Out of the corner of his eyes the captain saw one of the beasts fall from the back of his ship. It screeched in pain, fire burning on its face.

But the small man had no time to care for a single beast now. He had finally made contact with base number three, which wasn’t far away anymore.

With shaking eyes the man looked at a beast which just dragged one of the guards out of the ship.

Now it’s your time to die!

Just as this thought came to his mind, the captain’s attention was drawn to the front. With a high-pitched hissing sound spears covered in lightning shot towards their ship.

“Screee!”

Pained sounds left the beasts’ bloody maws as metal punctured their bodies and lighting shot through their veins. With incredible precision the attacks avoided the ship and impaled the beasts.

Chaos broke out among the flock of flying beasts. The weakened leader screeched anxiously. It flapped its wings quickly, doing its best to divert the lightning spears with small whirlwinds.

If the beast was on its peak, it might’ve had a considerable impact but now the spears only moved lightly.

Seeing this, the beasts felt fear for the first time since the battle started. Finally, orders were communicated. The stronger beasts did their best to protect the weaker ones as they hastily retreated.

Silence fell on the scene.

All that remained was a badly ravaged cargo ship. It was covered in human and beast blood, a few of its turbines were missing, and a striking ice tunnel ran through its center.

The surviving warriors sat weakly on the ground, thanked all the gods they remembered, or shouted in joy.

The captain teared up within the bridge. His heart bled for his beautiful ship.

Below him in the cargo room, Tepo looked into the storms. His emotions were complicated, some relief mixing with guilt. He pulled his red scarf a little bit tighter.

***

About ten minutes later the ship finally came to a stop. It docked onto another platform built onto a white cloud. The small cloud was lined with the towers which heroically chased away the flying beasts.

A lot of people were gathered on the platform, looking at the battered ship with complicated emotions. They shivered thinking about the horror this brief fight must have brought to the passengers.

Finally a part of the ship’s hull opened. A large crowd was already waiting bitterly. Tepo waited at the back, his [Minor Stealth] activated again. From his position he could see the trembling backs of frightened warriors and commoners alike.

The warriors did their best to keep some semblance of order but as the commoners reached the platform many broke down, tears streaming down their faces.

Tepo felt guilt creeping up, but he suppressed it quickly. Now was not the time for doubt. At least the innocent commoners mostly came out of the ordeal unscathed, save for receiving the biggest horror in their lives.

Carefully leaving the ship, Tepo did his best to avoid the crowd. Luckily no one was in the right mind to pay him much attention. The workers and warriors of the base all had their own tasks inspecting the damage and offloading the cargo.

Tepo had to sneak down some stairs and finally reached a paved road. The young man scanned his surroundings, trying to understand how this base worked.

The first thing he noticed was that only big buildings of mostly stone materials were occupying all the space here. Individual houses didn’t seem to exist.

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The road was also surprisingly sparsely used, mostly by busy guards. Suddenly a big gate opened not far from Tepo.

With curious eyes he turned his head.

A big wagon left the gate. It was pulled by two muscular beasts, turning towards the wooden platform.

Tepo’s eyes swiped past the wagon and observed the buildings interior. It was a massive hall with many sweaty workers processing some grey, metallic material.

Tepo immediately recognized it. This was the Lirane Minerals Group’s bread and butter, the sonarium.

Understanding the function of these buildings the young man continued along the path.

There aren’t many people on the street. Should I deactivate my [Minor Stealth]?

Hmm, I did buy clothes specifically to fit in with the workers. But what if someone sees me and tells me to get back to work? Never mind, let’s keep the spell up. I will make it up to my core later.

Reading Tepo’s thoughts the Core of Time shook in annoyance. But the young man was already used to it. He only smiled wryly.

Some sacrifices were necessary to achieve his goal of revenge. Although he already delivered a huge blow to the Lirane Minerals Group by almost destroying a cargo ship, he was not satisfied yet.

As Tepo continued to scan the buildings, finally a special one fell into his eyes. The building was rather cubic, with big gates towards all directions. Warriors guarded the gates as big groups of commoners waited around it.

This part of the base was surprisingly busy. It even looked somewhat chaotic with some older veterans running around and separating the new blood into groups.

All of this gives me a strange vibe. I feel like the base isn’t fully manned yet. Maybe this is also why they recruited new workers form the city.

Tepo was indeed right. He had arrived in base number three, which had only been opened recently by the Lirane Group.

Right now, everything was busy and chaotic as they were suddenly forced to transfer everything to a new dungeon. For this reason, Lirane Sr. had been cursing a certain masked individual for months after they emptied dungeon number two.

Of course, this news wasn’t made public. For the Lirane Minerals Group this was too much of an embarrassment. Thus, Tepo didn’t know that he was about to repeat his senior’s actions.

But as he observed the chaotic situation, Tepo felt as if his first idea might still work. No one seemed to check the workers’ identities at this point anymore.

Therefore, the young man hid behind some wall and canceled his spell. He looked down on himself, his brows furrowing. His clothes showed some signs of the fight earlier, but this was better than if they appeared freshly bought.

Next Tepo put on a flustered expression before dashing towards the cubic building.

“Wait, wait. I’m sorry. I’m late!”

Panting heavily Tepo came to a stop next to a group of workers. They stared at him in surprise. Among them an old veteran rolled his eyes.

“Damn, youngsters these days. We told you to be on time today! It’s already chaotic enough! Now groups have already been arranged.

Ahh, whatever. You can come with me, but don’t you dare be lazy!”

“Yes, yes sir. I’m sorry.”

“Whatever.”

After this short scolding Tepo blended in with the workers. They advanced slowly towards the cubic building. Sonn, they arrived before the gate where the guards eyed them calmly. After a short while they waved letting the group enter the gate.

There wasn’t much within the cubic building. This seemed to be characteristic for this base wish was obviously very pragmatic. Only a single mysterious vortex shimmering in many colors floated above a specially constructed platform, just as Tepo expected.

The new workers looked forward with fascination in their eyes. Tepo reacted quickly and put on a similar expression. For him this was rather difficult as he felt the urge to rip it apart each time he laid eyes on one of those horrendous portals.

On the other hand, the veteran looked at everyone with a stern face:

“You guys! Put away this dumb look on your faces! In the future you will cross this portal so often you will get sick of it. There is nothing special about it.

Now listen up! I finally got the job as a group leader, and I won’t let you guys destroy this opportunity for me! So you better behave. Don’t block the way when we cross the portal and follow me closely! Understood?”

Everyone flinched faintly as they forced themselves to calm down. No one dared to answer the group leader, afraid of drawing the old man’s ire.

“I asked if you understood me?!”

The veteran repeated his question, almost shouting.

“Y… yes.”

“Yes, we understood.”

“Yes, sorry.”

“Look at you guys! What’s with your posture and this feeble answer? If I ask you something, I want to hear a resounding ‘Yes, sir!’. Understood?!”

“Y…Yes, sir.”

“Good!”

Tepo looked at the veteran’s back incredulously as the old man turned around.

What’s up with that guy? Does he think this is the army? He is only leading a group of poor commoners who have to work hard to earn some money…

Somewhat frightened by their leader everyone followed him obediently. They climbed a few stairs before finally standing before the dungeon portal.

The veteran took a step to the side. He signaled towards the portal with his hands.

“Ok. Go in guys!”

After the earlier scolding no one dared to hesitate. With a mix of fear and excitement the group entered the portal.