In the Land of Leadale - Volume 8 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Camping, a Barrier, an Advance and Preparations

The students and faculty continued their journey and arrived at the campground before orange even tinged the sky.

In the middle of the forest, there was a clearing that stretched about one hundred meters in diameter. Nonetheless, the area’s limited use had attracted overgrown weeds that rose high above their heads. Deeper within, some even began to resemble full-grown trees.

First, Cayna and the other adventurers made sure the coast was clear.

“Get lost.”

At her imperious command, the weeds scurried away like small frightened animals and relocated to elsewhere in the forest. Adventurers and students alike witnessed the wondrous phenomenon with mouths agape.

“Leave it to the high elves to control nature. That was nuts.”

“I wasn’t too sure if I could pull it off,” said Cayna. “I’m surprised this worked out, to be honest.”

“Thanks. I feel real safe now!” Cohral replied sarcastically while everyone else stood frozen in front of them.

Once the Swift Horses had regained their composure and confirmed the area was secure, the students rushed in. Apparently, someone in the past had run on ahead and diffused an aroma to attract the monsters, so a minimum amount of precaution was necessary.

“Why spark terror like that…?”

“I don’t know the full details, but the weeds release a noxious smell when uprooted. Thanks to that, the monsters came runnin’. It was pretty rough.”

“You witnessed it? Thank you for your service.”

“The monsters weren’t too bad, but that stench alone was a nightmare.”

“Even our clothes reeked!”

Laughter rose from the Swift Horses as they conversed. Dealing with the stench sounded far worse than fighting the monsters. As for the terrorist responsible for this noxious mess—after ducking into the forest to watch their victims suffer, they were severely injured by a horned bear that attacked from behind. It was a pretty foul story.

The students used this past tragedy to better arm themselves. However, Cayna listened closely to the trees around her and confirmed no monster threats lurked nearby.

“Being a high elf must be so convenient.”

“There are pros and cons,” said Cayna. “I can also hear the screams of the forest straight into my brain.”

“Ack.”

The students set to work while Cayna spoke with the Swift Horses. Once the instructors divided everyone into three teams and assigned each a specific role, they set to work.

One group began pitching the tents that would serve as their sleeping quarters; another left with Cohral, the Armor of Victory, and the teachers to procure water from a nearby stream. The remaining group went to gather firewood in the forest with the Swift Horses.

“Hey, can’t we sift through whatever those clumps of weeds left behind and burn that instead?”

“Ms. Cayna, we can’t just use raw wood right away.”

“No problem. I can evaporate the water in an instant.”

“That won’t do us students any good! Please don’t bother!”

The teachers and some of the students had placed a spell barrier around the campsite. Unsurprisingly, Myleene and Lonti remained inside the camp. Since Mai-Mai saw Cayna as their last line of defense, she inevitably stayed back as well.

The three Imperial Knights took the luggage from the wagon and opened it flat on the ground. It started expanding into a large two-room tent that stretched five meters in every direction, and several metal poles built the framework. It was complete within twenty minutes. Cayna peeked inside curiously.

“Ohhh, nice,” she said. “I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before…”

“The concept isn’t so different from our old world,” said Ark.

Thoroughly impressed, Cayna brought up examples she’d seen online while Ark produced tables and such from her Item Box. The three Imperial Knights had apparently divided the interior furniture between themselves and brought it along in their Item Boxes. One room was a dining space, and the other was for sleeping. Only players and Foster Children could transport furniture in this extraordinary way.

“Sakaiya carries similar items, though, so they aren’t too difficult to obtain.”

“Oh, this one is pretty common. I thought it was a special nobles-only item.”

“I heard a player who loved camping first proposed it.”

“Huh. Maybe I should ask Caerick.”

They prepared quickly, and Lonti had brewed tea by the time Myleene entered the tent.

Cayna was invited to join them, but she declined since she was supposed to be on guard duty. Ark and the other two Imperial Knights alternated in shifts, with one person inside and two outside, so Cayna’s responsibilities were elsewhere.

“Well then, what to do?”

While Helau and Sfult kept a close eye on the area, Cayna had Wind Spirits silence the weeds’ screams. The voices of the weeds were distinct from those of the trees, and she could clearly sense their sorrow. Still, that didn’t mean she enjoyed listening to it. One can’t silence feelings with a simple breeze, however, and the gossip-loving Wind Spirits who prattled on excitedly were only a temporary consolation.

The three Wind Spirits Cayna had summoned at the start of their journey were all level 110. Each was a semitransparent green and looked like a beautiful little girl who stood about four heads tall. As the spirits twittered and danced around Cayna, they would sometimes use her hair or sleeves to play tag or hide-and-seek.

It was clear they were following the students’ example, but evidently the summoned spirits weren’t supposed to be quite so visible. Moreover, anyone unlearned in magic shouldn’t have been able to hear their whispers, let alone catch their appearance.

Invisibility was out of the question back in the game, so Cayna and Cohral hadn’t taken much notice. She tried to come up with an excuse, but students and faculty alike had already deemed her an eccentric who employs powerful spirits. Silence alone had already put wild ideas in everyone’s heads, so Cayna did nothing more than stare off into the far distance.

The group who had gone to fetch water soon returned and began their dinner preparations. The students’ tents were shaped like toppled triangle prisms and large enough to accommodate four or five people. White-and-brown-spotted animal hides covered a framework supported by slender yet firm lumber.

In the meantime, preparation and surveillance of the area was handled exclusively by the students. Although Ark and her fellow Imperial Knights had been assigned to protect the princess, the entire purpose of this event was to help the students gain experience. The camp supervisor and older men even told Cayna to keep the Wind Spirits’ assistance within moderation.

Since not everyone could use such convenient methods, logic dictated it wouldn’t benefit the students to rely on them. This wasn’t Cohral’s first survival event, and he told Cayna the adventurers wouldn’t have much to do except kill time or maybe teach, unless there was an emergency. She decided to play it by ear.

“I’ll admit my idea of camping is pretty heavy-handed,” Cayna said. She scrolled through her memories as she watched small bonfires light up near each tent for dinner.

Every camp outing so far had been summons-centric:

A Fire Spirit to make a woodless campfire and keep the flames burning.

A White Dragon to use as a naturally fluffy bed and blanket.

A Brown Dragon to keep watch, since she couldn’t use a Charm Barrier.

Cohral noticed Cayna standing around with a blank stare and grew suspicious.

“Hey, Cayna. Don’t you have a tent or something?” he called. “Or are you gonna stay with the princess?”

“Absolutely not. What kind of guard would I be if I slept the night away?”

“You’ll crash and burn if you go nonstop.”

“Then I’ll just cast Sleep Be Gone.”

Even so, this skill wasn’t ideal, since it promised to knock you out for several days afterward.

“You can’t really join a bunch of gross dudes like us, but what about the Swift Horses in the girls’ camp?”

“Nah. I’m a part of this group, too, so a pelt is enough.”

“…A pelt?”

Cayna dispelled the Wind Spirits and startled nearby onlookers when she cast another white magic circle.

“Come, White Divine Beast!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait! What do you think you’re summoning?!” Cohral shouted as he tried in vain to stop her impromptu decision. White light poured from a summons circle, and an enormous snowy mass appeared before Cayna.

It had a fluffy coat you could definitely bury your head into. All present—with a few exceptions—stared in wide-eyed shock. Their jaws practically touched the ground.

The creature appeared to be a weasel. It was six meters tall and covered in pure white fur. Despite a commanding size, it looked much like any normal weasel. The biggest difference was the second pair of eyes above its normal ones.

“Kyuuu,” it squeaked adorably.

The white beast bowed to its master Cayna, then stood on its hind legs. Its whiskers twitched as it surveyed the area restlessly. All the while, the weasel didn’t forget to wrap the thick, luxurious tail that took up a third of its body around her.

One breathless, petrified bystander after another shriveled up and fell to the ground under its sharp four-eyed leer.

Myleene peeked her head from the tent to investigate the commotion and stared at the white weasel incredulously.

Cohral, unlike the rest who cowered before the snowy creature, lambasted Cayna.

“Yo, c’mon! Warn people before you summon somethin’ like that outta nowhere! Look, everyone is scared stiff!”

“Okay?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about! Anyway, what is that thing? I can’t read its level, and I’ve never seen it before in my life!”

Cayna raised one hand to lightly beckon the creature, and the vigilant, four-eyed large weasel stooped to rub its head against her. Myleene and Lonti watched Cayna stroke its soft pelt and blushed as if remembering the touch of the White Dragon.

No longer bound by the summons’s scowl, the students and everyone else observed from a cautious distance as Cayna introduced it to Cohral.

“This is the Great Weasel of Euphoria. It’s a rare monster from the Hermit Area.”

“That’s shady as hell…”

Even Cayna had to smirk at the strange name as she said it. It sounded like some kind of quack cure-all a sketchy religion might tout.

The Euphoria part was a nickname among the players, but its official name was Hermit Beast Izunae. This monster was level 450 and, as the name implied, only found in the Hermit Area. It wasn’t a rare monster, per se, but simply one that was difficult to defeat. Thanks to special abilities like Flee and Good Fortune, escape was the creature’s specialty. It would run for the hills before players even had a chance to encounter it and would scurry off if anyone so much as looked at it from afar or happened to cross its path.

Guildmasters at the time agreed the Hermit Beast was completely pointless as an Active Monster. It was notoriously difficult to catch, and the flood of complaints made to the Admins reflected this. Izunae managed to elude even the fastest of guild members, which perpetuated rumors that it was a rare monster.

This activity pattern meant it was rare to encounter them in the Hermit Area, and fighting one was practically impossible. Cayna and the others had tried human wave tactics and magically carpet-bombing within several widespread barriers. After several attempts, they finally succeeded. It took a total of thirty-five people a full night in real time. This included thirteen Skill Masters, making the battle unprecedented in Leadale history.

If Izunae was appointed as a summons rather than eliminated, its unique abilities served both parties and summoners. Flee wasn’t used often, but Good Fortune increased one’s drop item rate and resistance against status ailments. It also improved the effectiveness of poison of an ally’s special attack (such as poison or paralysis) and increased the chance of a critical hit, so it was useful both offensively and defensively. Izunae’s physical attacks were limited to biting and scratching, which really only hampered Limit Breakers like Cayna in a typical hunt. Overall, it was considered an option that desperately clung to your party like a bad cold once summoned.

Cayna had called upon Izunae this time for its soft white fur. And like the previous White Dragon, she wanted it for one single purpose—to use as a living, breathing blanket.

Even so, a dragon summoned at the lowest level was still a dragon. Cayna wasn’t sure how eyewitnesses would react to a creature regarded as myth and legend, but this time around everyone had unanimously stiffened when she summoned Izunae.

“Huh?”

“Who wouldn’t be scared?! That thing you just summoned looks like it can swallow people whole!” Cohral shouted, accurately voicing the concerns of all present.

The students’ tents were clustered at the center of the campsite and dotted with bonfires. The adventurers had their own arrangements, but the four Swift Horses and five Armor of Victory members positioned themselves on opposite sides of the central bonfire. Their basic strategy was to wrap up in blankets and take turns sleeping in a huddle. The students would spearhead the night watch, but the adventurers were there to provide guidance on how to pass the night and perceive outside threats. Cayna followed suit and positioned herself near Myleene and Lonti’s tent along the camp’s perimeter. This would allow Izunae’s heightened senses to detect danger and give Cayna the greatest defensive advantage. Furthermore, even if Cayna failed to notice nearby hostiles, her Anti-Perv AutoGuard summons would pick up the slack. However, this was strictly for emergencies only.

Mai-Mai said Cayna could unleash her full might if the princess was in danger (Mai-Mai: “I certainly did not!”), so she had a solid excuse.

Cayna figured their biggest threat here was quest monsters prowling around the continent and shouldered the responsibility of bodyguard. She was the first to volunteer if anyone needed a job done.

Mai-Mai herself informed the rest of the faculty about this, so no questions were raised. Cayna had initially thought the whole escort gig was a pain but appreciated Cohral’s help as a go-between.

As the students (including the princess) skillfully prepared dinner, the faculty and party leaders planned that night’s patrol schedule.

“Um, can we talk for a sec?”

“Oh, Cayna. Is there something you’d like to add?”

Everyone turned to Cayna as she approached the group with a raised hand.

“I’m quite sure we mentioned that we’d be using a different system.”

“You did, but I just wanted to check in, since I’ll be gone for a few hours tonight.”

“Ah, yes. The headmaster said you had business to attend to. We don’t mind, but you did accept this escort position. Are you sure it’s all right to leave?”

“It’s only for the night, and Izunae will be here. I don’t think it’s a problem. I can call out another summons, depending on the situation.”

Cohral grimaced at that last sentence. The creatures Cayna summoned were generally high-level and far outside this world’s idea of common sense. Many looked like unknown monsters, and if any aspiring adventurers had a terrifying encounter with one outside the city, he feared it would lead to road closures.

“Hey.”

“What’s up, Cohral? You’ve got a scary look on your face.”

“Don’t summon anything too crazy. It’ll cause all kinds of problems if people misunderstand and can’t go outside,” Cohral warned, pointing at Izunae. The weasel was curled up in a donut but exuding a commanding presence.

“But it’s adorable,” Cayna insisted.

“Yeah, maybe to you!”

She frowned in disappointment. Cohral had more experience with the general population, though, so she took heed and summoned a cat. It was the cath palug that had stayed back to protect Luka during the River Festival in the capital. Cayna handed the pure white kitten to Myleene and Lonti, and they grinned from ear to ear.

“Meooow.”

““It’s…it’s…it’s so cuuuute!””

“Cath palug, please watch over these two.”

“Meooow.”

Although it was kitten-like at the moment, the cath palug’s true form was akin to a fierce panther. It could change size at will and was far more powerful than Izunae, at level 600. As the cath palug’s summoner, Cayna kept it a harmless-looking kitten, but it could nonetheless kill Cohral in an instant.

Given that Cayna had perhaps used Search on the cath palug, Cohral’s face soured as he took a step back. He probably got a bad feeling.

Around the campsite, the students continued to prepare dinner. Although the adventurers had their own foodstuffs on hand, the Swift Horses were friendly with the students and decided to eat with them.

Cohral and his Armor of Victory boiled a jumbled mess of ingredients into a soup and ate it with tough salted bread. Meanwhile, Cayna paid the curious adventurers no mind as she casually processed the meat, vegetables, smoked fish, and water she brought with Cooking Skill: Witch’s Brew. This versatile soup could be made with any three or more ingredients and restored 10 percent HP and MP. Since the standard recovery amount was one-tenth of the caster’s HP and MP, Cayna’s Witch’s Brew was an unparalleled magical panacea.

As usual, it was finished in a literal flash and caught the attention of every student. For whatever reason, the end result resembled a pot of chopped ingredients floating in a bubbling purple liquid.

Onlookers instinctively took one step back from the mysterious mess. Those were the actual graphics back in the game, so Cayna broke into a sweat over what she’d concocted. Cohral winced.

“So, that’s what Witch’s Brew looks like in real life…”

“Um, I think I’ll pass…”

“The students are watching. Eat it.”

“…Right. I’ll try to keep it down.”

Sadness and resignation fell upon Cayna as Cohral, the only one who knew the truth of the situation, dealt a final blow. The Great Weasel of Happiness turned away from the purple steam and placed a paw on its master’s shoulder.

Tears in her eyes, Cayna dipped a spoon into the purple liquid. The crowd nervously watched her take a bite.

“Tastes like hospital food,” she concluded.

Cayna polished off the rest of the Witch’s Brew, but concern spread among the students when one brave teacher who had agreed to try some fainted. It wasn’t poisonous, though, so the teacher was simply moved to a tent. By the next day, it was like nothing had ever happened.

“Must be ’cause you made it, Cayna. Wasn’t it packed with MP?” Cohral said.

As everyone took up their positions for night patrol, Cayna asked Izunae to search out nearby enemies and had the cath palug guard Myleene and the others.

“Please be careful, Cayna.”

“You got it. I’ll be back by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

The Abandoned Capital barrier wasn’t too far. Including the time it would take to check out the situation, Cayna expected three hours total. Unless something popped up along the way, she figured matters would be more or less settled by sunrise.

“I’m not too worried, since it’s you, but this world can be unpredictable,” Cohral warned Cayna. “Don’t let your guard down.”

“Right, thanks. I’m counting on you, too, Supreme Swordsman.”

“You got it. And don’t call me that.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Well, I’m off.”

With a wave of her cloak, Cayna headed into the dark forest as a sea of eyes watched anxiously. A number of students thought she was nuts and had a death wish.

When Cayna’s figure receded, Izunae uncurled itself and stood on its hind legs to survey the area. Several students stiffened, but Cohral called out to them.

“Don’t panic! That creature is just keeping an eye out for enemies. It means us no harm!”

As Cohral said, Izunae’s ears and nose were concentrated on the surrounding vicinity. It did nothing more than twitch its whiskers repeatedly. Several people gave a deep sigh of relief, but the Armor of Victory’s leader, a male mage, rebuked Cohral.

“You’ll attract every monster around if you yell like that,” he said.

“Oops. Sorry.” Cohral scratched his head in apology, and his party members burst into laughter.

“Hey, if that happens, we’ll just have the great Supreme Swordsman cut ’em down.”

“Quit it! What am I supposed to do if you praise me like that and people realize I’m just an average swordsman?”

“Then we’ll beg them for forgiveness.”

“You make it sound like it’s my fault!”

The students watched the Armor of Victory’s comedy routine and envied their fearlessness of the night. The Swift Horses had intended to ease their nerves with humor as well. Jild’s shoulders slumped when he realized he’d been beaten to the punch.

“Enemy sighted.”

“Seriously?!”

Meanwhile, Cayna made a beeline through the forest to the barrier but screeched to a halt when Kee suddenly detected an enemy. She was still only a few hundred meters from the campsite.

“Ahead of me?”

“Correct. There are many.”

“Tch! It’s like they knew I was going to the Abandoned Capital!”

Cayna immediately summoned Cerberus.

“Cerberwoof! Sneak around from behind so we can pincer ’em!”

“““Woof!”””

The three-headed wolf-dog that came out of the magic circle crouched low to the ground and then raced off into the woods on the right. When her internal radar indicated an incoming cluster of glowing red dots, Cayna whipped out Hungry Like the Wolf from her Item Box and wielded a Rune Blade as well.

“Geh-geh-geh-geh-geh!”

The thicket ahead rustled and cracked as a group of armored goblins peeked their heads out.

“The Favelle Regional Guard?!”

The goblin fighters wore leather armor, and over half wielded stone axes and spears. The rest were goblin archers and mages equipped with bows and wands.

“Hold up. Aren’t there, like, sixty here?!”

“Perhaps they account for more than one quest?”

A look of impatience shot across Cayna’s face at the huge discrepancy between the quest monsters she’d expected and the quest monsters she got.

The Favelle Regional Guard was originally a group of twelve quest monsters. This was five times that. Each was also level 200, which made them a collective powerhouse. A level-400-ish player could normally take on the quest with a party without issue. Although Kee’s defensive shield currently repelled their attack, the rain of arrows and magic missiles was a chilling scene.

“Gigiii!”

“Wha?!”

In addition, rather than closing in on their quarry, the presumed goblin leader in the back gave the command to spread out. One unit advanced toward Cayna, but the rest went off in twos and threes in every direction.

Cayna was powerful but alone, so this battle was to their advantage. After all, although she couldn’t let them go a step farther, the enemy had the option to avoid conflict.

“There seem to be a few intelligent monsters in the mix.”

“This is no time to be impressed! Kuu, help me out!”

Cayna cast a spell as she sought the hidden fairy’s aid.

Magic Skill: Spatial Stagnation Zari Rael: Ready Set

“Take this!”

A blueish white electric net fifteen meters in diameter covered the goblins who charged straight at her. Sparks flew everywhere as they were entangled in a web of pain and paralysis. The monsters were reduced to charcoal in an instant. Cayna didn’t even wait long enough to witness their demise before swinging the Rune Blade in her left hand and slicing in half the goblin mages who tried to flee.

Answering Cayna’s plea, Kuu popped out into the air. After assessing the situation with a vicious glare, she sent a hail of red arrows down on a few goblins who had tried to escape to the right. No, it was more than a hail; the arrows were like a violent torrent that tore the three to pieces.

“Yay me!”

“A bit overkill, though.”

Kuu’s innocent joy was terrifying.

One group led by the goblin commander was quickly slain by the Cerberus’s ferocious claws and fangs when it sneaked up on them from behind.

When Cayna checked her internal radar, the scattered goblins had split into two main groups, with one heading northeast and the other south. Since there were fewer enemies to the south, she left those to the Cerberus and chased the goblins escaping to the northeast. She continued straight ahead and eventually reached the main road leading to Felskeilo’s western gate. She kept a close eye on her radar, but at a certain point, the goblins suddenly disappeared off the map.

“What?”

Confused, Cayna came to an abrupt halt just as a cross-shaped flash shot at her from the opposite side of the road. There was no question it was some kind of blade technique, but she realized a head-on collision was imminent and instantly cast Air Blast Blade Giga Gohron, which she’d added to her shortcut list. The powerful wind jet and cross-flash clashed, and both attacks vanished into thin air. At the same time, a massive blade swung down from the forest. Cayna crossed the Rune Blade and Hungry Like the Wolf together to absorb it.

“Cayna?!”

“Exis?!”

Her attacker was someone Cayna knew all too well. The puzzled Exis held his strike position for a moment but jumped out of the way when he noticed a large shadow pass over Cayna to swoop down on him.

“““Raaaaagh!”””

“A Cerberus?!”

“Cerberwoof! Down, boy! He’s not an enemy!”

After chomping the goblins to death as Cayna asked, Cerberus had followed from behind and quickly determined the figure crossing swords with its master must be trouble. The beast was about to leap into action again when Cayna called a time-out. Fangs still bared, it now growled by her side.

To prove he bore no ill will, Exis returned his massive blade to the sheath on his back. Quolkeh came up from behind with her whip in hand.

“Exis, I’ve taken care of things on my end,” she said. “Whoa—Cayna?!”

“Oh, Quolkeh. You’re here, too.”

“Were those your goblins just now?”

While not exactly hostile, both eyed Cayna suspiciously. Since the goblins came from the same direction, they had mistakenly assumed she was the one who unleashed them.

“Nope, it wasn’t me,” Cayna told them. “Only demons can summon goblins.”

“Then isn’t there a chance Opus handled the summons and you brought ’em along?”

“Of course not! I was attacked, too, so stop jumping to weird conclusions!” she exclaimed, thoroughly tired of these odd misunderstandings.

“Fair enough,” Exis said apologetically, seemingly convinced.

Quolkeh, meanwhile, wasn’t following the conversation at all, so Cayna explained why she’d left the camp.

“I get your point,” Quolkeh began, “but that’s not what I wanna hear.”

“Huh?” said Cayna.

Exis was unusually fidgety; he brought his threatening dragoid face close to Cayna’s.

“Exis has been acting weird ever since he got this one message from you,” Quolkeh went on. “He teleported us to Felskeilo in the middle of the night, threatened the guard and busted through the gate, then spotted a bunch of goblins and yelled, ‘What is this, a test?!’ and started going off the rails. Think of the poor soul who had to deal with all that crap.”

She wearily took a canteen from her Item Box and started chugging it.

“Wow, good work,” said Cayna.

“Ain’t nothin’ good about it!” griped Exis. “What the heck was that message earlier?”

“‘Earlier’?”

“Don’t act like you forgot. I mean the one you sent about my sister!”

“Ohhh!” Cayna pressed a palm to her fist upon remembering. “You mean Ark?”

“Hurry up and tell me where she is.”

“Chill out, Exis,” Quolkeh cut in, yanking him backward, “Cayna can’t talk if you’re in her face like that.”

Exis was obviously worried about his sister. Cayna considered foisting her escort mission on him and decided to reveal Ark’s location.

“Ark’s on guard duty over there…”

As soon as Cayna specified his sister’s place of work, Exis raced past her toward the camp. Cayna and Quolkeh watched in mute amazement.

“Um, I’ll follow him,” Quolkeh told Cayna.

“Uh, right. Good plan. He might be mistaken as a shady character and captured.”

Izunae was one thing, but the cath palug would spring into action if it deemed him a serious threat. It boasted a strength no armor could match, and Exis would need backup if he didn’t want to be taken out while wildly barreling toward the camp.

After Quolkeh disappeared into the night, Kuu finally returned to Cayna. They looked at each other, and Cayna sighed. She decided to return to her earlier route.

As Cayna approached the Abandoned Capital’s barrier, she glanced around and frowned.

“This is pretty terrible…”

Most people wouldn’t be able to see the semitransparent film barrier, but Cayna’s Magic Eye and Magic Perception skills were at full throttle and highlighted the condition of the present barrier.

The curved surface, originally smooth as a pearl, had countless cracks running all throughout it. One section even had a giant hole in it. The barrier’s restorative functions hung on by a thread, but even if the hole were filled, widespread cracks across other areas threatened to open in a domino effect. The barrier wasn’t just nicked all over; it was clearly on the verge of collapse.

“This is all because Opus did a rush job,” Cayna mumbled.

Suddenly, the barrier rippled next to her. Thinking this signaled that monsters were on their way, Cayna wasted no time and entered a battle stance. However, both a discreet figure and a sinister one appeared before her in tandem. Such a combination was rare, and Cayna’s eyes went wide.

They were an angel and a demon. The first was a young female angel with four white wings. The other was a headless tree in the shape of a person. The misplaced head was a white skull in a cavity on the right side of its chest.

Bristling with caution, Kuu prepared for battle. However, Cayna recognized the angel and demon.

“Wow, never thought I’d run into an argent and an Old Hollow here,” she said with her usual candor.

Next to the relieved angel, the wooden demon pitched forward.

“O-Old Hollow?! I’ll have you know that my kind are called shubez!”

“Uhhh, what were these guys called again, Kee?” Cayna mumbled with a puzzled head tilt.

“That is the name I have on record.”

Old Hollow was a popular nickname for this creature among the players. It was short for Old Man Hollow, so named for the demon’s distinct appearance. It was categorized as a demon and also referred to shubez monsters commonly found in the Underworld. Usually between level 400 and 500 on average, these weren’t much of a threat compared to the rest of the area. However, they could meld with a level-800 monster. Once this happened, it would spam weakening spells and curses on players. No monster was more irritating.

The general rule in any party was to have a vanguard neutralize the main threat while the mages destroyed the shubez. Since the monster’s body was a tree, most used a midlevel (for Cayna anyway) fire spell to burn it to a crisp.

An argent, on the other hand, was a monster from the Heaven Area who defended her sanctuary as its gatekeeper. She appeared as a female angel with four white wings and was an impressive level 700. Nonetheless, battle was not an argent’s forte. Her only duty was to maintain a defensive wall around the sanctuary, so a host of divine followers fought on the front lines instead.

Back in the day, Cayna and several other Cream Cheese guild members shaved down an argent by breaking holes in the barrier while tackling the angelic horde. They would attack the argent before the holes were filled and eventually won after repeating this process a dozen or so times.

And now both were right before Cayna’s eyes. They obviously weren’t hostile, so she dropped her guard. A wary Kuu noticed this and swooped down to sit in her usual position.

“I take it you’ve got some kind of business with me, since you came all this way?” Cayna asked the two monsters.

The shubez and argent paused a few steps from Cayna and then fell to their knees with heads bowed.

“We were summoned by Master Opuskettenshultheimer,” said the shubez.

“You are his sworn friend,” the argent added. “We shall not dare raise a blade to you, Lady Cayna.”

“Ah, I knew it. Opus said I’d probably run into you…,” Cayna muttered quietly with a smirk of realization.

“Indeed.”

“Actually, Master Opus informed us of your arrival, Lady Cayna.”

“That was totally unnecessary. He couldn’t bother to fill me in?”

Cayna and Opus saw each other all the time. If he had something to say, she wished he’d just spit it out.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on you, too.”

“Come again?!”

When she asked for clarification, the answer was pretty straightforward.

The shubez had been observing Cayna’s overall activities. Since the day she’d first arrived in Felskeilo, the monster had watched from a reasonable distance in the darkness and the shadows. In addition to reporting all this information to Opus, its mission was to prevent unexpected interference from third parties. When Cayna was targeted by organized crime, the Old Hollow pretended to be one of the Five Great Dukes for the sole purpose of eliminating them. In truth, it wasn’t a shady character at all.

“So, that’s why I randomly felt him nearby. I never signed off on this!”

Cayna puffed out her cheeks, but then she noticed the argent, who remained unfazed and wore a placid smile.

“Are you the one maintaining the Abandoned Capital’s barrier?” she asked the angel.

“Indeed, I am.”

Cayna had fought the argent countless times and understood her ecosystem (?), so she already comprehended the situation. The static noise around the angel was hard to miss—this monster couldn’t hold her form much longer.

“I’m surprised Opus could keep this up for two hundred years.”

“I do not understand it myself, but it seems I am rooted to this place.”

“Right. I guess that’s the special ability Opus mentioned.”

“His connection will hold up as long as the target isn’t destroyed.”

Cayna could understand calling out a single summons like an argent, but there was also an entire army of low-level angels. An argent was better equipped to defend the main stronghold while the other angels eliminated any outside threats. Her Special Skill, Fence, was a unique and rare ability unavailable to players.

A player’s Isolation Barrier would disappear and leave an area defenseless upon reaching its limit. However, an argent’s Fence instead assembled a mass of hexagons and distributed its endurance across each section. As long as the angel didn’t run out of MP, she could easily fix the barrier, even if one section was pierced.

At first, any monster to escape the Fence was likely suppressed by the angel army. Opus had stopped by on occasion to maintain and restore the barrier as well as to supply additional MP, but they had used up most of this over the years and were almost at their limit. As a result, monsters scattered across the continent to become the bane of Cayna’s existence.

“And the goblin army just now?”

“I apologize. I have my hands full overseeing the Fence, and…”

“Nah, I took care of them, so it’s all good. Are you okay, though? Do you feel sick?” Cayna asked worriedly.

The argent’s body flickered with static noise. It was a miracle she’d held on this long.

“You’re…going to vanish soon, right?” Cayna said.

“Correct. I cannot last much longer.”

“Couldn’t I just give you a bunch of MP?”

The argent shook her head forlornly. “I do not even have enough strength to repair the Fence anymore. I have grounded my existence in every way I know how, and this is my limit.”

“I see. Do you know what’s going on inside?”

“Yes. The most vigorous have already escaped, but many are building their strength in anticipation. The moment it is clear Fence has lost its functionality, they will unleash their pent-up resentment and trample the outside world.”

“It won’t break down in the next two or three days, right?”

“Correct. I can still last for a few days, but it is very likely there will be impatient monsters who escape beforehand.”

“Oh dear.”

“The camp will go bye-bye,” mumbled Kuu, who had remained silent so far. She looked back toward the direction of the camp.

“Are there normal people in the vicinity?” the argent asked.

“The only one who can fight is Cohral. At level 300, it’ll be tough for him to defend a group of fifty… But Exis and Quolkeh are there, too, so maybe it’s fine?”

“Unlike the local monsters, the ones from that world can sharply perceive foes. They will quickly detect a group of people nearby.”

“Shoot, we better evacuate everyone fast. We’ll have to evoke martial law in the capital, too. I’m sure Opus will figure something out, so hang in there.”

Cayna turned around to leave but first asked the shubez what it planned to do.

“I will spy among the monsters inside.”

“Huh. I don’t really get it, but do your best, too.”

After giving a light wave good-bye, Cayna hurried back to camp and explained to the faculty and adventurers that a monster attack was almost imminent.

“Last time the knights were useless while we adventurers drove ’em away. What’s the issue?”

Jild had apparently been present at some point during the earlier attack when a game monster controlled the monsters of this world. They had managed to fend them off somehow, but the adventurers would be crushed like pebbles by the roadside if game monsters were the main force. Cohral and Exis, the latter of whom had stealthily joined the rest of the adventurers, helped convince Jild that this was a dangerous tactic.

“Nonetheless, we cannot move at night,” said one of the Academy faculty members. “Do you mind if we at least wait until morning?”

After conferring with the student representatives, the teachers refused to budge on this point. Cayna accepted.

“Still, the Abandoned Capital? What kinda crazy monsters are sealed up in there…?” Exis wondered aloud.

“How am I supposed to know?” asked Cayna.

“I see. Hey, that ghost ship must’ve been from the Abandoned Capital, too. Let’s avenge Luka’s village.”

“It’s fine that you’re itching for a fight, but hold on a sec.”

“Why?”

“Opus is planning an event just for this occasion. Granted, I don’t actually know if it’s a quest or event, though.”

“So, that guy is up to somethin’ again… You better keep a tight rein on him.”

“He’s slippery as an eel!”

Meanwhile, Opus spoke in the nameless darkness.

“All right, my preparations are complete. It looks like Cayna has been brought up to speed as well. And so begins the final quest.”

He flashed a wicked smile and set things in motion.