Elana had rung the bell installed in the fort, and that naturally incited panic among villagers and adventurers alike. Kurt, once again the overall leader of the extermination quest, was listening to Elana’s explanation on why she had rung the bell in such urgency.

“Did you just say hundreds?” Kurt asked with his eyes going wide as drops of rain flowed down his face. “Are you sure?”

Elana replied, sounding as serious as she could be. “Yes! They are advancing here as we speak! Inbound in about... ten minutes!”

Kurt lowered his head and gritted his teeth briefly before looking back at Elana. “And you said there are multiple ghirdys among them? How many? Just gimme a rough count!”

“I am counting at least twenty!” Elana replied, which was followed by numerous gasps coming especially from villagers. A number of them went limp and fell on their knees while some others began screaming and running around in panic.

“Wait a second!” One villager spoke up. “Do you really believe what she said?”

Another villager stepped forward. “Yeah! Is this woman really telling the truth? She looks suspicious if you ask me!”

“Yeah, look at her clothes!” A different villager spoke out while pointing at Elana. “She looks like a Belmott! She’s definitely here to sabotage the kingdom!”

“QUIET!” Kurt suddenly shouted with a burst of red aura coming out from his body for a brief moment, and the crowd around went silent within seconds. Whatever Kurt had just done, it had prevented things from escalating uncontrollably.

Kurt took a deep breath, and then he delivered a quick speech. “Elana isn’t from Belmott, and she has proven her capability! I trust her, Earl Sedhoust Grasmord trusts her, and I expect everyone else to do the same.”

Some gasps echoed among the crowd of villagers followed by unintelligible murmurs. Kurt ignored them and let out a sigh.

“Leader.” Leon called. “I think everybody should fall back.”

Anna quickly added after Leon. “Yes, leader! There’s no way we can repel that many calamity beasts while protecting villagers! We should have everyone evacuate!”

“Yes, yes! I know!” Kurt said in a raised tone. “But where should we evacuate? How far can we run!?”

“Kurt, we can start evacuating now, or you can keep discussing until the monsters arrive here by themselves.” Elana said. “You better make your decision now, or I and my men shall withdraw ourselves.”

Kurt immediately looked at Elana in the eyes. “Elana, that RV of yours. Can it pull more than one carriage?”

“Oh, I see.” Elana said with a small nod. “Two is already pushing it, but I say it can pull that many.”

“Alright! Get to work!” Kurt shouted at all the people around. “Tie two carriages to the RV and evacuate villagers using that! Prioritize women, children, elderly, and injured first!”

In response to Kurt’s command, adventurers and villagers immediately went to work. They hurriedly went out of the fort and Elana went along with them. She then hopped into the expedition buggy which was parked just outside the fort near the entrance, and drove it close to where the village carriages were parked.

The increasingly intense rain was a hindrance, but soon Elana and the villagers finished linking the buggy with two of the largest carriages in the village. After a quick check on the ropes and having everyone else around enter the carriages, Elana hopped back on the buggy and drove it back to the fort entrance where a number of people were waiting, with fear and worry written on their faces.

“Everyone get in!” Elana shouted the moment she stopped the buggy. As the villagers, who were within the categories as instructed by Kurt, embarked the carriages in a hurry Elana glanced at the map projected in the corner of her vision. The horde of monsters were closing in and they would arrive at any minute. She then made a call through the nanom link.

“Randy, Albert, Doctor Kai.” Elana said. “Take the buggy back to the capital and call for help from the guild.”

“Wha-? But mo-!” Albert replied before Randy intervened.

“Affirmative, Captain.” Randy said. “Doctor Kai, Albert, let’s go.”

Albert spoke out in an audible panic. “L-Leader! We can’t leave Captain and the others alone against the monsters!”

“You heard the command, Albert.” Randy said. “Or are you trying to defy Captain’s command?”

“What? No!” Albert retorted. “I’m just worried, alright!?”

Hearing them talking, Elana decided to chime in. “Less talk more work, Albert. Also, I never plan on falling here.”

Right after Elana finished speaking, the three people she was calling came out from the front gate in a hurry. Without saying a word, Elana hopped off the expedition buggy and signaled them to get in.

“Godspeed, Captain.” Randy said, giving a salute as Albert and Doctor Kai hopped into the buggy. Elana nodded slightly before glancing at the carriages. Both of them had been filled with people, and a male villager was giving a thumbs up signal while being drenched by the rain.

“You too. Now go!” Elana said, and Randy immediately hopped into the buggy, squeezing himself into a space that wasn’t really meant to fit three persons. Nevertheless, the buggy soon drove away pulling the two carriages, and Elana dashed into the fort. The first thing she saw there was Kurt standing around giving instructions to adventurers and villagers around him.

Clap!

“Let’s get to it! Move!” Kurt said after clapping his hands once, and all the people around him, his teammates included, dispersed in a hurry.

Elana hurried herself to Kurt and asked right after she was close. “What is the plan?”

“We’re going to evacuate the rest of the villagers with more carriages.” Kurt replied.

Elana squinted and tilted her head slightly before speaking. “I saw for myself that the two carriages just departed were the only ones available in the village. How are you going to make your plan happen?”

“We’ll build them.” Kurt said. “With all the remaining villagers and some adventurers working together it shouldn’t take too long to put together some makeshift carriages. We just need to hold the fort until then.”

“Understood.” Elana nodded. “I shall station myself on the northern wall.”

“We’ll be counting on all of you.” Kurt said before he, along with Leon, walked out of the fort gate which was immediately shut after they passed.

“Don’t tell me...!” Elana murmured right before climbing to the top of the northern rampart. She looked beyond the parapet and saw what she had expected moments before.

Kurt and Leon were standing tall in the midst of the grass plain between the fort and the forest ahead. Kurt’s hands, wet from the still falling rain, firmly gripped his spear and shield, while Leon did the same with his sword. They definitely intended to face all the incoming monsters with just the two of them.

“Is this the norm or they have gone reckless?” Elana asked herself with no expectation that anyone would answer.

However, someone answered from her left. “They’re reckless, but this is the best way.”

“Oh, Anna.” Elana turned her head. “Why is this the best way?”

“Nobody else around can cast Provoking Presence as wide as Kurt can.” Anna replied. “While the calamity beasts focus on him alone and Leon watches his back, the rest of us can shoot the beasts from here.”

As Anna spoke, a number of adventurers climbed the rampart and took positions behind the parapet. From a glance Elana could easily conclude that they were all ranged attackers, especially upon noticing that Reiter, Yuril, and Juliana were among them.

“Reckless plan, but I cannot say any comment. They are here.” Elana said as she opened a nanom link between her and the Phantom Squad on the corner watchtowers. “Phantom Squad! Man your posts!”

“Roger that!” Valeria, Hadi, and Joshua replied in unison. Elana didn’t say any more words, and she pulled out her assault rifle.

Immediately after, the trees and bushes ahead began rustling and monsters began pouring out of the woods. A throng of apes and gorillas roared as they charged straight at the fort, and one could feel the ground rumbling as the monsters advanced.

“Aim! And...” Reiter said while drawing his own bow, with Yuril casting a spell to augment the arrow. All other adventurers also readied their attack, and a deafening silence commenced for a brief moment amidst the rainfall. “Fire!”

Within an instant, a plethora of projectiles flew out of the fort’s north rampart and watchtowers. Regular arrows, fireballs, icicles, rock spears, enchanted arrows, all soared past Kurt and Leon straight towards the company of monsters. The frontline vanguards took the brunt of the attack and fell, but the ones behind took their place and advanced with no sign of hesitation or fear.

As the swarm approached, Kurt raised his spear up high and instantly radiated dark red aura from his body. Elana remembered him using that spell back in the mountains, but this time the aura seemed larger and more intense. The spell was definitely effective, since the swarm began encircling Kurt and Leon instead of going to the fort.

The adventurers, Elana and Phantom Squad included, never ceased firing at the monsters. They could slay the apes with one or two good hits, but the gorillas could deflect many of the attacks with the rocks embedded on their body until those rocks broke off, which rendered them vulnerable for Kurt and Leon to swiftly finish off.

“Elana.” Anna called as she shot an arrow which burst into flames in the middle of an ape pack. “Are the beasts still coming only from the forest?”

Elana shot several AP rounds at a boulder gorilla before replying. “Yes. I see no hostiles coming from any other directions.”

“I see. Please keep your eyes open still.” Anna said while looking forward and observing with a visibly worried face. Her eyes were directed toward Kurt and Leon down below, and Elana noticed that there were only a few arrows left in her quiver.

“Go resupply your arrows.” Elana said while shooting more apes in her range. “I shall cover for you.”

“Unfortunately this is all I have left.” Anna said as her hand touched her quiver.

“Can you do it like Reiter over there?” Elana asked, glancing toward the battlefield, specifically at a very noticeable arrow which flew in a curve and pierced multiple apes before flying back to the rampart for Reiter to catch and shoot again.

“Yes, but that spell comes with a significant burden.” Anna said, and at this point Elana noticed that Reiter looked visibly pained with his fingers twitching uncontrollably. “Getting weavesick in battle is the last thing you want to happen.”

“I see.” Elana said while still keeping her eyes on the projected map, and then Yuril ran past her to Anna.

“E-Excuse me!” Yuril said as she handed a half-filled quiver to Anna. “Reiter is out of commission, so please make this count!”

“Got it.” Anna said as she took the arrows and put them into her own quiver. “Thanks.”

“I still can augment the arrows for you!” Yuril said

Anna shook her head. “Save your energy. Your team needs you more.”

“A-Alright!” Yuril said before darting off.

The projectile barrage from the rampart continued, but with every minute passed their intensity diminished bit by bit. Archers began running out of arrows and spellcasters started showing signs of weavesickness, not to mention the rain which made visibility poor and rendered fire spells less effective. However, the monsters never let up and therefore Kurt and Leon had to fight off more of those simultaneously as time went on.

Elana and the three Phantom Squad members were the only ones who practically never ceased firing, but one gunner and three snipers could only do so much against a swarm. At this point Elana began doubting her decision to have Phantom Squad accompany her in Mountain Squad’s place.

No, Lillie and her squadmates were already exhausted and their equipment needed maintenance. Bringing them would have been a bad call.

“Ghirdys incoming!” Someone shouted, and Elana immediately noticed the fur-covered, long armed humanoid beast coming out from the woods in a swift stride straight toward Kurt and Leon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of three sniper rifles shooting simultaneously, louder than it had been recently, echoed to the ears of every adventurer and villagers in the vicinity. At the same time, the head of the ghirdys flew off, separating itself from its body along with a fountain of crimson blood.

Soon after, Elana heard the bell in the middle of the fort being tolled. She had no idea what that meant, thus she turned her head to Anna who was nearby and asked. “What does the bell mean?”

“It means the carriages are complete and villagers are embarking!” Anna replied while shooting an arrow which landed near Kurt and Leon before producing green colored smoke. The duo briefly looked at the smoking arrow before continuing their battle.

“Was that a retreat signal?” Elana asked while taking a few shots at the swarm.

Anna nodded. “Get ready to retreat to be exact, but yes.”

“What is the plan for getting them out of there?” Elana asked.

Anna checked her quiver before answering. “I’ll use all my remaining arrows for a big attack which hopefully will create an opening for them.”

“I know nearly nothing about magic but from what I have seen on Reiter, aren’t you already weavesick?” Elana asked, staring at Anna’s hands. Her fingers occasionally twitched in a way which looked involuntary.

Anna’s eyebrows furrowed as she looked at her own hands. “So you noticed. Yeah, but don’t worry. I can still do it.” She said before lowering her hands with a confident-looking facial expression.

“Hmm...” Elana lowered her head and put her hand on her chin for a few seconds. “Tell me what this big attack of yours does. Maybe I can do something similar in your place.”

“Huh?” Anna asked, looking confused.

A few minutes later, the bell was tolled once more as a sign that all the remaining villagers had boarded the carriages and it was now the adventurers’ turn to board. However, for that to happen safely they needed to create an opening, especially for Kurt and Leon who were already showing signs of exhaustion.

“It’s time!” Anna said. “Do your thing, Elana!”

Elana nodded as she took aim. “Firing explosives! Stay clear from the blast!” She shouted, and she fired multiple grenades from the underslung grenade launcher of her assault rifle. The grenades arced past Kurt and Leon in a fanning out spread, and upon impacting either the ground or an unlucky monster they exploded violently.

A line of fiery explosions covering the edge of the woods were all the adventurers on the rampart witnessed in the following seconds. Burnt meat pieces and blood spatters of unlucky monsters rained down upon the plains, staining the soil in red and black. Kurt and Leon immediately turned tail and ran away, taking advantage of the opening created by the attack.

At the same time, all the adventurers on the rampart jumped down into the fort ground and hastily boarded the makeshift carriages. There were a total of four carriages, each pulled by two horses. All those carriages were crammed with adventurers and villagers alike, making them highly stifling and uncomfortable. However, in a life or death situation like right now everybody had to be content with it.

Elana and the Phantom Squad boarded the carriage furthest from the fort entrance. There was little room, so they all chose to hang on to the sides.

“Go! Go!” Someone shouted, and the drivers of all carriages urged the horses to run.

The carriages stormed out of the fort gate and made a left turn upon exiting. As Elana’s carriage came out, she spotted Kurt and Leon running to it trying to catch up. A number of apes and gorillas, most of which having been singed and wounded by the explosions, were behind them in relentless pursuit.

“Hurry up!” Elana shouted, reaching her hand out. Valeria also did the same on her side, urging both Kurt and Leon to get closer.

Kurt and Leon grunted as they dashed harder to catch up with the escaping carriage. The road having been drenched by the ongoing rain probably made it difficult for them to maintain balance. Leon was more lightly equipped, and thus he was faster to reach the carriage.

“I got you!” Valeria said as her hand met Leon’s in a tight grip. She and the adventurer sitting on the back then pulled him together, and he made it into the carriage successfully. However, he didn’t celebrate because Kurt was still struggling, trying to catch up to no avail. In fact, the distance between him and the carriage seemed to increase.

“Come on!” Leon shouted as he waved his right hand, urging Kurt to run faster. However, Kurt was clearly too exhausted already.

“Tch!” Elana clicked her tongue and pulled her assault rifle out with one hand. “Kurt! Put your trust in me and keep running!”

“A-Alright!” Kurt responded while running out of breath. His pace slowed down a little, but he didn’t stop. Elana then aimed her rifle a bit downward and pulled the trigger.

Pssh!

A black sphere came out from the rifle’s underslung grenade launcher and hit the ground ahead of Kurt, who kept running as Elana had instructed. Two seconds later the sphere was right under him as he ran past, and then a split second later...

Boom!

“Whoa!!”

The sphere exploded behind Kurt, launching him with a great force. His arms and legs flailed around as he flew upward and forward to the carriage, closing the distance in a flash. However, it was not quite enough. At the rate he was falling down, he would fall just short.

But as if everything had been calculated, Elana grabbed Kurt’s hand at the precise moment. His armored body and legs dragged along, and Elana could feel Kurt’s hand slipping away, but she didn’t let go. With gritting teeth, she was determined that she wouldn’t let Kurt slip away.

“I got you!” Leon shouted, grabbing Kurt’s other hand. Both Elana and Leon pulled Kurt up into the carriage with all their might, and with the help of some other people in the back he was finally onboard.

“Elana.” Kurt said while lying flat and trying to catch his breath. “What the hell was that?”

“Delayed explosive round.” Elana replied.

Kurt went silent and his mouth was agape for a brief moment. “Okay, it worked. That’s a fact.” He said with one hand on his forehead. “But did you consider that you could’ve gotten me killed?”

“Yes, it was a risky move.” Elana replied. “But I chose to believe in your fortitude.”

Once again, Kurt didn’t immediately respond. He just covered his eyes with one hand, and then his mouth began cracking a smile, followed by a laugh.

“Well! I’m here, alive and well enough! That’s all that matters!” Kurt said with a cheerful grin. “Not to mention that I got to experience flight even if just briefly!”

“We’re still not out of the woods yet, though.” Elana said, turning her eyes toward the pursuing horde of monsters. However, she soon noticed that the monsters suddenly stopped. “What? The monsters stopped?”

“The hell?” Kurt immediately jolted himself up to see for himself, and all other people around also looked back.

The monsters at the distance behind the fleeing carriages not only stopped. They turned back and walked away in an organized manner, which contradicted what Elana had been told about the monsters. The facial expressions of other people around clearly showed disbelief, which implied that the spectacle went against their knowledge as well.

At the same time, the ongoing rain began letting up and then it completely stopped within a few seconds. The sky was still cloudy but brighter than just recently.

“This is bad.” Leon said while gritting his teeth.

Elana frowned and turned her head to Leon. “Everything has been bad for everyone. Are you implying that something even worse is happening?”

“To put it short,” Leon replied. “The forest isn’t just infested. It’s corrupted.”

Elana heard a number of gasps from other people in the carriage upon hearing Leon’s answer, and then she tried to remember if the guild booklet she had got back then contained any information about corrupted areas. With the help of the nanomachines, Elana remembered that it did, but there was nothing about the unusual behavior of the monsters she had just witnessed.

“How did you conclude that the forest is corrupted?” Elana asked. “Is there any information you know that’s not written in the guild booklet?”

Kurt was the one who answered. “Let’s put it this way. An infested area is simply a place where there are calamity beasts in high numbers and a leader among them. A corrupted area on the other hand, is littered with calamity ardor all over on top of that. Calamity beasts feel at home in such a place.”

“So they turned back because they didn’t want to go too far from their home. Is that it?” Elana asked.

“Yeah, that’s the gist of it.” Kurt said with a frown directed at the distance. “But to think that a new corrupted area emerged out of the blue...”

“I’m sure it’s an even rarer occurrence than infested areas, but how rare is it normally?” Elana asked, and her eyes met with Kurt’s.

Kurt briefly looked at Leon and took a deep breath before answering. “There hasn’t been any new corrupted area emerging... ever since the Five Heroes defeated Calamity twenty years ago.”

Elana gritted her teeth. “Are you implying that Calamity, whatever that thing is, might have returned?”

“Nobody knows for sure, but it’s a possibility.” Kurt shook his lowered head, and Elana could easily notice the uneasiness among all the people around. Nevertheless, Elana decided to have the Probe Drone stay high above the forest for continuous monitoring of the area.

The four makeshift carriages continued their trek through the paved road leading to the capital city, stopping to warn all people going the other way not to go anywhere near Krochi Village whenever they encountered any. A number of them decided to turn back, and there were a few among them who had their own carriages, thus some passengers of the makeshift carriages could be moved there, lessening the burden and discomfort.

After a while, the convoy of four carriages had grown to seven along with a number of on foot travelers. Their pace in general had slowed down to a regular walking pace, which was probably good to maintain the integrity of the makeshift carriages because they were already rattling as they went.

Elana was monitoring the movement of monsters in the forest through the bird’s eye live footage provided by the Probe Drone when she suddenly got a call through the nanom link. The caller was Lillie.

“Captain! Are you alright!?” Lillie asked frantically.

Elana remembered Sedhoust’s advice regarding long range communication, and thus she replied as discreetly as she could. “We’ve evacuated the rest of the people and we’re on the way back to the city.”

“Oh great! Are the monsters pursuing?”

“No, but there is bad news. I need to inform Keith as soon as possible.”

“Got it! Hop on then, Captain!”

Right after Lillie spoke, Elana saw the expedition buggy coming from ahead at a high speed and did a quick turnaround next to the carriage Elana was on before stopping. Elana smirked a little as she hopped off the carriage, and at the same time Lillie came out from the passengers side. Ulysses was the one driving, and Gregory was sitting on the roof.

“Nice initiative, Mountain Squad.” Elana said. “But are you sure you’re fine?”

“No problem, Captain!” Lillie said as she gave a salute.

“Alright. Your objective now is to work together with Phantom Squad to guard this convoy from possible attacks.” Elana said while Ulysses and Gregory disembarked and put on their exoskeleton suits.

“Affirmative, Captain!” Lillie said.

Elana nodded. “Godspeed, Mountain Squad.” She said as she went to the driver’s side of the buggy and hopped on. Without delay, she drove the buggy through the paved road leading to the capital city and arrived at the gate fifteen minutes later. The first thing she noticed was Keith standing at the side, and so she stopped the buggy near him.

“Oh, Elana!” Keith said with a relieved look on his face. “What happened there?”

“Bad things happened.” Elana replied. “We shouldn’t talk about it here in the open.”

Keith frowned briefly, but then he nodded. “Alright, let’s go back to my office.”

Soon later, Elana and Keith were back in the latter’s office. Keith shut the door behind him and asked Elana immediately as he walked to his desk. “Now tell me.”

“The forest has become a corrupted area.” Elana said. Keith was about to sit down on his chair, but he froze up the moment he heard Elana’s answer.

“...What? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

Elana shrugged. “At least Kurt and Leon concluded so when the monsters stopped pursuing and retreated. All at once.”

“Oh no...” Keith said, going limp as he sat down. “That indeed matches the behavior of calamity beasts dwelling in corrupted areas.”

“Kurt also said that there has never been any new corrupted areas appearing after the Five Heroes defeated Calamity twenty years ago. Is that true?”

“Yes, indeed that’s true.” Keith said. “Sedhoust won’t like this.”

“What can we do against a new corrupted area?” Elana said, resting her hand on the desk. “I believe you should know something since you are one of the Five Heroes.”

“Sadly not much.” Keith dejectedly shook his head. “A corrupted area can only be contained and thinned bit by bit over time.”

“So we cannot just simply slay all the monsters?” Elana sat down and folded her arms as she asked.

“No, killing so many at once will just make the area grow larger.” Keith shook his head again. “In any case, tell me exactly what happened today.”

“Morning went with little result like the previous days, but right after lunch time was over suddenly hundreds of monsters appeared and went straight to the fort all at once.”

“Did you just say appeared?”

“Yes. It was very strange. It felt as if they all appeared out of thin air under the drone’s surveillance. Moving on, we evacuated a number of villagers using two carriages pulled by our vehicle. For the rest we had to hold the line while the people made makeshift carriages.”

“You held the line against hundreds of calamity beasts!?” Keith asked with slight disbelief written on his face. “Anybody got hurt?”

“It was mainly thanks to Kurt and Leon that we somehow pulled through with no casualties. The convoy is heading here as we speak.”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief and smiled a bit. “Glad to hear that. Oh, by the way, this matter indeed shouldn’t be talked about in public. Good call.”

“Thank you.” Elana said. “Speaking of Kurt, he and Leon sure were reckless. They could have gotten killed, putting themselves as monster bait like that. Is this how adventurers behave? Disregarding their own lives?”

“No, Kurt’s just like that.” Keith said. “Leon and Anna pretty much have given up on telling him otherwise.”

“Hmm, and the rain didn’t help.”

Keith furrowed his brows. “Did you just say... rain?”

“Yes, it started raining right before the monsters attacked. Is there something wrong with that?”

Instead of answering, Keith stood up and went to the bookshelves nearby. He took out a file binder from it and gave it to Elana.

“I need to go downstairs for a bit. Give this a quick read until I get back.” Keith said. Elana received the file binder, and Keith left the office.

Elana then took a closer look at the file binder. The cover had ‘The Corrupted Cloud’ handwriting on it, written with black ink. Elana opened the pages and began skimming through them with the help of the nanomachines.

To summarize, the file binder contained information about an existing corrupted area in Arxhige Kingdom. The area consisted of a giant lake with an island in the middle and a perpetually looming giant cloud above. Calamity beasts on the island proliferated at a faster rate than normal, and about once a year the cloud produced a rainfall which could last for days.

“The monsters get more aggressive in the particular rain, and they somehow become aware of the location of the nearest human...” Elana murmured with one hand covering her chin. “That is indeed similar.”

Click!

The office door opened, and Keith entered. Without saying a word, he went to his seat behind the desk and sat down.

“What do you think about that?” Keith asked with his eyes on the files in Elana’s hands.

Elana nodded in response. “Indeed, the similarities are not to be ignored in my opinion.”

“Yea, I went downstairs to arrange an emergency quest in the Arstjipta branch.” Keith said. “Gotta have them check the condition of the lake and the cloud over there.”

“Isn’t it going to take too long?” Elana asked, glancing at the kingdom map included in the file. Arstjipta, the city closest from the lake, was near the opposite corner of the kingdom’s territory, and messages would take a very long time to reach there.

However, Elana then remembered the fact that the guild had computers with a network connection. “Oh, right. You can communicate instantly between branches. Forgot about it for a second there.”

Keith nodded. “Yes, we should get a result in a couple days. At times like this I’m thankful to Belmott Empire. Otherwise this would’ve taken weeks or even months.”

“Wait a second...” Elana frowned looking at the kingdom map.

“What? Is there something you found?”

“This might be merely a coincidence, but two weeks ago the drone went to some place by itself. Just now, I remembered that the drone stopped above that lake before I called it back.”

“Two weeks ago...” Keith frowned himself. “Was that the day you went to the mines?”

Elana nodded. “Yes, and you know I ended up discovering that the mine was infested. Then last week I used the drone to scout the forest, and the same thing happened, but even worse.”

“Are you implying that...?” Keith asked. “Your drone has been affected by the corrupted cloud in some way?”

“It is a possibility, but without more proof I cannot say for sure.” Elana replied while putting down the file binder on the desk. “I shall check with my engineer, Billy, after this. Maybe he can find out something more.”

“Alright, then.” Keith said. “I hope everything’s just a coincidence.”

“I hope the same.” Elana said.

Later, Elana returned to her room in the guild’s inn section and called Billy through the nanom link.

“Billy, I need you to come to my room now if you can. No need to knock.”

“Right away, Captain.”

One minute later, Billy came into the room in a slight hurry. Elana was looking out the window when he approached.

“Is there something you need from me, Captain?” Billy asked as Elana turned her head to him and leaned back to the wall beside the window.

“Yes. I should have asked this much earlier, but so many things happened that I forgot. Anyway,” Elana said. “Two weeks ago, did you order the Probe Drone to go somewhere?”

“What? No, Captain.” Billy shook his head. “In fact, I have never touched anything related to the drone ever since you gained authority over it.”

“So why did the drone wander off somewhere without anyone giving orders?”

“Did that happen? Let me check the logs real quick.” Billy said as he pressed buttons on his engineering bracer.

A minute passed and Billy still looked busy, so Elana asked. “Found anything yet?”

“...” Billy remained silent, but Elana noticed from his facial expression that he had found something, and that was not a good one. “There was a security breach. An unknown party ordered it to go to that spot and begin analysis procedure.”

Billy’s answer essentially confirmed Elana’s worst fear. There was no way to know how it could have happened, but the implication was clear that somehow the so-called corrupted cloud had managed to gain access to the Probe Drone and exploit it. It all made sense now. Elana had never discovered infested areas with the help of the Probe Drone.

The Probe Drone had been making infested areas wherever it went, ever since that day.

***