Charles grunted as he plopped down in the chair. His armor was blood and mud caked but it had all been worth it. Mostly. The idea to put up a wall had been more for a show of status than real protection. To show off the strength of his little town after driving away all those weak willed fools that refused to fight. When the system dumped hordes of monsters on their doorstep. It had made a major difference. Yet, despite the fact his town had survived the initial surge. They weren’t a haven. HE wasn’t a Haven Lord. It pissed him off. But what could be done? It had taken them three days to deal with the initial swarm of monsters. They had finally finished yesterday and despite the brutal days of fighting he had sent scouts immediately out to the north. Both to check on the village of fools and start the trek to that stupidly named city. It would chap his ass if they were made a Haven.

Yet, even with the initial surge pushed back. Fighting had continued most of this day as well. With a sigh, he dropped the heels of his muddy boots on the desk he used. It made a mess but he had a servant to clean that up. Charles rather liked having people working under him. As the highest level person here he had power and respect. So those too weak willed or just too plain weak had no choice but to supplicate themselves to him. It was great. The food shortages had been a great excuse to tighten his control of Charleston as he was calling his walled city. Stretching back he eyed his level with pride. Level twenty. It was good to be king.

Someone entered without knocking and elicited a scowl from him as he thudded the chair down to look at them. His eyes narrowed as out of habit he used identify then swallowed down his curse. ‘How the hell did that bitch pass me?’

Human

Healer (21)

Guide (10)

‘She even got her guide level up.’ Charles wanted to curse the unhinged woman. Was she here to tell him more fairy tales about Invader assassins again? Yet, he knew he needed to be diplomatic. She was a powerhouse of his little community after all.

“I see the Monster Surge was good to you as well.” Charles leaned back again as if he wasn’t annoyed by her sudden appearance.

“It was.” Jen answered while rubbing her thumb over the pommel of that blasted dagger she always carried. It was blood stained and she had obviously been putting it to use again in most unhealer-like fighting.

Charles just looked at her waiting to see what it was she wanted. Rather than say anything the woman just stood there staring at him, or more truthfully through him. She did that a lot these days. “Well?” He finally asked.

Her eyes focused on him. “The runner you sent to the Village of the Lost is back.” She answered, her voice flat.

“That was fast. Did they not run into any monsters? We cleared out another small wave just this morning.” Charles asked then frowned. “Why aren’t they here to report to me?” Charles didn’t like others undermining his authority. Too much effort had been put into building his position.

“They were exhausted and wounded. I took their report while I healed them.” Jen answered matter of factly.

“Fine. What did they find? Did those fools survive?” Charles asked not bothering to hide his annoyance.

“They are all dead.” Jen stated flatly and Charles snorted knowingly.

“Figures. Well, we can rest up then go clear out whatever horde of monsters hit them.” Charles was glad he didn’t need much sleep anymore. He wanted to get those easy levels while he could. These hordes were amazing for leveling. Even if the experience was split between all fighters. The sheer number of enemies made up for it.

“There is no horde to kill. Only a few scavengers that seemed to have come upon the scene recently.” Jen said and Charles didn’t like the knowing look in her eyes.

“Fine. Then that little rush we faced this morning must have been from them. Or maybe the one yesterday.” He explained it away while ignoring her attempt to bait him into responding.

“It was not.” Jen said flatly with far more assurance than she had any right to have.

“Fine. Why do you say that?” Charles finally asked just to get the whole thing over with. Somehow it was going to come back to that Assassin.

“They found a mountain of corpses.” Jen said and Charles looked at her blankly as if that wasn’t expected. The highest level of those fools was maybe three. Against the hordes with no defenses. They were dead for sure.

“Well, any supplies? If there weren’t a horde they should have been able to pick them clean.” Charles said.

“A mountain of monster corpses. All skinned.” Jen explained, her voice getting a bit of inflection. Perhaps excitement.

Charles sighed. “Let me guess. Your Invader did it. Wiped out the entire village and then the horde after that? Left em all skinned and piled up before heading off into the night to kill again?”

Jen gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes before relaxing. “The scout believes the horde killed all the villagers. But someone came by after and cleared them all out. Skinned them as well. So it wasn’t other monsters. It was a person.” Jen’s eyes blazed with victory. “Who else would it be?”

Charles looked at the woman and tried to sympathize with her. She had been through a lot and was young. He certainly hated that murdering psycho as much as she did. But he also lived in the real world. One of levels and monsters. The world they were all now part of. He blew out a sigh wishing this crazy girl was one of the ones that gave up and stayed low level. Instead, she was too strong for him to just ignore.

“So your invader who barely survived fighting us. Slaughtered a horde of monsters alone? How many were there?” Charles asked, his tone soft and placating.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Jen stiffened. “The scout didn’t count them but estimated more than seventy less than a hundred.” Before Charles could respond she added. “But I know it was them. They… You just don’t understand how powerful they were. The fact that they fought five of us and then cleared that dungeon proves just how strong they are.”

Charles leaned forward to steeple his fingers. “They survived fighting us and ran away. As for the dungeon we have no proof they cleared it let alone that they have left it.”

“We didn’t get the Prime Kill rewards.” Jen stated flatly.

“That dungeon was a real pain in the ass. There is no way they cleared the monsters. Let alone the bosses.” Charles stayed calm.

“We have seen that Assassins can see the general area of those things' cores. It is the perfect dungeon for an Assassin.” Jen refuted, starting the same old argument again.

“Ok. So let us say they managed to kill all the monsters in the dungeon. Cut out those cores without dying to the poison. Do you think they killed that big lizard? Think of all those hatchlings that spawned. Assassins aren’t built for fighting lots of enemies. Even if they did somehow kill the lizard. What about the spider bitch? That web was a real shit show to deal with. Let alone all the other crap that thing did. How? How did one lone assassin kill them?” Charles was proud he stayed completely calm as he repeated his argument. After all, this was the point where she never had an answer.

Just as he expected the woman stiffened, her fist clenched at her side. “He just did. I don’t know how but I know he cleared that dungeon before even we did.” Charles just nodded and rubbed his face.

“Fine. Let’s say I believe you. What do you want me to do? I can’t send a party out after someone able to clear that dungeon alone and kill off a small horde of monsters. Also alone.” He emphasized the word alone each time he spoke it. “Hell, I’m more worried about them coming back here and attacking us. What do we do to stop a monster like that?” Charles decided a change of tactics was in order. “What do you suggest we do now?”

Jen tensed, this was not what she had expected. She gazed into Charles’ face then her hard visage cracked. “I don’t know.” Her voice sounded weak and wavered at that moment.

“For now Jen. Just keep getting stronger. That way if we meet them again. We can put an end to them. That is all we can do.”

Jen nodded. “Thank you for finally believing me.” Much of the tension and hostility in her posture was gone for the first time in weeks.

Charles smiled and nodded. “Go get some rest. We are both exhausted.” The woman nodded and finally left his office. Charles’s friendly expression melted away into one of disgust. “That woman is going to be trouble.” He sighed. “But trouble for another day.” Glancing at the map he crossed out the village of the fools. It had been a waste to let them run off like that. They had taken too much equipment and at the very least they might have been a bit of experience for some of his people. “Shoulda killed them all when we had the chance.” He muttered.

*****

Dren ripped the three nuclei out of the Muskin Sporelord ending the fight within seconds of it starting. Only the spore lord had even been worth any experience now that he was level twenty two. But the dungeon once cleared was a good place for them to rest. It had taken almost two full days of fighting and then most of another to skin the monsters. But he and Ren had cleared that entire village. With so many hides he had been forced to leave behind most of the meat to Ren’s annoyance. She hadn’t spoken but she had made the cutest humph of annoyance. It gave Dren hope that she might someday be able to talk. Maybe the next evolution?

She was currently level six already. Her level had reset when she evolved. Yet she had her first ten levels worth of attributes and even more piled on after she started leveling again. It did seem that she wasn’t getting true level one exp again. That would have been truly crazy. Right now she was cooking more meat kabobs with various fruits and other random food stuff they had found back in the village of the lost. All seasoned not with one but all three of the spore lord’s nuclei. It smelled amazing.

Dren was annoyed that the dungeon hadn’t given him loot this time but instead seventy credits and a spice rack for his bonus item. It did at least come with half a dozen spices. While the little jars were unlabeled. Ren seemed to know what they all were and was super excited. Dren turned his gaze from Ren and her cooking. He then picked up the pair of almost finished boots. He had already put the silk layers into it and just needed to add some reinforcements of spider carapace. Then it was enchanting time. The boots were made of the last of the boss leather from the lizard boss. Space imbued and ready for a space rune. If he was right, they would greatly improve his mobility. As for level twenty, it has given him a passive skill for dual wielding light weapons in combat. Dren had been pretty disappointed. After all, by this point. He had used two weapons for so long that he felt he was good at it.

He had been horribly wrong. Or at least the skill had been such a huge improvement that it made him feel foolish for his initial reaction. Before he had basically stabbed and slashed with his main hand while more or less flailing his off hand for simple attacks to keep things at bay or trickle in a little bit of extra damage. With the new skill not only were both hands equally as good as one another. But he could fight independently with each. As in his hands no longer needed to sync up when fighting but it was like he was fighting two fights with one hand at a time. Either way, it made him far better at dealing with multiple enemies. Able to attack, defend, and counter like two individual fighters instead of one.

“Tonight we rest. Then we will hit the goblin dungeon. I want to clear it while it still gives experience. Hopefully, we still get loot from it too. Then let's go see if that town to the north is big enough to be one of these Havens. I want to see what these credits can get us.” He eyed his menu where it listed his fifty nine thousand seventy credits.

*****

Character Status:

Name: Dren

Race: Human (I)

Class: Assassin (22)

Profession: Enchanter (18)

Health: 2425/2425

Stamina: 2425/2425

Mana: 1875/1875

Agility 72

Dexterity 72

Endurance 90

Intelligence 68

Spirit 68

Strength 90

Toughness 90

Vitality 90

Dungeon Competency 50%

Solo Dungeon Competency 40%