(“Vin… Vincent.”)

“H-Huh? Who’s talking?” I looked around but failed to find a single soul nearby. This voice… “Is that you, Lorelei?”

(“Sure is. One and only.”)

“So, how did you do it? Is this perhaps a new function?” If it was indeed the case, then the coincidence was just way too convenient, so something likely triggered all of this.

(“Right on the mark. There’s an additional function called ‘Contact’ inside the Miscellaneous Functions now. But let’s spare the explanation for later. Listen…”)

She continued by telling me something, but my mind already wandered elsewhere. And not a second had passed, a brilliant idea appeared.

“Hmm… This is a very convenient timing, most of all.”

(“Hey! Have you been ignoring me? How rude.”)

“Sorry… Anyway, can you control the flying insects inside the dungeon to explore the southwestern area?”

The location that I was currently in wasn’t exactly recognizable. After all, the trees inside this forest pretty much looked alike, but my hunch was telling me that I once went through this area in the past, probably when being chased by the long-deceased ranger.

As an aside, I could use small animals as a reconnaissance unit but had never done that because I was too busy back when I was in the dungeon. And I was mostly in the thought of “being silent so as not to be noticed.”

(“I think there shouldn’t be a problem. But how far?”)

“As far as possible, until you can find me.”

(“‘Kay, but sure to reward me later. Gimme a minute…”)

Naturally, I remained cautious of the hybrid wolves, maintaining some distance while still in a position where I could strike them anytime. Seeing their emaciated bodies touched my heart, so after some deliberation, I tossed a piece of meat I’d collected from the hunt.

Distrustful of the meat I’d given them, the hybrid pups simply growled and looked at it suspiciously. But soon, they sniffed the thing and seemed to find nothing abnormal. They might be very cautious of me, but their hunger was beyond help, so they gobbled half the meat in seconds before pushing the rest to their mother, who didn’t have enough strength to eat. Nevertheless, that wasn’t enough to let their guard down on me even a little bit.

Half an hour just passed with me trying to get close to them but to no avail.

(“Vincent... The forest is too large to scour even with so many bugs. Furthermore, some larger animals have been eating them. Can you provide any details to your location or give any sign for me to find, maybe?”)

I contemplated how to circumvent this issue. Except for the tall pine-like trees surrounding me, I could only see the night sky with countless stars… Wait, that’s it! I just need to give an obvious sign.

“All right. Get ready to be surprised.”

I placed my backpack down and searched for any remaining iron balls and managed to find two. These two were the iron bullet variant I owned the most, so I recoded one of them with [Programming] to erase its explosiveness while adding brightness to its maximum limit. Then, I threw it vertically up into the sky, as high as possible, being able to get the ball far thanks to the support of my set.

A bright flash blotted the night sky as if day had returned three seconds later. While it wasn’t bright enough to light up the entirety of the sky, it was still a sight to behold. However, it lasted for only a brief moment before it disappeared into thin air and brought back the tranquil evening into place. Wow… I think I can use this as a literal flashbang… minus the bang.

“Lorelei, can you see that?”

I got no response.

“…Lorelei?”

(“Such… a magnificent thing…”) Her flat voice was shaking like she was repressing her feelings. (“Uh-huh. It’s far away, but I can see it.”)

“Good. Then make this place a part of the dungeon. Minimize the CP consumption as much as possible, will you.”

Wait a minute… if she could see that even from far away, others would also notice… Furthermore, the camera setting in the Dungeon Map function was unable to look farther than the dungeon area, meaning that it extended to as far as possibly way more than ten kilometers. Oh well, I should just leave this place as soon as I’m done with this.

(“Very well… Done. But beware that this is just too far; I can barely make it a part me of and may soon lose control of this place.”)

“I see. Can you see the hybrid wolves in front of me?” I tried accessing the Dungeon Menu, and it popped up.

(“Um, yes… So?”)

“Can you brainwash them and make them submit to you?”

(“Give me a sec… Nuh-uh, nope. Unless you bring it to the Core — me — I can’t do anything to them. Maybe if you can weaken them further until they lost resistance completely, then…”)

I pondered for a bit before taking out the last iron ball in hand, and this time I changed its condition to have it emit a gas that will neutralize them — a kind of sleeping gas. Since it was possible to transform the attribute of an object, making it emit gas was quite simple.

Following that, I threw the ball near them in a very subtle way so as not to make them wary while stepping back and covering my mouth. This was my first time adding a condition like this, and this was the last iron ball I had, so it was my only shot.

They snarled and tried to fiddle away with the ball but refrained from doing so in the end because of their hesitation to leave their mother.

A few moments later, an almost transparent, barely noticeable gas diffused from the ball like a smoke grenade and filled the area. The pups and its mother, breathing the air around in an oblivious manner, soon dropped unconscious.

(“Such trickery… You never cease to surprise me with your atrocity, Vincent.”)

“Shut it! I’m just putting them to sleep, that’s all. Anyway, how about now?”

(“Mm. No problem. They are weak enough, so I can influence their minds… And finished. Now they are under the dungeon’s — my — control, albeit not total brainwashing since that may require them to visit the Core Room.”)

Just to be safe, I checked the Minion catalog, and my attention instantly fell on the new four minions on the list with basically no species name.

“Species name, huh… It has a unique innate ability to transform into light. Then, how about ‘starlight wolf’? Eh?! It changed…!” Their species name actually changed according to the name I came up with. Fascinating!

Intrigued, I used [Developer Interface] on the adult hybrid wolf, or now starlight wolf.

Species: Starlight wolf (hybrid)

Condition: Extreme starving, weakened, unconscious

Sex: Female

Age: 12 years old

Height: 248 cm

Stats:

STR: D (53) AGI: C (69) VIT: D (51) MAG: D (49) SPR: D (46)

Accumulation Points: 71 [D+]

(“Um… Before anything else, I’ve got something urgent to inform you. Since time is short, I’ll just jump right into it, then—”)

“Let me guess, the dungeon is being invaded,” I joked, chuckling a bit.

(“So you did hear me earlier, huh.”) Uh, I did not…

“Seriously?! Are you safe?” I immediately checked the Dungeon Map function and found there was but a single invader inside the dungeon right now, yet that just made me all the more anxious. Bad! Did my nightmare really come to get me?

(“Fret not. I am unharmed in any way.”)

“Phew… Lorelei, is it possible for me to teleport straight into the Artificial Realm from here?” Looking at the map, it would take an hour or two to run back into the dungeon. Such a pain…

(“I’m afraid not. The connection is just too weak. And—”) Her voice was soon disconnected like a TV that had its plug removed; the lost connection of this land to the dungeon must have disrupted our communication.

“Hello? Lorelei? Hello?!” I tried calling her a few more times but received no response whatsoever. It felt like I was a guy being cut on the phone after the other side got angry or something… What a peculiar feeling.

I glanced at the unconscious wolf and decided to leave them here because I couldn’t bring them with me. It shouldn’t take long for them to wake up, but I was afraid that their mother might die before being able to get treatment in the dungeon. Therefore, I pulled out my dagger stuck on its neck as well as the numerous blade shards and then took out a vial of red liquid from my backpack and poured it all over its body — the wounds began closing up at a slow but visible speed. Thankfully, I had purchased a bottle of [Potion (100 CP)] from the dungeon earlier while waiting for Lorelei or else.

“Now… I should inform those three that I’m safe, but how?” I could try to write “I’m safe!” somewhere, but I was still not adept in Common at all, so that was a no-go.

In the end, I left a scribble of a stickman of me on the ground in a way that implied I was safe and sound with a branch of a tree I cut. I was no artist, so my drawing was as bad as it possibly could be, but it should be clear enough for people to understand, maybe.

Done with all that, I began running into the forest, making a beeline for the dungeon by following the map that I’d somewhat memorized while accompanied by a group of flying insects that Lorelei had dispatched. I just hoped nothing bad had happened yet.

The ZPL Trio’s Perspective

Meanwhile, deep inside the Great Elion Forest.

Zeth stepped on top of a big rock to see the trail of Vincent and the hybrid wolf. Whether it was luck or not, Vincent being dragged on the ground left a very traceable sign.

“Hey, I can see a small dot of light far away,” Zeth informed, squinting his eyes into a line at the sky. “Vincent should be there. Let’s hurry up!”

“I h-hope he’s fine…” Lara looked restless. No ordinary human would have come unscathed being dragged at such speed on uneven ground.

About half an hour later, Zeth chanced upon a clearing up ahead and was about to rush there followed by Lara, but they were held back by someone’s hand.

“Let’s not just rush…” Pallad stopped the two from moving further.

“What—?!”

“Shh! There’s something over there.” Pallad pointed his sword forward.

Zeth and Lara didn’t remain still and wielded their weapons, chasing Pallad’s lead with as quiet a step as possible. From behind the foliage, there was a creature with six legs, an appearance of a wolf, and the size of a carriage — the same one that abducted Vincent.

“What… what should we do?” Lara whispered, her hands trembling.

“Of course we advance!”

Pallad hushed, putting his finger on his mouth. “Stop yapping! We don’t even know where Vincent is. Rushing on it without a plan is akin to suicide.”

“But…”

“Sometimes, it’s better to let sleeping dragons lie. Let’s see the situation first. Maybe he is somewhere over there, hiding,” Pallad rationalized.

Zeth and Lara agreed with a nod. He might be careless in most situations, but Zeth was aware of the importance of knowing when to advance and not to.

But before they could think of a plan, the hybrid wolf rose to its feet.

“Owooooo!”

It howled out loud as though announcing to the world that it was alive.

““Owooooo!””

Not long after, three other smaller howls accompanied the first one, singing along to the tone of the moon.

They were perplexed by the sudden event, unable to exert as much as a thought. Even the brave Zeth was frozen in place as if his brain had stopped functioning.

Before long, the adult hybrid wolf took its children and disappeared deep into the forest.

“S-Should we go after them or…?” Lara inquired amidst her fidgeting.

Pallad didn’t reply and simply gestured with a step forward, walking to the location where the hybrid wolf was last sighted, which Zeth caught up shortly.

Unexpectedly, instead of finding Vincent, they found a weird painting on the ground among the soil that was dyed red.

“Is this Vincent’s?” Zeth already knew the answer, but he couldn’t help but utter that question.

“Most likely… But what does this all mean?”

“I think he’s trying to tell us that he’s safe. Look here.” Lara pointed with his staff to the picture of a… very simple drawing of a person with his arms up high and a smile on his face.

“I concur. This painting is proof that he’s all fine.”

“As expected of Vincent.” Zeth bumped his fists. “But then, where is he?”

Left with that question, they continued to search the vicinity for a while but to avail. So, in the end, they left hoping for the best.