The two dragonlings quickly returned to Relestia’s side with the news. They squeaked in her ears several times urgently. Although she could not understand completely, she could tell that it means there is danger in this place.

The dragonlings did not give up but flew to her palm and started drawing a picture. Soon, Relestia could make out a monster chasing a group of people nearby.

Astonished, she asked for the directions then quickly turned to her group, “Guys, I will leave it to Sparrow to bring you all back to the dungeon town. There is something I need to check out.”

The recruits got up without grumble, knowing that this girl is the actual in-charge, but Sparrow looked over at her with questioning eyes.

Guessing her worry, Relestia smiled, “I’ll be fine. Kairos made sure I have enough life preserving methods with me. You make sure that the newbies reach safely, alright?”

“Yeah, leave it to me. But where are you heading?”

Instead of giving a straight answer, Relestia asked, “Did you feel something off when we came to this dungeon?”

Sparrow thought for a second then shook her head. Everything seemed perfectly normal… wait, she did feel something amiss, “I noticed people looking at us back in the dungeon town, but I thought they were just curious about outsiders.”

Relestia nodded, “I’m a bit more sensitive at how people look at me and the gazes were not friendly or out of curiosity. I’ll check out this place and come back out before the day ends. If I’m not back by then, call Kairos.”

Sparrow nodded. Relestia is stronger than her, and if something happens to Relestia, she could not handle it herself.

Without waiting anymore, Relestia stood up and walked into the dark tunnels.

In her heart, she was burning with urgency because every moment wasted a life could be lost. Yet, she cannot just dash over to help the strangers and make her team unsettled. If Sparrow led the group to search for her, it might turn deadly if they ran into the monster chasing the other group.

With the dragonlings leading, Relestia bolted down the tunnels making complicated turns. At her pace, she will arrive swiftly. The princess changed her pathing and aimed to intercept the group in the direction of their retreat.

She will not jump into battle without knowing what kind of enemy it is, after all, she is not a first timer anymore. By all considerations, Relestia proudly declares that she is now a second timer!

The small band of dungeon divers soon passed by in front of her ambush point. Fortunately, she found an abandoned goblin hovel that was deceptively hard to find. Keeping her dragonlings that are not old enough for combat, now all she needs to do is to wait for the monster to pass by and she can judge what to do next.

Her desire was soon fulfilled. The grotesque abomination turns into the corner and comes into sight. Just as Relestia saw what was chasing the group, the creature noticed her as well. She should be completely hidden but the thing saw past her cover and looked directly at her… and it smiled!

A terrifying fear creeped up her spine like she had never experienced before. Alarms blared in her mind, telling her she needs to get away.

It wasn’t a frightening sense of imminent death she experienced, but an unliving horror of eternal madness.

Madness so thick that it makes breathing unthinkable yet so very desirable.

Suddenly, a peaceful calmness washed over. A small happy thought that was not erased even in the face of the unending depths of abyss she glimpsed, pulled her back.

It was her gratitude of things that saved her – a strange thing if others had known. When she almost lost herself, she remembered. It is a thankfulness of the life she lived so far, the people she met, the beautiful things she saw, the wonderful things she smelled, the myriad of taste that danced on her tongue, the lovely morning crisp wind, and the gentle patter of rain. She loved them all and felt fortunate to experienced everything.

She had left that accumulation of tiny happiness in a corner of her heart, telling herself not to forget them whenever she met with misfortune. That is not to say that Relestia is an optimist, a person who tends to be hopeful and confident about the future.

No, all she did is to make a choice to remember the good things that already happened whenever she was dealt a bad hand. A mental trick that helps her move forward but who knew that at this moment, such a habit became the straw she could grasp at to save herself.

Ah, of course, talking about wonderful things, her adorable moon bunny is a major contributor too! That fluffy thing is in the nursery with the other babies together with Kairos… AH! O-of course, that man is also important to her.

As her mind wandered wildly, the thoughts became a bright light that shone through the darkness. The oppressive negativity and absolute chaos cleared away like dew under the sun.

Relestia pushed herself out of the goblin hovel and stood face-to-face with the abomination, no longer affected by its presence.

The creature snarled. This human girl did not tear her own throat out like the rest, and it greatly angered it.

The small band of dungeon divers that had been running away suddenly realised that sick unholy miasma is finally becoming further, and they slowly come to a halt.

“Big sis, I think I saw someone intercept that monster for us!”

Circi asked urgently, “Are you certain?”

“I-I am but, sis you shouldn’t turn back.”

“I know. We can’t deal with that thing! But, if someone is here to help us, we cannot abandon our benefactor either. I’ll go back alone and see what I can do, you guys should return to the town and get help. And don’t worry about me. None of us had fought it before, perhaps it is not so strong if we could hit it outside of its miasma’s range.”

“Big sis, we’ll go with you. All of us brought bows.”

“Yeah, big sis, don’t worry about us. We might be able to bring it down if we stick together.”

Circi Fer thought a while and agreed. Honestly, it is not very likely to get help from the town. Most people will avoid the dungeon for a few days if they heard there is such a frightening creature roaming about, which is why that makes those who would come to a stranger’s aid even more valuable.

At the same time, Sparrow had led the team back to the dungeon town. Their group had not gone far so it was rather quick for them to return. Once there, Sparrow asked the recruits to return by themselves while she hurried on ahead to inform Clef and the others.

At the same time, Kairos who was banging his hammer away felt something odd and stopped his work.

He threw the red piece of metal into the water then walked out aimlessly from Edgar’s hut.

The dwarven masters who are here to help, looked up at him. They know how dedicated he is and it is strange to see the boy take a pause in the middle of work.

On seeing their faces, Kairos said with a frown on his face, “Sorry, I felt something strange, I’ll go out and walk it off.”

His teachers were surprised to hear this from him, but they all encouraged him to take a break.

Outside, Kairos headed towards the dungeons without knowing why. Aisa who sleeps in his scarf stirs, she had felt the same strangeness in the air and awaken. She had no robes to dwell in as those clothes did not fit a city with leather and metal, so she had to make do, but the cloth she picked is the highest quality silk.

“Aisa, is there a devil loose in this city?”

A stray thought flew towards her like a pigeon carrying message and Aisa who is making a large yawn, quickly straightened up and poked her head out of her hiding place. She might appear to sleep a lot but as a divine dragon, Aisa did not require any rest unless she had participated in a strenuous battle. The reason for her being unresponsive is because it is her duty to only watch over Kairos and not interfere. And by interfering, sometimes that meant communications as well. Well, there is no specific rules that determine what she can and cannot do, so she smuggled over the Yggdrasil fruits and everything, and once a while revealed secrets. Still, the actual purpose is not centred on providing help or not, but the growth of Kairos. And, this is not how powerful he becomes, because the True Lord would have picked a better birthplace than Rutea village otherwise. Like the son of a celestial emperor, for example, would have given Kairos a straight path towards power.

No. The True Lord intends for Kairos to grow in all aspects. The measurement of what Aisa could do is for Kairos to attain one thing: To Dominate. Not just the devils, but all things unholy. Perhaps one day, to eradicate even the darkness of mortals – the greatest feat of them all.

Of course, Aisa is not doing nothing by sleeping. If by ‘not interfering’ is the main reason for her inactivity, then a small portion of the reason is so she could spend time with her pets. She could talk telepathically with anyone and across great distances, so even on Axis Mundi, she is bullying… conversing with Wyrmy who is in the lair of the cave troll supercolony and the sire of the dragon horse in Rutea, the baby dragonlings at the abandoned Astroire Manor that are still flying in from all over Gaia, as well as the wolves, bats, and snakes of the Black Forest.

Of course, this is the secondary reason… Well, this is the actual main reason. But when she is awake, she would be managing Relestia’s baby Moon Bunny, Leo’s two-tailed fennec, and Kairos’ first pet – the Apoidea Queen.

The white dragon sniffed the air slightly. Her small nose twitched, displeased at the mixture of terrible odours, but she did not detect the unnatural scent of a devil.

The little dragon shook her head.

No, rather, I found something else.

She paused. Kairos did not slow his steps, but he focused on what she might say next.

Kai kai, an Outer God is here.

This is the first time Kairos had heard of that term. Outer? Out of where? This country? Or out of Axis Mundi?

No, if whichever being is here does not belong to ‘Axis Mundi’ then aren’t himself, princess Relestia, and the summoned heroes, all considered Outers?

That means, the being is not merely someone outside of this city and world, but maybe … like the devils, it is from outside this dimension.

“Aisa, is the one you call the Outer God similar like the devils that came from a different plane of existence?”

Aisa was surprised at the speed that Kairos had arrived at this conclusion. Surprised, yet not really surprised. Well, it could be said that it is expected of him.

Aisa replied truthfully.

The Outer Gods are different from the devils. Both came from different planes to us, but one does not belong to the three realms while the other does.

“Are they, our enemies?”

Aisa nodded.

“Then there is more than one force against us…”

Aisa nodded again.

Kairos asked about what the Outer Gods are and despite Aisa’s usual poor explanation skills, he comes to a conclusion. The devils are from the three realms, but the astral plane – a place for everything spiritual. The Outer Gods, however, do not belong to the three realms and their existence are neither physical nor astral but … something else.

As for the three realms, they are made up of the countless mortal realms, the few immortal realms, and the one and only celestial realm. So, technically, there are many more than three realms but since all realms are one in the past, it is hard to say is it one or three or countless?

Perhaps, the words of a wise man is the truth in this case: The singularity births duality, and duality became the trinity, from trinity hence came forth all things.

An Outer God is here. From what Aisa explains, this one is but a minion, close to the lowest of ranks. Perhaps just a little better than a grunt. An elite grunt? This is a soldier of rank and file that had learnt to operate by itself.

The source of this anomaly is in the direction of the dungeons, thus Kairos hurried towards it. Along the way, an old raggedy woman with uncombed cat walked into him. Apologising quickly, Kairos attempts to sidestep politely out of the way, but the woman was intended to bar his way.

Instead of becoming angry, Kairos became curious at why a stranger would act this way and he stopped for her.

“Oh, Great One, be warned. A tragedy looms. The ones you face this time will number plentifully. They are agents of chaos and madness. Of depravity and darkness yet not all of them will be evil. May you remember it was the humble me who said this, so you may think of me more favourably ever slightly.”

Kairos paused and asked, “And you are?”

“Great One, you know me, surely as you know my past and future.”

After she said this, she refused to talk anymore.

Suddenly, Kairos’ eyes flared up shining golden without his control, and he spoke in a voice unlike his own, “I have heard and shall remember you favourably because you sought me with thoughts like pleasing scents to me. The wise brings gifts not knowing their value therefore brings what measures most with their heart.”

Pleasing but unnecessary. If He needed those things, this whole world is His.

The old woman understood and bowed even lower. It was not her words that had gained her favour.

“Such mercy. Thank you… Truly, thank you. I praise you, oh Great One.”

When Kairos blinked again, the woman was gone. Part of what happened seemed missing, but Kairos did not realise it.

The words she said echoed in his mind. There are many this time. More than a single Outer God?

Somehow or rather, Kairos believed what the old woman said, and his caution increased relatively.

A nudging feeling suddenly struck him. He felt something was off when the Outer God appeared and there was urgency in his steps then, but now, he felt as though he might lose something if he did not hurry.

He could not have known that at this very moment, the princess of Saint Empire, had just met with an abominable monster in the dungeon but nevertheless, he sped towards her like he was drawn.