When we teleported back it was already dark and most soldiers and adventurers have already finished their meal.

After reminding us to be careful with what we say, guild master went to meet a group of Templars near the portal. Some of their faces looked familiar, but most were unknown to me. Maybe they got there from nearby lands .. or the Order has sent a help through the gates of Temple.

I lost my interest in them as a lingering smell of the food has stirred my appetite.

This is .. this is terrible!

When I looked in my dimension I saw only some dried up rations... I know we bought them for situations like this, but after a long day, I desired something delicious. Sadly I already ate anything more appetizing when no one was looking.

Next time I will stock at least a few tons of meat! I think it should be enough for at last a week... probably.

What to do? Should I make a quick trip to the city? No, even if people haven't barricaded themselves in their homes, it's already too late. Hmm, maybe I could hunt some animals in the forest... But, I have no idea how to cook. I want something tasty, not fruits of an experiment gone wrong...

As I was lost in my thoughts a pleasant fragrance reached my nose and I quickly looked at the source. Tia was standing near a bonfire while seasoning the meat she has started to roast over the fire.

Ah! That's right! Tia is good at cooking, she even has Cook as a subclass.

"Tia~! We are friends, right? You will share with me won't you?" I asked with pleading eyes.

"Sure. I was preparing this for everyone, you can join as well" said, Tia with a smile, then as if remembered something quickly added. "But your share will be the same size as for the rest..."

All of sudden the amount of food didn't look so big. I tried to use my puppy eyes attack, but for some reason, it wasn't working. How strange, it never failed against Phoenix.

"What if I let you fly again? Will I get a bit more." I quickly tried another approach.

"Really?" she asked happily but then suddenly frowned while looking at herself. "No, better not... I still don't have a replacement for my clothes. Hey, it was actually your fault, you will have to buy me new!"

Uhh! I should have tried something different!

Like all beastkin she wasn't wearing pants, I think only a fox from all beaskin races would have no problems to put them on because of claws on their legs. But with so many tails it's not an option for them as well.

A bit longer than usual tunic acted as her skirt. Her leather armor at the front was an extended triangle, with the widest part covering her chest and slowly narrowing as it was going down and ended at height of her knees. A few belts at the waist and shoulders kept the leather armor in place.

When she fell from the disk earlier, legs were protected by her thigh-high leather boots. While most of her leather armor looked fine, there were many tears on her tunic.

I guess when this all over I can sew something more sturdy for her. Oh... maybe she will be interested in some exotic underwears? It's about time I replenish my collection so might as well give her a helping hand with Elmor.

There is no way he will not make a move after seeing her in those...

*

After dinner, I was lying on the bed while replaying memories of my fight with Qin.

By studying memories, I wanted to grasp the secret behind the spell of 'wave of destruction'. If I managed to do so, I would reach the second level with Dark Magic. It's fast to cast and affects a large area, though without the help of dungeon it's way weaker than what Qin have used on me. I suspect that normally it's not even enough to kill.

At least not when the opponent is a monster with a sturdy body. Still, it was way better than what the first level of Dark Magic has offered.

Curses.

Have to touch the target, takes a lot of time to activate, and even then anyone with light magic can dispel it with ease. They might have some problems if my Dark Magic was at level eight. But let's admit it, if my magic was at that level, the last thing I would do was to bother with curses.

With so many drawbacks it's completely useless to me. Maybe with enchantment magic, it is possible to make something like cursed bullets, but I think that with the magic of Phoenix his creation would be way more deadly.

*

"What's on your mind, Phoenix?" I asked when noticed his thoughtful expression.

We were lying on the bed and by now he should have lunged at me already. Sure, everyone outside the tent would hear us, but I don't think that's enough to discourage him.

"How did you learn about them?" he asked while looking at me.

"About who?" I asked, I suspected what he was talking about, but I was just buying some time.

"Harbingers."

For a moment I went silent. I still haven't told to anyone what I did with the soul of that Harbinger. They might suspect from the skills I have, but it's one thing to just speculate and another thing entirely when it's confirmed with my own lips.

I was afraid to tell them, afraid that the moment I do they will leave, and this time not just temporary...

Even I thought that what I did was a taboo.

"I obtained some of his memories after I ate his soul..." I whispered with a barely audible voice.

"Kitty..."

When I looked at his eyes they were full of disappointment. It was so painful to see him looking at me like this.

"I know it's wrong, but with a brewing war between Gods, we need all the information we can get." I said while avoiding his eyes. "I might haven't started because of this, but the moment I got a glimpse who was behind this, I had to learn all I can. There was no guarantee that we will have another chance..."

For a moment he was silent then finally spoke.

"Do you plan to 'learn' like this in the future as well?"

"If there is no other..." I quickly stopped what I wanted to say when saw his gaze.

While originally I had no plans to use it... no, I really wanted to avoid that if possible. I was just reluctant to bind myself with rules that can cost a life of those I hold dear... But he is right... if I even considered it as an option, it wouldn't be long before I change.

In a way, it reminds me of that time when I made my worst mistake to tamper with emotions while using body manipulation. I thought it will help me to achieve better results in martial arts... little did I knew what my actions will bring.

"No." I answered his question.

The easiest way isn't always right.

"Good. Please don't forget what you promised." he said.

*

Next day in the morning Averon approached us with a few people and some guards.

One of them was a dryad clothed in a fine dress, and I think I have seen her before leaving the office of Magra. Another was a human noble.

Judging from their attire and equipment of their guards, they should be someone very important.

"Greetings." said Averon.

"Allow me to make an introduction. This is Reveon Sile'dur, leader of Red Beast and this is Melissa, his party member and also the one who killed the man behind the attack." said guild master and then looked at a man. "Lord of Endorod City, Duke William Aresdor Calmont, and Lady Ramella Lightwell."

Lord? Somehow I didn't expect him to be a human. Guild Master, Elder, leader of Templars... I noticed that most people with high position were elves. With their long lifespan, I thought it made a perfect sense, but I guess it was just a coincidence.

"So you are the one?" said William while looking at me. "You have my thanks for what you did earlier. Once this is all over I would like you to pay me a visit. We have much to discuss, and we wouldn't want others to think I am not generous, your contributions will be generously rewarded."

What was left unsaid though is that I don't have an option to refuse, and the reward was just a facade. From the way, he emphasized the word 'discuss', I could guess the main reason was probably about me being dungeon lord.

This invitation was within my expectations, and I was actually counting for this to happen. If I kept my control over dungeon a secret, it would spell me a huge trouble if it was discovered at a later date. Many adventurers lose their lives in the dungeon, so it would be very easy to turn me into a criminal if their deaths were blamed on me. This is why it was necessary I made an agreement with the one in power.

"It will be my honor." I answered with a smile. "Can my friends come as well?"

"I don't see a problem if it's just a few. Still, it's a bit premature for that now. We will return to it once this is all over. Now if you excuse me, I still have matters to attend." he said and after turning around prepared to leave.

The dryad near him looked at me for a bit longer and then followed right beside him.

"It is time." whispered guild master before leaving and I nodded in response.

After a few minutes, soldiers near the sealed entrance started shouting alerting everyone nearby. One after another monsters were surfacing from the ground.

They drilled up through the ground all the way there.

Men and women quickly took action and started killing them before they are able to do any harm. For a time it was working well. After nearby groups got tired, people nearby would replace them allowing others to rest.

But after a half hour, all has changed, when the ground suddenly collapsed. There were too many tunnels made by monsters and a large passage leading to the dungeon has formed. A large battle, just like the day before, has started once again.

So far everything was going according to the plan.

I put all my attention on making the attack look natural, while at the same time preventing the death of people fighting monsters. This time three metal disks were flying in the air killing monsters or shielding people from a lethal blow. Even with the death of Qin, monsters were supposed to follow his last order. So with possible spies reporting everything that is happening, for our plan to work a little performance was in order.

The battle has lasted for two hours and finally, far in the horizon I could see a large army heading our way.

Kalh'dor.

There was many of them, probably more than ten thousand. Infantry and archers were wearing a high-quality armor made of metal or leather, with a symbol of a half-opened eye of the chest. They also had almost four hundred mages.

It was way more than what they should have been capable to gather in such short time. If I have to guess, it was a work of their space time mages. While the army was traveling here, they probably increased the size little by little by transferring more with teleportation.

Our side on another hand had less than five thousand and only a few hundred of mages.

The spirit of adventurers got worse when they noticed them. Yesterday everyone was informed that it wasn't reinforcements, but an enemy of our city lord. While it wasn't good for morale, it would be much worse if the enemy managed to pretend as allies just to suddenly attack when no one expected.

Kalh'dor didn't even bother with that and started to surround us. It was obvious they had spies in our midst and knew that deception wouldn't work.

"This is a war between us and your city lord, you don't need to die meaninglessly! If you drop your weapons and surrender, we promise that your life will be spared!" a loud shout echoed through the field.

From memories I gained from Qin, I recognized the one who spoke, Sirius Kalh'dor, the head of Kalh'dor House. He was an elf, very few in the family of Kalh'dor were not. But I quickly lost my interest when noticed two people next to him. Herion and Aurora...

Those two were Harbingers. When I tried to use analyze, I came empty-handed. They probably used some sort of enchantment to obscure it. Then again, it's not like I don't know about them.

Herion looked like a typical elf mage or a priest, a white cloak, staff, everything was there, but one wouldn't suspect that he was actually a necromancer. Aurora on another hand was standing out from the rest.

There was barely any clothes on her body.

Her chest was barely covered with a thin strap of cloth and a large hip scarf was acting as a skirt. She wasn't just looking like one, but was really... let's just say a woman of questionable morals. There was almost no one among Harbingers who hasn't slept with her yet.

Though it was a dangerous activity even for them. Her nickname 'Black Widow' wasn't just for show, and thanks to her habit to kill her partner at the end, we have one less Harbinger to worry about.

"I have no plans to die for him." shouted one of adventurers and a few more quickly joined him.

"Don't listen to his lies! There was no war declaration whatsoever and officially they are here to help with the dungeon. What do you think does it mean?" shouted guild master when even more of them decided to join.

Adventurers looked at one another with puzzled expressions.

"You should know that The Council wouldn't overlook such actions. There is only one way they could get away from this unscratched... 'The city has perished from monster attack before we managed to help them'." imitated what our enemy would say Averon. "This is probably what will be said. But let me ask you .. would it work with survivors?!"

As he said that most of the adventurers that wanted to surrender quickly changed their mind. They were no strangers to the ways of politic. The only way to survival was to fight here and now.

There was still some who left, but I suspect that most of them were spies.

"So be it!" a shout echoed through the field again and soldiers began moving forward while mages in their rear started making preparations to cast spells.

"Melissa now!" shouted guild master.

With my order monsters stopped attacking adventurers and soldiers on our side, and began to charge at the troops of Kalh'dor. Most powerful monsters also made their appearance from the dungeon.

It's showtime!

Even when guild master shouted for adventurers to stop, not all of them did as told. From their point of view, those monsters wanted to kill them not long ago so it was understandable. After all, for the plan to work almost no one knew that they were under my control.

Doesn't matter. There are more where that came from.

With more and more of monsters just rushing past them without even retaliating, people started to realize that monsters were on their side.

As a barrage of spells was launched in our direction I grabbed the hand of Phoenix and together we created a large barrier.

Very very large barrier.

It was nearly a kilometer in diameter and all spells of the enemy were stopped. One should not underestimate our power with infinite mana!

Suddenly a weird spell hit the barrier and scattered into a fog upon the contact. The mist started to slowly descend, and the barrier was incapable to stop it. Soon it reached the ground.

Every corpse of monster that was touched by the fog slowly began to rise.

Necromancer! I looked at the Harbinger responsible for this.

While adventurers were busy with not so long ago dead monsters, I ordered a large swarm of monsters under my command to separate into two streams and charge forward while avoiding people on our side. Over ten formida took a lead on each side while twenty hellhounds were using their speed to deal with anyone capable of harming them.

An infinite number of various monsters followed right behind them.

With formida taking brunt of attacks, the majority of monsters were unharmed and very quickly reached ranks of the enemy.

The slaughter began.

Enemy soldiers were incapable to offer any resistance in front of an overwhelming power, any mage that could change the tide was quickly dealt with by hellhounds.

With enhanced mind and thought acceleration, my control over monsters was on another level if compared to Qin.

They were unstoppable!

"Corpse Explosion!"

Suddenly corpses of slain soldiers detonated in a chain reaction and many monsters along with enemy soldiers vanished in the explosion. After the dust has settled down only a large crater could be seen. Even formida suffered injuries from the attack.

It wasn't only an explosion that harmed them, the substance from scattered remains covered their bodies, and it was corrosive in nature. Nasty wounds started to appear on the bodies of formida, others, who happened to be nearby, died while screaming in agony...

The necromancer wasn't afraid to sacrifice even his own people.

Enemy soldiers quickly recovered from the shock and started to attack, one formida after another fell as result.

When I saw a familiar fog covering their bodies I realized that situation wasn't good.

While it's was now possible to kill formida through the gaps of their corroded armor, if they become undead it will be an entirely different story.

To kill undead you have to destroy its head or monster core, and with most of formida armor still intact, it would be very hard to do so.

I quickly ordered remaining hellhounds to incinerate the corpses while thinking of my next move. There were still many monsters who never ceased to attack, but without vanguards of formida it was no longer one-sided battle.

Guild Master was busy with defense against enemy earth mages. While he wasn't the only one who knew spells like 'quicksand', he was capable to negate theirs with his own magic. Thanks to this our side still haven't suffered any serious casualties. After all, earth magic to a degree could ignore such things as a barrier.

So far only a few people on our side fell in the battle, while the number of dead among enemies was approaching thousand. Mostly it was thanks to the monsters and unhindered spells of our mages.

But that might change if we don't deal with that necromancer. Should I take care of him personally? But it might be hard to properly order monsters if I charged forward and can't see them...

"He is mine." I heard Phoenix and when looked at him he already jumped on metal disk, similar to my, and then vanished.

I quickly noticed him appear high in the air above the necromancer.

Phoenix looked for a moment and then a large boulder appeared near him and dived down.

Necromancer didn't even bother to look at it.

Just as the boulder was about to reach him, Aurora jumped up and the boulder has vanished with her touch. She was a space time mage just like us.

"How rude! Don't you know it's impolite to toss rocks at people?" she said to Phoenix after landed back on the ground.

Some mages have tried to launch spells at Phoenix, but they were either out of reach or easily avoided with a slight shift in position.

Phoenix didn't answer and just dropped a few more boulders.

"Same attack again? You should know that it's... gah!" but she couldn't finish her words.

The moment she stored boulders to her dimension, a few bullets pierced her body. With large boulders obstructing her vision, she was late to notice when a few guns appeared in his hands.

Still, she wasn't dead. After those few bullets managed to hit her the rest was stopped by a hastily summoned barrier.

"How dare you to penetrate me like this!" screamed Aurora as the hole in her head and chest was closing up. "At least do that with proper parts of your body!" she added with a lecherous smile and appeared right behind Phoenix.

Without even looking back Phoenix aimed his gun at her and fired again. At the same time, a ghostly grimoire appeared in his another hand and symbols for a spell started forming above it.

How is she still alive?!

While my regeneration could do the same if I was hit in the heart, but I doubt it would help me if I had a hole in my head.

I looked with a frown at the battlefield.

Both sides now have reached each other and a clash of weapons could be heard. With monsters on our side, we should have a superiority, but a new corpse explosion in our midst let me realize it might be not the case.

I looked at metal disk I used as a shield as its shape started to melt from the corrosive substance, if I was just a moment slower to cover the body of Elmor with the disc, he would be dead now.

Nearby corpses of soldiers who just died from the same explosion, slowly started to rise from the ground and attacked their former allies.

That's enough!

I hopped on another disk and raised in the air, with no risk of friendly fire I summoned my guns and after aiming them at necromancer started firing without a stop.