2025-12-05 03:24:11Wrong.
That was what Rhys had felt the moment he left the forested path and made it to a village half an hour's jog away. He was walking on open road now, only a hundred feet from the village. It wouldn't have much more than the basics. A general store, a small blacksmith and the farm he was walking through now.
The real problem was that the village hadn't been slaughtered yet. As terrible as that thought was, if the adventurers were planning to max out combat achievements, then killing the town would have been done immediately.
The only reason Rhys could think of was that a team was maximizing achievements while having one member go for a non combat class. Maybe it was a full team of bloodthirsty crafters? That didn't sound right.
He was lost in thought when a friendly voice called out to him.
"Hello! And where are you from then?"
It was an old man in a straw hat, potentially an early warning crier for the village. The man kept a healthy distance from him. If he was alive, then everyone else was probably alive too. His hopes started to go up.
"I came from a larger town!" Rhys said cheerily. "Heard there was a beginner's dungeon here."
It seemed to put the old man at ease. "Ah, of course! Though I guess you hadn't heard. An undead noble woke up there, killed the poor mortals at the waystation."
Rhys checked his notifications.
《Trial Quest complete conditions
Quest
Slay the undead noble
Capacity 3/3 + 1》
"What's going to happen now?" Rhys asked.
"Oh, we should be able to deal with one undead noble. Three great adventurers from the town nearby dropped by. Perhaps you know them. Oh, there they are now!"
Rhys looked past the old man and stiffened as he saw the trio that was approaching them from the village. One drake, one dwarf and a mortal in the middle. But the odd species choices weren't what made his blood go cold.
All three of them were wearing Trial issued helmets that obscured their faces. There was zero reason to do that. That is, unless all the members wanted to keep their identities a secret.
The only teams that did that were those trying to stay hidden while infiltrating The Dominion.
Rhys waved at them cheerily, he used the old man to block the other team's vision to swing his Trial standard knife strap to his back. He called out to them first, hoping they didn't notice anything.
"Hello! I heard that this town needs help! I have come to give aid!"
The three helmeted adventurers looked at each other as one gave another a nod. Rhys tensed as they whispered something to each other. He strained his ears, getting ready to bolt the moment they turned hostile.
It turns out he didn't need to worry. The mortal one in the middle walked forward. He wore simple bland clothes.
"It's good to meet you. We're preparing the town's defenses. Though we plan on heading to the dungeon ourselves. Do you have a specialty?"
They were talking to him like he were a Trial mortal. Rhys internally breathed a sigh of relief as his ploy worked.
"Yes! I'm an [Infiltrator], I'm happy to help!" Rhys the friendly NPC responded.
They looked at each other and gave each other a nod.
"That'll do. Do you mind heading towards the entrance of the dungeon and being a scout in case the undead noble attacks early?"
"Of course! Happy to–"
Rhys noticed one of the drakes staring at his feet. He followed their gaze down to his own feet.
His very modern sneakers.
The man talking to him also looked down. Rhys acted first. He started with a shout.
"Attack! Attack! These are traitors to the kingdom!"
The one in front sprinted forward, brandishing a blade. Rhys leapt back and started sprinting the way he came from. Keeping an eye behind him in case the man tried to throw his sword at him.
"What's going–"
The old man found himself with a sword stuck in his eye. The second member had thrown his blade at the only witness remaining.
"They're traitors!" Rhys yelled as he hoped the rest of the village would hear. He met eyes with the only mortal member of the group, his arm about to throw the blade. The man decided against it and chose to sprint at him instead.
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#58: Roadside Wisdom
"It's not too late, you know." Did hostages normally talk this much? Veterans. Rhys turned to the old man and raised an eyebrow. "To turn myself in?" "What even is your plan? To survive in the leveled zones all the way to the top? You think you can solo a king and then the dragon? Then what? Are you going to challenge the Overlords? They'll smite you down the moment you step foot outside the leveled zones." Rhys just shrugged, dismissing the old man "I'll tell you my plan when I figure it out myself." "What a stupid waste of talent. The Arbiter chooses you, and you piss it away like this." Rhys laughed. The old man glared at his laughters. Rhys kept laughing until it stopped being funny. "Oh, old man, you have no idea how funny that is." "The hells is that supposed to mean?" "If the Arbiter chose me, then he knew all this would happen, wouldn't he?" Lirien's voice whispered
#57: Manual Mayhem
"Mphh," "Shut up! I haven't driven a manual in ages!" Rhys still had the old man on his lap. He didn't dare move Jecharim off him. He also didn't try to stop the old man from head-butting him. Just using a palm to stop the old man from cracking his skull against a realm two skull. "Stop it, old man. That's really annoying" He wasn't expecting that to stop Jecharim from head-butting him, he was fully egging on the old man, hoping the erratic actions would stop any would-be heroic sharpshooters. The original reason Rhys hadn't knocked out the old man was because he had zero idea how much force to use. Last thing he wanted was to accidentally break the old man's neck. He still remembered how easily Jecharim's arm snapped. Rhys drove through the first city gate. An archway of enchanted stone, weakened by the fact that it was in a levelled zone. It could still survive a bombardment by an eighth realm adventurer. He shuddered at the turrets on the top. This was a city still designed
#56: Escape
Back in the shop. Rhys didn't understand where the conversation had gone wrong. He was sure he had them on the ropes. Now, the supposedly very sensible Chief Enforcer Ami was stonewalling him. The removal of his bounty was just a minor part of the plan. If the Witch Overlord wasn't happy with a reduced bounty, then she herself would have to pay it. If she did so, then she'd have to do it privately or make it a public matter. It would be a minor headache for someone like her. He was still happy to do it. "Hmphg." Jecharim glared from his position. The old man seriously fought him the entire way through. Ami finally responded over the phone. "We can give you the truck and the keys, but we can't pledge any of the bounty to your account or a charity. The Adventurer's Guild said no." "You didn't ask." Rhys winced. That sounded bad from his end. He was certain she hadn't had the time to negotiate with them, but he felt like a child saying, nuh-uh you didn't. Ami's response was cool
#55: Hostage Impasse
Chief enforcer Ami was having the worst day since she had received her promotion. Firstly, incompetent adventurers had let a blacklister with a bounty walk out of the Guild hall. Six to one. Then the Realmers watching the security feeds had lost the blacklister in what was the most surveilled city in the second sector. After they had mobilized and created a net, gunfire was reported off the main road, closer to the Guild than where they were searching. Ami had arrived before any of her other enforcers and had to wait for their sniper to get in position. The other enforcers stood behind their trucks, making a perimeter, guns out, pointed at the shop. A voice crackled into her earpiece. It was a Realmer manning the security feeds. "All the store's cams have been cut off. Recordings do show the blacklister tying old Jecharim after breaking his arm." Everyone knew Jecharim, that cranky old Realmer. Ami shook her head. This had to be the dumbest blackl lister she had ever heard of. W
#54: Confrontation
"Well, well, well. I didn't expect to see you here." A ghostly figure in white floated next to him. Her fake curvaceous figure being quite distracting as she lay on the air at eye level, head propped up by her hand. "Hi Lirien, how have you been?" "I've been busy. Haven't you seen the video?" "Yep." Lirien stumbled in midair. She'd been leaning on the air with her head in her hand, but all of it fell out as he said something so unexpected. Rhys paused to look around. The screams had stopped, and someone ran past him without looking at him. He looked to Lirien for an answer. She was still stuck on his casual behavior. "You saw that, and you still chose to teleport to Ulverra?" Rhys looked around and sighed, finally taking in the sights. Enchantments ran through nearly every building around, humming with energy. Even pulsing in some circumstances. "The busiest city in The Dominion. Home of the Academy itself. Of course I'd come here first, why wouldn't I?" He started walking.
#53: Return
[Return To The Dominion] 《8 minutes remaining until you are ejected from the saferoom.》 The white room with the singular table lay in front of him. 《You have selected [Dangersense] [Dangersense] level 0 -> level 1!》 The change in his mindset was distinct. Not from the [Dangersense] skill but from his Epic. He could feel his doubts wash away as the Epic urged him forward. He knew logically that the skill was impacting his mental state. But it didn't feel like he was someone else. He was just a bit more confident. That was all. He had a plan, now it was time to execute. Rhys strapped Avale's kite shield to his back. The strap he used for his knives could hook the shield, albeit in an unstable position. It went over the top of Kael's longsword, uncomfortable, but would protect his torso from any surprise shots from behind. He had a loaded crossbow in his left and a gun with three bullets left in his right.
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