His escape plan halfway done, Nero just needed to get out of a castle under siege, create another portal and he'd be back at the tower. He put his equipment back on and walked out of the tower. The castle looked like a kicked anthill, with soldiers moving equipment, sheaves of arrows, barrels of oil, and some wooden panels covered with a thick fur up to the walls.

Nero had to report at the shelter, the one the prince was renting to change the portal for another one with a new password. To his surprise, Mayleefa was waiting for him.

"Nero, we need to talk," He glanced at the guards. Nero understood it was a private conversation.

He didn't reply. Nero created another portal, dismissed the old one, and taught the knight guarding the outside the new password. That knight then activated some soundproof bubble on his headgear, spoke the password, went inside, closed the portal, and returned a minute later. With the proper protocol followed, Nero and Mayleefa entered the portal. Only then the buffalo-kin learned the new password. They walked to the far edge of the shelter and once they were touching the illusionary wall, Mayleefa activated a privacy device.

"Coriander is pushing for an early resolution of the siege," he told Nero. "Our troops will engage the enemy. We weren't expecting those giant trebuchets and we need to destroy them."

Nero understood as much. He saw the rocks flying through the air. He felt the same terror as the soldiers on the walls.

"And you are telling me that because...?"

"You need to stay here. This place collapses if you die. So I 'm forbidding you from going outside. I hope you understand. His Highness wishes that no harm befall you."

That put a wrench on Nero's plans. He sighed, scowled, but then slumped his shoulders.

"That's fine. I do have homework from the Lyceum to finish. I'll be in my tent for the time being. May I request we change our schedule for the portals? Changing it three times a day causes too many moments of vulnerability."

Mayleefa paused to think but quickly nodded in agreement. "How long does each one of them last?"

"More than a whole day. We can also spend a hundred extra points of Essence to double that."

"Once a day then. It is decided. I'll see you tomorrow."

Nero smiled and waved. Before Mayleefa could go, he was already with one of the books. The buffalo-kin just walked away.

That house arrest would be the end for him. Nero pretended to read while he thought. He had to get out of the castle soon. His stomach churned with anxiety. True, he was as safe as it could be in his shelter, but he longed to get back home. He could feel Altia through the [Heart Bond]. He knew she was healthy and so has remained all this time. He didn't want to think about what he'd do if she was wounded.

Nero closed his eyes and focused on another thing. He started to trigger the spell and selected the temporary shelter. He felt the mana start to drain and a light shone in his mindscape. He could open a portal to the other shelter from this one. He could escape from the tower.

Nero stored the book and went to his tent. Now that he was away from the camp, he had some privacy, he just needed to make sure nobody would come to check on him. Going out at night would be easier as well. He waited until someone came to bring him dinner, thanked the servant, and closed his tent. Now nobody would come to bother him at night and he had a witness putting him inside his tent. Nero paid Essence to create a detached two-day portal to the temporary shelter and slipped out of the savanna. He didn't bother waking Rodther up and just left into the tower. Looking around, he saw nobody. Torches lined up the walls, destroying the sentries' night vision.

Sliding his anti-detection build, Nero checked its Status again.

Stealth Build:

[Rogue] - yellow - bound to Nero

Vigor [+2]

Endurance [+3]

Agility [+7]

Dexterity [+7]

Reason [+5]

Perception [+7]

Special: Add half your Reason to your Perception.

Special: Attacks made on targets unaware of your presence add half your Reason to the precision and damage.

Special: Your scent or the smell of any item on you is reduced. Subtract your Charisma from the Perception of targets attempting to detect or track you by scent.

- [Dangersense] - You have a passive chance to sense danger and hostile intent if the source is less than Perception x 4 yards away from you, based on Reason.

- [Heightened Senses] - Increase the range and acuity of all senses by 40% and your Perception by 4%.

- [Decrease Presence] - As long as you move at less than half of your walking speed, reduce the Perception of targets attempting to sense you by a third of your Dexterity.

- [Invisibility] - Spend 1 mana. You become invisible for 5 minutes or until you attack. Reduce the Perception of targets attempting to detect you with visual means by your Willpower. You cause a slight blur when you move, reducing the Willpower for the effects of this spell by the percentage of your max speed.

- [Snipe] - Spend 1 stamina and aim for one minute. Your next ranged physical attack on an enemy unaware of you deal double damage and ignore 25% of their defenses.

- [Piercing Shot] - Effect: Spend (3 or Target's level / 5 whichever is higher) stamina and charge for 1 minute to allow one physical ranged attack to ignore up to 33% of the target's defenses, reduced by half the target's Vigor. The shot's accuracy also increases by half your Willpower.

(First seen in Chapter LXXXIV)

Satisfied that it was the one he wanted to use, he cast [Invisibility] on himself and walked down the tower stairs and into the rear wall overlooking the ramp. Some bored soldiers were watching mounted patrols walk up and down the ramp. He walked around until he found a dark spot between torches. Waiting for the patrol to walk past him, he took a bundle of rope and using a pole, passed it around one of the machicolations and the outer crenelation. He took both ends of the rope in his hands and jumped down the wall, swinging and bracing his feet against the wall. He stopped and looked around, shifting his goggles' lenses to detect Essence flows.

Even with their limiters on, people still absorbed some ambient Essence. He could see the patrol walking on the wall and the riders on the ramp. Timing his descent, he reached the lowest point his rope allowed him to go and let go of one of the ends when the patrol up on the wall was further away from his position. As the rope reeled, he had some control over his descent and soon reached the ramp halfway. Nero put all of his Agility and Dexterity to catch the rope as it fell and wrap it around his arm. Once it was free-falling down from the wall, he willed the whole rope into his dimensional pouch, remembering how Amaryllis did the same with the whole castle.

It didn't work because the length of the unwound rope was greater than his minimum dimension. It slapped on the ground and he quickly gathered it and put it away.

"Hey, did you hear any sound?" One of the mounted soldiers said. By the shape of his ears, a fox-kin.

"Where? Let's check it out," The other said.

Nero walked down the ramp, thanking the stone mages for making a ramp without debris, dust, or gravel. The soldiers didn't catch his scent either, his [Rogue] class card reducing the Perception to detect him by scent by his Charisma. Soon they gave up and resumed their patrol. Nero skulked to the end of the ramp and out into the open valley. He didn't see anyone around so he made a beeline for the Dire Warg's Forest of Rot. Checking his clock, he confirmed he would reach the Dungeon before midnight.

A couple hours later, he reached the Dungeon portal. A platoon of soldiers with Coriander's heraldry was camped around it, watching the portal. By their faces, they were waiting for someone to come out. Nero kept watching, waiting to see what would happen. He didn't want to fight. Not only he would be at a numerical disadvantage but also these soldiers did nothing to warrant death, the invasion notwithstanding. He just wanted to get home without a hassle.

Five minutes to midnight, two young nereids appeared next to the portal. Wounded and tired, it was obvious that the rest of their group didn't make it. The group broke camp and walked back to their camp. Nero wondered if they would keep a watch around the Dungeon portal but this group was too behind enemy lines. As they walked away, Nero approached the portal still invisible, and entered it.

Entering "Dire Warg's Forest of Rot" - Rank -III Dungeon

He looked around. His [Dungeon Clock] showed he made it before midnight. The Dungeon seemed smaller than he remembered but his mission was clear. Nero needed to restock on Essence. Without taxes or any party members to reduce his earnings. He unslung his rifle, changed to his [Archer] build, cast [Shadow Coating] on the weapon, and started to fire away at the trees and wolves.

The Dungeon had shrunk considerably. Now, instead of two miles, the radius of the whole crater was less than a quarter of a mile. The deer zone was the one that suffered the most. It was practically inexistent. But as he went around the bear zone clearing the forest, he found that his Essence crystals' yield dropped considerably.

"There's only one reason for this," Nero mused. "I'm not alone."

He walked around and killed another bear. With seven stages of [Empower Attack], the monster died in a single shot. Once the noise from the shot vanished, he heard a voice.

"Who goes there?" A male asked from behind a copse of trees.

Nero activated [Cougar's Speed] and went around the trees, his rifle ready to shoot. He found a couple of wounded nereids, one of each gender. They made eye contact and the female gasped.

"Don't shoot!" She implored.

Nero shifted from Essence sight to low-light on his goggles. Now he could see both nereids were wounded, one of them with the leg broken.

"Kind Adventurer, we're just fellow explorers down on our luck," The male said. "Would you have any healing items to spare?"

Nero knew he was being stupid. But the female nereid reminded him of his adoptive sister. He should leave, never approach them.

"Are you with Coriander's army?" Nero asked. "And don't try to fool me."

He cringed after the words left him. Asking to not be fooled was almost the same as begging to. Nero's heart was pounding. His distress compounded with the suffering he was witnessing made him lower his guard. Instead of going away and let the Dungeon do the cleanup, he approached a few more steps.

"No, we're not," The man lied.

"What are your levels?" Was Nero's next question. "Show your full status on your screens."

It was a faux pas to ask for someone else to show their Status, but they were liars, invaders, wounded, and on the wrong end of Nero's gun. Nobody could ignore these conditions, so they showed their Status obediently. Both were level twenty-five and from their Attribute values, Nero knew the woman was a front-line defender, and the man an agility fighter.

"Would you help us now?" The woman asked. She was wheezing and probably had a broken rib.

Even her voice remembered him of Crystal. He looked at them and noticed both had belts instead of bandoliers.

"Yes, I will. But first, I want you to strip down. Take off everything and deactivate your belts," Nero said. "Wrap your equipment, weapons, and belts in a blanket and toss them next to me."

The man glared with hostility. Nero dropped [Shadow Coating] and turned on the bayonet, pointing the gun at his head. Be it as it may, it was the woman that was evoking his wish to help and protect them. He still didn't lose sight of Rule 3.

"Private Hamil, stand down," The woman said in a commanding voice then looked at Nero. "Yes, we are with Coriander's army. We were sent here to collect Essence and cards. Our companions already left but we were wounded and only had two [Egress] cards. I'm sorry for lying to you, please don't kill us."

"Yes, sergeant Moira," Hamil groaned.

Nero turned off his bayonet and recast [Shadow Coating]. "Do as I say and you might live. I won't abuse either of you and if I have to kill you, it will be with a headshot. Now hurry up."

They undressed. Moira had to cut off her pant leg and underwear to get around her wound but Nero soon had a blanket bindle tossed next to him. He made it vanish into his pouch to the surprise of the nereids.

"Here, have a [Healing Potion], Hamil," Nero flicked a card his way. "After you drank it, stand up and come my way with your hands in the air."

Nero made the man spin around in his birthday suit and made sure he had no weapon. Once that was confirmed, he tied him tightly with rope. Behind his back, Nero pulled his cloak over his arms and changed into his stone mage build. He covered the rope and knots with a thick layer of stone. Once Hamil was bound and gagged, Nero took back the bindle and set it aside. Slinging his rifle across his back, he went to treat Moira.

"I'll have to bind your leg before I give you a potion," Nero said. "This is going to hurt."

The nereid woman was more concerned about covering herself than with her wound, it seemed. Nero tried not to look but it was impossible. Her cheeks were red-hot but Nero ignored it and started to draw rock from the ground nearby. Once she nodded, he tugged her leg and straightened the bone before he created a stone splint. Then he gave her two [Healing Potion].

"Do you have spare underwear?" He asked while she quaffed the potions.

"Yes, it is in my pack," Moira answered.

Her voice was now without the wheezing. While the potion wouldn't fully mend the bone, it helped a bit. Her leg would require a few weeks of treatment even with magic, though. Nero found her underwear and handed it to her along with a dress. He put the bindle back in his dimensional pouch and stood up.

"I'm going around the trees for a while. Get dressed but don't walk away. Call me when you are done."

Nero used this time to switch to his stealth [Rogue] build. He would sense if they tried to attack him.

"I'm dressed," Moira said.

He returned and looked at her, She was sitting next to Hamil. Once their eyes met, she asked.

"We are grateful for healing us. But what happens now?" There was fear in her voice. Even though she drank two potions, her leg was still broken, her partner bound in stone-covered rope and they didn't even have their equipment or belts.

Nero sighed. "That depends on you. I'll be honest. You are not returning home or to your army. I saw your companions exit the Dungeon. Everyone went back, they wrote you off as dead. Now tell me, to what or whom do you owe your loyalties?"

"Do you want us to work for you?" Moira asked. Hamil could only mumble, his jaw bound with a stone gag.

"Not really," Nero replied. "I am more concerned if you are going to be a liability to me or not."

"We came here to rescue our princess your prince kidnapped. Bast needs to be punished for what they did," Moira said honestly, reading Nero's expression.

She was probably testing the waters with her well-chosen words. Her face was painted with surprise when Nero nodded at her affirmation that Bast needed to be punished.

"Princess Serena, right?" Nero asked just to confirm it. Who knew how many princesses were kidnapped. It seemed to happen so often the poor maidens should earn hazard pay.

"Yes!" Moira exclaimed. "I can't imagine the torment she suffered."

"It was--" Nero shut his mouth immediately. He was going along with the mood, his mind wandering. "Must've been terrible. I have one question for you. I'm removing Hamil's gag. Don't do anything I wouldn't, Hamil."

Nero released the man's mouth. Hamil looked at him and asked, "What is your question?"

"What is more important, Serena's happiness or your country's pride?"