The horde that rampaged throughout the forest finally relented. By some miracle, there were no casualties, at least according to what Zeke perceived from both campsites.

The campsite where Mark was located was smaller and a bit more rundown, but it was kept clean and well organized, to a degree. Mark, the one in charge of the camp with any military experience, kept this place up well despite the trials they were put through.

On the other hand, the campsite Zeke and Lyle was at was a total shit hole. Made sense, considering it was the has-been bandits in charge.

When everyone approached Janet and to the downed boss she soloed, everyone almost dropped when they saw its level.

"That was the Master of the Tower!" Zeke shouted in alarm. "And you killed it on your own!?"

Zeke knew from how Janet struck the Salamander that she used her attunement, so he understood that she brought out more power than what a regular Expert can use. But the fact that it was the Master of the Tower which is generally Master-rank completely took him by surprise.

Janet, meanwhile, looked like she got caught using some random school's computer to hack into the US Pentagon.

"Umm… I was just in the zone, y'know?"

"Janet, you're making us look bad!" Saang shouted, though her smile was infectious as she slapped Janet's shoulder heartily. "I take back everything I said. You're just as much of a monster as these two!"

Janet looked ready to hide herself away from the praise coming from Saang, not even comprehending just how amazing her actions were.

What sucked on their end is that none of the party members got any XP. It was just enough for Lyle and Janet to reach the end of their stages, but that also meant that they would keep the loot as well.

At least that's what Zeke thought until Janet came to loot the body herself and suddenly;

You have received the following:

Skill Unison Fragment

Otherworldly Skill Orb

"What?"

And it wasn't just Zeke, nor even Mikella. Everyone in the campsite suddenly screamed in surprise to see the following drops. Once that was done, each one screamed in excitement in the next moment, wondering what these items meant and do.

"Huh…" Janet said in amazement. "I was worried that only I get the loot…"

"Weird, even we got them," Kote said in wonder, and turned to Saang. "Saang, did you…?"

"Yep, got another treasure," Saang shook her head. "Honestly, I feel sick using this. I didn't earn this."

Zeke could understand her plight. If Zeke gained an amazing item without actually doing anything for it, he would feel really shitty himself. Thankfully, Mikella stepped in with a wise expression.

"Saang, you don't get to complain. Neither do you, Kote. Just take them. Even going in here is a huge risk, and we'll need all the help we can get. Don't even think about giving them away."

"Girl, I'm pissed, not stupid," Saang gave a genuine grin. "Pissed at myself for staying on the side lines while an Expert takes matters into her own hands. It's just a pride thing, that's all. I'm not gonna say no to getting more power and prestige to get ahead in life."

"More importantly, I want to know exactly how she managed to take it down. I can definitely see she has the makings, but it's normally impossible to challenge such a boss on one's own, even with all the potions and elixirs she must have drank."

"It's her attunement," Zeke explained. "It's the same as mine."

That immediately got them to turn silent in comprehension. They have already seen just how powerful Zeke can be with his attunement, but what really struck a chord in him is that compared to his, Janet's attunement was… more direct and well-precisioned.

He really wanted to get into that, but right now wasn't the time to geek out about potential theories on their attunements. That could take hours, and they might not even have enough time left.

After ensuring the camp's safety and making sure Janet was properly healed up from using her attunement, Zeke went ahead to help the otherworlders at his second campsite. While the situation was dire with the fake Hamil still out there and that strange light, Zeke couldn't ignore the otherworlders here.

After all, they were the main targets for that fake Hamil, so Zeke has to make sure they were good enough to run away if need be. Especially now that the Master was killed and the possibility of the tower disappearing possible.

The thing was, the Master dying normally would start the process. This time, nothing was happening, which Zeke hoped was because the tower actually recognized the audacity of trying to put in so many otherworlders in a single dungeon and needed more time to process.

During that downtime, Zeke and Mikella spoke in privacy with each other about what happened at Zeke's side.

Hearing about what he had to do for a woman helped Mikella understand why he asked around if anyone was experiencing morning sickness and random mood swings.

It wasn't easy to talk about, even now, but Mikella was as always understanding. She even agreed to Zeke's decision. But unlike Lyle, she sympathized with Zeke's inner plight and made him agree to bring her whenever something like that happens again.

Thankfully, there were no signs of assault in this campsite, which is once again added to Mark's good record. Although according to Mikella;

'Only a fucking idiot would go as far as that in this situation. Glad he's getting what's coming to him'.

Once that was finished, Zeke had the pleasure of meeting Elly, who was the one who kept everyone in line throughout the entire horde scene. While Janet was fighting for them, Elly kept ensuring everyone to believe in the powerful helpers rather than run away. If they had, it wouldn't be a surprise that they would end up getting hunted down and killed by the very same monsters they were running from.

She was certainly… excitable, to say the least.

"Wow…! Mikella, you never said that you had such a dreamboat with you! And he's a doctor to boot…" Elly said with a hint of excitement any young woman would exhibit, even twirling her hair as she gazed with such passion at Zeke. "My name's Elianore, but you can call me Elly. So be honest with me; are you single?"

"Jesus woman, you sure work fast," Mikella said with an amazed awe in her eyes. "And no, he's not. He's with me."

Zeke had to remind himself that it was just to keep the others from prying into their business… then again, that was only to the people in this world to avoid having to talk about their origins, so why is she saying that to a fellow otherworlder?

"Aww," Elly moaned in displeasure. "It's always the good ones that are taken…"

Zeke had to clear his throat to get rid of the awkward and completely embarrassing pass on him. That still didn't help get rid of his burning cheeks. "Elly, I wanted to thank you for keeping everyone here safe and sound. I know it wasn't easy, but you have my gratitude."

"I mean, what else is there to do?" Elly shrugged. "Let everyone die? I don't wanna have that in my mind. Still… I heard you also helped everyone at the other camp. Is that right?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yes," Zeke nodded. Elly didn't look upset, but she also didn't show any signs of relief or joy. "I know that they did you and your people wrong, but that's only just a few. We already took care of the ones responsible for the mess they kept creating, and everyone else is getting taken care of by Mark now."

"...Just a few then?" Elly asked. There was a bit of hope in her eyes to which Zeke nodded. "I see…"

It looked like she expected the entire camp to be as evil and corrupt as the ones that acted in banditry. Thankfully, this changed her mind quickly as she went ahead to help everyone evacuate from the camp. Their plan is to push the two former opposing sides together to one big pile to keep a better eye on them.

Zeke would've wanted to have at least one of them keeping watch, but like Saang said, it was better to be together and face the fake Hamil before the tower collapsed and make sure that everyone got out of here alive.

After returning back to the party, Zeke noticed Janet and Lyle on one side with the man holding a potion on each hand. Janet sat on the wooden stump with her head lulled to the ground.

"Is she okay?" Zeke asked, getting their attention.

"I-I'm fine…" Janet slowly said, her head lagging front and back. "I just still feel like crap after doing that attack."

"No wonder. You pulled out all the stops," Zeke said, using Restoration to check on her condition. There wasn't much his Restoration could do to help her. "Lyle, you got anything for channel recovery?"

"I do, but I only got a limited amount," Lyle said, showing an apologetic look. "Sorry, but I don't think I can give them out to everyone around me."

"Don't be," Zeke waved off Lyle's worries. "I never expected you to give us expensive supplies. Keep them to yourselves. And Janet deserves all the attention. She's the MVP this time."

"Ugh… just stop. It's fine when it's online, but it's so embarrassing to hear it in the real world…" Despite her dizziness and nausea hitting her, Janet still looked embarrassed enough to look away from Zeke and Lyle's grins.

With that out of the way, they led the entire otherworlder group back towards the first camp. With Zeke recovering his mana a little, he managed to make a singular path straight to the first camp he visited, bringing everyone else along with him. This way, they managed to avoid the ups and downs of traveling inside the dense forest, where the roots were as large as vehicles and just as difficult to cross over. That was half the reason why some of the otherworlders never ventured out of the camp.

Thankfully, escorting an entire group of low level people was nothing at all for the mage, surprising everyone as they easily managed to return to the first camp in just a short three hours. Considering the pacing, that was actually pretty incredible to Zeke, considering the vast land between them.

Upon reaching the first camp, the entire group was finally reunited with their lost comrades, and of course some of them went after the bandits that were still confined and bound by Zeke's constructs.

Needless to say, it was a bit of a disappointment to see only just a few dozen, perhaps more than forty total otherworlders, including Mark, Elly, and Tigger. Upon seeing them again, Tigger was practically ecstatic to see such incredible magic made by Zeke, and just as impressed to see Mikella's sword to which she had no qualms showing off to him while spinning it around.

Once Mark and Elly got together, they talked about what to do with themselves while leaving the party alone. For now, they got themselves together well before hearing someone call out to them.

"Hey! We're back!"

Saang called out to them, running towards the group with Kote in tow. Throughout their venture, they headed off on their own, and only just recently finished their scouting mission.

"Hey, glad to see you," Zeke said. "So what's going on around us?"

"No monsters around us, which is the good news," Kote said, though he had a frown on his shockingly handsome face. "The bad news is there are no monsters anywhere else."

"What?" Mikella asked in surprise. "Not even the little critters?"

"Not even those," Kote shook his head. "It looked like the monster horde pulled out every single monster around us."

"I see. But that lightshow from earlier–what exactly was it?" Zeke asked. "What did he do that caused that?"

"Whatever it is, we gotta go after them soon," Mikella stated. "I don't like the idea of leaving it alone for so long. So let's–"

Mikella silenced herself as a sudden burst of yellowish flames flew out from one pack of dense trees straight towards the camp.

It happened too quickly, too fast for any normal person, so the ones in the campsite didn't recognize that a giant burst of flames were about to wipe them out. But in an instant, the flames were quelled as fast as it appeared.

To the shocked otherworlders, they saw two of their own who stood in front of the flames, one bearing her sword, and the other flexing his gauntlets.

The moment that attack appeared, Mikella ran faster than anyone had ever seen her before, even Zeke. Pulling off her class skill Dragon Descent and her lightning attunement, she skyrocketed towards the flames and dispelled the attack with her sword.

Zeke, on the other hand, buffed up his stats to the best of his ability. Conjuring Mythril Skin, he pulled the energy of his gauntlets and formed them to become energy shields for a moment to stop the spread of the cancelled flames from going out any further. It was a travesty to call them replacement barriers, as the shields could barely last longer than a second against the powerful flames and dug into his mythril arms.

Despite his skin becoming like metal, the yellowish flames felt sticky, somehow. It was hot, being uncomfortably scathing, but it clung onto him like sludge from a sewage plant. It even had this god-awful smell that made his nose curl and his brain fuzz before pulling the flames off with his arms.

Looking ahead, he saw the assailants coming forth. It wasn't just a single or even a small group, but an array of well-armored individuals, one half colorful as though their armors were all over the place like adventurers would be, and another half wore a uniform that looked familiar to Zeke.

That's when he recognized the crest embroidered on their left breast, the insignia of a House back in Arcelot, and the one he recognized that tried to force the group back for interrogation at their first tower clear.

"House Corran?" Zeke said, his brows rising. "How… how the hell are they here?"

"I don't know, but keep your guard up," Mikella said. There was no hint of having any fun fighting in her voice. Her eyes were cold and yellow, her fingers grasping onto the hilt of her sword with enough force to bend steel. "They were ready to kill the defenseless."

That was enough to put aside Zeke's questions. His eyes narrowed as he spotted the one in charge of the entire group. An older man who wore the same plated-armor uniform as the House Corran knights.

He stood forth, his eyes glued on the two otherworlders as he sneered at them. His sword was off from the sheath and stabbed at the ground with force, both his hands on the hilt as he made his proclamation.

"You heathens stand before the might of House Corran! Lay your eyes on the patriots of this world–your judges, jurors, and executioners! You stand accused of invading our world with your vile infections, and we will not stand for it!"

The man pulled his sword off the ground, and pointed the tip right at the two. He continued speaking with that loud, self-righteous tone of voice.

"And we will be rid of you at once!"

The other knights followed his demeanor, all brandishing their weapons at the group of otherworlders. They started to cry out in alarm, easily frightened at this new change of pace. At least they would know that these were clearly not on their side, not unlike Zeke and Mikella.

Least, he hoped so. People can get very stupid when they're confused and scared.

Zeke Identified each of the assailants, noticing their levels reaching above 70, with the captain-like man being above 80. However, there were two men that caught his attention.

The one, obviously, was Hamil. He looked over at them with clear indifference in his eyes. There was no sneer, but there was no love lost in his eyes either. He looked as though he was on the clock and just working his hours. He knew then and there, despite his Identify marking him as having the same level and Class as Hamil, that this was not the real Hamil.

Now that he knew what to look for, Zeke noticed that Hamil had some strange filler of mana surrounding the outside of his body. It was also mixed with some bits of kinetic and even life energy, making the skill he was using more complex than any normal skill, which proved why his Identify failed to see the true person hiding behind.

Then there was the other, clearly more dangerous man. It wasn't just that he was above level 90 of all things, but there was a clear air of danger around him. He didn't have to rely on his senses to clearly see the corpses trailing behind him. The amount of kills he had on him was staggering, almost sickening.

"No… no, no, no, why is Tack here…?"

Zeke heard Janet mutter to the side despite being so far away. Janet looked over at the man in question. Her face was pale, her eyes becoming wider with each breath she took. Even Lyle looked aghast at the man, his hands flexing between the two as though ready for fight or flight.

"Ooh… is that little Janet I see over there?" The man spoke in a tone of wonder and surprise. "No… no, it couldn't be! Tell me it ain't so, Janet. Even Lyle? My gods…"

Despite his words, Jack stepped over with a jaunty gait in his steps, a smile plastered on his lips. His eyes, however, were sharp and precise, destroying the playful persona.

Even his jaunty steps were filled with precision and poise, something that honestly frightened him a little.

"So… all this time, you guys were filthy, backstabbing otherworlders. How could you? Even though we took you in and treated you oh so well? Does Maver know?" The man gasped dramatically. "Does the boss know? Oh… Oh, this is so fucking good, I think I'm gonna faint."

His smile grew wider and wider, becoming practically distorted even on a human man's face. Scratch that.

His smile actually grew wider than normal, literally reaching over his face as fangs started protruding out of his mouth. His irises grew slanted and tapered, almost like a creature than a normal human.

"But I'll come for you later, right now," The man turned his disturbing smile back at Zeke and Mikella. "I got a job to do."

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