Vivena swept the sweat from her forehead. She underestimated the number of monsters. Even though the monsters were of low rarities, they were wearing her down. Her stamina was getting lower with every minute and the river of the monsters came without cease. The only silver lining was that the monsters didn’t attack the walls and went for the open gate. Vivena didn’t know what she would have done otherwise.

The two tribesmen weren’t even in the Medium stage and didn’t have any attributes maxed out. It became an issue once more monsters got through Vivena. The one with the bleeding Talent did a decent job but it wasn’t exactly the Talent fit for that kind of encounter.

“How much longer?” Bill asked. He looked fine and positioned himself next to Vivena at the entrance.

“I don’t know. There is no timer,” Vivena replied, finding it harder to breathe.

I may need to go with a plan B, she said to Isako.

Without knowing how much longer this event is going to last it is risky. Plus, you do not have the anti-poison serum anymore. You’d have to wait until the poisons wear off, which is risky in itself. And I haven’t included the main threat; one wrong poison and you may die. I don’t think there is a plan B without the anti-poison serum.

You’re joking, right?

Isako didn’t reply, which was a reply in itself. Vivena had no other option but to fight through the waves of the monsters.

“You need a rest,” Bill said as he kept monsters from bypassing him. Those that survived a direct hit from his rungu, attacked him. “I won’t be able to hold them off without you.”

Vivena felt her spiritual energy hit the bottom, [Poison Aura] and spiritual aura vanished. In the last couple of minutes, she kept the aura only two metres around her to lessen the drain on her spirit and to not poison Bill by accident. She was quite sure that she’d inflicted a poison on Keynes in the capital.

“ARGH!” one of the tribesmen cried out. A monster found an opportunity and swiped its claws across his chest. Four elongated wounds bleed profusely. The panther-like, only twice the size, lunged for the kill, hoping to sink its sharp teeth in the man.

With a shout, Bill spun around and hurled himself at the monster. The Level 4 was much stronger even though the panther’s body was much more muscular. Bill punched it, roaring savagely. The panther dropped to the ground but wasn’t dead. As it attempted to get up, a hit to the head with a rungu ended its life.

“We can’t keep up with their numbers!” he said to Vivena. “We must close the gate!”

She knew it. They were losing this. She’d miscalculated the odds. After killing the local boss, she grew overconfident despite her brutal recovery. The anti-poison serum knocked her out for a day.

Vivena looked at the sea of the monsters, at least two hundred of them, most of them Level 3. Even though closing the gate made sense on paper, it not only wouldn’t solve their problem, it would worsen it. The walls were barely three metres high and made out of soil, clay and wood. Some of the monsters would be able to easily jump over the wall.

The gate itself didn’t look sturdy enough to withstand the assault of two hundred Level 3 monsters.

“No. The only way to survive it is to keep this gate open,” she said, her expression hardening. She ducked, avoiding an attack from an oversized crab. Its armour looked tough and pincers awfully sharp. It was the time to make use of the band’s skill. “[Lesser Dominate]”

The crab froze as the spell took control over it. Without thinking twice, Vivena said, “Kill.”

No matter how sturdy the crab looked, its fate wasn’t pretty. Other monsters didn’t sense the change until the crab attacked. Once it became obvious that the crab was on Vivena’s side, the other monsters lunged at it with rabid glee.

She focused on the crab too much and she missed a tail that whipped her across her back. Pain blinded her for a second and she dropped to her knees. She recognised signs, her body was shutting down.

I have no choice! She screamed in her mind. I must do it.

You will kill yourself, my lady.

A hand caught her and pulled up. She glanced to the side and found Hawthorne. His cold expression warned her about repercussions but she didn’t care. Right now, she was too close to dying to worry about Hawthorne’s wrath.

He brought her back inside, then lay her down next to the wounded tribesman.

“Rest.”

Vivena wanted to get up and protest. She wasn’t going to be ordered around, especially, not in her own dominion. Her body refused to listen though. Her hands were red. Only then she realised that she had wounds all over her body. When did this happen? She must have been so consumed by the fight that she missed the wounds.

How does it look like? She asked Isako.

Healthwise, there is no danger. You still have 70% HP and a good health recovery rate. The issue is your stamina. The auras drained your dry. You were not very efficient with them.

While Vivena chewed on Isako’s words, she watched the unexpected development at the gate. Hawthorne wasn’t alone. His wife, Haruka, Pandora and the guy from the capital were here too. Vivena stared at them with jealousy as they killed monster after monster with ease. Storm of emotions crossed her mind, ranging from frustration to panic. What were they going to do to her after the event was over? Even fully recovered, Vivena couldn’t fight them without her poison serum and she couldn’t leave her dominion. There were some strange requirements like her presence over the next few weeks had to be nearly constant inside her dominion. It had something to do with attunement between the dominion and her. If they turned against her, all of this would be for naught.

Through anger, she forced her body to get up. The others were slowly moving away from the gate, giving Bill and the other tribesman a breathing room. On wobbly legs, Vivena began moving toward them.

My lady, please! You must rest! You must recover!

Vivena ignored her.

“What are you doing?” Bill asked. “You’re barely standing.”

“This is my dominion to defend.”

“You’ll only get in the way of others,” he said. “Just wait until they’re finished…”

It was the last thing she wanted to hear right now. With growing effort and frustration coming from Isako, Vivena crossed the gate. Haruka turned around, sensing her presence, most likely through his spiritual companion.

“You shouldn’t be here, Vivena. You’ve already helped to end the attack on the Capital. We’re very grateful and will take it from here.”

A roar drowned the sounds of the battle. The boss was finally here. In her poor state, Vivena could only watch as Pandora and the tribesman whose name slipped away from Vivena’s memory charged the massive monster. It had the body of a dragon, the head of a shark, and the fur of a polar bear. Its long tail whipped, aiming at the two charging ascenders but they dodged the attack. The boss was the size of a truck and was Level 4 and a common rarity according to Isako who had gone to investigate it.

Vivena grimaced watching as the two ascenders made a short work of it.

Congratulations!

You have defended your dominion.

The dominion of the House of Poison has been established.

You are the sole owner of the dominion.

You have now access to the dominion’s menu.

“What is this?” Haruka asked, his eyes gazed. “We defended a dominion?”

Vivena stiffened, bracing for what might happen now, or rather trying not to drop unconscious. A sheer act of keeping herself up was hard.

“Yes,” she replied, while asking Isako to find what she could do to help her. “This is my dominion.”

Others joined them as the rest of the monsters dispersed.

“Does anyone care to explain what just happened?” asked the tribesman from the Capital. “Why have we just defended some House of Poison dominion?”

Haruka and Bill glanced at each other and it dawned on Haruka. He’d known that Vivena’s affinity was poison and it wasn’t a difficult conclusion for him to draw.

“You have done this?” Haruka whispered to Vivena. She nodded, remembering how he’d defended her in the capital. There was a chance here they wouldn’t gang up on her. She didn’t like the odds though.

You have several available buffs and debuffs although you are allowed only one each at this point. Also, for the debuffs to take effect, you must consider others enemies. Likewise, you must consider them friends for the buffs to affect them. Do you wish me to list you the buffs and debuffs?

Yes.

She saw everyone looking at her expectantly. It was the worst moment for her body to catch up with the damage and exhaustion and lose consciousness.

***

Haruka caught Vivena before she hit the ground.

“Seriously?” Pandora asked with a hint of irritation. “Now?”

She is severely exhausted and needs rest, Sumak informed him.

“Let’s get her to the bed,” Haruka said, ignoring his sister. “Then we can talk.” He looked at Bill who nodded.

“What happened here, William?” Aurora asked twenty minutes later. They sat in Lumo’s hut in the middle of the village after they’d released the hiding tribesmen from it. “How is it possible that there is a dominion here that belongs to the outsider girl?”

Bill told them everything. Aestar’s expression darkened when Bill told them about Lumo and his guards. If it wasn’t Bill, Haruka would have never believed this. Vivena wasn’t that kind of a person. And the fact that she wanted to stop Keynes at all cost was worrisome. They were such good friends and Keynes had feelings for her. Haruka and others now knew that Keynes had survived the race somehow. He was in the top 100 last week.

“We should kill her,” Aestar said without hesitation. “As the rightful heir to the tribes, I’ll do so and take over her dominion.”

“Wait a minute.” Bill raised his hands. “Why are we talking about killing anybody? You’ve just saved her and you admitted that she had helped fight the monsters in the Capital. Should I also remind you that she’d saved us when Keynes had opened the first Level 3 rift?”

Haruka felt shameful for not speaking up earlier. Killing others wasn’t the way of the tribes.

“I agree with Bill. We aren't going to kill anybody.”

“She’s murdered our people already, Haruka. She must be punished!”

“And she’ll be,” Haruka replied.

Aestar glanced at Aurora as if looking for help but he couldn’t ask her openly because it would undermine his position. Haruka didn’t much care about his cousin’s aspirations. After the events in the Capital, those who survived, like Haruka’s mother, would compete for the throne. Haruka’s father returned to the First Tribe, cutting his ties with the Capital and his wife. Bonolo didn’t say anything but he was deeply ashamed by his attempt at Keynes’s freedom.

“No,” Aestar disagreed. “I want her punished now. We must take her items and claim her dominion.”

His words were met with silence, which visibly unsettled Aestar. He looked at them, his eyes narrowed.

“After everything we’ve gone through you still side with some outsider?”

***

Bill and his parents stood some distance from others.

“It reminds me of the Capital,” Hawthorne said. “Monster bodies everywhere.”

Bill had a hard time accepting what had happened in the Capital. Keynes surviving the Covenant of Tribes without winning it was difficult to believe, him causing another outbreak and the event, stretched Bill’s imagination further than he thought possible. He was aware of Keynes’s ability to do so, but he didn’t think Keynes would cause the third outbreak.

But nothing prepared Bill for the last portion of news.

“We’re leaving the World Reserve and would like you to join us,” his mother said. “No matter what Aestar claims, the Capital is gone. Venarys and others would sooner murder each other than agree on the next ruler. Our time here is over. Please, come with us, William.”