Hydie Mordath, Silver Hexwitch and recent skillful infiltrator into the Order Ducis, hurried after the man to whom she had been assigned, cursing her own abilities with every fiber of her being. Her toe smashed painfully against a previously hidden stone on the ground. While it was true that her subtle abilities as a Hexwtich made her perfect as a spy, there were some extreme drawbacks when she was forced into the field that made it extremely aggravating.

After all, her Aura of Misfortune was an equal opportunity Skill. Hydie was often screwed over just as badly as her targets were. The only real solution was to move as little as possible, but sometimes that even backfired; one time she had been sitting in a park while her target almost drowned in a lake and three pigeons had shat on her head in quick succession.

And of course, when I try and do activities like this… Hydie thought sourly as she rushed after Derek Moss through the dark tunnels underneath Kharon. They turned a corner and when, perhaps because she was now staring at the ground, Hydie slammed her knee into the rigid metal frame on the corner, she could only bite back a curse and attempt to keep up with the man who had clearly spent more of his Stats on Agility.

Abruptly, the duo burst out of the tunnels and into an open area that was dimly lit by a fluorescent light far above; it seemed like this was a water processing plant. A group of a dozen figures, who had been quietly discussing something next to one of the larger vats in the room, leapt to their feet and pulled out weapons. Although they were surprised, they probably had expected something like this.

“Bah, found already? Well, it doesn't matter,” The central figure began to speak. “We are from the Unity Church, here to-”

“Yea, yea, yea,” Derek Moss thrust his hand forward and an emerald orb shot out to impact the ground right in the middle of the group of terrorists. The detonation area was small but powerful and all of the enemies were thrown off their feet. Even the central figure impacted the ground a meter away with a heavy smack.

Sound like an unlucky angle, she thought with quite a deal of schadenfreude.

Of course, that central figure quickly hopped back up to his feet despite whatever injury he sustained. But Derek was already rushing forward, his forearms and lower legs wreathed in green fire. The terrorist drew a modified Mana pistol but Derek simply smashed his fist into the man’s stomach, then reached up with both hands and pulled his head roughly down to impact his knee.

Crack!

As the leader fell bonelessly to the floor, Derek spun around and released three more emerald orbs that blasted away the other members that had managed to recover their bearings in the frantic seconds of his fight with their leader. Then, as the bodies of the victims were flying through the air, Derek made a curt gesture and moss spirits flooded into the room to surround and bind the neutralized terrorists.

Honestly, Hydie couldn’t help but be a little impressed by Derek’s decisive actions. “Wow, you certainly know how to fight-”

“Thanks, but this isn’t the end of it; today’s going to be a long day,” Derek sighed and wiped his brow. “We need to head over toward the engine room. Looks like the group over there is just technological espionage, but we should rough them up a bit so they don’t get any funny ideas.”

“But why does it have to be us!!!” Hydie said in an aggrieved voice. She had worn a dress with a poofy skirt so her stride wasn’t limited, but the constant running was starting to annoy her. But of course, Derek was already exiting the water processing plant and heading to their next destination.

Her mouth twisted into a scowl, Hydie took a large step to follow; she stepped on the edge of her skirt and heard it rip. Gritting her teeth, she picked up the edges of the fabric and hurried after Derek. When she had caught up to him, Derek glanced over his shoulder. “Besides, we should be happy that we were assigned to the tunnels until the event starts… I’ve received three reports of man-made beast hordes that are heading toward our location. Better deal with small-time foes here than handle that-”

Because he was twisted around to talk to Hydie, Derek’s feet got tangled up and he fell forward. But the man didn’t panic due to the misfortune. He simply turned his head back around and used both of his palms to slap the ground and threw himself back up to his feet. He barely seemed to miss a step. Then he twisted back around like nothing had happened. “Basically, our job is the simplest of a bunch of shitty jobs-”

This time Derek stopped talking because they had turned a corner and found two individuals dressed in crimson robes carrying what was obviously a ballistic missile. These two were much less on the ball than the people from the Unity Church. Derek had already adjusted his vector and charged forward before they spoke.

“Bah! How did you discover us? We are from the Red Revival-”

“Do you mean the Red Revival, Revival?” Derek said with almost clinical disinterest as he smashed his fist into the first man’s jaw and slammed his head into the stone wall behind him. With a twist, he brought his leg up and around crush his heel into the other man’s temple. “Because I’m pretty sure that organization is now defunct.”

Moss spirits rushed forward to keep the missile from hitting the ground and bound the two lingering members of the Red Revival.

“You… respond very well to sudden changes,” Hydie said cautiously as they resumed their jog.

Derek grinned without any mirth. “Too much military training. It’s been drilled into me that what can go wrong, will. But even so, seems like we’ve had a lot of bad luck down here…”

As if to punctuate the statement, a fist-sized stone dislodged from the roof and fell toward Derek’s head. With an easy movement, he stepped around it without slowing down at all. Hydie chuckled, somewhat guiltily. “Plus… how are all these people getting into Kharon’s underbelly? Are there really so many powerful shadow organizations operating on Earth right now?”

Derek rubbed his chin. “If you want my honest opinion? No. They are being deliberately led here. Both to test how two of us respond to pressured situations, I think, and because the interior of Kharon isn’t nearly as vulnerable as these people seem to think. Not only is this the focal point of the moss spirits power, but this place was built by Randidly Ghosthound himself. I doubt it is easy to damage.”

Thinking about that, Hydie missed her own fist-sized stone that dislodged abruptly from the ceiling and fell toward her face.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aura of Misfortune (R) has grown to Level 199!

With an aching nose, Hydie swore to herself to pay more attention to her surroundings in the future.

*****

Theodora Greyman was in a black mood.

The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and even the trees seemed to be weirdly joyful as the wind playfull rustled their leaves. Level 19 Flesh-Eating Squirrels could be seen cheerfully chasing each other up and down nearby tree trunks. The road leading to Kharon seemed like an idyllic pathway out to a rural sanctuary rather than what it actually was: the road to the most important political event since the arrival of New Earth.

Does no one have any sense of seriousness?!?!

And Theodora hadn’t seen a single monster above Level 30 since she had arrived in the area around Kharon. Even worse, she hadn’t been able to sense the presence of any sort of security detail. Not that she wanted to be attacked, but it was immensely frustrating that there wasn’t even the slightest hint of danger around the event.

After all, there hadn’t been any high profile announcements like what happened before Zone 1’s football game, but several smaller extremist groups had made their intentions for Randidly’s birthday known. Especially groups that were radically opposed to the System and were determined to destabilize any government that accepted its presence.

And Randidly Ghosthound, for better or for worse, was all about spreading information describing how best to adapt to the System.

Next to her, Mark Rowel frowned around at their surroundings through the window. “Are there even any guards? I can’t believe that we were the ones accused of not taking threats seriously… if it hadn’t been for that fucking barrier-”

Theodora put a hand on Mark’s arm. They were riding in a Manatech carriage, with three people sitting in the interior and four guards on the outside of the vehicle. But even if they were in private, Theodora knew how fruitless getting worked up over the past was.

She had indulged that train of thought more than enough over the past few weeks. Today they needed to stay focused on the task at hand.

Mark pressed his lips into a thin line but remained silent. And it was at that point that the third individual in the carriage spoke up. “No, there are guards. They are just… strong. Impossibly strong and very good at hiding their presence.”

Theodora turned and glanced at the man sitting calmly in his wheelchair, gazing out the window of the carriage. The long fingers of his left hand manipulated a coin to dance across his knuckles, while his other hand rested on the fleece blanket that covered his legs. His name was Richter and despite his complete lack of investment in physical Stats, he was the best agent that the Special Forces of Zone 1 had.

“Really?” Theodora was slightly dubious but was inclined to trust Richter more than her own senses. This was what he specialized in, after all.

“Really,” Richter replied, still spinning the coin across his fingers.

Creasing his brows, Mark released an exaggerated sigh. “Perhaps terrorist organizations are just scared away from attempting anything based on the reputation of the Ghosthound. Or perhaps they are waiting for the actual event to begin…”

“...I guess you might be right,” Richter agreed in a light voice. His eyes never left the window.