By the time I made it back, the others had prepared themselves – not that we carried much equipment to prepare with.

“Welcome back, Kiara.” Nisos said.

“How did it go, and how badly do the guard want to catch us?” Ati asked.

“Gebal’s going to warn the Divine Siren and prepare the city’s best men for a fight. Oh, and the guard look like they’re willing to sell their souls to all the evil gods at the same time if it meant they could catch a whiff of us.” I said nonchalantly.

Jezibel held her head in her hands.

“Ugh, let’s get this over with so we can go and clear our names.”

“Not just yet. It’s still the middle of the morning. We strike in the late afternoon, when most of them are sleeping in preparation for the attack.” Nico interjected.

We settled down and killed some time until the sky finally began to show a hint of orange.

***

We went to the entrance I found, and there weren’t any guards watching over it.

“Weird. Why is there no one here?” I asked through the telepathic connection as we quietly entered the tunnel.

“They’re probably thinking that there’s no need to hide this place anymore given that they’re going to attack the city in a few hours. Let’s take advantage of that blunder.” Nico responded.

Jezibel summoned her [Simian Menace] to scout ahead, and the tunnel expanded into a cave with many branching paths. There were no living people inside; only undead.

“Hold. We need to get past them quietly. Killing them might alert the necromancers that raised them, and I don’t want to waste our first strike on low rank fodder.” Nico said, and we nodded in response.

“That sounds good and everything, but how do you actually plan on pulling it off?” Jezibel asked, and I answered her.

“I can bend space in front of the entrance to the cave. We can use it as cover to fly to the ceiling and get to a tunnel that leads deeper into the mountain base.”

“But what if they see us flying over them?”

“Low ranking undead are barely smart enough to recognize living people. Also, no one looks up, least of all people in an enclosed space or the undead.”

With that out of the way, Jezibel recalled her monkey, and I warped space ahead of the tunnel’s exit. Jezibel merged with her owl, and Nico and I carried Nisos while we flew over the sea of undead.

I warped space again so that we could land safely in front of a tunnel that led deeper, then we moved on ahead as Jezibel demerged with her owl.

We carried on walking down the tunnel for a few minutes before our next obstacle showed itself.

“Stop!” Ati yelled through the connection, and everyone froze.

He pointed towards an incredibly thin, translucent string in front of our feet.

“Wow. Good catch, Ati. I couldn’t see anything at all despite having powerful draconic eyes.” I said in admiration.

“I just have relevant experience and an idea of what to look for; you’ll be able to do the same in time. Hold on while I check for other traps before I get to dismantling this one. Jezibel, you probably shouldn’t send your beasts to scout while we’re here anymore.” He said as he got to work scrutinizing everything ahead of us.

In about a dozen seconds, Ati asked us to stand back as he hovered over where we stood and pulled on the string. The floor split open, revealing a pit trap covered in spikes that were coated in an acidic-smelling liquid.

“Thank goodness you’re with us, Ati. That would have been an awful way to go.” Nisos said, but Ati shook his head.

Stolen story; please report.

“I doubt it. With Lady Sept and Kiara with you, they would have reacted quickly enough to pull us out of the pit in time. Still, while there aren’t any more traps directly ahead of us, be on your guard.”

***

We continued moving down the winding tunnels, which was starting to remind me of the tunnels between the layers of the Abyss. Every once in a while, Ati would spot and disarm a trap, but we made good progress.

In about an hour, we made it to a tremendous, expansive cave that was tall enough to hold the adventurer’s guild building from The Town and wide enough to hold several public squares comfortably. An army of undead monsters was ahead of us; at the front row, tens of thousands of rank F monsters, followed by thousands of rank E creatures, hundreds of rank D creatures, dozens of rank C creatures, and about ten rank B creatures.

Behind the undead army, a decently large barracks stood, with a few people standing at its door. Using appraisal, I found our biggest threat giving orders to a few men near him.

[Unholy Vampire Lord Lv. 33 – Emperor of Death Lv. 182]

Rank A creature. Demon lord seed.

Further Appraisal Denied.

Just as I was about to talk to the others, a mission popped up in my view.

Mission Issued: [Save Tyr!]

Rank: S

An undead monster army raised by the Assassin’s Guild and led by a demon lord seed is preparing to wipe out Tyr and slaughter its inhabitants! If left unchecked, their power may grow to threaten the entire world. Fight to push the odds ever so slightly in the city’s favor!

Rewards: Dependent on contribution.

Well, I’ll be damned. That’s the first rank S mission I got. On top of that, the rewards are a complete unknown. Even the emergency mission at the guild was only a rank B, and that earned me a hefty sum of class skill points.

Hmm…

I put thoughts of the mission aside and turned around to take a look at the others. Jezibel and Nisos visibly paled, Nico looked grimly determined, and Ati wore a dark scowl. I waved my hand at them.

“You guys are welcome to stare at a bunch of rotting, undead monsters, but please do it after we actually kill them.”

That snapped them out of it. We went back inside the tunnel to discuss what we saw.

“What are we supposed to do against an army that massive?! We’re just going to get ourselves killed in vain!” Jezibel said in a panicked tone.

I grinned.

“I tried dying before, but I found it to be overrated and came back to life.”

After I left the girl speechless, Ati threw in his piece.

“Does anyone have a good idea on what to do? We aren’t strong enough to face an army like this head on.”

“We can start by deciding where I should throw my force sphere. That’s a good first strike if you ask me.” I shrugged.

Nisos answered after giving it some thought.

“The way I see it, there are three targets to choose from. The first is to throw it at the largest concentration of monsters so that we thin the herd and improve the city’s chances. That is probably the safest option. Another would be aiming for the strongest of the monsters they raised, taking out their heavy hitters in an instant. Since they’re standing close to the vampire, there is a higher risk that he might notice and stop it, but it’ll free up the city’s stronger defenders if we manage it.”

“And the last one?” I asked even though we all knew the answer.

I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.

“We aim directly at the vampire and its followers. This is by far the riskiest strategy, since this gives him the best shot of detecting and stopping the force sphere. Even if it succeeds, we’ll end up with an undead army without a leader and eradicating them will be a difficult process as they spread out through the mountains. That said, the city’s existence would no longer be under threat, and we wouldn’t have to fight a pinnacle rank A demon lord seed and its followers.”

“Hmm… Tempting. I wouldn’t say no to a solo kill on that thing, but I am not sure it’s the smart thing to do.” I wondered out loud.

“Thinning out the monster herd and running away would definitely give the city a much better chance at fighting back, right? We should just do that and join the defense ourselves.” Jezibel said.

“If we’re going to do a hit-and-run attack, then I would say we should go for the higher rank monsters. It’s the higher ranked fighters that are the limiting factor, as much as I hate to say it, and it’s much better to have the quality advantage over the quantity advantage. All the rank F monsters in the world wouldn’t put a scratch on the Divine Siren, even if it will lead to losses on the part of the regular fighters.” Nisos argued, but Ati objected.

“I can’t agree to either of those ideas. The assassin’s guild might just drop their plan and run away. If that happens, we’ll just be risking further disasters down the line, and this time there would be no guarantee of anyone trying to stop them. We at least have to kill the ringleaders; the undead can be cleaned up later.”

Huh. Split opinions, and all are fair points.

“There’s no need to make any kind of compromises. We’re going to kill every last one of them.” Nico said, exuding a powerful air of authority.

“But what else could we possib-” Jezibel tried to object, but Nico interrupted her.

“Like I said earlier, I am going to stop them all with or without your help. Order and Justice will prevail. I will not relent until the day is won.”

Her pupils shone with a golden light as a divine aura covered her and shut down any further objections.

“I have an ability that can guarantee that outcome, but it comes with severe consequences. Still, if push comes to shove, I will use it without any hesitation. This is my duty, and I will not shirk it.”

I put a hand on Nico’s shoulder.

“Well said. Before you do anything drastic though, I’ve got an idea for you…”