“Forcing an entry to the surface of Epsilon Centauri 2, the 5th, 11th and 14th fleets were surprised to discover almost no resistance from the being claiming godhood that ruled this planet. Only an unorganized and clearly confused defensive force of the populace majority, horned humanoids who seemed to be one of the three most utilized servant species these godlings ruled over.

Rumors were coming back to command that some had even tried communication to surrender. However, The Legionaries were well-versed in their craft. If any such instances occurred, they remained just that, a rumor.

The increased use of personal striking crafts and PAF heavy artillery bombardments also ensured the swift elimination of the horned humanoids. Billions upon billions were struck down even before they could try raising arms against the vanguard of our forces.

Once the Legionaries breached the palace and cornered the tyrant of this world, an unprecedented order was given by the Council of Magi, the ruling body of the order. Everyone was to leave the premises of the palace. Finalizing the liberation on this planet was in the hands of the Magi. The orders were backed by the imperial decree.

No record shows the demon's last moments, but it took less than a day before the Magi exited the palace, declaring the liberation successful.”

- Elistar Iscariot, Grand Magister during the second Kingfisher dynasty.

When the last Hunter left level ten, the mercenaries executed their retreat. I watched as forty-four souls disengaged and retreated in an enviously orderly fashion.

The first I saw of the enemy was when the last of the twelve mercenary archers exited the tower,

During their descent, a goblin almost as large as a man got a hold of the scaffolding, and in seconds, it had pulled itself up with a nimbleness that no goblin should possess. It jumped from log to log until it buried its curved sword in the open-faced helmet of an archer trying to climb down past it on a ladder.

One of the archers already on the ground put an arrow in the monster moments later, but the damage was done. One less mercenary would make it out, and from what I could see, there were forty-three left, including officers.

A mix of twenty-four halberdiers and spear-wielding mercenaries was the core of the remaining warriors, all of whom were armored in chain armor with plates covering soft places. It looked damn expensive for a regular soldier, so this was not a poor outfit.

All eleven of the archers were armed with side arms and clad in chain armor. Again, expensive equipment.

The rest were officers of some sort by the looks of it, including the now plate-armored captain and her two lieutenants. I knew barons who couldn't afford to arm their knights in this well-made armor. The captain had an arming sword in her hand and a shield strapped to her back, while one lieutenant wielded a hand and a-half sword while the other had a spiked mace made fully of steel and a shield.

Officers seemed to wear a mix of mostly plate armor but with chainmail covering certain parts of their bodies.

The archers, now having retreated to a new position by the stockade leading towards the portal to level nine, was the signal to the remaining mercenaries to quit the wall.

If someone led the forces of the dungeon, they missed an opportunity because the last soldier's boots hit the ground as the first of the enemy climbed the top of the wall. First, goblins, followed by some sort of red-skinned, hunched-over humanoids with what looked like shark teeth and claws, followed on their heels. I knew about the teeth because their mouths opened to an absurd extent, making it look like the top half of their faces looked at the sky.

I made my way over to where the archers stood, who were now pelting the enemies on the palisade with arrows, taking a steep toll for each new wave making it over.

There were more enemies than allies in the compound now, and I was starting to feel antsy. Sure, I wanted to help these people out on some level, but on a much higher level, I wanted to see if I could run faster than them. There was no chance I would die in some dank dungeon.

No, when I died, I was doing it in my bed, highly intoxicated with some lovely company and all my enemies were tied up around me with the manor on fire. Don't leave problems for the next generation.

Then the enemies managed to get the bar off the outer gate, and it exploded in as a cave troll almost three times the size of a man pushed away the remaining gate with its shoulder and, with an ear-deafening roar, entered the enclosure goblins, red monster men and Kobolds came swearing in around its legs.

The captain gave the mace-carrying Lieutenant a look. He then proceeded to grab a couple of the mercenaries from the back line and dragged them with him over to one of the one-story buildings before disappearing into the shadows of the abandoned building.

When they came out carrying a couple of small barrels each, I knew what they were about and sprinted to the nearest house, where I proceeded to vandalize all the furniture I could see to my heart's content before stacking the wood on a table I turned it over and dragged my haul through the barely wide enough door.

The enemies started to surround the mercenaries as they fell back step by step. The hand and half-wielding Lieutenant were keeping the right flank from being surrounded by a ferocity and speed that almost made me believe he was Awakened, but sadly no. A trained Awakened with some half-decent abilities unlocked would have stopped this lot in their tracks and slain them before they could reach the top of the palisade.

Could I have taken on the dungeon monsters if I didn't care about how much I damaged myself now? Probably not. I would have made a good accounting for myself, but my inexperience in fighting and controlling my power was far from good or even partly acceptable. So far, I hadn't really done more than an experienced Hunter could do with the right equipment.

Cursing myself for not just secluding myself for a few days to get my abilities in place, I dragged the broken furniture towards the exit leading to level nine. Soon, I promised myself, soon.

The Lieutenant with the caskets of lamp oil or something similar that I now realized was Mr. Grumpy from before nodded in appreciation as I brought my haul over to the gate.

I could see several archers doing the same as me now, but most brought handfuls of splintered wood and sheets.

Then we were out of time. The cave troll clearly had enough, so it surged forward through its own forces, smashing its enormous club down on one of the mercenaries. Whoever they were in this life passed on to the next one immediately.

That was apparently some sort of signal because, in the chaos that followed, all of the mercenaries engaged simply turned and ran towards us.

Not wasting any time, I went through the gate and watched as they stacked broken furniture, clothes and sheets almost to the point of filling the entire gateway.

The archers had already joined me, as had a few of the officers, as the first of the front-liners started trickling in the small gap.

The pile of wood and cloths was liberally soaked in the oil from the barrels as the last to exit the gate was the captain herself, pushing back a relentless assault by a red humanoid. She stopped a moment to give it a full frontal kick that sent the monster careening toward its brethren before running back to join the rest of us.

Torching the pile of oil-soaked wood under the gatehouse was as simple as throwing a torch, and we were out of there. Behind me, I heard the outraged roar of the cave troll. Yeah, you don't like fire, do you, big boy?

We caught up to the hunters at the water level since those without proper shoes and leggings were assaulted relentlessly by the tadpoles and had to be carried to their embarrassment. I doubt any of them would live that down any time soon.

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It was also where we met a group of Hunters coming from the outside. They chose to join the mad dash to escape the wrath of the dungeon or whatever had happened. I wanted to strangle a certain princess if I bumped into her.

The rest of the dungeon was a mad scramble to get out while we still were ahead. I had no idea how far back the horde was or how we planned to stop them from leaving the dungeon, but I promised myself that I wouldn't stick around to find out. Some things sounded better as being someone else's problem.

Then, they suddenly were behind us again. The strange red humanoids were surprisingly fast, using one of their over-long arms as a third leg or something in a jumping gait that ate the distance between us at a rapid phase. They were only a hundred meters or so behind us when I jumped through the portal, followed by the mercenaries.

Then we were out. The strange, deep earth smell and ozone of the dungeon were replaced by rotting vegetation and mud. It was heaven.

When the last mercenary exited, the captain stood alone in front of the portal leading to the dungeon and unrolled a scroll. She bit her tongue and spat blood on it before pressing the thing against the entrance.

A red light shot up into the sealing of the cave, and a red hue settled over the dungeon entrance, burning the scroll to dust.

I still don't know what that is, but they told me the light in the sky would signal to the Hunters guild that a representative was sent to assess the situation and the dungeon was closed until further notice. The red hue over the entrance was a barrier that would stay until The Hunter`s Guild approved a reopening.

Exciting the spiraling tunnel, I could only draw deep into the rotting smell; it was too bad there was no breeze. Moments later, I collapsed in a pile beside Mira, whom I hadn't seen since the mad escape started. All in all, forty-two mercenaries made it out, and a hundred and sixty-six hunters, including the nine we met on the way out. That was aside from Mira and me. Survived the fun little romp through the dungeon. I think I survived; at least, I think I did. The verdict was still out on that. All in all, it could have been worse.

“You live?”

“I think so. My hat is at least okay. That's the important part.”

“Let's try not to do more delves like that. I think I need a week's rest after this.”

“Deal, once we hit Murktown, we take a week off. I need to get some stuff done anyway, and being a lazy bum for a week doesn't sound bad at all. Oh shit, just the thought of a day at a spa almost has me crying.”

“Sounds good. What's a spa?”

“It's like a massage house, but with a lot of added relaxation options, and they pamper you relentlessly but without a happy ending. I know of a couple of good ones we can try.”

“What do you mean by…Oh. Yeah, I want to try that. People actually do that inside the city?”

Nodding while I was musing for a bit, I said.

“I don't think we came as bad out of this as you think. Those silver coins should have some value. Let's not forget that we basically led the remaining Hunters and mercenaries out of there. If we hadn't brought them word of what was happening outside, they all would have probably died being overran while waiting for reinforcements, not to mention the following dungeon outbreak that would have hit the area.”

Captain Angela walked over and hunched down, something that looked hilarious in full plate armor. She gave a tired smile and said.

“He's not wrong. The Guild will more than likely reward you when I deliver the report on what happened here. I just wanted to give my personal thanks and gratitude. I'll make sure my superiors understand the part you played in saving the remains of my soldiers and Hunters. Despite the loss of the dungeon, we were able to close it in a manner that was within the bounds of the contract with the Hunters Guild. The company's reputation stays intact even if the price is steep. It always is.”

“Blood for gold. The more blood, the more gold.”

“As it always is. Where are you two heading off to now?”

Nudging the half-sleeping Mira, she answered.

“Murktown. The ass has business to attend to or some such, and we need a few days off. Oh, We have to stop by outer fort three before heading in, but it's on the way, so it shouldn't be much of an issue.”

“Why are we stopping by the fort?”

“The boys and my armor, you dolt. I didn't order fancy new armor and just have it lying around doing nothing. It needs to get sent to the Murktown guild quarters.”

“I guess. I should probably check in with Trevor anyway.”

Lifting my head, I realized almost all the Hunters had already left without as much as a thank you. That`s gratitude.

“Well, I can only wish you the best, and thank you again. Be sure to see if the company has sent you anything over the next few days. We tend to show gratitude in a more monetary way.”

“Thanks. Hopefully, things will be better the next time we bump into each other.”

With that, the captain spun on her heels and walked back to what remained of her command. She should be fine. Death was always around, sad as it must have been losing so many soldiers. That was how things were, so it was probably not the first time she had seen losses.

Standing up, I looked down at Mira, who was giving me a far too stubborn look. Fine. I reached out and grabbed the hand she was holding up.

With that, it was back to the fort in the tree, even if we weren't exactly speeding along. Both of us were in pretty rough shape as we plodded along. I should probably not point out that she still squelched when she walked or…?

One good thing came from our slow travel and the sound of our equipment and Mira's squelching feet. I had time to work on my back. More precisely, the tentacle I had felt had started boring out the other side of my upper back. It wasn't exactly a painless experience, but soon enough, I had two tentacles coming out of my upper back, able to sneak through the layer of leaves and strike at unsuspecting roots outside of Mira`s gaze.

The trip up the tree was as harrowing as it had been the last time and probably took as much time as the walk to the large ironwood tree, but at least I found some comfort in there being other Hunters around. I found that I had spent my solitary man against the wildlands fantasy for a bit. That made sure there were always witnesses around as we made our way up the outside of the ironwood trunk. The glances she threw my way were far too maliciously evil for me to think she didn't plot for me to look over the railing and let the distant ground swallow me.

Finally, when we made it to the top, we split up. Mira headed to the blacksmith, and I went to the guild after picking up Egmont, Hartwin, Albert, and Saskia. We would meet up at the exit in about an hour. Too little time for me to do anything more than go over the design with Trevor, and too little time had passed for the leadership to have decided, but with how little light was left, we had to hurry if we wanted to make it to Murktown before sundown. I loved or used to love Murktown at night, but it wasn't a place I wanted to plod around in when I was tired, overburdened and undercover.

Then, the dreaded time arrived. It was to walk down the outside of the tree again. Another round of forcing myself to walk down to the bottom of the tree. Sweating and slightly dizzy, I made it to the bottom. Screw those bastards who snickered at my misfortune. Surprisingly, it was Mira`s glare that put a stop to it more often than not.

The two youngest in the group kept running up and down while I made my way to the forest floor, which didn't help. They seemed surprisingly cheerful for having been traumatized so recently. I am also apparently an uncle now. Good to know.

We decided to head directly east to reach the road as fast as possible. It would make the trek to the North easier.

We only met a group of four goblins on our way out of the forest. They didn't stand a chance. We slew two each. Mira was surprisingly professional about it. No hesitation, just a brutally efficient swing of her hammer, cracking a skull and then slamming the spike into the goblin standing beside it.

Four goblin ears later, and we were on our way again. I don't think I'll ever get tired of decapitating goblins.

Then, all of a sudden, there was no more forest, and we were looking down on a city, almost organic in nature and alive with the tales told about it. It was not only one of the oldest settlements of humans in this part of the continent. It was rumored that the imperials first built their town on top of another species' town.

A city built on a city built on a city. It was said you could move through the basements of a house and end up in a building from a different area, and the sewers connected to an under-city with its own inhabitants that paid no attention to the kingdom above.

The place you went to fulfill your vilest vices and do the greatest deeds of good. A place shrouded in a blanket of clouds as if afraid of the sunlight.

A place where nobles dueled for stupidity and the poor fought for coin or punishment.

It was a strange place with many sides and opinions, but most importantly, it was the place where my stuff was currently held in the hands of an innkeeper.