~ CHAPTER 297

It had been a lot longer outside the dungeon than we had initially thought. It was easy to get swept up in the moment and think that we did a quick in and out, but that wasn't the case. It was the early hours of the morning and the sun would come up soon. Despite how fast-paced everything had felt inside the dungeon at the time, we must have been in there for more than twelve bells. One of my first thoughts was time distortion like last time, but Morrigan was able to put my mind at ease by checking things out with her magic. It wasn't something she thought to check last time, but after losing several days in the first dungeon, it was something she made a point to learn about after that.

We were careful on our way back to Traehall's walls, but now that we were a bit closer to the city, it was clear that what we had done in the dungeon already had a significant impact. There were still a lot of demons in the area attacking the walls, but they were no longer coming faster than the city's defenders could kill them. We circled the city since the brunt of the demons were still concentrated on the edge closest to the dungeon. After a while, we found that there were nearly no demons at one of the entrances on the far side. Mimi shifted back to her normal form before we approached the gate, and once we got close enough, she was able to finally let go of the bubble of wind magic she had been maintaining the entire time.

We fought off the few demons near the gate, and I used [Light Signal] to get them to open it for us. We quickly slipped back into the city, where everything still seemed normal for now. The nearby guards looked tired, but they already looked less exhausted than they had in the past. It was a good sign that told me the night had gone better for them than some of the previous ones.

"Where is Raksha'va?" I asked one of the guards.

A rabbitkin woman pointed. "She's defending the east gate, where most of the demons are concentrated this time. Did you find the dungeon that was spawning demons?"

"It's a little bit more complicated than that, but we were able to reduce the number of demons that will be coming significantly," I replied.

She nodded. "Whatever you did already seems to be having an effect. We were regularly surrounded on all sides before. This is the first night since things really got started that we haven't been completely overwhelmed. Go on then, go report. We have this gate handled here."

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

My group followed behind me as we walked through the city toward the other gate as quickly as we could. Not a lot of people were outside right now, but the ones that were shared hopeful looks with each other as the news that the demons were letting up a little spread throughout the city. All that did was compound the feeling inside me that something bad was about to happen. Things have gone too well. The fight with the cultists and the battle inside the dungeon went too smoothly. I had a creeping feeling that something else was yet to happen.

We decided to report to Raksha'va before stopping by Meena and Twill's shop, even though it would have been on the way. If something happened, I wanted to be near the defenses, and it would be appropriate to tell her what we found at the dungeon as soon as possible. I did look longingly in the direction of the shop as we walked through the city, but it was better to be in the proper position if things took a turn for the worse like I expected.

I walked up the stairs to the battlements with everyone following behind me. The guards here looked more tired than the ones on the other wall had, but the mood was lighter. This side was where most of the fighting was happening and where it was most clear that something had changed for the better.

"Lilith! I'm glad to see you back." Raksha'va turned and smiled as we approached. "We saw the flare, but you didn't come back right away. Were you able to do something about the dungeon you found?"

I nodded. "We did, but things were more complicated than we thought. The dungeon itself wasn't spawning demons. The cultists did something to it that forced the dungeon to summon demons from a rift using ritual magic. We fought the cultists outside of the dungeon, followed their trail, and destroyed the ritual circle that was continually summoning demons. Apparently, the dungeon was doing all of this against its will."

Raksha'va's brows furrowed. "What do you mean by against the dungeon's will?"

I shook my head. "After I defused the ritual circle they had created, the dungeon spawned one of the largest chests I had ever seen. It was filled with artifacts tailored to the strengths of each of us as if it were thanking us, and even dropped an item in my lap as we were talking about what to do. Then, after deciding the dungeon probably wasn't actually spawning demons, we returned to the entrance without clearing it. On the way out, the dungeon disarmed all of the traps in our path."

"That's... mildly concerning. But if that dungeon isn't spawning demons, then that would be a major boon for this town. All of the dungeons we've found in the area have spawned demons until now. If you didn't clear the dungeon, we may need to send people to secure the area. We can't let the cultists start summoning demons on that scale again. Your efforts last night was a huge relief to our situation here," Raksha'va said.

"The dungeon sealed itself when we left. I'm not sure how well it understood us, but we suggested it seal its entrance for at least the next few days. Based on how well it understood our conversation earlier, and battle tactics, I suspect it may have followed our advice and not just done it coincidentally," I said, scratching the base of my horn.

"That's good." Raksha'va turned and looked back toward the crowd of demons the guards on the walls were continuing to fight. "There are still a lot of demons out there, but a lot more of them have been summoned demons rather than dungeon demons based on the number of corpses they're leaving. Almost all of the flying demons are still dungeon demons though, and they never reduced in number last night."

Morrigan gasped. "Does that mean there's another cultist controlled dungeon out there?"

Raksha'va nodded. "Based on what you've told me, that would be my guess, yes. It also means there are other groups of cultists still summoning demons to throw at us." She shook her head. "For now, go rest. You've gone nearly a full day without sleep, so you must be tired. I can handle the situation on the walls for now. I'll have Mirianna look over the maps again and narrow down the location of the second dungeon spawning all the banshees."

"There's something else," I said before she walked away.

She turned with a frown. "What else?"

I pulled out my new notebook and tore a copy of the drawing of one of the people used to power the ritual circle. I grimaced as I looked over it, then handed it to her. "I think we found out what the cultists were looking for at the slaver's guild. The ritual circle was powered using the bodies of nine nearly identical looking women."

Raksha'va's jaw clenched as she looked down at my drawing. "Disgusting. Demon worshipping cultists have no souls. They found these women in the slaver's guild? Eira's team and I combed the ruined building, but we didn't find much. I set aside some of the manifests and documents that survived the fire to take back to Goldenhearth. Eira told me the acting baron is collecting information about the cult. There might be more clues in their paperwork, but I didn't have the time to look through any of it myself."

I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't known that Oceane and Nathaniel were working together on this. It must have come up in a meeting after I introduced them. Oceane really works fast.

"Regardless," Raksha'va continued, "nothing we found there seemed to be of any immediate help in this situation, so I let them assist in the protection of the city after that. Once things are a bit more settled, we'll discuss transporting the documents to Goldenhearth."

There was a keening cry as another desiccated flame treiseki demon approached the wall. Raksha'va's focus completely shifted to the incoming threat. "I have to deal with this. Go get some rest. We'll talk about some of the next steps in the evening after your group has gotten time to sleep." She didn't wait for me to respond and quickly leapt off the wall and waded into the demons to fight the treiseki demon herself.

"Lilith, can I support her?" Morrigan asked.

I replied to her through the bond. ("I know you're not physically tired, but you need time to let your mind rest too. I know that you're eager to build up your mana reserves, but I don't think it's a good time right now. Staying up might also draw some suspicion. It's up to you, but I don't recommend it.")

Morrigan hesitated before sighing and giving a nod. ("You're probably right. There will be other opportunities.")

Our group headed toward Meena and Twill's shop as the hopeful crowd of people talked excitedly about the changes in the number of demons. That lingering dread I had faded away a little. The reason things didn't feel over was because they weren't over yet. We apparently had a second dungeon to find and deal with. I was torn. Part of me hoped that it would be an actual demon spawning dungeon this time. It would be harder to deal with, but it also wouldn't involve the grisly sight of nine people sacrificed to the power of that awful ritual. There was also that cultist woman who escaped. She was still loose and it hadn't been an easy fight. Under different circumstances, she may have killed one of us. We would need to be careful.

I tiredly pushed open the door to the blacksmith shop. There was a buzz of excitement as everyone felt me coming before I even reached the door. The succubi that were still here were eager to make sure all of us were okay. I looked around and noticed that Eira wasn't here right now and about half of the group she brought with her were gone. They must be the ones who were helping defend the walls.

"I'm glad to see all of you back in one piece," Tenna said as she walked in from the forge. "How did it go?"

I sat down in one of the chairs and started telling everyone the story of what happened. It wasn't a boastful or exaggerated telling, but all of the people listening seemed enthralled as if I was telling them an epic.

When I finished, Tenna asked me a question, "Can I see some of the weapons you brought from the dungeon? I'd like to see if I can help Gwen learn to be an enchanter. We talked after you left and she agreed that it would be a better option than just becoming another blacksmith."

I glanced at Silva and Sibyl. "Do you want to show them? I don't mind." I turned back to Tenna. "You're not going to take them apart or anything, will you?"

Tenna laughed. "Just a little.

Not in a way that I can't put them back together. Though if it seems that taking one of them apart could damage the item, I promise not to risk it."

I nodded. "Well, I suppose that's fine with me." I took off my new shield and placed it on the counter. Both Silva and Sibyl followed my lead and put their new weapons down next to it.

"You better not break it. I really like this spear," Silva said as she looked down at Tenna.

Tenna laughed. "Don't worry, big stuff, I'll be gentle with your spear."

Sibyl guffawed at the shameless flirting and even Silva couldn't help but grin and roll her eyes. "Just make sure I get it back in one piece. A weapon that restores my mana like that is incredibly valuable to me."

"Don't worry, I'll just be studying the enchantments. There shouldn't be any risk to any of them," Tenna replied.

"What about our weapons?" Torien asked cautiously.

Tenna glanced over at Torien. "Bows aren't really inside my area of expertise, and staves definitely aren't. If I can glean something from these weapons, I may look at yours later, but this is good for now."

A look of subtle relief crossed Torien's face as she returned her bow to her side. I got the sense that Torien really liked her new weapon too, which made me smile. It had been a while since she had shown this much attachment to anything, even if it was a weapon.

I cleared my throat. "For now, we need to spend some time relaxing and getting some rest, so I'm going to head over to the inn for now. You guys don't have to come with me, but take some time to relax if nothing else," I told the group.

Most of my friends wanted to spend some time with each other at the shop still, so at first it looked like only the twins were interested in coming with me. Before I could leave with them though, Kal'daeryn and Nelly approached me.

"Lilith..." Kal'daeryn said, looking a bit shy. The expression on her face was quite the juxtaposition with her imposing armor-clad figure. Nelly was trailing behind her, looking a bit shy herself, but the feelings I was receiving through the bond from them gave me a hint at what this was about.

"It's alright, what do you two need?" I asked.

"Would you... allow us to join you for a while?" Kal'daeryn asked.

I glanced at the twins to see what they wanted to do, but they had both become distracted by some of Nelly's lust leaking through the bond. There was no doubt about what the couple was asking, but I was surprised to find both of the twins interested as well.

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