There was no sign of the monster den while Zarian and Bianca flew around in the air. At least not from close to the dire wolf pack.

Their hopes picked up when they saw a squad of spectral spiders waiting near the dire wolf pack. By then, the intelligent beasts have grown accustomed to seeing the Outsiders come and go near their den.

Adults and pups watched from on top of a shattered fortress grafted into their blocky hillock. Nightfall arrived and the spectral spiders explained what they saw through a communicative dance that Zarian could understand.

The invasive monsters were to the northeast, not that far away. Their monster den was immersed in strange, land-altering magic. The eerie land magic felt threatening and voracious to the spectral spiders, which sounded like the perfect place for cruel and evil monsters like the wulvers to claim as their den.

The spiders hadn’t delved too deep in fear of being found out. But once they’d seen the invasive wulvers, they came rushing back here to make a report.

“Oh, you guys are so cute and outstanding.” Bianca scooped up the successful scouts and hugged them. It was a little funny how she grew to like them despite how much she’d once feared them.

The spectral spiders reciprocated by providing an entertaining dance circling around their campfire. Bianca cooed and clapped to their dance, acting more like a girl living in her favorite fantasy picture book.

An adult dire wolf stalked down from the hill of crumbled fortresses and waited outside of the firelight’s edge. Zarian waved his hand for the dire wolf to come forward, and just as he thought, the intelligent beast recognized the gesture.

Once it drew close and sat near the fire, Zarian could tell the dire wolf was old. Most of its fur was patchy, gray with age, and the skin underneath had rough scars. It was also the strongest at Level 29.

“You will hunt wulvers?” asked the dire wolf, using an ability to speak English. Despite being in another world and universe, English seemed like the common language here, at least in the Walled Continent of Corma.

“We will slay the wulvers in their den,” Zarian said.

“What do you want?” The dire wolf sniffed. “You are evil. And evil wants.”

Zarian pointed at Bianca, who looked at the conversation with frank amazement. This was like watching a Studio Ghibli movie for the first time, but in real life.

“To make her stronger,” Zarian said.

The dire wolf sniffs at Bianca. “She is good. She hunts evil. Why do you help her?”

“Because we’re friends!” Bianca cheered.

“Good and evil? Friends? This is strange. Yet, you hunt monsters and help pack. We bring food, so you’ll be strong for the hunt.” The elder dire wolf looked back and yipped at its pack.

A pair of dire wolves came trotting up with dead beasts held by their jaws. They dropped them near the fire.

The elder wolf dipped its head at them. “Eat your fill. Be strong. Hunt monsters. The pack gives thanks to you, evil one, good one.”

Zarian nodded, getting more out of the conversation than food and acknowledgement. He’d carefully manipulated his aura to weave into the elder wolf’s aura to see how far he could take it.

He stopped before touching one of the elder’s fuzzy skills and pulled out just as carefully. It was easier to manipulate aura with Tranquil Mind and a touch of Adrenaline Jolt.

Satisfied, he stopped experimenting with his aura and turned to the meal, his ravenous hunger peaking. Para skinned and prepared the meat. Bianca used her Searing Flash Array +1 to gather firelight and cook the meat with magic, doing a fast job.

Then Zarian feasted like a wolf himself, tearing the meat apart. The dire wolves watched curiously and brought them more caught beasts to feed the Parasite Cloak.

Later on, the pups came down from their den to play with the spectral spiders. The adult wolves watched, and the humans enjoyed a magical night with the friendly beasts of the forest.

The next morning, Zarian woke up with no new gains. It wasn’t surprising, but he felt a little disappointed after so much rapid growth. As for Bianca, she looked distraught when she received no growth, no earnings.

“Give it time,” Zarian encouraged. “It’s going to be a big hit once we accomplish this side quest.”

“I have to go all the way, don’t I? No backing out. I have to commit to the highest good. My good.”

Bianca looked up the hillock where the dire wolves lived. A few were stalking about under the pre-dawn morning and looking back down at them.

A few pups came out and barked cutely, as if to cheer on the pair of good and evil Outsiders.

“Yeah, I’m going all the way.” Bianca wore a determined face, eyes flashing with light.

“Let’s go kill babies.” Zarian grinned like a sinister villain, his eyes turning void-like black.

“Wulvers! We’re killing evil wulvers! To save the cute magical puppies!” Bianca added quickly.

Zarian collected as many spectral spiders as he could carry. He didn’t like dismissing them unless it was necessary.

Thankfully, they weren’t too big and could hitch a ride on the Parasite Cloak.

With Bianca in his arms, he launched into the air as the morning sky lightened up. By the time they neared the wulvers’ main grounds, the tip of the twin suns bathed their backs.

“Wow,” Bianca said. “The morning … and the sunrise … so beautiful. It fills me with hope.”

Zarian was going to make a joke, but his Fractured Mind stopped him in his tracks. The way Bianca had spoken about the morning sunrise and hope sounded important.

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He waited, and his patience was rewarded.

“No matter how dark life can be, there’s always a new dawn,” Bianca said.

She didn’t notice it at the time, but Zarian’s entire body shivered from those words. The darkness he held close to him shivered as well.

Is this what you call an epiphany?

It was cheesy. Very, very cheesy.

But why did it hit Zarian so hard? And why did her goodness feel … stronger?

Zarian paid closer attention because it wasn’t just important for Bianca to grow. It was also important to learn what made do-gooders special.

“Are we ready?” Bianca asked, sounding way too calm and determined.

Who the hell are you now? Did that epiphany make that much of a difference? Is this the power of good? Zarian found it both interesting and scary, which wasn’t hard with a multifaceted mind like his.

“Yeah, we’re ready. Let’s go,” he said nonchalantly.

They lowered their attitude and entered the section of the forest that seemed unnaturally dark. In fact, the eeriness of the changes prompted a notification from the System:

“Lair, huh? I’m guessing since it’s not a dungeon, no dungeon core. But if we eliminate the boss of the wulvers or enough of the wulvers themselves, maybe that’ll break the hold they have here,” Zarian said.

“We have to remove all the wulvers at whatever the cost. A mini-map would help us catch them, si? If it’s okay with you, Zarian, I vote for the mini-map.” Bianca’s determination shone brightly through her eyes and around her body.

Her goodness felt heavier.

It would’ve been scarier if they weren’t on the same side, and if Zarian wasn’t so interested in seeing how far Bianca could push her good alignment. Zarian didn’t feel an extra power from being evil +1, but he would sometimes think in more cunning and conniving ways.

Could the good alignment give straight up power boosts?

Of course, goodness would get a straight up cheat power up!

Further observation was needed. That sort of fluctuation in power had never happened before, not with Bianca.

Then again, Zarian and his party hadn’t given Bianca time to do more outside of support. Yesterday was her first time truly killing enemies with her flash skill.

How far could a determined Bianca push herself today?

“We’ll go with the mini-map option,” Zarian said. “Besides, there’s no doubt we’ll get some solid and well-earned levels from this. We’re clearing a whole lair and completing the side quest backing it.”

They hit the misty, cold forest floor with a soft landing, Zarian’s cloak contracting close behind him. Crooked trees, their stone blocks blackened and piled at the base, arched over them like the skeletons of murderous demons.

The air was cooler, and it smelled of rotten flesh and old blood. Dawn light struggled to reach through the darkened forest top and shine past the curling fingers of mist.

A few sunbeams broke through anyway. That was enough for Bianca to reach with her Light Affinity trait and pull light onto herself.

For this one, Zarian pulled his hood down and showed his face. He formed a seven-foot nodachi out of darkness. It was harder, denser, and sharper than the previous version.

The System tried to enforce its penalty on him. It didn’t stick as well as before because of his aura manipulation.

Zarian had a far easier time controlling his sword swings and thrusts mystically than physically. Still, there was a portion of his control that was lacking because his Strength just wasn’t there yet.

It’s close. The Parasite Cloak +1 is helping me a lot with its threads reinforcing my body. But I can use a little more.

He couldn’t afford to waste too many Free points on Strength and Agility. More and more of his attention was needed in Mysticism, Willpower, and Wonder.

He also couldn’t commit to crazy training like Naomi to build his physical stats. He could only join in partially. Being a wizard required a lot of study.

Still, there had to be a solution for him to override the melee weapon penalty. After thinking on it for a while, a new ludicrous idea came to exist in his Fractured Mind. Zarian smirked when he realized he was going to be a menace to almost everyone.

When we get back to the soldier camp, I’m going to be the most bullshit wizard ever.

For now, he endured the slight melee penalty. He would fix it soon enough.

Bianca kept gathering more motes of light from the lonely dawn beams breaking through the darkened, misty wulver lair. While she worked on that, Zarian opened a channel of aura between him and her.

He focused on upholding the link even at the cost of feeding her less in one go. That way, he kept her aura topped at a consistent rate, which came with a horrifying feeling.

Her aura of heavenly light and arced rainbows kept munching on his dark aura without mercy. Being evil came with some discomforts here and there, Zarian supposed. At the very least, he and his party would benefit once Bianca grew further into her power.

The spectral spiders scuttled up rotten, barren trunks to reach the skeletal branches above. They stayed together in one group. They weren’t needed for scouting right now and could act as backup support.

Para wavered the cloak around from behind Zarian, dramatic as always. He rested the seven-foot nodachi on his shoulder and waited.

Half an hour later, the first enemy showed up.

Zarian moved ahead of Bianca’s radiant form to face the incoming red dot. He used Identify as soon as the wulver broke through the thorny foliage and brambles.

Zarian found it interesting how the wulvers had different identities inside the lair compared to outside.

Outside, they were called forest wulvers. Here in the lair, it felt like their true identities appeared as invasive wulvers, which Zarian had thought of them the whole time, coincidentally.

While having these musings wasn’t appropriate in a fight, Zarian’s combination of traits and skills made it as simple as breathing and walking. He already had his nodachi swinging in a decisive downward cut while lit by his Black Fire spell.

The blazing dark blade met the invasive wulver’s outstretched claws. The nodachi hacked through them all.

Zarian kept the blazing blade going. He struck with a meaty, bone-snapping chop through the clavicle and into the ribcage.

Para’s tendrils and bone stakes struck the earth behind Zarian like support pillars. She kept him in place against the wulver’s flying momentum.

Zarian grunted as he jerked his head aside from a spray of blood vomiting out of the wulver’s mouth. He jerked his head backward when the creature snapped its bloody teeth close to his face. It refused to quit even with a sword halfway through its chest, black flames stripping the last of its vitality.

A dime-sized laser burned a hole through the wulver’s head. The flash-fried brain made popping and sizzling sounds inside its skull, the creature dying on the spot.

Para’s tendrils yanked the creature off the blazing dark sword. Without vitality, the black and gray flames covering the corpse snuffed away quietly, leaving a fresh corpse with a split torso, chopped-off claws, and one smoldering hole in its head.

“Is this cheating?” Bianca asked from behind Zarian.

He turned to look at her and winced from the abundance of good aligned light.

She was lit up like the most obnoxious Christmas tree around, using up more of his aura to keep over a hundred tiny suns of compressed dawn light prepared. The tiny suns revolved around her like she was the center of her own universe.

“There’s no cheating when fighting absolute evil, is there?” Zarian replied.

Bianca furrowed her shining brow in thought before shrugging. “Eh, yeah, that’s true. Let’s go kill them all.”