Switch was nervous. She had placed a tracker on Jude so she would know where he was at all times, even when she didn’t have access to the Town Stone. She knew that he had been investigating the spots that had gone dark to her and the Town Stone. But once he left town, she was no longer able to track him.

He had been gone a day and night now. She hoped that he hadn’t run into yet another situation like Grimwar Caves. For if he died, then so would she. He was her only ally.

“Stone Witch!” Lord Merek said interrupting her thoughts. “I want you to open up these connections.”

Switch scowled at Merek but looked at the map to the spots where he identified.

“But if I do that, the town energy will weaken and could allow spawning inside the city,” Switch said displeased.

“I am moving these districts and I can’t do it with the connections active,” Merek said. “The guards have been increased, so there will be no danger to the town.”

Switch knew that this was a trap. If she opened up the connections, it could allow Lord Merek to freely do whatever nefarious plan he was doing. If she rejected him, it could place a strain on her connection to the stone that Lord Merek could use to sever that connection. In the end, the decision was easy to make. Damage to the town could be repaired, but she could not if she lost her life.

“Very well, I will open up these connections. But only for a day,” she said.

“A day won’t be enough,” said Merek, “for these people to move all their belongings. There are also businesses there, they will need at least a week to move.”

“You want to open up the town to the dangers of the world for a week?! This I cannot do.” Replied Switch angrily.

Merek replied, “You can’t leave the town so you don’t know the outside world like I do. You do know that the most dangerous threat isn’t the Allur Forest. That forest is a newbie zone. How dangerous could it be?”

“You think that I’m that ignorant?” she said spitefully, “The Town Stone protects this place from more than just the spawns of Allur Forest. It also protects the town from the bandits and monsters from the fields. If we open up these connections, we will be defenseless against these beasts.”

Merek laughed, “But that’s why I’ve increased the guard. There will be no trouble at all. I will protect this town and its people. All you need to do is comply. If you don’t comply…”

He didn’t finish, but she knew what he was saying.

“Fine, I will open these connections. But five days will be the max.”

***

Using Jude created himself a safe place to take a break. If this was a true dungeon, then the monsters would respawn. However, Jude was pretty sure that this place less a dungeon made by the and more a place where the bandits hid out. So there shouldn’t be a respawn system here. But precaution was always best so was used.

Jude had found a herb that had a similar effect as caffeine. It was a lot like tea in its use, but the taste was something horrible. Sweetener only made it worse. But at a time like this, being late at night, Jude needed to be at his full focus. The herb was called Gib Dei or Dei for short.

After the short break, feeling reenergized, Jude used to scout once again.

He once again came into the stomach turning room with the slave pits. Thankfully, was vision only and he couldn’t smell any of it. He then looked for any signs of life but found none.

At least there was no undead. He could always use less undead.

The eye continued forward. Jude had to be careful, here in the caves it wasn’t easy to hide the eye and there were not alternate routes to avoid enemies. There was only one way to go.

The next room was similar to the last. More dead slaves, but these were a little different. They weren’t as badly mutilated.

The next room followed the same line of thought, more dead and even fewer mutilated. The next room after that was even more surprising as there were much fewer dead and no mutilated. But there was still no people, bandits or monsters in the area.

Jude was beginning to wonder if there was anyone left here when he spotted people in the next room.

It was the last of the slave pit caverns. Inside he saw some shuffling slaves back and forth. There was also a large stone altar set up in the middle. On the altar was a slave bound by ropes. Behind it was a massive humanoid figure with skin dark as night. The muscles that covered him would make any bodybuilder jealous and on his smooth bald head were two horns in line with his nose. This was a .

He was clearly chanting something, but Jude couldn’t hear anything through . Black mist began to emanate out of the dark figure's hands as he raised them up. The mist acted as if it was alive. It snaked down into the bound slave through the eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The poor slave convulsed and spasmed. Once the black mist was completely absorbed, the slave then expelled a white mist which the sucked in through his mouth. Outwardly, the slave looked no different than before.

Once this was finished the seemed to deflate. Apparently, the process took a lot out of it. But it wasn’t over, the then shifted into another form. Its skin went from pitch black to pasty white like death. The horns shrank and disappeared and the muscles continued to deflate until all that was left was a skinny human.

But that wasn’t the end of Jude’s shock, what rocked him now was that he knew who this person was. It was the very person who chased him into the Grimwar Caves. Abaud.

A hatred that Jude hadn’t known before filled his heart. Not only was this man free, but he had defiled himself with some unknown evil. He was also using this evil to defile others! Jude could forgive Abaud for what he did, but that didn’t mean that Abaud should go punishment free. That was why he had left Abaud to the system of the local government. But now Abaud was free. Not only was he free, but he was committing terrible acts of evil. What that evil was, Jude was unsure. But his gut told him that the consequences were going to be unreal.

He was about to rush over himself and end Abaud’s pitiful existence when he noticed another person help Abaud stand up. This new person was the true Bandit, the core, and leader of Wallowing Blood. He was born a human, corrupted by the Thief class and advanced himself high enough to reach at least 30 so that he could become a Bandit.

Now Jude had to make a critical choice. If he proceeded forward, he would have to face Abaud, the Bandit, and any that were left. He wasn’t confident that he could defeat them all at the same time. On the other hand, Abaud was now weakened and this might be the best chance he had to eliminate him. There were a lot of unknown in what Abaud was now as well.

Jude also considered going back. He would need to warn his company about the slave’s being potentially dangerous. And figure out how they are connected to Lord Merek.

He didn’t understand yet how everything was connected. Why would Lord Merek do these strange actions? What was the purpose of putting these slaves who were corrupted into Longdale? Why was he working with the Bandits? Why get rid of the Switch?

He was starting to understand some of these questions but hadn’t put all the pieces together yet.

Weighing the options, Jude knew that he only had one choice. To move forward. He didn’t know how powerful Abaud was, but he guessed that he would be much more powerful than he was before. If by some chance he couldn’t shift back into that form, then perhaps there was a chance. The real problem lied with the Bandit and his minions.

Jude decided to move forward and watch. If he could find an opportunity, he would take it!

Getting close proved to not be a problem. After all, the other slave pit rooms were already empty. Jude did keep watch to make sure no one was traveling back and forth or if perhaps there was another room or pathway that he had missed before. He switched to Ghost Commanders Eye variant of just to be sure.

Keeping to the shadows, he peeked into the last room where he had seen Abaud and the Bandit. Across the room, resting in a lavish chair he could see Abaud relaxing with the Bandit drinking wine. The two seemed to be on friendly terms, but Jude was too far away to hear the conversation clearly. There were a few other in the room, but no .

Jude looked at Abaud and could feel nothing of the he saw earlier. In the form of Abaud, he was like any other human, the Bandit gave off more of an air of danger than Abaud did. So Jude turned on his to see if there was something different. Unfortunately, the range didn’t extend that far.

He really wanted to see Abaud with his , so he tried focusing its detection range. He closed his eyes to gain a better concentration of and that is when it hit him! didn’t work in conjunction with his eyes, but rather it was being limited by them! He had assumed the extent of perception range was the same as his eyes, but he was wrong. But because of his assumption, it created a limitation on the very skill! With his eyes closed he could see 360 degrees around him. It was both disorienting and natural at the same time.

The neon lines of magic flowed everywhere. Earth magic was the most prevalent. Being surrounded by it gave Jude a new understanding of it. Never before had he seen such an array of colors. You could call them all brown, but that would truly disgraceful to what he was seeing. The range varied from dark to light. Some had flecks of gold or silver and others a vein of red would occasionally flash. But as marvelous as it was, it was not what Jude was after. After all, Earth magic wasn’t the only thing that was noticeable.

There was also a dark and evil magic that floated in the air. It seeped into the ground and was corrupting it. The evil magic was slowly consuming the other magics and the consumed magic turned black and the neon was gone. Deep down Jude felt sadden as if it was the loss of something important. The magic in this area was being defiled. But right now, Jude could do nothing about it. What he needed to do was to focus on Abaud and perhaps understanding would flow his way.

Jude was getting better at focusing his range and narrowing it towards Abaud. The 360-degree view was slowly shrinking and becoming more of a point in one direction. When the range reached to where the altar was, he nearly gagged. The evil magic here was clearly the worst. Instead of a neon light being corrupted, it was more like a black hole. And the surrounding magic that wasn’t corrupted was slowly being sucked in.

Jude had spent a long time looking at the boundless magic that this world had been made of. He had spent numerous hours playing with his Modicuit and loved to find new ways to do things with it. He was beginning to truly feel like a part of this world and its marvelous energy. But this evil was slowly corrupting it. Destroying the very thing he loved.

It saddened him.

It angered him.

How dare someone destroy this precious gift!

How dare someone take what was good and so freely given to everyone and corrupt it?!

Why?! WHY would someone pervert themselves and the world? What would they gain from something like this?

Through sheer will, Jude pushed the focus of further! Perhaps if he could see Abaud he would understand.

hit the Bandit first and it caused Jude to shiver. The bright and vibrant neon lines that made up most people were dim and cold in the Bandit. But at least there was still color. It was a cold color, a color that sought death and destruction. A perversion of what it should be, but it was at least a color.

Then the focus made it to Abaud. Abaud was like a neon sign turned off and abandoned. The lines were black, but they weren’t dead. No, there was something moving through them. But Jude couldn’t figure out what it was. It wasn’t like any magic or mana that he had ever seen. More like something alive, wiggling through the very structure of his makeup.

His observation of it triggered something as the things inside his lines wiggled and thrived viciously after being observed. Jude quickly retracted and opened his eyes.

He got two notifications but didn’t pay them much attention. Abaud was having a reaction to his probe.

Area Analyze Ranked Up! Rank III

Murl’s Journal Entry Added!

Abaud quickly stood up and transformed into an once again!

“AARRGGG,” the yelled.

“Whats wrong!?” asked the Bandit.

“I’m not sure, something made my blood boil for a moment and then stopped,” Abaud said as he transformed back into a human.

“It’s not like you to be jumpy,” the Bandit said.

“I probably overworking myself.”

“Still,” the Bandit looked around, “It is better to be careful.”

“You guys,” the Bandit said to the , “go check in with the others. Make sure nothing wrong has happened.”

Perfect, Jude now had his chance.