“Miles, I feel bad for the girl.” Coin abruptly said after Miles walked more than an hour.

“I too feel sorry for Rona, but you heard her too. She doesn’t wanna share anything with me and doesn’t want my help. Also, she took that valuable orb for the payment and said that was more than enough. I cannot force her to let me help her.” Miles sighed helplessly and kept on walking.

The fight cost him severely. He lost his only transportation orb, his signature armor had been damaged heavily. It would take weeks to repair completely. Luckily Coin was sensible and realized if he were to be found with his armor on, it would give away his identity, and make it harder for him to be healed, so he canceled the orb and let it rest in his pocket.

The mask also almost got destroyed. He wasn’t able to use it long before it was useless. It was really a good orb allowing Miles to kill an F-Tier monster, but now it was nearly destroyed he had one less damaging orb. And Miles got nothing from this battle.

“At least we are alive.” Miles sighed and kept on walking. Now that he lost his means to transport, it would take him longer to reach the Stronghold. After all, the distance from F-Circle to his stronghold at the outermost periphery of G-Circle was quite a long one.

————

While Miles was returning to his stronghold, not far away from said place, a group of people was discussing and scheming about him.

“Why did you call us here?” Tian Ling looked at the woman across from him. He recognized her in a heartbeat. It was the Starve Cleric Girl, the woman who killed the humanoid vampire and took the artifact eyes.

“I heard you have beef with the Marooner? I too have a conflict with him and had devised a plan to destroy him. If we work together, our rate of success would be higher.” She said behind her mask. One couldn’t see what she was thinking.

“And what that plan might be?” Mihr Orril said. He didn’t have any major trouble with the Marooner, but he and Tian Ling had been helping each other a lot lately, and their friendship progressed too. When Tian Ling invited him, he agreed to help, so he was there too.

“Let us wait for the fourth person. I reached out to her as well, but I am not sure if she is coming or not.” The Starve Cleric girl said and waited. Tian Ling and Mihr Orril looked at each other and nodded. They were confident, so they waited as well.

Not long after, a girl walked into the small opening where they were waiting. When both sides saw each other, all three showed a surprised face.

“Eloise Holmes?” Mihr Orril and Tian Ling showed their surprise.

“Ugh! I didn’t know you two would be here too.” Newcomer, Eloise, showed her dissatisfaction at two, then turned to the Starve Cleric girl. “Explain quickly, why did you call me? If I am not satisfied with your reason, I will kill you.”

“I have a perfect plan to kill Marooner, I thought you would be interested.” She said with a smile, but because of the mask, others couldn’t see it.

“I am interested. Tell me the plan.” Eloise said and crossed her arms on her chest.

“I know the location of the ice dragon.” The Starve Cleric girl said calmly but a hideous smirk was plastered all over her face. As soon as she said that, the opening descended into silence. All three showed a strong reaction.

The ice dragon was a monster that hunted humans for more than 20 years. Long before Miles was born, humans who had entered the Portal World had spotted this monster periodically, but they could never find its trace. Whenever it appeared, it would cause bloodshed and hunt hundreds of people before it went back to its lair. But that nest was never found.

Because it always appeared on a whim, strong fighters couldn’t get prepared to fight against him. Once, a post commander gathered hundreds of strong hunters after precise calculations, yet the dragon never showed up. The team waited for more than a month, but after that, they returned to do what they were doing. And a week later, a dragon appeared and killed many more humans.

Many said it wasn’t a G-Tier monster, but the monster's hierarchy, unlike humans, couldn't be broken on a whim. High-tier monsters couldn’t enter lower-tier circles for long times. Even humans would have problems doing it for long durations. So, that theory had been falsified quickly.

After such a long time, the ice dragon became a legendary existence, and every human dreamed of hunting it. Now that Starve Cleric girl said she knew its location, it was a dumbfounding news for the three.

“Don’t you dare to lie about this!” Fiery Eloise said with questioning eyes.

“I swear it is true.” The Starve Cleric girl raised her hand and swore. It didn’t mean anything, but it still gave the three hope.

“Where is it?” Tian Ling asked.

“That information is safer with me. I will take you there when the time comes. You only have to lure Marooner there somehow, and we will take care of him there.” The Starve Cleric girl said and looked at the trio.

“What about the ice dragon?” Mihr asked with greed.

“I have no interest in that worm.” She said and turned to leave. “Let’s meet here in a week and finalize our plans.