Byron rose the whole village. People complained, whined, and he wanted to punch Katia. he didn't. Fortunately, Huron and the village elder, the other two highest-leveled people sided with him.

"I need your eyes and ears, Huron. There's trouble brewing and if we survived this long, it is because we know," Byron said.

"Yes, my friend. We know to never ignore a sign. The best scenario is that we get antsy for nothing and laugh at our stupidity later. The worst scenario is that we were ready for whatever was coming our way."

Byron nodded and checked the cards slotted in his Arbitrium. War, a stampede, and Nero delving and getting wounds all over the place. Things smelled and he didn't like it.

Morning came and the villagers denounced Byron for his "useless" alert. Even though it was true, he sent the eanling twins running to the next villages to warn them and make sure everyone knew trouble was brewing. The words "Dungeon overflow" carried a sense of importance, but people didn't believe a Dungeon overflow hundreds of miles away would impact them. Byron spent the day with Huron on the watchtower, scanning around. If one compared his Perception with the merchant and now his kin, but Huron could only look at one spot at a time.

Worse yet, his field of view was restricted by the planet's curvature. Absurd perception, fast-travel, and flying races meant that everyone always knew the world was round like a ball. From the watchtower, Huron could only see about ten miles out. But in this range, he could see everything.

Night came, they ate dinner on the tower. Their vigil went on when Huron finally noticed something.

"There's a creature approaching at high speeds," The merchant said. I can see the disturbance of the air around it but not the creature itself. He focused for a moment as he activated a Skill. "It is not hostile."

"Is it coming here?" Byron asked.

"Straight at us, like an arrow. Wait, I got a glimpse. It dodged a branch. It is bipedal. A person."

With stealth and speed that high, it had to be a high-tier [Rogue]. Or worse, an [Assassin]. Byron was no fool. He knew that the whole debacle was because of his daughter. He would die before he surrendered her. Byron focused and activated a fourth-tier Skill.

"[Defense Perimeter]!" A wave of energy barely visible emanated from him and cloaked the whole village. All enemies as perceived by Byron would lose twenty percent of their Attributes as long as Byron remained conscious and inside the perimeter. Byron would gain two percent for each enemy in the meanwhile.

Huron also used one of his. "[God Ward]!" A cube with eyes on all six sides floated around him, going invisible with a mental command. It was a Skill that enhanced his perception against hidden enemies but couldn't be moved after its creation. If Huron moved too far away, it would break, but it was like having another six sets of eyes. Better yet, it would keep watching while he slept. That's one of the Skills that granted him his zero-bandit-raids during his travels.

A few minutes later, the cloaked figure jumped over the wall as if it was nothing. It entered the area and Byron frowned.

"Not Hostile," he told Huron.

The merchant nodded.

"Father!" Byron heard Nero's voice.

----------------------------------------

Nero saw his father and father-in-law at the watchtower. "Father!" he called out but forgot to disable his stealth. He ran to climb the tower.

"Nero? Is that you?" Byron asked.

"Father, it is me. Oh, let me cancel my Skill." Nero did and watched the surprised faces of his elders. "No time for greetings. we need to evacuate the village. Fifteen knights from Coriander are closing in our location. They wanted to take Crystal back at any cost. Things went to shit up there. Talk about it later. We need to act."

Byron smiled. He taught Nero from an early age how important unambiguous communication was. Teamwork was crucial and vague terms like "they are coming" or "something is there" hindered more often than they helped. Misunderstandings between teammates were one source of deaths both from monsters and betrayals.

"How are we evacuating?" Huron asked.

"We should go around and get everything into our dimensional pouches. Furniture, everything. Houses if you can. I saw Amaryllis doing it with a castle."

Byron chuckled. He was there when the pixie looted the castle whole, with everything inside. "Good. Huron, you go and get your things. I'm going to help Rhynne." He tried to punch Nero to measure his defenses. To his surprise, Nero dodged and punched back. "Hundred-fifty Strength? Goddammit, kid," Byron shouted than chortled. He jumped down the tower, followed by Huron and Nero.

Father and Son barged into their home. Rhynne heard their voices. "Emergency?" She asked.

"Dimensional pouch everything. We're evacuating the village. I'm remaking the shelter, we put everyone inside. Much happened, talk later. We need to move."

The family of adventurers moved like a well-oiled engine, coordination cultivated through decades of working together. Byron and Rhynne ran through the house, slapping everything not nailed to the ground into their dimensional pouches.

"What is happening?" Crystal asked.

"You should know them. A knight called Calder was leading Coriander's forces. The leonal prince attacked and everything went to shit. They are all dead now, on both sides. A group of fifteen knights is coming here to take you back at any cost, whether you want it or not."

Crystal blinked, tears running down her face. "Calder was the captain of my personal knights," She sniffled.

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"Let's get Altia," Nero said and went upstairs.

Crystal followed. "She took some medicine to sleep. She was too distressed, you were fighting and getting wounded in a Dungeon..."

"Stampede. Overflow. I was trying to keep the monsters from overrunning the countryside. Was only partially successful," Nero spoke almost as if in code.

He barged into the room and found Altia sleeping with Fotia next to her. "Hi, Nero..."

"No time. Crystal, your pouch is purple, right? Good, grab everything, and shove it into it. Furniture, clothes, everything. Fotia, get your brother and run to the nearby villages. Get your family ready for evacuation. I'll be there soon. No time to explain, please just do it."

Fotia nodded. "Anything, Nero. We'll go. Knazer is sleeping in your house," The eanling girl ran out of the house.

Nero tried to wake up Altia but she was passed away. He took her in his arms and walked through a portal to the shelter. "Rodther, Moira!" He shouted.

The pets came to greet his master but sensed Nero's urgency and stayed away. Nero barged into the house-tree and met the ietermahue [Acrobat].

"Nero, what's going on?"

"Knights from Coriander. They are coming. We are evacuating the village and I need you to watch over my wife. She's using sleeping medicine. Also, where's Moira?"

"I'm here!" The nereid sergeant walked down the stairs. "Hefalina is with me."

"Good. So, your army was decimated by a monster stampede. Everything went to shit. This is my wife, watch over her. Here, take her upstairs. "Maria, Bruce, stay with Altia," he ordered the badgers. Not the smelliest reception committee but at least she would recognize the pets. "Rodther, stand by with her."

Rodther nodded. He didn't need to tell him he still didn't trust the nereids. it might change when Crystal came into the shelter, but now Nero needed to do some changes. He would know if she was wounded, but to instantly kill someone sleeping was easy enough even with the [Heart Bond] sending half the damage his way.

He swapped Classes but used the old shelter-making build as he already knew the math for that. He expanded the shelter, placing the house-tree at two-thirds of a radius. Less than one-third would be the ocean, the rest would be a forest crowded with the few herbs he helped Altia collect in Rafflesia and he remembered, fruit and nut trees. He got rid of the ocean sky and changed it to a fixed daylight one. The walls were too far away and he just changed it to rolling hills at a distance with some plains in-between. There was a circular clearing half a mile across in the middle of the shelter. He would make the villagers enter there, far enough from the house-tree to grant some privacy. The shelter's radius expanded to two miles with his new Attributes. it should be enough.

Nero was going outside and found Crystal coming in. "Good. Sister, I captured two nereid soldiers. Moira and Hefalina. I told them you were with me, but they didn't believe it. Can you convince them to work for us? They are upstairs with Altia."

"Okay, but..." she tried to talk but Nero was already out.

They didn't know how much time they had. Every minute wasted was a minute the knights gained to reach them. The house was empty. Not even the cupboards were spared as Nero could see Byron ripped them off the walls. The doors and the front windows too. He reached out and the whole village was awake and arguing with one another. Nero went to the central square and swapped Classes. Nero paid for four persistent and keyed portals forming a square with each other. This way the whole village could see into the shelter and the sunlight filtering in from the portals illuminated the whole village.

"Listen up. A group of enemy knights is coming," Nero shouted. "Whoever wants to evacuate, ask and we'll gather your belongings. In one hour we are departing. Whoever stays behind will have to fend for themselves.

"There he is, the bane of this village!" Katia shouted.

Nero wanted nothing more than shoot the woman right there and get done with that. He couldn't. He needed to save as many of the villagers as he could. Coriander's knights wouldn't leave witnesses behind and they were too strong for them to fight. If only Nero had found the prince's Essence infuser, but he didn't.

"Fuck off, Katia. You are the bane of this village, you and your deceased spawn. Yes, Cesar and Husk murdered their own kin for their cards and Essence," Nero accused. "That's how they could move to the rank-II Dungeon so fast."

"Slander!" Katia said, but her voice was wavering. "Wait, DECEASED!?!"

"Your deal with Valanaegornif backfired, woman. The elf sent them to murder me in the Dungeon but they failed."

Katia screeched. "You liar! Valanaegornif promised me they would be safe."

"They killed everyone. Timmy, Cloude and Tifa, Bruce and Clark. They confessed in my face as they bragged on how they were farming the "treasure chests" in the Dungeon."

"No!" Agatha Simmons screamed, holding her head. "You murderer! My Timmy never hurt anyone!"

Agatha flew into a rage and rushed to attack Katia. Juron, one of the village's lumberjacks intercepted and held the frenzied mother.

"I do remember Cesar talking about treasure chests," Kameron, one of the village elders said. "I thought it was normal for Dungeons to have chests," He mused.

"Lies! Don't believe them!" Katia screamed. "My baby is alive! He's alive! You're a liar, level zero. You couldn't--"

"SHUT UP, WOMAN!" Nero shouted. "They traded with Razzer for their Class and Skills, and everyone knows Razzer's trades are the worst. How do you think they got that many cards? When we found Timmy being eaten by rats, it was obvious he ran away from something! There was no way Timmy would run from some low-level rats! Your spawn and his follower murdered their kin! They told me everything as they tried to murder me. Well, guess. They failed and died instead. And I have a witness."

"Aaaaaah!" Katia screamed and drew a knife from her belt. She ran toward Nero but he just slapped the knife out of her hand, unwittingly breaking her wrist in the process. Katia fell to her knees, clutching her hand. "Liar! Valanaegornif promised me! I just needed to deliver the nereid bitch and he would release my precious child!"

"I saw them trading with Razzer," Martha, Clark's mother walked into the square. "They were being ripped off by the leopard-kin but they traded anyway. They were lazy kids, always taking advantage of others. Why would we believe they worked diligently to earn that many cards and Essence honestly in the Dungeon?"

"Liar! Liar! My child is well," Katia droned on.

"I did make Cesar and Husk a promise," Nero said as if he'd just remembered. "That I would reunite them with you. Here, fetch," Nero tossed the two rotten heads on Katia's lap.

Time still passed in the dimensional pouch, and for Nero's relative time, it has been months since the two died. Katia was still able to recognize her son's head and screamed her soul out.

Everyone backed off, the sight of two rotten and mummified heads, and the woman's screams too much. Juron even released Agatha, and the shopkeeper rushed for the dagger.

They were normal people, without an Arbitrium. To Nero's eyes, they were as good as moving in slow motion. Nero drew his rifle from its sling on his back and shot twice. With the lowest power setting, he shot the knife out of Agatha's hand and with a full-power one, blew Katia's head off.

"Sorry, Mrs. Simmons. I can't let you become a murderer," Nero said as he slung his rifle and pulled the shopkeeper, widow, and mother back on her feet. "It is over. That plague is gone. We need to evacuate. Please, go through the portal. We will help get your things in hour home and shop."

Agatha hugged Nero. "Thank you, Nero." She bawled.

Nero escaped her embrace, his skills at peeling women off of him paying off. He handed Agatha to Juron. "Keep an eye on her. We'll get your things too, Juron. Please go inside."

Power meant everything in their world. With that display of power and - in a way - justice, the rest of the village quickly decided to go with the most powerful people's advice. if they said they were leaving because what was coming for them was too much, the commoners wouldn't have a sliver of a chance against that enemy.

Two hours later, the village was deserted. Hom's minnids were gone, trading the village targeted by foreign invading knights for the safety of a pocket dimension. Nero met Huron, Byron, Rhynne at the gates and they ran to the eanling village.