Nori dodged left and then right from the slashes of the adventurer leader's two longswords. Nori's Clan was engaged against the local militia in this small village, but they were putting up little fight. As long as Nori and her Elites could take out the adventurers, the fight should be simple.

Behind her, her Elites fought the other adventurers who were all basic Fighters wielding spears, swords, or hammers. They weren't much, but without Tama, her Elites were barely worth the name. She supposed those that survived would get stronger after this fight at least.

Water still spread all around Nori's feet from where the sky-ocean had burst them out of the broad crack in the ground. While the Monster Surge had come to her as a surprise, the humans had seemed to be ready for them.

Well, ready for monsters. Not ready for her.

[Aether Control] let her block a foolish two-sword horizontal strike on her forearm. The block provided the opening she'd been looking for to get within the human's guard.

He was still as strong as she was and a little faster, even with [Aether Control], but her skill far surpassed his. He tried to strike with the pommel of his weapons as he darted backwards to get out of reach, but it was too late. [Aether Arts] made parrying the awkward blows easy and quick leg kicks prevented him from using his slight speed advantage.

With him unable to get out of range, Nori slowly dismantled him. Anywhere he had an opening, Nori struck. Forearms, thighs, stomach - It wasn't long before his legs ached from her attacks and he started to stumble. With his reactions slowed, she let loose a strong hook into his forearm and the blow knocked his arm wide, sending his sword flying even as he stumbled back.

That second of an opening was enough for Nori to overcharge [Aether Control] on her fist and launch it through his head. Blood and meat spurted out from the hole she made in his face and it took a kick on his body to release her fist from his skull.

With her opponent dead, Nori found a log near one of the village's houses and watched her Elites battle it out against the adventurers. With any luck, this surge would give them the strength they needed to hold against the Demon Empire.

****

With a wave of his palm, King Rellington ignited the tips of the ballista bolts before ordering his men to send them sailing into the dark forest. There had been no sign of the giant Slenderman since the battle, but the King refused to give the behemoth any time to heal.

If he had to, he'd send his armies into the forest, but that would give the monsters the terrain advantage. Better to burn them out and then deal with the aftermath.

A fire already raged in the forest with black smoke billowing into the air, but the monsters must have been doing something to limit its spread. With all the flaming bolts he'd sent that way, it should have been engulfed by now. Still, the stray embers were already causing the men in the closest boats to reposition a bit further from the shore.

Ellen Swamp surged out of the ocean near the port side of the Sacred Vow towing a wet and indignant Eitina along. The Cleric hadn't gone back to the Dungeon since their disastrous run against the Otter Clan, but since she'd gotten her core from that, she was still one of the strongest in his army.

"Status?" The King asked, even as the elite group of water dwarves that she'd taken with her to the mountain climbed up the side of the Sacred Vow.

"The mountain is definitely one of the monster cities. It looks like there was some war between the forest and the mountain due to the types of bodies that I was seeing and the small pockets of fighting that remained after the death of the dragon."

Eitina squeezed water from her hair before she added her own. "The number of monsters still alive over there is insane. Thousands upon thousands. They outnumber us at least two or three to one. Maybe more depending on how many are in the mountain."

"That many?" The King asked, raising his eyebrows. The next ballista bolts had been added and covered in pitch. With a wave of his hand, they ignited and then a short order sent them barreling into the forest.

"Unfortunately," Ellen said. "It's higher than the Fylian Dynasty's records state for this area before, but the Thousand Islands are also more populated now so it's possible that has something to do with it."

"Then we keep the blockade going for now and start to increase our numbers from the draft. Any words from the main continent?"

Ellen shook her head. "If a runner hasn't come to you, neither Empire has responded to our inquiries. It's best to assume the worst."

The King sighed. He'd spent so much time and effort bringing the Thousand Island Kingdom under a unified rule after his father's death just for the all-powerful Empires to fumble against the Surge.

Still, what else could he do? If more monsters came from the main continent, he'd fight them too. Hopefully, their own strength and the Father's blessings would be enough.

****

Fader sat on one of the crenellations overlooking the courtyard of the Father's castle. He'd died in the Dungeon against Gi, yet, this place didn't feel like heaven. All the humans around him had died as part of the succession war of the Thousand Kingdoms and none of them seemed to feel anything odd about this "heaven."

Each of them went about their duties as though they still served the King.

Thinking back to his fight with that damned otter, he thought over their conflicting beliefs, but Fader still didn't think he was wrong. At least, not about the King.

There was a purpose to be found in following a great person - in lifting them up and helping them succeed. Since the King had never arrived here, that must mean that he'd been successful in his Dungeon run. Fader had kept him alive through two different aberrant Dungeon runs so it pleased him that he'd passed the final one on his own.

To some extent, the Thousand Island Kingdom was as prepared for the Monster Surge as they could be because of him.

There was merit in that.

Part of being in heaven, Fader had realized, was to give time for his soul to condense the lessons he learned from life - to have time to rest from the horrors of existence. When he thought of his decisions around the King, his soul felt firm. Those lessons condensed easily.

His choice in the Father did not.

He'd been at his lowest moment, terrified of letting the then Prince down, and not in a particularly lucid mind. He'd received a path of growth for himself and the Prince which since they'd barely survived the second Dungeon run had been sorely needed, but his faith now felt hollow.

Whether he compared it to his faith in the King or to how the Father had blessed him, it didn't feel as real as the former and the latter felt more transactional than a god and their follower.

But no, he hadn't felt that way at the time. His belief had been sincere then. The Father's heaven just felt off to him in a way that he couldn't place. It was changing how he'd felt about the Father when he was alive.

Fader sighed again, standing up from where he'd been sitting on the crenellation and watched as a flurry of soldiers moved about in the courtyard. That generally signaled the presence of their God who'd been increasingly absent.

He waited for him to appear, wondering if it would either confirm or deny the doubts that he'd had since. With an entourage of sycophants, the Father's steady form appeared as he walked slowly into the courtyard and Fader's breath caught in his chest.

Gi walked beside him.

Gi.

That damned otter had ruined his entire life and eventually killed him and here they both were in the same heaven. Yet from their time in the Final Dungeon, Fader knew him better than anyone else, perhaps even better than he knew himself.

He knew the otter had cast aside Danna, but to see him here? His belief in the Father had been absolute in a way at the time of their fight. Was that why he was here?

That part of his soul that couldn't condense his conflictions about the Father demanded that he find out.

****

A light shined on Danna. It felt warm and comforting, but also wrong like it was being seen through a window covered in filth. As the warm light continued to bathe her, a Truth spoke to her.

I am the light, but the wrongness is not me. Slowly, pieces of herself started to gather, each of them taking care to avoid that window of filth. It was slow. Slower than it should have been she knew, but she was no longer content to be a simple sunbeam hidden behind filth.

She pressed with her will and the light adopted her form. She was the light and the light was her. Now whole, memories came rushing back of her battle with Noctua Dominus and the Father - their battle and their defeat.

Danna only had time to register the dark stone of the cell around her before a soldier entered and rammed a sword through her head. As she dispersed again into light, she had the strangest deja vu that she'd been in this cell before. That thought along with her memories disappeared as she fell back into the river of Truth and became a small part of reality itself.