The other group blinked. Caesar glanced at Alta with broken halberd in hand while she stared straight ahead, hands gripped around her khopesh. No one made a move.

Their eyes wandered to the corpse of the manticore in the distance, and they let out a sigh of relief. The situation immediately relaxed, and everyone put away their weapons.

The pointy-eared woman asked, “Who are you?” Her eyes were as clear as the summer sky, and a mist seemed to swirl from within. Loose robes fluttered in a permanent breeze together with her silver hair.

Alta replied, “Wanderers. We came to see if we could offer help after we killed the other group of eight.”

“Ah. I see.” She hesitated. “We don’t have much to offer.”

“You could start by answering who you all are.”

Again, a moment of hesitation from the trio.

To push them to reveal more information, Alta shook her head lightly. “By saving you, we may have already interfered too much with your enemy. They may not let us go easily.”

“…Alright. We’re a group sent to scout this dungeon and find clues about the Order of the Fox’s goals. Those men killed the rest of us, and we were forced to flee.”

Alta crossed her arms. “Sorry to hear that. But the Order…aren’t they pretty reputable? Care to explain more?”

“They’re not what they seem. On the surface, they loyally serve their kingdom. But underneath, they’re beholden to some other power, yet they still control a considerable portion of the kingdom.”

“I can see why you thought the information risky to say.”

“Indeed.” The woman began to wring her hands as she walked around, a little more comfortable now. “We’ve had our suspicions about their increased presence around this area before. When they announced that they needed explorers for a dungeon, we thought it a good chance to interfere with whatever plan they had.”

“It didn’t go well.”

“Yeah. You saw our barrier. We were forced to use it to buy time for any reinforcements, and maybe go down fighting. Good that you arrived.”

Alta nodded and said, “I’m interested.”

“Huh?” The woman looked confused.

“That barrier looks very useful. Got another?”

“I’m sorry. They’re very rare. We only use them for important missions like this one.”

“Any alternatives?”

“You could get one, if you joined us?” The pointy-eared woman looked hopeful.

Alta raised a brow. “Well, what does your group do?”

“It’d take a while to explain. Let’s walk and talk.”

Her name was Rilia Gilfeather, and she served the Pax Society as one of their leaders. This society made peace between the two kingdoms its core principle.

Alta smiled. “Peace? That’s a great goal.”

“The problem is that the Order of the Fox has been a major source of tension between the two kingdoms. We’ve traced their movements over the years, and they’ve started so many incidents. But recently, they’ve concentrated their forces here.”

“Did you find out why?”

“Yes, although it came at too great of a cost. Their plan concerns the boss of this dungeon. I’d like to say kill, but…anyway, it’s in the middle of the fog. Have you seen it?”

“We’ve been there, outside. Not inside, though. What is it exactly?”

“It’s a hydra. A Fog Hydra – Level 25 Epic.”

Wow, Caesar thought. Alta’s jaw opened, but no words came out.

“Surprised, aren’t you?” The woman giggled, and her companions made wry smiles.

Not as much as you’d think.

“I don’t know why it didn’t attack us. But I’m telling you this because it doesn’t matter what you choose to do next. Orders are to give up on this dungeon.” Her expression became somber. “Come to New Traxis if you do want to join our Society. We can vouch for you both.”

Alta nodded. Of course, Caesar didn’t actually know any of these names, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to investigate after they left the dungeon.

“Wait. You might want these for the upcoming auction.” She walked around and picked up a few chunks of glass from the dirt, a small windstorm still swirling around them. Yet her hands remained unharmed as the gale began to lessen. “They're not much alone, but it might help. You should bring lots of valuables. Something very good will be there.” She handed five shards over.

[Item]: Tempest Shard – Rank 2

[Rarity]: Uncommon

[Effects]: A material imbued with violent winds.

“Thank you!”

She gave a friendly smile and said, “Grace to you as well. Oh, and if you’re planning to go into the lake and happen to come across their bodies, could you also try to see if they still have their mementos? It’d help the others approve of you joining. There should be nine at most.”

After the Pax Society had given them more information about the fog lake, they parted ways. The other group continued towards the direction of the Mushroom Garden, making him aware of a convenient exit portal located there.

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An auction? Sounds useful for my ant queen. I can sell the things I don't use, too.

“Should we find the Fox Cult’s strongholds first?” Alta asked.

“I still don’t if it’s worth it to interfere. Let’s explore the fog lake and search for a hidden dungeon.” But a plan was already forming in his mind on how to maximize his gains from the dungeon.

------

They ran into a slight problem on their way back. A group of Fox Cultists fought a group of two, interrupting their journey. The duo hid under an Illusory Veil and observed the fight to gauge the power of their enemies.

The cultists aggressively followed behind two dark and misty lions under the cover of turtle-shell barrier abilities. Two mages channeled the power of a continuous Augmentation spell on both lions. It bore some resemblance to the previous Strength augment he had seen in Mansion of the Lost, but with faster effects.

A familiar obsidian armor appeared on the male figure. He swelled up many sizes larger than Magnus and flung obsidian shards from his hand, bouncing off the barriers. A woman fought alongside him, wielding twin daggers and singing some song that lulled Caesar to sleep. She too, had pointed ears. Alta pinched him awake, but it took him a bit longer to recover his memory.

“Should we help?”

“Wait for a moment longer.”

The lions drew closer to the obsidian avatar and struck. Molten blood poured from the man and splashed onto the barriers, missing the lions entirely. The cultists began to slash with swords and spears, breaking the figure down piece by piece until Alta charged in.

Her khopesh shattered the barriers of the rank one cultists and cut them down. Although the mages remained protected, the obsidian avatar’s blows could crack their barriers. The two women worked together to intercept the remaining warriors if they stepped out to attack.

The giant flung his hands out again, finally puncturing one of the lions with many shards. The two began to retreat, leaving the remaining cultists to their fate.

“Thank you for the help, kind traveler.” The woman wore an azure dress that swished like silk. Her beautiful blue eyes smiled charmingly, and deigned not to introduce themselves, acting as if everyone should already know her name.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Alta said adoringly.

The woman giggled and left with the man, who nodded in thanks once his form had returned to normal. They left no rewards but took no plunder either.

After Alta took what she could from the corpses and returned to Caesar, she said, “Her presence had a calming effect on me.”

“It could be a facet. What did you take?”

They acquired another rank two Common healing potion. Perhaps Uncommon healing items are rare in these kingdoms, he noted. They moved onwards, putting the incident in the back of their minds.

-----

Nothing interesting happened as they returned to the river bordering the fog mountain. Caesar and Alta glanced at one another before stepping inside. The cold shocked him for a second; then, all was warm again. He gasped for breath like he had sprinted up and down hills for hours.

She picked him up and carried him forward. Other than the fog that shrouded the entire area – dampening sound as well – the environment remained the same as outside. A good thing too, since they couldn’t swim across a large lake yet.

Caesar gradually recovered his voice and said, “Try to spot an aquatic creature that can carry the both of us. We’ll need it.”

The river began to noticeably widen as they headed deeper into the fog. Soon they couldn’t see the other side of the riverbank. But it also darkened, blocking its inhabitants from surface view. He replaced the Bone Elemental from afar – confirming his ability’s ridiculously long unsummoning range – with the hippo. The waters churned as it made its presence known.

In a particularly rocky area of the river, the hippo forced out a bright blue octopus from within the depths. The tendency of rank two monsters to attack threats to its territory meant affliction from the Curse of Bindings. Although this slowed down its speed, it nonetheless fled faster than the hippo could chase. Alta shrouded the trio in her Illusory Veil and waited to ambush the beast. She did not need to breathe, and thus removed her heavy iron armor to keep a lookout underwater.

On the river floor, it crept back to its nest cautiously. Even traveling a few feet made it look around with its eyes before it moved. The hippo dived back in and struck, successfully driving it into her khopesh. They brought the monster back up and Caesar marked it.

An essence core flew out from its corpse. Another key to the puzzle, he thought. Why was there an octopus here, in a river?

Rapids Octopus: Uncommon

Level 22: 22 Free Stat Points -> 2 -> 0

Ability: Ink Decoy (C) – Rank 2

* Facet: Magical Swiftness (E)

Talents: Superior Swimming, Gigantism

Skills: Hydromancy – Water Bolt, Water Spray

Mana: 130

Strength: 13 -> 17

Agility: 13 -> 25 -> 27

Vitality: 13 -> 17

Magic: 13

Willpower: 13

Spirit: 13

[Ink Decoy (C)]: An ability that creates a decoy of the user for half the user’s Mana which cannot do anything but move in the same direction and speed as the user when ability was activated. The integrity of the decoy depends on Mana spent.

- When destroyed, decoy disperses into a cloud of blinding ink. Ink also reduces the Magic of all those caught within by 10% of user’s base Magic.

[Magical Swiftness (E)]: A facet that increases speed slightly and Agility by 5% of the user’s base Magic. Duration is five minutes and cooldown is thirty minutes.

The Fog Octopus rose again from the water, grabbing the two and pulling them under. It traversed the rivers with a swiftness unbeknownst to him before, avoiding obstacles and deadly creatures. Caesar held his breath for most of the ride, only surfacing when the urge pounded at his chest.

It brought him and Alta to a massive lake, opening up in all directions with less fog and teeming with wildlife. A fish soared into the air, only for a frog on a giant lily pad to snatch it out of the sky. Golden dragonflies buzzed around giant reeds. It would have remained a beautiful scene, had it not been for the hushed whispers in his ear.

It was light, and went almost unnoticed, but Caesar had experience in dealing with horrors like the Ever-Shifting Faces. This location was simply the lake’s periphery, and more things would be found inside. Something like a hidden dungeon, for instance.

The octopus continued to go deeper. He hoped the Fog Hydra didn’t make its lair near the dungeon, or it might become too risky. It lived on an island in the middle of the lake.

His summon swam next to a lily pad larger than the rest – holding dozens of giant frogs – and deposited him and Alta onto it. He gave it new orders to search for anything weird, like dungeon phenomena. The previous hidden dungeon didn’t have anything obvious…let’s try this. In the water, he also drew a few symbols similar to the glyph from his first Domain dungeon and told it to come back if it found anything like them.

After it left, Caesar sat down for a comfortable rest. A few frogs hopped up to him curiously, looking at the fresh food in his hands. None were rank two.

“Want to feed them, Alta?”

“I don’t see the point.”

“Try it.” He handed her some meat from a boar, and she dropped some pieces into the frogs’ mouths. Although he smiled, she remained stoic.

It didn’t take too long for the octopus to return – half a day. Focusing on the islands first was a brilliant move, instead of searching the entire lake floor.

It brought the duo to a remote rocky island, somewhere on the other side of the dungeon from where they had entered. Strange symbols appeared on the side, submerged underwater, carved by some unknown tool.

“Is this…a language? Horrors have a language like humans?”

“I’m not sure. All I’ve used is your language. But I think I still understand a little, although I can’t remember much.”

“Does your new talent help?”

She stared at the series of symbols some more, then nodded her head. “I seem to have understood a bit more. Give me some time.”

“Alright.”

While she studied the markings, the octopus took Caesar back around to the place where the Pax Society members had died. What exactly happened here? Unlike what he had expected, not a lot of blood appeared on the ground. Sure, there were some splatters, but not enough to believe her team had all died. Instead, it seemed like they’d been dragged away.

“Look for some trinkets underwater,” he asked the octopus. It complied, scanning the lake floor around the area for an hour and resurfaced with nothing.

Odd. I’d better leave. He returned to the remote island to ask about what Alta had uncovered.