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Chapter 567: Obligation

Petra signalled for Shae to quietly move back with her, away from the edge of the treeline. Although the monster was quite large, and a considerable distance away, there was still the possibility that they would be noticed if they used their energy or made excessive noise. At this point, they had not even yet determined the level of the creature, but there was something that they were well aware of.

Every new floor for quite a long time had offered an increase of one hundred levels to the limit if someone were to find its level orb. Naturally, nobody had found the orb for this floor yet. Worse still, they hadn’t been able to explore the solii’s floor because of their civil war, so they didn’t have that one either.

That meant that in the best case scenario, if this were one of the weakest creatures of the floor, it would still be over one hundred levels higher than anyone present. Given its size, its defensive powers would be astonishing. Even with her power as a demigoddess and the Shadow Saint, Petra wasn’t confident that she could take such a creature on alone.

The two of them made their way back to where the camp had been established, muffling their footsteps as they walked. When they returned, Petra walked over towards the potential guildmaster. “Yo, boss, got a report to make.” She spoke in a serious tone, far apart from her normal playful voice.

“Huh?” The Dovah turned, looking towards Petra. “What’s going on, Black?”

This was the codename that she had registered herself under for the current operation. As the Perfect Self was becoming more widespread, she no longer felt the need to completely change their identities every few decades like Thelsa used to plan for. Instead, they would just use pseudonyms for special operations like this one to keep their name out of the official announcement.

“Outside of the forest, a giant creature. Big enough to carry one of these as a club.” She pointed towards one of the large trees nearby as she said that, earning a look of concern from the dovah.

“Do you believe that this creature is enough of a threat to cancel the operation?” It was clear that the dovah held a moderate amount of respect for Petra, given that he was willing to ask her opinion. Though whether he planned to follow it if she gave an answer he disagreed with was clearly another answer.

“No reason to expect we have a choice.” Petra sighed, shaking her head. “Until proven otherwise, we have to assume that these creatures would be all along the border. They’re large enough that they can reach down from the cliff to drink the water, which their body has likely adapted for. If anything, I’d say it’s only a matter of time before it wanders over for a sip.”

“I don’t wanna look down on anyone here, but there’s no guarantee we can take it out with the strength we’ve brought. That’s why I was hoping you’d be willing to call for reinforcements.” After Petra said that, she glanced meaningfully back in the way she had come from.

“And who’s going to pay that bill?” The dovah said with a weary groan. “These temporary portals aren’t cheap, remember.”

“Is it cheaper to hire the adventurers, or to hire another expedition of high-level pilots to cross the sea in a different direction?” Petra asked, directing a knowing smirk towards the dovah. “Those two already got what they came for. The first look at a new land, flying further than anyone else in a single trip. They’ve no reason to go out of their way to do so again. And even if you do hire them, there could be another giant waiting at that location.”

The dovah grumbled his acceptance, however reluctant it was. “I’ll make the call. Just be careful not to piss it off before they get here.”

Petra expressed a look of shock, one hand going over her chest. “My good sir, would I do such a thing as angering an unknown threat merely for my own amusement?”

He simply stared at her for a long moment in response, before she relented. “Okay, maybe I would, but not while there were other people around.”

That earned her a relieved sigh as the man turned away to make the call, walking through the still-opened portal. “How long do you think it’ll take?” Shae asked, walking up alongside Petra.

The demoness shook her head, unsure of the answer herself. “Anywhere from two hours to a day, if he puts in an emergency order. Depends on how long it takes them to reach the Maxers.”

In the past years, there had been a sharp decline in the number of Maxers due to the invisible level limit that plagued the mortal body, one which no amount of level orbs would help relieve. Only those willing to leave the world long enough to train the perfect self were capable of truly reaching the maximum level of Fyor.

Of course, there were those that came to Fyor simply to train classes that weren’t available, so that they would get larger benefits when they properly gained levels for those classes. The best example of this would be the halfling couple that had brought them this far. The Pilot class was only recently unlocked, so there was no way for its orb to have already been found in Fyor.

Those who flew within Fyor did so to strengthen their energy core, something that would bring them numerous long term effects once they began to level up. That was also why Petra was certain that the guildmaster wouldn’t be able to find another such pair. Aside from those thrillseekers, anyone else that came to Fyor to train their pilot class would do so at a low level for the highest benefits, making them unable to help.

Thankfully, with the invention of the Perfection Chamber, there were a large number of Maxers with levels over nine hundred that temporarily migrated to the other worlds in order to surpass their physical limits. These days, anyone that truly called themselves a Maxer would no longer have a body of flesh and bone.

Petra herself was one such example, having gone into the chamber immediately after it was announced. She didn’t dare to perform the advancement on her own, for fear of what happened with Thelsa repeating itself. Instead, she chose the safer option, one which limited the amount of time she had to spend ‘dead’ to the very minimum without needing the protection of her shadow energy.

Petra shook her head to bring herself back to the moment. Those Maxers would all be training usually, so she couldn’t expect them to gather quickly. “We’ll have to make our own preparations while we wait. Remind me… which class were you in?”

Shae gave a small smirk. “Jerga’s Class for Enchanting and Woodwork.”

When Petra heard that, her red face went pale. She knew Jerga was one of the most strict instructors that Thelsa had created to date. Most classes had a graduation rating to show how many shadows passed her lessons. On the other hand, Jerga had a mortality rating.

“If you took her class… you should be proficient in third tier magic?”

Shae rolled up his right sleeve, showing a number of arcane sigils seemingly tattooed on his arm. “Runic and geometric. What’s the plan, ‘Black’?”

“Get the others, and lay a defensive formation around the area. Let it act as an electric wall to keep the big guy out if he decides to walk over here. It’ll probably annoy him, but it might get him to take another path to the water, depending on how smart he is.”

When Shae heard that, he had a rather peculiar look on his face. “And if he doesn’t take another path?”

“Well… at that point, he’d be charging us one way or the other. Lay a second formation closer to camp, this one with a real attack function. You builders can use it to support us from behind while we fight.”

Petra’s grip tightened on her hammer as she explained the battle plan, her blood starting to boil from the knowledge of a coming battle. As a barbarian, she had an excellent physical strength, but was similarly prone to entering a frenzy at the sight of a powerful opponent. Something that she had been learning how to cope with ever since she was born.

Want me to send some of my troops? Thelsa’s voice spoke up into Petra’s mind, but the demoness shook her head with a gentle smile. The voice had helped to calm her emotions, anchoring her in the present moment.

Don’t worry about it. Doing that would just show our hand. This isn’t a real emergency yet, so there’s no need for you to make an appearance. Even if we can’t win the fight, all we have to do is find a way to retreat.

Thelsa hesitated for a moment, before silently agreeing. This was the policy she herself decided on. She would help wherever she could while remaining a figure in the shadows. She didn’t want the fame and glory, after all. The only reason she trained any troops at all was because she needed a hobby, and there was always the chance that they would one day need to fight in a true war.

Petra snorted quietly when she heard Thelsa’s thoughts, and how she considered training a private army to be a mere hobby. While Thelsa never thought about it, Petra was vaguely aware that most governing bodies would consider her a political threat if they knew about her shadow troops.

Petra watched as Shae left to carry out her instructions, setting her hammer down in front of her and closing her eyes. Since a battle could erupt at any moment, she needed to put herself in her best condition.

Within the Sky Citadel, Tsubaki stretched her legs, climbing up out of her bed after logging out from Natural Seed. As she had done with Vision Expanse, she once again subjected herself to a ‘Trial of Blood’ within this new game. Honing her skills, she spent months at the lowest levels, deleting her character dozens of times until she could safely survive in environments far beyond her level.

In a way, that was Tsubaki’s hobby, one that was… slightly less than sane. It was, however, incredibly effective at keeping her mind and body sharp. When she stood up, she noticed a blinking icon on her computer screen. Someone was trying to get her attention.

With a furrowed brow, Tsubaki walked over to the computer, staring into it. “You’re not Blank or Vivi. Which one are you?” After she asked that, a chat box arose, and a row of characters began to type themselves onto the screen.

My name is Twilight. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tsubaki. I am one of Blank’s followers. He asked me to keep an eye out for any news that would draw your interest within Fyor.

“…How many of you are there that have similar assignments?” Tsubaki asked, half shocked that Blank would give such a command, and the other half shocked that she didn’t notice it sooner. Then again… recalling her last trip inside her computer, she hadn’t looked too deeply into its working in a while.

Four in total. I myself am in charge of collecting information from Fyor. Sun is in charge of collecting information from Kione and Deckan. Moon is in charge of Desbar, the March, and Sher Dien. Star is in charge of Lorek and Spica.

“I suppose that means he is assisting me with everywhere other than Earth?” Tsubaki asked with a faint nod. As this was the world where she spent most of her time, she typically didn’t need an external aid. “Why are you only making yourself known now?”

Blank instructed us not to bother you unless there was something that we needed to report. Recently, there has been an emergency call for aid at the highest discovered floor of Fyor. A large monster, believed to be Disaster-Class, is preventing the construction of a forward base.

Tsubaki’s brow furrowed further when she heard that, before she let out a sigh. “My level is already too high for Fyor right now. There’s nothing that I can do to help them.” As she said that, she sent a message to Dana, relaying the information and asking the elf to make a trip in her stead. No matter what, this was an issue preventing the development of one of the Keeper’s worlds, so it wasn’t wrong for them to send some aid.