The two was utterly stunned.

After all, their strange guide was now sitting on a wide patch of grassy ground that looked stark against the forest floor, opening a pack of bread like they were on an impromptu picnic right at the entrance of a forest.

Well, strange times call for strange measures, after all. That might not have been the correct description, but it was apt enough, at least.

Alice slathered a piece of jam with bread, covered it with another piece, then gave it to the still stunned Valerie. Then, she did it again and gave the bread to the almost equally stunned Izabel.

She took one piece, then ordered the tower to open the dimensional storage. Then, she slathered the remaining jam on the knife onto the surface of the bread. Afterwards, she placed the piece inside the storage, silently ordering the tower to perform [Fragmentation and Creation] on it.

Considering what she had heard about the molecular food generators being broken, the skill might prove useful.

“Oh, you two look a bit stronger. Did something happen?” Alice asked, folding a piece of jam-slathered bread before eating it.

“Yeah, we tried to head to the 91st region, but there was a blockade there. Piles of machine-like lifeforms are swarming the area with a few hostile-looking people, and they’re letting nothing in.” Valerie sighed. “Mom, Dad…”

“It’s okay, we’ll get stronger. They will be alright,” Izabel patted her shoulder. “Now that we’re here, we can train and progress.”

“I was in the middle of modifying the tower, but I’ll be happy to help. By machine-like, do you mean… these things?”

Alice ordered the tower to conjure out the remains of the Replicator she had stored. A quick glance at the [Fragmentation and Creation] percentages revealed that the armor’s fragmentation process was complete. She decided to stop the process for the other two, then ordered the tower to focus on the food item she had just stored. She made a note to herself to check the notification later.

With that, she felt like a small weight has been lifted off her shoulders.

“Yeah, those,” Izabel nodded. “They are prowling around like guard dogs in that place. Surprising for something that looks like an oversized toy.”

Valerie nodded, “They overwhelmed visitors with numbers by summoning monsters. What they summoned isn’t particularly strong, but there’s…”

“Too much of them, yeah, I start to feel tired fighting the summoned monsters before I could even reach the damn thing.”

“It’s called a Pseon Replicator, or maybe Replicator is enough. Too much of a mouthful,” Alice helpfully supplied.

“Yeah, that.” Izabel waved her hand.

“Izabel, thanks for coming here with me, too.” Valerie said.

“No need for that. I have something to check in that site, as well,” Izabel shook her head. “Anyway… yeah, we do need your help, Alice. We need to get stronger as soon as possible.”

“I’ll help,” Alice nodded, munching the last bit of her bread. “I mean, you can tell me your thoughts about the modified parts, too.”

Alice stood up, then glanced at the two forest paths. “These paths to the tower lead to different enemies. One is something both of you are familiar with, and the other is new. As for which ones are which, you have to find out on your own.”

“Izabel, what do you think?” Valerie glanced at her companion.

“I’m fine with whichever one. Want to leave it up to chance, then?” Izabel replied.

“You’re just like my dad when he needs to decide where we should go on a holiday,” Valerie laughed. “Okay, think of a number from one to ten. We’ll add the results. If it’s odd, we go to the left path, if even we go to the right. Does that sound fair?”

“Sounds good to me. Alright, on the count of three…”

“Five,” Izabel said.

“Three!” Valerie followed suit.

“Well, the right path, then,” Izabel stood up.

“Do you need some guidance?” Alice asked. “I’ll stay in the sidelines, in case something goes very wrong.”

“I’d rather see for myself. Thanks for the offer, though.”

The two went to the left path, their footsteps disappearing into the dense forest.

As she was about to follow the two, something else caught her attention and caused her tower-connected senses to tense up. Two people just stepped into the place from the opposite side of the circular territory, and something about them made her wary. It was as if even their footsteps carried ill will.

“Vuer, keep an eye on Izabel and Valerie. I’ll take a look at the other visitors,” Alice mentally communicated.

“Understood,” Vuer replied.

She opened a portal towards a big tree on the other side, careful not to appear within the two visitors’ sight, then opened the live screen feature of the tower. The two were dressed in all black, wearing a plain white mask lined with golden, ring-like patterns etched around the forehead and cheek.

“Good thing we followed those two here,” one if them spoke. Their voice sounded distorted. It seems the mask has a voice filter built in.

“Remember, the lady wants that girl intact. Do whatever you want with the other one,” the second masked figure replied. “If we can find the monster in charge of this place, the better. We can challenge it and if we win, we can move up in the ranks.”

“Yep. We might get to talk to the benefactor directly. Right now, only our dear lady gets to do that. Something about her having similar values to them or whatever.”

The second masked figure looked around and said, “The layout of this one looks simpler than the tower on the north, and it doesn’t seem to have traps.”

“Score! So, we get a softie ruler here?”

“Don’t you underestimate them. Remember how most of group A got punished with menial labor for a month because everyone got thrown out of that moth monster’s territory at the same time? No one has gotten out of that assignment yet.”

“I know, but we’re safe. This isn’t an official tower invasion mission, after all. We’re here for the girl. If anything happened, someone is already waiting outside.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Monster? North tower?

She watched from her hiding place, contemplating whether she should bait them or let the situation unfold. It was clear, whoever they work for, they were up to no good, and she has no intention of letting them touch her guests.

She decided to focus on the two intruders on the screen and ordered the tower to display their stats.

[???]

[Class: Child of Propagation (A)]

[Unable to retrieve stats]

[???]

[Class: Child of Propagation (B)]

[Unable to retrieve stats]

Well, that was certainly helpful.

Alice sent a quick message to Vuer, giving the little dragon permission to appear in front of the two girls, before opening a portal right in front of the two.

“How can I help you?” She asked, her green eyes focusing on the two masked figure.

Her words were practically dripping with sarcasm, a fact that the two did not miss.

“Well, B, looks like this is our lucky day,” one of them said, before disappearing from Alice’s sight.

[Code A: Blade Morph]

Guided by instinct, Alice dodged to the side, only for the strike to redirect and connect, embedding the blade deep into her right shoulder.

[Code B: Kinetic Redirect]

The energy came from the second one.

She gritted her teeth and jumped backwards, only for the first masked person to give chase. Their slender limbs were now all replaced by long blades, and they moved by hovering and dashing a few feet off the ground. The other was quiet and his eyes were closed, only his hands were moving, like a puppeteer controlling their creation.

[Tower has entered defense mode.]

[Energy consumption increased.]

[Tower manipulation speed increased by 30%]

Vuer, tell those two, do not come here!

“I won’t repeat the same mistake as the other squad A members,” the blade-limbed one snarled, their voice menacing even through the distortion from their mask. They swung the blade on their feet to the side, and when Alice dodged, the skill reactivated once more.

[Code B: Kinetic Redirect]

The blade connected with Alice’s stomach, leaving a nasty gash. Blood dripped from both her mouth and her quickly healing wounds.

“I was about to let you all get out almost scot free, but it seems you two won’t be satisfied with even that,” Alice said, dodging another attack from the blade wielder by manipulating a vine to prop her up in the air. She tapped on her connection with the tower, and the ground rumbled as earthen creatures appeared one by one, each sapping a little bit of her energy.

[Summon Basic Elemental Construct]

Ten constructs made of rocks stood ready as Alice released the vine’s hold, making sure to aim her movement so she could land on top of one of the golems.

The blade wielder attempted to attack right as Alice was about to land, and the latter kicked their mask, sending them falling back while she landed on the ground.

“When I’m done with you, you will regret crossing me.”

With that declaration, the summoned creatures started to attack the enemies.

However, without input, they were little more than constructs controlled by instinct.

”Do you expect such slow creatures to—“

“Not really, I don’t,” Alice weaved between the stone creatures, causing the blade to clink as it hit one of the stone creatures’ limbs. As they tried to reorient themself, Alice sent a vine towards the other masked figure, intending to break their movement.

[Code B: Kinetic Redirect]

There was that surge of energy again, and the blade wielder were now right next to their teammate. In one quick movement, almost invisible to the eyes, they slashed the vine into smitheerens, before reappearing in front of Alice.

“You think I’d fall for such a trick?” The blade wielder taunted.

Alice didn’t answer, she dodged towards the space between two nearby attacking constructs, angling her body to pass between the bulky creatures while sending the order to attack at one of the constructs. The stone creature reacted as she expected, punching the seemingly empty space right as Alice passed the gap.

[Code B: Kinetic Redirect]

Clang!

There was that flash of energy again, and the attack only managed to touch the blade wielder’s weapon.

“Nice try, but as long as a Squad B member is with me, I won’t lose to a monster,”

Alice continued weaving between the constructs, dodging the attacks while giving manual orders for one stone construct to move closer to the other masked figure. She made a show of jumping up on top of one construct, then backflipping onto another one by using their mask as a makeshift foothold.

“Enough. B, help me move faster!”

“I can’t let you do that.”

Alice jumped up, then, with the aid of a stray vine, landed on top of one construct. As if a switch was activated, the construct slammed its fist down towards the second masked figure.

[Code B:—]

The skill was not activated properly, and the blade-wielder only managed to move halfway across before their teammate was eliminated into a bloody smear on the ground. However, instead of the distinct crunch of bones, there was something else.

A quick glance towards the smear showed that something was shining under the light, tiny components that was once hidden behind the figure’s all-black attire.

“You damn monster…“

One thing was clear, the blade wielder was beyond furious. Not even a breeze of dread could be felt before her attacks connected, and Alice was left with shallow gashes as proof of her attempts to dodge and defend herself.

“You two barged here looking for a fight and you called me the monster? Give me a break,” Alice fired back, raising her hand on instinct to protect herself. Her opponent hit her arm directly, embedding the blades enough to create deep wounds.

With a hiss of pain, Alice reached towards her opponent’s mask, and ripped the thing with all her might.

Only to see that the mask was… empty.

Well, perhaps empty was too much of an exaggeration. However, the former masked figure only had gears and metal below her still organic eyes and forehead. Even the head has been shaved clean and has a glossy look, not unlike plastic.

Blood spewed out from the metallic parts, as if making a mockery of a living human.

“—you… will not—“ Their voice distorted bit by bit as more blood spewed out from the parts.

“Answer me, who sent you?” Alice stepped on the figure, keeping her foot on one of their arms. To emphasize her question, she placed her weight onto her foot, causing them to let out a mix of machine and human noise.

“Send— another tower and presence of our target in the west-equator, coordinates nu—“

Alice kicked the downed figure’s remaining head as hard as she could, sending the metallic thing straight onto a tree. A trail of blood followed as the head rolled back down to the ground.

Alice ordered the tower to reabsorb the constructs, then she examined the two opponents’ bodies.

As she had thought, the two seems to be a bizarre mixture of human and machine. Though human blood still coursed through their body, there were little to no bones in them. A quick look at the blade-wielder’s corpse revealed that underneath their all-black clothes, their body looked fake. It was almost like someone saw a human and decided to create living dolls of it.

Beneath the clothes, their body was featureless, without curves, scars, or even a hint of something to make them stand out.

“Alice, there was a sudden signal sent from the tower territory. Interception failed, however, it is heading to the north. Cannot calculate exact coordinate of receiver, but my estimate is, it’s being sent to the northern part of the world,” Vuer reported.

“I understand, Vuer. How are the two?”

“They were waiting for you. They finished the challenge - oh, they took the spider one, if you’re curious.”

“Alright, got it. I’ll be going,”

Alice did a quick scan of the two’s current location, then, she opened a portal beneath her feet.

She landed near the tower’s base. Meanwhile, Valerie and Izabel were busy discussing something. They were sitting on a nearby rock, with Izabel leaning in an awkward angle.

“How did that go?” Alice spoke up, and her voice caught the two’s attention. When they were looking, Alice fixed the stone’s angle a bit, allowing Izabel a more comfortable seat.

They stared at her for a moment, and then, Valerie shook her head.

“Alice, what happened?” Valerie asked, pointing at Alice’s wounds. Though the wounds no longer bled, the deeper ones were still healing. If Alice focused on it, she could feel how the wound stitched up bit by bit, taking her energy as the minutes marched on.

“Oh, these? No worries, there was just a few intruders,” Alice shook her head, “More importantly, how did it go? Was it a bit too difficult?”

“Nothing like that, though I’ll admit the poison was a hindrance,” Izabel answered.

“That aside, what intruder?” Valerie asked, her eyes darting at the direction of the barrier for just a moment. “I never thought there could be intruders here.”

“Humans could go in and out as they please in here for ease of training. I didn’t expect there were people who would attack the tower itself,” Vuer appeared and said to the two, “Did you two know any groups who would do that?”

“Wait, Vuer, let me ask first,” Alice interrupted, then she took out a plain white mask, its surface now stained with blood. “Do you two recognize this?”

“Where did you get that, Alice?” Izabel asked. At the sight of the mask, her body had visibly tensed.

“It belonged to the intruders I mentioned earlier. Can I show you something? It’s a bit gruesome, for your information.”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Izabel nodded.

“No problems for me,” Valerie added.

“This,” Alice activated the tower’s senses, conjuring a screen to show the two girls the remains of the masked figures. She focused on the relatively intact blade-wielder’s corpse, angling the shot so the other one was just out of frame. “They tried to attack, so I disposed of them.”

“Yeah, people with a white mask, wearing all black… those are what we saw in the 91st region.” Valerie nodded. “Did they really follow us all the way here?”

“That is possible,” Izabel nodded. “Worst case scenario, we’re being hunted.”

“I’m sorry for this, Alice,” Valerie nodded, I really didn’t expect—“

Alice wiped the wounds with her arm, ordering the tower to heal her faster. As the wounds disappeared, she checked her energy levels.

[Mana Capacity: 107.413/200.000]

Then, she looked at Valerie and said, “No worries. Rather than that, since you two are here, I need you to test something. Want to go to the revamped third floor? I haven’t done anything to the first floor and second floor yet, so they’ll be the same if you want to do those again.”

“Sure, I don’t mind going straight there,” Valerie nodded.

“No objections here,” Izabel added.

“Wait,” Alice glanced at the direction behind her. “I felt the presence of someone else entering,”

“Bad news,” Vuer conjured a screen, showing an image of another masked figure. “This territory isn’t big enough, and now they are heading—“

Alice grabbed Valerie and Izabel by the collar of their clothing and pulled them behind her. Within a moment, the distinct whish of something slashing the air could be felt, right before Alice kicked the attacker on the head.

The result was immediate, as the attacker was thrown a few meters back.

“Well, it seems that all of you have quite the free time,” Alice narrowed her eyes at the attacker. “What exactly are you looking for here?”

The attacker didn’t answer.

“Valerie!”

“Got it, Izabel!”

Valerie raised her hand, first conjuring a white, glass-like bubble shield around both Izabel and Alice.

[Protection of Glass]

[Conjures a protective aura around a chosen teammate. The strength of the protection is based of a percentage of the conjurer’s mana reserve]

Then, she waved her hand in a curving arc, creating a cloud of bright red mist. The mist seeped into the protective bubble.

[Empowerment of Crimson]

[Increases an ally’s offensive capabilities. The strength depends on the conjurer’s mana reserve]

“You’re so eager to tail us. Is this what you want?”

Izabel pulled out a broken blade strapped to her back, haphazardly stuck on a stick to create a makeshift sword. A quick glance was enough to confirm the blade was similar to the blade made with the [Code A: Blade Morph] skill.

“You still have that, of all things?” Valerie asked, clearly incredulous.

“Not the time,” Izabel replied simply, dashing to parry the strike of the blade-wielding enemy.

While the opponent was distracted, Alice conjured a few vines from the ground, aiming to tie them up on the torso.

“You’re not my target this time, monster,” the blade-wielder clicked her tongue, then sliced the vines to pieces. Then, with blinding speed, they dashed past her, ignoring Izabel—

“Hey, you’re—!”

“We’ll deal with you later,” The masked figure said, their blade-arms morphing back into hands. She tasered the still resisting Valerie, and with that, the blue-haired girl stilled.

“Valerie!” Izabel dashed as fast as she could, her hand gripping on the branch so tightly the small ridges dug into her skin.

“Vuer, block territory shield access! Now!”

“Understood!”

“No, I don’t think so. Retrieval of the VVIP… succeeded.”

The masked figure dashed away, their speed turning them into a retreating blur.