Jaco stared up at the dark and menacing structure. Its tall towers loomed over the rest of the area, covering it in shadow. He glanced back down at the man who’d led him across the town and gotten him to this point, the Scout, Lindon.

  His guide now seemed to be visibly nervous. He was still looking up at the megastructure, shifting his weight between his feet while doing so. Before his gaze could be noticed, Jaco also looked back up at it. While the way over to the fortress had been rather peaceful with picking off just a few Skeletons and such here and there, that was admittedly a bit concerning in itself.

  We’re probably only five or so minutes away before we’d be close enough to ring the doorbell. But even now… where are the Demidemons? There should have been at least one Minotaur or Taurling by now. I would have at least understood it if they were further in, and hadn’t come out far enough for this group to even know that they existed, beyond the System message. But this is just starting to get weird, Jaco thought to himself with a slight frown.

  It should technically been a good sign, but he had a bad feeling. One that his instincts couldn’t quite pin down, but still just didn’t sit right in his gut. Yet, at the same time, he had to learn more. Knowledge was everything, yet it remained something that humanity as a whole was still in a severe lack of when it came to the Apocalypse.

  The main reason he’d come this way was to find a spot to relocate the camp. Somewhere that’d put them away from the Chosen Few and the Demon in the city, at least for a while. This town was one that at least showed some promise, just by the fact the people here were… well, here. Aside from the attack just earlier, it was clear that the other Chosen hadn’t found this place yet. Or else the commune living here would have been slaughtered and turned into a pile of mostly decomposed bodies by the time he would have arrived.

  However, this fortress was a problem that first needed to be addressed. Even with his amazingly perceptive hearing, Jaco hadn’t heard of any Demidemons yet, in addition to not seeing them. Yet far more important was the equal lack of a Demon. Jaco didn’t know if all Demons could fly or if their kind had more variation, but either way, he hadn’t seen any evidence of one so far either.

  Jaco needed to know if there was a Demon here. If there was, he’d warn these people about it and then head back to warn Noah that this whole area was also a no-go zone for the camp. Then, they would need to pick out a different direction for the relocation, that would be at least equally far away from both Demons. And since he’d already extended the offer to the people here about joining the encampment, a double relocation would need to be coordinated in that case.

  But before they got any closer than this, he needed to make sure of something regarding his current companion.

  “You don’t have to actually come all the way with me, you know?” Jaco began, turning toward him. “Like I suggested before we even left, it’s probably better if I go in alone anyway. There might be a monster in there that even I might not be able to run from. Even if it’s not there, it still could easily become too dangerous for someone of your Level. And if it is there, you’ll die as soon as it spots you.”

  Lindon had tensed up a bit while Jaco was speaking. Flickering his gaze back at the fortress for a second, the Scout then stared back at him. His lips were pursed as the look in his eyes betrayed the mix of emotions and thoughts going on behind him. But just as a couple of seconds passed without a response, and Jaco got ready to follow it up with more, he then spoke up.

  “I know… but I want to go in too. Even if you’re way stronger than and don’t actually need my help, it can’t hurt to have someone watching your back, right? Plus, I’m a Scout; staying far away from anything that looks dangerous is kinda the whole point of being able to fight at range, right?” Lindon said in a joking tone that was clearly forced, as he also held his bow up.

  Jaco let out a small sigh, and then stepped up to the Scout. Just from his high Stats, his frame had already grown highly muscular as just the new normal. But with the bear aspect of his Passive, Permanent Aspect One, active as his default choice, it made him not only even bigger, but quite a bit taller as well. Enough so that when he stood directly in front of Lindon, he practically towered over the other man. Something that was clearly recognized as Lindon reflexively took half a step back.

  “Lindon, you seem like a nice guy. You want to change your mind after originally only wanting to lead me here? Fine. If you follow me inside, I won’t stop you. What happens would be due to your change in the end. But just let me make it as clear as possible first.” Looking down at him, Jaco kept staring directly into his eyes with what was now a fully hardened and serious expression.

  “If something does happen, I will try to protect you, because that’s just the kind of person my parents raised me to be. But I have people counting on me, and they can’t afford me dying. If-”

  Lindon raised a hand to try and interrupt. “I’ll run away if it gets that bad. My leg feels fine, and Agility’s still my highest Stat. So, in the worst-case scenar-”

  “In the worst case scenario,” Jaco interrupted with a slightly raised voice. “You die. Because I wasn’t able to protect you, and didn’t even want to risk throwing my own life in the attempt. If a monster, a Demon, appears and it seems like I can’t get to you to escape with me? Then I’ll run like Hell on my own, and leave you behind so that at least I can back in time to warn the others. So before you say anything, take a minute to ask yourself, are you really prepared for that?”

  With this guy, Jaco was willing to be a bit more harsh than usual. With Sam, despite having a Level that was only in the 20s when they went to King’s City with Evelyn, it’d been different. Because she’d been a scavenger during the first few weeks of the Apocalypse, and had fought in the middle of the chaos that was the Chosen’s attack with a swarm of monsters. That was the kind of frontline experience that could be counted on in a pinch, and he’d trusted that enough to respect her decision at the time, even if she hadn’t gotten her Evolution by then.

  But when it came to Lindon… Jaco wasn’t as sure. He had survived the attack just now by the Chosen Few, sure. Yet he just had a gut feeling that the guy was still relatively inexperienced. Like he’d gotten to Level 19, yes, but not quite in a way that fully tempered him in the crucible of life or death. At least not fully, not yet.

  However, to his credit, the Scout didn’t actually respond immediately. Instead he remained silent, and seemed to heed the heavy-handed suggestion to actually think about it. In the silence that stretched on, Jaco looked over at the fortress. Even standing so relatively close, there were still zero signs of movement both on and around it.

  “I’m sure,” Lindon eventually said, looking up with eyes now filled with affirmed resolved. “I was ready to die earlier, until you saved me. But that only happened because I wasn’t strong enough to fight those guys off myself, like you did. I don’t want to be the person that takes it easy in the watchtower and picks off undead, only to have worth less than shit when shit actually hits the fan. I don’t want to just go back and wait there, holding myself while waiting for you to come back. Even if it means I die, I’d rather it be doing something that’s worth it, than just because someone else decided to get stronger and kill me, while I sat on my hands.”

  Jaco had chosen not to interrupt the small speech just now. And when it finished, he just gave the other man a small nod, before stepping back. It was always hard to say for sure what would happen when it wasn’t just words, but a scenario that actually occurred. It was much easier to say that you’d be ready for anything that might happen, after all.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  But at this point, he’d just have to be satisfied with that. Jaco wasn’t really the type to stop anyone from making their own decisions, at the end of the day. But for someone he’d just met less then half an hour ago, he had at least wanted to be sure. If nothing else, it seemed to have ironed out the nervousness that the Scout had been obviously feeling.

  “Alright, then let’s go,” Jaco confirmed. With that now settled, the two of them cautiously yet also quickly began to close the final stretch between them and giant fortress.

  When it came to area around the structure itself, it was like before with a moat of molten rock circling it. The Druid would at least use his wind magic to ensure that any fumes didn’t affect neither himself nor the other man. And rather than take the front entrance that had the only bridge, the plan was to do as before, and jump the gap to climb the wall. He was certain that Lindon at least had enough Agility for that much.

  But unlike before, Jaco didn’t make any use of the Bag of Mist. While the thought to do had crossed his mind, he’d ultimately decided against it. Largely due to the fact that as a smokescreen, it only really worked well against dumb monsters like the undead. As long as the human wasn’t detected within, they would have no idea if stationed at the ramparts.

  However, what about the Demon that may be close by? To an actually smart being, a big smokescreen coming out of nowhere would just make their entrance all the more obvious. In that scenario, they might as well have used a flashing neon sign reading “We’re trying to be sneaky!” and get immediately caught. There were also the Minotaurs that could be around, whose intellect was something that Jaco wasn’t sure about.

  They clearly weren't mindless. Yet he didn’t know if it was in the individually sapient kind of way, or that they were simply able to understand the complex orders given by their Hellish masters. Like to know that Levi was their ally, and not just another human to murder on sight. Though from how Levi had been meeting with the Minotaurs and talking, it’d seemed like they were capable of holding conversations. In any case, however, the smart decision was still to play it safe by actually not using the Bag of Mist for cover.

  However, just like the other fortress, getting in proved to be the easiest part. They weren’t any monsters guarding the top of the walls. So when Jaco got there, and Lindon a little after, it appeared that they were free to find the closest way to get inside. As they moved, Lindon was constantly glancing around. Jaco looked back at him, and not risking actual speech, just tried to give him as encouraging of a nod as he could express.

  It didn’t take them much longer to find a door that led inside. When both of them went through it, Jaco allowed himself just a light sigh of relief. While being outdoors, he’d needed to remain aware of the sky in case a Demon suddenly appeared from above. But now that they were inside the fortress itself, that was at least something that didn’t need to be worried about.

  “There could be traps ahead, so just let me take the lead. Stay behind me by 30 feet or so. That way you’ll be safe if I trigger anything, and if an enemy appears in front of us, you’ll already have some distance,” Jaco said in a low voice that was just barely more than a whisper.

  Lindon just quickly nodded without saying anything. Though in the still corridor of the fortress, his heart was pounding loudly. But that could just been the Druid’s hearing being a bit too sensitive in such a currently quiet environment.

  The pair then began to make their way along the corridor. The Scout kept his bow drawn, while Jaco’s staff was always ready in hand. It didn’t take long until the hallway of darkstone, lit by torches, eventually led to the first split in the path between left and right. Pausing right before the intersection to listen for anything in either direction, Jaco heard nothing. So as just a random choice more than anything, he opted to go left.

  But right before he actually walked into the intersection itself, Jaco’s instincts warned him on an impending sense of danger. His eyes flickered around for the cause for a few moments, until they eventually settled on the ceiling. The Druid squinted as he looked carefully, yet it didn’t take him long until he realized what it was that he was looking at. There was a trap, one that was a series of small holes.

  Putting out his foot, Jaco went ahead and just set it off. The moment his foot crossed into the first row of holes, all them were activated. There was a sharp gasp from Lindon as dozens of thin spikes then pierced down from the whole. In just a mere second, they had shot all the way down and stopped only an inch or so from the ground itself.

  Jaco, of course, had pulled his foot back long before they might have touched him. Though with what was almost 150 Endurance at this point, he didn’t even think the spikes would have hurt him anyway. But still, better safe than sorry at the end of the day. Between getting out of the way or simply tanking it when not necessary, no reason not to default with the former.

  As the spikes then slowly began to raise by up, he put his foot out as soon as there was enough space. But after there was no reaction, the Druid turned back to his companion. Gesturing with his head, he indicated that it’d be soon time to move forward. From his test just now, he assumed the trap would only reset after it was fully retracted. So all the two of them had to do was duck under it as soon as there was enough room.

  With the first trap of the dark fortress now officially cleared, they moved on. Down the next corridor, there ending up being two more spike traps just like the first. Though they were just as easily dealt with, as Jaco always spotted them ahead of time, thanks to his instincts warning him.

  Until down the hallway, they came across something on the right wall. A door, one that had been left slightly ajar. After he raised a hand for Lindon to stay back, Jaco listened for any noise. Nothing. Then slowly pulling open the door enough for him to peer into the room on the other side, he looked in, where he saw…

  More nothing.

  With what was honestly a bit of disappointment, he turned back to Lindon and just shook his head. They then reached the next intersection, and this time, Jaco opted to right instead. And while the intersection itself didn’t have another trap, the corridor it lead to did switch it up. Instead of falling spikes, it was jets of fire that shot out from the opposing walls. Flames… against the Druid with a ton of Will and Spell Power that could control fire. So yeah, those were as much as a non-issue as it really got.

  From there, a pattern soon emerged for their exploration of the fort. They would go either left or right, encountering a new series of traps along a way that Jaco was frankly to OP for at this point. At some point, there would always be at least one room with a slightly open door for them to look into. Each and every time, it’d been totally empty with not even any decor in sight. Then the pair would move on to the next intersection, and repeat the process.

  However, there was one part that Jaco found a bit concerning. Something that he wasn’t sure his companion had noticed yet, even after what at least felt like a couple of hours of exploring by now.

  It was only slight, by the ground had a decline. One that only kept declining as they moved deeper and deeper into the fort, not mattering when it came to the directions chosen. It meant that slowly yet very surely, they’d been going downward.

  More time passed, where the two of them had yet to take a break. Even after finding so little, they’d only spoken at minimal lengths. Lindon, to his credit, hadn’t started to complain or anything like that as of yet. Nor had he asked that they even stop to eat or for him to answer nature’s call in the privacy of one of the empty rooms.

  However, eventually something did break the pattern. There came a sudden stop to the corridor they’d been walking down. And seeing it long before they reached it, Jaco saw a door that wasn’t on either wall, but at the dead end . When he approached it, Jaco noted the stone door appeared to be extremely thick, with barely any gap between it and the wall. To the point where if it didn’t have an handle, he might have honestly mistaken it as just part of the wall itself.

  With nothing else to do, the Druid naturally opened the door. As soon as he’d begun to do so, he heard them before he saw them. But then just taking a few steps forward, there was only a bit of ground before it turned into a set of stairs to his left. Yet in front of him, the floor gave way to empty space. Which allowed look down and directly into the large chamber below.

  Practically crammed together into a space that appeared to branch off into corridor per wall, there had to be thousands of Ghouls. There were so many that he could see that they even filled up the corrodiors as well, at least to the point that he could actually see from his current angle.

  Just standing in spots where the was no room to move, or shambling around where they actually could, the undead weren’t doing much. Just to get a feel for what these inner fortress Ghouls looked like in terms of Levels.

  Zombie (Undead)

  Level: 20

  The Druid blinked with surprise at what the pop-up revealed. Huh, that’s… new. They don’t quite look like Ghouls, now that I’m looking at them more closely. They’re a bit loss rotten and more fresh looking, if I had to say. Though at least some of them are around the same Level as Ghouls. But I guess these Zombies might have just started to appear from the last stage, maybe?