Moments after the end of the vision, we once again found ourselves in the real world, being stared at by Dalius’ guards. Word soon spread that our goal had been accomplished and that the time to retreat had come. Things moved pretty quickly from there, so it didn’t take long before we were back at base.

My thoughts were still whirling after that latest vision. Helios had vowed to take up the mantle of a god in this one and had promised to listen to the final words of his enemies. A stark difference from the god he had been fighting, it seemed.

Emeri and I were cajoled into Dalius’ tent after arrival, where we were told to wait for his return. Left to ourselves, I noticed that Emeri was lost in thought as well.

“How do you feel about what we saw, Ems? Pretty gruesome, huh.”

“I… D- Do you think what he did was necessary?”

“…What do you mean?”

“What Helios did. Killing all of those people, stopping them from dreaming… Do you think that was necessary?” she rephrased, turning to look at me.

I sighed. “Necessary? Probably not. But perhaps it was warranted. While that pagan goddess seemed convinced of the good she was doing, a creature like that can’t be trusted. For all we know, she was showing them nightmares instead.”

She shook her head. “Helios would have said so, if that was the case… Those people went there willingly, too.” Her brow scrunched. “It wasn’t Helios’ call to make!”

“Helios was a normal person once, too, Emeri. Remember the harm that was done to him by those other pagan gods? It only makes sense that he would make sure they didn’t continue their destruction when his back was turned.”

“Listen to what you just said! ‘Other’ pagan gods. They don’t all deserve to be treated in the same way… Helios forced his way in and caused death and destruction. Just like those other minor gods did to him.”

I looked down, staring at my hands. They had been bloodied many a time in these past few months. Had my victims all deserved their deaths? The thought reminded me of a saying my dad always like to taut.

“…Hurt people hurt more people.”

Emeri calmed down, but still looked unsettled. “You’re right… You’re right. We don’t know enough to say that Helios was in the wrong. I guess I- I had hoped Helios would be kinder, even to his enemies.”

“Those last words of his… that is kindness.” Before deciding to lighten the mood. “I have to admit, Emeri, that I hadn’t expected you to react so strongly. You used to jump to Helios’ defence for the smallest thing.”

She scoffed, punching my shoulder. “I guess I took your words to heart, idiot.”

“Huh? Which ones?”

“The ones about me being a mindless follower.” She half-whispered.

“Oh. Oh! From when we had that fight! I remember. Well, I think you’re overcompensating. Let’s give his holiness the benefit of the doubt, shall we?”

Though she remained silent, I did get a shallow nod and a reserved smile.

A few minutes of comfortable silence later, Dalius entered the tent. He looked slightly bruised and his armour was banged up, but seemed fine otherwise. When he noticed us sitting on a nearby bench, he gave us a wide smile.

“Aha! I was about to call for you two, but you’re already here! You must have read my mind. So, what’d you find?”

“Getting right to business, are we?” I grumbled lightly, though I received no response. I noticed that Dalius’ smile seemed a little more forced than usual. I suppose he had lost a lot of men, so it made sense for him to be a little more icy than normal.

Emeri and I proceeded to share what we had seen, taking over from each other at certain intervals and sharing our individual observations. By the end of the tale, Dalius’ mood had visibly improved.

“I knew it! No way in hells would Helios let those sheep continue to live inside of their own dreams!” he proclaimed, pumping his fist.

“Huh?” I reacted, not seeing why that mattered.

“Cowards, the lot of them! Ninety-nine percent of people would forego reality in exchange for such a half-existence! Can you believe it?! And they teach their children to be just as weak, just as traitorous. This is why your work is so important, you two! By revealing who Helios really was, a new world can be brought about! One where every single person fights for their own existence, living their lives to the fullest!”

“…Even people without combat classes? How can a chef fight monsters?”

Dalius snorted. “Those people gave up before awakening! That’s why the system gave them the class of a failure in the first place! No, those… creatures should just be gotten rid of, for the sake of true existence!” he continued, his glare growing more and more fanatic with every passing second. Eventually, he calmed down and settled himself, allowing us to take a moment to breathe.

I gave Emeri an urgent glance, but saw that she was just as panicked as I was. Perhaps revealing all this to Dalius wasn’t such a good idea…

A few days had passed since our meeting with Dalius. Things had calmed down a bit since then as Dalius’ group was still reeling from the blow the two recent raids had dealt their numbers. Many of their own had died in the recent battle, thinning the crowd of people that lived at the base a bit. There was still a significant number of soldiers, but even they were grieving.

On top of that, we had come to the conclusion at the recent strategy meeting that the next church would have to wait a few weeks. We were getting low on supplies for one, and the guard at the next targets had quadrupled for another. As a result, we were forced to wait until they lowered their guard. That was projected to take a month or two, so we were left to our own devices for a while.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much room at the main base to train, but thankfully we got an attractive offer from once of the lieutenants.

“Our teleporter can teleport you to various unowned dungeons throughout the continent, if you want? Some of them are uniquely suited for experience gain, too, so…” the woman had explained, giving us a list of possible dungeons to raid in the process.

Amai – Tier 2 dungeon.

This illusory dungeon is filled with music-oriented monsters, the most dangerous and plentiful of which are the musical imps, which entrance trespassers through song. Its occupants are susceptible to loud noises disrupting their orchestra. Warning: Blocking your hearing is inadvisable. If you can’t hear the imps’ song at all, you will not be able to see them, either.

Expected experience gain for tier 2: medium.

Up to 50 people can enter this dungeon simultaneously.

Garbador Tunnels – Tier 4 dungeon.

This dungeon took over an old quarry several hundred years back. Only one species of monster are known to frequent the old tunnels – the aptly named Gabador. Big lumbering brutes, these giants make up for their sluggishness with raw power and tenacity. Warning: Garbador possess a medium regenerative factor. Coupled with their constitution, they are quite hard to kill for tier 4 classers.

Expected experience gain for tier 2: Very high.

Up to 5 people can enter this dungeon simultaneously.

Rankor woods – Tier 3 dungeon.

This dungeon is accessible from all directions, having no set entrance. It takes the form of a misty stretch of wood. The dungeon is filled with the fast and vicious Rankor, which hunt weaker monsters for sport. On top of that, the mist and continuous growth of the dungeon makes it hard to navigate.

Expected experience gain for tier 3: low (in case of Rankor kills: high).

Up to 30 people can enter this dungeon simultaneously.

Lichcondor’s rest – Tier 4 dungeon.

A series of towering spires connected by old suspended bridges, this dungeon is haunted by hordes of various undead monsters. The skeletons of the monsters they were originally are capably of all functions and skills they were capable of when alive. Warning: Monsters do not die unless enough of their bodies have been fully destroyed. Beheading them is not enough.

Expected experience gain for tier 2: large.

Up to 12 people can enter this dungeon simultaneously.

Ilian travels – Tier 2 dungeon.

A rare multi-biome dungeon, Ilian travels takes place in several distinct environments and is filled a similar variety of elemental monsters. These monsters will work together to increase their power. ‘Water sprites will work together with thunder sprites, for example.’

Expected experience gain for tier 2: small.

Up to 45 people can enter this dungeon simultaneously.

Trulo Marshes – Tier 2 dungeon.

The Trulo Marshes is a dungeon filled with small yet dangerous monsters. Many are poisonous and/or venomous, which they will use to their advantage. Monsters in this dungeon are more intelligent and tactically inclined than usual. Warning: There have been reports of poisonous creatures purposefully jumping into cooking pots to kill trespassers.

Expected experience gain for tier 2: small.

Up to 25 people can enter this dungeon simultaneously.

I gave the dungeons on the first page a read and discarded the rest of the pile, instantly having found one I liked.

“These ‘Garbador’, they wouldn’t happen to be immune to curse marks, would they?” I asked the lieutenant.

“I’m not sure what those are, but I don’t think so? I don’t see why they would be; Garbador are earth-attuned monsters.”

“That’s all I needed to know…”