"Where are we?!" The Assassin demanded.

  The man had finally managed to overcome the effects of whatever Intimidation skill he had been under. He looked around, but the strange light in the place played tricks with his eyes.

  "The Shadow Realm." The deep and amused voice answered.

  "Impossible." The Assassin looked around in fear and drew his sabre.

  "We hear it a lot from cowards like you." The voice came from just to his left. The Assassin jumped and turned towards his enemy, only to see a wolf so large that it dwarfed some Mammoths he had seen. "I'm a Shadow Fenrir of the Righteous Dungeon, Familiar of Inquisitor Arthur Ives. My name is Shade. What's your name?"

  "F-f-Fenrir?" The man nervously grabbed his weapon.

  "Indeed." Shade lowered his large head and looked at the man with icy blue eyes. "You will tell me everything I want to know..."

  It wasn't a threat but a promise. The Assassin dropped his sword and violently snapped his jaws closed to break a false tooth filled with poison, but realised that it was missing.

  "That won't work." Shade laughed. "I may not have fingers, but my Darkness works fairly well..."

  From behind the menacing wolf rose tendrils made of pure darkness. They reached for the Assassin and bound him tightly before he could even think about running away.

  "Nooo..." The Assassin begged.

  "I told you already. I want to learn..." The Fenrir laughed and moved his face closer to him. "...everything."

  ???

  Arthur was lying in bed with closed eyes. The King's faction had learned about him much faster than he expected. On the other hand, he wasn't that naive to think he could manage to hide forever. He knew very well that, while the civil war was initially a distant prospect, his appearance might have accelerated many things. He couldn't deny that he was powerful, especially in a land where the people couldn't enjoy the benefits of living under the protection of a Dungeon, especially, one as powerful as the Righteous Dungeon. It was obvious, therefore, that he would become a target for various schemes and plots.

  He was ready to face any enemy...

  But... He looked at Catherine sleeping so carefree on the bed next to his. She was a special person to him. He felt the flame of affection slowly crumbling his confidence and turning it to anger. If she gets hurt or kidnapped... It was true for anyone around him. They became targets no matter which side he took. He will try to stay neutral as long as possible and would ruthlessly get rid of any attackers. He would make a point of leaving a trail of bloodied bodies of anyone foolish enough to attack him. Perhaps, he would need to duel some local nobles and utterly crush them. If everything failed, he would ask Shade to deal with them. Realistically, it was his most viable option for now. He needed to investigate the ruins and decide if they might help him find the way home, or if he should start planning on how to cross the ocean. He had less time than he anticipated.

  The next morning Arthur cursed his stupidity.

  "So much for doing everything to keep you safe, Cate..." He covered his face in shame as he realised that she had no armour.

  "I should be fine..." She said but her face betrayed how scared she was.

  "Please, forgive me..." He ruffled his hair.

  He was so angry at himself about the runes, that he had completely forgotten about getting Catherine any proper armour. Despite having multiple spare armours of various classes and grades in his storage, he couldn't share them with anyone. He made a note about it, and once again he internally scolded himself. Fortunately, Silfa shared her spare armour with Cate and the Nekomi tried to fit it without a corresponding skill. He helped her as much as he could, deciding that they were going to have to wipe out the Gnolls as quickly as possible.

  "It's not your fault, Arthur. I should have thought about it myself." She hugged him and smiled, trying to put on a brave face.

  "I will be right next to you, and I will do everything in my power, so nothing will be allowed to even look at you. I promise." He said, still crushed by guilt as he embraced her.

  After a few minutes, they left the tent and moved towards the Gnolls' cave with the soldiers. According to Captain Amos, they’d managed to find and collapse three more entrances to the cave complex..

  Captain Amos was already waiting for them.

  "We managed to capture the exterior of the cave without losses, but one third of my company is already exhausted, Sir." He said and shook his head. "The Gnolls that protected the entrance were nearly at level thirty, so they put up a decent fight. Their weapons were far better than earlier, so their Blacksmith must be evolving."

  "I had planned to let you do most of the work, Amos. But after what happened at night, I want to return to the city as quickly as possible, and we have already lost a week," Arthur said calmly.

  "That's understandable, Lord Ives." Amos nodded.

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  "We will enter right now and start cleaning the caves. I want your teams to follow us after a few minutes, move slowly, and make sure you survey the rooms for whatever might be useful."

  "Yes, Sir Ives." Amos nodded.

  With Ben at his side and Catherine right behind him, Arthur entered the cave system. The first chamber was empty and Arthur finally realised something.

  "Where are their symbols and trinkets?" He asked loudly as he conjured four orbs of light and made them float in a way that would illuminate the caves around the group.

  "Gnolls are not Goblins, Sir." Val'narii slowly explained as they walked further. "They do not build totems, nor do they leave trash and parts of their victims everywhere. They are even more secretive than Kobolds, so it's easy to overlook them. Gnolls mark their territory with their scent. Like dogs, Sir."

  "Hmmm..." Arthur nodded and casually caught a crude arrow that had been shot at Ben while seven more broke harmlessly on the face of his shield.

  Silfa and Catherine immediately replied. The Archer skillfully killed two Gnolls while Cate managed to kill one. The remaining Gnolls charged at them, but in the narrow corridor, they could only move shoulder-to-shoulder and no more than three abreast. Ben quickly killed two of them while Silfa and Catherine put down the remaining monsters.

  "They fight similarly to Cave Kobolds." Arthur pointed out as he resumed the march.

  "Cave Kobolds?" Val'narii asked, slightly surprised. "Are there more kinds of Kobolds?"

  "I know of two. Cave Kobolds and Forest Kobolds. The first ones are similar to Gnolls in size and are covered in scales of various colours which are usually consistent among their group. They are more akin to lizards than mammals. The Forest Kobolds are actually similar to Gnolls. They are bipedal dog-like creatures, but look far more harmless. Of course, that makes them more dangerous because people underestimate them. And before you ask, no, I have no clue why such different beings could be classified as the same race. But The World's Words insist that both groups are Kobolds."

  "We have something similar here. A creature called Gecko. The Sand Gecko is a fairly docile creature that's often used as a draft animal or mount. It's a fairly large lizard. On the other hand, a Mountain Gecko is a quadrupedal furry ball of murderous teeth and a mean character that looks more like a rabid lion than a lizard..." She sighed.

  "The World's Words decided that we can't ever have it easy..." The man shrugged.

  They moved unopposed for a while and carefully passed another hall and empty chamber. The air was stale and had started to smell. The characteristic reek of wild animals and waste material permeated the air. Arthur noticed that the entire cave was ever so slightly descending the further in they went. He wasn't a specialist, but he was almost sure that it shouldn't be the case. The cave was also giving the impression of being artificial, but he couldn't say exactly why.

  "It might be a stupid question, but where are Gnolls?" Catherine asked with a slightly short breath.

  Arthur stopped for her to rest a bit and looked at Val'narii. "That's a valid question. So far we have killed just seven of them."

  "I noticed..." The Dark Elf admitted. "Normally, they would be fiercely defending their territory."

  After a few minutes, the soldiers who had followed them had caught up. Arthur asked them to check with the Captain to see if everything was fine on the outside. If they had missed any cave entrances, it was possible that the Gnolls might have attacked the camp or the forces outside. His team continued to explore the cave and he used his radar skill. No matter how many skill points he would throw into the skill, it wouldn't level up more than level ten. Only hunter-type classes could fully benefit from the Radar skill, but so far it was enough for him.

  "There are enemies ahead." He said calmly and peeked around the corner. "Well..."

  "What?" Val'narii asked nervously.

  "Remember the bombs I ordered you to make? They are not really bombs, but they will burn very well." Arthur asked with a sigh. "It's time to use them. We will light them, then you will throw them as hard as you can from around this corner. Then, I will lead the charge and after you count to five, you will follow."

  They all nodded nervously and took out the makeshift bombs. Once they lit the cloth covered with wax, which worked both as a seal and a wick, the first to throw was Cate. Contrary to the others, her statistics were low. Without a class, she couldn't level up, so she was permanently at level zero. She threw the bottle as far as she could, but Arthur knew it had fallen miserably short. The bottles thrown by the remaining three flew much further, judging by the time before they heard the sound of breaking glass and the whoosh of the oil catching fire. Arthur was already moving when Val'narii's hand was passing the corner. He dashed with a blinding speed at the Gnolls who barely had time to react.

  "Provoke." His voice rumbled in the large chamber and all monsters in the vicinity focused solely on him.

  It was a massive cave room, shaped like a cone on its side, where anyone coming out from the corridor Arthur's party was in would be devoid of any cover. The monsters had gathered in their dozens on the opposite side of the chamber, ready to fire their bows. The oil bombs weren't meant to deal damage. Instead, Arthur had used them as a distraction. The oil, on catching fire, burned brightly in the darkness of the cave, blinding some of the Gnolls. He needed to reach the range of his Provoke skill so that not a single one of the monsters could attack his companions. So not even a single one of them could even glance at Cate...

  There were nearly forty Gnolls in front of Arthur, and most of them started mindlessly running at the Paladin. Silfa and Catherine have already started attacking the monsters while Ben and Val'narii stopped nearby. He was pleased that they weren't carried away and prioritised their own safety. While he was impervious to attacks from such low-level monsters, his companions were a completely different story. Ben was picking out the weaker monsters and attacking their weak points fairly expertly while Val'narii moved gracefully among the Gnolls, slicing them right and left with her swords. At some point, the Fire Bullets stopped, and Arthur thought that Catherine was out of mana, but then she started firing again using the Wind Bullets. He smiled to himself and used Provoke again to be sure. The monsters' crude weapons chipped and broke as Arthur simply stood in the middle of the chamber and didn't even bother to hide behind his shield. The Gnolls in the room were as dangerous as a light drizzle.

  The highest level Gnoll, a level thirty Barbarian, charged at the Paladin with its comically oversized iron sword raised high over its dog-like head. It probably tried to use a Power Strike or some similar skill as the monster swung down with the blade. Unimpressed, Arthur slapped the sword aside, and the power of his strike was enough to wrestle the weapon out of Barbarian's hands. It flew through the air with an audible metallic ringing sound and cut four Gnolls nearly in half before it slammed onto the rock floor. The Barbarian looked helplessly at its hands, but Arthur grabbed it by the neck and raised it into the air.

  "Kill it, Catherine." He ordered as he extended his hand to the side.

  "Fire Bullet!" The Nekomi shouted. Her voice was trembling with exhaustion and Arthur knew that she was quickly running out of mana.

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!