"Gotta say, I’m gonna miss living in this town. Though on the bright side, maybe I can finally move back to Kieph Town now...the Knights have probably forgotten all about me, since they’re more after you guys," Remarked Rosary, as she munched on a sandwich.

"Yeah, we’re probably gonna have to constantly stay on the move for the foreseeable future," Sighed Argent wearily.

Right, there was a recent announcement that a number of Knights would be stationed in each town and village, as a direct response to the recent attack on The Obsidian Games tournament thing.

That’s great and all, but it also means that Argent, Izzy and I won’t be able to visit any of those places for what’s likely to be quite a while. The Knights have been a lot less subtle in the fact that they’re still looking for us...detailed descriptions of both myself and Argent have been issued in wanted posters.

Fortunately, they haven’t publicly mentioned Izzy, the Guild would probably turn on us if they suspected that we’re traveling with a Monster.

We don’t match the descriptions on the wanted posters thanks to our disguises, but it’s still too risky. Especially since technology and security is improving in this world.

The capital has begun installing security cameras in towns, just a few at the moment and easy enough to avoid, but it won’t be long before it becomes a serious problem for us.

"Well, the situation does suck for us, but hey, it could be worse. Hm, I say we move out to a different nation once Commoners are allowed to leave," I suggested thoughtfully.

"I don’t mind the sound of that, it might be nice," Responded Prysm optimistically.

Today’s the 11th of Martius, 2020, and we were planning on moving out of Kaygee Town in a couple of hours. The Guild and town were gonna help cover for us, some other people would move into the apartment rooms we’d been renting all this time and act like they were the residents of those rooms this whole time.

We were currently at a restaurant, along with Ilex too. He was going to continue staying here, which is kind of a shame, but there’s no real reason to convince him to tag along with us anyway.

With things improving, there’s not much point in attacking the capital right now. I still very much want to kill the former Crown Prince Drakkar Dianus, and Argent feels the same way too...but he decided against it, at least for now.

If Commoners attack and kill a member of the Royal family now, it could undo all the progress made in favor of Commoners. I’m a pretty selfish guy even on the best of days, but that would be a dick move even by my standards. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Plus there’s the whole True Nobility cult or whatever they are, things have gotten pretty tense because of them. Adding fuel onto the fire at this stage could potentially cause irreparable damage.

There’s also Izzy’s reason for wanting to attack the capital, saving the captive Demon from their control. But by her own admission, she isn’t strong enough to pull that off right now...which is honestly, kind of a terrifying notion.

Even the most powerful Catastrophic Grade Monsters I’ve fought don’t hold a candle to her, and I still struggle to defeat Monsters like Dragonoids by myself, despite all the power boosts and new abilities I’ve gained.

Pretty much all of us have gotten significantly stronger and faster thanks to eating Monsters, though I’m the only one who has gained new abilities. Maxing out those abilities required eating about fifty or so of the specific Monster species that results in those abilities, so yeah, it was a bit much for the others.

"I have to admit, um...I’m gonna miss you guys," Spoke up Ilex with a sad smile.

"Yeah, same here, man. It’s gonna be boring not seeing you go all crazy during a fight," I grinned as lightly smacked his shoulder.

"I know, right? It’s so entertaining," Laughed Rosary in agreement.

"Hm...on second thought, maybe working solo for a while won’t be so bad, after all," He mused dryly, as he took a gulp of a mixed fruit juice.

We were currently at a restaurant in the town, eating here for the last time for a while. This place has private rooms you can book, and we did so in order to include Prysm as well.

Otherwise, we’d have to eat in one of our apartments instead. No one else in town knows she exists, so normally, we wouldn’t be able to go out for a meal with her. This place is pretty pricey, but since it’s our last day here and all, it’s fine.

"So, what’s the plan once we leave?" Inquired Argent, finishing up his food.

"Well, Prysm can teleport us pretty much anywhere in Obsidian. I don’t really have any particular place in mind," I shrugged indifferently.

"In that case, let’s go to Kieph Town. I was planning on moving back there anyway," Remarked Rosary with a shrug.

"Works for me. The four of us can’t stay though...we’ll need to steer clear of any towns or villages for a while," I sighed wistfully.

"Do we have to? The food won’t be as good if we stay away from those places, and we won’t have beds either," Frowned Izzy apprehensively.

"...you lived down in the Labyrinth for, like, two hundred years, compared to that-...," I began in bemusement.

"That’s different!" She protested with a huff.

Yeah, it was...that was a lot more extreme than this is.

"Too bad there isn’t, like, some sort of hidden settlement or whatever where we can hide out in," I mused thoughtfully.

"Oh! Actually, about that...hm, well, it might be a bit of a long shot, all things considered, but it could be worth a try," Suddenly spoke up Rosary.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I responded curiously.

"Well, uh...it’ll be easier to show you than explain. Okay, you know the forest to the north of Kieph Town, right? Can you teleport there?" She asked Prysm.

"Yeah, I’ve set a point somewhere there," She nodded in response.

"Okay, great! Once we’re ready to leave, teleport us there, I’ll-...," She began, before trailing off as a noise rang out from outside.

"Was that...an explosion?" Frowned Argent warily, standing up.

"Whatever it was, it’s not good," Replied Ilex with a grimace, as the faint echo of screams began ringing out.

"Let’s go check it out. Prysm, Izzy, that’s your cue to get in," I remarked, as I opened a portal into my Pocket Dimension.

"Yeah, okay," Muttered Prysm in resignation.

"Huh? Why me too? I wanna fight!" Protested Izzy in dismay.

"Can’t let you do that, you’ll definitely blow your cover. Help me out here, bro," I turned to Argent for support.

"Come on, please let me come too," Izzy requested, giving him puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry, but I can’t...but how about this, if there’s someone out there who’s strong enough to give you a real challenge, then we’ll call on you, deal?" He compromised as he patted her head.

"...fine, I guess it’s not worth it if it’s just a bunch of weaklings," She relented with a grumble, before dragging her feet into my portal.

"Uh, we better hurry," Frowned Rosary, as the screams began to grow louder.

"Yeah, let’s go," I nodded in agreement, as I headed towards the door, rushing out as I opened it.

The others were right behind me as we made our way to the entrance of the restaurant, and as we ran through the doors...

"What the hell...?" Muttered Argent in disbelief at the sight that met us.

People were running about in a desperate panic away from their attackers...which were a couple of Monsters. Specifically, Catastrophic Grade Monsters. Two Dragonoids, a Flame Dragonoid and a Lightning Dragonoid.

This doesn’t make any sense, why would Monsters that usually only ever reside deep down in the Labyrinth show up out here?

As the former blasted out a powerful wave of flames at a couple of fleeing people, I shot forward and stepped out behind them, swiftly shooting out my blue flames right as the Monster’s flames closed in on me.

I canceled out its flames and pushed back against them, the Dragonoid quickly flying up to evade my flames, growling as I burnt its feet before it could fully get out of the way.

I then grimaced as the other one fired out a massive blast of lightning at me from its jaws, right before Argent sprang up in that direction and blocked the lightning with his blades, his knees buckling at the force of it.

Rosary then sprang up towards the Lightning Dragonoid, which was hovering at a fairly low trajectory, while Ilex fired at the Flame Dragonoid with his Soul Weapon to keep it at bay.

The Lightning Dragonoid behan to whip its tail at Rosary as it spotted her, but it reacted just a fraction of a second too late, as she slashed at its leg with her claws, paralyzing it.

I then activated Jet Soles to shoot myself up towards the Flame Dragonoid, it growled threateningly as it noticed me and began to charge up its flames, the air around its jaws shimmering...let’s use something new, shall we?

I swiftly and sharply inhaled, before unleashing a deafening sonic screech from my mouth, the ability that had caused discomfort in my throat when it was in the process of manifesting.

The blast of sound engulfed the Dragonoid before it could react, dazing it as its flames dissipated and it began to plummet back down towards the ground. I’ve had the others fight Catastrophic Grade Monsters with me plenty of times, so we’re pretty used to handling-...hm?

My eyes then widened as a large projectile of lava came shooting up towards me from below, closing in on me rapidly...

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