"So? What did you find out?" The Boss snarled at us with his usual rude demeanor the moment we got back to the cave.
"It's all true…" (*sigh*) Replied the spectacled lady while taking off the Bleach mask of the Hollow outfit. "Everything that the girl said has been confirmed by the Main Headquarters, and then some. We have been receiving our orders from the wrong person for months now. HQ me a new set of communication access-codes and advised us to lay low for a while, at least until they can clear out the traitors within our midst. I...I think we might have done something profoundly wrong over here…"
"Then...the whole mission...our brothers...the entire Team One…our headquarters..." I could see the boss's Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he was choking down on his words.
*RAAAAARGHHH*
The Boss suddenly let out a terrifying roar that was a mix of beast and man, grabbed his two-handed claymore, and then violently tossed it to one side, embedding it right into the wall of a nearby building and startling the shit out of me. After that, he fell on all fours and began crying like a wounded child.
"All our efforts...the lives of our brothers and sisters...my friends…what the hell have I been fighting for all of this time? I...I thought that we were doing the right thing over here...that there was a righteous purpose to all of this madness. And now you come and tell me that I've been played for a fool once again? Is nothing that I ever do in this life the correct thing? I tried...I tried so hard to see a light inside the gloom of this world, but all I see is darkness everywhere around me...and now, I can't even trust the people that I took a blood-oath with anymore? AAARRRGH…!!!" (* heart-wrenching scream of sorrow*)
"WRONG!" I yelled back at the Boss that was now hugging himself in a fetal position and at everybody else around the room who had become quite despondent after hearing the news. "You shouldn't doubt the words of the Founding Father. At least, you shouldn't doubt the Truth of this world. Do you think that all of these bonds that you have created with these people around you are all fake? Sure, there might be a few rotten apples inside the whole basket, but isn't that the same for the rest of the world?
"I think that all of you present here are at least smart enough to realize that whenever a group of people gathers together, there will always be at least one selfish asshole among the group that will want to manipulate and exploit everybody else. Nothing new under the Sun. Yes, it's now obvious that we have been manipulated. Yes, we have been played for fools and we probably made a horrible mistake by summoning that Ancient creature.
"But all of that shit is in the past, and there is nothing we can do about that. The real question is: what are you going to do about this whole situation in the future?"
"In the future?" The Boss picked himself up from the floor while wiping away his tears. "What the hell could we do about it? We are just a bunch of peasants and runaway city folk that have been taken under the wing of the Brotherhood. While we might be able to hold our ground against another group of regular folk by using our shared knowledge of Blood Magic there is absolutely nothing that we can do against a creature of that caliber. We simply do not have the levels or the skills to cope with such a monster.
"Not to mention that most of our fighting power used to be located in Team One, and even they got wiped out without having a chance to fight back. The only combat force that we currently have on our side is myself, the two thief brothers, Miss Wu, stupid little Deng, and Caringdon's assault team. That's like, 16 people at best that can actually hold their ground, and we are not even that high of a level. Caringdon is probably the highest level person around here because he's an ancient high-elf old fossil that has been around the block quite a few times."
"I resent that!" A tall and lanky high elf snorted from one side. "I'm barely 80 years old! That's like...in the teenage period for our kind!"
"Whatever...Gramps!"
"Why the hell is a high elf among an Eastern branch of the Brotherhood?" I couldn't help but wonder when I noticed the pointy-eared guy. Sure, I could remember from Mr. Vacant's stolen memories that the guy had been some sort of an Elven Ambassador, at least before he had gotten in some political troubles and had fallen from his position while also finding out the Truth of the world, but the details about those occurrences were shoddy at best. If I had to pick a person as the traitor amongst this group, it would probably be this guy, yet everybody else seemed to be oblivious about him. Still, it wouldn't matter that much once he vanished, so I pushed onto the whole cave group my next idea.
"Well, I did not want to talk about this, because it would be a Quest with a very high chance of not actually functioning and with some incredibly high risks, but I don't think that we have an alternative at the moment." I redirected the attention of everybody.
"Huh? Whatever it is, tell us." The Boss raised his head with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Well, when Team One summoned the creature, they used a specific item that was attuned to the Ancient Evil, a sort of a magical focus for the summoning circle. Master told me that it was a Crystal Orb that contained within it a few drops of the blood of the Ancient Evil itself, which had been collected hundreds of years ago while it was still roaming freely across the surface of the world by some brave adventurers.
"If we could get our hands on that Orb again, there is a chance that we might be able to unsummon the creature and send it back to whatever oblivion it came from. Unfortunately, that Blood-Orb is still within the room where the summoning ritual took place, on the same level as the Ancient Evil, about 16 floors beneath the earth inside of the old Buddhist Monastery.
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"A team of combat-able people would need to go down to that level and then try to retrieve the item. Half of the team would need to distract the Ancient Evil and the other half would need to scour the entire summoning room for the Blood-Orb. And even if we do manage to get our hands on the Orb, I am not sure about what sorts of magics would be required to unsummon the creature."
"That sounds like quite a risky endeavor, girl, and it has too many ifs and maybes for my liking." The old Elf snorted back at me.
"Senior, I don't mean to be impolite, but no matter how risky this may be, I still think that you should attempt it. I mean, it's sort of your fault that the Ancient Evil got summoned in the first place. Master told me that you're the one who procured that Blood-Orb artifact of the Ancient Evil through your political connections."
"I...ugh...you're right…Sorry..." The Elf lowered his head with guilt written all over his face.
Damn! He's either an incredibly good actor for an infiltrator spy, or he might actually be just as clueless as the rest of the numbskulls around here.
That aside, this dude was still one of the people on my extermination list, because I remembered clearly from Mr. Vacant's memories that he had taken a blade to a few children's throats during some blood rituals while yelling that he was doing it for the greater good. And he was almost even smiling while doing the deed, so he obviously had some sort of psycho traits inside of his mind!
As to why the hell I had thought it fitting to raise the morale of the entire cave group back to a decent level, the reason was quite simple. I wouldn't be able to send them on a suicidal mission inside of the Dungeon if they didn't believe in it, or were too demoralized to do anything. The Blood-Orb in question had really been an object which had been used during the summoning ritual, but it had long been smashed to pieces when the Ancient Evil had managed to release itself from its stony confines.
Still, it was the best excuse-item that I could think of to send the entire assault team on a wild goose chase inside of the Dungeon, then have them getting eaten by whatever lurks beneath the surface, as they were all on my “naughty list”.
This way, I would be killing two birds with one stone, as they would probably clear a few Dungeon bosses for the Guardsmen for free without having to expose any of my people to any danger, but I would also make sure that the assault team would never make it back to the surface ever again, at least not with their current souls attached.
You may think I’m a cruel bitch to do that, but you don’t can’t even imagine what fucked up shit these particular set of people had deluded themselves in doing under the pretense of a “greater good” excuse. Yes, maybe I was being biased and under the influence of the memories, but I just could not see myself being able to forgive them. Some people...were better off not being around anymore. Let their poor souls return to the reincarnation circle and try again.
"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but we have a more urgent problem on our hands, you know." The spectacled lady jumped in our conversation. "We barely have enough supplies with us to last for one more week but after that, we will be screwed unless we find some alternative way to procure more food. And no, Tou-Rou, before you spout out even more stupidities, Deng's Wish can't feed everybody. He weighs about 60 kilos, so that means he can only summon about 15 kilos worth of rice each day with his Wish, and that's not enough to feed all of the people in our group. The larger guys from the assault team require a lot more food if they are to stay in proper fighting shape. We would need to go hunting and foraging in the forest, but that would most certainly alert the nearby villagers about our presence."
"That's easier said than done, you know. Half of the people here used to be city folk, so they can't even catch a pigeon to save their own lives. There's only a handful of us that know proper outdoor survival skills. If we are to remain hidden here for a few months, then we would need a lot more than that." The Boss replied.
"I don't mean to intrude, but what's wrong with being found out by the villagers? I mean, none of them actually know that you are members of the Cult who assaulted their village, so I do not think that they would become immediately hostile to your presence.
"Just get rid of all of the Cultist robes and make up some sort of an excuse for your presence inside of this cave. There's a myriad of reasons you could come up with. Just tell them...oh...I don’t know...that you are with the Mages Guild and you are looking for the missing Dungeon Core or something like that.
"After that, you would be able to trade for food with the villagers by using your own skills and crafts. From what Master told me, a lot of you used to be decently skilled craftsmen, so you should be able to eke out a living by peddling away some of your own goods and skills to the nearby villagers.
"Fortunately for everybody, the harvest this year has been quite plentiful, and even the taxes have been forgotten as the Old Magistrate of the province has died within the Monastery together with his entire entourage during the assault of Team One, so there is nobody left alive to collect any of the taxes. There is an abundance of extra rice or grain that you would be able to trade for."
"That...actually sounds like a decently good idea, but how are we going to know for certain that nobody is going to sell us out and reveal our position?"
"HAH! You don't really need to worry about that, you know. I haven't seen a single person come or leave from the village during the last few months, Team One excluded. This place truly is as far away in the boonies as you said and frankly, I would like to keep it that way.
"The fewer people know about the Ancient Evil and the new Dungeon, the better. As I have told Miss Wu, if Prince Hongmu were to find out that the Ancient Evil is located beneath our feet, he would only use that knowledge to further his own agendas of becoming the ruler of all of the three Empires. And most assuredly everybody down here at the location would get silenced by his military forces, especially if he were to find out that you guys used to be members of the Brotherhood."
"I'm afraid it's a little bit late for that, young one. A message has already been sent to the Brotherhood's Ming Chapter within the capital." The Elf immediately told me.
"Well...fuck! When?"
"Yesterday. We sent it via Magic Paper Crane. It should arrive at the Ming Capital within the day."
"Geh!"
[LINGFENG! Immediately rush to the Weirdwood Tree and contact Mina again! We have to dismantle the Ming chapter of the Brotherhood in the Capital City before they manage to pass the news about the Ancient Evil to Qin Hongmu! Gogogo! Time is of the essence. I will send you the location of their Headquarters, once you get in contact with the shorty. I can still remember where the damn thing is from Mr. Vacant's memories. We need to act as soon as possible before things get even worse!] I yelled over the party chat, as I was slowly beginning to panic inside.
I did NOT want anyone knowing about the Dungeon, as we weren’t ready by any measure to face off against an invading army that would most certainly come barreling down on our position if the news got out.