~ CHAPTER 281

The atmosphere inside the adventurer's guild was serious when we entered. The normally lively place where people hung out and had drinks had a completely different tone than usual. The bar was closed, and no one was at the reception desks, but groups of people were standing around the tables looking over maps while arguing about how to ration out the food and materials the traders brought with us.

Mirianna, the receptionist assigned to us when we were last in Traehall, recognized us immediately and ran over. She looked pretty rough too. Most of the people in the room looked like they were operating on less sleep than they needed based on the bags under their eyes and the weary expressions they wore.

The receptionist smiled, "Lilith. It's great to see you again. I was a little surprised when I found out it was you who came to help us out. The guildmaster wants to speak with you and your group alone in one of the meeting rooms. Please, follow me."

I nodded and led my group upstairs after her. The other combat team and the trader team were still guarding the goods, but if anything important came up, we were close enough to relay messages to each other using the bond. For now, we left Tenna and Kino with Meena and Twill, but we promised to come back later that night if we didn't get caught up in something. When I thought about them, I remembered the paperwork Tenna had given me.

"I have an escort mission completion paper here too," I said.

Mirianna glanced back at me. "The desks and files are sealed right now, you'll have to turn it in somewhere else or wait until all of this gets dealt with."

"Makes sense," I replied with a nod. I felt a bit silly bringing it up at all under the circumstances.

We finished climbing the stairs and taking one of the nearby doors into the same meeting room we used the last time we were here. Raksha'va looked completely spent and had dozed off in her chair while she waited for us. She didn't paint the same fierce picture she had when we saw her fighting off the demons only a few hours before.

Mirianna walked over and gently rubbed Raksha'va's shoulder. The tiger woman jumped and looked around before rubbing her eyes and waving us in. "Sorry, I haven't slept much in the past week. Please, sit," she rumbled out.

The five of us sat across from her at the table while she yawned and skimmed some notes she had written. "No one has heard from any of the messengers I sent six days ago or three days ago?" she asked.

I shook my head. "The Tamin church is in charge of Norta right now, and they didn't act like they knew anything was wrong here. Since this involves demons, I assume that they would have already sent someone here to help if they did. We haven't seen anyone on the road in either direction for days."

Raksha'va sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead.

Mirianna patted her shoulder. "On the bright side, I've confirmed the name of the rider who is heading back toward Norta now from the caravan that just arrived."

Raksha'va raised her head. "Was that stretch safer?" she asked.

I nodded. "About as safe as usual. I think that anyone you sent probably got stopped in the forest, not near any of the forts on the way back."

She rubbed her face and leaned back in her chair. "That's a relief, at least. We desperately need more reinforcements. I don't like the Tamin pricks, but this is the one thing they're actually good for."

"Are you okay?" Bella asked. "You said you haven't had much sleep..."

Raksha'va sighed. "There's been so much to do and I'm the only person left that's high enough level to hold off the demons through the night. They swarm even harder when the sun goes down and they send even larger demons with them. We need someone else strong enough to hold it. In the last week, I've probably gained the demon hunter title more than ten times over by now."

Mirianna smiled. "Lilith and her companions are a lot stronger now. Do you think they could hold the walls tonight while you slept? I don't think you'll make it much longer."

Raksha'va failed to stifle a yawn. "It's risky... but I'll be useless if this goes on much longer. If the rider the caravan sent is only leaving now, it'll be five days or more before anyone mobilizes..."

"Do you have any idea where the demons are swarming from? And why some of them are piled up by the gates without falling to ash?" Morrigan asked.

"Our best guess is that they're coming from an unknown dungeon nearby. All of the demons that have been attacking the walls are the ones that have been sighted in the woods over the last few months. As for the ones that aren't falling apart when we kill them, I suspect that someone is summoning them as well. Those corpses by the gates have piled up over the last few days, but we're afraid that burning them will release something foul into the air. I'd rather bury them once this is over. This feels like a coordinated attack from cultists," Raksha'va answered.

"I can get rid of the corpses," Mimi suggested.

Raksha'va looked over Mimi's odd-looking chimera form, which was disguised as a strange beastkin. "Have we met before? I don't remember you being among Lilith's group the last time, and I don't recognize your tribe."

"Oh... no. I joined Lilith's group after we left Traehall," she answered.

"You just lied to me right now," Raksha'va said while narrowing her eyes.

"Uh..." Mimi looked over to me for help.

I cleared my throat to regain her attention. "Mimi's been with us since before we left Traehall last time, but she wasn't part of our combat group initially. We kept her hidden most of the time."

"Why?" Raksha'va asked.

"The most relevant reason right now is that she is a spatial mage. That's why she offered to deal with the corpses. She's the one who kept our delivery to the capital for Meena and Twill safe."

Mirianna chimed in, "I do remember issuing that assignment. At the time, I thought it was odd that the two of them decided to trust Lilith's group with the mission, but a spatial mage being involved would make sense."

Raksha'va grumbled before looking back at Mimi. "You said you can deal with the corpses safely without the risk of letting out anything foul?"

Mimi nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! I can handle it, no problem!" Mimi looked like she was on the verge of drooling. Demons were full of magic, so it would probably be a hearty meal for her. She had some reservations about eating other mimics, but that didn't extend to other kinds of demons.

The tiger beastkin nodded. "Fine, even if you're not being sincere, I don't think it matters here," she relented. "Remove them in the morning for us when the demons ebb off again."

"After we get through the night, then what? I don't think we brought enough food to last the entire town another six days," I said.

"I know," Raksha'va said with a barely restrained growl. She took a slow breath. "Sorry, I know.

 If there is a dungeon spawning the hordes of demons, we need to do something about it. We've narrowed the location of the dungeon to a few areas. We sent one dungeon hunting team out before things got this bad, but they disappeared shortly before the city came under siege. My guild officer was among the ones who disappeared in the group. He was the highest level after me."

Mirianna tapped Raksha'va on the shoulder. "Lilith and her group are the ones that got the [First Explorer] title from that demon dungeon they destroyed, remember? Perhaps they could find it."

The large tigerkin grumbled. "They probably could find it. The issue is the demons in the woods. They would have to make it around a horde before they could even enter the dungeon. They would also have to deal with cultists summoning even more of them and somehow get through a dungeon that's spitting out an entire legion. I don't see anyone capable of doing that without an army with them."

"Actually, I think we could make it through the woods. The problem would be clearing the dungeon," Torien said.

"How would you be able to make it through the forest?" Raksha'va asked.

"I assume you haven't had the title for as long as we have, but [Demon Hunter] lets you see demon miasma and its concentration. Combined with [First Explorer], we should be able to find the dungeon while avoiding large groupings of the demons. Lori and I have strong shadow magic that should make it easier to traverse the forest without being seen as well, even as part of a group. The real issue would be making it into the dungeon and destroying it while it continued to spit out so many demons," Torien explained.

Morrigan interjected, "The cultists are probably triggering dungeon breaks intentionally. If we can defeat them without being overwhelmed, the break will probably stop and give us time to clear it. Destroying the dungeon crystal may trigger another dungeon break, but if that's been their strategy this entire time, one more dungeon break shouldn't be any more devastating than what you've already been dealing with."

Raksha'va leaned back in her chair, deep in thought. "Are you confident you can make it through the crowd of demons unnoticed? I can tell all of you have gotten stronger, but I don't feel confident sending you into something like this."

Torien nodded confidently. "Lori and I can do it. The two of us together will be able to lead everyone through the woods without being spotted."

"With proper coordination with Lilith, the two of us can funnel the demons into a kill range like we did outside the city. As long as we can find the cultists, we could hold one spot for a long time," Morrigan added.

"That spell you used outside the city, the ice wall?" she asked.

I nodded. "That's the second time we've used the spells in concert like that. I'm confident we could recreate it as long as we have at least one solid wall on our back."

Raksha'va sighed and rubbed her eyes. "You realized the five of you are essentially offering to go on a suicide mission, right? This sounds crazy."

"We can do it! We're strong," Mimi said excitedly.

"There is one more issue we haven't discussed," Bella said quietly. She flushed a little when everyone focused on her, but she quickly continued despite that. "There's the issue of the smoke and fire in the forest. The only reason we were able to hold it at bay was because Morrigan was using large-scale wind magic the entire time. Morrigan can't act offensively at the same time that she's maintaining breathable air for us, and we'll need her to fight large crowds."

A lot of the enthusiasm for the plan waned as we hit that roadblock.

Mimi raised her hand a bit. "Maybe I could use wind magic while someone carried me? I don't know the spell for it, but the receptionist at the capital said I have a medium wind affinity."

Morrigan shook her head. "I'm not sure that would work. Using wind on such a large scale takes a lot of mana. The only reason I was able to do it for that long is because I'm a wild caster. It would take too long to teach you to use that magic, I think."

"I can use my mana directly as long as I have a source of it. Those demon corpses are rich in mana. As long as I pace myself with them, I should be able to maintain a medium wind spell for a long time that way," Mimi said.

Raksha'va raised an eyebrow. "You can turn those corpses into mana?" she asked.

Mimi looked nervous and glanced at me for a moment. "I... eat mana as part of my race. I would be eating the demon's bodies by converting them to mana first."

Raksha'va snorted. "You are very mysterious, little one. I won't pry. If you think you can do it, then I would be happy with that outcome."

"It'll take some time to teach her the spell, and we need a wind magic grimoire," Morrigan said. "I'm also not the best teacher for this kind of thing.

"I can get her a grimoire," Mirianna said. "We can borrow the one that was lent to the mages we have on rotation keeping the smoke outside the city. She'll essentially be using the same spell but on a smaller scale, right?"

Morrigan nodded. "That would be perfect."

Raksha'va rubbed her nose. "Who is going to teach her the spell? We need help at the city walls if I'm going to be asleep."

"What about Nelly?" I suggested. "With her priest training, she could probably teach Mimi the magic while staying in one location to heal, right?"

"Depends on how many people need healing," Torien said.

Raksha'va looked at Bella. "You have another healer now?"

Bella nodded. "Nelly, the priest of Velenthel that entered the city with us. Her healing magic isn't as powerful as mine yet, but if we group the wounded appropriately, we can stretch our mana a lot farther if the two of us work together. Short of a disaster, she should have enough time to work with Mimi. She's a fast learner."

"How often through the night do you need healers?" Torien asked.

"We haven't run into an issue with our healers keeping up yet. With Belladonna's help, it would be fine if Nelly didn't participate in that fashion at all," Mirianna suggested.

Bella shook her head. "I would actually prefer her to heal regardless, even if it does slow Mimi down a little. Nelly could use the experience, her healing magic is pretty new to her."

Raksha'va raised an eyebrow. "She's a fresh priest, untested?"

"Unfortunately," I answered.

"I can do it!" Mimi said enthusiastically. "I know how to read now. I can learn it! Nelly can help me if I get stuck, but I think I can do it!"

Raksha'va pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'll point you in the direction we suspect the dungeon is in, as long as you promise not to haunt me if all of this goes bad. The truth is, we need to do something. We don't have the time to wait for reinforcements from Norta at this point. It's already been too long."

There was a long pause while her words sank in.

"We can do it," I said. "I believe in us."

----------------------------------------