Taog finished setting up the tents as Ateia set up the camp ward and the Dobhar…dug some sort of ditch in the ground. Ateia had asked the Dobhar if she wanted to share one of their tents…but she just hissed at Ateia.

Call him crazy, but Taog got the feeling the Dobhar didn’t like them.

Well, that was fine with him. Ateia couldn’t call him out for being suspicious of someone who acted openly hostile towards them, so he didn’t feel at all bad for keeping an eye on her.

Not that he could do anything if she was a threat, though. From what he had seen in the dungeon, she could give Miallói a decent fight. He and Ateia were no match for her, by far.

But, well, it was refreshing, in a way, despite the danger. There was no mystery to the Dobhar’s presence here and no mystery to her behavior. Now that NSLICE-00P was the Queen of the Dobhar, they could not let her go unattended, so some kind of bodyguard was a given. Likewise, the Dobhar rarely had contact with any other races and almost all of the contact they did have was violent, so it was only natural this Dobhar wouldn’t be particularly friendly.

Taog frowned as he glanced at Ateia.

Because they had mysteries aplenty, these days.

Ateia’s father lying to them about his name…made sense, actually. If he was trying to hide her from his enemies, then it only made sense he would have changed his name, and would have avoided logging his new name in the publicly available Exploratores roster. He would have been an idiot to move Ateia far away while leaving her last name the same, after all. Ateia was hurt by the fact that he hadn’t told her any of this…but from Taog’s point of view he could understand. Ateia was someone who ran towards danger, not away, and was curious about the unknown to boot. She would have wanted to get involved if she had known, which would have defeated the purpose.

Still, that left the pair with an unknown amount of mysterious enemies they couldn’t identify and knew nothing about. It would be hard to protect Ateia from them if he didn’t know who to look out for.

And then there was another issue.

Ateia had used Holy mana.

Yes, she had learned it from NSLICE-00P, who was apparently a hero and would thus have access to such things. But Holy mana wasn’t just something someone could pick up with study and practice. For the most part, Holy mana had to be gifted by the Aesdes, though a handful of people and species had an innate ability for it. The Sacred Dragons, for one. Rumor had it the Celestial Elves had access to it, as well. The Imperial family seemed to produce an abnormally high number of Holy users as well, though that could be that they had more opportunities to earn boons from the Aesdes in the first place. Likewise, some of the children of heroes were known to have a knack for it, though given the low number of heroes on record and the fantastical stories about their lives, no one knew if any of that was true.

But Ateia had not done anything the Aesdes might acknowledge. And while she was by no means irreverent, she was not a zealous devotee either, and had not committed herself to their service.

So how was she able to use Holy Mana?

Just who were her parents?

Taog shook his head. He had no answers. Didn’t even have guesses. He was closer to figuring out NSLICE-00P’s identity than Ateia's.

Or well, he had been. He had been ninety-percent certain she was some kind of demon or demon lord, a conclusion he had been desperately trying to avoid thinking about. And then she had gone and become a Holy-slinging Hero, approved by the Aesdes themselves, so that idea was right out. He didn’t think she was a Celestial Elf either given her mostly human appearance…though to be fair most people in the Empire, himself included, had never actually seen one of those.

A dragon in humanoid form?

…figuratively yes, literally he had no idea. She seemed somewhat…reasonable for a dragon, from the tales he heard. They were supposed to be highly temperamental, and prone to fits of extreme violence.

Well, there was that time she wiped out a Wulver Warpack for attacking her…

And what she did to the Dobhar just for a mercenary contract…

And the times she completely annihilated bandits and criminals who tried to rob her…

And that moment she was going to destroy Lar and his goons just for beating him…

And the complete destruction of every dungeon she visited...

Taog froze.

He shook his head, and decided not to think about it. He had other business to attend to, after all. So he walked over to NSLICE-00P.

“Hi Seero, I have a question for you.”

“Greeting: Hello, friendly Taog. Acknowledgement: What is the query?”

“Do you have some way to contact Turannia? Maybe the Dobhar, or something?”

“Affirmative.”

Taog nodded at that.Stolen novel; please report.

“In that case, could you do us a favor? I’d like to get in contact with Magister Tiberius, if at all possible.”

“Affirmative. Please state the intended message.”

“You see…”

Taog glanced at the Dobhar, who was apparently trying to curl up in the dirt? He shrugged and leaned in towards NSLICE-00P, whispering into her ear.

“It’s about Ateia’s father…”

It was a risk, asking NSLICE-00P to do this. Taog trusted her for the most part, and well, if they couldn’t trust her on this they were probably screwed either way. The Dobhar…not so much. However, given the general isolation of the Dobhar, it was highly unlikely they’d have anything to do with the enemies Magister Tiberius warned them of, so it should be safe to send a message through them.

And so NSLICE-00P put her long-range communication system through its first test…

Uscfrea rushed through the sea, a harpoon in one hand and an axe in the other. A Dread Orca rushed straight towards him, its mouth open wide. It let out another Dread Song once again, but Uscfrea just grinned at the monster. At the last moment, he shot up and breached the surface, launching himself into the sky as the orca swam past. He pulled his arm back.

His new eye flashed and ‘locked on’ to the orca, showing him exactly where he should throw his spear. He grunted.

To be honest, he didn’t appreciate that. It felt as if he was being coddled, as if this armor was taking the challenge out of the fight.

But he still threw his spear where the circle of light in his vision indicated. He was not so proud as to forgo an advantage. He had not risen to the heights he had and achieved all that he did by cherishing his own ego.

The orca cried as the harpoon struck it dead on.

Uscfrea then pulled on the mana chain with all his might, yanking the orca right out of the sea and sending it hurtling towards him. He let go and gripped the axe with both arms, swinging it down.

He clove the Dread Orca in two.

You have slain Dread Orca (Level 67)!

Your core has gained 212 XP! 159 retained for subordinate core.

Level up! Your dungeon has leveled twice and is now level 7!