The group of Krimson Spire Guild members that Colin had incapacitated two short hours ago were still shouting their lungs out through their gags. Trying to get Anyone’s attention that could either release them or appeal to their captors’ sensibilities. It was an interesting switch that the women were shouting more often than the men, who were mostly being stoically quiet while the women yelled.

“Walker, how much longer?” Rielle asked, visibly distressed by the whole thing she was hearing from Colin’s prisoners. It didn’t take long for Larry to find her and bring her up the stairwell just before the roof. “I don’t like this at all.”

“In a few more moments from now. I want the sun to set just a little more,” Colin told her, looking out at the steadily setting sun. “The effect of Shadow Cowling is much more unsettling if there is a bit of sunlight left.”

Rielle looked outside and gave a little nod, “why are you doing this? What did they do to you?”

“Nothing,” Colin said, shrugging as he looked up at the door leading outside. “Except for choosing a Guild affiliated with people that I plan to destroy. Just be glad that they are Outworlders and will come back to life eventually.”

“Oh, come off it, Little Fey,” Larry said from lower on the stairs taking a few steps closer to the pair of them as he spoke. “The Master is just enjoying and embracing his inner Demon Lord Candidate. Like he said, they’re Outworlders anyway. It’s not like their Death is Permanent,” he grinned.

“But I don’t think… I disagree with hurting people who haven’t hurt you first,” Rielle said, a firmness in her tone and expression that Colin enjoyed seeing. She was becoming something besides the subservient Death Fey that her previous owners had intended.

“Normally, I’d agree. The means rarely justify the ends for any goal if the means involve destroying innocent lives. But what little I’ve heard of Krimson Spire’s more nefarious activities says a lot about them that I hope is true. It means I won’t mind butchering them in droves if necessary.” Colin told them truthfully.

Larry nodded, as if he knew that information all along, while Rielle looked at him in confusion. “I only know of two events, mine and one bought from Henrietta. She said that one of the Guild officers tried to buy an apartment complex owned by the Cult to use it as a Guild Hall. It was all a lie made by the Krimson Spire to kill some High Ranked members of the Cult, and it succeeded.”

“Shit,” Rielle breathed, cussing for the first time since Colin had known her.

“Indeed,” Nox said, stepping out from Colin’s shadow. “Besides, it’s not like DevilWalker gets much of a choice here. Killing these Outworlder’s will grant him a fair amount of experience points, and he needs to level to survive. Given that eventually, he will be found out as a Demon Lord Candidate,” Nox told the three of them.

“And on that note, I think it’s time,” Colin said, looking out at the orange sky as it was steadily darkening into midnight blue. “Let’s see if these guys will be at all useful.”

Colin stepped up the last few steps to the door leading out to the roof. He activated Shadow Cowling, covering him in an obscuring cloak of smoky black. The mana drain was minor, and he could keep the Magic effect up for several minutes without issue. On a quick side thought, Colin also spoke under his breath, “Loki bar flærða tíma,” activating his Channel Effigy skill for Loki.

Stepping out, Colin was greeted by the sight of five humanoids sitting in with their back to a small knee-high wall that separated certain areas of the roof. They were all stuck to the wall with their hands encased to prevent movement. Their heads were hooded to block sight and remained gagged underneath to lock away speech for the moment. All this prevents them from triggering abilities or any other various power since most require extra components to trigger.

Deciding that a little theatrics was in order for the Briarthorn Killer, Colin walked over slowly to the group, his presence and approaching footsteps adding to the intimidation effect. He stopped about two meters in front of them and stood still as he spoke.

“Since your mouths are a little occupied, I think I will go first in these discussions, shall I?” Colin said, glad the Shadow Cowling was tinting his voice. “You’re here out of terrible luck, and for that, I am very unapologetic. But here’s the deal, I have a few questions to ask you, and I kind of need you talking for that so, here are the rules of this discussion.”

Colin paused, observing Nox stepping out of a nearby shadow and looking up at the sky in what seemed like wonder. Colin looked up but saw nothing beyond the darkening sky, so he moved on. “I am going to take off your hoods and gags so that I can hear you when you speak. If you scream, yell, threaten or attack me, I guess that I will have to kill you and give you the chance to respawn elsewhere. Nod once if you understand.” He ordered, and only two nodded, Veene and the less armored of the two men.

“So, I guess you get your gags and hoods off,” Colin said, walking forward and doing just that. She breathed heavily with the thing obstructing her mouth missing, her companion openly coughing his lungs out as adjusted to the usual amount of air people needed. “So, tell me, what’s your name?” Colin asked, crouching down to see the man straight into his eyes.

“Kwillis,” he answered plainly, his voice resentful as he turned to look at Veene, who was openly shaking.

“You seem like the sensible type; we’ll start the questioning with you. If you all answer me this one question now and truthfully, since I will know,” Colin said, nodding at the Goblin. “I’m looking for a member of your Guild. He’s an Aeromage that goes by Volkiere and has been playing air purifier for your Guilds special project. I want to know where he is. Can you tell me that?” Colin asked, his tone calm and smooth like wax.

Kwillis narrowed his eyes at Colin, “I don’t know everybody in the Guild. Why the fuck should any of us know that?”

Colin shrugged and drew his newly improved Ravenous Mythic Xiphos and pointed it at the man’s neck. “Are you sure you don’t know anything about him or where he ended up? I’d hate to waste my pretty new weapon on you.”

“Yeah, I- I don’t know where he is. I know who he is, not where.” He answered.

Nodding, Colin patted the man on his shoulder before going over to Veene. He crouched down to her eye level and spoke to her with a steady voice. “So, how about you, young lady. What do you know about Volkiere?”

The girl stammered, “I, uh, I- I know he’s part of a party known for being able to beat unusual dungeons, complexes, or caverns. He’s rather creative in his use of m-magic, and he seems to like to be seen and not heard more than anything. Uh, he’s one of the few people in the Guild that they seem actively willing to finance for the weird Career he chose. I’ve heard that he likes the same Vodka that the rest of his party teases Morenstad for drinking, hides his empty bottles in the Rogues stuff to-”

The incessant ramble the panicked girl spewed was unbelievably droll and pointless to actually finding the man. Colin raised a hand to stop the woman before restating his question. “Do you know where he is or where he could have been in the city when the Golems started attacking?”

“Uh, n-no,” she answered meekly, staring at the malicious looking sword in Colin’s hand.

Grumbling, Colin spoke to the other three, “Okay, class!” he announced, getting all their attention. “I want answers to my most pressing question, where or how can I find Volkiere? So, I am going to take one of your hoods off before taking off the gag. If the answer you give isn’t what I want to hear, then I will just kill you and send you to respawn far away from here with a large chunk of experience lost. This will happen unless one of you, any of you, tells me what I need to know. Let me be clear about one thing, though. I don’t care if you know what I need or not; if I don’t get what I need, your deaths are assured.”

Colin started to pace in front of the group for a few seconds before settling on which one to unmask. “Let’s start with you,” Colin stated to the woman, pulling the hood off the green-robed woman with her face now entirely in view. She was actually an elf if the ears were anything to judge by. Her green eyes were practically piercing with their anger. A sizeable mottled scar stretched from between her eyebrows to her scalp.

In his opinion, the scar added to her rather fetching appearance and made her more attractive than without it. To be fair, though, Colin was pretty sure he had a thing for warrior women.

He removed the gag but kept close to her as he spoke, to return the gag should she prove… loud. “So tell me, what’s your name?” Colin asked her, smiling at her in a way that he was sure sounded confident.

“Ami, now fuck off and let us the fuck out!” she demanded, fighting against her bonds. With a glare, she said, “Fairy Invasion.”

Colin moved to swing his sword to decapitate the woman but found himself lowering his guard as something translucent appeared and practically flowed into his vision. It was small, about the size of a bluejay, and humanoid in shape. Beyond that, it was hard to tell, given he was mostly working with its outline. It’s form flowed forward and into his skull, and a prompt appeared in his vision.

The spell ‘Fairy Invasion’ has Failed due to your Ability ‘Fated Evil’ triggering in response. Fated Evil prevents all forms of Possession by entities entering your body and attempting to subvert your will.

The little figure in his body let out a high pitched scream that ended abruptly a few seconds later when the figure barreled out of his body. It tumbled through the air as if it were solid ground and vanished from sight as it slowed to a stop.

Ami, the green-robed Elfin Mage, stared at Colin as he raised his sword to her throat. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the blade and started mouthing, “no way. Immune t-to Possession! How is that poss-”

“Before I do something we both will regret later, I just want to know,” Colin said, interrupting her. “Do you know where he is or how he could be found?”

“I need to know how you got immune to Possession!” she practically demanded, ignoring his own demand. “Please, I will give you all my Copper if you tell me how you became immune to it!” She pleaded. “I need-”

In one quick motion, Colin stepped forward. He swung his blade at her neck, decapitating her with a single move, given that she was defenseless and he aimed for a critical area. Her head tumbled to the floor in front of Veene, the woman visibly paling at the sight of her teammate’s rolling head.

“Okay, now that you all know I am serious, let’s try this again wiiiiiith… you,” Colin said, yanking the hood off the Brawler woman. She immediately saw the headless body still stuck to the wall next to her and struggled harder against her bonds. The Shadow Cowled Colin crouched floor and rapped the tip of his blade against the gravel on the roof to get her to stop and look at him. “You know, I’d rather not kill you before asking my question. So will you please let me ask before you panic?” he asked, stepping forward and pulling the gag away before she started struggling again.

“W-why?” she asked, the distress painting her expression. “Why are you doing this?”

“I told you why. I want Volkiere, and I will find him,” Colin said, shrugging more. “I don’t need any more of a reason than that, do I? Unless you were hoping I would spill my life story and explain that he killed the dog my wife ordered me before her death? No, I’m not that cliche. So, spill it, do you know what I want to know?”

“Volkiere, he, uh, he spends his time working for the Guild on some secret project just out of town. He was supposed to report to one of the smaller auxiliary sites near the walls. Which none of us knew existed,” she said, her shoulders quaking in terror at the man threatening them.

“Do you know where these auxiliaries are?” he pressed, keeping an eye on the woman’s growing panic. “Do any of you know?” he asked all the four remaining members.

The last group member who remained gagged started violently shaking his head and saying things through the gag. It was either varying forms of ‘don’t tell him shit’ or ‘Don’t need to spit,’ the former of which did make sense, mostly since colin was somewhat fluent in mumble.

Colin chose to ignore the defiant man for a moment to not distract or panic the others more for a moment more. Instead, he looked to the other two women and Kwillis; the latter of the three looked like he had something to share.

“You, Mister Kwillis. Do you have something to say about this subject of Krimson Spire Auxiliary Buildings?” Colin asked, calmly approaching the front of the man.

The warrior looked at his still protesting companion and looked conflicted about answering Colin as he looked between Colin’s silhouetted form and the still hooded party member. “I know where the eastern auxiliary is. I had to drop off some supplies over there, and I can tell you where it is, if-”

“I let you all live,” Colin finished. “Then let’s hope you can be very descriptive for me, Kwillis. Where is it?” Colin asked, pulling out his Information Tablet and opening up its saved city map. With the man to guide him, Colin found a small house he remembered passing on his way to the Cult of Scylla’s hideout.

“Thank you, sir. Colin said, then turned to the others. “Anyone else? I will let you all leave if you answer me honestly,” he said, arms extended to his sides invitingly. For the first time since the conversation started, Colin felt the used Channel Effigy power he’d receive from Loki, ‘Silver Tongue’ push him to say something specific. He added, “I can tell if you lie to me with my level in Detect Falsehood.”

Veene instantly froze at the mention of the skill, and Colin noticed the motion and stared. The young woman nodded slowly under his withering stare and answered almost robotically, “I know where the northern auxiliary is.”

Colin got the location from her using his map again and put away his Information Tablet. With everything he needed, he was reasonably sure he couldn’t get anything else from them without torture or certain drugs. Torture, not a viable option since he knew the system prevented its use against Players, and he had no access to particular drugs. Mental Magic could be useful here at higher levels, but he was almost sure that it was much too weak to help him here.

“I thank you all for your cooperation and now will let you all leave the game,” Colin said, taking a step closer to Veene. It took a moment for the girl to register his words, but it was too late by that point. He swung his sword and decapitated her just like Ami. He took a few steps closer to Kwillis and ran his sword through the Player’s ribcage, and pulling it back out before turning to the Brawler Woman and the still gagged party member.

“No, no, no, no,” she said, struggling to get away from the man approaching her but to no avail. Colin raised his sword and decapitated the woman before she could actually scream more than a note.

“Then there was one,” Colin said, maliciousness practically dripping from his mouth. “So, have you got anything useful to say, or am I going to get… creative with you?”

The man turned his still covered head in Colin’s suggestion and spat out two words through that gag that sounded a lot like, “fuck! You!”

“Creative it is then. Let’s see…” Colin said, pulling up his character sheet and looking through his options. Magic was cool but not really creative. he could enchant something, but that would take some time. His Bardic Magic skill didn’t feel advanced enough to quickly kill the warrior.

Then, an idea came to Colin’s mind as he remembered something new that he’d received not a few hours earlier. He opened up the new power he’d gotten in his Channel Effigy skill and smiled, “perfect.”

Replacing his Mythic Xiphos in its sheath, Colin drew his Infernal Trench Knife and stabbed at the man’s shoulder. He screamed through his gag at Colin, mumbled profanities spewed forth as Colin raised the blade again. He struck again, and again, aiming for non-vital areas on the man’s body, carefully lowering his health without actually killing him.

Guessing that he was in critical health, Colin returned the blade to his side and took a step back. Activating his Channel Effigy skill, Colin pointed at the unknown and bleeding Player. He proclaimed, “A gift to you, Terror of the Strait of Messina. I hope you’ll accept it, in my name. Enjoy!” Colin called out, magic flooding out of him in a rush, consuming 200 MP in an instant.

A fifteen-foot circle of water flooded out from a single point underneath the Player, the foamy water not going far from the circle’s edge. The sound of a wave crashed, and a spray of foamy water burst up to hose down the Player before a serpentine head burst from the water directly under him. The move launched the Player in the air, screaming and thrashing in a vain attempt to get away from the draconic head. A smaller version of Scylla’s head reared back like a snake preparing to strike, then launching forward and biting over the Player with one comfortable bite.

With an audible swallow, the Player went down its gullet, and the head of Scylla hummed in delight. Its head turned to face Colin, and it bared its teeth in a predatory grin, “that was quite delicious, DevilWalker. I accept your gift and gratefully appreciate it.”

Your Favor Level with the Effigy Scylla has increased from 1 to 2.

“Until next time, DevilWalker,” the aspect said, chuckling before raising its snout to the sky and sinking back into the roof. The water sucked away back into the circle that called it, and only the four remaining bodies of the others remained.

Congratulations! You have completed the Quest given by your class, ‘No ground to run to,’ having killed at least five Players in good standing with the Krimson Spire Guild. You have gained 10 Pride Points for completing the Quest, ‘No ground to run to.’

Admittedly, Colin had forgotten about this Quest. He knew he was going kill the requisite five Players eventually, and he had discovered a way to get some Pride Points through his nightly murders. But still, this was nice. Especially since a new Prompt appeared.

Quest: No ground to run to 2. Objective: You have killed several Guild members in pursuit of power, but you need to keep it going. Fill them with the fear of the Antagonist so that the world may soon cower before you. Kill 10 members in good standing of the Krimson Spire Guild. Reward: 15 Pride Points or a single skill point. Time Limit: None.

Nodding to himself as he read the updated Quest, Colin withdrew the ‘you’ve been murdered by’ cards that he prepared to help grow his Pride Points supply. He tucked them into the Player’s clothing and found another Prompt waiting for him.

You have killed five Members of the Krimson Spire Guild, and your ability, Player Killer 1, has triggered. You’ve gained 36,712 EXP out of the groups held experience to the next level. You now have 53,983/70,215 EXP until level 16.

“Hell yeah!” Colin crowed, marveling at his large gain. It was a lot more than when he’d helped kill that Columbine Mutator in the Dungeon that got him his class. To be fair to him, though, he figured that Nox had taken most of that experience since he did the lion’s share of the work actually killing it.

“How’re you feeling, DevilWalker, any sense of catharsis?” Nox asked, stepping out of Colin’s shadow.

“A little bit,” Colin admitted, taking a deep breath and reveling in the gains and a little relaxed from the experience. It was not a feeling he was expecting to get from some nobodies, but apparently, he was a little pissed at the Guild that forced Monty and his Party to attack him.

Then a thought crossed his mind. “You left Rielle with Larry?”

“No,” Nox answered. “She went down the stairs when you walked out to start interrogating them. Not sure where she went.”

“And Larry?” Colin asked, watching Nox as he moved around the bodies of the dead.

“He stayed at the door,” Nox answered, looking up to look at the city. “He hadn’t moved when I-” the Goblin stopped, looking at the city with wide, golden eyes. “DevilWalker, I- I think this is worse than we originally thought,” he spoke, words full of wonder.

“How do you mean?” Colin asked, looking where the Goblin was, trying to see what the Goblin was seeing.

The Goblin turned to face Colin, signed, and reached into his jacket. Withdrawing a small bottle of eyedrops and tossing them to Colin, “put a dab of that in your eyes, and you’ll see.” Nox promised, turning around in a circle with his gaze looking towards the sky around them.

The Antagonist twisted the cap off the eyedrops bottle, getting enough of the inky fluid in the eyedropper, and raised it above his head. Tilting his head back, Colin squeezed off a drop of the unknown substance in each of his eyes, immediately fighting the urge to rub it out of his protesting eyes.

When Colin opened his eyes, a new prompt waited for him.

You are now under the effects of the Magical Sight Drops and have gained the buff’ Esoteric Vision’ for the next ten minutes. The Buff, ‘Esoteric Vision’ allows you to perceive the flows of specific energies in the world around you.

Colin dismissed the prompt and followed the Goblin’s sight. The world around him was suddenly alight with moving simmering colors and shifting lines of shadow. It wasn’t that any of the colors obscured his vision; it was much more sideways than that. It was like all these mists and lines of color overlapped the world without covering it.

“What am I looking at?” Colin asked, looking at each individual area of color, trying to determine their purpose and origin.

“Look all around the city,” Nox instructed. “Do you see all those threads of green and white light coming up from all around us? That is experience points moving around in a controlled way. Normal experience moves suddenly, and the residue fades quickly. Still, this… this is unusual, and I think, given the timing, I think the Golems are the cause.”

“How is that possible?” Colin asked, getting a sinking idea as to what is going on with what he was seeing. The green-white light strings were seemingly infinite and stretching out within the city around him. The lights stretched up into the sky and came down in an arc towards the city square.

Nox shrugged, “I can make a guess or three, but I’m not a Golemist. I don’t know everything about what these things could be. The only thing I know is that If something is moving around that many Experience points, then whatever is doing that is growing. My guess would be the leader of the Golems. Gaining needed EXP to level up and do more stuff.”

“Damn,” Colin groaned, looking at the emerald lights and seeing only dangerous possibilities ahead for him. “Well, not much I can do about that now,” he said, walking towards the stairway off the roof.

“Are you sure ignoring this is a good idea? Whatever is gathering this experience might eventually be unstoppable,” Nox warned.

“Oh, I’m not ignoring this, Nox. I will ask our friend Rielle to try and find out where the Golems are coming from. There is no point in moving forward without knowing this information, considering that I come back even if I die, but Rielle… No, I need information before we do anything,” Colin said thoughtfully as he looked to the east. Roughly in the direction of where the Krimson Spire Auxiliary building should be.

Colin looked at the entrance to the Dungeon that the city had at its center from the roof. The access to ‘Zagan’s Besieged Fortress’ stood as it had when he first saw the Dungeon and still remained impressive. An aura of black, red, and oddly golden light radiated around the extradimensional space entrance. He could assume that the red and black were the demonic energies that came off the demons, but what about the gold. Maybe came from the Dungeon itself?

Thinking about it, Colin sighed and said, not expecting an answer, “I’m going to have to, aren’t I?”

“Unfortunately, probably,” the Goblin answered.

“I could go out into the city and start killing Golems for experience, but eventually, they might overpower me,” Colin said, thinking through his last fight. He might have beaten that Warrior Golem that had appeared right there at the end of his battle, but he certainly wasn’t ready for it.

“But you aren’t going in yet, right?” Nox asked, curiosity and a smile in his tone.

Colin turned to face Nox, “Hell no. I just got a lead on Volkiere; I’m fucking going after him first thing tomorrow. After that, I may have to go in there for the experience I need. I need to get stronger to get down there and find the source of all this.”

“I suppose you are going to do that to save all these people?” Nox queried, turning to look Colin in the face with his yellow eyes.

Colin grinned, “I want all their stuff. Whatever the Golems are using has to be good, and I want it. Seriously, If I’m lucky, maybe I can start controlling the army, and it can be a real threat to the Outworlders. If it saves a lot of people in the meantime, I can live with that.”

“DevilWalker, I’m curious to see how this all goes,” the Goblin grinned.