impaled at the point of her large harpoon-like spear. While Ani took care of the Head Inquisitor, Dali handled another of the fast, agile fourth tiers, a member of the temple guard that seemed to have some sort of spatial-type movement skill that they excelled on. The temple guard attempted to use his skills to sneak behind one of Esperanza¡¯s people and land a sneak attack, but found himself stymied by Dali at every turn. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Dali was just as capable of moving through space as the temple guard was, and in fact, was even more skilled at it. The temple guard moved first, but Dali was always there to intercept him the moment he appeared back into reality, despite moving later. In fact, after they danced around like that for a while, Dali seemed to have caught on to something and intercepted the temple guard while the two of them were still traversing space outside of the present reality. The result of that interception was horrific, as the temple guard in question was hurled out of an unstable portal with grievous wounds all over his body, his right arm and leg in particular shredded to little more than a few hanging bits of meat stuck on the bones. On the other hand, Dali emerged out of a different portal mostly unscathed other than a bit of ruffled fur. It was with horror and despair in his eyes that the crippled temple guard watched on as Dali trotted over and tore out his throat with a quick bite. The eyes of the dying man remained fixated at Dali, as if looking past him at something fearsome and horrifying up until his very last moments when the light slowly died out of his eyes. On the other side, Gordy directly overwhelmed another senior temple guard who seemed to be more of a commander-type, as he fought alongside six other third-tier temple guards in a tight formation. Their tight-knit formation proved to be powerless before Gordy¡¯s mist form, however, and one by one the temple guards were consumed by the maws that formed in the mist that surrounded them. The fourth-tier commander was left for last, as he was the most powerful and the toughest, but not even he managed to break out. He never managed to break free even while he had the support of his subordinates, much less on his own. In the end, all that was left of the man were bloody bones with bits of flesh still attached inside his pristine armor, while Gordy burped loudly as she finished her bloody feast. Elsewhere, the rest of Ani¡¯s people and the other [Progenies of Yore] finished off their opponents one by one and rushed to the aid of the others who were not yet done with theirs. It did not take long from there for the battle to turn completely one-sided, even with Esperanza and her pets staying out of the fighting to allow those who needed the experience to gain more of it. Of course, Esperanza kept blaring her aura at full power and even used [Aura Mastery] to intensify the effects so as to make things easier for the rest of her group. The fifty strong expedition army soon dwindled to half their number, and from there, they just collapsed and routed, each man trying to escape, prioritizing their own lives over everything else. The sight of their leaders dying likely didn¡¯t help matters one bit. Even though their enemies no longer had any stomach for more fighting, it was not like Esperanza¡¯s group would let them off just like that. Their safety was directly tied to the fact that nobody ¨C other than Alissa, if vaguely ¨C knew of their existence within the human kingdom, so it was out of the question to allow for escapees that might report them at the earliest convenience. That was also one of the reasons why Esperanza set up the ambush within the valley. She herself held up one end together with Nalihimatu, Dali, and Gordy, while the rest of the group bottled up the other end and slaughtered their enemies in their desperate attempts to escape. Most of their enemies fell without managing to go far, but a few kept some tricks up their sleeves that almost allowed them to have some hope of escaping. One nimble temple guard used a skill and ran directly on the steep cliff as she attempted to bypass Esperanza¡¯s group, only for Esperanza to whip out one arm with her dagger in hand. The dagger sliced clean through the escaping temple guard¡¯s left achilles tendon, and the woman toppled over and crashed down the steep cliff in a tumble, her broken body landing at the feet of the cliff moments later. Another evoked some kind of skill that allowed them to glide with the wind and leapt up the cliff¡¯s walls as he tried to escape from the other side, only to be turned into a pincushion as he inadvertently glided past Ilavakide and the other archers. Even the five from Zikeal joined in and landed some hits on the unfortunate temple guard who then crashed head-first against the cliff, though he was likely already dead before then. Those two temple guards were the ones who managed to get the farthest in their escape attempts, as the rest were simply cut down before they could get far. Soon, silence reigned once more in the valley, as Esperanza¡¯s group rested and caught their breath amidst the corpses of their eviscerated foes which littered the ground. ¡°Anyone injured?¡± Esperanza asked as she walked over to where the rest of the group was seated or sprawled. ¡°Some are, but Mel¡¯s taking care of them,¡± said Tiesya as she pointed out to where Mel-Ivas was healing a couple members of Ani¡¯s people who took wounds and injuries during the fight. Fortunately none of the group lost their lives, and their injuries were within the limits of what Mel-Ivas could heal with her still-growing skills. ¡°Bueno,¡± nodded Esperanza in satisfaction. ¡°These people had some pretty good equipment on them. You all should check their gear to see if anything they got happens to be better than what you¡¯re using and replace things as needed. It¡¯s not like these people will be using them anymore, anyways.¡± ¡°Understood, Exalted One,¡± said Val-Kas¡¯j who was seated nearby. He had taken on the most enemies during the battle and gained the most levels, which made him the closest amongst the [Progenies of Yore] to the fourth tier in terms of levels. ¡°We¡¯ll strip them and see what useful things they have after we rest.¡± Esperanza nodded at Val¡¯s affirmation and walked over to where Ani was seated. Mel-Ivas was nearby, as she helped nurse Ani¡¯s wounds, which the latter had taken during her fight with the Head Inquisitor. While Ani could handle the poison on her own, she couldn¡¯t deal with the actual injuries other than to prevent her blood from bleeding out through them, so Mel-Ivas had to deal with those for her. ¡°Do you have something in mind, Exalted One?¡± asked Ani when she noticed Esperanza walk over. ¡°Nothing much. I¡¯m just wondering whether or not we should return the favor to wherever these bastards came from,¡± said Esperanza somewhat vehemently. ¡°When you¡¯re removing weeds, you need to make sure to get the roots as well. We took care of these pendejo today, but their base remains. I¡¯m wondering if we could pay that base a little visit¡­¡± 204 - Guarding the Gatehouse ¡°Good to see your party in one piece, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± greeted Sir Inolet when the party was ushered into the gatehouse through the personnel entrance. There were only three entrance points to the gatehouse structure as a whole other than the two layers of gates, namely the two personnel entrances and the single trapdoor on the rooftop of the structure that connected to the northern wall¡¯s walkways. ¡°Where do you want them, Leon? We got most of the teams already other than the rabble rousers, I think.¡± The so-called ¡°Rabble Rousers¡± that Sir Inolet hinted at was the nickname the operation gave to the small teams of third tiers who went to sabotage and otherwise cause chaos and havoc within the enemy base. It was a risky task, since they would have to operate without support ¨C other than if some of the teams managed to meet up with each other ¨C deep within the enemy base for the entire duration of the mission, though at the very least with the fourth tier enemies eliminated they should be capable of tackling most small patrols they ran into with their prowess. Every single member of those teams had volunteered for the risky task. Some of them were old and looking for a final chance to either make a bid to reach the fourth tier, or die in the process. Others were ambitious and chose to undertake the risky task because with danger comes experience and feats as well. A few others were specialists at that sort of dirty work and wordlessly stepped forward when Sir DelVillar called for volunteers back then, grim folk who were used to dirtying their hands so that others would not need to do so. While the teams that focused more on direct combat ¨C including the assault team¡¯s fourth tiers ¨C gathered together to hold the gatehouse, the rabble rousers continued to set things on fire and otherwise wreak havoc within the base, activities that forced the demons to split their response in order to deal with them and not concentrate everything on the gatehouse. Even with the ambushes and the advantage it conferred to the assault teams, not every ambush went as swimmingly as Alissa¡¯s had. Out of the other teams that ambushed demon fourth tiers, two were wiped out and three more barely managed to hold their target at bay. Alissa¡¯s team or some of the other teams had to deal with the targets of the teams that were wiped out, and overall the assault team lost three of their own fourth tiers, with another five injured quite badly. Leda ran off to work on the injured once they entered the gatehouse, since she was the only healer with the assault team. Most of the time, healers were considered too precious to risk in such daring assaults, and Leda was present mostly because she was part of Alissa¡¯s party. Under normal conditions she would be in the main army marching their way with the other healers. ¡°Have them help Murdock upstairs. We can hold the lower entrances better with formations since we have the room to set them up, but it¡¯s pretty cramped up there. Having them help him would make things easier on the old fart,¡± said Sir DelVillar from the other side of the gatehouse. ¡°We just need to hold this place for another hour and a half or so. The demons won¡¯t dare to damage the place too much since then it¡¯d beat the point of reclaiming it to begin with.¡± ¡°Understood, Sir!¡± yelled Alissa back as she led the rest of her party ¨C Leda was still busy healing the injured so they left her to it ¨C towards the staircase that led to the upper floors of the gatehouse structure. The second floor was empty, as it was the place that housed the barracks and other facilities like the mess hall, but they found Magus Drummond together with around fifteen third tiers holding a defensive formation at the bottom of the trapdoor that led to the rooftop. ¡°Ah, did Leon and Henri send you over? Good. Help us hold against the demons here,¡± said Magus Drummond even as he conjured a wall of wind that blocked a couple of arrows shot from the other side of the trap door. The trap door itself had been blown open wide, and the corpses of at least several dozen demons already littered the floor around the staircase. ¡°Yes, Magus,¡± replied Alissa as she surveyed the area with a quick glance. The staircase that led down from the trap door was set flush against one side of the walls of the third floor of the gatehouse building, across the room from where the staircase that led to the second floor was. The gatehouse mechanism itself was roughly between the two staircases, in the center of the floor. The demons likely didn¡¯t dare to directly blow a hole over the gatehouse mechanism and go in from there because they were afraid of damaging the mechanism, but if they were pushed to desperation, they might well do just that. It was the reason Magus Drummond was the one stationed at the third floor, as with his magic he could protect the mechanism best out of everyone present. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. With Alissa¡¯s party present, the third tiers that had been helping the magus retreated from the bottom of the staircase, while Ethan, Bronwen, and Glenn took their positions there. The three were the strongest defensively and thus well-suited to tank any attacks sent from the demons above while they held their ground. Behind them, Joshua, Ormont, and Benedictus took position and returned fire through the wide open trapdoor to the demons who were attacking from the walkways. Before the demons could retaliate properly, the three hid behind the shield and sturdy bodies of their fellow party members, and repeated the process each time a chance presented itself to them. Alissa, Nadine, Maribel, and Moira kept themselves positioned to the side, a bit further away. From time to time the demons would attempt to rush through the open trap door into the room below. Some of those would be caught by Ethan¡¯s group at the foot of the staircase, but others would simply leap down from the open side of the staircase, and those would be for Alissa¡¯s group to handle. Since the demons were only third tiers ¨C some of them only second tiers, even ¨C it was not a difficult task for Alissa¡¯s party, but it was still rather tiresome, because the demons simply kept coming without any hint of self-preservation, no matter how many of their brethren already died under the party¡¯s blades. After half an hour, the situation got so bad that they had to start removing the corpses that piled up by the staircase in order to have enough room to fight properly. Even so the flood of demons did not abate in the least. If anything, the demons seemed to be more and more desperate in their attempts. They likely already detected the main army¡¯s approach, given the time that had elapsed, and were thus doing whatever they could to get the gatehouse back under their control. They were all too aware that they would be completely fucked over if the enemy could just open the gates and allow the marching army to enter the base. It was around half an hour or so before the army would arrive that the demons got desperate enough to attempt the worst-case scenario Magus Drummond worried about. They used various skills to undermine the integrity of the gatehouse¡¯s roof and directly blew a hole through it before the demons directly jumped down to the third floor of the gatehouse. Since the demons no longer cared about keeping the gatehouse mechanism intact ¨C the gates would remain closed if the mechanism was damaged, as the assault team couldn¡¯t afford to open the gates wide until their army arrived ¨C Magus Drummond was forced to the defense together with a few of the third tiers. They covered and protected the gatehouse mechanism with their skills, while the rest fought off the descending demons. At that point Alissa¡¯s party also withdrew from the staircase and formed a defensive circle around the gatehouse mechanism. The ten of them were far stronger than the third tiers who were helping Magus Drummond, and thus quickly turned the tables on the attacking demons. Normally, they would have driven away the demons after slaughtering some of them, but these demons were desperate, and just kept coming even while watching those who jumped down before them slain in front of their eyes. If Alissa and the rest had not faced the grueling siege at Fort Silvia where they were constantly assaulted by demons that similarly had not even a shred of self-preservation in mind, they might have been taken aback, maybe even faltered and made mistakes. However, the ten of them had gone through the brutal siege, and knew how to handle such enemies accordingly. Even when some of the veteran third tiers grew fatigued and made mistakes, at which point they took blows they shouldn¡¯t have, Alissa¡¯s party fought on without faltering even the slightest bit. A few of their third tier allies were injured, some even killed on the spot, but Alissa and her party found unperturbed. They had seen death before. They knew what they were capable of preventing and what they could not. If they strived to save some of the others, it might provide a chance for the desperate demons to strike more directly at Magus Drummond¡¯s barrier, which might in turn damage the mechanism they were protecting. At this moment, their lives hinged on that mechanism remaining functional, at least long enough until the army could reach Arh-Getlam and mount their assault. The increased intensity of the fighting must have alarmed those below, because midway through the battle, Alissa noticed a fourth tier from their side arrive from the second floor, leading another dozen or so third tiers. Their presence didn¡¯t help that much, as the flood of demons kept them confined to near the staircase, but it slightly alleviated the pressure faced by Alissa and the rest. Alissa herself did not think all that much. By that point, the battle was something she moved mostly subconsciously on, trained reflexes and drilled reactions run by instinct instead of conscious thought. Most of the enemies she faced fell within a strike or two, but more kept coming, so her priority was not to kill as many enemies as she could, but to keep herself in fighting shape until the army could arrive. Finally the signal they had been waiting for arrived, after some indeterminate amount of time that could have been forever yet could also just be a short while had passed. The army had arranged with them to fire some flares ¨C ones that were visible from miles away ¨C in a specific order to signal their arrival from afar, and when four flares in the agreed upon colors burst in the night sky in the sequence they expected, they knew that the main army was there. Almost immediately, the third tiers that remained close to Magus Drummond went for the mechanism and operated it to open the gatehouses, while the Magus redoubled his efforts to keep the mechanism and the people operating it protected. Outside the barrier, Alissa pushed back against the demons together with her party and the surviving third tier warriors who were still with them. Even from the third floor of the gatehouse, they could hear the massive gates of the base grinding as they opened wide. The shouts from the demons outside also intensified, soon accompanied and overwhelmed by more shouts from the approaching human army. The flood of demons that rushed into the gatehouse¡¯s third floor decreased as the army got closer and closer to the base, until finally Alissa and the rest managed to clear the place up. Shortly afterwards, soldiers from the army rushed up to relieve them of their duties, with many of them visibly taken aback by the literal piles of corpses that were all over the floor. There must be at least hundreds of the dead demons, piled so high that at some places one could directly climb the pile to reach the rooftop. 205 - Conquest of Arh-Getlam ¡°The army got here? We can rest now?¡± asked Joshua as he huffed and puffed with exhaustion after the long fight. While Alissa¡¯s group was more experienced with such prolonged, intense fighting, mages like Joshua still faced the worst of it due to their reliance on mana, and the corresponding drawbacks from overexpenditure of the same. It was much harder to train one¡¯s mana pool compared to one¡¯s stamina, after all, and also much easier to empty out one¡¯s mana in a few big spells. Because of that, even back at Fort Silvia Joshua rarely held his position for too long, as he had to take breaks to regenerate his mana first before he could function as a combatant again. Back then they had people to cover him during those breaks, but in the crowded situation in the gatehouse, they had no such luxury. Magus Drummond, Joshua¡¯s mentor, had less issues persevering through similar situations as the old man had built his attributes differently, where he sacrificed some power for more sustained capabilities. That, combined with his greater experience meant that he was far better off compared to Joshua, despite both having spent great amounts of mana in the past couple of hours. The group was exhausted, which was to be expected given that they had been fighting for their lives for over an hour straight without any rest. Back at Fort Silvia, the situation was more controlled, and they could find time to get short breaks after every half hour of fighting or thereabouts, but there was no such chance in the chaotic fighting just now. Even with the greatly enhanced physical capabilities that the party had, they still felt fatigued after such fighting, though it was manageable for the more physically oriented members of the party, thanks to their being in better physical shape to begin with. Either way, the end to the fighting was welcome to them, and they understood why the assault team was filled with so many of the strongest people from Fort Abernal. A lesser force would have likely succumbed before such a determined push from the demon side and failed the mission as a result. As it was, they had succeeded, and with both the outer and inner gates opened wide, the main army marched directly into the demon base of Arh-Getlam. The demons attempted to erect a makeshift barricade before the inner gate as a last resort, but said barricade was quickly demolished by judicious use of skills from the assault team¡¯s fourth tiers and the army walked over what was left behind. Said army was currently marching through the gates below. The demons had abandoned the northern walls when they saw that there was no hope to reclaim the gatehouse, and seemed to be escaping through the base¡¯s southern gate. It was not unexpected, since the demons knew that they would be hard-pressed to hold the base with their fourth tiers to help out. Similarly, there were thousands of non-combatants that lived in the base, which the demons had told to prepare to evacuate in case of the worst case scenario happening. Now that said worst case actually happened, part of the demons stationed in the base ¨C mostly the younger ones ¨C left the base from the south as escorts for the non-combatants while they escaped as fast as they could. The rest of the demons, mostly older warriors who were likely already nearing the end of their career, formed a rearguard that gathered themselves around the base¡¯s southern gatehouse. They made a last stand there as they sold their lives dearly in order to allow for the escaping non-combatants and youngsters to gain as much distance as possible. For their part, Sir DelVillar as the supreme commander on the human side seemed content to just let the escaping demons retreat unmolested. He was more focused on claiming the base for their own use ¨C something that would be a process as the demons left behind traps and other unpleasantness for them to run into ¨C and killing off the remaining demons still in the base. After the army took over the fighting, the rabble rousers who went and sewn chaos deep in the base also regrouped. Only about half their numbers returned, as many had met with misfortune during their risky mission, but out of those that returned, six out of ten had gained a level, with many having gained the last bits they needed to push them to the fourth tier. Even so, most of them also bore injuries of varying seriousness, and the healers ¨C the main army brought more healers to help lighten the workload that Leda had been shouldering all by herself thus far ¨C quickly dragged them off to be treated first. Some of them looked like they wanted to protest but were silenced by a glare from Sir DelVillar or Sir Inolet. They had no use for people who neglected their health due to their excitement and ended up dropping dead, after all. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Once the army rushed into the base, the battle itself was pretty much over. It was only the stubborn demons who acted as rear guard for the rest that holed themselves up in the southern gatehouse as well as small pockets of resistance elsewhere that still posed any threat, but the assault team was content to leave those demons to the main army. They had already done their part, so it was up to the rest of the army to earn their pay that morning. The fighting in Arh-Getlam continued for quite a while, mostly because the gatehouses were very defensible structures for those defending it from the inside, while the demons also had good knowledge of the town¡¯s layout from the decades in which they occupied the place. As such, it took the army a good while to finish cleaning up the demons that made guerilla strikes from within the base¡¯s inner town. It took them even longer to besiege and take down the demons in the southern gatehouse, but as Sir DelVillar was no longer in a hurry, he allowed the army to handle that, as it would give more chances for the lower leveled members of the army to gain experience. While he and the other fourth tiers could certainly resolve the situation much faster, doing that would also result in them hogging a large part of the experience despite the meager experience from killing lower level demons no longer being of much value to them. Naturally, leaving the task of conquering the southern gatehouse to the main army ¨C which consisted primarily of soldiers in the second and early third tiers ¨C meant that there would be higher casualties. Such was the price for allowing the soldiers to gain their experience, however. The higher tiers couldn¡¯t just baby the lower tier soldiers as that would lead to stagnancy, as the higher tiers would gain far less experience when fighting weaker enemies. It was a cold decision, in many regards. Some parts of Alissa¡¯s mind recoiled at the idea of fighting in a way that resulted in more casualties just to allow the soldiers to gain more levels and experience, yet the more logical part of her mind also understood the necessity. It was not as if the Kingdom had enough higher tier combatants to do everything, and even if they did, those of the lower tiers would always still have their part of play in the bigger picture. If the army neglected leveling their lower tier soldiers when they had the chance, then it was likely that they might end up in the unenviable position of running out of high tier combatants while having no potential replacements waiting at the sidelines. Since the humans and demons in Ephemera had waged war against each other for many, many generations, naturally they learned to avoid such situations. Still, it didn¡¯t mean that Alissa liked the solution they came up with. Not that she couldn¡¯t do much about it at the moment, though, since she did understand the logic behind the decision. The fourth tiers were tired and needed to rest, while the lower tier soldiers needed their experience and levels as well. It was pointless to intervene when one couldn¡¯t provide a better solution, after all. In the end, it took the army most of the day before they could defeat the demons holed up in the southern gatehouse. Casualties were thankfully light, as the humans were nowhere near as desperate as the demons were when they attacked the northern gatehouse. As such, the army had far more leeway to withdraw their injured to be treated, which reduced the number of deaths and injuries they took greatly. Probably only a couple hundred people died altogether, in contrast to the thousands of dead demons that made their last stand in the gatehouse. It was not even in the realm of ¡°acceptable¡± losses anymore, but downright negligible losses for a military campaign. Overall, other than the members of the assault team that perished, the casualties that the human army took in exchange for Arh-Getlam were far lower than any and all expectations. Even those who perished would not affect the rest too much, as the people who gained enough experience to push them to the fourth tier outnumbered the fourth tiers who died. Even the losses amongst the high-leveled third tiers were somewhat made up by the lower leveled ones who gained levels during the battle in and around the southern gatehouse. Under most considerations, the victory at Arh-Getlam would be close to flawless, even if Alissa couldn¡¯t think that way, because people did die. Over two hundred people died, yet their deaths were written off as acceptable. Perhaps it was the ingrained morals of her previous world that revolted against such a thing, but Alissa found such a view hard to stomach, even though she understood why the locals had that viewpoint. Either way, the battle was won, and Arh-Getlam returned to the Kingdom¡¯s fold after decades under demon control. Alissa had no idea how Sir DelVillar would arrange for people to guard both Arh-Getlam and Fort Abernal, but that was none of her business either, as she knew that her party was likely sent to this region to help with the assault for the most part. She just took some solace in the knowledge that her presence ¨C and her party¡¯s as well, for that matter ¨C likely saved the Kingdom many, many people who might have otherwise died had the assault gone on without them. It was not much consolation, but it was what she had to work with. On top of all that, Alissa couldn¡¯t help but to think of Esperanza as well when she thought about saving lives. Because in the end, their goals were contradictory to each other, with Esperanza¡¯s stated end goal being the end of the current world, though Alissa believed her old friend when she said that she was amenable to other alternatives¡­ should they manage to find a passable one. That was the issue after all. Neither of them had a passable alternative solution for the problem Esperanza informed Alissa about. While Alissa herself momentarily lacked the skills to confirm some of the things Esperanza informed her about, she did portray some questions regarding the Soul attributes of late, framing her questions as coming from curiosity. Despite her status, most of the answers she received were either very basic in its nature or evasive, refusing to actually discuss some of the things she asked about. When faced with such blatant avoidance, it pretty much served as a confirmation to Alissa that the clergy ¨C as they were the ones ¡°entrusted¡± with the matters of the Soul ¨C were hiding something from everyone else. She still lacked the details on what was being hidden, but given time, she expected that someone would eventually have a slip of the tongue or otherwise make a mistake in her hearing. That said, it did add on to the pile of potential issues she already had to deal with, as it was. 206 - War Waits for No One ¡°So what are we to do next, Sir?¡± asked Alissa when she and her party were invited to an informal meeting with Sir DelVillar in what used to be the residence of Arh-Getlam¡¯s mayor after a couple days of rest. The manor house was in good shape, as the demon commanders had appropriated it for their own use as well and as such it was well-maintained throughout the years. The manor hour itself was a rather simple and tasteful one, comfortable and pleasant to live in without being opulent or excessive. Sir DelVillar had appropriated it to use as his command post and temporary abode since he was the commander in charge of the army, which also made it a convenient spot for informal meetings like the one he invited Alissa and the rest of her party to. They had a meeting a bit over lunch time, so Sir DelVillar asked for some of the support staff that helped take care of the manor on his behalf to set up a spread for tea. By the time Alissa¡¯s party arrived, they were welcomed with cups of hot, freshly brewed tea as well as pastries and other finger foods as were available. Fortunately the army was not lacking in food as the demons prioritized evacuating their people and not their supplies, so the army captured the majority of the supplies left behind. Most things eaten by the demons were just as edible for humans, so it was not even an issue to subsist on the captured supplies for a good while. Of course, given the size of the base, they also captured some luxuries which were mostly used to reward the victorious soldiers in feasts and parties once the fighting came to an end. Naturally the officers kept a portion of the luxury foods for their own use, as was evident by the spread on the table offered by Sir DelVillar by the time Alissa¡¯s party arrived. Things that were typically reserved for celebrations and festivals like sweets were abundant, and perhaps owing to the cultural differences, extended to the cold cuts of meat as well. The slices of what looked like ham and smoked meats on the table had an unusually sweet taste to them, likely having been infused with honey or the like. ¡°For now, Miss O¡¯Connor, we will take a short rest in Arh-Getlam,¡± replied Sir DelVillar to Alissa¡¯s question while elegantly sipping from his cup of tea. While the old knight was a career soldier and used to the gruff realities of the frontline, he was the descendant of a minor noble ¨C and is the current holder of the title himself ¨C after all, and it still showed in his demeanor at times. ¡°The injured will be sent back to Fort Abernal to rest and recuperate in safety once their condition stabilizes enough to make transportation possible, while the bulk of the army will garrison Arh-Getlam and convert it into a base for our perusal.¡± Alissa nodded silently while she took a sip from her own tea. The tea was a good one, with strong bitterness cut by some fruitiness and a generous amount of honey mixed in, and a thoroughly refreshing fragrance to boot. That said, Alissa remained somewhat guarded, as Nadine had reminded her long ago that informal meetings such as these tended to be what nobles do when they were looking for favors from others. It was not like she enjoyed guarding against the old knight, but better to be safe than sorry. ¡°I see that you are rather guarded. That is a good habit to have indeed. Safe to say, when anyone with even a modicum of power and authority in this Kingdom invites you to an informal meeting, it is usually because they have something in mind other than socializing,¡± stated Sir DelVillar openly with a smile, as if he read through Alissa¡¯s thoughts. ¡°That said, my intention for inviting your party today is for something else entirely.¡± ¡°This victory is one that the Kingdom will appreciate, sure, but in the greater picture it is nowhere near as important nor as impactful as the victory at Fort Silvia. Arh-Getlam is an inconvenience when the demons hold it, and a convenience now that we have taken it over, but little more. It is by no means a strategic juncture or part of a crucial route,¡± explained the old knight. ¡°That said, while the Kingdom itself might not value this victory as much, it is a different case for those of us who were born and raised here.¡± ¡°You mean¡­¡± Nadine muttered from behind, as she was seated close enough to have heard the conversation. The Temple Guards were seated further away as they kept themselves away from politics other than where the Temple involved itself, so they probably hadn¡¯t paid as much attention to Alissa¡¯s talk with the old knight. ¡°Yes, Your Highness,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a nod to Nadine, who was after all still the Fifth Princess of the Kingdom. The old knight then stood up from his seat, straightened his shirt, then bowed deeply from the waist towards Alissa and the rest of her party. ¡°I hereby represent my fellows who were born and raised here in Arh-Getlam, before it fell into demon hands in the previous war, to offer our most sincere gratitude to the [Hero] and her party for having lent us a helping hand while we reclaim our home.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Should the [Hero] ever have need of our help in the future, you need but call for us, and we shall be there, so long as we still linger in this mortal coil, no matter what you need us for, this we swear,¡± added the old knight as he intoned what was obviously an oath. ¡°A helping hand in the time of need shall be repaid in kind, else we shall forever be known as craven oathbreakers and worthless curs.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a serious oath and they mean it,¡± whispered Nadine with a grave tone from behind Alissa. ¡°Knowing how they are, I think even if you ask them to kill off my father, they¡¯ll happily do it to repay the favor, even if it means laying down their lives in the process. Ah, mind you, I used my royal father as an example as he¡¯s never been exactly popular with them either.¡± ¡°It¡¯s that serious?¡± whispered Alissa back with some incredulity in her voice. ¡°But we only helped them because we happened to be sent to Fort Abernal, no?¡± ¡°You forgot that Sir DelVillar asked for volunteers to join the assault team, and we went along with them. They¡¯d likely still succeed without us, but it would have likely cost them many more people in the process,¡± replied Nadine quietly. ¡°We didn¡¯t have to do that. We chose to help them, and that pretty much counts as a favor for knights like him. A helping hand in the time of need, if you prefer his phrasing.¡± ¡°As such, he¡¯s practically honor-bound to return the favor, hence the oath. This is different than back in Fort Silvia. Back there, we were still subordinated to Sir Marsten, and joined the fight as ordered. We¡¯ve gained a good bit more leeway and autonomy here, and it was our choice whether to join a fight or not. That¡¯s what makes all the difference, in their eyes. I know it might be a bit hard for someone from another world to digest, but that¡¯s how things go with them.¡± ¡°I see,¡± noted Alissa with a slight nod. She then turned back to the still-bowing old knight and replied to him in equal solemnity. ¡°I thank you for this boon, Sir DelVillar, and promise that I shall not misuse it, and that should I call upon it in the future, it shall be for something I truly believe to be worth doing with all my heart and soul.¡± None of the others likely noticed that Alissa had worded it that she might call in the favor even in case Esperanza convinced her to side against Ephemera as a whole in the future. Something she did on purpose as she had no true attachments to the Kingdom, and also partly to hedge her bets and to prepare herself for every possible scenario. Other than that solemn moment, the informal meeting mostly proceeded on a happy note, with everyone enjoying their time chatting and nibbling on the good food, itself a rarity under wartime conditions, especially in the front lines like they were. Even the more ascetic-leaning members of the Temple Guards appreciated the chance to unwind and enjoy themselves, since they too knew that such chances would be rare in the days to come. At first, the plan went smoothly. After a week of rest, the injured were sent back to Fort Abernal for further recuperation and treatment, while engineers were sent to Arh-Getlam to reinforce the defenses and turn the place into a more suitable frontline fortification. The demons never improved the base¡¯s defenses in the decades they occupied it due to their predilection against the usage of fortifications, so it was rather outdated. Alissa and the rest of her party stayed in Arh-Getlam and once again pitched in to help with the reconstruction and rebuilding as much as they could. If there was one common quality to the party, it was that most of them ¨C Ormont being the exception ¨C were the sort that felt uncomfortable when there was nothing to do and preferred to spend their time working. The reconstruction proceeded rapidly, as the engineers for the task had already been present in Fort Abernal before the attack was even launched and swiftly made their way to Arh-Getlam after the victory. While the army rested, those engineers were hard at work as they surveyed the old town¡¯s defenses and drew up plans on where things could be improved and where it was better to dismantle and rebuild. As such, once the army finished their rest, the plans were already prepared and the first batch of construction material were already delivered from Fort Abernal, allowing them to begin with Arh-Getlam¡¯s renovation immediately. The presence of the [Heroes]¡¯ party and their participation in the construction work also boosted morale amongst the soldiers, as some considered such work to not be what they signed up for. With Alissa and the rest of her party setting an example, however, complaints were kept to a minimum as everyone worked together. Soon they learned that it was a good thing that they put the town¡¯s reconstruction going so quickly, as barely a week into the reconstruction, they received urgent reports from their scouts that a demon army was already marching towards Arh-Getlam from the south-west. The scouts reported that the demons had roughly as many troops as Arh-Getlam possessed in garrison, but with the reconstruction ongoing, the town¡¯s defenses were compromised and rendered useless in many places. As such, Sir DelVillar made the decision to march the army out to intercept the demons before they could reach Arh-Getlam, in order to buy time for the engineers and construction crew that remained in town to finish up as much of the defenses as they could. Should the army manage to beat the demons back, then all was good, but even in case they failed, they should have bought enough time for some makeshift defenses to be set up where there were gaps, so they could return to Arh-Getlam and fight the demons from there instead. Alissa and the other members of her party were naturally included in the army that sortied out to meet the demons. At the time, they had thought it would just be another typical battle, though there were many questions being asked amongst the commanders as to the origins of the unexpected demon army. They received no reports of a demon army in such close proximity so as to be able to reach them at that point of time, when they set out to attack Arh-Getlam. It was only later that they learned of the nature of the demon army they faced, which would also mark the first time Alissa¡¯s party fought head-on against yet another of the Demon [Grand Champions], if rather unexpectedly. CCVII - Making Plans to Return the Favor Torture as an interrogation tool, despite what many shows and stories from Esperanza¡¯s previous world portrayed, was unreliable at best when it came to acquiring information. People were either trained too well to withstand them or simply reached the point where they would say anything that they thought might please their tormentor and thus lighten the torment. Neither situation resulted in reliable information worth a damn. On the other hand, when one had direct access to a person¡¯s very soul and could see what made them tick, it was surprisingly easy to tell when someone was lying or otherwise. Esperanza learned that firsthand as she used [Soul Manifestation] to materialize some of the souls of the Temple Guards and priests killed in their ambushes, both the ones in the dungeon and the ones from the valley and interrogate them for information. It turned out that people were suddenly a lot more talkative when they realized that their souls were in your grasp and that you could do whatever you wanted to it. Organizations and nations regularly trained people to not fear death, but they rarely if ever trained them for what happened after death. Most labored under the conviction that their souls would depart to the promised afterlife and bask in the holy presence of their gods and all that. To have that notion denied so strongly by what likely counted as a heretical abomination in their eyes was likely a great shock to them. Of course, even with such an approach many remained stubborn, especially the older priests and guards, but Esperanza could feel how many of the younger ones were shocked to the core at their unexpected ending and ¡°afterlife¡±. As such, she made a show of devouring one of the older, stubborn souls to fuel her other skills before the younger ones to shock them, and to show that their situation could get even worse if she had the mind to make it so. She had plenty of old, stubborn souls to use up for such demonstrations anyway, and since she caught on to snippets of the enemy¡¯s conversation during the fighting, she had a very educated guess on which of the old priests and guards were important ones. Those she kept safe in case they might prove useful one day, and the ones with less use, she turned into examples as needed. After all, it was not like she needed great details about where these enemies came from, as they already had an inkling to that. What information they needed, like the more detailed background of the monastery¡¯s activities and the path to take there, were readily available once some sufficiently intimidated souls of the younger guards and priests started talking. And what Esperanza learned from those souls just hardened her resolve to burn the place to the ground. On the surface, accepting orphans and other poor children who lacked support because they either had no parents or were unwanted by said parents were a good thing, charitable, even. The Monastery mostly recruited from the ranks of such unfortunate children, typically claiming only youths under the age of twelve as new members. The problem was what they did to those youths after they joined the Monastery in question. Esperanza had expected the indoctrinization. It would be strange if the sort of religion that the temple ran did not pull off that trick on their followers while they were still young and gullible. That was par for the course when it came to religions, pretty much. What she could neither accept nor tolerate was what they did to those kids beside that. Other than being indoctrinated as expected, the children were also subjected to various grueling trials that stressed their physical and mental capabilities to the breaking point. The Monastery like the one where the forces Esperanza fought came from were the backbone of the militant arm of the temple, where they trained their elite zealots, and they accepted only the best into their ranks. What that meant was that for every ten children taken in by such monasteries, only one to three ¨C if the group happened to be fortunate ¨C would survive to even be inducted to the temple guard elite order. Their trials and training were not just grueling, but also dangerous, and fatalities were commonplace, considered an ¡°acceptable¡± price, even, by the trainers in question. Needless to say, Esperanza vehemently disagreed with the temple¡¯s stance on that particular matter, as the young, talkative priest she interrogated found out as his soul was nearly obliterated as a side effect of her emotional fluctuations. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Incidentally, that young priest was an exception amongst the people from the monastery. He was brought there and enjoyed the benefits of elite training because he was the son of the Bishop. It was the other way to be part of the monastery, for the temple to directly send them there for further training, though in this case they would already be adults by the time they were sent over. Of course, some of the temple¡¯s higher-ups would send their own talented relatives there as a form of nepotism, often with the hopes of leaving the family another pillar of support for the next generation. While the members sent by the temple for further training usually got along swimmingly with those raised and trained in the monastery, those who were relatives of powerful people amongst the clergy tended to look down upon others, as they viewed themselves as higher than the rest. After she heard what the captured souls had to say, all Esperanza wanted to do was to rush over to the monastery these temple guards and priests came from and flatten the place until there was no sign of it ever having existed. Of course, given the distance ¨C they were around a week away from the monastery¡¯s location, by Esperanza¡¯s best guess from the information she received ¨C they would need to plan things out first, as it required a detour from their planned path. Fortunately the monastery itself was situated in a rather secluded spot, which eliminated the need for secrecy when dealing with the place. Using maps they took from the dead temple guards, Esperanza asked the scouts of the group to plot out a course that would allow them to avoid any human settlements along the way, which given the relatively remote regions, were fortunately few and far between. The task had not taken them long, and after a quick calculation, the route they would need to take, even with the extra detours to avoid inhabited areas, would only take an extra day or so compared to the route that the temple guards had followed. None of the group even tried to dissuade Esperanza from what she had in mind. For them, followers of the usurper new gods were the enemy, and if it was within their power to hurt said enemy without unnecessarily risking their own well-being, they would only be too happy to do so. The relationship between Oldies and the new gods were irreconcilable, after all. Esperanza wondered for a moment if her action would affect Alissa and her group¡¯s situation, but decided that since they already took care of so many third and fourth tiers, they might as well carry on. In for a penny, in for a pound and all that, and besides she was quite confident that if Alissa was to find out what the monastery did to the children they took in, the girl would likely want to burn the place down herself. As for who to blame for the attack, some of the group¡¯s old equipment which they replaced with better things from their dead enemies were similar to what the demons typically used, and thus could be broken and discarded, left behind as ¡°evidence¡± of a battle against demons having taken place. It would hopefully throw off anyone looking for the perpetrators from Esperanza¡¯s group, though she had no plans to stick around the region for too long anyway. From the souls she managed to interrogate, Esperanza knew that the monastery originally housed over three hundred people, so even with those they already killed removed from the equation, they would still need to deal with around two hundred and fifty more people once they reached the location. Fortunately, there were a couple of extenuating circumstances for them For one, the monastery had neither civilian staff nor unrelated people, with all the tasks and chores that needed to be done dealt with by the people that lived there. Of course, it was always those with lower ranks who had to deal with such chores, like the newly inducted children for example. That meant that Esperanza¡¯s group would have no need to hold back due to civilians being around. Another fortunate thing was that the monastery usually only took in children in groups every ten years or so, and the next planned intake was for the following year, which meant that there were no innocent children left in the present monastery, only indoctrinated zealots. Esperanza doubted that she could have directly made a move on young, innocent children, even if her end goal was to end the world, so she was glad that such a scenario was not even present in this case. Last but not least, Esperanza and her group had already dealt with the strongest members of the monastery. According to what the people she interrogated knew, there should be no more than one fourth tier combatant left in the monastery, an old training officer well past their prime who was already growing weaker due to age. Other than that, while everyone in the monastery had combat-related classes, the remaining ones were only in their early to mid third tiers, with some of the younger ones even still in their second tiers. They basically stood no chance whatsoever against Esperanza¡¯s group of mostly fourth tiers, to the point that Esperanza considered ransacking and slaughtering the place while having those who were still in their third tiers ¨C a couple of Ani¡¯s people and the youths from Zikeal ¨C to do the fighting since they could get the most experience out of it. Of course, they wouldn¡¯t let them do it all on their own, and the rest of the group would be there as well to keep them safe while taking care of the fourth tier and any late third tier enemies that happened to be left behind. When told of the planned arrangement, Ani¡¯s people replied enthusiastically, while those from Zikeal were noticeably more nervous. Kurt, Leo, and Tiara had some experience with hunting, and fought a little to support the rest of the group during the ambush, on top of their experience in the dungeon. They had yet to fight an opponent head-on to date, however, and it was understandable that the three were nervous about it. Of course, the knowledge that they would have fourth tier people watching over them and keeping them safe helped, but they remained somewhat nervous all the same. Just to be safe, Esperanza also asked the others to help train the three with the use of their weapons while they were on the way south. The group made their way towards their destination at a rather leisurely pace because of that, traveling only between sunrise and sunset, while they helped the three Zikealian youths train during the evening before they slept. Nearly two weeks flew by just like that as the group continued their travel at the leisurely pace before their destination appeared in their sight. The monastery they were after was built on the side of a small mountain, and they had to circle around the mountain to see the steep staircase carved into the stone that lead towards the austere building set roughly mid-mountain. The group¡¯s scouts along with Ilavakide had gone ahead and climbed the mountain ahead of the rest as they positioned themselves around the monastery, where they kept watch for runners and escapees. Meanwhile, the rest of the group went up the stairs openly, without even the slightest intention to hide their nature or intent. CCVIII - Storming the Monastery When viewed by those unaware of its true purpose, the monastery¡¯s building looked just like the sort of quaint getaway in the middle of nowhere. The sort where one might have imagined devout monks living in order to avoid the hustle and bustle of the world, where they copied and scribd documents or brewed liquor to pass the time and make themselves a living. Of course, its purpose was nowhere near as mundane or kind, as instead it was a place to indoctrinate children and turn them into zealots willing to die for their temple and god without question. A place where many of their numbers would be weeded out by the cruel training they had to go through in order to get the privilege to be one of their gods¡¯ warriors. It was the sort of thing Esperanza has seen happen in her previous world. People who targeted youngsters who were feeling lost, as if they had no place in the world, and offered them a sense of belonging and a place for themselves. It would have been a kind tale, if not for the fact that most such people would then turn said naive youngsters into their own cult-ish adherents besotten to their ideology, whatever it may be, all in order to feel needed and to belong. Such an approach pretty much targeted an inherent need of people and as such was difficult to do away with, much less when said people had spent years under such influence. As such, Esperanza held no silly thoughts like ¡°saving¡± the younger ones in the monastery. After all, she was supposed to destroy the world anyway. Killing them now and later was only a difference of timing, in this case. Esperanza doubted that people who had already been indoctrinated for years on end would even deign to listen to her, anyway. So she simply decided not to bother. With the group¡¯s three scouts as well as Ilavakide who was their best archer on guard around the monastery to take care of any escapees, the rest of the group marched up the steep stone stairs openly. Their strongest physical fighters took the front, of course. They were confident, not stupid, so they still arranged themselves in a formation to fight properly despite their confidence. After all, there should still be a fourth tier in the monastery, even if it was an old and weakened one. That man alone deserves enough respect for the group to stay guarded, as if he managed to pull off a sneak attack, it was possible for him to take down some of their members, an outcome none of them wanted or could accept. They made around three quarters of the way up the stairs before some of the guards posted by the monastery¡¯s gate noticed them, which was mostly because the stairs had some twists and turns, and only the last quarter or so of its length nearest the monastery was easily visible from its gates. That they had not posted sentries elsewhere spoke dividends on either a misplaced confidence in their remote location or just a general feel of security since they were pretty deep in the Kingdom¡¯s own territory and at least a week away from the frontlines after all. It was a negligent thing, however, and they were about to pay for that negligence in blood instead. Before the two guards by the monastery¡¯s gates could call out or raise the alarm, Dai¡¯Vasy acted first and directly skewered the two from crotch to mouth with spikes of ice that grew out from the ground beneath them. Neither guard managed to react on time, since they were just lowish third tier in terms of level, and Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s attributes allowed her to pretty much match a fourth tier. Neither guard likely noticed anything as by the time their eyes registered Dai¡¯Vasy¡¯s hand movement, she had already used her skill to manipulate mana and turned them into ice that went through the guards in question the very next moment. If there was a silver lining to the whole situation, it was that their deaths were likely relatively painless. One moment they were there, and the next moment, oblivion. Not that Esperanza would spare their souls, though, as she absorbed them into her [Soul Storage] as she walked by, offhandedly noticing that both of the guards had [Orphan] as their first class. As for the monastery¡¯s gates, they were made from solid wood, at least half a feet thick or so. One glance with her eyes told Esperanza that the wood originated from a treant-like monster known for its durability, and much of those same qualities were passed on to the processed wood. Such a gate would hold against a typical army well, even against siege engines. Unfortunately, the sheer might of a fourth-tier class focused in combat was far, far greater than what a siege engine was capable of delivering, and without a need for discussion, Val-Kas¡¯j and Nalihimatu stepped forward and directly kicked the gates open without much preamble. The gates themselves held, but the bolt used to secure them in a closed position proved to be less capable of bearing the sudden amount of directed force and exploded into shrapnel that showered the group of unfortunate people close to the gates at the time. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. One of them was even directly crushed between one of the swinging gates and the monastery¡¯s wall, reduced to little more than a pancake of mashed flesh, blood, and bones smeared on the wall. Right after the gates were kicked open, before the people inside could even recover from their surprise or even make any sense of the situation, Ani and Esperanza rushed in as they were the strongest of the group. They had a simple plan, which was that the two of them would hunt down the lone fourth tier in the monastery while everyone else would deal with the rest of the inhabitants. Esperanza could detect the rough position of said fourth tier, deeper in the monastery building, through her [Soul Sense], as the soul of a fourth tier had more weight to it in her perception. That didn¡¯t mean that they knew how to navigate the monastery to get to where said individual was, though, and while the two of them easily swatted away the few enemies who reacted fast enough to get in their way, they still ended up lost and hitting dead ends from time to time. A couple times, when the dead end they met happened to be blocked by thinner wooden interior walls instead of the stone exterior ones, Esperanza and Ani simply broke through the wall with brute force and went to the other side through the passage they made themselves. Naturally, throughout all this, their quarry was also moving, as they were likely warned or otherwise noticed the fighting happening in the monastery. Fortunately, their quarry¡¯s position deep in the monastery meant that to go out where the fighting was thickest, he would have to go through where Esperanza and Ani was, so they simply adjusted their approach to intercept the man. In the end, they finally caught their quarry in one of the larger halls ¨C probably a dining hall, considering its setup of long tables and benches ¨C of the monastery building, the old, wizened face of the human fourth tier contorting in surprise when he was suddenly faced with their presence. The old man was only dressed in robes and carried a thick wooden staff, likely a cleric of some sort, which Esperanza had learned were great team players but typically rather lacking as actual combatants. As such, she wasted no time as her form shifted and her limbs elongated, launching herself towards the surprised old priest like a projectile. Ani stayed back and simply kept watch to ensure nobody would be bothering Esperanza while she fought. At level twelve of the fourth tier, Ani was by far the highest leveled out of the group, though her leveling pace was also by far the slowest given her already high level. Meanwhile, at level eighteen of the third tier, Esperanza was close to the fourth tier herself, which was one reason she singled out some of the enemy fourth tiers for herself. Some sort of gut feeling told Esperanza that it would be inappropriate for the [Progenies of Yore] to hit their fourth tiers before she did, and that it would even benefit them if she became a fourth tier ahead of them. Probably an indirect hint from Oldies, who always seemed rather reluctant to say too much on things that related to the system. Esperanza was still uncertain whether they can¡¯t say certain things about the system, or won¡¯t due to some reason or other, but in the end, it couldn¡¯t be helped, so she didn¡¯t think too much about it and focused her mind on things she could actually do instead, like murdering the old priest before her. To his credit, the old priest managed to reflexively cast a light barrier between him and Esperanza, which stopped her pounce short for the brief moment it took her to shatter the barrier with a few quick hits from her dagger and bone blades reinforced by [Soul Armament]. The ease with which she shattered the barrier surprised the priest somewhat, but he remained calm and cast another skill that created three orbs of light that revolved around his body. Those orbs of light turned out to be rather solid and felt hot as if they were trying to burn her, but Esperanza ignored the heat and struck at them regardless. The orbs moved to block her strikes while the priest cast another skill that encased his whole body in a golden glow, but in the end, they failed to stop every one of Esperanza¡¯s strikes as she could simply create more limbs and attack from more places than there were orbs. One of her strikes bounced off against the layer of golden glow that seemed to suffuse from the priest¡¯s skin and clothing, but that strike alone caused the glow to become very noticeably dimmer. The skill held against a second blow, but the third went through and one of Esperanza¡¯s bone claws pierced through the priest¡¯s abdomen, causing him to scream in pain from the unexpected damage to his soul from [Soul Armament]. Not that he had to worry about that for much longer, for Esperanza shifted some of her maws to the limb that struck the priest and then started tearing his insides up, even as she sent several more limbs to run the priest through at several vital locations. She still remembered the story from Alissa about how one of the temple guards used a self-sacrificial skill to greatly enhance her power, and Esperanza chose to play it safe and make doubly sure that her target was as dead as they could be to prevent any such mishaps. After a short while, what remained of the priest¡¯s very dead, almost hollowed out body fell to the floor. Esperanza waited until she claimed the old priest¡¯s soul before she dropped his body, as only then was she completely certain of his death. After all, for all she knew there might be people with skills that allowed them to fake death so they could attempt a last attack to take their enemy with them. Esperanza nodded to Ani after she was done, and the two hunted down several more high leveled third tier priests and temple guards who were still inside the monastery complex, practically decapitating the monastery¡¯s remaining strongest fighters, while the rest of their group took care of the bulk of the place¡¯s inhabitants outside, on the open courtyard where the temple guard usually practiced. While those fighting outside would be outnumbered greatly, neither Ani nor Esperanza really worried for their safety. They knew that the much stronger people from their group would make short work out of their weaker but more numerous opponents, and that the numbers involved were nowhere near enough to tire them out, so that side of the fight was pretty much already set in stone. CCIX - A Battle Without Suspense Tiesya wouldn¡¯t say that she was bored. If anything, their assault on the monastery presented an unusual challenge, where it fell upon the [Progenies of Yore] to keep their enemies at bay while at the same time letting a reasonable amount slip past them, for the Zikealians to handle. Most of the monastery¡¯s remaining warriors were on the lower end of the third tier, anyway, which made them near-useless for the higher-leveled Progenies. On the other hand, the lower-leveled trio from Zikeal could still get some experience out of them. Fortunately neither of the three Zikealian youngsters ¨C an odd term to call them by, when Tiesya herself was their junior by some years to over a decade ¨C were unfamiliar with violence. While they mostly stayed in their hidden refuge, from time to time the youngsters from the tribe they belonged to would go out to hunt, partly to familiarize themselves with the process, and also because the identity of a wandering hunter was one of the easiest to assume when they went in for an infiltration. After all, nobody knew how many hunters lived away from civilization, deep in the woods, so people rarely questioned such types when they sometimes visited towns or villages to trade some of their catch for other necessities that were harder to procure in the forests. It was one of the most reliable roles to assume, as only few could build a reputation as minor traders like Murad and Mora had done. As such, Kurt, Leo, and Tiara all had some experience with both the bow and the spear, which were what they usually used when out on a hunt. Kurt and Leo made use of their bows as they loosed arrows at the temple guards being held back by the Progenies and Ani¡¯s warriors. Neither side were worried about friendly fire since the latter group had enough skill to simply avoid any arrow that mistakenly flew their way anyway. Mel-Ivas and a couple of Ani¡¯s people ¨C both fourth-tier ones ¨C stayed close to the brothers to keep them safe, while Tiara was closer to the frontlines, fighting against a temple guard the others allowed to pass with her spear. The girl had quite a bit of interest in learning how to fight, something she probably got after hanging out with Resitia a lot, and Esperanza saw no reason to dissuade that desire of Tiara¡¯s. After all, it would be to everyone¡¯s benefit if Tiara knew how to defend herself properly. Fortunately due to their hunting activities, the classes that the three younger Zikealians had possessed some leaning towards the physical as well. As such, their physical attributes were by no means bad even when compared to a third tier combat-focused class at the same level. Due to the high quality of her class, Tiara¡¯s was actually higher than what most would consider the average, even. As was handily proven by how the girl took down a third tier temple guard on her own using just her spear and clever use of some illusion-based skills she had from her infiltrator-type class. Sure, Tiara might have a good five levels on the temple guard, but the latter had also spent their entire life learning how to fight and to make the most out of their attributes and skills, so it was still something rather praiseworthy. In fact, most of the Progenies and Ani¡¯s warriors thought that Tiara had a real talent for fighting, given how well she managed after only some lessons from Resitia and the others while they traveled and her meager hunting experience. Given that the girl was still around halfway up the third tier and had spent a good part of said third tier being in the presence of Esperanza and the Progenies, none of them would find it odd if Tiara was to be blessed with a special class on her next class change. They looked forward to such an occurrence, even. Resitia took a backwards glance and smiled at Tiara¡¯s progress, before she allowed one of the third tier temple guards she was fighting to ¡°slip¡± past her, only for Tiara to pounce on them a moment later. For the girl, it was an easy matter to take on several low to mid third tier enemies of middling class quality at once, and she was not even under any serious pressure to hold them back. If anything, it was harder for Resitia to hold back from killing her opponents prematurely than to hold them back. Like the other progenies, she only killed those who were at the higher end of the middle of the third tier, or the rare few late third tier opponents, as only those would give them experience that were not negligible in amount. Most of the rest, they allowed the Zikealians to use for honing their own skills and to gain some combat experience. The temple guard Resitia allowed to slip past was actually the same level as Tiara herself, but Resitia had taken some precautions and injured the temple guard first, crippling one of their arms, which made it an easier match for Tiara. The temple guard in question used a pair of swords, so they were reduced to just a single sword with one of their arms crippled. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Tiara¡¯s [One Who Swims in the Dark] class was based around infiltration, stealth, and disguises, but it also possessed some illusion-based skills she managed to finagle to use in combat. When she struck, her opponent would see two, sometimes three different strikes, all of which looked real, with no hint on which one was the real strike. Those who had skills that gave them other methods of perception would not be fooled by such simple illusions, as such illusions lacked body to them, they had no true presence in the world, and thus could be detected by the absence of certain things that should have been present. The temple guard Tiara faced clearly had no such skills, however, and was fooled into attempting to parry one of the false strikes. To the man¡¯s credit, he also tried to avoid the other two strikes, but only managed to do so halfway, as Tiara¡¯s spear still left a bloody gash on the side of the man¡¯s abdomen. She withdrew her spear before the man could react, and repeated her thrusts a couple more times. At times the temple guard managed to guess the right attack to parry, at other times he avoided her thrust, but every now and then, he made a mistake and took on more injuries. As the temple guard bled from his wounds, his movements grew sluggish, and before long, Tiara managed to strike his sword out of position using the butt end of her spear before she jabbed the spearhead into the temple guard¡¯s throat, ending the man¡¯s life swiftly. Then she took a step back and waited for one of the Progenies to let another opponent through. Other than a couple occasions where one of the Progenies had to step in and help one of the siblings or Tiara handle their opponents, the fighting in the monastery''s yard was contained. It went according to how the Progenies wanted it to happen, their more numerous enemies powerless to dictate the course of the battle due to their lack of skill and power. The only reason the fighting took longer than expected was because the Progenies were trying to give the Zikealian youths more chance to gain experience, while they themselves simply cut down enemies who were either too low in level for even the youths to gain meaningful experience from or were too dangerous for them to handle. Together with Ani¡¯s warriors who helped hold the line, the number of enemies dwindled rapidly, and before long, some of the temple guards began to rout. Indoctrination and training only went so far, and when faced with actual life and death, people might break, as the temple guards experienced at that moment. Some tried fighting the hopeless fight with a steadfast heart, but once one started to turn and run, several more broke and did the same, leaving only around half of the remaining hundred members to fight against the invaders. As if to rub salt to their wounded pride, half their enemies took off and chased after the escapees that tried escaping by vaulting over the walls of the monastery and fleeing into the mountains. Those who stayed behind knew that the escapees stood little chance. Even together, they stood no chance against their much stronger opponents, much less when separated into smaller groups? For a fourth tier to wipe out a hundred third tiers would be a difficult fight, but for that same fourth tier to take on ten third tiers would more often than not be a one-sided slaughter, and every one of them knew the logic. By the time Esperanza and Ani came out, there were only the last twenty or so temple left, who looked at the two women with despair in their eyes. Their last, faint hope had been the veteran trainer who was a fourth tier, and several other veterans inside the complex, all of whom had fallen to the two who went in instead. They knew that there was nothing more that awaited them other than to be toyed around by their far stronger opponents and to be killed one after another. Some of the cursed, some of them showered Esperanza and the progenies with profanities, while one even screamed out loud, asking how they could do this act? How could they so brazenly go against the Gods? The temple guard in question even said that it was not too late to repent, that if they were to accept the grace of the gods they could still redeem their souls and spare themselves from hell. Esperanza replied to the temple guard in question by way of extending one of her arms over and chomping down on the female temple guard¡¯s head with one of her maws, before she publicly conjured the soul of the woman she just ate with [Soul Manifestation] so that the other temple guards that remained could see it too. ¡°I don¡¯t see your pendejo gods coming over to help their oh so faithful believers. Haven¡¯t seen them show up for that Bishop of yours either, for that matter,¡± stated Esperanza coldly to the soul that hovered before her. She could control the souls she manifested to some degree, so at the moment she used that part of the skill to hold the woman¡¯s soul in place. ¡°I wonder if it¡¯s just because you don¡¯t believe in them enough or if they were just taking a siesta and missed out on the fun?¡± ¡°That said, you can forget about your so-called promised afterlife as well. You¡¯re not going there, in case my holding your soul right here, right now, haven¡¯t clued you in on that,¡± she continued just as nonchalantly despite the horrified looks from the remaining temple guards. ¡°Guess someone¡¯s been lying to you, boys and girls.¡± One remaining priest amongst the group of survivors screamed out that what Esperanza said was blasphemy, and for the others not to listen to her heresy, but Esperanza gave him the same treatment as the female temple guard. One of her maws directly bit off the priest¡¯s head, and then she summoned his soul next to the still-dazed woman¡¯s soul. To underline her point, she also coated one of her maws with [Soul Armament] and used it to nibble on the priest¡¯s soul, causing him to scream in agony, as the pain of having his soul slowly torn apart was something unimaginable for the living. The priest¡¯s screams continued until Esperanza finally silenced him by devouring his soul completely. By then, the remaining survivors had dropped their weapons or fell to their knees, their eyes glazed over and their expressions numb over what they had just witnessed. The revelation probably broke some of them mentally, not that it mattered for long, however, as Tiara walked over and put them out of their misery one by one using her spear. 210 - A Rain of Arrows ¡°That¡¯s not as much as what we have in Arh-Getlam,¡± said Sir DelVillar as he peered at the approaching enemy forces through a telescope. The old man¡¯s eye was sharp enough as it was, so his use of a telescope on top of it meant that he could easily notice things that were not visible yet to most. The enemy force he was observing was still far enough away that it would have taken them at least another hour or two to reach the battlefield chosen by the defenders. They had positioned themselves in an area south-west of Arh-Getlam, around half an hour¡¯s march away, where their left flank was covered by a dense forest that spanned miles to the south and their right flank was secured by a rapidly flowing river. The ten thousand soldiers deployed closed the gap between the forest and the river, which forced the enemy to either go through them or to circle around the forest and waste some hours in order to reach the city behind them. Sir DelVillar still had more troops, but he made the decision to leave the weakest third of his army and ordered those to help the engineers in reconstructing the city¡¯s defenses while they held the enemy back instead, and only took the stronger ones with him to the field. Even so, it turned out that he had been misled by the early reports that believed the enemy to number about the same as Arh-Getlam¡¯s defenders. When the old knight looked at the approaching enemies himself, he realized that the scout had made a mistake. There were perhaps only around five to eight thousand enemies, though they were mounted and thus raised a great dust cloud as they traveled, which made the mistake more understandable. The scout wouldn¡¯t have dared approach too closely and under the circumstances might have based their guess on the size of the dust cloud the enemies kicked up. It was an understandable mistake, and for once, one he was glad of. It was always better to be over-prepared rather than be underprepared when it came to war and he was not keen to make such a simple rookie mistake. The fact that the enemy army seemed to be entirely mounted also explained how they could traverse the distance between the nearest battlefield to the west and Arh-Getlam so fast. An army that traveled by foot would have needed at least two weeks time to travel that distance, and they would not have received the news of Arh-Getlam¡¯s fall that quickly either. Combined with the time needed to make arrangements for shifting any significant part of an army to a different target, Sir DelVillar had estimated that he might have another week or two before any enemies came calling. On the other hand, a fully mounted army could cover the same distance in a fraction of the time, with the actual speed dependent on the kind of mount they used. The demons used several kinds of mounts in their cavalries, so it was difficult to pinpoint which kind they were dealing with until the army drew closer, but Sir DelVillar doubted that they would be facing enemy heavy cavalry. After all, the hefty armored beasts favored by the demons for use in their heavy cavalry were not particularly fast, compared to even a horse or the like. In return, such beasts possessed a thick protective layer of bony plates and had the power to directly push their way through troop formations with ease using their bulk and might. Alissa¡¯s group had never fought against demon cavalry so far, but they had been informed about them on prior occasions. The demons used mostly tamed monsters ¨C something the humans also used for their elite cavalry mounts ¨C for their cavalry forces, many raised from birth in captivity. Often a cavalier was literally raised alongside their mount for that reason, which allowed them to form a deep bond with one another and allowed the use of beasts that typically wouldn¡¯t have accepted being mounted as steeds. Their paths and classes were practically one that bound them together for the most part, with neither the person nor the beast capable of exhibiting their full prowess without the other. Based on anecdotes from the Kingdom¡¯s own past historical figures, apparently some even earned skills that truly shared their life and death with their mounts. The two would either live together, or die together, with them often being able to shrug off injuries that would have normally killed one or the other due to the life shared from their partner. It was in many ways a symbiotic bond, to say the least. As time passed and the enemies approached closer, Sir DelVillar and Sir Inolet managed to discern more details about their opposition. They passed down the order to brief the troops about the foes they were about to face, a cavalry force around seven to eight thousand strong, mounted entirely on [Hippodracons], a kind of monster that looked as if someone tried to create a reptilian version of a horse with draconic features. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. They were notorious monsters known to be fast and lethal, one that hunted in packs and had great stamina. Unlike horses, they were entirely carnivorous, which rendered the steed just as dangerous as its rider, but were also known to be difficult to tame, even when raised in captivity. It took something from a rider to make a [Hippodracon] acknowledge them and let them ride on its back. In other words, they were likely dealing with cavalry that was at the very least highly skilled, if not even amongst the elites of the demons. It might be difficult to defeat them in an open battle, but to just hold their ground in a defensive battle? Sir DelVillar was confident that his soldiers were at least up for that sort of task, especially on the morale high they¡¯ve been riding since their victory. Immediately the troops shifted their formation. The enemies were still far away, but it was better to be prepared beforehand. The troops could rest while waiting for the enemy¡¯s arrival, and having them already in position would save time once the battle actually started. They shifted to a looser formation that appeared to be made from many, smaller, half-circle formations, with the tips of every two neighboring half-circles meeting with the peak of the curve of another behind them. The formation was set up to slow the charge of a cavalry force and to take them down as they entered deeper, as the ¡°weak points¡± of the frontmost line would coincide with the sturdiest part of the line behind them, and so on. Meanwhile, the fourth tiers were dispersed in teams of twos or threes to a formation, mostly on the second line or further back, with only a few like Sir DelVillar himself stationed right at the front. Sir DelVillar positioned himself right at the tip of the center of the formation, for he would act as the reef that the wave would shatter upon. The once distant dust cloud, that started as barely a speck on the horizon, slowly grew larger as time passed and the demons got closer and closer. The defending soldiers were still relaxed given the distance between them and the demons, though their eyes remained vigilant and looked towards their enemies to gauge the distance from time to time. To their surprise, the demons actually stopped their rush a good half mile or so away from the defensive line the humans had set. Alissa heard Sir DelVillar sigh from afar, which was understandable. It would have been better for the defenders if the demons had been brash and charged straight into the defensive formation awaiting them. Instead, the demons seemed content to engage them in a staring contest while they rested their mounts and bodies first, which was rather atypical behavior for them. Most demons the old knight knew tended to be hot-headed and would have charged straight in, instead. Whoever was in command of these demons clearly had a better understanding of tactics and strategy than the typical demon. After several hours, when the sun had just started to drop from its peak in the sky above, the demons mounted up once more. At the sight of their enemies preparing for battle, the humans similarly picked up their weapons and lined their shields up with one another, forming shield walls in each small semi-circular formation as they eyed their foes from across the distance. The demons started to advance on their mounts in a rather loose formation, though neither Sir DelVillar nor Sir Inolet could identify who gave the command specifically. Several demons gave the command to advance, but they were just subordinate officers, more likely than not, given that they were only in the late third tier of levels. Whoever was in command of the demon force was most likely a fourth tier, and they definitely had several, though none had shown themselves as of yet. Which was yet another point of worry. It was rather atypical of the usually more straightforward demon tactics. Sure, the demons sometimes did engage in subterfuge as well, but it was typically on a small scale, not something on the scale of an army. It was hard enough for their commanders to get them to fight in an orderly manner, much less obey instructions perfectly. As such, if a demon army actually reined in their instincts and completely obeyed their commander, that meant whoever was in command was held in great fear or esteem by the demons in question. Only under such circumstances would thousands of demon troops heed the words of a single person without any disobedience. Such a scenario typically didn¡¯t bode well for the human side, though. Sir DelVillar passed word to his subordinates and told them to be cautious. They were to prioritize stability and safety rather than attempt to inflict as much damage as they could to the enemy, a more passive way of fighting, but he felt it warranted given the rather unusual manner that the demon army ahead had shown themselves so far. The enemy cavalry sped up to a trot and then a gallop when they were still a quarter mile away from the human formation, and everyone raised their shields and held it steady in preparation of what they expected to be a powerful charge by the demons. Contrary to their expectations, however, the demons did not rush into charge into the defensive formation. At around a hundred paces away, the frontmost riders of the enemy formation suddenly veered sharply to the left and right while pulling out bows from behind their backs. The demons then nocked arrows to their bowstrings and let loose even as they rode off to the sides, and those behind them repeated their actions once they reached the front. Instead of a devastating charge into melee, it was a rain of arrows that greeted the human defenders. Most of the arrows were stopped by their shields, but some either got lucky and landed on a fatal spot on a defender or were fired by more powerful individuals and directly pierced through the shield and armor of a soldier to lodge itself deep into their body. The demon cavalry seemed to have no intention to engage in melee and simply repeated their shooting, their formation turned into one that was shaped like a sideways figure-eight as those who were once at the frontmost reached the rear and looped around to repeat the process once more. Like so, the demons kept the rain of arrows falling on the human defenders for a good while. At least until Sir DelVillar lost his patience and ordered an assault by the frontmost line of the defensive formation. Unfortunately, as the human infantry charged forward, the demons pulled back and withdrew to a distance, only to return with their arrows once more when Sir DelVillar ordered his troops to return to the defense line. 211 - Frustration and Mistakes ¡°These craven cur! Cowards! Stand and fight properly!¡± Alissa heard some of the soldiers she was stationed with cursing at the demons. Clearly, some of the defenders were frustrated at how the battle went so far, since the demons kept withdrawing everytime the humans sallied forth to meet them, all while continuously raining arrows at them. With their mounts, the demons were much swifter, and while some individuals could catch up to them on foot, most couldn¡¯t, which would have placed great risk on those who were fast enough if they were to chase after the demons on their own. Clearly the old knights deemed it an unacceptable risk to take since they had not given any such orders, and instead commanded the defenders to tighten their defenses after two failed sallies. Once the defensive formation tightened up, with the separate smaller formations gathered to form a larger one, their shields overlapped with one another and even covered them from above, the number of casualties they took further decreased, and soon the demons stopped shooting as well. Apparently they considered it no longer worth spending their ¨C likely limited ¨C arrows against such a turtling opponent, and decided to save them for when they would have more impact instead. At least, that was what the old knights and Alissa rationalized. If the demons had plenty of arrows they might not cause much in terms of casualties by keeping up the rain of arrows, but it would definitely damage the morale of the defenders. When the demons actually drew back their cavalry and reformed their formation roughly two thirds of a mile away, the defenders breathed a sigh of relief. The withdrawal showed that the demons had no confidence in overcoming the defenders with their limited forces, which meant that they would be able to buy more time for the city behind them. Both sides stared at each other from the distance while they started to set up camp as the evening started to descend upon them, the defenders even building up a simple wooden fence to further guard themselves against any potential attacks while they rested. On the contrary, the demons had their steeds mostly let loose while they gathered up in the open, resting directly on the ground in most cases without showing any discomfort. It was a rather surreal experience, to watch the enemy you were trying to kill just a few hours ago sitting down and relaxing within your eyesight, but the distance between the camps and the open ground in between meant that it would be impractical for either side to attempt an attack at the other, as it would be noticed from far away. The demons made no attempts at a night assault either, other than a couple occasions where a small contingent of riders would ride towards the defenders¡¯ camp and loosed a couple volley of arrows before running back. That angered many of the soldiers, but the old knights advocated patience and caution, so nobody ran off in pursuit despite the provocation. Instead, Sirs DelVillar and Inolet called the fourth tiers present in the group to hash out a plan for the next day. While the enemy cavalry force showed greater coordination and unusual tactics compared to other demons they fought, they were still mostly third tiers in levels, so the old knights considered hiding their fourth tiers right at the frontlines the next day to make a sudden assault when the demons came again. Naturally, the invited Alissa¡¯s group ¨C whose members were themselves equal or greater in power to many of the fourth tiers present ¨C to be part of the attack, which the group accepted after some discussion. Other than the fourth tiers, around a hundred or so late third tiers with great mobility would join them in the endeavor. It was an attempt to pit quality against quantity, and had its risks, but was one of the better suggestions amongst those Alissa had heard thus far. The next morning, the defenders filed out of their camps after a quick breakfast and lined up in formation once more. From the scouts they deployed in the forest and further away on the other bank of the river, the demons seemed to have made no attempt to circle around the defenders, probably having realized the futility of such an attempt. After all, even on their mounts, it would still have taken the demons at least several hours to detour around either the forest or the river, while going through the forest would nullify their greatest advantage as cavalry and amounted to little more than asking for the defenders to ambush them. Whoever was commanding the demons were clearly smart enough to not make such simple mistakes. Magus Drummond suggested that the presence of the demons might have been a diversion, or a display of their capability to project their forces from afar. It was difficult to confirm or disprove the idea, as reports from other parts of the frontlines took time to arrive, but if it was a diversion, it was indeed a good one, as it was one the humans could not ignore. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As it was, reinforcements were supposedly already on their way to Arh-Getlam from deeper within the Kingdom, and assuming that the demons similarly awaited such reinforcements, it might well turn into a race of whose reinforcements would be the first to arrive. Then they had to consider whether the demons actually wanted them to focus more on Arh-Getlam to divert their attention from a potential assault elsewhere on the frontlines. It was rather complicated for Alissa and Ethan to digest, nothing like what they had ¡°experienced¡± in the games they used to play for entertainment. Real, actual war turned out to be far more complex, with far more factors to put into one¡¯s considerations and where each decision affected the life and death of many thousands. Every mistake in a real war cost lives, rather than just some numbers displayed on a screen. Which in part made them glad that they were not the ones who made the decisions. The strategic command of the army still rests in the hands of Sir DelVillar, though he seemed to take counsel from Sir Inolet and Magus Drummond, as well as his other subordinates, on a routine basis. Alissa¡¯s party was not entirely participating in the attempt to strike at the enemies. Some who were better suited for the back lines like Joshua, Leda, and Ormont were left behind, partly as an insurance in case their assault failed and they needed help with the retreat. Similarly, a few other long-range oriented fourth tiers remained behind, though Magus Drummond joined the assault group as his use of magic was versatile enough to fight up close as well. When the demons galloped in for another attack ¨C once again splitting up to the sides to shower the defending humans with arrows from a hundred paces away ¨C the prepared strike force moved out at the same time. They charged forward with great speed and momentum, and the demons that were caught off-guard by the sudden attack reacted too late, those further in the back unaware of the assault happening. Magus Drummond actually used his magic to literally catapult those fourth tiers that lacked a skill or technique for rapid mobility like Sir DelVillar, causing a pillar of rock that included the ground where they stood to suddenly push out from the earth with great force, enough to propel them over the hundred paces distance to the demons. Sir DelVillar crashed down upon the center of the demon formation¡¯s front like a meteor, his form already fully encased in his characteristic stone armor. He swung his polemace with great force, directly crushing those he struck, both demon and steed, and often hurling them bodily into the path of more demons, turning them into impromptu obstacles. On the right flank, Sir Inolet imbued his blade with the element of lightning and moved out in a blinding streak that left charred demon corpses in his wake. Unlike when he used the element back at Fort Silvia, this time he had not condensed the lightning to a small, focused area and instead allowed it to run wild, the tendrils of rampant electricity striking and electrocuting any demon or steed it came across, causing havoc in the old knight¡¯s general vicinity. Meanwhile, Alissa brought the close combatants from her party through [Living in a Dream] and appeared directly in the path taken by the demons on the left flank. Ethan stepped out in front, his sturdy body already reinforced by a multitude of buff skills, an invisible barrier from [None Shall Pass] radiating out towards his sides, with Bronwen and Glenn at the corners of the skill¡¯s reach, their shields similarly held before them. While clearly surprised by their sudden appearance, the demons at the front of the group whipped out maces, axes, cleaver-like blades, as well as short spears, showing that they were not only good at archery, and continued their charge unabated. The cavalry ran into the barrier headlong, the clash causing a cacophonous noise audible throughout the battlefield. Ethan was forced several steps back from the impact, but he and his barrier held. The demons that directly crashed into said barrier were in far worse shape, reduced to a mess of broken bones and crushed flesh that was then trampled by their own comrades that couldn¡¯t stop in time. At least a dozen demons were killed or crippled in such a way before those behind them chose to veer off to the sides of Alissa¡¯s party. They only discovered that Alissa, Moira, Nadine, and Maribel were waiting for them to do exactly that as the four women struck out as the demons passed by the sides of the blockade, felling several of the demons as they passed with precise strikes to either the rider or the steed. Their impromptu blockade also forced the demons to slow down to detour around them, which caused a congestion as those from further behind couldn¡¯t slow down in time. Meanwhile the rest of the strike force, both third and fourth tiers, charged out and struck the areas between the three points Alissa¡¯s party, Sir DelVillar, and Sir Inolet laid out. The surprise attack allowed them to drop at least several hundred of the demons before the demon commander who was likely further behind in the formation gave the signal to the other demons to abort their run preemptively. The remaining demons turned around a good two hundred paces early, and when the strike force attempted to pursue them, they were greeted by a vicious rain of arrows tha likely finished off some of the injured demons taken down by the assault. Sir DelVillar signaled the strike force not to pursue the matter, and to instead withdraw after taking care to finish off every demon they took down that was still alive. All considered, the surprise attack had been a great success, with them having taken down at least three to four hundred of the demons. The assault team themselves took around twenty-five casualties, which was a far lower loss compared to what they had inflicted to the demons, and even those who returned with injuries from the foray did so in high spirits. For the rest of that day and the week that followed, the demons only made half-hearted attempts to poke and provoke at the defenders during the night, and refused to commit to a confrontation during the day. Every time the defenders attempted a sally, the demons would retreat at speeds the infantrymen couldn¡¯t match, and the situation devolved into a frustrating stalemate soon enough. Yet it was at the end of the following week that everybody learned the actual intention of the demons¡¯ presence and half-hearted attacks, as Sir DelVillar received an urgent report about the fall of Fort Gurzil further west. Under normal circumstances, the forces stationed at Fort Abernal ¨C which now shifted to Arh-Getlam ¨C would have sent reinforcements to Fort Gurzil, but their enemies managed to take down the fort in a lightning attack while the nearby forces were occupied like they had been. 212 - Complications ¡°Someone explain to me how this situation even came to be,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a cold, even tone to the gathered officers in the meeting room of the former mayor¡¯s mansion in Arh-Getlam. The forces deployed on defense had returned to Arh-Getlam shortly after they received the report of Fort Gurzil¡¯s fall, as the demons had withdrawn around the same time. Despite the old knight¡¯s calm sounding voice, those who knew him understood that such a calm voice in a stressful situation was a sign of the old man¡¯s simmering anger and frustration, and while he was not the sort to lash out unjustly against his own people, a verbal lashing could be expected if someone made a silly remark at such a time. ¡°Based on the reports we received prior to Fort Gurzil¡¯s fall, all signs indicated that they faced an attack that did not look out of the norm around the time we struck at Arh-Getlam. Nothing serious enough to make them call for reinforcements, at least,¡± said Deena as she summarized the stack of reports in her hands. ¡°Their situation took a drastic and sudden change around a couple days after we were occupied with defending against the demons that suddenly appeared near here.¡± ¡°Continue,¡± said the old knight with a nod at his granddaughter¡¯s report. Deena was one of Fort Abernal¡¯s staff officers, but she was by no means high-ranked enough to have been present in the sort of meeting they were having normally. He guessed that one of the others must have called her over to give the report knowing that it would be less likely to ignite the old knight¡¯s simmering anger if his granddaughter was the one that gave the bad news. Knowing Deena, the girl likely played along out of concern for his well-being. That girl was always too nice for her own good, at times. ¡°We had not received much reports about what happened next, but what we received indicated a sudden tripling of the demon forces that were assaulting the fort overnight, which led to a severe disadvantage on the defenders¡¯ side. Apparently Fort Gurzil asked for reinforcements on the same day as when the demons increased their forces,¡± Deena said before she paused for a moment. ¡°We received an emergency report warning us of the fort¡¯s fall dated that same night.¡± ¡°And given the delivery times, we would only receive those reports several days later, which is how we¡¯re only made aware of these issues after the fact, right?¡± stated the old knight even if he phrased it as a question, to Deena¡¯s nod. ¡°For that matter, even if we were informed of their plight, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to react in time, since we were occupied by the unexpected demon incursion we were having as well.¡± ¡°That¡­ would likely be the case, Sir,¡± said Deena after a momentary pause where she was uncertain whether she should answer or let someone else do so. After a moment of silence had passed she realized that she would have to step up to answer the question, though. ¡°The demons had been acting rather unexpectedly this war.¡± ¡°We just got too used to having muscleheads for opponents,¡± interjected Sir Inolet with a shake of his head. ¡°The demons pulled off one of the oldest strategies in the book, to make a ruckus out in the east while they struck at the west, and we fell for it because we got too used to having dumb opponents. It¡¯s something we will have to change unless we want to keep falling for such tricks.¡± ¡°Are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking, then, Henri?¡± asked Sir DelVillar to Sir Inolet, the two old knights seemingly having an understanding with each other even before the words were exchanged. ¡°Aye, Leon, it looks like we got dealt a bad hand in this war,¡± said Sir Inolet with a sigh. ¡°Just as we were expecting the demons to remain their old dumb selves as they had been for the past half century, they had to get themselves a [Grand Champion] that understands tactics and strategy. I bet we aren¡¯t the only ones to have guessed this, but you might want to send a report about it anyway, just in case.¡± ¡°I will pen the report myself later,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a serious look on his face as he nodded at Sir Inolet¡¯s suggestion. The two old knights looked somewhat bothered by the development, but they didn¡¯t show it to most, although Alissa noticed the change in Sir Inolet¡¯s expression after having spent months in the old knight¡¯s company. ¡°For now, tell the sentries to redouble their vigilance. If the demons started to strategize like this, we don¡¯t know what else they might have on their sleeves. Increase the people on guard duty by half again the current number as well.¡± The meeting was dismissed soon after, though Alissa caught up with Sir Inolet when they left to ask the old knight what they meant in further detail. She had only ever dealt with the demons as they were presently after all, so she didn¡¯t quite catch on to the change that the old knights seemed to have noticed and lamented. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Right, you wouldn¡¯t have known since you¡¯re new to our world,¡± noted Sir Inolet thoughtfully. ¡°Well, let me put it this way, Miss O¡¯Connor. You should be aware that the demons have natural physical advantages over us humans, are you not? The advantage might be meager at lower levels, but it is a noticeable one nonetheless, and as our levels increase it tends to get more exaggerated, assuming classes of the same quality.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m aware of that. I also know that Ethan and I, as well as the others, mostly managed to keep up with the demons since we have classes of better quality than what the vast majority have,¡± noted Alissa with an understanding nod. ¡°I don¡¯t get what that has to do with strategy though? The demons seemed to be fighting relatively normally¡­ though I¡¯m probably not one to speak about such things, given my inexperience.¡± ¡°Well, I can see how that might appear from your point of view, but usually, the demons had been fighting their war in more of a brute force manner, at least since they won the previous war. They are at an advantage in terms of both numbers and personal capabilities, and when given such an advantage, people tend to get lazy,¡± explained Sir Inolet. ¡°Demons are no exceptions to this. Many of their leaders have been content with trying to overwhelm us with numbers and strength rather than attempt clever strategies, which to be fair, would have probably worked fine given their advantages.¡± ¡°This tendency to rely on numbers and personal capabilities is probably part of the reason why the wars keep swinging back and forth, to be honest. From what I myself learned from history, when we humans were at an advantage we tended to have an even greater numerical advantage, even if our personal capabilities still lagged behind the demons,¡± added the old knight. ¡°As a result, people got lazy after their side gained the advantage, which wasn¡¯t too surprising since each war was separated by decades at the very least.¡± ¡°I see, and you believe that one of the demon [Champions] is well-versed in tactics and strategy and thus compensated for that tendency towards laziness because the demons would listen to them, then?¡± queried Alissa as she caught on to the bigger picture Sir Inolet mentioned. ¡°So in effect the demons now have greater numbers, better overall personal strength, and a strategic mind to direct their course of actions all at the same time?¡± ¡°At least where the [Champion] is present and in command. We have yet to receive news about similar cases happening in the regions further west, so we can assume that the demons still lacked leaders who thought strategically,¡± assured Sir Inolet. ¡°I assume that we hadn¡¯t seen any such cases earlier because even for a [Champion], they would need to grow in power first in order to command the respect of the other demons, so they might have just earned their respect relatively recently.¡± ¡°So they were in a position not unlike us with the Kingdom, then? Still growing in power but with little authority to call their own, at least before now?¡± asked Alissa, to which the old Knight nodded. It was practically common knowledge that the Kingdom¡¯s higher-ups would have preferred the [Heroes] to remain under their control, though such a prospect grew more and more unlikely the stronger Alissa and her party grew. Most people refrained from touching upon such a sensitive topic, but during the time he trained them, Sir Inolet had warned Alissa and Ethan that they would need power of their own before they could comfortably call the shots for themselves, instead of just following directions given from above. While Alissa and Ethan ¨C and the others ¨C had cooperated so far, Sir Inolet¡¯s warning was one that they kept in mind all the while. ¡°Similar, yet also different. They would have an easier time gaining authority amongst the demons since many of them subscribed to a might makes right mentality. On the other hand, in your case you would need to grow your power far enough that those who prefer to wield politics as their weapons would not dare to even try to touch you out of fear of getting burned,¡± stated the old knight bluntly and openly. ¡°In some ways, the demons are a lot more straightforward as a people than we are, something I felt was rather regrettable, at times.¡± ¡°Then I guess we should get to work a bit more, huh?¡± suggested Alissa. While she had her questions and doubts, and most definitely no longer trusted a good part of the human Kingdom¡¯s upper hierarchy, Sir Inolet also drove home a point that made complete sense to her, that without power she could call her own, she would not be able to change things at all. Given how Alissa ¨C as well as most of her party ¨C were in their late third tiers by that point, though still several levels away from the fourth tier as their leveling speed started to taper off, she imagined that it would take the sort of power she would have as a fourth tier to take the first steps towards being able to do things her way. In the meantime, she did not mind helping out on the frontlines, since it was also the fastest way to grow in power for the time being. It helped that a lot of the frontlines were managed by people from or affiliated to the old knights and their semi-independent faction, rather than the royal family or the temple. Alissa had seen the temple send some reinforcements, people in the late third tiers led by some fourth tiers from their hidden monasteries, who were supposedly there to help out on the frontlines. Instead of making things easier, though, there were conflicts and disagreements aplenty between the temple guard reinforcements ¨C or rather, mostly the priests that led them ¨C with the current leadership. Those from the temple had a rather holier than thou attitude to them, and seemed to look down upon others, though that was something mostly prevalent amongst the priests rather than the temple guards. The temple guards were just obedient zealots instead. In a rather bothersome ¨C and annoying way ¨C the priests reminded Alissa a little too much of religious zealots from her previous world, the sort of people who seemed to take mortal offense at the thought that others might not be as deeply devoted and fanatical as they were. Much like those sorts, the priests were also ones who tried to ¡°convert¡± such people to the ¡°embrace¡± of their gods, even when the other side had made it abundantly clear that they had no interest whatsoever in the matter. Which made it rather amusing when one of the mouthier priests annoyed Sir DelVillar enough for the old knight to punch him hard enough to knock several teeth loose. CCXIII - Leave No Witnesses ¡°So there are classes that might be able to reconstruct what happened here just based on the remains, is that what you¡¯re saying?¡± asked Esperanza with some urgency after Ani reminded her of a possibility that could happen after they had left. The prospect of someone being able to show what had happened at the monastery in detail was most definitely something Esperanza had no desire in allowing to happen. ¡°To some extent, yes. Some of our hunters in Agur-Bas had a similar skill that allowed them to retrace things from markings and things like droppings. I once saw one create such a scene in order to track a particularly wily pack of weasels that got too close to our place, recreating the creature¡¯s image and following it back to its lair,¡± explained Ani more elaborately. ¡°If a hunter could do that, it would not surprise me if the Kingdom has people who specialize in doing such things. It would be a great boon for investigating crimes and the like.¡± ¡°Are there ways to mess with such skills? To make them see less, or at least fail to get the details?¡± Esperanza queried. She was naturally concerned about keeping the nature of her group a secret, as it was rather telltale for humans to be working together with demons. Only people who hadn¡¯t fallen under the usurper gods¡¯ sway would even consider doing that at all. ¡°Anything at all we could work with?¡± ¡°Well, I cannot be completely certain with such hypothetical classes since I have no experience with them, but with our hunter, the fresher and more complete the source he tracked, the better the result. A freshly killed corpse gives the best results,¡± said Ani after some thought. ¡°Based on that, I would assume that incomplete remains that had been left out for longer would give worse results by nature.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ This place is pretty secluded, but even if we left them alone, someone would come and check when they notice the people here failing to show up to get supplies like they usually do,¡± noted Esperanza as she silently calculated in her mind. ¡°Given the travel distance, it would probably go unnoticed for a couple of weeks? Probably not enough time for the bodies to rot properly to render them unusable to such skills.¡± ¡°Anywhere from less than a week to a month or more, I¡¯d say, depends on the frequency at which they descend the mountain for supplies,¡± said Ani in affirmation. Esperanza had heard that the monastery¡¯s people would regularly get supplies from the nearest towns and villages from her interrogation, but she had not asked about their schedule at that time. It felt a little superfluous to manifest a soul just to ask that now. ¡°I¡¯ve decided. Have everyone gather the corpses up and stuff them into the building. Tell those who were watching out for escapees to bring theirs over as well,¡± said Esperanza after she thought for a while. If the time factor couldn¡¯t be relied on, then she¡¯d just damage the remains until even people with skills like what Ani described couldn¡¯t get any decent information out of them. ¡°Oh, get those corpses from further inside the complex and stack them up as well. Don¡¯t want to accidentally miss one by leaving them lying deeper in.¡± ¡°As you wish, Exalted One,¡± replied Ani as she turned and gave the command. Everyone started to work right away and dragged the corpses into the monastery complex, while a couple of Ani¡¯s people went deeper in to fish out the ones taken down during Esperanza and Ani¡¯s rampage inside. Several others went out to collect the dead bodies of the escapees taken down by those who stayed outside as sentries. ¡°Iryl, can you help me out a bit? Follow me,¡± Esperanza called out and beckoned. Iryl came over as asked with a puzzled look on her face, then the two of them went into the complex, to an area that Iryl soon realized was likely a kitchen of some sort. ¡°Help me look for oil or grease of some sort. They ought to have some for cooking.¡± The two of them rummaged through the kitchen for a while before Iryl finally found a large earthen jar full of oil, which Esperanza then directly lifted and carried back out. By the time they walked back out of the monastery complex, the corpses had mostly been gathered inside the large chamber nearest the entrance, since it was the closest place with enough space to stuff the bodies in. While the others stuffed the last few corpses in the chamber, Esperanza and Iryl went to work and doused everything with the oil. The corpses, the furniture, even the rooms themselves were all doused quite thoroughly, and they even took care to make paths leading deeper into the monastery. From there Esperanza¡¯s decision was obvious. She simply planned to burn it all and leave nothing for others to work with. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Esperanza had also taken the time to browse the Monastery¡¯s library and took away all the books she felt might be of use, like the ones that concerned history and other books that might help polish their knowledge of the kingdom. She left the religious ones behind, though, as after a quick glance she could already tell that they were heavy on propaganda and indoctrination, and thus weren¡¯t worth her time, much less space in her [Soul Storage]. As such she left them behind and even tore some up, spreading the sheets all over to act as kindling for the fire to catch on when the time comes. The books were made of some sort of crude paper, probably something made from processed bark or the like, rather than from wood pulp. Due to its nature, they were naturally highly flammable, and served perfectly for the purpose she had in mind. Got to start the fire properly to make sure it would burn everything, after all. Sure, the fire that resulted would likely be visible from the nearby towns and villages, and that would prompt them to check on the situation much sooner, but on the other hand, all that would be left would be ashes by the time they got to the monastery. She considered it an acceptable trade-off, all considered. The bodies of third tier people might be more resistant to fire than normal, but in such a mass cremation chamber, the heat would build up until even they turned to ashes as well. As the saying went, when there was nobody left alive to testify about what happened, it counted as having done things stealthily as well. The people who investigated the crime scene later would naturally realize that whatever happened was likely done by others, given how all the bodies were neatly stacked in one room and care was taken to ensure that the whole monastery burned down, but even then they would be short on clues either way, because everything would have burned to ashes long ago by then. Once everyone was done setting things up, Esperanza picked up a torch and casually threw it at a puddle of oil they left on purpose at the monastery¡¯s entrance. From there, the fire spread rapidly along the volatile fluid¡¯s path, where it caught on to anything and everything flammable in its path. The group stayed and observed until the fire spread further into the monastery, and only left when the whole complex had been set ablaze, burning brightly in the darkening evening. As she watched the blaze devour the monastery ¨C and the bodies inside ¨C Esperanza had to admit that there was a rather surreal beauty to the sight. She sort of understood why some people were so mesmerized by the beauty of the flames to the point that they would commit arson just to witness more of it, even if she could not sympathize with such people herself. Understanding did not mean agreement, after all. Given the size of the blaze in the dark, it was inevitable that any nearby town or city to the south of the mountain range would notice it. Within a few days, people would arrive and investigate the incident, though by then there should be nothing left but ashes and dust. With a shake of her head, Esperanza finally turned away from the mesmerizing sight and beckoned for the others to follow her. They headed further west from the monastery, keeping their route away from inhabited areas for the most part since any stranger might be looked at with suspicion so close to such an incident. Fortunately the human Kingdom was sparsely inhabited for its size, and other than the times where they had to cross the main roads, the party managed to sneak their way through forests, mountains, or dungeons where people rarely tread. Esperanza imagined that an incident the scale of the monastery burning down and all its inhabitants slain would not go unnoticed. She felt that it shouldn¡¯t take long for anyone with a brain to realize that the monastery was slaughtered while missing most of its best fighters, and from there not much longer for the realization that those best fighters likewise met with misfortune to kick in. By then they would have to conclude that some party annihilated the monastery, but they would lack the motive and the culprit, and would only be able to guess. Given the ongoing and intensifying state of the war, the demons would likely shoulder the blame for her again, which was a state of affairs Esperanza was perfectly fine with. After all, there was no reason to refuse such a convenient scapegoat when she needed one. It was only after the group traveled westwards for a whole week that Esperanza called for a rest stop and sent the humans in the group ¨C herself included ¨C to the nearest small town to look for the latest news and information. Unsurprisingly, news about the monastery¡¯s burning had yet to spread to the town, given its distance and the recency of the incident. Instead, what they heard from the gossip amongst the townsfolk ¨C and some soldiers returning from the frontlines for recuperation from their injuries ¨C was that the human forces stationed further south had recently managed to take over a large demon base that used to be a human city. The good news was marred with rumors that the demons had countered and conquered a fort further west, though, which dampened the mood some, even if it remained unsubstantiated rumors as of yet. When the group gathered once more and discussed the news, they were uncertain on how they should react to it. After all, a shift in the border would make their current plans somewhat more complicated. After some discussion amongst themselves, the group finally agreed to head further west to see the situation near the fort that the demons had supposedly taken over. Naturally, they needed to watch for other people and take extra care to cover their tracks since they were approaching the frontline of the war. Soldiers from both sides were naturally more vigilant in the area in question, which meant that the group had to sneak around patrols at times. Unfortunately, from the fort the demons had taken, there were two large towns along the road that led there, so it was difficult for them to gauge which side they should head to. For the time being, Esperanza bid the majority of the group to hide themselves in the forests further north-east of the town proper. She herself, along with the other human members of their group, headed towards the town in small groups to gather information. Despite the higher vigilance, they managed to sell the impression that they were locals who lived further south that ran to the town in order to avoid the demons. It was far from uncommon for refugees to head to the nearest large town or city in such cases, and there were a multitude of villages between the towns and the fort now occupied by the demons, so the excuse got them smoothly into town. CCXIV - A Tale of Two Towns Eastcliff and Westcliff were a pair of medium sized towns so named due to their respective locations on the opposite side of a long gorge that ran from the north to south. The two towns were a good three days worth of travel away from each other, because the only bridge that spanned over the gorge was located further north, a good day¡¯s journey away. Due to the existence of the natural barrier that was the gorge, the roads and trade routes naturally also split east and west, and each of the towns were built right where several such roads intersected. They were also located a distance from the bridge on purpose, to force merchants and travelers to pick one or the other and commit, rather than allow them to freely shift between the two towns. That sort of rivalry was nothing strange, each town fighting for their own slice of the pie, their own share of the profits, unwilling to give more than what they needed to hand out to the other. Because of that, the relation of the townspeople from the two towns were similarly tense and laced with a strong hint of rivalry, and at times, grudges. In the face of the war against the demons, however, such petty thoughts had to be placed on the shelf. Both Eastcliff and Westcliff were in a state of military emergency after the loss of Fort Gurzil further south, with military reinforcements from either side headed and stationed in the respective towns and assuming control over the situation. Similarly, waves of refugees ¨C people who lived in villages and small townships between the two towns and Fort Gurzil ¨C flooded northwards and similarly sought refuge in the two towns. The wave of refugees combined with the sudden influx of military forces were more than what either town could truly handle, even though they had plenty of inns and the like to cater to traders and merchants. Both towns were overcrowded beyond their capacity, and under such conditions, amenities were naturally lacking, which quickly led to some friction between the natives and the refugees, and at times, even members of the militaries. Esperanza¡¯s group of infiltrators arrived in Eastcliff under such a chaotic situation, which was to their benefit as that allowed them to blend in more easily. ¡°How can this be enough!? We are starving! Our children are starving!¡± yelled out a man who was likely a farmer from some village by his manner of dress as he waved around a small sack that was probably filled with grain or flour. It was the food given to the refugees to support them by the city officials, which admittedly wasn¡¯t much, especially considering that it was meant for an entire family. ¡°We need more to eat!¡± Indeed, such a small sack would only be enough to make a small pot¡¯s worth of porridge or the like, probably enough to keep an adult fed for a day, but most definitely nowhere near enough for a household. The problem was the officials rationed that much food for a household to make do with, which clearly incited some unrest amongst the refugees. ¡°Everybody is starving!¡± yelled the person in charge of distributing the supplies back. The man was clearly quite frustrated, which was not a surprise given the rather thankless job he had been saddled with. ¡°If you don¡¯t want it, give it to someone else! Don¡¯t hold up the line! There¡¯s many others who are still hungry and haven¡¯t gotten their share behind you!¡± The food situation of Eastcliff was mostly because as a town that relied on trade for their prosperity, the place was far from self-sufficient when it came to food supplies and had little in terms of granaries or other food storage. The issue was further exacerbated by the refugees that crowded the city, since they often escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs. As for the soldiers, they typically only made short stops in or around the city before they proceeded further south, where the gorge ends and the road had yet to split. It was there that the soldiers planned to engage the demons, since it would be more troublesome to track down the demons if they were allowed to split up and reach further into the kingdom¡¯s territory. While the soldiers that passed by carried food supplies, those supplies were meant for war, and thus they could not spare them to help the town¡¯s food situation. As a result, resentment simmered between the townspeople ¨C who felt that the refugees were causing them to have to starve unnecessarily ¨C and the refugees ¨C who lacked enough food to eat properly¨C which resulted in more than a few bouts of violence already. Under such circumstances, Esperanza¡¯s group chose to infiltrate the town by playing the role of hunters who used to live in the wilderness. Such a guise was one they favored because it was nearly impossible to disprove, given how vast the wild, mostly uninhabited areas were. It was not strange for whole families to have lived in such places for generations on end with minimal contact to society at large. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Their guise as hunters also meant that they had a simple way to earn the goodwill from the refugees, by hunting down animals from the vicinity of the town and bringing meat to the table. Typically, forests that were considered safe areas, like the ones nearest to the town, would be part of the local noble¡¯s property and hunting in such areas would be prohibited other than for the nobles themselves. Fortunately the local noble was not foolish enough to risk a riot by keeping to that stance under the emergency situation, though, and within the first couple of weeks, most of the animals in the safe area of the forest had been hunted down and eaten by the hungry refugees and townspeople. Those same people had not dared to delve deeper into the forest where the more dangerous beasts roam, however, which was where Esperanza¡¯s group came into play. The group passed themselves off as two separate hunter families and regularly went out into the deeper, more dangerous regions of the forest to catch some edible animals on a nearly daily basis. They would then return to town and share their catch with the refugees, which naturally gained them a good reputation and not a small amount of goodwill from the starving people. In actuality, though, Esperanza and the other infiltrators ¨C Murad, Mora, Kurt, Leo, Resitia, Iryl, and Tiara ¨C did not hunt a thing in the forest. Instead they traded information with Ani¡¯s group who were waiting there and discussed the possibilities, while those who were already in the forest prepared some game animals for them to bring back. That goodwill allowed them to blend in more easily with the crowd and also gave them access to far more rumors and hearsay from the people they befriended. Other than the refugees, Esperanza¡¯s group also regularly shared their catch with the city guard, who themselves were clearly suffering from the food rationing and were starting to show signs of emaciation. From those guards, they heard rumors that more troops were headed their way, and that there was constant fighting in the south where the soldiers had chosen to stand their ground. There were even rumors of demon [Champions] appearing on the enemy side, or that the [Heroes] were supposedly on their way. Most of the rumors were unreliable, but some proved to be quite plausible, and by staying in the town Esperanza also confirmed some things, like the temple sending out larger contingents of combatants to the frontline. She herself watched such a group of priests and temple guards, easily a good ten thousand strong, pass by the city to the cheers of the crowd. Esperanza had watched that procession alone, as she didn¡¯t want to risk one of the stronger priests noticing her compatriots. As for herself, she was confident that her skills would be enough to keep her hidden from just about anyone. As for the simmering tension in the city, it was typical of such situations, and practically unavoidable. Everyone naturally looked out for their own first in such a situation, and most people couldn¡¯t help but be selfish either for themselves or their families. Perhaps if they were more united under some belief or patriotism they might be willing to suffer together, but for people whose general concern in life was to continue living another day first and foremost, it was difficult to instill such a level of thinking. The shortage of food led to no small amount of violent situations where people resorted to robbery or murder in an attempt to better their situation. At times the locals would bring in their relative or connection in the city guards to bully the refugees and force them to hand over part of their already meager rations. At other times the fed-up refugees might group together and turn the tables on the other side. Under such conditions, the weakest ¨C the very old and the very young ¨C were the first to die off due to the lack of food. Some desperate and hungry people even peeled off the bark from trees and boiled it to eat, resulting in many of the trees in the safe areas of the forest stripped of their bark within weeks. Even with that, however, none of the passing troops shared their food supplies. Clearly the war situation was a higher priority than the starving town and refugees. Naturally, Esperanza¡¯s group stayed away from the local conflicts. They sympathized with the starving people, sure, but they also understood well enough that at times, hard choices had to be made. Even if it looked cruel, the choice made to prioritize the war situation was arguably the right one in the situation at hand. After all, should the frontline falter and the demons invade further into the kingdom¡¯s territory, many, many more would suffer instead. It was a typical decision to sacrifice the few to spare the many, which might not be ideal from a moral point of view, but was often necessary in real life. Idealistic people often tried to save everyone, but such idealism was not necessarily applicable in real situations, especially in situations where things were more complex and there was no one solution that would make everyone happy. Esperanza was no stranger to such a situation, as while she agreed to help Oldies, she wanted to find another way out of the decaying circumstances of the World of Ephemera without resorting to destroying it wholesale, if she could. Until now, however, she had yet to find any plausible solution to the problem, so she mostly kept those thoughts to herself. It was pointless to protest without actually offering an alternative solution, after all. Something far too many people seemed to never get, like the refugees and townspeople who were blaming each other for the food situation in Eastcliff. They blamed each other, but neither side had offered any actual solution to the problem as of yet, which resulted in the current stalemate they faced. If they, as the people who were directly affected by the issue, could only complain and demand things without actually offering any workable solution, it was hard to blame others for their misfortune, in a way. The refugees could have escaped further, but most simply ran to the nearest town. The town itself could have prepared better in the past, but they had not. Now they were stuck with each other in a situation where simmering resentment continuously grew and at times boiled over, all while the war was happening not a few days away to the south. As if the situation was not messy enough, there were even emissaries from Westcliff sent to the city demanding aid in food supplies in exchange for some old debts being forgiven. That the town¡¯s mayor had intended to agree to the offer at all almost caused open revolt in the city when the people got wind of the matter. CCXV - A Collision of Interests ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± said Resitia when the infiltration group were having another of their meetings deep in the forest with the rest who waited there. ¡°The Exalted One brought me and Tiara to sneak around the mayor¡¯s place and the local temple a couple times, and we saw that they had an abundant stockpile of food. If they just shared that while it wouldn¡¯t be enough for too long, it would still allow everyone to eat decently for a month or two at least, so why did they let everyone else starve like that?¡± When Esperanza heard what the girl asked the others, it reminded her that despite the forced maturation back when they hit second tier, the [Progenies of Yore] were still, in their hearts, young children, after all. If she recalled correctly Resitia was still around ten or so. Her view of the world around her still had that hint of innocence the young possessed, yet to be stained by the murky waters of reality. She also noticed how some of the other Progenies looked curiously at Resitia¡¯s question, and how some of the older members of the group had rather conflicted looks on their faces when faced with such a query. Some of them clearly wanted to preserve that rare innocence from the vicissitudes of the cruel world, yet they also knew that sometimes, it was better to rip off the bandage in one go rather than do it slowly. In the end, it was Ani that replied to the question. ¡°The answer to that question is often along the lines of greed and selfishness, but in this case, it also has to do with a more fundamental nature of society itself as a whole, I believe,¡± said Ani with a wistful sigh as she shook her head. Part of the woman was disappointed in what she had seen in the Kingdom so far, as the people in the refuges she had been to were far more united. ¡°In the end, a lot of things are done or not done because of interests.¡± ¡°Interests?¡± asked Resitia curiously. ¡°Putting it simply¡­ let¡¯s say you and another both wanted the same item. The item doesn¡¯t matter in this case, but the fact that you and someone else both wanted it represents interests from the two of you,¡± said Ani as she tried to use some analogy to explain it easier, probably having recalled Resitia¡¯s true age as well. ¡°Now, whoever actually has control over the item in question would naturally have interests of their own as well. As such, it only makes sense for them to give it to whichever of you advances that person¡¯s own interests more, does it not? Or to withhold it entirely from both of you, if that is what serves their interests best.¡± ¡°That¡­ makes sense, I guess. Rather selfish, but I can see it,¡± replied Resitia with a hesitant nod of her head. The girl had probably not thought of such things herself, but when put that way, it was easier for her to comprehend what Ani meant. ¡°The situation in Eastcliff is similar. At this moment, everyone wants food. The refugees, the poorer locals who didn¡¯t have any stocked up, and of course, those who are at the top of the town¡¯s hierarchy as well. Everyone needs food, and while there¡¯s enough to go around, most of it is in the hands of those at the top, the mayor, the temple, and the richer merchants,¡± Ani explained. ¡°Now, they are sharing some with the townspeople and the refugees, not much, just enough to keep them from rioting while keeping them weak, while hoarding the rest. Can you think why they did this?¡± ¡°Because¡­ it¡¯s not in their interest to feed everyone?¡± asked Resitia with some incredulity in her voice. ¡°They¡¯d rather just stock up the food than help everyone get enough?¡± ¡°Some people¡­ they consider their own benefits the most. The mayor for example, would prioritize people who would help keep him in power, like the higher ups of the town guard or the temple. You have already seen how varied people from the temple can be, and the ones in Eastcliff are the sort that would just prioritize their own people over others,¡± elaborated Ani some more. ¡°As for the merchants¡­ for them they likely kept their stock simply because there was no profit in helping the people for free. You should have already noticed that the price of food in the town has increased drastically over the past week.¡± ¡°Most people do not have the courage or power to risk everything to deal with issues like these. They are often bound by the very people they care for, the presence of loved ones making them unable to commit to a course of action that might cause the situation to go worse for their family, so they did what they could to persevere and swallow the injustice that happened to them,¡± she added. ¡°Similarly, a lot of the people in town had too much to lose to risk things. As long as those at the top kept the food trickling in, they wouldn¡¯t be able to muster the will to attempt anything.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°People who have something to lose are less daring to take risks, and they know this well enough to exploit it,¡± Esperanza chimed in to the discussion from the side. ¡°If someone had nothing to lose, they would be more prone to drastic action, but someone with something to lose has shackles that bind them to the things they care for, in a sense.¡± ¡°If you want, it is easy enough for people like us, who have no true attachment to the town in general, to take action and change the situation, but you have to understand that it would just be us choosing to favor one side over the other, much like how those people in town did,¡± she continued. ¡°After all, if we take action and help one side, it will pretty much condemn another.¡± ¡°Even so, I would still like to help those people if I can, Exalted One,¡± admitted Resitia with a weary nod. ¡°Besides, can¡¯t we drive a wedge between them and the temple if we target that place first?¡± ¡°Clever girl,¡± praised Esperanza. ¡°You know how to frame things so it would work in our favor already, huh? Had always thought you were one of the more straightforward of the kids, but I guess looks can be deceiving.¡± she added. ¡°Good argument, we¡¯ll do as you suggested later when we return to the city, but we won¡¯t interfere too much no matter what happens afterwards, understood?¡± ¡°Yes, Exalted One.¡± Later that evening, the infiltrator group returned to Eastcliff with some ¡°catch¡± once more. They shared some with the gate guards, technically as a bribe to let them go into the town without trouble, then shared most of the rest with a group of starving refugees who thanked them for their generosity. Even in such a situation, however, the worst of people also showed up. Esperanza¡¯s group had been attacked by some other refugees before, probably thinking they might have more meat on them, either out of desperation or out of greed. Either way, none of the group looked kindly upon such people, and all those who tried to mess with them were simply never seen again. None of the other refugees seemed to miss them either. That night, nowever, Esperanza brought the whole group ¨C all hidden under her [Veil of Entropy], of course ¨C to visit the local temple. The local clergy had been preaching to the townspeople and refugees to remain steadfast in the trial they faced, for it was all in the name of a greater purpose, but they themselves faced no such trial. In fact, the town¡¯s temple had one of the larger stockpiles of food around the town. Sure, some townspeople might have private stocks, but those were typically not much, and it made sense for them to save it up for their own families. The temple on the other hand had plenty, enough to allow the rationing to return to more normal levels for at least a week, more if they stretched it out further, but had no intention to use their stock to help the people, unlike what they themselves preached. That sort of hypocrisy was something Esperanza particularly loathed, so she had no qualms about choosing the temple as her target and to incite some chaos in the town while she was at it. If it helped some to see the true nature of the people they put on a pedestal, then all the better, though she had no such high hopes. What the group did that night was simple. They directly broke into the local temple¡¯s storehouse and had Esperanza pack up the contents in her [Soul Storage]. She had previously emptied most of the less perishable contents of her [Soul Storage] and entrusted it to the rest of the group¡¯s safekeeping for this purpose. The local temple did not have much in terms of actual military power, merely possessing a dozen or so temple guards who had very mediocre classes in the middle of the third tier or so. As such, Esperanza chose a method that was all but guaranteed to lead to a direct and open conflict between the people and the temple as a whole. She distributed the supplies they pilfered in front of people¡¯s houses or amongst groups of refugees while leaving behind traces of passage for the temple¡¯s people to follow after. Needless to say, the starving townspeople and refugees were ecstatic when they woke up and saw large amounts of food suddenly provided to them, even if they had no idea who gave it to them or why. They were beyond questioning such details by that point and simply counted their blessings as they started to make use of the food supplies to prepare something to eat. By the same time, however, the temple¡¯s clergy had discovered the ransacking of their storehouse, and in a fit of emotions, the head priest of the temple ordered some of the priests as well as the temple¡¯s guard contingent to go out and find whoever was responsible for the theft. They quickly found traces of the stolen food, and discovered that it had been distributed to the starving people all over the town. Under normal circumstances, the head priest might have reconsidered the course of action he chose, but the man was driven by his emotions at that time, and directly ordered the temple guards to confiscate the stolen food supplies. The results could well be imagined, as the starving people were naturally unwilling to hand over the food they finally received after so long. When the temple guard resorted to violence to make a point, all that did was to provide the spark that lit the flames of resentment. The starving people in the town were already put off when they learned that the temple had plenty of food but had not taken any out to help them. Their feelings, which once respected said temple and its priests, further dropped to the bottom when the priests demanded they give the food back. So when the temple guard shoved a protesting old man until he fell down, it proved to be the last straw that broke the camel¡¯s back and the mass of people devolved into a riot on the spot. The temple guards further showed their inexperience ¨C they were stationed in quiet, peaceful places and had no real experience with conflict ¨C when they fought off the rioting people instead of attempting to deescalate the situation, and that just worsened their situation further. By noon, the entire city of Eastcliff had descended into rioting, looting, and worse, as the starving people took matters into their own hands, having been disillusioned by those they had relied on in the past. All the while, Esperanza and the rest of the infiltration group watched the situation from atop the town¡¯s bell tower, where they remained hidden from sight. 216 - Sending Reinforcements ¡°We¡¯ve decided to send five thousand elites to reinforce Wesson Gorge, where the army is making a defensive stand to prevent the demons from pushing deeper into the territory behind Fort Gurzil,¡± stated Sir DelVillar in the meeting room that day. It had only been a few days since the report of Fort Gurzil¡¯s fall, and only one day after some reinforcements, both from the Kingdom and the Temple, gathered in Fort Abernal. The reinforcements sent was enough to make up for the losses suffered by the troops there while they took over Arh-Getlam as well as to garrison both locations securely with some to spare, which was why Sir DelVillar made the decision to send reinforcements further west. Normally he¡¯d have his hands tied between needing to secure his own position and sending help, but the reinforcements covered that issue neatly. Even so, the old knight chose to send out only elites, more due to the expediency of the matter than anything. Elites of the mid third tier and higher could typically travel on their own twice or more as fast as weaker troops on carriages, which would cut short their travel time drastically. Under normal circumstances he wouldn¡¯t have dared to move out so many elites, but the situation being what it was, combined with the presence of reinforcements and promise of further additional troops on the way, allowed the old knight to make the unusual call. ¡°I will lead this detachment personally, and will bring some of our fourth tier assets as well. How many I would bring with me will depend on you ladies and gentlemen. If you are willing to join the detachment, we will be able to leave behind more of our own locals to make sure that the garrison here and at Arh-Getlam are as secure as they could be,¡± continued the old knight openly. ¡°Of course, this is on a pure voluntary basis.¡± His words sparked some murmurs of discussion amongst the gathered people, both amongst Alissa and her group, the heads of several elite detachments sent by the temple, as well as officers from the reinforcement troops that had arrived at the fort. Out of the three forces, the kingdom¡¯s reinforcement troops were the ones at an awkward position. They only had a single freshly advanced fourth tier knight amongst their number, and were mostly composed of younger recruits. ¡°Uhh, begging your pardon, Sir,¡± said the knight in question with obvious nervousness. The old knights like Sir DelVillar and Sir Inolet were practically living legends to youngsters who tread a similar path like them, and to directly face one of your own idols and proclaim inability was not an enviable situation. ¡°I am afraid that the people I brought with me are¡­ unsuitable for such actions. I would be willing to join if you would have me, of course.¡± ¡°Understandable. I will have to trouble you to help my boys garrison Fort Abernal and Arh-Getlam, then, Sir Rovel,¡± replied Sir DelVillar as he addressed the young knight by name. ¡°We will need everyone to be capable of keeping up with a hard march for this, so the younger recruits were honestly never in consideration to begin with.¡± ¡°I thank you for the understanding, Sir. I will stake my life to ensure that this place remains secure in your absence!¡± replied the young knight enthusiastically. Sir DelVillar¡¯s reputation amongst the younger knights was clearly a great one, despite how he and the other old knights stood apart from the Kingdom¡¯s royalty and the temple. ¡°We would like to help out where we can, Sir,¡± Alissa stated after the old and young knights finished their conversation. She and her group only had a brief discussion before they came to an agreement to join the detachment. Even for herself, she realized that fighting was the best way to grow her own personal power to reach the point where she would no longer be easy to tug around by the higher-ups in the kingdom. ¡°You can count on us for this.¡± ¡°It lifts my spirit to see that we will have the [Heroes] with us. I thank you for your willingness to help, everyone,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a slight bow. He then looked up and met Sir Inolet¡¯s eye before he asked straightforwardly to his old friend. ¡°Did you happen to help convince them, Henri? That¡¯s real nice of you to take care of your old friend like this.¡± ¡°Not a bit, actually. They came to the agreement on their own, didn¡¯t even let us have a word in,¡± replied Sir Inolet with a shake of his head. Meanwhile, to his side, Magus Drummond nodded and confirmed what he just said to be true. ¡°You know how it is. The kids you train grow up, and in this sort of environment, they grow up quickly.¡± ¡°That they did indeed,¡± replied Sir DelVillar with a chuckle. ¡°I guess I can leave most of my boys and girls behind to guard here, then, if we have the [Heroes] as well as you two with us,¡± he added. ¡°What about the temple? Will the esteemed ones see fit to join us in the frontlines against our ancient enemy for this battle?¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°The sarcasm is unnecessary, Sir DelVillar, though I will readily admit that many of my own brethren has shamefully succumbed to very human failings of character in the past,¡± said the representative chosen by the several groups of priests and temple guards that had arrived in the fort over time. The representative in question was an old woman in her sixties most called Mother Magdalene, who was part of the temple guards and of high rank, judged from the armor she wore. ¡°We have decided that all our elites who will be able to keep up with your detachment will join you, leaving those who are still young and weak here.¡± ¡°I see that sometimes your so-called eminences can sometimes send the appropriate people over, for a change. I welcome the assistance, Mother Magdalene,¡± replied Sir Delvillar bluntly. The altercation between him and one of the leaders of the detachment sent from the temple a while ago was well known by that point, and caused many of the later detachments to either stay out of his path or look at him strangely. It was a breath of fresh air that the representative they chose actually had their mind in the right place, though. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll pardon me for being rude, but some of your juniors could have used some more tempering on their character.¡± ¡°A fair assessment. If they were from my monastery I would have whipped their backs raw and bloody for acting that way,¡± replied the old woman with a scoff, clearly herself not a fan of how some of the other temple guards and priests behaved. ¡°Too many forget that our reason for existence, our holy purpose is to serve the gods as their swords and shields in the mortal realm and instead devolve into indulgence and folly. Even many amongst my equal aren¡¯t spared from such lackings.¡± ¡°An epidemic that affects many of the younger generation, I¡¯m afraid,¡± replied Sir DelVillar with a more friendly tone at the old woman. ¡°I have seen such cases amongst the younger knights and soldiers as well, though like you, I strive to eradicate such behavior from amongst my people. The others could do whatever, I will not stand for such nonsense from my own.¡± ¡°It would seem that we share much in common in that perspective, Sir,¡± replied Mother Magdalene with a slight smile on her wrinkled face. Unlike most of the other priests and temple guards Alissa had met, the old woman was one that looked as if her entire existence was based around discipline and hard work, which was a rather rare thing all considered. ¡°I look forward to working with the famous Immovable Boulder on the field of battle.¡± ¡°I look forward to working with you too, Mother Magdalene,¡± replied Sir DelVillar as he gave the old woman a respectful nod. ¡°By the way, how many of your people will you bring with you? I will need to make arrangements for the garrison depending on the number you¡¯ll be bringing along.¡± ¡°I will have everyone of ours who could keep up join this fight. All of them who can do that. That leaves mostly our juniors and some of the weaker priests, I guess,¡± replied the old woman with a clearly disgusted scoff at the ¡®weaker¡¯ priests who were incapable of keeping up with a military unit on the move. Clearly she had very high standards for her own people. ¡°That would be¡­ ten fourth tiers, including myself, and around four hundred of our third tier youngsters.¡± ¡°That¡¯s plenty, between your group and the [Heroes] we will have enough high-end combat power that I can leave most of my fellows to stand guard here and be assured of this place¡¯s safety. I will take only a few who have more supportive roles with us,¡± replied Sir DelVillar with a nod. ¡°I hope your companions will be able to follow my command on this expedition?¡± ¡°Certainly, Sir. You are the commander after all. That said, I know what you worried about. Rest assured I will beat it into their thick skulls myself to follow your orders to the letter while we¡¯re working with you,¡± replied the old woman sternly. The way she acted reminded Alissa of old nuns disciplining her charges from some shows she watched in her previous world. ¡°Very well, then. I will have the supplies prepared for our journey, and then some. Please have your respective groups prepared for departure. We will depart on the morrow,¡± said Sir DelVillar before he dismissed the gathering. The next morning, the expedition army to reinforce Wesson Gorge departed from Fort Abernal, their numbers bolstered by the temple¡¯s contingent and totaling nearly five thousand five hundred strong. Unlike a typical army where their traveling speed were limited by the speed of the carriages they traveled on and carried their supplies, the entire army marched out on foot, each member relying on their own physical capabilities to move at a high speed and to carry their supplies with them. Every member of the army carried large bundles of supplies on their backs, with the stronger ones carrying ones so large it would probably have filled an entire carriage on its own. Each person carried the amount they were capable of carrying while still maintaining a swift movement pace at the same time, and the supplies they carried were arguably enough for an army twice their own size, when the total amount was considered. ¡°Why did we bring so much in terms of supplies, sir? Did you expect a prolonged confrontation?¡± asked Alissa while they traveled. She easily caught up to Sir DelVillar whose speed wasn¡¯t that great to ask him the question despite carrying enough supplies to fill a carriage on her back. It was heavy, but not unlike hiking with a full backpack, she felt. Ethan carried an even more exaggerated amount of supplies on his back, as did a few other strength-focused fourth tiers. ¡°We brought enough to feed ourselves for a month, the rest I plan to distribute to the cities and towns that are likely having trouble dealing with an influx of refugees near the battlefield,¡± replied Sir DelVillar with a satisfied nod. ¡°Some of those places are too small to have large stores of food to deal with this sort of emergency, so I figure we¡¯ll help lighten their burden since we¡¯re passing by.¡± ¡°I see, which places will we be helping, then?¡± asked Alissa, feeling more motivated by the old knight¡¯s plan. ¡°Some of the places we pass by won¡¯t be dealing with refugees since they¡¯re far enough, others would be large enough to deal with it on their own,¡± said Sir DelVillar openly. ¡°Most of the extra supplies we brought are intended for Eastcliff. That¡¯s a small town north of Fort Gurzil, a few days north of the present defenses. That place is too small to support the refugees that would be flocking their way.¡± 217 - A Town in Turmoil ¡°What¡­ happened here?¡± Alissa couldn¡¯t help but mutter when she saw the state the town of Eastcliff was in by the time the expedition force reached it. Eastcliff was in shambles, some buildings still showing burn marks, while others were razed to the ground. Some other places showed clear signs of having been broken into, while both the local temple and the mayor¡¯s mansion were vandalized and pretty much destroyed, as were the businesses owned by several mercantile houses in town. Not even the people were spared. Several dead bodies hung from nearby trees, and from the way Mother Magdalene frowned, some of them seemed to belong to the local temple¡¯s priests and guards. Given the location of the other bodies, they probably belonged to the mayor and the merchants whose places had been ransacked. As for the townspeople, everyone pretty much shirked away when they spotted the army detachment¡¯s arrival, the people locking themselves inside their homes, with only some peeking out of the windows. From the glares she could feel, Alissa could tell that the locals had no good feeling to spare for the army, as she could feel the suspicion and hostility from their eyes. Not everyone had gone to the town, only a group of mostly fourth tiers and around a hundred or so third tiers with the excess supplies on their backs, since those could catch up to the rest faster after they were done handing over the supplies. The larger portion of the expedition continued on their way to the defensive positions at the front lines further south. ¡°I have a few guesses, but it¡¯s better to make certain in times like these. Valis, take five with you and find out exactly what happened. You can drop the supplies here for now,¡± said Sir DelVillar as he commanded one of the fourth tiers he brought from Fort Abernal. The fourth tier woman in question nodded and picked five of the third tiers with her before they went further into the city to investigate. ¡°Let¡¯s offload the supplies here for the time being and take a break until she returns.¡± In the end, it had not taken too long ¨C maybe thirty minutes or so ¨C before the woman in question returned with a rather awkward look on her face and whispered her reports to Sir DelVillar. From the way the old knight¡¯s expression twitched for a moment, Alissa guessed that the contents of the report must have been a rather unpleasant one to hear. ¡°Bloody hells in a handbasket,¡± cursed Sir DelVillar rather vehemently after he listened to the report in its entirety. From the way he frowned Alissa could tell immediately that the situation was likely an unpleasant one, or at least one that the old knight found distasteful. ¡°This sort of shit is why I hate working with short-sighted fools. They always ruin the situation when you want it to happen the least.¡± ¡°What actually happened?¡± asked Mother Magdalene, this time with a rather curious tone of voice. The old woman had never seen Sir DelVillar curse vehemently like that before, which likely attracted her attention. She was likely also curious as to what led to the murder of the local clergy, to the point that some of the bodies were downright desecrated. ¡°Can you brief us on the actual situation here?¡± ¡°What happened was the gods-damned brainless fool of a mayor and your local priests working together with the merchants to stock up food to sell at a sky high price rather than distribute them amongst the starving people and refugees,¡± stated Sir DelVillar without bothering to hide his disgust at the situation. ¡°Doing that while the town is crowded by hungry refugees¡­ that was just a literal pile of kindling waiting for a spark to ignite the whole mess.¡± ¡°And what triggered¡­ whatever happened here, then, Sir?¡± asked Alissa with a more neutral tone. Since the situation involved both the local authority and the local clergy, it was probably difficult for Sir DelVillar or Mother Magdalene to remain unbiased, so as a somewhat unrelated third party, she figured it might be wise to remind them of her and her party¡¯s presence. ¡°It¡¯s quite an unbelievable story, but Valis corroborated it with multiple witnesses. Apparently someone broke into the temple¡¯s storehouse and robbed their stockpile of food before distributing it to the starving people all over the town four nights ago,¡± said Sir DelVillar. ¡°Take a guess how the local clergy reacted to that the next morning?¡± ¡°Considering that they¡¯re all strung up on the trees, the worthless idiots must have tried to do something stupid like confiscating the food back from the already starving people,¡± said Mother Magdalene while covering her face with one calloused hand. ¡°I know that there have been plenty of bad eggs in the temple lately, but to fail their duty to such an extent and then to go even further with their greed and corruption¡­ If they hadn¡¯t already been hung to death days ago by the Gods I¡¯d love to personally hang them myself.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. From the emotional way the old woman said it, Alissa guessed that she was completely serious with that sentiment. She really would have hung the local clergy in person if she had caught them in the act, but Unfortunately they were late by several days and the townspeople had clearly already taken the matter into their own hands in the meantime. ¡°About right. Because of their heavy-handed methods in trying to confiscate the stolen food back from the starving people, the city descended into a riot three days ago. Apparently during the rioting the locals also found out that the mayor and the merchants had been stockpiling large amounts of food supplies as well, so they strung them up too,¡± continued Sir DelVillar with a shrug. ¡°Can¡¯t blame them, really. Those merchants had been fishing in muddled waters by selling food at exorbitant prices. All while hundreds of people already starved to death.¡± ¡°Then what will we be doing, Sir?¡± asked Alissa once more. ¡°Originally we had planned to just drop off some food supplies and let the local authorities deal with the distribution. From the looks of it, though, there¡¯s no more of said local authorities to do that. Things here would normally get ugly under normal circumstances, when there¡¯s time to investigate properly and find out just who instigated the crowd, but under these conditions, chances are good that by the time we have the leeway to investigate, the traces would have long gone cold,¡± said the Old Knight with a sigh. ¡°Right now, I think most of the townspeople are still sensitive to us soldiers and clergy, judging from their reaction, so it wouldn¡¯t be the best idea for us to stay and distribute the supplies either.¡± ¡°In that case, can I help, Sir?¡± volunteered Alissa. ¡°I¡¯m technically neither part of the army nor the clergy, and I¡¯m pretty sure I can take care of myself,¡± she added. ¡°Once I¡¯m done distributing the supplies and setting up some semblance of order here, I can catch up at the frontline? Shouldn¡¯t take me more than a day to cover the distance if I go all-out.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a bad suggestion, honestly,¡± stated Mother Magdalene with a thoughtful look on her face. ¡°While I would like to redeem the clergy¡¯s face after the folly the idiots here committed, that can wait for later. Right now these people need both food and order to get some semblance of normalcy back into their lives. One of the [Heroes] helping out might well wake enough of them up from their frenzy and hostility to do just that.¡± ¡°Since Miss O¡¯Connor volunteered, I have nothing to say against it. I¡¯ll leave twenty of the fastest amongst the third tier to help you out,¡± said Sir DelVillar. ¡°We should be able to hold out pretty well at the frontline, but if you can, please do try to catch up in a week or so at most,¡± he added. ¡°If you¡¯re fine with that we¡¯ll leave the supplies here and let you handle the situation as you see fit.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine with me, Sir,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. She figured a single additional fourth tier wouldn¡¯t have that much effect at the frontline anyway, and she couldn¡¯t exactly turn a blind eye to the mess that was Eastcliff¡¯s current situation. Maybe if she had never visited the place, she could do so, but she was present there, and there was no way for her to just shelve it at the back of her head. ¡°Do take some caution, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said Mother Magdalene while most of the group other than the people left behind to help Alissa unloaded the supplies on their back and prepared to leave. ¡°Whoever robbed the temple clearly knew what they were doing and the effect it would have, since it would be impossible to hide the passage of such a large amount of food supplies. Someone incited this riot, probably for good cause, sure, but I would advise remaining vigilant all the same.¡± ¡°I had the same suspicions myself, Mother Magdalene,¡± replied Alissa with a nod. What the old woman said was true, and if someone was capable of robbing the temple¡¯s storehouse clean like that, they would likely also be able to easily discern the personalities of the people in charge of the temple. As such, they definitely knew that a riot was very likely the outcome of their ¡®charitable¡¯ actions. Whether that someone was a provocateur looking to further muddy the waters or some misguided people with noble intentions, Alissa had no idea, but it was true that depending on which sort of individual she faced, they might prove to be troublesome. It was not that she had anything to fear from the local civilians. Push comes to shove, she was confident in being able to at least escape unharmed with the soldiers left to her without hurting anyone. Even so, the town and its people might not be able to handle the chaotic situation for long. The order in Eastcliff had gone down the drain, pretty much, with the locals and refugees practically wandering around in groups. A good part of the food supplies they liberated from the temple or the merchants had been eaten voraciously on that first day of rioting, to the point that some people died from eating too much when their stomachs had been starving for a long while. Those who lived on showed more caution, and rationed the remaining food supplies, but the fact remained that there wasn¡¯t enough for everyone for a longer period of time. The people in Eastcliff had maybe food for a week left after the rioting ended, and tension began to build up because of that, as everyone knew that once all the food was eaten, there would be no more. The only way to get more would be to snatch it from others, but the townspeople had yet to fall that low before Alissa arrived. It naturally did not escape the townspeople¡¯s notice that she brought a large amount of food supplies with her, enough to keep the town going for a couple weeks to a month more, if rationed properly. Alissa directed the twenty soldiers left to her to first store the food inside several empty homes near the center of the town, then she stood in the center of the town square and loudly proclaimed her identity to the townspeople in hearing range. She promised them that she had come to help and would not pursue what they had done before her arrival, and that she had brought more food supplies for the whole town. All they needed to do was to restore some semblance of order to the town and line up for their rations. Some locals had greedy thoughts upon noticing her arrival, but most were like people who had been awakened from their reverie as they realized what they had been doing over the past few days. 218/CCXVIII - A Semblance of Order ¡°Please line up in an orderly manner. We¡¯ve brought enough for everyone!¡± yelled Alissa as she stood near the entrance of the building they borrowed to distribute the supplies they had brought. With the burning of the mayor¡¯s mansion ¨C and the lack of a family register of any sort ¨C it was rather tricky to distribute the food supplies while ensuring that nobody doubled up on their share, so she opted for a simple solution instead. Every person in town was to lead their whole family over to get their share, with young children counting for half a share of food each. The adults would bring their own containers, be it sacks, pots, pans, urns, or whatever else could store the food supplies, and the soldiers left under Alissa¡¯s command would distribute accordingly as per the number of people in a family. Given the rioting and the deaths that took place during it, they likely had enough to share the food that way with more to spare in the end anyway. After the food had been distributed, another soldier would draw a loop around the family¡¯s right wrists using some ink. The ink was not water soluble and thus the mark would remain for a good while before it faded naturally after a couple weeks or so, which made it sufficient for Alissa¡¯s needs, namely to stop people from double-dipping on the rations they were sharing. Because of course some people tried to do exactly that. Other than the five soldiers inside the building who were in charge of handing out the rations, another five soldiers were guarding the other buildings where more rations were stored. Their presence ¨C and obvious flaring of their auras as late third tiers ¨C proved to be enough to deter those who had greedy or evil thoughts so far. The other ten soldiers assigned to Alissa, she had stationed at random locations around the city¡¯s main roads, to look after those who were leaving with their share of food and made sure that they would reach their homes unmolested. There had been a couple cases early on where some people tried to rob others of their share of rations, but the soldiers responded rapidly and with extreme prejudice, the results predictably fatal, and since then no other cases had been reported. Alissa might be a softie at heart compared to the locals who were used to the endless warfare and the compromises such a situation called for, but she was not foolish either. People who kept trying to rob others even when it was made obvious that everyone was about to get their share were unlikely to change their ways. Perhaps if this was in her previous world, she would argue that they might be put behind bars, that there might be hope to reform their character. Ephemera had no such leeway or luxury, however. She had neither the opportunity, the resources, nor the time to do so. As such, she could only make a decision with gritted teeth to stop those people from harming others ever again. To their credit, the soldiers she gave the command to just nodded as if they understood her thoughts. Given that they were all older, it would not be strange for them to have experienced something similar in their past. Other than such early incidents, the food distribution had gone pretty well. Alissa¡¯s group distributed enough food for people to live on for at least two weeks even if they ate normally, easily enough for a month if they rationed it themselves, even more with stricter rationing. Other than grains and flour, they also distributed smaller portions of things like dried meats and vegetables to enrich the diet the people would have to subsist on. Fortunately for her, whoever the culprit was that triggered the rioting in the first place did not seem to have done anything so far, either against her, the soldiers with her, or the stockpile of food supplies they brought with them. That allowed Alissa to at least breathe in relief as the trouble they faced weren¡¯t being compounded further by the unknown culprit. Her team had been working practically non-stop for the past two days, distributing the supplies they brought with them to the local populace, both the original townspeople and the refugees. The additional influx of food supplies did a lot to calm down the populace¡¯s simmering temper and to calm them down, in some ways a promise that things would get better. It was late in the evening of the second day that they finally finished the distribution, and although people in the higher tiers wouldn¡¯t really be affected too much by skipping sleep for a day or two, the entire group still felt tired. There were leftovers from the food supplies they brought, a sizable enough sum that Alissa planned to look for someone trustworthy enough to hand it to before she left with the soldiers in the near future. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. As she yawned, she made her way out of the house they temporarily commanded to distribute the supplies from. The other soldiers were already resting in the house ¨C they were used to cramped conditions and had no complaints about it ¨C while part of them stood watch, and while Alissa was feeling tired too, she felt obligated to take a look around the city herself that night to make sure that things were going well. Fortunately, the food distribution had the calming effect Alissa hoped for, and most of the people in the city remained at their residences ¨C or makeshift shelters, for the refugees ¨C with steam and smoke rising from many places as they cooked their food. The city entered a deceptive calm that belied the bloody rioting that happened a mere few days ago, which showed just how fast people could change their tune. As Alissa moved around some of the less populated areas of the city, however, she suddenly felt as if someone was watching her. Moreover, whoever was doing it did so openly, not hiding their presence in the slightest. In fact, Alissa could feel that they were approaching towards her, if rather slowly. Curious as to who the other party might be, she took a gamble and moved to an unpopulated block of the city where the buildings had been burned during the rioting earlier. The area used to be the city¡¯s upper class district, where rich merchants and minor landlords had their residences, but they were the worst off as the raging mobs looted and burned the whole place down during the rioting. Alissa stood in the middle of a patch of burned ruins that had enough walls left standing to shield her from prying eyes and waited. Sure enough, the watcher caught on to her intent and arrived before long. While Alissa almost jumped in surprise when she saw how some indistinct ooze suddenly rose up from the floor, recognition dawned upon her features the next moment as she recalled just who amongst the people she knew was a shapeshifter these days. Sure enough, the amorphous shape settled down into Esperanza¡¯s distinct features after a moment. ¡°Heya, Zaza. I guess I don¡¯t need to look for whoever was the culprit that robbed the temple and set off the rioting anymore, huh?¡± greeted Alissa with a bit of a tease. The capabilities of whoever robbed the temple¡¯s stock had to be on the high end, given how they managed to empty the storehouse without alerting the priests and the guards that lived there. If Esperanza was the culprit, that would add up to what Alissa knew about her old friend, who she assumed was even stronger than herself at this point, given that she was close to the fourth tier now. ¡°Guilty as charged, officer,¡± replied Esperanza, returning the jest with a grin back at her. ¡°What, are you going to arrest me and read my rights so I could be judged at the court of law next?¡± ¡°As if,¡± replied Alissa with a somewhat amused scoff. ¡°Can¡¯t say I¡¯m a fan of mob justice, but then again, even if you didn¡¯t do what you did, chances are good that some of the people I came here with would¡¯ve found out the shit that was going on and strung up those people all the same, anyway, so all you really did was expedite things some.¡± ¡°Oh, really? That¡¯s an unexpected one,¡± replied Esperanza with some curiosity at the people Alissa mentioned. ¡°The older knights I travel with are very much of the sort that swore to protect the people, and not the institution, if you get my drift. They also got rank to pull so the mayor would¡¯ve been fucked had he still been alive when we came here,¡± explained Alissa with a slight chuckle and a bit of fondness at the straightforward ways of those old knights. ¡°There was also a rather unusual Mother from the temple guards who¡¯s very straight-laced, if you get what I mean.¡± ¡°How straight-laced are we talking about here? Mother superiors from sitcom level straight-laced?¡± asked Esperanza with some interest. ¡°Take that and turn the dial up to eleven. She¡¯d literally string the priests in charge of the local temple herself if they were still alive, I¡¯m pretty sure,¡± said Alissa with a shake of her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be able to get along with her. She¡¯s clearly as devout as it gets, but in some ways, also pretty respectable as a person, if you know what I mean?¡± ¡°I get your drift. Enemies can be respectable people too, depending on the situation,¡± said Esperanza with a nod. ¡°So then, I assume you came here as part of the army moving about? The fighting¡¯s further south from here, last I heard.¡± ¡°Yeah, I figured that I need power of my own to be able to truly decide my own path here in this world, and for now working with the Kingdom¡¯s army would get me that power the fastest,¡± admitted Alissa openly. ¡°Say¡­ before we departed from Fort Abernal I remembered that one of the groups of priests and temple guards supposed to join us was late and had yet to arrive. Did you happen to have anything to do with that?¡± ¡°I did kill off a bunch of them, yeah. Burned down one of their monasteries too, though you might have been too far to have heard the news before you left,¡± said Esperanza nonchalantly. ¡°I think you can understand that from my point of view everyone associated with the temple will end up as my enemies, so I¡¯m just cutting down on the numbers a little when I have an opportunity.¡± ¡°Yeah, not going to blame you on that when the temple folk would want nothing more than to burn you up at the stake if they ever knew of your existence,¡± replied Alissa with a sigh. ¡°I tried probing a little bit about situations like yours, people like the ones you told me about, and the only response I got was along the lines of ¡®heretics needing purification by fire¡¯, so I can¡¯t argue with you on this.¡± ¡°You sure it¡¯s safe to do that? Some of the temple¡¯s higher-ups might get uppity and try to keep you quiet if you ask around too much,¡± replied Esperanza with a chuckle. ¡°Don¡¯t they always do that in those stories we loved to read back then?¡± ¡°I know what you mean, yeah. I¡¯ve always played off the asking around as being inquisitive since I arrived here, though. If they wanted to keep me from asking questions, they¡¯ve long lost the best chance to do that, and hopefully soon they¡¯ll lose any chance to do that at all,¡± replied Alissa with a bout of amused laughter of her own. The reminder of the novels they liked to read tickled her somewhat. It felt like those days were so far behind them, at times. ¡°So, then, let¡¯s get to the more serious question, Zaza. What do you plan to do here, or after you leave this place?¡± 219/CCXIX - Coordinating Plans ¡°Honestly? I¡¯m most likely traveling further west, maybe make life a bit more unpleasant for the priests of the temple where I can, but otherwise keeping a low profile,¡± replied Esperanza openly. She trusted Alissa enough to be honest, but it was not honesty without insurance. Esperanza also had confidence in her group¡¯s ability to keep their trail hidden, barring special circumstances like with the temple guards back then. ¡°Why did you ask? Do you need a hand with the fighting or something?¡± ¡°Mostly just curious, and can¡¯t really say for sure since I haven¡¯t seen the current situation at the frontline yet,¡± replied Alissa with a shake of her head. ¡°The demons took Fort Gurzil in a single day so that caught everyone off-guard. If they had chosen to press on harder, they would have been able to push much further into the kingdom¡¯s territory by now, but they hadn¡¯t done that¡­¡± ¡°So your side suspects that the demons responsible for taking down the fort might not even be here anymore, probably aiming for another area, huh?¡± guessed Esperanza after a moment of thought. Neither of them could claim to be versed in military matters, but even they could make guesses on things like feints and the likes, especially when it was an obvious one like what Alissa described. ¡°It likely isn¡¯t a ploy to lower your guard here either. That¡¯d give the demons no real benefit and you people aren¡¯t going to let your guard down in the first place.¡± ¡°Precisely. It¡¯s why the forces nearby only sent small detachments as reinforcements. Nobody dared to shift a large amount of troops in case their place might be the next to be targeted by the demons,¡± admitted Alissa. ¡°At least that¡¯s what Sir Inolet explained to me. The logic fits, and if it is what the demons intended, they are succeeding so far.¡± ¡°Sir Inolet? I think you¡¯ve mentioned that name before¡­¡± ¡°Ah, he¡¯s the old knight that has been training me and Ethan for the most part since we got summoned here. Fought in the previous war, one of the strongest people in the kingdom,¡± explained Alissa who realized that she had not done so before. ¡°Also he¡¯s not much of a fan of either the royal family or the temple. Other old knights like him basically banded together and formed a third faction in the kingdom¡¯s power politics.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised they even allowed that to happen, but I¡¯m guessing that since you said he is one of the strongest in the kingdom, some of his other friends likely counted amongst that number as well?¡± asked Esperanza. ¡°That would explain how they managed to get off the ground at all. People in power usually hate seeing rivals rise, as far as I can tell.¡± ¡°More than half of the strongest ten people in the kingdom and the majority of the strongest hundred are part of their group, as far as I know,¡± admitted Alissa based on what the old knights had told her. ¡°They simply possess too much power for either the royal family or the temple to be able to do anything to them without sustaining grievous losses to the kingdom as a whole. Sir DelVillar is supposedly tied for the strongest in the kingdom along with someone under the Royal Family¡¯s employ and an old Bishop from the temple.¡± ¡°That would give them the capital to hold their own, all right. Power is definitely something we need to be able to make our own choices in this world, as you have realized yourself,¡± noted Esperanza with a wistful sigh. ¡°When do you plan to head out of Eastcliff and catch up with the other soldiers? I know they¡¯re fighting a few days to the south from here.¡± ¡°Tomorrow morning, before noon. We plan to catch up to the main force by going full speed, why?¡± asked Alissa in turn. ¡°There are going to be plenty of fourth tiers at the battlefront. My own group brought like a dozen, not counting my party. If you want to cross over to the demon territories you might want to avoid getting too close to the battle.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m well aware of that. Hard to miss them since they don¡¯t even bother hiding their presence when they pass by here. I count at least two and a half dozen fourth tiers out there, probably three or more, since I can¡¯t always get a clear read on those that passed by from the other side of the gorge,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. ¡°Your group¡¯s easily the one with the most fourth tiers in it though.¡± ¡°I guess it¡¯s to be expected. Most smaller forts and towns wouldn¡¯t have one stationed in them, or if they do, it might just be the one,¡± noted Alissa in agreement. ¡°As far as I could tell the kingdom tends to concentrate their fourth tiers in the key defensive bases, which I guess counted for the places I¡¯ve been in so far.¡± ¡°Makes sense. Spreading yourself thin when the other side already has the numerical advantage is just asking to be crushed,¡± replied Esperanza. ¡°I might be able to do something that would make things easier on your end along the way, but don¡¯t count on it, at least not quickly, since we¡¯d have to sneak through the border first to do it.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°That would be appreciated, though I¡¯m honestly surprised you are willing to do something that¡¯d help out the kingdom¡¯s side in the end,¡± stated Alissa with some curiosity. ¡°Come to think of it, way back in the east, before we assaulted the demon camp near Fort Ixlay, there were reports of sabotage in the demon territories nearby, was that also your doing?¡± ¡°Was that near the mountain range? If so, we did hit several demon camps along the way, yeah. That was some distance from the frontlines, though,¡± queried Esperanza, to which Alissa replied with a nod. ¡°In the end, this war happening for longer would be to my patrons¡¯ benefit, if I end up having to go against the world. It would be easier when both the kingdom and the demons had beaten each other silly first than otherwise. It¡¯s as simple as that, honestly.¡± ¡°As for why I helped the kingdom¡¯s side instead of the demons, it¡¯s because we all know that the demons are the stronger side here. If I help them out and sabotage the kingdom they might well win easily, which I¡¯m sure none of us want,¡± she added. ¡°I guess you can consider my motives selfish, cruel, even, since it entails the war happening for longer and likely causing more people to die in the process, but it is what it is.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I completely agree with what you¡¯re doing, but also that I¡¯m not sure I would be able to do better, in your place, to be honest, so I guess for the time being we should keep progressing our respective goals,¡± admitted Alissa with a sigh. ¡°I guess we should split up? People might get suspicious if I didn¡¯t return for too long. Any way I can contact you in the future?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ that¡¯d be a bit tricky given our circumstances, but if you happen to be somewhere safe enough to meet with me, you can try heading to whichever forest is nearest and let your aura flare openly. I can detect that and notice you even from afar,¡± said Esperanza. ¡°Mind you, don¡¯t expect me to be anywhere near your military bases or the like, unless it¡¯s one of the temple¡¯s that I¡¯m ransacking.¡± ¡°Understandable. I¡¯ll see you later, then?¡± ¡°See you later. Adios, Allie.¡± Alissa returned from her patrol and reassured the soldiers she was assigned that everything was fine after a while. She also had them make preparations for departure on the following day, something the soldiers did with gusto as they clearly wanted to be at the frontlines, fighting with their compatriots instead of dealing with the situation at Eastcliff. It was an understandable sentiment, even if Alissa had to frown a bit on it. The detachment gathered some representatives from amongst the townspeople and refugees, people that had been chosen by the same folks in question themselves, and handed the remaining excess supplies to them. They themselves brought none of the supplies with them since it was all intended for Eastcliff to begin with, and since they plan to reach the frontline base by the night, there would be minimal need for supplies along the way. After the handover, the detachment left Eastcliff and after one final look at the town, took off at full speed towards the south. Alissa even used her buff skills to help the group speed up some more, and the others similarly used what skills they had that could increase their traveling speed. Within a minute, the detachment had gone far enough away that they could no longer be seen by the naked eye. At least, for a normal person. Esperanza kept track of Alissa¡¯s departure from atop the town¡¯s bell tower, where her group had been hiding these past few days, until they eventually vanished behind the horizon far away. Only then did she give a nod to the rest of the infiltration team behind her. They had taken care to remove their traces before the army came, though fortunately the army left quickly and only left Alissa¡¯s little detachment behind, which made things more convenient for them. ¡°What shall we do next, Exalted One?¡± asked Tiara after a moment of silence. The young girl had been quite nervous ¨C justifiably so, given the presence of many fourth tiers who would have considered her a heretic to be burned at the stake just days ago ¨C during the time they hid, but fortunately controlled herself well enough to not give anything away. ¡°First, we gather with those still at the forest,¡± said Esperanza in reply as she watched over the town¡¯s people. After the rioting the people managed to vent their pent-up frustrations and anger, and while the situation remained tense afterwards, it was more stable, since everyone had some food to use. There were some who robbed others even under such conditions, some got away with it, but others were caught and often beaten to death by the still-emotional masses. Alissa¡¯s arrival had further stabilized Eastcliff¡¯s situation, as had her unexpected choice to summarily execute people who tried to rob the distributed food supplies from others. She had unknowingly taken care of the few who got away with robbing others after the rioting, which rendered the town mostly safe, especially now that their worries of starvation were no longer there, at least for a while. The townspeople and refugees had enough to tide them over until either more help arrived or the battle in the south reached a conclusion, either of which would alter the situation some more. ¡°Afterwards, we¡¯ll discuss our future course together. I have something in mind, but I¡¯m not certain if we could pull it off or not, and even if we could, I wouldn¡¯t go for it unless we could do it safely,¡± continued Esperanza, thinking of her talk with Alissa the previous night. ¡°I don¡¯t want to risk any of you just to help someone else. That¡¯s not worth it, not in this case, at least.¡± After they heard what Esperanza said, the rest of the group gathered behind her exchanged looks and nods with one another. They had faith in Esperanza. To them, she was a messenger from the Deities of Yore they had always worshiped all their lives. To hear from herself that she wouldn¡¯t risk them needlessly was a confirmation that furthered that belief in her, however, since they would have risked themselves at her command without any qualms. A couple hours after Alissa¡¯s detachment left Eastcliff, Esperanza brought her group out of the town as well, with none the wiser, as they headed to the forest where the rest of their group had hidden themselves. CCXX - Sneaking Through Borders ¡°If you wish for it, then it shall be done, Exalted One,¡± said Ani after Esperanza¡¯s group returned to the forest and she briefed the older warrior woman of her intentions. Ani showed no reluctance at Esperanza¡¯s plan, and even radiated a sense of confidence instead. ¡°Such a task should be relatively easy for us to do, at this point.¡± ¡°You think so?¡± asked Esperanza with some surprise. She had consulted Ani many times in their previous strikes on demon bases, and the woman had clearly been more cautious in those days. At present, though, instead of caution she had an attitude that suggested that what Esperanza had planned was rather trivial for the group to perform. ¡°Can you elaborate your reasoning a bit on that?¡± All that despite how the place they planned to hit this time would be closer to the frontlines than ever before, with likely more and stronger demons on guard. As such, Esperanza was rather taken aback by the unusual confidence Ani showed compared to the past, and couldn¡¯t help but ask for more clarification on the matter. ¡°We were weaker, and the [Progenies of Yore] less experienced at that time,¡± stated Ani bluntly. Back when they struck several bases in the demon¡¯s territories, the children in question were indeed still lower in level, and less used to fighting, especially against people. At the present, however, most of them only lagged a level or two behind Esperanza, who was on her way to hit the fourth tier in the near future herself, and they had fought against elites without giving ground. ¡°So you feel we¡¯re now strong enough to pull off such an attack without much risk to ourselves or the children, que?¡± asked Esperanza back for more confirmation. If the older, more experienced Ani was that confident, it was a good omen, since the woman was more experienced than she herself was in such matters. ¡°Yes. My own people have benefited greatly from our travels so far and have reached the fourth tier one and all. We must not disparage ourselves, Exalted One. Each of the children are easily equal to a mid-level fourth tier these days. A force of twenty fourth tiers is something even an army would consider twice before engaging,¡± said Ani with a confident nod. ¡°We would be able to sneak around far easier, since we have the power to make sure that we won¡¯t be found, or that any who somehow found us would not make it back to report our presence.¡± ¡°Fair point, I guess,¡± admitted Esperanza. She was still somewhat unfamiliar with the power structure in Ephemera compared to the natives, but Ani¡¯s reminder that their group had the equivalent of twenty combat-oriented fourth tiers was an obvious one. Ani and the infiltrators had mentioned to her that they rarely ever saw that amount of fourth tiers gathered in one place other than when large battles were happening. In most cases a town or a base that¡¯s further away from the frontlines would only have one or two fourth tiers ¨C if they had any at all ¨C presiding over it, like the bases the group had struck in the demon territories back then. Only large cities and military bases of importance would have more, which tended to be where most of the fourth tier combatants gathered other than the frontlines. On the frontlines, they were instead distributed depending on the situation, with more important places having more people looking after it. The speed with which such people could often travel helped ensure that they would be able to respond rapidly to a developing situation, in some ways serving as the rapid response teams of the frontlines. From what Esperanza heard of Alissa, the [Heroes]¡¯ party was also already equivalent to fourth tiers ¨C if more on the lower end ¨C in power. They had been stationed at important spots so far, since the three places they had been to were heavily guarded by over twenty fourth tiers each. Most places would have had no such luxury, and Alissa¡¯s group alone was equivalent to adding on another eleven fourth tiers to the mix, to boot. ¡°Have everyone prepare to move out. We¡¯ll leave by dawn tomorrow,¡± said Esperanza in the end, having made her decision after the discussion with Ani. Ani relayed her words obediently to the others, and after they spent the night as usual in the forest, the group moved out together by the morning as she commanded them. Like they had always done so far, the group mostly traveled through forests or other uninhabited areas, veering a bit eastwards, since they knew that there would be a military base at the end of the gorge that ran between Eastcliff and Westcliff. When they came across roads that cut through the forests, they¡¯d cross rapidly when there was nobody in sight, cleaning up their trails to ensure that their presence remained hidden from prying eyes. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. By the evening, the group was already close to the frontline where the battles took place, and they veered even further eastwards to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t get caught up in the fighting. The next morning they passed by the temporary camp made by the human army ¨C where Alissa was ¨C and slipped closer towards the nebulous border between the human kingdom and the demon territories. Quite naturally, both sides had sentries and patrols to watch out for infiltrators from the other side, but with the vast area those watchmen had to look after, it was still relatively easy to slip past them, especially when one¡¯s prowess was so many times greater than the guards in question. Esperanza¡¯s group actually crossed the border in the simplest manner. They simply gathered together closely and Esperanza covered them all under her [Veil of Entropy] as they slipped past the sentries from both sides, slipping into the demon-conquered areas with nobody the wiser. Her skill alone was more than enough to hide the group¡¯s passage from the watchers along the border, and once they reached the demon-conquered area, they went further south while still staying in uninhabited regions. After their victory, the demons had naturally taken over Fort Gurzil and used it as their base. In fact, a lot of the demon bases Esperanza had dealt with were likely the kingdom¡¯s bases that the demons took over in the previous war along with the territory. Even from afar, Esperanza could tell that there were at least a couple dozen fourth tiers if not more in Fort Gurzil, so she and her group hid their auras and snuck past the fort cautiously. It was hard for her to tell whether the humans or the demons had brought more force to the battle, but they seemed pretty evenly matched as far as Esperanza could tell. What Esperanza had in mind was to sabotage the demons¡¯ war efforts, while having the humans play scapegoat for their deeds, like they had done previously. While Fort Gurzil was too well-guarded at the moment, since the battle had died down and the demons had returned to the place, it was likely guarded more relaxedly during the day, when both sides were fighting. That gave her group a possible opening to abuse in order to mess with the demons when they were vulnerable. Also, it took a great amount of food to keep the tens of thousands of demons that gathered there fed well enough to fight battles, and that food could only come from deeper in the demon territories, so Esperanza and her group laid low and watched over the situation behind the fort for a couple of days, as they learned the routes that supply convoys would take, as well as how many guards were typically assigned to such convoys. It had to be said that the demons were quite vigilant even in their own territory, as they had three of their fourth tiers stay with the supply convoy at all times, both on its way towards the fort and on the way back. Other than the three fourth tiers, the supply convoy was also guarded by around thirty more high-leveled third tiers and a couple hundred soldiers in the low third tier or high second tiers. That group of guards practically stuck to the supply convoy like glue, which made the convoy difficult to attack unless one brought a force that was capable of overwhelming them. Esperanza¡¯s group was definitely capable of that, but they also had other worries to think about, as if they brought the entire group, they would need to ensure that nobody survived to tell the tale and spread word of their existence. As for the fort, Esperanza canceled the thought she had about attempting to sabotage the place while most of the demons were out fighting. The demons left at least four or five ¨C if not more ¨C of their fourth tiers to guard the fort while they fought, which would be a tough fight for the people amongst her group that could pass ¨C or were ¨C humans to handle on their own. There were far too many demons at the fort that bringing the entire group was out of the question, as it would reveal their identity if they did so. There was simply no way they could silence so many demons reliably, or even keep them all from escaping. As such, it was not worth it for them to risk attacking the fort, so instead Esperanza thought of sabotaging the supply convoy. The route taken by the supply convoy passed through several places that would be quite convenient to set an ambush at, though the demons likely had no such worries since they ruled over the area after all. Esperanza, Ani, and the others gathered together to decide which place would be the safest to set an ambush on, since they would need to ensure that none of the enemies escaped their hands. In the end, they chose a mountainous area around three days further south, which was part of the route the supply convoy took. The mountainous area was mostly composed of lower, gently sloped mountains and wide valleys, but as it happened, two large streams originated from near the peak of the highest mountain in the chain. To cross the area between the streams, the convoy would have to climb up to a height of around three hundred feet, where a wide enough path for them to use was carved along the mountainside, then cross bridges over each stream before they could continue on their way. The mountain road was wide enough to allow two wagons to move side by side comfortably, but it was a precarious drop to one side and the sheer mountain itself on the other, so there was not much room to maneuver. While there weren¡¯t many places to hide in that area, if Esperanza¡¯s group could strike while the supply convoy was in the area between the two streams ¨C it was a long enough distance that trapping the entire convoy there was a feasible thing ¨C and they cut the bridges, the demons would have nowhere to escape to. Of course, it would be the twenty-five of them against over ten times their number in demons, but when it came to power, their group had the advantage, since their individual members were far more powerful. Only three of the demons could even give them a fight, so the fighting was not the part they worried about. Rather, it was where they could hide themselves that needed quite a bit of thought from the group since there simply weren¡¯t many places to hide on the mountain trail for the most part. There was a bend shortly after the second bridge where a group could hide easily, but the hard part was finding a place to hide for the first group that would strike at the first bridge and cut off the convoy¡¯s retreat, as it was wide open on that side. It took the group a while before they finally decided on a plan that they deemed feasible and likely to succeed. CCXXI - Ambush on the Mountain Path Two days later, a supply convoy from deeper in the demon territories traveled northwards to the captured Fort Gurzil, guarded by the sizable force that accompanied it as usual. The demon soldiers that accompanied the convoy had rather bored looks on their faces. Most of them felt that having so many people ¨C including three fourth tier fighters ¨C to guard a supply convoy was overkill, as it was doubtful that the humans would be willing to sneak a strong enough force to be able to intercept them. Both sides had snuck forces into each other¡¯s territory in the past, but in practically every instance, it was small forces. The force of six fourth tiers with nearly fifty third tiers the demons sent out ¨C which Alissa¡¯s group met ¨C back then was a rarity and took quite a bit of effort to slip through the border. Most of the time, the teams that slip through the border number in the single digits, twenty or so at most. More than that, neither the humans nor the demons were all too willing to risk their precious fourth tiers in such missions, as being on their own behind enemy lines was far from an enviable situation. The risk of such teams perishing was very high, as the other side could simply call upon more forces to overwhelm them once their existence was discovered. It was a risk neither side was all too willing to take. Of course, neither the humans nor the demons were aware that a third party was actively sabotaging both of them while they fought each other. As the supply convoy kept to a tight formation while they walked over the mountain path, they were completely unaware that behind the bend after the second bridge were a group of people waiting with ill intent. Ilavakide, Dai¡¯Vasy, as well as two of Ani¡¯s people who were best with ranged weapons and the five from Zikeal waited behind the bend, prepared to spring the ambush. The five infiltrators from Zikeal were too weak to join the ambush in melee, but they were decent enough to provide some ranged support, which was why Esperanza allowed them to participate together with the ranged group. The plan was to cut both bridges and strand the supply convoy between the streams, so the group would only have to engage them from a distance. Esperanza herself had brought the bulk of the group and hidden themselves ¨C if it could be called that ¨C in a small alcove higher up the mountain in the section between the two streams. Once the ambush was sprung, they would literally descend upon the supply convoy from above and strike them down with extreme prejudice. All the members she brought with her are people who were well suited for such a tactic. She naturally made use of [Veil of Entropy] as added insurance when the supply convoy drew closer, of course. Meanwhile, Ani would be the one who gave the signal to spring the ambush. She, along with two other of her people who were of Gour-Ug¡¯rech descent hid themselves in the bottom of the first stream, making good use of their natural advantages since to them staying underwater in the stream was nothing difficult for them. Other than them, Legisvula and the other two scouts from Ani¡¯s group also accompanied them, using their respective stealth skills to stay out of sight near the first bridge. Ani¡¯s group would leap up from the stream to block the convoy¡¯s rear guard from interfering while the scouts cut the bridge down. That would serve as the signal for Esperanza to launch her attack and for the second group to cut the other bridge down and support them from across the gap. The demons that escorted the supply convoy outnumbered Esperanza¡¯s group by tenfold, true, but out of their numbers, only three were at the fourth tier, and even then, two of the three were on the very low end of the tier, people who recently reached the tier, most likely. The third one was around the middle fourth tier and was the only serious threat to Esperanza¡¯s group. In contrast, out of Esperanza¡¯s little group of twenty-five, nineteen of them were either at the fourth tier or had enough power to match one. Ani, Esperanza, and many of the [Progenies of Yore] could handle the mid-fourth tier demon in single combat, while the rest could easily handle the other two. Most of them could also handle the weaker demons by the dozen. The only true hard part for them was to find proper hiding spots where there were few to be had, and to ensure that nobody lived to tell the tale after the ambush, as they could not afford to have their existence exposed for the time being. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It took a while for the supply convoy to pass over the first bridge, and only when the last member had stepped off the bridge did Ani¡¯s group react. She took action personally, making full use of the water manipulation abilities of her class to rise swiftly towards the bridge. The stream was a rapid one, one that would have washed away most people, but fourth tier fighters with classes linked to the water like her could handle the current if with some difficulty. As Ani burst out from the stream and landed just past the bridge, close behind the rearmost members of the supply convoy, closely followed by the two who was with her, the hidden scouts ¨C who had hidden themselves on precarious perches by the cliff beside the road ¨C climbed out, still stealthed, and quickly sliced off the ropes that held the first bridge in place. By the time the supply convoy managed to react at all, the first bridge had been cut off and fell towards the stream below. That naturally elicited an angry bellow from the leader of the convoy, the mid-fourth tier demon, and he leapt towards the back from where he was situated at the head of the convoy. The other two fourth tiers followed after him as well, which were something Esperanza¡¯s group counted on. Ani¡¯s group struck first in order to lure the enemy fourth tiers ¨C who were all likely capable of just jumping over the stream even with no bridge ¨C towards the back. It was right at that moment that Esperanza and the rest of her group came out from the alcove they were hiding in, [Veil of Entropy] dismissed, and jumped or ran down the cliff towards the supply convoy. Tiesya and Val-Kas¡¯j specifically went towards the second bridge, and as they landed, the two swiftly sliced off the ropes holding the bridge in place with their weapons before any of the demons could get across. The last group hiding behind the bend also came out as they heard the sudden commotion and rushed towards where the bridge ended on their side. The archers quickly lifted their bows and began to shoot at the demons, aiming at those further away from where their allies were fighting, while Dai¡¯Vasy worked her magic and made it even harder for the demons to retaliate. Esperanza herself aimed straight for the highest leveled demon tackling him in person as she sent out Dali and Gordy to rampage amongst the weaker demons. Nalihimatu and Resitia aimed for the other two fourth tier demons since Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya were further off to the other side, while the rest joined Dali and Gordy, attacking the demons wildly together with the rest. Silently, Esperanza also commanded Dali and Gordy to stay on guard on the cliffside, in case some of the demons tried to escape from that side out of desperation. The two dogs were capable of traversing the cliffs more easily than anyone else, and Dali in particular would be able to chase down and kill anyone trying to escape thanks to his speed and spatial skills. As for Esperanza herself, the mid fourth tier demon proved to be a bit of a challenge. The demon in question was clearly one used to charging into enemy lines on their own, given that they wielded a pair of flails as their weapons. Not the sort of thing you¡¯d swing around while your allies were within your range, to be sure, unless you had some sort of supernatural control over the chain connecting the spiky metal balls to the shafts, which this demon clearly did not. Instead he swung his weapons with horrifying speed and power at her, the openings he left behind essentially covered as another swing from his second weapon closely followed the first, and a third would closely follow the second, a clear case of a fighter who lived by the saying that the best defense was a good offense. He swung his weapons with enough force that Esperanza was forced to evade his attacks, for once. Her amorphous body was sturdy, and it was very difficult to kill her compared to another fourth tier her level and attributes, but she was still destructible and her opponent seemed to be specialized in destroying things, as he demonstrated by punching a sizable crater to the mountainside with one of his missed swings. Instead, Esperanza fought him using her own innate advantages, her flexibility and control over her shapeshifting in particular. She shed all pretenses ¨C she had adopted the usual human guise at the start of the ambush ¨C of being ¡°human¡± as her arms turned into six tentacle-like limbs, five of them tipped with bone claws and the last holding her dagger, and struck at the demon with them from difficult angles. At the same time, her legs spread out like a puddle from below the knee, acting like suction cups that allowed her to move directly on the cliff with ease while she fought against the demon in question. The demon was forced to take more measures swings as she counterattacked and had to switch to targeting her limbs instead in order to defend himself. Meanwhile, a massacre happened beneath them as the rest of Esperanza¡¯s group directly crushed the rest of the supply convoy. With their fourth tiers all occupied and no escape routes left, there was nothing the demons could have done against their assailants despite their advantage in numbers. They were just overpowered too greatly to be able to fight back. It didn¡¯t help that the bulk of the third tier demons amongst the escorts were at the front of the convoy, where Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya were. The two turned their attention to those demons after they dealt with the bridge, and quickly proved themselves to be more than a match for those demons. The two of them had already slain seven of the third tier demons in the short time since the ambush began, and even then it was only that much because the rest of the demons shied away from them, fearful of their prowess. The slaughter that ensued on the other side of the field was even more exaggerated. The rear of the convoy was mostly held by the weaker demons, those lower in the third tier or even just in their second tiers, and those had absolutely no hope in all the hells of stopping Ani, a fourth tier warrior halfway up the levels of the tier. She was an existence that only the strongest demon in the group ¨C the one Esperanza was tackling ¨C could even fight against, the number of the weaker demons rendered pointless as she crashed through their formation together with her subordinates. Legisvula and the other scouts then finished off those left behind their wake, as sometimes some of the unfortunate demons ended up with crippling injuries instead of being instantly killed. Some of the demons even flung themselves off the cliffside in desperation, taking the chance that they might survive the tumble rather than fight against Esperanza¡¯s group. Dali saw it happen and flashed down to chase after those that tumbled down the cliff, dispatching down with a bite through the neck in case the fall failed to end their lives, while Gordy spread herself into mist that devoured others trying to escape from that direction. CCXXII - Despair and Joy Esperanza had to admit that the demon she was fighting against was a skilled, experienced veteran, quite likely one that might have participated in the previous war, even. The demon was a Nevilosk and they were supposedly long-lived, with lifespans of up to two centuries or more. Despite the demon¡¯s brutish manner of fighting, it was clearly tempered by experience and situational judgment as well, which made it hard for her to take down the demon quickly. Normally she would have thought that the demon would face great difficulty defending against her attacks given his rather unwieldy weapons, but the demon used his greater experience to compensate instead. At times, it was as if the demon already guessed what move Esperanza was about to do before she even pulled it off, and that, combined with the demon¡¯s notably greater strength, allowed him to fight against her on relatively equal grounds. Similarly, the demon¡¯s soul seemed to be quite sturdy since he barely showed any effect from the side effects of Esperanza¡¯s [Far Down the Deep End], which she naturally amplified with her [Aura Mastery]. Some of the second tier demons had even directly clawed out their eyes or throats under its effects, but the older Nevilosk she faced seemed mostly unperturbed by the skill. Where the older demon had experience and strength on his side however, Esperanza was faster than he was, and more importantly, had more limbs to swing at him. Because of that, she managed to slowly but surely gain an advantage over her opponent, and definitely kept him so occupied to the point that he had no opportunity to come to the help of his compatriots who were being massacred by the rest of Esperanza¡¯s group. She sent out two of her right-side tentacles to strike towards the demon¡¯s feet, forcing him to take a step back to avoid the strikes, while at the same time the third tentacle on the right side went for the demon¡¯s head from above. The three tentacles on her left side, she used to strike at different angles towards the demon¡¯s body. Each of the tentacles writhed and jived as they struck, almost as if they were living serpents instead of just appendages, and when the demon struck with his weapons while he retreated to ward them off, they avoided his strikes as if they had eyes ¨C which they did, Esperanza had plenty and shifting some to each tentacle to get a better viewpoint was normal for her ¨C on them. The demon managed to avoid injury once more, but he was forced on the backfoot yet again. His fighting style was obvious, it was one where he would rampage within the enemy formation and steal the initiative from his foes. Esperanza forcing him into a reactive defense meant that she had the initiative in their fight, and she knew that it was hers to abuse as much as she could. As such, she pressed on. Fortunately shifting her legs to its current form where it acted like suction cups on the mountainside meant that she could devote more attention elsewhere, so she shifted some of her mass and split off two more tentacles out of her six, similarly tipped with bone blades. The additional limbs started attacking as well, the eight limbs moving in tandem with each other. Rather than have them attack one after another, which would give her foe more time to defend himself, Esperanza had all eight strike simultaneously from different directions and angles, which made it far trickier to defend properly. She also had some of them halt briefly from time to time to throw off her opponent¡¯s defensive timing before striking again. This time, her opponent¡¯s defense faltered before her onslaught, and while she only managed to inflict small wounds with two of her tentacles, Esperanza had coated all of them with [Soul Armament], so the minor wounds were not that simple, and also injured her opponent¡¯s soul directly. The old Nevilosk clearly had a rather sturdy soul given how he did not scream out in pain from the hit, but even so, he still flinched momentarily from the unexpected wounding of his soul. It was but a small opening, one that would have been too brief for most to exploit, but Esperanza was not most people. Her ¡°weapons¡± were literally part of her body, and although they had been drawn back after the strike, they were capable of returning for another attack far faster than a normal person¡¯s limbs or weapons would be able to. All eight limbs returned for another assault towards the Nevilosk one after another rather than arrange themselves for a simultaneous strike as usual before the man could react. The Nevilosk still managed to ward off five of her strikes with his flails even under such conditions, but the three that struck home did the trick. One of her tenebrous limbs pierced through the man¡¯s calf, while another slashed his forearm. The fatal blow, however, was the tentacle that managed to pierce through the side of the man¡¯s abdomen and straight into his gut. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Esperanza naturally didn¡¯t waste the chance. The moment the tentacle entered the Nevilosk¡¯s abdominal cavity, its tip spread open into a three-petaled toothy maw and bit down, the serrated fangs of the maw shredding and mulching any internal organ in their reach. At the same time, her other tentacle lodged in the Nevilosk¡¯s calf grew spines and barbs all over and completely made itself stuck within the fleshy part of the man¡¯s calf. Needless to say, the demon¡¯s defenses faltered from the horrific pain he suffered from his injuries. Esperanza yanked the tentacle lodged in the Nevilosk¡¯s calf and made him lose his balance, before her other limbs pierced through the man in several places. At the same time, she also made sure to directly destroy the demon¡¯s vital organs with the parts of her limbs inside his body. The damage she did was enough to kill the demon, if not instantly. A fourth tier demon¡¯s vitality was far greater than weaker ones, and even in the throes of death, with most of his vital organs destroyed and a bone spike through his brain, the Nevilosk still swung his flail one last time towards Esperanza, smashing one of her tentacles that couldn¡¯t move away in time since it was stuck to the demon. It was a minor injury for Esperanza, though, one that she would quickly recover from just from her natural regeneration and absorbing the severed part of the tentacle back into her body. She kept the demon¡¯s soul in case it might end up useful later, and dropped the remains of his body ¨C he was too high a level for her to use [Essence Devourer] on his corpse anyway ¨C where he stood. By then. The rest of the fighting had pretty much settled down, though she noticed how Dali, Gordy, Legisvula, and the scouts were missing. They were probably off chasing a few who tried to escape by jumping down the cliff, she guessed, as they were all agile enough to chase after them without risking injury to themselves in the process. The other two demon fourth tiers had been slain as well. Resitia had slain one on her own before help could arrive, while Nali had fought the other until Tiesya reached him and helped him bring down the demon in very short order. The demon was already struggling to fight Nali off, so when Tiesya joined the fight they never had any chance to survive. As for the rest of the supply convoy and its guards, they laid dead on the mountain path, and some of Ani¡¯s people were stacking the bodies in piles next to the carts of supplies. Esperanza herself didn¡¯t have that much room left in her [Soul Storage], so they only picked out the best bits of the supplies in the wagons, the more luxurious things intended for the officers and higher tier people, and left the rest behind. Naturally, the convoy¡¯s drivers and beasts of burden had not been spared either. All of them lay dead in piles next to the supply wagons they had driven or pulled just moments ago. Perhaps they were uninvolved civilians that were only helping out, but at the moment, Esperanza couldn¡¯t afford to worry about such things. It was imperative for her to leave no witnesses behind while they were operating in secret. Before too long, Legisvula and the others had returned. Each of them carried a couple of corpses ¨C often broken as they had tumbled and fell down the cliff ¨C with them as they climbed up. The corpses were quickly deposited on the piles near the supply wagons. Dali also dragged a corpse up in his mouth, while Gordy carried another half dozen corpses on her back and two in her mouth as they returned to the mountain path with their respective methods. Once all the corpses were piled up and they counted to make sure that they weren¡¯t missing any, the group doused the piles of corpses and the supply wagons in oil they found inside one of the wagons. The oil was likely meant for cooking, but it would serve their purpose well enough in this case. Once they had everything doused in oil, everyone then moved over towards where the second bridge used to be. Meanwhile, Esperanza brought out a torch and had it lit, before she extended her arm as far as she could to drop the torch in the middle of the pile. The flame caught on rapidly, and within mere moments, it had engulfed all the wagons and piles of corpses around it, helped by the oil they had been doused with. A few more moments and the fire turned into a raging inferno as the bodies and the wagons started to burn as well, themselves turning into more fuel for the fire. Satisfied with how the fire would most likely burn everything while leaving little to no traces, Esperanza gave a nod, and one after another, her people leapt over the gap where the second bridge used to be and landed on the other side. Some of them had to take a running start, while some others used different methods to get over, but everyone had their own ways. The most agile and powerful amongst the group, like Legisvula and Val-Kas¡¯j, just directly jumped over, their legs providing them with enough power to hurl their body over the distance. Those who were weaker in physique took running starts to help them gain enough momentum to jump the gap instead, or used things like poles to leap over. Some, like Ani and the two that had been with her at the start, actually jumped into the stream and swam over to the other side before leaping back out, almost like how some dolphins would leap out of the water. They were already wet and covered in all sorts of blood and viscera from the fighting anyway, so the quick dip helped them clean up as well. Esperanza herself decided to try something that she had thought of doing but hadn¡¯t truly managed to pull off before, as she thought that with her shapeshifting skills leveled to the current point, she might manage to do it now. She spread her arms wide and shifted their forms into bat-like wings that were each as wide as her height and easily three times as long as she was tall. She flapped the wings a few times and then took a jump off the cliffside with whooping laughter as she used the wings to glide on the wind and rise higher, a few more flaps carrying her even higher. It was quite a thrilling experience to actually fly under her own power, something completely different to just gliding on the air currents, and she circled around a few times in the air while enjoying that feeling. Esperanza only landed a couple minutes later where the rest of her group had been waiting for her, fortunately unbothered by the short wait. 223 - Catching Up ¡°What¡¯s the situation here like so far?¡± asked Alissa to Ethan when she arrived at the defense camp south of Eastcliff. With her speed, she managed to reach there by sunset of the same day she departed, leaving the troops with her behind as they couldn¡¯t quite keep up with her. They told her to go ahead and that they would catch up later, likely arriving in the night. By the time Alissa arrived, the day¡¯s fighting was already over and the last of the troops were returning to their respective bases. As such, she quickly looked for someone she knew ¨C it wasn¡¯t that hard to find the biggest tents which were typically reserved for officers or fourth tier fighters ¨C to ask about the situation at hand. Ethan just happened to be the one she ran into first. ¡°Oh, heya Allie. Didn¡¯t expect to see you so soon,¡± greeted Ethan with a surprised look on his face. He had clearly participated in the day¡¯s battle, given how his hair was damp with sweat and his armor still had plenty of blood and other unmentionables covering some parts of it. He didn¡¯t seem to be all that worried, though, which was a good sign. ¡°We thought you wouldn¡¯t get here till later tonight or even tomorrow.¡± ¡°Got things done in Eastcliff earlier than expected, so we headed out to catch up with you guys early this morning,¡± replied Alissa with a shrug. She was drenched in sweat herself after running at high speed for the entire day, and had only eaten a little while she was on the way. ¡°The others would likely get here later tonight. They couldn¡¯t keep up with me.¡± ¡°Makes sense. You¡¯re by far the fastest of our whole party,¡± admitted Ethan with a smile. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s been pretty¡­ well, dull, over here. The demons had just been trying to push with numbers like usual, we stopped them on their tracks, the usual. Lots of fighting and killing, but little of anything actually getting done, if you catch my drift.¡± ¡°So like back at Fort Silvia?¡± asked Alissa. ¡°Kinda, though less intense. Plenty of time to take breaks after fighting for a while, and the demons are nowhere near as dogged on their attack as that time. They got plenty of fourth tiers, but they never seemed to really commit for real. They¡¯d withdraw once they felt they were disadvantaged, and we couldn¡¯t really chase them into their army either.¡± ¡°Anyway, you should go take a wash first, we can chat more later after dinner. You look like you¡¯ve been dunked in a river, I swear,¡± said Ethan somewhat amusedly when he looked at Alissa¡¯s rather disheveled state. Her clothes were pretty much soaked with sweat and caked with dust after running for an entire day, so it was an understandable comment to make. ¡°You can wash up by the gorge up north, everybody washes there.¡± ¡°Gotcha, thanks.¡± Alissa went towards the north of the camp where she found the end of the river that ran along the bottom of the gorge that divided Eastcliff from Westcliff. The river probably flows into a subterranean network, given how it just ended abruptly at that point, and there was indeed an area that had warning signs informing people not to step into the waters. A bit further north from that area were two sections of the river that had been cordoned off from sight by a barrier of cloth stretched on wooden frames. The barrier was easily three meters high and people from the outside would only be able to see vague shadows and silhouettes through the thick cloth at most.. It was the area reserved for the army personnel to wash off in. The area was separated by gender, with the west side being for the men, so Alissa went over to the east side where a couple female soldiers were standing guard by the entrance of the barrier. They let her in and she quickly stripped off her sweat-soaked clothes before she went into the nearly waist-deep river like the others. Given the time of the year, the river water was quite cold, and the current was a strong one, though nowhere near strong enough to trouble her. Rather than use small buckets or pails to scoop up some of the water to pour over their bodies like some of the weaker soldiers did, she just directly submerged herself for a bit before surfacing once more, refreshed by the cold water. She then sat down a bit closer to the shore where her head would still be above the water level and used her hands to scrub the accumulated dust and sweat off her body, feeling properly clean for the first time in a while. There had not been many chances to take a proper bath while they were on the road, after all, so the fact that the defense camp happened to be situated at a place where they could wash up regularly was a blessing. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. While Alissa could relaxedly take a dip in the river, most of the second and lower leveled third tier soldiers didn¡¯t dare to do so. The current was strong enough that they might be dragged along, and if they were to be sucked into the underground waterways they would be doomed without any chance of survival. Of course, other stronger people gave the current no heed like Alissa did. One of them even floated around on the river¡¯s surface, the current somehow failing to move the older woman¡¯s body from where she was. Probably a mage of some sort taking the time to enjoy herself after a hard day¡¯s fighting, Alissa thought. The older woman did notice Alissa¡¯s arrival and gave her a polite nod, which Alissa returned, before both went back to focus on bathing. As it turned out, it took quite a bit of effort to get the grime that had accumulated on her hair over the past week. Her blond hair was completely matted and oily to the touch, since she had not had any chance to properly wash it, and getting it clean again was harder than she thought since there were no convenient shampoos in Ephemera. The locals more typically used perfumed oil instead, if not just plain water. After a good quarter hour of struggle with her dirty hair Alissa finally felt that it was clean enough. One good thing about the location of the washing area was that all the dirt, grime, and other filth they washed off would just flow away downstream, while those getting water from the river to cook or drink could simply do it a bit further upstream where the water was clean. Finally, Alissa took another plunge into the cold water and rubbed her face until she felt properly clean, before surfacing again and walking towards the riverbank. She had naturally carried a towel and a fresh set of clothes with her. After she dried herself and put on the fresh clothes, she wrapped the towel around her still-wet hair and bundled up her sweaty clothes. She¡¯d leave it next to her tent later and someone from the army would take it away to be washed in the morning. Her armor and weapons were already stashed in the tent prepared for her ¨C helpfully set next to the tent of the rest of her party ¨C so Alissa walked over to where the mess area of the defense camp was. Once she got there she noticed that those who came to reinforce the front line definitely didn¡¯t skimp when they came over. Compared to the expedition to Fort Ixlay, where most of the army¡¯s rations prioritized shelf life and transportability, the meals served at the defense camp¡¯s mess area reminded Alissa more of the meals she had at Fort Abernal, which had a town inside the fort with its own food production facilities. She knew that Sir DelVillar was not the type to splurge and show off, and that the rations they carried with them were mostly of the normal type, so it must be one of the other reinforcement detachments that brought more luxurious foods and was later made to share with the others. Back at Fort Ixlay and when they were on the road, the most common meal was some sort of porridge or gruel made by cooking grains with water and some things to flavor it. Most commonly, the flavoring was some cured animal fat or preserved meats, sometimes enriched by what local fruits, herbs, or animals could be foraged from the vicinity. In contrast, when Alissa sat down on one of the less crowded tables in the mess area ¨C Ethan, Sir Inolet, and Sir DelVillar were already seated there and lower ranked soldiers didn¡¯t dare sit with them ¨C she was served a whole loaf of still-warm bread and a thick stew that was full of meat and vegetables. A far cry from the rudimentary meals she was used to when on the road. Making bread was more time-consuming since the dough needed to ferment and rise, and some sort of oven also needed to be built to bake bread properly. Similarly, fresh meat and vegetables were a luxury for an army, most typically limited to what could be foraged from the surrounding area. Of course, it was likely that the lower ranked soldiers would be eating the usual simple meals, as there was not likely to be enough of the rarer foodstuffs for everyone. The bread was good, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, to the point that Alissa wondered if one of the noble commanders had brought their personal baker with them or something. Similarly, the stew was fragrant and flavorful, the vegetables cooked until they directly dissolved on one¡¯s tongue while the meat still retained some chew to them. She understood all too well why everybody was eating quietly instead of eating while chatting as usual, as they were too engrossed in the food to bother chatting. That, and just about everyone was tired and hungry after fighting for the entire day, as there were few chances to sneak a bite while fighting a battle. Assuming one could keep their appetite while covered in the blood and guts of others, that was. It was an eerily quiet meal, only occasionally enlivened by the noisy slurps and burps of a few people, as everyone counted their blessings for having survived another day on the battlefield. For some, it was already a blessing to be able to return to camp and eat something warm in the evening, as some of the soldiers grew up under even worse conditions. Over the course of the meal, the table also gradually grew fuller, as a few other fourth tiers from Sir DelVillar¡¯s group as well as Nadine and Maribel joined them to eat together. Since the table was not large enough to accommodate everyone, some of the others crowded another table nearby, while the Temple Guards from Alissa¡¯s party shared a table with Mother Magdalene a bit further away. It was only after everyone finished eating ¨C some nursing too-full stomachs from having eaten too much ¨C that Sir DelVillar turned to Alissa and asked her about how her mission went. ¡°So Eastcliff is taken care of?¡± asked the old knight as he sipped on his mug of strong tea. One of the habits of summoned [Heroes] that prevailed over the generations and remained in use by the Kingdom¡¯s people was to boil water before drinking it. With the habit of boiling water, came the habit of drinking tea and various other infusions as well. Sir DelVillar was particularly fond of strongly brewed teas, though Alissa always found them too bitter, even if the aroma was indeed pleasant to the nose. ¡°The situation is under control, Sir,¡± said Alissa to answer the old knight¡¯s question. ¡°Most of the food had been distributed, and order had been re-established, at least to the extent we managed in the short time we were there. As long as the food remains, the town should not be facing any issues, I believe.¡± 224 - A Costly Affair After the meal was finished and the group took the chance to relax around a campfire while nursing mugs of hot tea, Sir DelVillar and the rest briefed Alissa on the situation that has developed on the frontline thus far. The fighting at the defense line they were presently at had been going on since a mere two days after the fall of Fort Gurzil, which was far earlier than what Alissa had expected. Apparently, the nearest defenders, who were stationed at a small fort by the bridge over the gorge further north of Eastcliff and Westcliff had caught wind of Fort Gurzil¡¯s fall on the same day it happened. They reacted with haste and embarked on a daring mission, sending out every last one of their elites as fast as they could towards the south. It was those elites that made the daring decision to set up an ambush by the end of the river, where the current defense camp was located. At that time, the demons were still reorganizing things after they took Fort Gurzil and had yet to launch a further foray into the kingdom¡¯s lands. When the demons launched a foray two days after the fall of Fort Gurzil, the ambush had been waiting for them for nearly half a day already. Those elites sprung the ambush on the unsuspecting demons and made themselves appear to be a far larger force than the hundred-odd ¨C three fourth tiers and around a hundred third tiers ¨C that they actually were. That ambush decimated the party sent out by the demons and made them retreat in surprise, and it was not until the third day after Fort Gurzil¡¯s fall that the demons launched a larger foray. By that time, the remainder of the troops ¨C all of the available soldiers had been mobilized ¨C from the small fort had gathered together with their elites and built makeshift defensive positions by the river¡¯s end. They fought with their lives on the line to hold the demons at bay, and while they paid a heavy price for it, lasted long enough until the first batch of reinforcements arrived the next day. As more and more reinforcements poured in, the frontline stabilized, as the demons were either unwilling or unable to take on the defenses set up without paying an unacceptable price. Many speculated that the demons that actually took down Fort Gurzil had moved on elsewhere, which was why the demons were slow with their follow-up attacks and why they couldn¡¯t break through the defenses when it was weak at first. Of course, the bravery of the soldiers from the small fort was not without cost. Out of the hundred-odd elites who came first, only twenty four survived. The casualty figures amongst their weaker troops was even worse, with only one out of ten or so of the weaker soldiers surviving the ordeal. The fort¡¯s commander, one of the fourth tiers who set out first, perished in battle, while the other two who survived were grievously wounded. Even at the present date, they were still in bad condition as there had not been any particularly skilled healers amongst the reinforcements that arrived earlier. Only after Sir DelVillar led his reinforcements over was there hope for the two injured fourth tiers. Leda, Cerilla, Vesta, and a couple priests from Mother Magdalene¡¯s group worked together to heal their injuries, but even then it would still take them a long while to recuperate given the severity of their injuries. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it got that close to disaster,¡± admitted Alissa with some surprise after Sir DelVillar briefed her on the situation. Had the demons advanced faster after the fall of Fort Gurzil, they would have infiltrated deeper into the Kingdom¡¯s territory and forced the defenders to react to their movements. Fortunately the situation remained under control for the time being, due to multiple factors that overlapped with one another. ¡°It is how it is. The demons brought more troops to Fort Gurzil as time went by, but our reinforcements came in time to match them at least in quality if not in quantity, and whoever is commanding the demons seemed to be a rare worrywart, which is a point in our favor,¡± said Sir DelVillar as he shook his head. ¡°At this point we¡¯re just counting our blessings, to be honest.¡± ¡°What about the demons that took down the Fort, Sir? What if they actually already moved on to a different target like we assumed?¡± asked Ethan with some worry in his voice. ¡°We can¡¯t do much about them. All the nearby forts and bases have been warned to fortify their defenses and to not let their guard down. Reinforcements from the inner kingdom are also on their way. We can only hope that it¡¯s enough,¡± said the old knight with a shake of his head. ¡°For the time being we need to focus on the here and now. Take care of the situation here first, then worry about others.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, Sir. Apologies,¡± said Ethan rather sheepishly as he shook his head with some exasperation. It was frustrating to know that the enemy might strike elsewhere while they were occupied at the defense lines. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Either way, these demons won¡¯t be easy to root out. Our military power is roughly equal, so it would be a bloody fight that we might not be able to afford if we try to push them back,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a frown. ¡°As it is, our only choice is to maintain the situation until more reinforcements arrive. When we find an opportunity, that is when we will make an attempt to push them back out of the kingdom¡¯s territory.¡± For the time being, the demons still outnumbered the human defenders, but with Sir DelVillar¡¯s group¡¯s arrival, the number of high tier combatants between the two sides actually favored the humans slightly, since Alissa¡¯s party was included in that count. The demons were capable of sensing that change, which made them more cautious and unwilling to commit their forces too much as a result, resulting in the current stalemate. Alissa also didn¡¯t fail to notice that other than a couple noble lords whose domains were close to the region, most of the Kingdom¡¯s forces gathered at the defense base were under the lead of senior knights like Sir DelVillar and Sir Inolet. She knew that members of the semi-independent faction led by the old knights mostly spent their lives by the frontlines, so that sort of distribution was not unexpected, but the way that no other noble lord was present despite Sir DelVillar¡¯s reinforcement having arrived left a bit of a foul taste on her tongue. It was as if the kingdom was tossing the responsibility of the border¡¯s defense to the Old Knights without providing much in actual military backup. Granted, they were not stupid enough to mess with the supply lines so there was at least that, but the lack of military forces affiliated to the royal family at the frontlines was quite telling. As for the temple, there were detachments present from at least a dozen different branches in the vicinity, including those who gathered at Fort Abernal and traveled with them. Mother Magdalene had directly assumed command over the entirety of the temple guards and priests present, which ended their bickering for power prior to her arrival. Not unexpectedly, Alissa¡¯s assumptions about the old nun were mostly right on point. Mother Magdalene was an existence much akin to the old knights, except instead of being a thorn on the royal family¡¯s side, she was one on the temple¡¯s side. She was devout and zealous to a fault, utterly uncompromising in her belief¡­ and what she felt was the right way to carry out said belief¡¯s teachings. In other words, she gave no fucks whatsoever to politicking and was extremely intolerant to corruption, which naturally won her few friends amongst the Temple¡¯s upper hierarchy. In fact, Alissa was told by Sir Inolet that one time Mother Magdalene happened to run across a distant relative of the archbishop forcing himself on some unwilling women and directly crushed said relative¡¯s head using her bare hands in her rage. Yet at the same time, she was a veteran from the previous war, one with a storied history of courage and devotion, an exemplary case of zealotry who kept returning to the battlefield to rescue her allies and smite her enemies without a care for her own safety. Her fame was to the point that it was impossible for the temple to openly denounce her without destroying their own credibility. It was also difficult to deal with her through underhanded means given the Mother¡¯s personal power, so the best the temple could do was to exile her under the guise of setting up a new monastery for her to administer. They probably never expected for Mother Magdalene to instead take upon the task with great enthusiasm. She had not only founded one of the largest monasteries in the kingdom, but also thoroughly indoctrinated the graduates from her monastery in her personal brand of uncompromising faith and zealotry, effectively forming her own faction within the temple. A faction that many admired and idolized as an exemplar of unyielding faith and proper conduct, even. Thanks to her force of personality ¨C and again, personal power, as none of the other leaders from the temple guards measure up to her ¨C Mother Magdalene had quickly cowed the other representatives from the temple and put them under her thumb. All considered, her actions made Sir DelVillar¡¯s job as the overall commander of the defenses easier, as Mother Magdalene saw eye to eye with him and was most cooperative with the military¡¯s arrangements. A great difference from the typical temple representative who tended to be bossy or off doing their own thing instead. With the seamless cooperation between the leaders, Sir DelVillar had first made certain that the defenses of their makeshift base was as solid as they could make it in the limited time they had. Additional patrols were sent out to prevent the demons from sending infiltrators past the base, while the fighting was kept to a stalemate on purpose. The experienced old knight was fishing for a reaction or opening from the demon side, something he could exploit, at which point he would press hard by taking advantage of the higher number of high end fighting power on his side. While having more fourth tiers would not necessarily win a battle with so many people on each side ¨C even fourth tiers tires, after all ¨C they could be used for a great variety of purposes that could lead towards eventual victory. And a wily old fox like Sir Leonhart DelVillar knew many, many ways to do so. To their surprise, however, the opportunity came unexpectedly and unbidden. Roughly five days after Alissa¡¯s arrival at the camp, the army¡¯s scouts informed Sir DelVillar that the demons¡¯ usual supply convoy had not arrived on the schedule they usually adhered to. At that time, the old knight had not paid too much attention to the matter. Delays happened, and he knew from his scouts that the demons kept their supply convoy tightly guarded with several fourth tiers present amongst its escort. When that convoy failed to materialize the next day, and even the day after, however, he realized that something must have happened to it. The demons at Fort Gurzil attempted to hide the incident, but the departure of two teams each led by a fourth tier towards the backlines failed to escape the army¡¯s scouts and the report came to the old knight¡¯s table on the evening of the same day. The demons had made a rapid attack on Fort Gurzil and had not brought all that much in terms of rations with them. They were reliant on their supply convoy to feed their tens of thousands of soldiers. The supply convoy¡¯s disappearance meant that there was likely a lack of food amongst the demons, and they probably already started to ration what they had left. It was the opportunity Sir DelVillar was waiting for. 225 - Hit Them when Theyre Down Alissa blocked the wild swing of the demon she was fighting with her shield, then pressed closer and pushed the demon back, which gave her enough room to make her next move. Her spear struck out like a viper and pierced straight through the demon¡¯s throat. The action was smooth. No movement was wasted, and she casually kicked away the dying demon to take on the next one that stepped up in their stead. It was already the evening, and the two armies had been fighting throughout the day without stopping. Since Sir DelVillar learned that the demons had not received their regular shipment of supplies for at least three days, he planned out a general assault, albeit one intended less to push the demons out and more to keep them stuck in a low intensity battle of attrition for at least a day or two. The human side made sure to feed their soldiers well prior to the battle to ensure that they had enough energy to fight throughout the day. They also rotated their troops regularly so those at the back could take turns eating lunch and dinner while others fought at the front. While doing so, he also told the soldiers to go ahead and set up cooking fires at the back and heat up their food properly. As luck would have it, a northerly wind blew intermittently throughout that day, and the breeze helped carry the smell of food being cooked over the battlefield and to the demon side as well. The food eaten by humans and demons did not differ that much, so the smell had the desired effect on the demons and reminded them all too keenly on their missing rations. After all, while a shortage of rations could be hidden from the troops for a good while by a clever commander, it was harder to hide the absence of a regularly scheduled supply convoy. The demon rank and file might not know about their food supply situation, but they knew that the supply convoy had failed to show up for four days now already, which meant that there was less food than there should be. From there they could draw their own implications, be those better or worse than the actual situation. Under those conditions, Sir DelVillar ordered a prolonged engagement, one that allowed for little to no rest for either side. The main difference, however, was how as the ones who initiated the tactic, the human side were well-fed and well-rested, prepared for exactly what they were about to do, while the demons were caught off-guard and unprepared. Their food was starting to get rationed just the day before which meant that they had not eaten as well as they usually did, and many amongst them didn¡¯t rest too well at night for the same reason, worried about the situation. Now that they were forced to fight against an unrelenting foe that refused to give way to them, those small cracks widened and threatened to throw off the coordination and morale of the demon army. In fact, such a tactic could only be considered a basic one, the sort that needed the least amount of trickery or intelligence, but it was because such a tactic was so basic and simple that it was far more difficult to fight against. Clever tactics and stratagems often have many points of failure where if something did not happen as planned it would throw the outcome into jeopardy. Simpler tactics like these, however, had little to none of that. Sir DelVillar had simply noticed that the demons were running low on food and decided to exploit the situation in the simplest manner possible, with a method that had great tolerance for mistakes. A simple war of attrition designed to tire out the demons and to capitalize on their momentary weakness, of an intensity that was enough to force the demons to fight seriously yet also allowed the human side to rotate their troops around to rest properly. This was mostly maintained with the help of the larger number of fourth tier combat power that the human side had. Such an instance happened partly because many of those who sent reinforcements sent part of their elite, so while their numbers might be low, their prowess belied their quantity. In fact, Sir DelVillar was quite confident that after his troops arrived they could have pushed the demons back out of Fort Gurzil by force if need be. Such an approach would be one that ended up hurting themselves, however, as the casualties from such an endeavor would be great. As such, the old knight sought ways to win with more acceptable losses, and just by chance, the incident with the supply convoy happened. Needless to say the old knight jumped at the chance and made the arrangements for battle in record time. Rather than have the fourth tiers within their ranks mostly on standby to guard against their peer on the enemy side, Sir DelVillar made use of the numerical advantage in high end combat power his side has to have a good ten to a dozen of the fourth tiers join the frontlines at a time, rotating in shifts with the others who were on guard behind them. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Their presence both kept the human side¡¯s line stable and demoralized the demons as they had no counter to the combat prowess the fourth tiers displayed. Every time the demons tried to send out their own, the human side would have those waiting at the back intercept them, which allowed them to constantly push the demons back and gain the initiative over the battle. Even as the sun set, the battle kept going. The human side¡¯s army had been divided into eight equal detachments under Sir DelVillar¡¯s orders. Three of the detachments would directly engage with the demons at a time, while another four would stand by behind them as backup. The last detachment would seize the chance to pull back, eat, and even catch a nap until their shift was over and another would take over while they returned to the battle. In that way, the kingdom¡¯s troops managed to maintain their stamina and condition ¨C those who were on standby were mostly just standing there after all ¨C while keeping the demons engaged in fighting all the while. Combined with how the demons were lacking in food, the effects, while each minor, added together to provide the human side with more advantages. Even as day turned into night and darkness descended, all the human side did was to light up torches and keep up the fighting. From time to time they would also launch a blinding flare to keep the demons on their toes, while their own soldiers still took turns fighting, standing by, and resting. In that manner they ground up the demon soldiers throughout the day, into the night, and all the way into the next morning even. Alissa¡¯s party happened to be on shift again early the next day and went out to fight at the front after they had a quick breakfast. There she discovered that the demons had clearly weakened compared to the day before, their maneuvers more disorganized, their lines more chaotic. Some were even yelling back at their peers or superiors over disagreements. Under such conditions, Alissa didn¡¯t need to be told what to do. She hefted her spear and struck hard, catching the attention of many nearby demons as she butchered their compatriots in short order. She pierced them with her spear, crushed them with blows from the edges of her shield, and even hewed through some that happened to be standing close to each other, making for a bloody spectacle in the area. All throughout the frontline, the rest of her party also did the same. Joshua made for what was likely the biggest spectacle out of what the whole party did, as he directly hurled a massive fireball the size of a house ¨C something Alissa knew was for show as his typically compressed his fireballs to small orbs ¨C and directly burnt a group of demons to charred corpses. As if that wasn¡¯t enough, he kept lobbing more such fireballs from time to time. Ethan also made quite a bit of a show where he was at, his blows directly sending his opponents ¨C or their body parts ¨C flying high into the air before they fell back down. Such a spectacle was far from necessary, and was in fact a rather inefficient way of fighting, but it did wonders when it came to demoralizing enemies. After all, seeing someone silently and effectively kill some of your compatriots was less scary than seeing another who hurled around fireballs the size of a house or one who sent broken bodies flying all over the place. Due to their efforts, the kingdom¡¯s forces pushed the demons back towards Fort Gurzil and made noticeable headway throughout the day. It was a slow advance, but one that kept continuing as the overmatched demons had to keep falling back before the human side¡¯s onslaught. On the first day, the demons mostly managed to hang on to the area they had been fighting over the past weeks. On the second day, they were pushed back over a couple miles from that area, closer to Fort Gurzil, which further emboldened the humans they fought to attack even more aggressively and push them back even further. By the third day, the demons had given up another four miles of territory, and were suffering heavy losses compared to the far lighter losses on the human side. There was clear disarray amongst the demon commanders, with some clearly wanting to do nothing more than to retreat back to the fort they captured while others wanted to keep up the fighting regardless. That ended up not mattering in the end, as by the sixth day of continued fighting, the humans had pushed them all the way back to Fort Gurzil anyway, and the remaining demons were left with no choice but to hunker down and defend the fort even as the human forces besieged it. It was not that the human side was not exhausted after six continuous days of fighting, but they were better supplied and had more chances to rest, which made them better off compared to the demons. While the demons had physical advantages over the humans, they were exhausted all the same, and unlike the humans had less effective means to rotate their forces or to recover from their fatigue. Lack of food, rest, and morale combined together to cause the demons¡¯ defeat in the ongoing battle, where their enemies saw a temporary weakness, latched onto it, and kept going until the small weakness turned into a large, fatal one. As others built siege camps around Fort Gurzil, part of the human army rested. Many slept where they stood moments ago, others wandering off to look for some trees to lean to. They knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep their fill yet, that they would be woken up to work once their shift arrived, but they took what they had and made the most of it regardless. Alissa and her party were no exception, the eleven of them sprawled out underneath the shade of a large tree, their backs leaning against the tree¡¯s thick trunk as they slept beneath it. None of them even bothered to get out of their armor, by this point already used to sleeping in it. They knew all too well that they would need every bit of sleep they could get at this point, since they would need to continue pressing the demons while they had the advantage. While they slept, the siege camp¡¯s construction went on, while yet another detachment pestered the demons in Fort Gurzil, making sure that the demons would not be able to drop their guard and relax. They had their enemy where they wanted them, and none of them were foolish enough to let such a prey get away. CCXXVI - Heading Ever Onwards ¡°They are fighting more intensely as you expected, Exalted One,¡± reported one of Ani¡¯s scouts after they returned from taking a careful peek at the frontlines near Fort Gurzil. Esperanza¡¯s group had continued traveling further west from the ambush spot, taking care to remove all traces of their passage, with only the scouts keeping an eye on the situation at the battlefield for a while longer. ¡°The humans mounted an attack after a few days and had been pushing the demons back to the fort by the time I left.¡± ¡°Bueno. They should be able to take care of things on their own at this point,¡± noted Esperanza with a nod at the report. The time spent in the Human Kingdom taught her quite a few things, especially about the people there, many of which she would have probably never learned if not for the infiltrations the group performed. That she met and came to a sort of agreement with Alissa was a bonus as well. ¡°We already tarried a bit too long, so we should carry on.¡± The group was headed deeper into the demon territory, to learn more about the internal situation of the demons as well as to see if they could sabotage some more important things that would be kept safe deeper in the Demon Territories. Alissa told Esperanza the intelligence she had about the Demon [Champions] while Esperanza also spoke about the [Champion] she faced back in Navef. Both of them agreed that those [Champions] were probably the largest source of potential trouble in their way, unless they could do something about them. The one [Champion] Alissa faced so far spoke English, but that seemed to be a stroke of luck as the one Esperanza faced did not and they only managed to understand each other since Esperanza¡¯s [Language Understanding] encompassed both sides¡¯ languages. As such, Esperanza was the only one who had a better chance to be able to meet with and speak with the [Champions], to see if they fully bought into the local narrative or not. Since Esperanza would be able to don the guise of a demon in the process, she would also have an easier time infiltrating cities and towns in the demon territories as well. Out of her group, not everyone could come with her. Anyone with human heritage was straight out, so only the likes of Val-Kas¡¯j, Legisvula, Nalihimatu, and Ilavakide could accompany her as they were purely of demon stock. The other four [Progeny of Yore] had some human blood in them or in Resitia¡¯s case, was purely human. Similarly, the five infiltrators from Zikeal would not be able to join them, though several people from Ani¡¯s group could. Those with Gour-ug¡¯rech lineage were also out of the question, as there were no such demons in the deeper regions within the demon territories, but there were a couple from her group that were descended only of the other four demon races. Other than Esperanza, none of the others had done anything like infiltrating a city or pretending to be different people, so the five from Zikeal took the time to coach them in the acting methods while they traveled. Fortunately everyone already learned to hide the presence of Oldies¡¯ blessings within them, so that part was already taken care of. ¡°It¡¯s still another week or so to the next city, Exalted One. We should be prepared for infiltration by then,¡± said Val-Kas¡¯j as if he noticed the worry in Esperanza¡¯s mind. ¡°I know. I just can¡¯t help but worry a bit. Those human cities, we had more of a frame of reference thanks to the folks from Zikeal. I was human myself, once, so I have some idea on what to expect,¡± said Esperanza with a shake of her head. ¡°None of you have ever been to a demon city, however. Those bases we burnt to the ground don¡¯t really count. I¡¯m worried mostly that we¡¯d make some sort of social gaffe or the like that would give us away.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Hell, I have no idea what to expect out of the demons myself. For all I know I could be the one who gives us away with my preconceptions, and that wouldn¡¯t do,¡± she added after a moment of thought. They would have to split up when they go into town since apparently the demons did not mingle between the different races as often as the believers of the old gods, and many of their smaller tribes and villages might only be inhabited by members of a single race. ¡°Uh¡­ While it might be rather demeaning, Exalted One, one of our usual tricks might work well for situations like these,¡± interjected Kurt, the older of the brothers from Zikeal. ¡°Go on, I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°We¡­ when we were still new to this, we simply pretended to be bumpkins from the wilderness that had never seen any place larger than a village before. A literal country bumpkin heading to town scenario. We found that people excused a lot more mistakes in terms of demeanor and customs from us under the assumption that we were too stupid and backward to be aware of them,¡± he explained somewhat nervously, probably uncertain if Esperanza would take offense to the suggestion and eat him for it. ¡°If the demons are not too radically different as a people, this might apply to them as well.¡± ¡°Given what we have learned so far and the information from the [Hero] that you have passed on to us, this seems highly plausible, Exalted One,¡± noted Ani with a nod from the side. ¡°The demons have different social customs and do things differently, but not so differently to the humans that certain things aren¡¯t the same either, as there have been a lot of cultural things that bled over in the centuries they have warred with each other.¡± ¡°As much as they might hate where it came from, convenient things are just convenient so both sides have been adopting things that they found beneficial from the other side pretty regularly.¡± ¡°Fair point. For the time being, we¡¯ll continue practicing our cover identities. We will be going in groups, so I want everyone to have their cover stories memorized,¡± said Esperanza with a nod in the end. The arrangement was still riskier than what she liked, but it was the best they had for the time being, so it would have to make do. Esperanza trusted that Alissa ¨C and the large army she was part of ¨C should be able to take care of the demons that occupied that human fort they captured on their own. In the meantime, Esperanza and her group returned to the demon territories to both look for more information and to hunt down the demon [Champions], if they could. Especially the one that Alissa hypothesized might be a crafter of some sort, as the demons were using more artifacts than was normal. If Esperanza could root that [Champion] out ¨C capturing them would be a tall order for her group, but disrupting the supply and base of production were things they were good at ¨C it would be helpful for the human side and also give her a chance to meet with the individual and see if they could perhaps hash things out. She knew that it was a long shot that the [Champion] would be amenable to hearing her out, but it was worth a try, at least, especially since she was the only one around who could freely communicate with them without being part of the demons. First things first, however, she needed to find out more about how the demons actually function as a society, their habits and customs, and whatnot. The planned infiltration of a demon city was for that purpose, and as most of the group hid themselves deep in a forest some distance from the city, the people who would go out to infiltrate the place left in groups. Nalihimatu and Ilavakide posed as hunters who had lived in the wild bringing some of their catch to sell in the city. It was an easy enough role for them to settle to, since Ilavakide was an archer to begin with. They casually hunted down some prey to really sell the image on their way out of the forest. There was nobody living inside the forest they came from, but demons were hardy people, so some of them living in there wouldn¡¯t have been too strange either. Val-Kas¡¯j went with Legisvula and a warrior of Ani¡¯s named Ul¡¯Van, who was himself a hybrid between a Ma¡¯Varok and a Tesh¡¯ka. The three posed as young villagers from a distant, isolated village on a trip out to see the world, something the [Progenies] easily did, given their actual ages. Ul¡¯Van played the role of their chaperone of sorts, an older member of the village sent to watch over the youths. Esperanza herself took the guise of a Nevilosk and went with Isfrea, a young Nevilosk warrior from Ani¡¯s group, would pretend to be traveling peddlers, having taken some items from the things they stole off the demon bases that would be feasible for such peddlers to peddle with them. The three groups departed the forest at different times and from different directions, so that even if someone paid attention, the only connection that would be noticed between them was that they reached the city in the same day. CCXXVII - A Town of Demons The town named Landeboug was originally part of the Human Kingdom, lost to the demons in the previous war several decades ago. Unlike many larger cities that had importance as trade hubs or military bases, Landeboug was just one small town amongst myriad others, more an overgrown village than anything in truth, where the residents made their living primarily by farming or raising animals. Not much had changed in Landeboug even after the demons took over. After all, demons also needed to eat all the same, and they were not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The fertile farmlands and pastures were immediately made use of, to raise the original crops and animals where those proved to be the best option, and to raise their own preferred crops and animals where that was a possibility. Landeboug was situated in an area with temperate climate and adequate rainfall, not unlike Clearridge, and their main crop was maize. Most things edible to humans were also edible to demons, so the demons that moved in and took over the town continued growing maize on the same fields as the humans had done before them, with stalks higher than even some of the tallest demons covering the town from sight when it was nearing harvest season. Rather than raise cattle like the humans used to, though, the demons that took over Landebough instead favored raising pigs, which were easier to feed given their predilection to eat anything and everything. Even so, they only raised them in limited quantities compared to the humans, as they had their own favored beasts that vied for the same resources. Unlike the corn commonly grown in her previous world, the maize in Ephemera were fast-growing, hardy plants that could be harvested after a mere three months of growth. As such, it was common to plant and harvest them three times a year, allowing the land to rest during the winter. Esperanza¡¯s group happened to approach Landeboug just shortly after one of the harvests, as row upon row of the stalks still filled the fields as far as the eye could see. The stalks of the plant had no value other than perhaps as fuel for the fire, which was how the humans used them. The stalks ¨C which were fibrous and tough, but not tough enough to be used like wood ¨C would be chopped down and dried before they were used as a firewood alternative. On the other hand, the demons had a very different use for them. A [Blemoid Crawler] was a domesticable breed of monster that demons liked to raise for their meat. The creatures sort of resembled what a giant pig-lizard would look like if it was stretched and had a dozen legs, its elongated body resembling an overweight centipede of some sort. The creature, much like its porcine lookalike, was not a picky eater and would eat anything it was given. As such, the demons made use of them to clear the field of maize stalks in preparation for the next planting season while also fattening the [Crawlers] up at the same time. Over a dozen such creatures ¨C each of which were easily the size of a cargo truck with its container attached ¨C were devouring large grooves into the field of maize stalks, each one with a couple of Ragah-Fiq demon standing or seated on top of its head. The demons seemed to be controlling the route taken by the [Crawlers], given how they always avoided people who were walking on the roads between the fields. Landeboug itself stood beyond the field of empty, yellowing stalks. The town did not look much different from most human towns its size Esperanza had infiltrated to that point, other than how there were many tents pitched alongside the more permanent buildings. Many of the demons originated from tribes that had nomadic traditions, and as such they were not used to building permanent housing, or staying in one, for that matter. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Nobody accosted Esperanza and Isfrea as they made their way to Landeboug proper, carrying their wares in cloth sacks slung behind their backs. Clearly the sight of visiting strangers was no oddity amongst the demons that lived there, given their lack of reaction. The only demon that even interacted with them before they reached the town was an old Ragah-Fiq who shouted from atop his [Crawler] as it passed, asking if they had any dreamleaf ¨C a sort of herb typically dried and smoked in pipes ¨C with them. When Esperanza replied that they had some, the old Ragah-Fiq yelled back to save him an ounce and that he would find them in town. The inhabitants of Langeboug were mostly Ragah-Fiq demons, though there were others from the other demon races as well. Easily four out of every five inhabitants were Ragah-Fiq, though, so the other races were clearly a minority there. The town itself differed little from human towns, other than the different layout ¨C the demons favored a multi-tiered circular layout that they fitted to the town as best they could ¨C and how bartering was prominent over the use of currency. Just shortly after their arrival in town, Esperanza and Isfrea met Nalihimatu and Ilavakide, who pretended to barter some of the local maize for some of the items Esperanza had. They likely got the maize by similarly bartering the wild game they caught on the way to town, and nobody would have blinked an eye at hunters like them going around bartering until they got what they actually wanted. That allowed them to pass on what they had learned to Esperanza and Isfrea under the guise of some casual talk. They also noted that they already ran into Val-Kas¡¯j¡¯s group, who were making their own inquiries on the other side of town. An agreement was reached to meet at the inn later in the evening, as apparently there was only one building that served the function of an inn in town, and it was a particularly large tent set to the south of the town proper. Since it was still a few hours until the time they agreed to meet at the inn-tent, Esperanza and Isfrea bartered with the locals a bit more before they temporarily closed up shop for a quick lunch. They handed over some of the maize they got from Nalihimatu and Ilavakide to an old Ragah-Fiq demon who was nursing a bed of charcoal over which a simple grill was set up. The old demon happily grilled some of the maize for them, taking a couple cobs for his payment, and gently sprinkled some herbs and powdered seasoning as the maize grilled over the embers. Before ten minutes had passed, he was finished and the maize he cooked sported an even char over its surface while giving out a tempting fragrance. Of course, it was nothing the corn on the cob Esperanza was familiar with. Where a cob of corn would have hundreds of tiny yellow kernels stuck to it, the local maize had a slimmer central cob, and only around a couple dozen purplish-white kernels were present on each. Each of the kernels were large, though, easily as large or larger than a cherry fruit, and they gave off a sweet, savory fragrance after they were grilled by the old demon. Given how large each kernel was, Esperanza just bit off a single one to give it a taste first, only for the kernel to gush out like a ripe fruit as she bit down. The sides and lower parts of the kernel still had some chewiness and firmness to them, but the upper half that was grilled was reduced to a consistency not unlike a thick cream of corn soup, just barely contained by the charred skin of the kernel itself. Isfrea on the other hand likely tried to bite one of the kernels in half, and instead got a bit of a mess staining her lips and clothes, to the clear amusement of the old demon that cooked the maize for them. Of course, it was like he was mocking them, just amused as apparently most people made the same mistake when they tried to eat maize that had been cooked that way. Esperanza and Isfrea ate the rest of their lunch ¨C two cobs each ¨C with enjoyment, while watching over the bustling town. Demons kept passing by them, headed to and from the fields, some finishing off the last of their harvest, yet others returning from ¡°driving¡± their [Crawlers] to devour the harvested stalks so the land could be planted again next season. The creatures were thorough eaters, and conveniently uprooted the stalks they were eating as well, whereas any droppings they left behind along the way just became natural fertilizer for the land. At the south-eastern side of town, Esperanza could also see the carcass of one such [Crawler] being butchered, having grown fat enough to be harvested for its meat. With how the town felt almost like an idyllic place to live in, Esperanza found herself hoping that she wouldn¡¯t have to do anything too bad before she left the place. CCXXVIII - Expectations and Reality ¡°I guess I had expected something like this¡­ I just didn¡¯t want to admit it before we came here,¡± said Val-Kas¡¯j with a sigh after the group got together later that evening. They were standing away from the crowd and chatting together, with some skills to prevent their conversation from being overheard by others. ¡°They¡¯re all just¡­ normal people here, not really much different to the humans, or our villages, for that matter.¡± ¡°I know what you mean,¡± noted Ilavakide with a barely perceptible nod of her head. ¡°It¡¯s much easier to not have other thoughts when all we think of demons were the monsters that butchered our whole village just because we don¡¯t worship their so-called gods,¡± added the girl with a sigh of her own. ¡°When you know they¡¯re just people it¡¯s a bit harder.¡± ¡°Not that it stopped us that much with the humans,¡± noted Legisvula with a shake of his head. ¡°Thanks to their gods, these people will drop everything to try to kill us if they know our patronage. I find it easier to not have as much sympathy when I know that bit,¡± he said decisively. ¡°The world¡¯s not a nice place. We learnt that from early on in Navef, and all we¡¯ve seen so far just reinforced that notion, to me.¡± ¡°I agree with Legisvula. These demons are just people who made their own choices, even if many of them weren¡¯t exactly given a choice, in some sense,¡± added Nalihimatu with a huff. ¡°Since those choices, the ones their own people enforced upon them, result in them going to kill us if they knew of our allegiance to the Deities of Yore, they cannot fault us for defending ourselves either, if preemptively.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just how the world works, kids,¡± noted Esperanza as she sighed as well. ¡°The only place where things are clearly defined as good and evil, in black and white, are usually in fairy tales. The real world rarely if ever has such a convenient divide. Everyone thinks of themselves as the good and righteous side and often view their foes as lower than animals, or work to create such a perception amongst their people.¡± ¡°From what I saw back then, it had definitely reached such a point with how the followers of these usurpers see us. They view us not as people, but as vermin to exterminate in the name of their gods. Entreaties just fall into deaf ears, and pleas to uncaring hearts,¡± she added with a shake of her head. ¡°They would kill us just like they would kill a cockroach that landed on their food.¡± ¡°Enough with the moral crisis, I say. We can simply treat the demons as we have done with the humans so far, no reason to do it differently anyway,¡± said Esperanza in the end. ¡°Now, what have any of you learned so far about the demon society here out of what you experienced today? Other than what we had just discussed, of course.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a pretty clear division amongst the demon tribal lines,¡± volunteered Nalihimatu. ¡°They definitely prefer mingling with their own kind more, and hybrids are not as common as in our refuges, other than Ma¡¯Varok and Tesh¡¯ka ones. ¡°Each of their races also have many separate tribes that seem to have at least some sort of rivalry between them, if maybe more of a peaceful one.¡± ¡°They were most curious about which tribe Nali and I descended from, though we pretended that we had no idea of our heritage as our families had been living in the wilderness for generations,¡± added Ilavakide. ¡°Apparently our fur patterns don¡¯t match the tribes they know of being in this region, so they thought we were offshoots from some tribe that lived deeper in the demon territories.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Will that cause any problems?¡± asked Esperanza rather worriedly. That was not something she had taken into consideration. How was she to know that the demons could tell which tribe they were from just based on their fur patterns!? ¡°We don¡¯t think so, Exalted One,¡± replied Nalihimatu with a shake of his head. ¡°Apparently there are well over a hundred different tribes amongst the Ragah-Fiq alone, and while the demons do not intermarry between races as often as we did in our village, intermarriage between different tribes is very common. At worst they thought we were probably descendants of such people, since children from such unions tended to have mixed fur patterns.¡± ¡°I guess that makes sense. If there¡¯s that many tribes and intermarriage isn¡¯t uncommon it¡¯d be a complete pain to keep track of who hails from which tribe after a while,¡± said Esperanza as she nodded. ¡°Are the other races also trackable in the same way? I don¡¯t think anyone accosted me or Esfria about where we come from, but this is not a Nevilosk village so I can¡¯t be sure.¡± ¡°Nobody really asked about our group being together, so I think it is not uncommon to see Ma¡¯Varoks like me and Tesh¡¯ka like Legisvula together,¡± said Val-Kas¡¯j with a shake of his head. ¡°There¡¯s also a pretty large group of Ma¡¯Varoks we ran into, but they didn¡¯t exactly ask about our origins. Some of them do have tattoos that I suspect might signify their tribe, but not all of them have it, so I am uncertain if there is a requirement before one is allowed to bear them or something.¡± ¡°Something to investigate if we can phrase a question right, then,¡± nodded Esperanza at the description. ¡°They also seem to have less presence of clergy compared to the humans. Back there every village had their temple and clergy contingent. Did any of you see signs of those here? I did notice that they replaced the statues at the temple but I didn''t see any people who looked like priests or the like.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t see any, no,¡± said Ilavakide. ¡°Neither did we. I saw some people praying at the temple, but nobody actually guided them in the prayers,¡± said Legisvula. With his small stature and stealth skills he could easily slip into places unnoticed, much less when all he had to contend with were civilians who had no skills to contend with his abilities. ¡°There¡¯s definitely signs of people keeping the place maintained and cleaned up, though.¡± ¡°Another thing to find out while we¡¯re here, then, I guess,¡± said Esperanza. They had not planned to stay at Landeboug for too long, perhaps only two or three days, so as not to draw suspicion. The way that the place that served as the town¡¯s only inn was basically a large tent where people would sleep next to each other also made for a good excuse for their group to meet and ¡®get along¡¯ with each other, fortunately. ¡°Let¡¯s split up again for now. It¡¯s almost dinnertime and it¡¯d be odd for us to be missing. We¡¯ll continue our investigation tomorrow.¡± ¡°Yes, Exalted One.¡± The group split up and made their way back to the inn-tent, near which some of the demons they knew were the inn¡¯s staff were roasting one of the massive hocks of the [Crawler] that Esperanza saw being slaughtered earlier over a fire pit. Apparently that would serve for their dinner that night, which was not a big surprise since it was freshly slaughtered meat, something most people would find to be a treat, given how most meat would be preserved for later usage. When a generous chunk of the roasted flesh was presented to her on top of some thick maize porridge, with a large leaf taking the place of a plate, Esperanza found that the meat glistened with fat and had a subtle, but fascinating aroma. Like most reptile meats, the meat itself was something that could best be described as if someone crossed a chicken with a fish, with a mild taste more like chicken but a softer, somewhat flaky texture like fish. Some very fatty fish, in this case, given how the [Crawler] that was slaughtered looked almost bloated, its once centipede-like figure more akin to a caterpillar by the time it was deemed good for slaughtering. The thick fat layer was sweet and succulent, and lent a fantastic richness to the meat as a while, which married well with the sweet-savory maize it was served with. After washing down the succulent meal with some local ale made from maize and fruits, most of the people retired to the inn-tent, where bedrolls had been laid out on the ground in groups of twos and threes. It was a rather unusual experience to share the night with so many people under one roof, but other than the noise ¨C quite a lot of them snored ¨C it was not very different than what Esperanza remembered of camping trips in her previous life. 229 - Retaking the Fort (Part 1) ¡°One last check before we go. Everyone remember the plan?¡± asked Alissa as she looked over the rest of her party as well as the two hundred or so third tiers assigned to support them. ¡°Get on the walls, take them, then gather together for a final push to the citadel with the others,¡± replied Joshua curtly, summarizing the key points of the plan in the simplest possible way. There were three strike forces, one for each wall other than the south, which was left open for the demons to run away from. Or at least, that was what it would look like. In truth, other than three strike forces and the large majority of the army that besieged the fort otherwise, there was a separate, fourth team that set an ambush some distance to the south of the fort. They would take care of the demons that saw the opening left in the south, ran that way, and managed to get past the besieging soldiers. ¡°You were listening, then. Good. We¡¯ll open a foothold first, then the rest will follow as planned. Gather around me and wait for the signal,¡± said Alissa with a nod. The siege that day had started a while ago, and her group was hidden amongst the soldiers around the fort, close enough to act in short order, but far enough away that the demons weren¡¯t paying attention to them as of yet. The signal in question came soon enough, in the blowing of horns that echoed through the battlefield, signaling a general attack as well as for the strike teams to do their thing. The other two strike teams would head up the fort¡¯s walls in their own respective ways, whereas Alissa¡¯s party gathered close around her and held each other while she activated [Living in a Dream] and carried them all through the ethereal, dream-like dimension. They passed through throngs of their own allies without harming them, closing in to the fort¡¯s walls before Alissa ¡°floated¡± the group up towards the ramparts with her. It consumed a lot of mana for her to bring a group like that, but it was the most efficient way they had to scale the enchanted walls and make a foothold for those soldiers assigned to support them. Like before, Alissa chose to hover the group above the heads of the demons instead of directly interspersing them amongst the demons. One reason she did so was because it took a greater toll on her mana to overlap things in her ethereal realm and things in the real world, and with more people, the toll rose exponentially. Given the potentially tragic outcome of a bad overlap, everyone agreed to just emerge into reality on top of the demons rather than risking an unpleasant accident. Nobody was looking forward to being accidentally merged with a demon due to an unfortunate shift at the very last moment, after all. Alissa waited for the other strike teams to make the attacks. When they did, the demons assigned to the western wall that her group was attacking noticed the commotion and paid even more attention to the army outside the fort, expecting a similar attack to happen there as well. In doing so, they shifted their attention away from the true direction of the first strike. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. As such, the demons were caught by near complete surprise when Alissa and her party materialized in the air directly above them and fell upon them with lethal intent. Joshua¡¯s spells were the first to land, as he rapidly cast a good dozen or so fireballs ¨C regular, uncharged ones that he could create practically with a flick of his hand ¨C and spread them over the western ramparts. Despite them being basic spells, they were still powered by a third-tier summoned [Hero] and were far beyond what the natives were used to. The explosions scorched dozens of demons and threw others off the ramparts, though the damage was not even their main purpose. Joshua fired off the spells to further distract the demons from the appearance of Alissa¡¯s party and to make it difficult for them to discern what was going on. The moment they landed ¨C two of the fireballs were fired directly below them to clear the demons out, the damage from the spells negligible to the [Heroes]¡¯ party ¨C the party split into two groups. Alissa took Nadine, Maribel, Moira, and Ormont to the right, while Ethan took the rest to the left. Alissa led the way, their group being purposely light on the defense because they intended to rush through the demons ahead of them. Her spear directly pierced through three disoriented demons before her, with none of the demons even able to react to her presence. A fourth demon was teetering near the edge of the walkway, seemingly blinded by the previous blast, so Alissa also sent them off their way by pushing the demon off using a quick swing of her spear¡¯s shaft. Nadine fought to Alissa¡¯s right, her two-handed blade flashing past as she dispatched one demon after another with measured strikes. Most of the demons they faced were only in their second tier to low third tier, far too weak to pose any sort of challenge to even the weakest members of the party, so the stronger members naturally carved a path through them like a hot knife through butter. Moira covered Alissa¡¯s left and used her polearm to deadly effect, her strikes swift and powerful, often sending the demons directly off the wall if they were close enough to the edge. One of the reasons why Alissa¡¯s group had more of the party¡¯s offense-oriented members was because there were fewer enemy fourth tiers on their side of the wall, which gave them the opportunity to focus on the offense. As a matter of fact, one of the two enemy fourth tiers on their side of the wall was not a hundred feet or so away from where the party landed. Alissa and the rest of the group rushed towards that demon fourth tier, a Ragah-Fiq wearing heavy armor that wielded a pair of heavy maces, and swiftly descended upon him with relentless aggression. Alissa and Nadine took on the demon together, while Moira and Maribel kept the other demons from interfering, with Ormont taking down any ranged demon in his sight. Faced against the two, the demon was quickly overwhelmed, and Nadine exploited an opening Alissa created to slash at the demon¡¯s left elbow, cutting deep into the flesh and practically disabling that arm. Left with only one hand to defend themselves, the demon stood no chance against the two, and as Nadine pushed away the demon¡¯s remaining weapon, Alissa slipped in and stabbed straight through one of the eye slits on the demon¡¯s helmet, her spearhead firmly embedded inside the demon¡¯s head as they collapsed to their back. It actually took Alissa more effort to extricate her stuck weapon from the demon¡¯s skull than it had taken to kill the demon fourth tier in question. On Ethan¡¯s side, the fighting was more steady. He, Bronwen, and Glenn held the front with their shields while Joshua provided the group¡¯s main firepower from behind together with the Leda and Benedictus. The three at the front pushed and shoved aside the weaker demons they ran into, allowing gravity and the fall off the ramparts to take care of them rather than waste energy on them. When they faced a larger group of demons, that was when Joshua pitched in a spell or two to break apart the group, or to otherwise clear the road. Even when they ran into the first fourth tier demon on their side of the wall, the fight had not lasted long. Glenn and Bronwen worked together to block the demon¡¯s attack, before Ethan rushed in and bashed the demon to temporarily stun them. Long enough for a blast of magic from Joshua to take care of the demon before it could regain itself, leaving only a smoldering husk behind. 230 - Retaking the Fort (Part 2) ¡°Down, down! Gather at the citadel entrance as planned!¡± yelled Alissa to the rest of her group when she noticed the second fourth tier demon on their side of the wall jump down and flee towards the citadel in the center of the Fort complex. She herself put her words to actions as she shifted to the right, shoving away a pair of weak demons in her way, then jumped straight down from the walkway she was on. In her previous life ¨C she had gotten more used to thinking of her life in the previous world that way ¨C she would never have considered such a leap. A fifty-foot fall or thereabouts was more than plenty to kill a person barring exceptional circumstances, yet the way she landed on her feet and simply flexed away the impact of the landing with her leg muscles further hammered down in her mind just how inhuman her body had become. Not that the rest of her party was any lesser than she was. Nadine, Moira, and Maribel all landed directly on the ground like Alissa did, the first two bleeding off the momentum of the impact the same way she did, while Maribel twirled around like a dancer and settled down far more gracefully, if taking a bit longer to do so. Ormont was clearly not confident in doing the same, so he hopped down to a landing halfway down the wall and to the ground from here instead. They rushed to chase after the escaping demon, but the demon was far ahead of them by that point, so instead they headed towards the citadel while slaughtering the demons on their way. Above, on the walkway, the third tiers allocated to support them already reached the breach they formed and were pushing the demons back, and similar sights could be seen on the other walls other than the southern one. Alissa also noticed how two more demons fled from Ethan¡¯s side of the wall, shortly followed by Ethan¡¯s group themselves. Apparently they also only got one of the demons on their side of the wall like Alissa did. It was a bit of a shame, as she had hoped to be able to take down more of the fourth tier demons on the wall where they have local superiority, but taking two down was better than none, she guessed. As Alissa fought, she noticed how Mother Magdalene led a detachment of fourth tier priests and guards from the temple, the old matron directly jumping down from the northern wall¡¯s walkway and continuing her rush into the throng of demons before her without missing a beat. The shield and mace in the old woman¡¯s hand clearly no less deadly on account of her age, given how she made short work of every demon before her, with at least two fourth tier demons fleeing her wrath. Even the temple¡¯s elites had a hard time catching up with the old matron, who advanced at a downright reckless pace in her fervor, though Alissa had to admit that Mother Magdalene had what it took to maintain such a brutal pace. Sir DelVillar led the strike team that breached the eastern walls and landed heavily, ensconced within his armor of stone as usual. He led the fourth tiers with him on a steadier pace rather than rush out with the militant fervor shown by Mother Magdalene, ensuring that everyone was following behind him rather than rushing out. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. As for Sir Inolet, he was not present because he led the ambush team to the south of the fort. Out of the veteran fourth tiers present he was the one most capable in delivering powerful attacks over a large area. Magus Drummond went with him, as did other fourth tiers who were suited to the ambush team and others to support them. The three strike teams converged a short distance away from the citadel, where even from the distance Alissa could feel the mana of many strong demons, likely in the fourth tier themselves. The demons had stationed themselves on the defense like the humans once did back at Fort Silvia, with a few fourth tiers on each wall and the rest on standby in the center, and that failed on them. Because of course the Kingdom¡¯s side would have thought out countermeasures to their own tactics, for when some smart demon thought to adopt them for their own use. ¡°How many did you get on your way here?¡± asked Sir DelVillar as the strike teams gathered together, forming a thirty-strong group of fourth tiers likely capable of flattening anything in their path, unless faced with a similarly powerful team. ¡°We took down three on our side, but another three got lucky and escaped our grasp.¡± ¡°Two,¡± stated Mother Magdalene, almost spitting her next words with vehement disgust. ¡°The cowards fled before one once we killed off the nearest one. There should be three of them escaping here as well.¡± ¡°Also two on our side,¡± volunteered Alissa. ¡°Similarly, three escaped. They were too far away for us to catch up to.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the plan now? Do we barge in or do you have another thing in mind, Sir DelVillar?¡± asked Mother Magdalene as she rested her hefty mace ¨C the mace head was as large as her own head ¨C on her shoulder. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be more than twenty-five of them left inside, if that. I am pretty certain we got a few on the way here.¡± ¡°As you said, Mother Magdalene, we barge in,¡± said Sir Delvillar with an amused tone. ¡°There¡¯s no point for fanciful tactics or maneuvers now that we possess a decisive strength advantage. Everyone good at breaking doors down, gather by the citadel¡¯s gate, please!¡± said the old knight right after. ¡°We would have to trouble you to open the door for us.¡± Ethan and Mother Magdalene herself, amongst others, walked over to the closed gate of the citadel, along with three other fourth tiers, all armed with heavy bludgeons, mauls, or maces. The five of them lined up next to each other and exchanged a look before they started hammering on the closed gates of the citadel with all their might, the five synchronizing their timing to strike together. The first strike caused a deafening sound to echo and shook dust seemingly off the entire side of the citadel, bathing the group below with it. The second strike made an even louder noise, as well as the tortured creaking of metal being forced to its limits. The third strike directly blew the gates right off its hinges, leaving the entrance wide open for use. As the group had predicted, the surviving demon fourth tiers ¨C and a group of demons who were at the cusp of reaching fourth tier as well ¨C were gathered in the citadel, and a storm of magic and projectiles welcomed the group as they entered through the breached gates. Those skilled in defense stepped to the front and took the brunt of the assault with their shields and barriers, however, causing the attack to peter out impotently before them. Sir DelVillar himself was leading right at the front, relying on his impenetrable stone armor to directly take on multiple spells and strikes without a care. He swung his polemace and pushed one of the demons back, as the other fourth tiers behind him charged out from behind the cover of their allies and joined the fighting as well. Within moments a chaotic melee took place within the citadel, but the demons were quickly pushed back, as they were fewer in number and weaker in power. None of the demons were able to match up with the likes of Sir DelVillar or Mother Magdalene, which allowed the two to rampage amongst them like a pair of lions set loose amidst a flock of sheep. 231 - Retaking the Fort (Part 3) ¡°Hahahaha! Cower! Cower with your tails tucked between your legs like the craven cur you truly are, demons! Tremble before the holy light and the purifying flames!¡± yelled Mother Magdalene with evident enthusiasm as she tackled two of the fourth-tier demons at the same time. ¡°Let the world be cleansed from the stain that your existence left behind!¡± The old matron¡¯s mace flashed past with such speed that it looked as if she was merely wielding a rattan cane and was administering corporal punishment to naughty children. One of the demons she faced was a Ragah-Fiq that wielded a shield larger than their own body, and tried to block her blows, but all that resulted in were massive dents forming on said shield instead. The other demon did not even dare to be anywhere near the path of her strikes, and frantically retreated with every swing. There was good reason for the demon to act that way, too. Unlike most Temple Guards whose skills tended to focus more on defense, with the most common high tier skill amongst them being some method to accumulate the holy light around them into some sort of protective domain that made themselves or their allies more durable, Mother Magdalene walked an opposite path. Rather than defense, she walked the road of offense, a road of purification by fire and smitings. All around the old matron¡¯s impressively muscular body, the holy light coalesced into a nearly physical veil that wrapped around Mother Magdalene as well as her weapons and armor. The veil looked glaringly bright even to her allies, but to the demons, it was not just a blindingly bright distraction. It was so, so much more. Second tier demons and weaker third tier demons would directly combust where they stood if they were exposed to the light at too close a distance or too long a time. Stronger third tiers and weaker fourth tiers would have burns appearing on their bodies, the severity of which depended on their proximity to Mother Magdalene, as was seen on the exposed skin of the weaker fourth tier demon she was facing. Even for the stronger fourth tier demons, the holy light¡¯s offensive domain rendered them uncomfortable and prone to distractions, which could easily turn the tables of a close fight, something Mother Magdalene relied upon during her rampages deep into the demon lines. Similarly, since the domain wrapped around her weapon as well, a direct hit from one of her strikes could inject part of the domain directly into her foe¡¯s body, burning them from the inside out if they proved to be too fragile to resist it. A point graphically proven as the weaker fourth tier demon Mother Magdalene was facing misjudged the range and took a hit against their side instead. The hit itself was relatively light. Practically a glancing blow as only the very tip of the matron¡¯s mace caught the demon. It was a blow strong enough to dent the demon¡¯s armor, sure, but not one with enough force to crush their body underneath said armor. Even so, it was enough for the domain wrapped around the mace to enter the demon¡¯s body. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Not a moment later, the demon screamed in agony as their side spontaneously combusted from the inside, the flames and smoke shooting out from the gaps of their armor. It was a horrific sight made worse by the demon¡¯s agonized, sorrowful screams, and it distracted a couple of the demons fighting against others, leaving openings that their opponents exploited mercilessly. One such unfortunate demon was a Nevilosk Alissa was fighting against, who left a bit of an opening that allowed her to slam the point of her shield against the demon¡¯s side, likely shattering several of the demon¡¯s ribs in the process. The demon attempted to retreat after taking the blow, but the pain hindered their movements and Alissa managed to land another strike with her shield, this time a bit lower down. When the second blow directly struck where Alissa guessed the demon¡¯s kidney would be, it dug in deep, and likely bruised if not directly blew apart any organs in its way, causing the demon in question to bend over in pain. Alissa expected such a reaction, and just as the demon bent over, her right knee raised up to meet the demon¡¯s face, a direct meeting between her knee and their nose that ended with the latter as the loser. As the demon¡¯s head snapped back up from the force of the knee strike, Alissa thrust her spear into the exposed base of the demon¡¯s chin, her weapon¡¯s spearhead slipping into the demon¡¯s skull and into its brain from below, swiftly ending their life, likely before they even realized that happened. Over on her side. Mother Magdalene had also finished off the Ragah-Fiq, now looking more like a barely identifiable mess of burned, crushed bits of fur and flesh cocooned in a tomb of deformed armor plating. As for the other demon, all that remained of it was a charred corpse, though Alissa noted that the demon¡¯s head had been pulverized by a heavy blow as well, likely the Mother finishing it off when she had the chance to do so. The other demons within the citadel were panicking and attempting to escape, but disengaging from their human opponents was easier said than done, especially now that the humans had the numerical advantage over them. Out of the thirty or so demons at or near the fourth tier gathered within the citadel, less than ten managed to escape from the citadel¡¯s back gate, most with heavy injuries. What remained of the rest were taken down with extreme prejudice by the human task force within the citadel, while some chased after the escaping demons, who ended up rallying other demon survivors to make a break from the open south end of the fort. In total, five demon fourth tiers and around a thousand other demons fled towards the south, while the Kingdom had successfully reclaimed Fort Gurzil with minimal casualties on their side. Of course, the demons that fled had no inkling whatsoever that the opening to the south was a trap left behind by the Kingdom¡¯s forces. After all, a foe that saw that there was no hope of survival might turn and fight to the bitter end, but if they were left a path to escape, they would tend to rout and try to save themselves instead. It was far easier to handle enemies that were fleeing for their lives compared to enemies that were fighting with nothing to lose. Some of the people in the fort kept watch over the escaping demons as they fled further to the south, even after the demons left their sight range. Sure enough, around an hour or so after the demons fled southwards, a loud explosion took place to the south, one so large that even those in the fort felt the shockwave despite the distance involved. Clearly Sir Inolet had sprung his ambush on the escaping demons, and a few hours later, they received their answer as the detachment sent to the south for the ambush returned to Fort Gurzil, telling tales of how the ambush went. Given the cheerful mood of the returning soldiers, Alissa could tell right away that the ambush had gone well. Something she soon confirmed from Sir Inolet himself. Out of the escaping demons only a handful of the weaklings that already scattered away before they reached the ambush zone managed to escape. The rest were annihilated to a man in the ambush led personally by the old knight. CCXXXII - Departure and Collection Esperanza ¡°woke¡± up the next morning, or gave the appearance of waking up to others around her. Ever since she rose to the third tier, she had discovered that amongst other things, she no longer needed to sleep, or at least, sleep in the way most people defined it. Rather than sleep completely, Esperanza instead rested ¡°parts¡± of her body, while another part remained awake and aware of its surroundings, allowing her to maintain watchfulness at all times, even while resting. Part of it was probably how it became easier to understand if she viewed each of her eyes as a separate source of input. By splitting them up that way, it made it easy for her to allow chunks of her awareness to rest while remaining awake and aware with the rest, even actively participating in conversations and low-intensity activities. These days, she only woke her whole body at the same time during intensive battles, as most other situations allowed her to go through them without having to exert herself fully. Even keeping herself in disguise like the one she presently wore was done that way, with the parts she shoved ¡°inside¡± kept inert and at rest, while the outer layer of her body was alert and active. She followed the recently awakened crowd of demons ¨C including some of her compatriots ¨C out of the tent, where an aromatic scent enticed them. Said aromatic scent turned out to be coming from a bubbling pot of what seemed to be porridge or gruel of some sort, ladled out and served to the waking demons in wooden bowls. Upon tasting it herself, Esperanza found that it was more of a thick soup rather than porridge or gruel, sweet and savory, likely made with the local maize and flavored with bits of meat from the slaughtered [Crawler] the day before. It was a hot and hearty start to the day, a good way to wake up, to say the least. Given how practically every one of the demons returned a bowl that had been emptied to the last drop, the sentiment was clearly a shared one. The group¡¯s plan was to depart from Landeboug over the day. It was not uncommon for visitors to depart after only a single day¡¯s stay in such small towns, especially if they already bartered for what they desired. Staying longer meant more expenses, after all, and while a night¡¯s stay was often unavoidable, most travelers would usually attempt to save up as much of their meager finances by not staying overlong. Nalihimatu and Ilavakide were already packing up as they would depart soon, while Val-Kas¡¯j and his group would depart the latest, around the afternoon. Esperanza and Isfrea planned to look around the town a bit more, looking for things that might plausibly sell for more money elsewhere, as befit their guise as traveling merchants. There wasn''t much to browse in Landeboug, as the town was mostly agricultural in nature. Most of what the town produced were foodstuffs, so they eventually decided to just buy some of the local specialties, like some rare aged liquor made from fermenting the best yield of the town¡¯s prized maize crop, for example. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. The amphora they managed to procure was of a brew started a decade ago, the maize kernels crushed, then mixed with water and allowed to ferment for several weeks before the fluid was strained and stored into other such amphoras to age. The resulting liquor was enjoyed when it reached five years of age or more, and most of the batch had already been drunk or sold, with the amphora being one of the last. They also got some slices of [Crawler] fat preserved in spices that the old Nevilosk woman minding the liquor store said was her family¡¯s special recipe and was particularly well-suited to be enjoyed with the alcohol. The lump of shiny, jigging fat had been marinated in a brine mixture, then caked with liberal amounts of spices and salt. Supposedly when preserved that way and stored in a dry, dark space, the fat could hold for months to even a year or more, so there was definitely a point to the preservation process. Whether it made the lump of fat taste good or not was something Esperanza was somewhat cautious about, though. Either way, they accepted the trade with the elderly demon woman and moved on, the two soon leaving the town of Landeboug just before noon. At first, they exited the town from a different direction as the one they came from, but once Esperanza and Isfrea were out of sight, they took a turn and passed the town from far enough away that their passage wouldn¡¯t be noticed. Together they headed towards the forest where the rest of the group had been waiting for them. Once inside the forest, it was easy enough for them to go straight into its deepest depths ¨C Esperanza had assumed her amorphous form once more and carried Isfrea along for expediency ¨C where it only took Esperanza moments to notice the presence of the other [Progenies of Yore]. She made her way to them, and found everyone other than Val-Kas¡¯j group already present. Said group joined them several hours later, closer to the evening, since they departed from Landeboug the latest. None of them attracted any suspicion, other than a couple of the older townspeople noting that it was pretty rare to see Nevilosks not in the army in their region. It was something Esperanza kept in mind, though fortunately, rare just meant that they did see some from time to time. ¡°I guess that means we¡¯ll have to check whether sending any of our Nevilosk or Ragah-Fiq members would be appropriate or not from the next village onwards,¡± noted Ani after the group mulled over their findings. While rare visitors like how Esperanza¡¯s group was seen in Landeboug wasn¡¯t uncommon or suspicious, it was still something memorable, which was something the group as a whole were trying to avoid. ¡°Ma¡¯Varoks and Tesh¡¯kas seem to be the most common, so we should be able to scout things out regardless of the place,¡± volunteered Legisvula from the side. ¡°Also, the division is more pronounced the more isolated and small the place is. Some villages might only have people from one of the demon races living in it, while just about any city would have all of them.¡± ¡°Definitely something to consider since we don¡¯t want to be too memorable. Other than that, did any of you find any issues with having to kill demons now that you¡¯ve seen them living normally?¡± asked Ani some more, knowing all too well how easy it is for some people to crack once they were no longer unable to view their foes as something other, instead of just people. ¡°Not one bit. I think we all understand all too well that these same people who live quietly and peacefully in their idyllic little town would act no differently than the ones who personally slaughtered Navef back then,¡± stated Val-Kas¡¯j with a shake of his head. ¡°They all seemed pretty devout to the teachings of their gods, even if we saw nobody that looked like a priest or shaman around.¡± ¡°Speaking of, that is one thing we need to look deeper into,¡± said Esperanza. ¡°The complete lack of any shaman or other clergy was a bit odd, even if the townspeople seem devout enough to take care of the temple and pray there without anyone telling them to. I get that the demons might do things differently, so I want to find out how exactly they keep their faith so conveniently spread like this.¡± CCXXXIII - Following the Prey to its Lair As fate would have it, Esperanza found a clue that answered her questions not a week after the group departed from Landeboug. They were traveling further to the south and west, deeper into the demon-held territory that once belonged to the human kingdom, avoiding the larger roads as they usually did. The route they were taking would ultimately lead them to a large city that used to be named Sevarin, which according to Alissa was known as the kingdom¡¯s ¡°Jewel of the South¡± when it still belonged to them. It was the largest, most prosperous city in the southern end of the human kingdom, and even if the demons damaged the city when they took it over, chances were that most of the damage would already be repaired in the decades since they took over. According to Alissa the city would also likely house quite a few of the demon side¡¯s more important people, at least amongst those not living in their homeland further south. If her group wanted to find more clues about the demon [Champions] as well as their clergy, it was there where they would most likely find some results. Since it was a large city, all the demon races would likely be represented as well, so it would be easier for them to infiltrate without causing unwanted suspicions. The only drawback was the distance, as Sevarin was a good month or so away from Landeboug even with the direct route they were taking. What the group ran into along the way, however, might well answer some of their questions sooner. The group, or rather, their scouts, discovered the presence of what seems to be a group of demons making their way through some less-traveled road, with one of them noting that the demons looked a bit like religious people out on a pilgrimage. That sparked Esperanza¡¯s curiosity and she went along with the scouts to track those demons once again. Sure enough, there were around forty to fifty demons, most of them in the lower third tier, who were traveling together in a progression that reminded Esperanza of religious pilgrims she saw on some documentaries back in her previous world. She carefully tried to check the class of the tall Nevilosk demon garbed in elaborate clothing that led the procession, while keeping her aura and presence to a minimum at the same time. High tier people often could feel if someone used [Identify] or [Analysis] on them even from afar, though Esperanza was quite confident that she would be able to get away with it unnoticed thanks to her skills covering her presence. [Orphan Lv20 / Cleric of Znehctyi Lv20 / Voice of Change Lv20 / Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile Lv18] was the result she received, making the demon one of the highest leveled ones she had ever seen so far. ¡°That¡¯s got to be an important person for the demons, all right,¡± mumbled Esperanza as she read the result. The scouts who came with her asked her about it, and soon nodded their agreement as well. People that high up on the fourth tier were almost always of great importance, so it was curious to see one out on their own like that. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Though perhaps calling them ¡°on their own¡± was a bit of an exaggeration, given the congregation the demon traveled with, which included four fourth-tier demons that were each in the middle of the fourth tier, all with warrior-like paths to boot. If they had to fight the whole congregation, it would probably be a rather close fight even with their entire group working together. Only Ani was actually in the middle of the fourth tier amongst their warriors, after all. While Esperanza herself could muster up power that roughly matched one herself, the rest of their group were mostly able to match up to lower end fourth tiers at most. The difference that levels made just got more pronounced the higher one¡¯s tier was, so the high end fourth tier demon shaman could probably take on their whole group on their own. Because of that, Esperanza signaled to the scouts to keep themselves hidden while they followed the demon procession from a distance. At the same time, she also sent one of the scouts to relay the information to the others further behind, to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t give away their presence by accident. Given the long distance, it was an unlikely thing, but it was better to be safe than sorry when dealing with an enemy that powerful. Carefully, the group tailed the demon congregation from a safe distance, with everybody prepared for battle, and suppressing their presence to the utmost. They followed the demons through winding paths that seemed to be rarely taken by people, crossing through many regions of wilderness towards their quarry¡¯s destination. Normal people would not have dared to take such a path. Many of the monsters and wild beasts that inhabited the area were equivalent to third tiers, which were serious threats for civilians. The congregation was well-prepared to deal with such threats, however, and took care of any beast that foolishly attempted to prey upon them with ease. Needless to say, Esperanza¡¯s group also made short work of any beast that came across their path, though they did so while ensuring that the scuffle was either silent or disguised as one between two wild beasts to avoid suspicion. They followed behind the demon congregation for four more days and night in that manner, skulking in the dark while keeping themselves unnoticeable. It was nearing evening on the fourth day, as heavy rain poured from the skies and a thunderstorm raged over the region, that they finally reached their destination. Fortunately the weather condition had not negatively affected Esperanza¡¯s perception by too much. Her inhuman eyes were perfectly capable of keeping track of the demons, even while everyone else was hampered by the rainstorm. She watched as the congregation entered a large stone building that looked like some sort of tribal temple, built deep in the wilderness, situated within the central region of a dungeon full of monsters that reached power capable of matching early fourth tiers. Naturally, her curiosity was piqued by the odd temple, but she dared not approach too closely even under the storm. The five demon fourth tiers within gave off a strong sense of threat, the likes of which she had not met often. She estimated that each of the four warriors were at least as powerful as that human bishop she killed back in the kingdom, while the shaman was even stronger than them by a good bit. No, if there were opportunities to jump on the demon fourth tiers one at a time, she would gladly take it, but for the time being, she wanted to know what they were doing deep in a dungeon, first and foremost. Eventually, as night fell and most of the demons went to sleep, with only some of the third tiers posted on guard by the temple¡¯s sole entrance, she encouraged herself to take the risk and inch closer. She bit the rest of the group to stay behind while remaining on guard just in case she was discovered, while Esperanza herself adopted the guise of a six-legged feline monster, the sort that populated the dungeon, and carefully stalked towards the temple and its sleeping demons. Her passage through the dark of the night left neither trace nor sound, her presence kept to the lowest point she could, which was fortunately something the creature she assumed the form of was also noted for. That enhanced the chance that even if she was discovered, the demons might mistake her for a native monster that got too close. Silently, she moved as close as she dared to, her eyes peering through the dark and scouring over every detail she could. CCXXXIV - Temple in the Dungeon The first thing Esperanza noticed was how the central region of the temple looked pretty much like someone¡¯s idea of a tribal worship altar, albeit one with a roof on top. Overall, the structure of the building was like that of a squat and rather short pyramid, one that looked a bit flattened out, with a single stairway leading to the inside on the south side. That was where five demons stood guard, each of them being in their middle third tiers and clearly used to working together, given how they positioned themselves to cover each other. Out of the forty-five ¨C Esperanza counted ¨C third tier demons in the congregation, fifteen of them were warriors like these ones, all of whom had the [Acolyte of Znehctyi] as their second tier class. Similarly, of the thirty others, every single one of them possessed the [Cleric of Znehctyi] class for theirs. Esperanza felt that it was definitely no coincidence. While the classes of the four fourth tier warriors varied quite a bit, they too had similarities amongst them. [Orphan Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Bladed Hand of Trickery Lv20 / Soul-Reaping Jester Lv12] [Warrior¡¯s Child Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Wielder of Living Spear Lv20 / Unforeseeable Executioner Lv9] [Cleric¡¯s Child Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Insect Whisperer Lv20 / Hive of Pestilence Lv10] [Orphan Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Paradoxical Solution Lv20 / Return to Simplicity Lv10] Three of the four were Nevilosks ¨C as were the majority of the congregation members ¨C while the [Hive of Pestilence] was covered completely by the hooded cloak they wore. From the short, broad build, though, Esperanza was reasonably certain that the demon in question was a Ragah-Fiq instead under the robed, not a Nevilosk like the others.. She recalled from Alissa¡¯s information that each of the demon¡¯s four gods were associated with one of their four main races ¨C the aquatic Gour-ug¡¯rech seemingly left behind ¨C and that Znehctyi was the one associated with the Nevilosks. It certainly explained the composition of the congregation, which was mostly comprised of that type of demon. Probably the rest were rarities from other races who worshiped that god instead, she was not certain, but it seemed like a good guess. The way everyone had a class associated with the god in question definitely made the whole thing look a lot like a religious pilgrimage of sorts, and the temple further reinforced that notion. The [Clerics] along with the high fourth tier demon shaman were all seated in a large circle at the center region of the temple, the shaman directly before what seemed to be an altar with a large stone ring on top of it, and the rest arranged in three concentric circles around him. The four fourth tier acolytes stood at the four corners of the area, keeping watch over the praying demons. At least that was what it looked like to Esperanza from the distance. The demon [Clerics] were looking down with their eyes closed and their lips mumbling inaudible words, while the shaman was more animated. They likely intoned a ritual prayer of some sort, their hands leaving behind patterns of mana in the air as they moved around. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Whatever prayer or ritual it was, it looked like it would take a while, and it was obvious that this was not the first time the demons did it, so Esperanza took the chance to check out the temple itself while the demons were occupied. For a temple, there wasn¡¯t much in terms of decorations, no grand murals depicting scenes from mythology carved or painted on the walls, no statues of the gods or their servants carved into the stone itself, at least on the outer side. It was a construction that emphasized form over function, simple, yet retaining elegance and grandeur through its own simplicity. The area around the central raised region where the ritual or whatever was taking place on the other hand, had more things present. Other than the altar-like object in the center itself, there were four statues positioned at the four cardinal directions of the area, each one depicting one of the gods worshiped by the demons. Almost immediately Esperanza noticed that the statues of the demon gods were positioned in parallel to Alissa¡¯s depiction of the gods worshiped by the human side. On the north side was a statue Esperanza assumed was a depiction of Ner¡¯Vhok, the Annihilating Berserker. The statue was of a tall, burly Ma¡¯Varok demon, with four muscular arms each wielding a different weapon, wearing armor that seemed to be made out of bone, and with one eye covered by an eye patch of some sort. To the east side was one she guessed was that of Lanisheey, the Queen of Temptation. For a Tesh¡¯ka, the figure was tall and voluptuous, dressed in attire that could be described only as scandalous, wielding a long staff with what seemed to be gems on its tip. The figure¡¯s face was hidden beneath the hood of her cloak, however. By far the most unassuming of the statues was the one Esperanza guessed was that of Znehctyi, the Scheming Tactician, whose statue depicted a tall, rather scholarly-looking Nevilosk with thick glasses perched on their nose and an open book in hand. It was really quite a juxtaposition to see one of the so-called demon gods depicted in such a normal way. As for the statue on the west side, that of Elugurenas, the Defiling Touch, it depicted a positively corpulent Ragah-Fiq with fur that could only be described as shaggy covering their whole body. That race of demons was already naturally predisposed to being short and squat, so the corpulence made the statue look almost like one of a furry ball of some sort instead. It was a rather comical depiction for the supposedly dreaded demon god. Even so, the demons clearly put importance in the statues. Other than the shaman ¨C who sat directly between the statue of Znehctyi and the altar in the center ¨C none of the other demons seated themselves directly in front of the statues, leaving four gaps in the circles they formed. It probably had some sort of ritual significance, though Esperanza was unable to make heads or tails about it for the time being. The remaining demons with [Acolyte] classes must have been resting within the temple, between the entrance and the central area, since another five of them came out and relieved those on guard after a while. As for the demons being relieved of their shift, they entered the temple and soon left Esperanza¡¯s line of sight. She could feel their presence further within, though, if dimly. Whatever the temple was made of seemed to be blocking her perceptions to some degree, though areas like the entrance and the open central area were exempt from that effect. It was why she had not noticed where the other demon [Acolytes] were until they came out themselves. On the other hand, if the material was strong enough to dampen her skills, it likely wasn¡¯t a one-way dampening. That emboldened her to approach closer, though she still kept herself as concealed as possible, playing the part of a curious animal being attracted by the demon¡¯s passage through the dungeon. Like that, she lurked in the darkness as she inched closer and closer to the temple, approaching it from the opposite side of the entrance, where there were no guards. She was just reaching the end of the treeline around the temple when an eerie glow seemed to emanate from the altar in the center of the ritual and drew her attention. CCXXXV - Voice of God Esperanza stilled every muscle that comprised her current feline form when she felt the thrum of power that emanated from the altar at the center of the temple. She watched as an eerie, otherworldly glow suffused the stone ring set atop the structure, and further ¡°bled¡± over to the hole in its center, forming what was practically a screen of glowing mana suspended in the air. The concentration of mana was massive. Far more than what Esperanza herself or any member of her group could manage. In fact, she doubted that even the fourth tier demon shaman she saw could have powered that on their own. Most likely the mana was gathered together from the thirty third tier [Clerics] while the fourth tier [Shaman] supplemented and directed them with their own mana. As Esperanza watched, the screen of glowing mana spread over the ring-shaped structure, gaining a uniform shade over the entire thing instead of being concentrated over the hole in the center. From there, she felt more than witnessed how the mana seemed to connect itself to multiple distant locations far beyond her perception. Then a voice started to emanate from the altar, a sound that made Esperanza think that someone attempted to make a group of keening dogs howl to the melody of songs that would not look out of place in a church¡¯s choir¡¯s repertoire. For a couple of minutes, the keening melody grew more clear to her hearing, despite not growing louder. It was more as if the sound itself was being carried further away while retaining its clarity and volume, likely by magical means. Then the tune started to slow down, the volume decreased, the intensity lessened, like a song reaching its end. It was then that the voice echoed out from the altar. ¡°Heed the words of Znehctyi, my brethren. Heed the flow and ebb of the coming waves.¡± The voice had an ethereal, otherworldly quality to it, especially with the way it seemed to echo from every direction at once, including from inside one¡¯s head. Even from the distance Esperanza heard it clearly, and while she was at first alarmed, after a few moments she realized that the feel of the mana in the air was something familiar to her, a feeling she often felt herself. One she felt every time she had her weekly chat with Oldies. When she communed with the Old Gods in whatever dimension they are hidden in. That alone told her several things. For one, the voice probably came from the demon god himself, or one of their servants at least. It likely came from a realm not dissimilar to where Oldies lurked, at the very least. The only difference was where her conversations with Oldies basically happened in her head, the demon god had enough power to actually send their voice over to Ephemera proper, though it took a pretty exhausting ritual to do so, judging from how most of the demon [Clerics] were slumped with fatigue. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Out of the thirty [Clerics] a good half just slumped down where they were seated, looking like corpses if not for the slight undulations of their breathing, likely fainted on the spot. Out of the remaining half, most fell flat on their backs, their mouths wide open, panting as they breathed, as if they had been through a grueling physical exercise just now. The remaining few were the ones who were able to keep their composure, even if their breathing similarly became heavier. Even the [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] was not spared, the demon¡¯s hands visibly trembling from time to time, and his breathing notably more rapid than before, even if he strived to present no outward signs of his fatigue. Then again, it made some sense. It must have been much harder to create a communication link directly to the world compared to one that only went to one person¡¯s mind. From what Esperanza could see and her instinctual knowledge about mana, the connections the altar had with wherever else it was connected to had the function of transportation, so it was probable that the broadcast, or the voice of the demon god she was hearing, was being simultaneously heard by many others in multiple places. Now that she thought about it, she recalled seeing a similar altar-like structure in the temple back in Langeboug, a well-cared one, if much smaller in scale. If her guess was right and those served as receivers for the broadcasting source that was the large altar in the temple, then that was probably how the demons proselytized to their populace. Using the direct voice of their gods. That would definitely be more than enough to keep the populace under control even if the demons did not station shamans in every town. After all, such a direct connection would inspire faith far better than mere preaching. When she considered the tribal past of the demons where they were divided into many different tribes, such rituals also make some sense, perhaps as something a strong tribe would perform and ¡°share¡± the results with weaker tribes under their rule. As a bonus it would also double as an affirmation of their right to rule straight from the gods themselves. Esperanza kept her ears open as she listened to the message from the demon god. The fact that her language skill allowed her to understand both the demon and human tongues helped her greatly with that, though most of the content of the broadcast ¨C she decided to just call it that for ease ¨C was mostly the voice preaching to the demons. It also encouraged their ¡°brave warriors¡± fighting the ¡°despicable¡± humans and exhorted them to cleanse their ¡°taint¡± from Ephemera, promising that their souls would be welcomed in the bliss of the afterlife should they lose their lives pursuing such a noble endeavour. All in all, it was nothing outside her expectations. Preaching to maintain the faith, promising a blessing in the afterlife, all things she had heard and seen even in her previous world. Perhaps religions everywhere were the same, in some manner. If not for the different language and topics the way the voice preached even reminded her somewhat of the priest from the church she and her mother used to go to. Near the end, however, the voice mentioned something that made her frown. It encouraged its brethren in the east to keep searching for the ¡°heretics¡±, which Esperanza very well knew referred to people who worshiped Oldies like her group. The voice called for another hunt until the few survivors of the failed hunt ¨C the very same hunt that resulted in most of Navef¡¯s populace dying ¨C were found and killed. It was clear that the present gods truly have no plan to tolerate any vestiges of the Old Gods if they could. Fortunately most of those survivors should be far enough away, safe in Agur-Bas, which was well-hidden in the wilderness, with a few still traveling with Esperanza. Had they attempted to seek refuge closer to Navef, they might well have been found and killed by now. Oldies¡¯ guidance had saved them from such a fate, which she was glad for. CCXXXVI - An Opportunity to Grasp ¡°So they¡¯re all gathered together in that temple, recuperating from the exhaustion of the ritual?¡± asked Ani after Esperanza quickly returned to the group and relayed everything she had seen and heard to them, including the more worrisome parts of what happened. ¡°A ritual that invoked the voice of one of their gods, is that correct, Exalted One?¡± ¡°Or at least something pretending to be one of them, yeah,¡± replied Esperanza with a nod. ¡°The voice has some of the same sort of quality I often felt from the old gods when they communicated with me, though also somewhat different. It definitely took a lot out of all those demon [Clerics] to pull off that ritual though. Even the peak fourth tier shaman looked half-dead by the end of it.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you want to take this chance to hit them before they could recover, Exalted One?¡± queried Ani with some concern in her voice. Esperanza had described the strength of the demons gathered in the temple and clearly Ani was worried that their group might not be able to prevail, or at least, not without paying too great a cost. ¡°We will probably never get this sort of chance again,¡± admitted Esperanza. ¡°Also, I can¡¯t help but feel that it might not be a coincidence that we happened to run across these demons right as they¡¯re going out to pull off this sort of ritual out in the wilderness. Wouldn¡¯t you agree that this might well be an opportunity we had been guided into?¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s risky. That was also why I proposed to go for the shaman myself first. The rest of you only jump in if I manage to take the shaman down,¡± added Esperanza as she looked around and met the eyes of the gathered group. ¡°I¡¯m the only one amongst us who could return to life, so I should test the waters first myself. The rest of you should hold your lives more dear to yourselves. There is no need to sacrifice yourselves to prove your faith. In fact, I forbid it unless there is truly no other way.¡± Esperanza knew that the [Progenies of Yore] would jump into fire if she asked them to. Most of Ani¡¯s group of warriors ¨C including Ani herself ¨C were also faithful enough to follow her come hell or high heaven. She had no wish to waste that faith of theirs, and part of the reason Ani looked so concerned was because Esperanza insisted on taking the riskiest part of the planned strike herself. The idea of allowing her to go alone into the midst of so many enemies likely bothered the rest to no end, even if they knew that she could not die, at least not permanently. Still, it was what Esperanza insisted on. If her gambit worked, it would have removed the greatest threat amongst the demons as a whole with no cost to themselves, as even if she died in the process she would just [Respawn] a while later, either to make her getaway or to continue the assault on the remaining demons. While the plan did sacrifice the element of surprise for the rest of the group, she felt that it was worth it since doing it her way would greatly reduce the risk for the rest of them. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Esperanza had confidence in her group if they were to take on the demon congregation without the [Grand Shaman] around, as that one demon was her main source of worry. She was afraid that the demon in question might strike down one of her companions ¨C the demon likely had the power to ¨C without any of them being able to do anything about it. The other four were more physical in nature, and those could be dealt with in other ways, but Esperanza had always been more wary of foes skilled in the Mind or Soul more than anything. They often had more insidious methods that were difficult to guard against or counter, as she herself had often done to undermine opponents that should have been more powerful than herself and come out on top. Which was why she returned towards the temple-like building, where the demons performed their ritual, on her own a short while later. This time Esperanza adopted the guide of a long but particularly slender serpent, as that sort of shape made it more convenient for her to hide her presence from the sight of the demons on guard. By that point of time, the four fourth-tier demons who used to be guarding the ritual site in the center of the temple had left and stood guard outside instead, one of them on each corner of the temple, while a group of five third-tier demons remained on guard at the temple¡¯s sole entrance. The demon [Clerics] and [Grand Shaman] were still strewn all over the ritual site trying to regain their strength. Esperanza looked over the guard setup before she made her decision. She dove towards the forest floor as her body further elongated and thinned until it was barely visible at a glance, appearing almost like a black-colored earthworm that was far too long. In such a form, she dug into the ground and tunneled her way towards the temple¡¯s entrance, her ¡°head¡± appearing unnoticed behind the demons that stood guard there. Carefully, she pooled the rest of her body underneath that spot as a single, barely noticeable tendril slithered into the temple complex itself. After she went up the stairs, she noticed the other third tier demon warriors, resting inside the temple in side halls that were likely set up just for that purpose. As Esperanza did everything in her power to hide her presence, none of the demons noticed her passing as she slid past the hall¡¯s doors inside the grooves between the stones that made up the temple¡¯s flooring. Like that, she inched closer and closer towards the ritual site without any of the demons noticing. Their security protocols were clearly not designed for dealing with shapeshifters who could not only completely cover their presence, but also fit themselves into the grooves between the stones of the floor. Esperanza quietly brought as much of her body as she could along the same pathways, her amorphous form filling up the grooves of the floor over part of the corridor while she observed her surroundings. When none of the demons were alerted or reacted to her after a while, she climbed up the stairs towards the ritual place, staying at the darkest corner of the stairs where she would not be noticed even if someone watched closely. She had turned the color of her ¡°skin¡± to match the hue of the stones to further camouflage herself just in case. Unlike the rest of the temple, the stone floor on the ritual area was smooth, as if it was made from a single gigantic piece of stone, other than the ritualistic patterns carved into it in the center of the region. As such, Esperanza hid herself by flattening her body and matching her color to that of the stone floor as she slowly and carefully flowed around the recuperating demons. Even the few demons still aware of their surroundings failed to notice her presence as she passed by them, but as Esperanza approached the center region where the [Grand Shaman] was, she paused her advance and stopped as she warily watched the old fourth-tier demon. There was a sort of presence around the old demon that made her feel as if she would be immediately discovered if she came into contact with it. So instead she gathered her mass around the old demon, just outside the reach of the presence she felt, and waited until the old demon looked distracted while he tried to recover from the ritual¡¯s drain. She dared not wait too long in case one of the demons somehow noticed her or the [Grand Shaman] might recover too much power. The moment the opening presented itself, Esperanza struck at the [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] CCXXXVII - A Mortal Struggle Oisin Evacni, [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] who had served Znehctyi for most of his life, was exhausted. He was old for a Nevilosk, in his hundred fifties, and even though he likely still had another good five or six decades ahead of him, he was feeling his age already, especially after ordeals that took a lot out of him like the ritual of communion just earlier that night. Such rituals were performed by the demons on a tri-monthly basis, in ancient temples that their gods had placed in the depths of dungeons. Each such temple would relay the words of god to many other temples in the vicinity, which in turn would relay them to other, smaller altars placed in every city, town, and village inhabited by the demons for them to hear the voice of their god. Which temple in a given area would actually result in communion when the ritual was performed was seemingly random, with one amongst them being the main site where the communion actually took place and the rest mostly serving as relays. This was not the first time Oisin had the honor to preside over the actual communion ritual, but even so, it remained a draining exercise even for one of his prowess. Or perhaps it was his age after all. He did not remember feeling so drained and exhausted when he participated or presided over such rituals during his first century of life. Even in his fatigue and exhaustion, however, he never let his guard down. He learned that lesson long, long ago in his youth, a lesson that his days serving as a clergy of Znehctyi only reinforced. His god wanted followers who lived by their wiles and guile, people who saw opportunities where most would have glossed over them and saw chances where others saw nothing. To say that the clergy often schemed against one another was an understatement. It was a state of being that was not only sanctioned by the great shamans, but was even encouraged, since only that way would those who rose above their peers prove themselves truly worthy of serving their god, the one who reigned over the ebb and flow of fortune and misfortune. As someone who made it into his current position as [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile], one of the highest pawns ¨C they viewed themselves that way and were proud of it ¨C of their god in the mortal realm, Oisin was naturally no stranger to such intrigue and plotting, which was why he kept his guard up even amongst people he trusted. While accidents during such pilgrimages to the ritual sites were rare, it sometimes happened that a group of priests or two failed to return, as after all the sites were situated inside dungeons populated with relatively powerful creatures. Sometimes people made mistakes and slipped up, ending up as monster chow as a result. It was just part of the risks of the pilgrimage. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Oisin felt the eyes of the beasts that inhabited the dungeon watching them from afar throughout the pilgrimage, the creatures so far intimidated by the aura he and the four chief guards gave out. Now that he was exhausted, however, it was the most likely time that some daring creature might try to pounce upon them, which was why he had the guards watch out for such things. He was confident that they should be able to stop any such creature from actually entering the temple, as the place was inaccessible other than through the entrance, despite appearances. When the gods created the temples they had also warded the seemingly wide open sides of the ritual area. Which was likely why Oisin was actually caught off guard when part of the stone floor around him suddenly seemed to come to life and rushed towards him. It was but a mere moment of inattention on his part, a momentary opening in his caution due to exhaustion, but that was all it took for whatever the thing was to cover the distance between them. It seemed amorphous in form, which made him recall various kinds of slime-like creatures he had seen before, but far larger and seemed to be able to control its flowing form in a far more detailed manner. Before he could make a sound or react, the creature had wrapped tightly around him, with only his reflexive use of a skill to reinforce his body sparing him from the bone-crushing force of the creature¡¯s embrace. More worrying was how he was unable to perceive anything around him, wrapped as he was by the creature¡¯s opaque body. Even using his skills proved difficult as many of them had verbal or movement components to them, but he was not left unarmed as a [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] that serves Znehctyi. His Soul was one of the most powerful aspects of his being and he could still use the skills related to the attribute. He did just that and subjected the creature to [Soul Pressure] and [Bewitching Mirage of Trials], two skills of his that struck at the creature¡¯s Soul and should have gotten him freed before long, only to open his eyes wide in horror when he felt how the creature¡¯s Soul seemed to be a bottomless abyss that simply swallowed everything. Nay, it was not just any abyss. It was an abyss full of the taint of the heretical old gods his gods had toppled in the past, a feeling he would not have mistaken for anything else. The heretical creature ¨C by now Oisin was convinced it was likely some sort of tool of the heretical gods ¨C countered his skills with a feeling that would have likely maddened those who were weak in their faith, a truly diabolical feat befitting of the heretical gods¡¯ tool. Oisin¡¯s main worry was how the creature seemed to be attempting to break his body, be it through crushing pressure or through various other means ¨C he could already feel something trying to bite into him at several areas ¨C but one of his skills, [Soul Casket], prevented that as it formed a layer of barrier that fused into his skin. Even so, he would not be able to hold against it forever. His Soul power was also getting expended as he dueled the creature on the battlefield of their souls, both of them attempting to savage the other¡¯s soul and devour them to replenish themselves. It was a silent, invisible fight, one that only held the two of them, and there Oisin saw the creature¡¯s soul take the shape of one of the hated humans, though he did not let it affect his psyche. He only hoped that one of the [Clerics] who were still awake would notice the commotion soon and call for the chief guards who were likely unaware of his predicament. If Oisin was not exhausted to his bone he had confidence in besting the creature on his own, but in his current condition¡­ Even he had to admit that his chances were bleak. CCXXXVIII - At All Costs Esperanza had expected the old demon to resist. After all, who wouldn¡¯t resist when they were getting literally murdered? She had not expected him to be so tough to chew on, though. Even during her first strike she had formed several sharp blades to strike at the old demon from the back and sides, outside his field of view, but all of those were blocked before they could even breach his leathery skin by some sort of powerful barrier that her Body stats were not strong enough to forcefully breach with one strike. In fact, the old demon¡¯s whole body was covered by the same barrier and while Esperanza¡¯s efforts to break through said barrier likely ate up whatever resource the old demon used to maintain the barrier, it was likely going to take a while. She doubted she would even have a while to do it. Already she noticed a couple of the awake [Clerics] being made aware of the struggle, even if they had yet to realize what was going on for the time being. Meanwhile, Esperanza found herself under attack by the old shaman, though fortunately her having literally wrapped around him tightly likely prevented him from using some of his more physical skills. Instead the old demon relied on Soul-based attacks, which Esperanza gladly welcomed as [Far Down the Deep End] combined with her absurdly high ¨C or low, since it was in the negatives ¨C Sanity stat countered those mostly on their own. Even so, having to partially defend against the old demon¡¯s attacks slowed her down a bit, whereas her own attacks ¨C the best of which were similarly Soul-based ¨C did little to nothing against the demon¡¯s extremely powerful soul. Her own physical offense was blocked by the other party¡¯s barrier, which reduced her options greatly. At the moment Esperanza¡¯s best chance of winning the fight was to jolt the old demon¡¯s soul enough so that he failed to maintain his barrier and thus allow her more physical attacks to reach him, but that was proving to be difficult given how the demon resisted strongly against her every attempt at encroachment into his body. Esperanza even tried to stuff herself in through the old demon¡¯s nostrils and ears, but the barrier extended to cover those orifices as well, which was another annoying thing. The old demon already had an advantage over her in raw attributes, and it was only due to his exhaustion that she even stood a fighting chance at the moment. As she fought the old demon, however, what she feared came true, and a couple of the [Clerics] noticed the scuffle as it happened. Esperanza reacted practically by instinct, as she had left tendril near the [Clerics] in question, formed a hardened bone blade at the end of that tendril, and struck out with it before the two younger demons could yell out in warning. The bone-tipped blade of the tendril ¨C coated with [Soul Armament] just to be sure ¨C tore right through the throat of the closer demon [Cleric], whatever sound he was about to make reduced to choked gurgles as blood from the severed blood vessels flooded down the demon¡¯s windpipe. Then the blade carried on and pierced deep into the second demon¡¯s skull from one side to the other, with a multitude of smaller tendrils splitting off inside the demon¡¯s head to reduce the unfortunate demon¡¯s brain to meat slurry in mere moments. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Unfortunately, even though she managed to kill the two demons before they could raise an alarm, a third demon further away also saw what happened and she managed to scream out before Esperanza could shift her tendril over to silence her. Esperanza did not stop the tendril in motion and allowed it to behead the demon in question before she drew it back, but she refrained from killing more since it was pointless by that time. Her scream had alerted the guards outside and awakened many of the recuperating demons still in the vicinity and while Esperanza could likely kill many of the clerics it would take away her focus from fighting the old demon, who was by far a more important target. Instead she redoubled her efforts to assault the old demon both physically and mentally, uncaring about the futile efforts some of the [Clerics] made to untangle her from her target. As it was, she did not even need to resist much as the demon [Clerics] lacked the physical prowess to pry her away from the old shaman. She had also turned the outermost layer of her ¡°skin¡± into an armor-like weave, so when the nearby third-tier demon guards came over and tried to use their weapon to pry her off the old shaman, all their efforts were in vain. The ones who tried to push their weapons in to tear her off bit by bit couldn¡¯t even breach her defenses even if she didn¡¯t fight back otherwise. It was not until the fourth tier demon guards came to the ritual area that the demons had someone capable of actually threatening Esperanza. She continued her assault against the old shaman while wrapping herself ever tighter around him, almost like a second skin, making it impossible for the demons outside to find a seam or the like to peel her off with. At first the demons tried to pry her off more gently, clearly worried about hurting the old shaman she was cocooned up around, but before long they realized that they were getting nowhere with such an approach. One of the demon fourth tiers brought out a wicked-looking dagger and stabbed at her forcefully, only to widen their eyes in horror as Esperanza opened up a gap right where the dagger struck so that the blow landed on the old shaman instead. Then she closed the gap immediately afterward, the demons achieving nothing but to further burden the old shaman ¨C that strike failed to hurt him, but likely ate up a bit more of whatever was maintaining his barrier ¨C with their strike. Another of the demons gave a couple tentative stabs, but Esperanza noticed how he lacked the intent to follow through with them and simply ignored him. In that manner, she played a game of cat and mouse with them, opening gaps where they struck for real and otherwise ignoring their futile attempts to pry her off the old shaman. She taunted them in that manner until finally the one in the back that had made no attempt as of yet stepped forward and brought out a massive maul, clearly gearing up for a brutal swing. For some reason, Esperanza had a gut feeling that made her feel that the large, bulky demon with the maul was nowhere near as simple as they looked, and definitely would have some sort of trick they planned to use against her. Given the implement of choice of said demon and their obvious focus on the Body attribute, their trick would likely be something linked to their path, so she made a gamble. Rather than reveal the old shaman to take the blow for her, she kept herself wrapped tightly around him, opening up to pretend that she was presenting a gap only to flow back and close the gap when she noticed that the demon was not stopping. Perhaps the demon was hoping to catch her before she could open a large enough gap, or perhaps they were confident that their blow would not harm the old shaman even if it landed directly on him. Given the surprised look on the demon¡¯s face when she closed the opening at the last moment which was replaced by a tinge of horror as it was too late for the demon to stop their swing, Esperanza knew that she had guessed right by taking the blow head-on. She felt the maul slam into her with surprising lightness, almost like a gentle touch, and some sort of waves travel through her body without harming her in the least. Those gentle waves exploded into violence when they hit the next thing behind her, however, namely the old shaman. The impact was so severe that it hurled both of them across the ritual area, finally shattering the old shaman¡¯s barrier at the same time. Even though she was also being thrown into the air by the blow, Esperanza was not one to waste the chance before her and immediately drilled multiple appendages into the old shaman¡¯s body and eviscerated him before he could recover his barrier. That Esperanza herself was bodily crushed and sliced into tiny pieces by the enraged demon fourth tiers shortly after she landed and let the old shaman¡¯s corpse go was a painful experience, but it was one she felt was worth the trouble. CCXXXIX - Assault from Within You have Died. Please choose where you would like to Respawn: => Your Current Location The Nearest Safe Location The familiar words floated before Esperanza once more, though it has been quite some time since she had last seen them. She had not died often after encountering the people from Navef for the first time, but she still remembered that the [Respawn] kicked in after ten minutes on the dot. If she assumed that her group had followed the instructions she left behind¡­ With that thought in mind she decisively chose to [Respawn] on her current location. She also opened all of the eyes she could form the very moment she could do so, accepting the sudden influx of perception as she glanced over what was going on around her as clearly as she could, hopefully before anyone in her surroundings could react to her return. Fortunately, her expectations were fulfilled by the other members of the group she left behind. She had ordered them to make their move exactly nine minutes and thirty seconds after they heard the end of the commotion within the temple, giving them some time to attract the attention of the remaining demons while she would [Respawn] behind their backs. In fact, they did better than she expected, as the group had clearly taken advantage of the distraction Esperanza caused to directly rush into the ritual area and even put down many of the still incapacitated third tier demon [Clerics] in the process. Esperanza could hear fighting elsewhere in the temple so likely some of the weaker members of the group were fending off the third tier guards in the resting areas, while the stronger ones were engaged with the four stronger fourth tier demons in the ritual area. Dali and Gordy clearly played a role in that, as she saw the two hounding at one of the demons in question, the [Hive of Pestilence], which turned out to be a Ragah-Fiq that allowed some manner of monstrous wasps to build their nests in their body. Said wasps were kept at bay by Gordy¡¯s mist-like form that snapped at them each time they tried to swarm out to attack the rest, while Gordy repeatedly made hit and run attacks as he nipped at the demon. Ani kept the large, bulky Nevilosk with a maul, the [Return to Simplicity] occupied alongside several of her other warriors. The powerful demon appeared to be highly durable, while at the same time dealing out devastating blows, but she was not the fastest and was well within the group¡¯s capability to handle. They likely had her trick figured out as well, as the demon was clearly in trouble from being ganged on by so many fourth tier warriors. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The [Progenies of Yore] tackled the other two demons. Nalihimatu kept the [Unforeseeable Executioner] and his spear away from Ilavakide and Dai¡¯Vasy who attacked the demon from behind him, while Legisvula also harried the demon with attacks from its blindside. The four youths worked together smoothly as if they had practiced it constantly. On the other side, Val-Kas¡¯j, Tiesya, Resitia, Iryl, and Mel-Ivas teamed up against the [Soul-Reaping Jester], keeping the demon on the backfoot and unable to make full use of its multitude of knives with how they were constantly under attack by the five. The demon might be more powerful than any two of them put together, but with five, even they faced great trouble dealing with them. A few of Ani¡¯s warriors and the five from Zikeal were not in sight, so Esperanza assumed that they were the ones who kept the remaining demon warriors occupied further away in the rest area. As such, she took a moment to assess the situation and made her choice. The fighting was the most volatile between the [Hive of Pestilence] and her hounds, so she decided to help out over there first. Esperanza took her time. Her broken form was still where it was after the demons were done with her earlier, so she kept a shell to make it appear like she was still where she was. The rest of her mass flowed over the stone floor and crept towards where Dali and Gordy were cornering the [Hive of Pestilence] together, from an angle where the demon wouldn¡¯t notice her approach. She was glad that the two hounds were not affected by her state and would remain even if she was in the middle of [Respawn]ing, since they were clearly carrying their weight in the ongoing battle. The two of them just happened to have the right sort of skills to neutralize the [Hive of Pestilence], who would have been a major problem to handle otherwise with their multitude of poisonous wasps. The demon in question was distracted by her two hounds, so Esperanza managed to sneak up on them without too much difficulty. Once she was close enough, with as much of her body mass gathered in the vicinity, she struck. One tentacular limb emerged with a bone blade at its end and slashed at the back of the Ragah-Fiq¡¯s knees, severing tendons and muscle and rendering the joints useless, while another two wrapped up around the demon¡¯s burly arms. Several other tendrils pierced through the demon¡¯s back and burrowed into their body before they could react, even as Esperanza subjected them to the full force of her maddening aura as well. To her own horror, Esperanza discovered from the limbs that were burrowing through the demon¡¯s body that their body was already porous, with many criss-crossing tunnels through the demon¡¯s flesh even before she started eviscerating them. The wasps the demon used as their weapon had literally nested inside their flesh and turned their body into a horror show, fortunately hidden from sight by their fur and cloak. She had no idea if she should call it dedication or madness, but eventually just decided to cut the demon¡¯s suffering short as she had her tendrils crush the demon¡¯s heart and brain in the process, ending them in no uncertain terms. Dali had also helped her finish off the demon by tearing off their throat while she made her assault, while Gordy was focused on snapping up the wasps that the demons had released, catching and munching on them with the maws that manifested out of her mist-like form. Esperanza herself decided to help Gordy out and crushed the wasps that appeared as if they were trying to escape the other way, and between them they quickly had the remaining wasps taken care of. Since Gordy seemed to enjoy munching on them, Esperanza tossed over the wasps she caught ¨C half-crushed as they were ¨C for her to snack on, which she did with gusto. Then they turned around and split up as they went over to help the [Progenies of Yore] out with their respective opponents now that they were free to act. 240 - Between a Rock and a Hard Place ¡°I don¡¯t need to see your face to know that it¡¯s bad news you¡¯re calling us for. You¡¯re such a stickler for schedules that you wouldn¡¯t call us at night like this if it was good news,¡± said Sir Inolet as he led Alissa¡¯s party into the meeting room in Fort Gurzil, where they had been summoned by Sir DelVillar at a suprisingly late hour of the night. ¡°Spill it, Leon. What gives?¡± ¡°Here, see for yourself,¡± said Leonhart DelVillar with a tired sigh as he tossed a roll of parchment over to Sir Inolet. The one-eyed old knight easily snatched the roll out of the air and unfurled it without missing a beat. He read its content quickly, and his eyebrows scrounged up noticeably in concern as he did so, something that Alissa next to him had not missed. ¡°Fort Levenrook was taken? The same sort of tactics they used to take Fort Gurzil, at that?¡± asked Sir Inolet with evident worry in his voice. Fort Levenrook was another bastion on the kingdom¡¯s frontline, rather distant from their present location but still close enough that they would be able to reinforce it within a week. ¡°Also Fort Publis, Edensborough, Nacerola, and several others further west,¡± stated Sir DelVillar as he covered his eyes with one hand. ¡°All fell to the demons at roughly the same time. We just received the news late due to the distances involved. The demons are hitting us hard all along the frontlines, Henri, and while their plot is right there in the open we have little choice but to play along.¡± Alissa listened to the names of the forts mentioned by Sir DelVillar and looked for their locations on the open map on the table. She quickly noticed a pattern, in that the forts struck by the demons had been roughly equidistant from one another, as if the demons were dividing the frontlines into several sections and making an attack in each. Then she looked at the location of other fortifications near the struck forts and superimposed the distance between Fort Levenrook and Fort Gurzil before applying them to the other recently struck forts. Without fail, each of them had another fort within that range, with variation not more than a day¡¯s travels at most, for some. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ trying to force us to divide our forces and take us down that way? Wouldn¡¯t that cost them greatly as well though?¡± she asked as she thought what such a strategy would aim towards. If the demons struck repeatedly all over the battlefront like that, it would put great pressure on the kingdom¡¯s side to fight them off, constantly having to shift their troops to match the demons. Losses would be horrifying in the long run as the fighting continued on. Stolen story; please report. ¡°They could care less about that. They have more people to spare than we do, and the same naturally applies to combatants as well,¡± said Sir DelVillar with a shake of his head at Alissa¡¯s doubtful query. ¡°Like I said, it¡¯s an open plot. They¡¯re forcing us to split up and continuously chase after them, tiring out our troops and whittling us down over multiple battles until they decided we¡¯re soft enough to go for the kill.¡± ¡°Surely we¡¯re not letting them have their way, no?¡± asked Joshua from behind her. ¡°We will not, but even so, a majority of our forces would be forced to face the demons in this manner, since we cannot afford to lose the frontlines either,¡± said Sir DelVillar. ¡°That leaves us with few choices, and while I have my own ideas about what to do in return, I would like to hear what the rest of you think as well on this matter.¡± ¡°We will not be able to afford sending out too many people for whatever course of action we choose, so that pretty much means it will have to rely on an elite team,¡± stated Magus Drummond thoughtfully from where he was seated. ¡°That further narrows down our options, in some ways. The majority of our forces will have to keep chasing after the demons while trying to resist their assaults.¡± ¡°If we can only use a group of elites, then we should take the fight to the demons,¡± said Mother Magdalene firmly. ¡°We burn their villages and salt the land as we leave. Let nothing remain behind for the demons to use in our wake. I would volunteer myself and my people for this task if you feel this is a reasonable course of action.¡± ¡°How many of the other fourth tiers from the temple do you think will follow you on this, Magda?¡± asked Sir DelVillar to the matronly nun. ¡°Hard to say, to be honest. Edrigo came from my monastery, so he will likely follow after me along with his people. I can¡¯t be certain about any of the others, so worst case just the two of us, as well as around a hundred or so of our subordinates in the third tier,¡± admitted Mother Magdalene after a moment of thought. ¡°Many of my so-called peers these days worry too much about worldly things or are too cowardly for this sort of task.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too few. Too much risk of annihilation if the demons went searching for you. Most of their cities tend to have at least a few fourth tiers on guard,¡± noted Sir Inolet before he gave Alissa a questioning look, which he then extended to the rest of the [Heroes]¡¯ party. Some didn¡¯t quite catch what he meant by the look, but others clearly did and gave it some thought on the spot. ¡°Would you like us to join in on this task, Sir?¡± asked Alissa, voicing it out for those who had yet to grasp the old knight¡¯s meaning. ¡°Only if you want to. This would be a way to get yourselves those last levels you need to hit the fourth tier faster, though it is not without its risks as well,¡± replied the old knight openly to the question. There was a massive difference between a hundred-something strong force with two fourth tiers and one with fifteen, after all. ¡°Of course, Murdock and I will accompany you as well, should you feel you¡¯re up for it.¡± Alissa looked towards the other members of the party, querying their opinion silently. Some met her in the eye and firmly nodded, whilst a few looked undecided ¨C especially Joshua ¨C for a while before they did the same. Sir Inolet had not missed the silent exchange, and a grin formed on his lips as he saw the decision the party took. ¡°I think we¡¯re up for this challenge, Sir,¡± said Alissa a moment later with a matching, determined grin on her face. 241 - To Do What Must Be Done ¡°I have to offer my gratitude for the assistance, Miss O¡¯Connor,¡± said Mother Magdalene later that night when the two walked back towards their respective resting areas after the meeting. ¡°This would not be the first time I have been part of a mission that led deep into enemy territory, but it is definitely the first time I have full confidence that we will be able to overpower whatever obstacles we run into.¡± ¡°Not this many volunteers usually, I take it?¡± asked Alissa to the old matron. ¡°Oh, volunteers are aplenty, but those who are strong enough to truly matter? Those are much rarer. The most I¡¯ve had before in such a mission was four fourth tiers, for over two hundred of us in total,¡± replied Mother Magdalene with a scoff. ¡°The bastards are quick to come if there are benefits being handed out, but are the first to shy away when there¡¯s danger at hand. At least, that¡¯s the case with many of the fourth tiers from the temple or the inner Kingdom. Those out here are the brave ones.¡± ¡°Ah, I see,¡± noted Alissa with a nod. While she herself had only been exposed to the daring warriors and knights who risked their lives at the front lines so far, she had not doubted what Mother Magdalene said. Given the Kingdom¡¯s population, they definitely had more fourth tier combatants on hand, and the inner regions were definitely not left undefended either. That many of those who lived away from the frontlines fell to their own greed and other base desires was far from unexpected. After all, the Kingdom definitely treated their fourth tier combatants with respect and recognition, at the very least, even the ones who remained behind the frontlines. Alissa knew that it was far too easy to get drunk on one¡¯s own perceived importance from such acknowledgement, however. She had seen it for herself, how some people changed when they were recognized for something as minor as a high school athlete team. All too often, it was not poverty that broke people, but plenty that did it instead. People who received accolades and treatment that seemed to affirm that they were special, beyond the average person, often found themselves lost in a perception of self-importance they developed on themselves. Given how grand the treatment a fourth tier combatant in Ephemera must be receiving, it was all too easy to imagine them falling prey to their own egos. Doubly so when they were not inclined to risk their lives in the frontlines to begin with. ¡°With the [Heroes]¡¯ party accompanying us, we would not face any serious risk unless we alarmed a demon army of our presence,¡± added Mother Magdalene after she noticed that Alissa wasn¡¯t saying more in reply. ¡°My people and Edrigo¡¯s have specialists in infiltration that will help ensure that such a situation would not happen. That said, if possible, I would like to ask your group to temporarily discard any piece of equipment that is too conspicuously related to the Kingdom or the Temple for this endeavor. It will help.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Right, the temple guards amongst my party wear gear that pretty much screamed their affiliation with the temple, I get that. Would the royal guards amongst my party need to change their armor too?¡± asked Alissa to be certain. She believed that the matron from the temple of all places would likely have good reason for making that request. ¡°If they change their surcoats for more neutral ones, that should be plenty. None of them are silly enough to wear armor engraved with the symbol of the kingdom all over,¡± replied the old matron with a grin on her face. ¡°Have a good sleep, anyway. We will be departing tomorrow so I hope you¡¯re all prepared by the time the sun rises.¡± ¡°We will, Mother, thank you.¡± ****************************** The next morning, at dawn, Alissa saw that Mother Magdalene¡¯s group and that of her former protege Edrigo¡¯s were already gathered and having their simple breakfast by the time she got out of her tent. Unlike the day before, the priests and temple guards wore simple tunics, plain gambesons, and unadorned chainmail instead of the robes and armor that bore the sigil of the temple they usually wore. Similarly, those who used shields swapped their usual shields ¨C ones decorated and adorned with the temple¡¯s emblem and other icons of faith ¨C for plain, unremarkable ones, though there was no need to switch their weapons since most were unadorned. Alissa had thought that some of the priests or temple guards might grumble about it, but the group before her seemed used to it. The people in her own party ¨C the few who needed to do so ¨C had done the same and similarly switched their equipment to neutral-looking, unmarked ones of similar quality, which was fortunately not an issue since they captured quite a few from the demons they defeated. None of them seemed to fuss over using such equipment either, though some clearly had questioning looks in their eyes. ¡°The sort of camouflage skill we¡¯ll be using works by modifying the perception of others who see us. Basically, the closer we are to what they expect to see, the more effective the skill will be. It won¡¯t hold under close inspection, but should be good enough until that point with the equipment we are wearing now,¡± said Mother Magdalene when she saw them coming, likely having anticipated the unasked question. ¡°So by wearing more neutral outfits we would be easier to keep camouflaged, more effectively then?¡± Alissa asked, having caught on to the old woman¡¯s explanation. ¡°I like the smart ones. Yes, the difference between camouflaging someone in full vestments and someone in neutral wear is quite noticeable, around twice the mana needed, if I remember right,¡± confirmed Mother Magdalene. ¡°As it is, with us being in neutral wear the skill only needed to disguise us into demons, but if it had to deal with our equipment as well, it would take up quite a bit more effort for them to handle.¡± ¡°That said, I hope you all are prepared for what we will have to do in the demon territories,¡± added the old matron with a somewhat wistful sigh. ¡°I honestly wished that such work could be left solely to those who have prepared themselves for it, like me and mine, but such is the way things are. We will have to do things you might find unsavory during this mission, [Heroes].¡± ¡°And I sincerely hope that you have prepared yourself to do what needed to be done.¡± CCXLII - Taking Care of the Leftovers As Esperanza, Dali, and Gordy joined the battle to handle the rest of the demon fourth tiers, the tables turned almost immediately. Esperanza herself helped Nalihimatu¡¯s group in dealing with the [Unforeseeable Executioner]. The demon was a nimble, elusive spearman, whose agility meant that Ilavakide, Dai¡¯Vasy, and Legisvula had a hard time trying to land a blow on him. On the other hand, the demon would have taken them down in short order had Nalihimatu not always covered them with his shield. It was the battle where the balance was the most precarious, which was why Esperanza chose to intercede in person. Another reason was because a piercing weapon like a spear relied heavily on hitting something vital in its attacks, something her amorphous form lacked. Because of that, she could simply charge at the fourth tier demon without fear of retaliation, relying on her unnatural physique to carry the day. Not that it would have mattered much even if he could hurt her, since she could just [Respawn] at the worst case. The [Unforeseeable Executioner] reacted by reflex when he noticed Esperanza attacking him openly from the side, and his spear pierced through her body. She had purposely returned to her human-looking guise to bait him to do exactly that, and instead of piercing through vital organs like the demon expected, his spear was instead caught within Esperanza¡¯s body as she grabbed onto the shaft embedded within her form. While the demon realized that something was very wrong with the situation the moment he tried to retract his spear and met with far more resistance than what should be possible, even going as far as releasing his weapon a moment later, that temporary delay cost him. Legisvula took the presented opportunity to sink his short blade into the demon¡¯s back, right through one of his kidneys, before pulling back to avoid the demon¡¯s pained retaliatory swing. Before the demon could regain control over the situation, Nalihimatu bodily slammed into him, shield-first. The impact staggered the demon long enough that a spear of ice and an arrow landed on him, further worsening his predicaments. He could only watch as Esperanza nonchalantly pulled his spear out of her body and walked over to finish him off. Near another corner of the ritual area, the [Soul-Reaping Jester] was even worse off, as the demon in question was already hard-pressed to deal with the opponents he faced. Val-Kas¡¯j, Tiesya, and Resitia were arguably the three strongest and most aggressive members amongst the [Progenies of Yore], and the three working together was enough to make up for the difference in power and experience with the demon they faced. The [Soul-Reaping Jester] was kept frustrated as it would often see an opportunity to punish one of their attacks only to be forced away by an attack from another of the three, with Mel-Ivas and Iryl occasionally also pitching in to help as well. The demon in question lacked the brute power to force the situation, however, nor was it nimble enough to get away from them. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. When Dali suddenly appeared out of thin air and bit down on one of the demon¡¯s calves, it sealed his movements long enough for Gordy to capitalize on the pause and ram the demon¡¯s knees with her entire bulk from behind, causing the demon to fall on his back helplessly. Val-Kas¡¯j and Tiesya immediately moved in and stepped on the demon¡¯s hands to prevent him from using his weapons, while Resitia rushed in spear-first to finish him off. As a result, the [Soul-Reaping Jester] perished anticlimactically under their hands, with Resitia¡¯s spear piercing the demon¡¯s head right between his eyebrows, through his brain, and into the stone floor below. Val-Kas¡¯j, Tiesya, Iryl, and Mel-Ivas had also further mauled the demon¡¯s body just to be certain that he was truly dead and gone before they stepped away. From there both groups came to help Ani¡¯s team to handle the last of the fourth tier demon, the one whose unassuming [Return to Simplicity] class gave an impression of a simple opponent but proved to be the toughest of the four. The demon in question had skills that focused on strengthening her offense and defense, which made her a dire threat that was difficult to put down. Simply because Ani¡¯s group lacked the sort of brute force needed to overcome the demon¡¯s defenses. Once everyone gathered together though, there were simply too many of them for the demon to fend off, and while they might not be able to inflict heavy injuries upon the tough demoness, the small cuts and nick added up. Before long, practically every exposed inch of the demoness¡¯ body was scoured with bleeding wounds, and she had visibly started to weaken, her movements slowing down. Some teamwork allowed the group to disarm the demoness, causing her to lose her grip on her vicious maul, while repeated strikes to the same spots eventually bit deep enough to hit something important, as one of Tiesya¡¯s cut to the back of the demoness¡¯ ankle finally made her topple to her knees. From there, it was just a matter of finishing off the wounded demoness. It still took them a while to do that just because of how tough the demoness was, but it was a foregone conclusion. As such, a few of the group headed over to the resting area in the temple complex to help out those who were dealing with the remaining third tier demon guards. Since that group had some fourth tier warriors from Ani¡¯s group with them, they were not having a hard time. In fact, they held back so the five from Zikeal ¨C especially the youngsters ¨C could get the lion¡¯s share of the experience instead. After the fighting was finally over, Esperanza finally had a chance to look over the notifications from the system that she had been ignoring throughout the fighting. Most of the were what she expected, kill notifications starting from the [Grand Shaman of Wiles and Guile] ¨C where she amusedly noted that the experience for the kill was reduced because it was done as a team effort, meaning that the demons who had accidentally hit the shaman also got rewarded for it ¨C and ending with the [Return to Simplicity]. She had not taken any part in helping out with the third tier demons and as such had no share of the experience, but it did not matter, because at the end of the notifications was one that had been long in the waiting. You have leveled to level 20! +4 Free Major stat points gained! +5 Intelligence gained! +5 Wisdom gained! +15 Willpower gained! +10 Intuition gained! -5 Sanity gained! You have gained access to the class [Ultimate Devourer of Existence]! You have gained access to the class [Creeping Chaos, Undefineable]! You have gained access to the class [Living Embodiment of Elements]! You have gained access to the class [Herald of the Old Ones]! You have gained access to the class [Speaker for the Voiceless]! Announcement: Temporary Hiatus on And (N)one Shall Remain So, What''s up?: As all of you might have noticed, my writing output have yet to recover after the illness, and the pain from my back and broken tooth are still hounding me too. I haven''t been able to keep up with the schedule I had been doing for the past couple of years as a result and had been falling back all over, so I have no choice but to temporarily cut down the stories I''m working on from three to two. My deepest apologies for those who are enjoying the story in question. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. How Long will this Hiatus be?: Until I feel I can keep up with three novels once more, or until I finish either Unliving or Free Lances, the latter of which is in its penultimate volume. I will NOT drop any stories. Many thanks for your understanding, and once again, my deepest apologies. Avitue Announcement We are posting this on behalf of Riverfolk Books, Avitue¡¯s publisher. It is with a heavy heart that we announce Avitue¡¯s passing. Avitue was a pillar in this community and a dear friend. We hate to be the ones to share such devastating news with you¨Chis fans, friends and colleagues. As some of you may have noticed, Avitue has been absent for a few months. This caused alarm because Avi was one of the most reliable and consistent authors in our community. Over the last few months, we exhausted every option at our disposal to find him, and unfortunately, we have now discovered that Avitue has passed.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. --- This is a message from JP Weaver, his long time editor and friend. There''s a bit more at the reddit link in the author notes. I was happy to work with him and I''m sorry to announce this to you all. --- Additionally, we have no control over his Patreon account so we would advise you to drop your subscription if you have one.