This time, Nora didn’t offer to join us when we went to the dungeon. We just needed her to use the key to open the gate for us so that we could enter in the first place. When we did, we found that the dungeon was swarming with fire spirits, a veritable horde of sentient flames.

  “Remember not to push yourselves too much,” I reminded the duo. “We don’t know just how effective the mantle will be against these guys. Although it’s a specialized skill, it’s still only intermediate rank. Let’s take things slow to start.”

  The two of them nodded their heads, but my concerns proved to be unnecessary. My main worry was what ‘type’ of flame the spirits classified as, since different types of fire had different effects with the skill.

  As it turned out, the bodies of the fire spirits were considered natural flames, meaning that they had a recovery effect when absorbed by the mantle. Because of this, Diane and Bella were able to continue fighting, their mana being restored simply by being in proximity to the spirits.

  Naturally, I was not idle. Whenever it looked like one of the two were about to take a big attack, I’d project a shield to take the hit for them. Between the three of us, this dungeon became far easier to clear than it had been the last time that we were here. Of course, the increase in levels that Diane and Bella had experienced in the meantime surely helped.

  It took us three full hours to clear out all of the fire spirits in the first zone. However, since we weren’t really there for the loot, we didn’t bother to go after the raid boss at the end of the dungeon. Instead, we simply turned around and left. In Diane’s words, it was just not worth the time and danger to kill him, since none of us had a method of truly ensuring he stayed down.

  At this point, it was starting to get late, so we made our way back to Fallcry to spend the night, planning to resume our leveling the next day. However, when the next day came, we were greeted by the sight of Wisteria waiting outside the palace, leaning against the wall of a nearby building.

  “About time,” she muttered, pushing herself off the wall and walking towards us. “The master has a job for the two of you, and also a request. Given the situation, he had me come in person to discuss both.”

  I blinked, but nodded my head and gestured for Wisteria to enter the palace with us. I led her towards a conference room, where we all sat down and let her speak. “First off, the request. The master wants to set up a branch in Fallcry, since he considers it as a prime spot for future activity. However, in order to create a gate between this city and the guild base, he needs the consent of the local ruler.”

  Wisteria gave a pointed look in my direction as she said that, causing me to blink. “I don’t have a problem with that, personally. I think it’d be a good way to bolster security, or at the very least provide a safe way to evacuate the NPCs if a major attack happens.”

  Wisteria smiled in agreement at my comment. “Right. He’ll send a special item to you later today. You can choose where you want the gate to be connected to by using the item at that position. We’d prefer if it were somewhere like a local business that we could install a manager for. Just to act as our eyes and ears on this side of the gate. In addition, we’ll be sending some people to live here to protect the gate.”

  With that out of the way, she turned to address all three of us. “Next, the job. This one involves some other monster players, we believe, and we have a good reason to suspect that they’ve fled to Chimeris.”

  My eyes widened when I heard this. “Monster players, like those undead from last time, and the other Drake?”

  “That’s right,” she confirmed readily. “This one seems to be a band of three. One is a slime, another is a shapeshifter of some variety, and the final one is a golem. According to the reports of the Fallen that were killed by their attacks, they seem to be on some form of quest, which involves killing as many non-monster targets as possible, whether they are Players, Fallen, or even NPCs. The exact details of the quest can’t be determined.”

  “However,” she continued. “The last sighting for this group was near the portal leading here. Given the time, the only likely destinations would be Chimeris, Aetheris, or Blossom Vale. We’ve already requested support from contacts in the other two realms, but Chimeris is the most likely suspect. There was a large monster attack last night at nine thirty-five, causing a brief disruption of the guard around both sides of the portal that would have given them time to slip through.”

  At this, Diane lifted a hand curiously. “Do the monsters not have their own methods of traveling between different realms? I would have thought that they would be provided with their own paths, in case the rifts were too heavily guarded.”

  Wisteria pursed her lips at that question. “We do believe that certain monsters possess such methods, and some may be linked to dungeons. However, this seems limited to monsters with a certain level of status. Given the enthusiasm that this trio has been undertaking their mission, we have our suspicions that this quest is part of that status.”

  “In other words,” I summarized with a sigh. “If we let them continue to complete their quests, these individuals which have shown a clear willingness to murder NPCs will have unrestricted access to any realm they please.”

  “Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it is not wrong to consider that as a possible outcome,” Wisteria confirmed solemnly. “However, there is little help that we can provide in terms of reconnaissance. We can provide you with images of the slime and golem, but not their shapeshifter ally.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Bella hesitated for a moment before raising her own question. “Does this group have a set pattern for their activities, or anything that we can use to track them?”

  Wisteria shook her head, shrugging her shoulders. “From what I’ve been told, their only ‘pattern’ is to have their shapeshifter friend walk around to lure in travelers. Sometimes, they pose as a wounded NPC, other times they’re a Player that has joined a party to guide their ‘allies’ into a secluded area. Either way, once the victims are out of sight, the other two immediately attack.”

  “I see,” Bella smiled slightly. “In that case, I have an idea for how we can approach them, once we’ve narrowed down their area of activity.”

  Bella turned to myself and Diane, a confident look in her eyes. “We all have the Status Charm from the League of Assassins. Furthermore, we all each have a method of appearing as a monster. Drake can turn into a dragon, I can use the Transform skill to appear as a humanoid monster, and Diane can use her shadow dragon form to continuously keep Dark Intent active, allowing her to disguise as a dark spirit.”

  “If we can find one of them, we can use this to get closer to them, and maybe even learn more about their quest. After all, if this is such an important quest, I doubt that they’re the only ones undertaking it, right?” She turned her gaze back to Wisteria, who nodded her head in confirmation.

  “That’s right,” she sighed. “Lately, we’ve had dozens of reports like this, which has kept me rather busy. If you can get close to the monster players, and even learn the source of their quest, we can try to cut the problem off at its source. However, are you sure that you want to go undercover like this? We don’t know if there are any systems that are exclusive to monster players, which you would not be able to replicate. For instance, normal people can get into cities, or use the mail system. I don’t know if the monsters have an equivalent form of contact with one another.”

  “We’ll have to play it by ear,” I said with a light grunt. “If it looks like we’ve been discovered, we’ll just go ahead and kill them. I assume that you’ve prepared items to rebind their respawn points?”

  “Of course,” she smirked, reaching into her inventory and pulling out three dull, grey stones. “Same deal as always. Once you’ve killed someone with these in hand, they’ll be respawned in one of our cells.”

  Diane looked at those stones with a pensive expression. “What are the odds that the monsters will be able to use things like these? Then, they could force players or Fallen into fortified cells, just like the League.”

  Wisteria’s smirk faltered, her hand lowering slightly. “It’s… possible,” she admitted. “However, we haven’t seen any firm evidence to believe that they have this type of respawn anchor just yet. At the very least, your three targets this time don’t have the ability.”

  “It’s probably another status symbol that they need to obtain before the monster leaders will trust them. We should assume that the mechanic exists, it just hasn’t been widely spread yet. Perhaps it is more difficult to earn the trust of the higher-ups in that faction, due to their nature as monsters.” Diane speculated, before shaking her head. “Either way, I think Bella’s plan is sound.”

  I looked at the other two, smiling wryly. “Looks like your leveling up will have to wait for a little while,” I told them, before turning back to face Wisteria. “By the way, it’s worth noting that we found the city where my former player has set up his nation. He seems to be backed by a few powerful dragon Fallen. And given his old habits, he might pose a problem in the future. By my estimation, he’s probably about two hundred kilometers north of the rift in Pyrrhos.”

  Wisteria blinked at that, but didn’t seem too concerned. “Alright. I’ll make a note of it when I get back. For now, you guys should probably get going. There aren’t very many places that the monster trio could go to this close to the gate. Sooner or later, they’ll probably make their way to Fallcry if they’re not stopped.”

  My eyes widened slightly. Fallcry had a rather considerable population of NPCs and low-level Fallen. Although security had been recently enhanced via the Twisted Eye guild, it would still be a veritable bloodbath if three high-level monster players managed to sneak in. “Yeah. Do we know what levels they are?”

  However, Wisteria shook her head. “We don’t have solid information on that. However, they were high enough level that they were willing to come to Chimeris, so it is likely that they are confident that they can survive here without a city to rely on.”’

  That made sense. I looked at the other two, who were both already getting up. “We’ll set out disguises once we leave the city,” Diane said to Wisteria. “We don’t want to risk any players taking a picture of us and posting it online without knowing what we’re doing.”

  Wisteria seemed to agree, standing up and making her way to the door. “In that case, I’ll let the master know that you’ve accepted the mission,” she smiled, the mission window appearing in front of us. As she had said before, there wasn’t much information to go off of. However, the reward seemed fairly nice at ten thousand faction points, with a bonus if we were able to complete ‘additional objectives’.

  After Wisteria left, Diane turned to look at me. “We have at most two days to finish this,” she said in a serious tone. “If we’re any later than that, we run the risk of clips of you getting out and revealing our disguises.”

  “Why are you so sure that it’s two days?” Bella asked curiously, and Diane turned to face her.

  “The recent dragon attack at the dungeon. Drake’s old player has always kept an eye on him. When he found out that Drake was nearby, he would have immediately went out to attack. It’s possible that clips are released every Friday about sponsored players. However, it’s more likely that clips are released more regularly than that.”

  “There might be some leeway for players in undercover activities, but there was only a two-day difference between when we flew over the city and when the clip of us doing so was released. Only a clip showing both us and the city would have given them the information on where to go to find us.”

  Listening to Diane’s explanation, I couldn’t help but look at her curiously. “Do you never look at any of the sponsored clips yourself?” I asked, noting how she was addressing the issue as if she had only minimal knowledge on the subject, despite being a Player herself.

  Diane simply shook her head. “I don’t like to play into stuff like that. The main reason I would do it from my perspective is to look for skills or other content that I would enjoy. However, if I followed channels showing things like that, and tried to trace their steps, I’d only find that the dungeon or hunting ground was completely occupied by the time I arrived. It’s better to just focus on blazing our own trail instead of looking at the paths paved by other players.”