I

“Good fight,” a voice said from behind.

Eva turned around to see Sun. His armor was dented and covered in blood, but he looked otherwise healthy.

“I heard you took care of their leader,” he continued. “The word is that it was a hell of a performance!”

“Thanks,” she replied.

“Well, I should be the one thanking you for your help. It seems only about a fifth of them actually got out alive. None of their leaders survived. We lost a few hundred, I think. We took the initiative and were able to blunt the blow that otherwise would have devastated the human towns. All in all, it was a success!”

“It’s too bad we couldn’t get all of them.”

Sun shrugged. “They may do some hit and run attacks between now and the end of the Tutorial, but they might also hunker down and wait it out. Either way, we’re a lot safer now.”

Eva sat in silence. She wasn’t sure what to say. She just wanted some rest before going off to look for the final two dungeons to run. From the high level of the omyeskadi leader, she thought they probably were able to take control of a dungeon. Now that they were dead, the dungeons were free for the taking. She confirmed her thoughts with Sun, who agreed with her conclusion.

“What level was the bastard?” he asked.

“Nearly 40,” she answered.

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

“So I guess you’re heading off to find the other dungeons?”

“Yeah. I’m thinking of starting to look for them tomorrow.”

“Good luck. Again, thanks for your help. I’ll see you around?”

“Sure. Goodbye, Sun.”

II

Eva looked at the carnage below her. The outer wall was breached where the omyeskadi escaped. Between the inner and outer walls were piles of corpses. Forseli busied themselves separating the fallen forseli and humans from their enemies. The dead omyeskadi were piled high like trash. She assumed they would be burned at some point, but she wouldn’t stay long enough to find out.

The jog back to the town was a welcome way to clear her mind after the fight. As far as she could tell, she was the top dog of the Tutorial now that the leader was dead. Maybe not in terms of level, but definitely in terms of absolute power. She didn’t know what awaited her at the final two dungeons, but she would go looking for them as soon as the sun came up the next day.

Eva strolled the town wall with her dinner. She didn’t feel like talking with anyone. Using the wall like a walking track brought the relief to her melancholy that she sought. Eventually, she finished chewing her meal and sat down with her legs over the edge to review her gains from the battle and the monster wave.

First, Eva allocated the roughly five thousand experience she’d gotten from the fighting into her stats, getting a little more than thirty stat points in total. Next, she pulled out the Chainmail Hauberk★ from her backpack and Observed★ it.

Chainmail Hauberk★

Health increased by 88

Intelligence increased by 9

Wisdom increased by 8

Self Repair

She immediately swapped between the two armors she had, reactivating her bonus for having the Medium Armor★ skill while wearing what counted for medium armor. Then it was time to pull up the notifications she’d ignored both during the battle and when she bashed in the monster with her cauldron.

Basic Blunt Weapons▲ Lv 1

Blunt weapon damage increased by 1%

Basic Block▲ Lv 4

Blocked damage reduced by 4%

Novice Light Armor✦ Lv 2

Reduces incoming damage by 12% when wearing medium armor

Gain 1 Endurance while wearing medium armor

Eva lay back and looked up. For the first time, she let herself relax a little while she looked at the night sky. It looked strange—the stars were in different places than she was used to—and yet it was comforting to see the beauty shining down from the heavens. She just wished it could have been under better circumstances. A sigh escaped her lips a half hour later. Eva got up and headed to bed. She had a long day ahead of her if she was going to find and then conquer the next dungeon.

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III

Eva walked through the trees while eating her breakfast. Though Mapmaking didn’t go back far enough for her to see exactly where the first two dungeons she had captured were, she was able to tell that the forseli and human dungeons were on a nearly perfect east-west line. She knew roughly how far those two dungeons were from the first two, and she hoped that the new dungeons she was looking for would be similarly far away. Her first step in the search was to go to the human dungeon and head north.

She passed the human dungeon around the time she finished her second breakfast wrap. The piles of omyeskadi corpses were still smoldering, while there were large trenches of freshly moved earth where she guessed they’d placed the human and forseli dead. Eva walked around the forest edge so she wouldn’t be approached for anything else. She was on a mission of her own after all!

As she traveled north, the forest gave way to swampland, slowing her progress somewhat. She was able to power through, but it took a lot more effort to move through the mud than it did to dodge a few trees. It was around that time that she started seeing signs of a large movement of people. Though it was probably from the omyeskadi army, she slowed her pace and started to Sneak▲ in case there were other groups of them hiding around that had not been part of the invasion.

Not long after crossing into the swamp, Eva had to deal with the daily monster wave for one. It was not a hard fight—a well placed Pierce★ took care of the crocodile-like monster—and all it did was to waste about half a minute of her time. The experience wasn’t awful for the single monster, but not as nice as she was used to when she fought with the larger group battles.

IV

Two hours of Sneaking▲ through the mud, grasses, and insects later, Eva found a clearing roughly in line with the human dungeon south of her. That the tracks had come from that direction certainly helped her find what she was looking for. There were a fair number of crocodile monster corpses as well as a pile of charred human remains off to one side. In the center of the clearing was a hastily patched wooden wall. Watching from the wall and cleaning up the monsters in the clearing were groups of omyeskadi.

Eva considered her options. Charging★ in as usual was probably a bad idea given the terrain. Throwing a few Fireballs★ would probably be sufficient, but it was flashy, and she would get targeted quickly. Again, there were terrain issues with that. The final option she had was to use the Throwing▲ trick with Infusion★ and hope that she could do enough damage without being spotted. That idea also had some issues considering the decided lack of stones to Throw▲. Still, it was the best option she had as far as she could figure. There were trees whose wood she could use for the makeshift weaponry.

Eva sliced through a tree far enough away so as not to raise the alarm. She then diced up the tree into baseball-sized chunks, perfect for throwing. When she had stuffed as many of them into her backpack as she could—and putting whatever else she could carry into her cauldron—she returned to the edge of the clearing to start picking out targets. Her Throwing▲ didn’t have any extra accuracy, and she wasn’t amazing at aiming, but she could throw it hard enough to make missing more difficult. As such, her first targets would be the aliens at around medium range. Any closer and they would have a decent chance of discovering her.

The first earth Infused★ projectile missed her target by about a yard. Thankfully, she’d chosen that group of aliens to target because it was a group. Instead of making an alarming thud into the mud, she got an experience notification from a different omyeskadi on monster clearing duty. The aliens looked around while the next block of wood slammed into her first intended target now that she had a better handle on the distance and angle involved, as well as her own strength.

The remaining two targets looked around helplessly, and both fell in succession before they had the smart idea to alert someone. The next two groups were taken care of in a similar manner, with one close call when she missed the completely on the first Throw▲ towards the second group. The extra time meant that the final omyeskadi had turned towards the walls before she felled it.

With the three groups cleared, there were no enemies within a distance where she felt she could reasonably connect with her intended targets. Eva Snuck▲ along the edge of the clearing just out of sight. Soon, there was another group in range. She Threw▲ five earth Infused★ wooden projectiles at them. Two missed, and the final alien of the group fell out of range of her sixth Throw▲ to alert the garrison that it was under attack.

Even though the jig may have been up, Eva Snuck▲ further, hoping that the alerted alien didn’t know exactly where she was. She was correct in that thought. Though the omyeskadi group that came to investigate was better equipped, they were facing in the direction where she had been rather than where she was. She debated going after them or going after the small group she was now close enough to hit and decided to start with the group knowing full well that the larger investigating party might become aware of her activities.

Five Throws▲ later, the group was dead. As she had feared, the larger group had noticed the final alien in the other group dying. They still were not sure where the projectiles were coming from; but they were now facing towards the recently deceased group, and their shields were now partially obstructing their bodies where before she’d had full access to their backs. Despite this, it was time to tackle them so she could storm the fort with Fireballs blazing.

The first two Throws▲ killed in impact. The third bounced off of a shield causing minimal damage. By the time of the third Throw▲, the aliens were now aware of where she was, and they were marching towards her with their shields held in front. It was time to change tactics.

The first Fireball★ was devastating. It took out the one she’d aimed for as well as the one that had blocked the wooden projectile. The explosion did further damage to around half of the surviving group. The second Fireball★ had reduced their number nearly in half. It took four more to decisively end the fight in her favor with no survivors on their side.

Even though the number she’d taken care of were relatively small, it had made a significant dent into their forces. However, the light show from the Fireballs★—and particularly their explosions—had drawn the attention of the rest of the omyeskadi. The aliens outside the walls made for the gate, while the ones on the walls began to shoot arrows in her general direction. With the long flight time, she was easily able to Dodge★ her way through while at the same time devastating the fleeing aliens with yet more Fireballs★.

Eva pulled her shortsword from its scabbard and Charged★ across the mud towards the gate, using the extra stats from Dodging★ the arrows to cross the distance quickly despite the difficulties inherent in the terrain. As she closed in, she threw three Fireballs★ at the gate, setting it alight. By the time she arrived, she was able to Charge★ through it with her shield taking the brunt of the impact. She took some damage from the flames and from the collision, but she was through and inside the fort.

Inside she found a skeleton crew manning the walls and a group of five exiting a large tree where she assumed the dungeon was located. Eva Charged★ the aliens closest to her, leaping up the ladder to the top of the wall. The fight proceeded with surgical precision on her part. A Pierce★ here, a slash there, a Fireball★ into a group. Within five minutes, every alien outside of the dungeon was dead.