"You've been a tremendous help to us. Thank you for your hard work," Sline expressed her gratitude while carefully examining the materials Inero-ie had brought back. With this latest batch, their experiment had everything they needed. Sline couldn't help but let a small smile grace her face as she observed the various organs and parts floating inside the container. Afterward, her attention shifted to the human standing before her, his face as expressionless as ever, unmoving like a machine.

‘He hasn't budged an inch,’ she thought to herself, her gaze moving upward to his face. ‘Still as blank as when he first arrived.’ Sline searched for any signs of change in his posture or expression, but just like every other time she had met him, a blank expression was frozen on his face and his body stood still.

‘Is it similar to the princess? No…’ Sline shook her head, dismissing the fleeting thoughts. Instead, she addressed Inero-ie, whose presence often slipped from her mind. "You're free to go for now. I assure you, once we return, you will be included in an expedition to the Frozen Sea."

He nodded.

"Is there anything else you need to report?"

[ Worryingly large concentration of monsters. Stampede could occur. ]

"Are you absolutely certain? Shouldn’t there still be a lot of time before another was supposed to occur and if such a massive concentration of monsters had started gathering, we would have been alerted.”

[ Not of that scale. They're hiding. ]

"Hiding? Do you realize how absurd that sounds?"

He nodded.

[ Abnormal. ]

"Monsters?" Sline's interest was piqued.

He nodded.

"How so?"

As Inero-ie spoke, his voice emanated from the necklace around his neck. Sline listened attentively, her expression growing more serious with each word, her mind piecing together the information he shared.

"Thank you. I want you to survey the area, locate the hidden monsters, and mark out escape routes, just in case."

He nodded.

Once Inero-ie left, Sline departed from her room and made her way toward another chamber adjacent to her own.

*Knock, knock.*

"Lord Knarma, may I come in?"

"Enter, Sline."

"Inero-ie, the Harvester, has returned and reported something I thought you should hear," Sline said as she handed him a data stone.

"Oh, what's happened?"

"During his recent expeditions to gather materials, he mentioned the presence of an unusually high concentration of monsters in the area. According to him, it's enough to potentially trigger a stampede, yet nothing of the sort has occurred. It's highly unlikely for there to be such a large number of specters to be present such that these monsters can be controlled to this extent.”

"Hmm..."

Knrama set the data stone aside after reviewing its contents and addressed Sline, who stood patiently before him. "Instruct him to continue monitoring the area and report any changes. I want to know if anything changes."

"I've already given him those instructions. Furthermore, I've asked him to map the locations of the hidden monsters in the vicinity and identify potential escape routes. I'll be dispatching teams to verify the validity of his claims afterward."

"Excellent, as always. I will leave this matter to you then."

***

Inero-ie perched atop a small mountain near the laboratory, the atmosphere heavy and unsettling. An eerie aura engulfed everything, an anomaly in such a typically tranquil setting. The monsters in the vicinity were unmistakably aware of each other's presence, which explained the lingering aura, but their calmness puzzled him. The entire area should have been thrown into chaos by now.

His threads extended through the air, examining the aura. It mirrored the ones he had encountered during previous stampedes, with one key difference—it remained dormant, eluding the senses of most individuals. Once hostility erupted, this aura would surge forth, amplifying the monsters' power and making them more resilient.

Having mapped out his surroundings, he began to move in a circular pattern around the laboratory slowly expanding out, attempting to gauge the true scale of the impending stampede.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

What he sensed eluded the capabilities of his armor's sensors, making it all the more challenging to figure out that something was awry. By reducing the number of threads to just over a hundred, he vastly increased their length, allowing him to sense everything within hundreds of meters. It unveiled the monsters that concealed themselves in every nook and cranny, blending with their surroundings through icy, rocky, and metallic exteriors.

'What is happening?' he pondered.

He had sensed not a single specter despite having inspected such a large area and that was a problem. Such a significant number of monsters should not have remained this calm without a large number of specters to control them.

'What if something else is controlling them? But that's impossible… Still, I should report this.'

An absurd thought flickered across his mind but was instead replaced by wonder, 'Why do I still bother doing this?', as his steps took him back towards the lab. ‘Going to such lengths just to get myself killed… How much longer…’ There was only one reason that compelled him to push himself to the limits, to fulfill his contracts, oaths, and promises regardless of the sacrifices they demanded. It was all in an effort to strengthen the instinct that would drive him to fulfill the promises he had made so that he would do his best to survive, as he had promised them, even when he wanted to kill himself at every moment.

***

"Big sis! You've finally decided to pay a visit. Come in, I've saved something you'll like. Who are these kids? Oh no! Did you get married without even telling us?"

Smack.

"Ouch! It was a joke."

"Don't speak like an idiot. These foreigners are my guests."

"Nice to meet you, kids. How are you?"

"Great!"

"Good, good. Come on in."

"Thank you," all the children said simultaneously as they entered the house.

"Sir, will you be coming in as well?"

"Yes, thank you."

Prompted by Frial-al's brother, Kire entered the house. He couldn't help but notice how compact it was despite being one of the largest residences he had come across while he had been following his students. Multiple residences such as the one in front of him could be combined and even then would not use up all the space that was utilized to create just one mansion on the topmost layer. With a sea of forest, expansive mansions, and no multiple-story buildings, that liberal use of space was a stark contrast to the efficient architecture that allowed not even an inch of space to be wasted.

It was a marvel to witness what these people had created despite their isolation from the empire for hundreds of years. Layered cities capable of accommodating millions of lives. The density of life signatures in this city rivaled some of the cities in the empire. He dimmed his senses and slowly started walking into this house that existed on the 100th layer of this sub-section.

"How's the work going?"

"Good, thanks to the items you made last time. However, sales have started to decline as we haven't added anything new to our stock for a few cycles. If you have anything, please send it our way."

"Don't worry. I'll be sending you a new model of armor suit once it's done with testing."

"Who’s testing it?"

"That kid."

"Ah... the one big bro was attached to?"

Kire nodded.

"Didn't you say he was unwilling to come here? How did you manage to convince him? No, how did you even get the permit approved?"

"Something happened."

"You'll have to tell me about it later."

"Pretty lady, I have a question to ask," one of the children intervened.

"Go ahead."

"What do you mean by 'cycles'?"

"Do you know about the harvesters?"

"The semi-military organization responsible for everything related to the outside," another child answered.

"Yes. After a certain period of time, the monsters usually gather and perform a stampede, heading towards the Habitable Zone we currently reside in, attempting to breach its defenses. This phenomenon typically occurs after a set period has passed, and the harvesters use the term 'cycle' to denote the passage of time. Along the way, it got incorporated into everyday language."

"What's your name, sir?"

A voice called out to Kire, and he turned to see the young man, the brother of the young lady who had greatly assisted his students.

"I'm Kire. Kire Riqu-Preledge."

"I'm Linther Delss Brhant. So, which family's settlement do you belong to?"

***

"Are you certain they are present in all of these locations?" Sline asked, her eyes scanning the map covered in markings denoting the hidden monsters and their numbers, additionally, there were notes on how the monsters had camouflaged to hide themselves.

Inero-ie nodded.

"And is there any escape route?"

[ None that can be used by all people here. ]

"So, we'll have to start thinning them out. How do you propose we do that?" Sline inquired, a plan formulating in her mind.

[ Silently, without alerting them, ] Inero-ie replied.

"Then we should deploy vanguard and close combat types only. Are they concentrated only in this area?"

Using his Qi threads, Inero-ie controlled the hologram, zooming it out. The area around the lab was filled with markers in a circular shape, spiraling outwards until the radius of two kilometers was filled to the brim with markers and notes. Where the spiral stopped, twenty 20 lines extended outwards, each equidistant from one another, each ten kilometers long and filled with markers.

[ This what I scouted, ] Inero-ie informed.

"Does this not resemble a regular stampede at this point? How much time is left until the regular one?"

"I don't know," Inero-ie responded.