We need to leave this tunnel, but moving in the tunnels swarming with adventurers is going to be a nightmare. We can defeat one or two teams, but the fight will attract attention. Soon, we will be attacked from all sides.

This is the reason I continue to cultivate the tribe. Three fighters of lower tier are enough to fight to standstill someone one whole tier stronger. It requires good teamwork, but it’s possible. How strong do I need to be to solo the entire town? 3rd tier is not enough. I would say at least 4th tier, but the snake died to the colony of spiders. So, 5th tier to be a demigod among the men in a 1st tier zone? Getting to the 5th tier is simply impossible here. It would require too much experience. Even when fighting with a team, we would need to be all 4th tier combatants. One 3th tier team won’t conquer a town like Roheb. Quantity is a quality of its own.

If my original plan succeeded, I would lead a large force of hobgoblins and maybe even orcs against the town. I could defeat it while staying at the back of the army. Nobles would likely send a force to oppose me, but my goal was never to conquer the town. It’s to save Anastasia and, at best, loot the town. I would be long gone when the army arrived.

How do you defeat a town without an army? I suppose there are ways, like poison or maybe self spreading solutions like disease, but there are bound to be countermeasures against them as well. Not to mention the chance of my weapon going out of control.

“How about we cooperate? Can you make us look like them, or maybe make us invisible?” I ask Asaru. I don’t trust her, certainly not with my life, but we need to cooperate to survive.

She thinks for a moment. “I can change your appearance, but you would need to let my mana inside you. As for invisibility, it’s more complicated. Rather than going invisible, I make myself fake air or another substance. It won’t change me completely, I’m fake air after all. I can do it for you as well, but there will be problems. It will hurt you, and without my constant attention, your body is going to fight my mana off, breaking the illusion.”

“Good. Let me give you a buff first.” I raise up. I’m somehow afraid of her magic. Who knows what she can do? Maybe she can use it on my soul to fake me being subservient to her in some somehow poor version of mind magic?

“Buff?” She asks.

“Yeah. Axi. A demonstration?”

Axi grabs her ax and swings it. Then, I power the buff, and she swings a second time. “Smag’s magic is incredible.” Axi loyally nods. Asaru frowns.

“I also need to place a rune. Can I?” I walk forward. I may be afraid, but we don’t have much choice. It doesn’t mean I can’t make safeguards. She won’t know what I can do with my rune. She will think two times before going after me, knowing I have a rune inside her body.

She thinks for a moment, making me think my plan would fail.

“Very well.”

I nod. I slowly place the rune over the next minute. Then, reluctantly, I lower down my Mana Shield. I don’t feel anything, and I can’t sense her mana. I should probably always keep Mana Shield around. The fact that someone can just magic you away is terrifying. They just need a nasty enough mana type. How do I keep the shield during my sleep? I need to look into that.

“It’s done.” She nods and goes to Axi and Anastasia. Axi becomes a barbarian woman, looking slightly taller than before. I doubt she grows taller; it must be an illusion, or maybe her hair is now more puffy. Anastasia has a different face now. I take a look at my hand, and it looks human, making me a bit nostalgic.

Anastasia gives me a knowing look, and I scowl in response. She is still thinking I have been a warlock, but I don’t dare tell her the truth.

Asaru also disguises her hobs, making them look like human warriors. They are smart enough to know it’s a fake. My last regular hobgoblin is rather perplexed and looks around, half expecting us to suddenly attack him. I hope he won’t make a mistake and attack us. That would be too embarrassing for me.

“What now?” Axi asks.

“We need to either find a new place to hide, or start fighting. If possible, we should try to kill a group or two, but only when we can do it swiftly.” I explain.

We open the exit and walk out. There are eight of us, with Axi and Asaru walking in the front and me and Anastasia walking in the second row.

Given our current situation, the only chance is asymmetrical warfare. Practically, we need to strike isolated teams, than escape before others can close in on us. There may be a problem, though. What if the enemy can communicate over distance?

I have Lieutenants perk that allows me to send signals to my subordinates in close range. It’s from a rare Strategy skill, so it’s unlikely that someone here has a better skill. Level 50 in a rare skill allows you to tier up to the 3rd tier.

There are a lot of skills, though. It’s possible someone has a rare skill focused only on communication. Level 40 perks of such a skill could allow for wireless magical communication in the whole dungeon. In this case, killing a team would be obvious to the holder of that skill, allowing them to rapidly order to encircle us. We can use hidden tunnels, but they seem to know about them. Our only advantage is that we don’t need to break the entrance, allowing us to move faster.

I need to assume they have a map of the whole dungeon, though. They can just gather at the other entrance of a hidden tunnel in this case, boxing us in and forcing us into a desperate last stand.

“I have a plan. Listen carefully.” I explain it.

Five minutes later, we find a group. There were eleven people, including a priest.

“Hey!”

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“Who are you?”

“We are new to the town. Came for the dungeon. Not sure if that was a poor or great decision.” I say it with a sigh and delay a bit. After all, there are only seven of us here right now. “Frankly, I’m not even sure finding a witch would do us good, we are not that strong.”

He chuckles. “It’s good to know your limits.” His companions stop being as wary as well.

It's time to go for it. “Anyway, we lost the connection with the boss. Do you know where they are? We can’t just wander without a chance for a backup.” I observe them for a reason. After all, it’s possible I guessed wrongly, and we need to start fighting immediately.

He frowns, and I tense. “That’s strange. How did that happen?”

“You tell me. I’m the new one here.” I say it helplessly. “For all I know, it could be a witch’s magic.”

“The Guildmaster is in the village in the center of the dungeon. Do you need help getting there?”

“Nah. We bought the map. Thank you for the offer, though.”

He nods. I walk forward with my party toward them. The tension is in the air. They are not as wary as at the start, but this doesn’t mean they are comfortable with us. They are prepared to be attacked.

Just as we are close, I send a signal to Axi and she swings with all her boosted strength. Their leader tries to block, but he only softens the blow with his sword, still taking a hit.

“Kill them!” Someone shouts. “Priest, use your skills!”

The guy looks at their priest, finding him grinning, but only with too many fangs. Asaru slashes with a sword and kills that one. The corpse of the real priest probably lies somewhere around. Given the potency of their spells, I want to kill priests first.

I attack as well, alongside the rest of the hobgoblins. Asaru disappears and slashes another head off. Our sudden numerical advantage, sudden confusion in their ranks, and our superior physical stats thanks to my buffs are too much for them. Their formation collapses, and they fight one-on-one, but Axi and Asaru are too overpowering. They die one by one.

A mage conjures metal, but I throw a few balls of isolating mana, interrupting her. She doesn’t notice Anastasia’s arrow in the chaos.

You have killed 1 2nd tier enlightened. You have earned 7200 Experience Points.

Your Vitality Mana Control skill reached level 32.

I even managed to finish one of them. “Move!” I shout just after that, leaving fresh corpses behind.

“There’s a hidden passage after that turn.” Asaru points, but I shake my head.

“We aren’t going there. Can you give us fake wounds?”

“I can. They will hurt like real ones.”

“That’s fine. Make us look like we barely survived a fight.”

Each of us receives a few wounds. They indeed hurt, and I’m half tempted to heal them with vitality. It doesn't seem like it shouldn’t be possible.

We probably should have let that group go in peace, but I have asked Asaru to kill the priest asap. I figured I may be mistaken about communication, and a fight might be inevitable. The fight could be a mistake, but it’s too early to tell.

Someone is approaching.

"Help!” I shout.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s the witch! She is chasing us! Help us!” I shout. Why would I convince them I’m an adventurer when I can easily divert his attention this way? A group of seven heavy breathing adventurers comes from around a corner, fortunately without a priest, at least judging by their clothes. They look at us and our wounds.

“Quick! Warlock is too strong.” I move fast, planning to pass them.

“Wait! Which mana types do they use? How did you get those wounds?”

“I don’t want to die. Challenge her if you think you can, but I’m getting out of here. It’s not worth the money.” I say it with desperation. I gesticulate wildly, hoping to bring all their attention to me. I doubt the rest of my party is as good at lying as me. I need to carry them, just like always.

“Idiot! We need to combine our strength.”

“Combine with your mother. I’m getting out of here. It’s death. Certain death, even if we weren’t heavy wounded.” I shake my head, and they let me pass. Will they report this encounter?

“Fuck! Let’s retreat as well for now.” Their leader orders.

Great. They won’t report us. I march fast and go in another direction to lose that group.

“Asaru, remove fake wounds.”

She nods, and our wounds simply disappear. To my surprise, blood remains. Those fake wounds bled for real. I shudder. Fake magic is scary.

“What now?” Anastasia asks.

“We left the encirclement, so we can find a safe place and recover a bit, but ultimately, we need to kill that Guildmaster and sever their communication channels.”

“They are likely to have many powerful warriors in the village. Attacking their leader is madness,” Asaru says.

“Can’t you assassinate him?”

“I doubt it. Even if I succeed, I won’t be able to escape. I don’t plan to die.”

I bit my lip. Should I tell her she needs to die for a reincarnation? However, I won’t be able to recover her soul from afar, or at least not stealthily. If only I had completed my Soul Blade project… I sigh. No point in wondering about it. It’s impossible for me to complete it right now. I need another solution.

“We need to at least check it out. Can you lead us to the goblin village? Maybe we will be able to spot a weak point in their defense.”

“Very well. I will shroud us with my mana.”

I frown. She keeps using her mana for disguises. Even if her evolution into an orc gave her a lot of mana capacity, she shouldn’t have much left.

“How is your mana? It may be better to rest and recover first.”

“My mana is fine. Around three quarters.”

How? “You know, it’s fine to tell the truth. Your magic is powerful; it’s not strange if you have used a lot of mana.”

“My mana is fine.” She replies with a scowl.

I suppose I have to believe her for now. She leads us through hidden tunnels towards the center of the dungeon. We avoid patrols, mostly depending on Asaru to scout ahead. I guess our stunt also attracted everyone to the place of our previous battle.

“After leaving this tunnel, we will be only several meters from one of the entrances to the village.”

“A hidden one?”

“No. Hidden entrances are hidden only in name. Humans know all about them, and they are likely tightly guarded. The regular entrance is wider, which should allow you to sneak in.”

“Can you make me invisible? Also, it would be great if you could mask us when opening the exit.”

“I can do that.” She points at me, and I feel a change. I instinctively feel like fighting against it, but I’m not sure how. I suppose only holding a Mana Shield has merit, but it’s too late for that. I see inside me and observe as my soul disappears from my senses, along with my body. The transformation hurts, but the pain is manageable. I still feel my body with regular touch sense, but it also seems like my skin is dispersed, like it’s fuzzy and not defined. It feels like I’m a gas, and my skin is the place where my being is starting. Strange.

I look at my HP, and it’s slowly decreasing, maybe one point every minute or so. I don’t sense the vitality mana inside me, making this surreal and confusing. I nod to Asaru, and she seems to have an ability to sense me in some way, as she returns a confirmation. She opens the hidden door, and I step outside.

Two soldiers guard a passage into a cavern. I walk to them slowly, not fully trusting in fake mana. I stop around a meter before them and look into the cavern.

There are around thirty humans there, and I feel something on the ground, probably a runic formation. There are three more entrances, all guarded.

I search for the Guildmaster, or at least someone who looks like they hold authority. Adventurers use goblins’ shacks, but they also raised a few tents. After several seconds, I find an older guy who seems to be in the clouds, but others thread respectfully. Bingo. Now, I just need to figure out how to kill him.

There’s a chance the formation is meant for detection, but even if not, it’s still a suicide mission. It’s no wonder Asaru refused to engage. My current state is not invulnerable. At best, I’m currently taking less damage from all sources that don’t damage air, but I can’t heal or buff myself. Swords would still hurt me. Invisibility is powerful, but Axi already found a way. Setting me on fire will give me easily.

I sigh and walk back to the hidden tunnel. How can I distract the rest of the adventurers so much that they will give up on pursuing me? Maybe I can lure them out of the cave before the assassination. I need to find a way before someone decides to search our current hideout. After all, adventurers are going to continue their sweep soon.