Irregularity

POV Silvie Indrath

What was that? I just saw that woman who emits the same feeling as Princess Tessia, but she was much more mature, it was like seeing a combination of my brother and her.

Looking at Julian's and Dryas' faces, I can see their expression of total disbelief to the point that my brother almost called her Tessia.

After a few minutes in which my brother asked several questions, she disappeared. He was very disconcerted by the whole situation, and Dryas, on the other hand, returned to his spiritual form to my brother's body to better assess the girl my brother called Frei.

It seems I'm the only one who felt it, but clearly within that Acclorite there was something that belonged to Princess Tessia. I don't know how to explain or prove it, but I wanted to tell my brother.

As much as I tried to do so, I felt a sensation of drowsiness and closed my eyes (it's still too early). I heard the soft voice of an older Tessia, full of affection.

When I opened my eyes again, my mind was blank. What was I thinking before? That was the question going through my head, but no matter how hard I tried to remember something, I couldn't come to an answer.

----------------------------------------------------------POV Julian Kingscrown

It's been a week since I met Frei. During this time, I've been practicing some of her abilities with her.

I don't know if it's because my central stage is higher, but unlike Dryas in his beginnings, she is much freer in terms of the moments she appears and her duration.

Her abilities are just as she described them, she is a version of me with much greater resistance when using the powers of the legacy. I wanted to test the synchronization ability, but she told me that if I did, the essence that Yimir had placed on me before dying would disappear, and they could find out that I have a dragon body.

Because of that, I refrained because it's an advantage that no one knows this. On the other hand, I saw the three baby Wyverns, although they didn't look like one at all.

Their colors were Black, White, and Blue, each with very sharp and fierce details.

When I asked Silvie what she thought, she told me that they were similar to her, but also different. Dryas, on the other hand, mentioned that they were halfway to what could be a dragon.

Moreover, they didn't seem to have an affinity for Ether, only mana. For these reasons, we decided to call them semi-dragons.

The blue one is called Hilde, the Black one Storm, and the white one Cleia. When I checked their cores, I could see who I should give them to based on their affinity.

Arthur and Kathyln, as for the other, if we look at affinities, probably the best would be Me, but with Silvie by my side, I won't need it, so maybe I'll leave it temporarily with Ellie.

After thinking about it, I decided they would go with Silvie and grow for half a year before handing them over to those I consider their proper bonds.

Before continuing with any of my goals, I decided to send Dryas to watch over Kai. I needed to know what he was doing for the sake of saving the students of Xyrus and giving the worst possible punishment to Draneeve.

Seeing that I didn't make any progress in my core, I went to the location where Galia told me she found traces of the Hamadryads.

To my surprise, it was the Dire Tombs. Before entering, I thought a lot about why it was never discovered, and after thinking about it, I remembered something.

If the entrance to the Hamadryads' hideout was hidden by the Elderwood guardian and he covered or destroyed it in his fight with Arthur, it would make sense.

After all, after the battle where Arthur comes out victorious, the room where they were was completely destroyed, and they didn't dig any deeper.

But that doesn't explain why they didn't appear in the novel, and even less if they managed to survive the Alacryans infecting them.

After thinking about it for some time, I sent Frei to check on the state of the Elderwood guardian, but it was going to be quite delayed.

So I decided to set up a small camp and meditate while she returned.

During that time, I thought about whether I should really enter, after all, it was a tough battle that Arthur overcame, it's also part of the plot when meeting Elijah and Lucas, changing it I don't know where it will lead the situation or how unpredictable it would be in the future.

From the beginning, I was not going to allow Arthur to give his will to Tessia, I wanted to keep her safe, but changing Arthur's encounter with those two and the Elderwood guardian I don't know where it would end.

I couldn't decide, my stomach churned just thinking about the possible consequences of this choice.

At that moment, the faces of Rinia, Kathyln, Tessia, Arthur, Claire, Virión, Ellie, each and every one of the people who would have the possibility of living a different life, passed through my mind, that made me make the decision to enter regardless of the information that Frei brought.

She returned after a few more hours and told me that the beast did not seem to be infected yet, I immediately decided to contact Arthur to enter and explore this dungeon with him.

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POV Arthur Leywin

"So you want me to accompany you to see that dungeon," I confirmed with Julian what I was hearing.

"Yes, but it's something you should consider, what you'll see there might be something delicate and dangerous, it could change many of the perceptions you have of the world," he spoke in a complicated tone.

"You talk as if you've already seen something," I said as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"We might find S-class beasts that descend from the Asuras," Julian replied.

That made me open my eyes in disbelief, "Are you crazy?" I said as I looked at him.

"What reasons do you have to go in there? Besides, you can enter the dungeons without me, why invite me now?" I said out loud.

"Lower your voice, I'm simply inviting you to see something that you probably won't see anywhere else and it will also give you experience, you are free to reject it if you wish," he said in a firm tone.

"Is this what you've been doing during your time as an adventurer? You know how risky what you're asking me is," I replied this time in a calmer tone.

"If I didn't know, I wouldn't have told you, that's why I'm telling you to think about it before making any decisions."

After a few seconds of thinking about the possible consequences and gains, I replied.

"Do you have a plan?" I said as I looked up at the sky.

"I have mapped out most of our path and the monsters that are there, so we can prepare more thoroughly," Julian said.

"Don't you want us to bring someone else with us?" I asked even knowing the answer.

"The ideal would be not to, if we want to keep many things hidden," he replied in a complicated voice.

"I doubt they'll let me go alone, I'd have to move without them knowing and my parents would be quite upset with me," I said trying to appeal to another option.

"Do you want to involve the twin horns in this?" He asked me as he followed my example and looked up at the sky.

"I don't know, if it was something we found by accident I could feel less guilty, but in this case, we are walking directly into the mouth of the wolf," I replied.

"We could simply turn a deaf ear and ignore their questions if that's what worries you," Julian said.

"What reasons do you have to go there?" I spoke as I looked him in the eyes.

He did not look away and instead told me looking straight into my eyes, "I have two objectives, a mana beast with an affinity for plant magic and a will of the same type."

"You're quite confident you'll find what you're looking for," I replied.

"At the very least I know it won't be a waste of time," he said as he turned around.

"I'll be at the inn over there, give me your answer tomorrow," he said as he pointed to a building and walked away.

----------------------------------------------------------POV Kaspian Bladeheart

"Guild Master," my assistant entered the office with a tense look.

"Is something wrong?" I said as I reviewed the documents for the integration of more elves and dwarves as adventurers.

"Abnormal reactions were detected in one of the dungeons a day ago," she said in a worried tone.

"Why are you so worried, just send an exploration team," I said without lifting my gaze from the documents.

"It's already been done, a group of eight adventurers was sent, two of class AA and six of class A, only a water conjurer survived. He said the beasts were in an exalted state and the boss monster is an S-class beast, the Elderwood guardian," she said with a tense and choppy voice.

"Prepare an apology for the families of the affected, it was our mistake not to expect such a dangerous monster in the dungeon, I will also create a list of people for the subjugation of that dungeon," I said as I brought my hands to the bridge of my nose.

This is going to cause a lot of headaches, if that S-class beast started moving we must eliminate it before it gets out of control.

"Understood," she said as she left the office.

----------------------------------------------------------POV Julián Kingscrown

Several hours before the report to the Guild

(Julián we have problems) while resting lying on the bed, after talking with Arthur, I received a telepathic message from Frei.

(Did something happen?) I replied as I got up from the bed.

(I went back to check the situation of the dungeon guardian after exploring other areas and saw that the Alacryans made their move) she said in a flat tone.

The clash of her emotions still confuses me, it's like a blank slate with nothing on it.

"Uuuuf," I sighed and replied.

(I'm on my way, in the meantime try to confirm how long they've been there and if they are still in the dungeon.)

I don't know if this happened faster than in the original, but it's something that needs to be resolved and it's better if no one finds out anything for now.

With those thoughts, I quickly headed towards the dungeon, it was a four-hour flight, during that time Frei told me that not only the guardian but a high number of beasts had been infected.

They couldn't have done that over the course of the day we checked the dungeon, they were probably already infected, but they were in the middle of the process and we didn't notice.

Those bastards are very skilled at hiding their tracks, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard the information from Frei the day before.

I will have to recheck the dungeons I thought did not have infected beasts and overlooked.

Before arriving, I received the message that about eight adventurers entered and only one survived.

This will be reported to the guild and if I judge the severity of things correctly, there will most likely be a subjugation mission.

That means I don't have too much time to go through the dungeon, defeat the guardian, and find a location for the hamadryads' hideout.

But something feels very suspicious, why make a flashy move now? That's not in the Alacryans' interest.

What reason do they have? Wait, if there's an irregularity, wouldn't that be me? That would definitely make more sense, they're trying to track down the person who interfered with the capture of the Hades serpent.

If so, this has twisted in a complicated way, (Galia let's go down, there may be people trying to track us here.)

(Understood) replied the evolved Huge Thunder Alicanto, its appearance had become quite fierce.

While glancing at Galia's appearance, I sent a message to Frei (I need you to try to check the surroundings of the dungeon, I think they are leading us into a trap).

(Understood) Frei immediately replied.

As I began to walk with Mirage Walk active towards the dungeon, I started to use mana vision to try to verify if there was anyone around, but strangely enough, there was no one.

Am I being paranoid? No, there must be some reason why they made such a premature move, "fuuuuh" I exhaled a little air to calm my mind.

I'm not going to get answers by being here, I have to enter to find out what's going on.

Before leaving the forest, I activated illusion magic so that they wouldn't see me enter the dungeon.

Frei met up with me just as I entered and we began to delve deeper into the dungeon.

I didn't bring any beasts with me, because if what I think about a trap turns out to be true, I can escape by fleeing to Eden.

As I advanced, I kept Mirage Walk and illusion magic active all the time, to fight with as few monsters as possible, I was trying not to draw too much attention before knowing if there was someone hidden waiting for me.

So the fights were short, I was using all the resources at my disposal to finish this as quickly as possible.

Since I entered the dungeon, my instincts were screaming at me that there was a very powerful predator inside.

But I ignored it, I needed to know what was happening, I couldn't leave this unresolved as I got deeper into the dungeon, there were more mutated monsters and it was harder to get to the boss floor, but finally, I was still one step away from entering.