She waited under the cover of darkness. Soon a few glowing arrows appeared on her sight, floating over the heads of a group of people attempting to cross what had now turned into marshlands around Mirfield. The pitter-patter of the torrential rain drowned any sound they might make and the water droplets coupled with the pitch-black night underneath the massive cloud donut hanging overhead forbade any kind of visual contact. And yet Marcy could see the enemy infiltrators coming thanks to the City Core's properties.

It had entered what Grendel called "siege mode". No more "citizens" could be registered and any new signatures would be immediately classified as enemies. They would still be registered, appraised, and drained of ST and MP when their pools were capped, a small irony where the very attackers would help empower their greatest defenses. The City Core now, the Dungeon soon.

The fact they were making a beeline for the city walls made Marcy believe they had some sort of tracking ability. Not unusual, she was sure she could've done the same. She stood on the wall and waited for the arrows pointing down to come closer. It wasn't a blind shot but very close. Then she drew her bowstring and willed a glowing arrow of light to appear. As she breathed out, the bowstring was let loose.

The arrow split into several, two for each target, one for each leg if they were bipedal. Given the human supremacists that holed themselves up in Heorot, that was a given. As the arrows approached their target, she focused. The energy projectiles veered a bit to the sides and struck true.

Marcy imagined the grunts and groans of pain. The actual sound was deafened by the rain anyway.

Marcy: They are all yours, wing-boy.

Zahariel: Seriously? In the rain? It's a bother to dry my feathers!

Marcy: Boo Hoo. Just set them on fire after you get our guests to their bedrooms and the water will be gone. Or just set them on fire now, it won't matter much when they find out their infiltrators are down for the count.

Zahariel: Yes, taskmaster.

The Seraph flew to intercept the infiltrators, feeling a bit of indignation. He, a mighty angel, second only to the long-forgotten gods, fetching prisoners to feed the Dungeon. And yet Duty was Duty. He swallowed his pride, remembering where it led his Brother and the entire world and did his job. The mana-sealing manacles clattered as he sped through the rain and soon he reached the arrows. A group of seven humans, four women and three men were sitting on the mud, already healing from the potions they drank. They squinted at the sight of the glowing wings approaching.

"Surrender and you won't be hurt!" Zahariel boomed over the sound of rain. "Resist and you will lose some limbs. We want to take you in alive but you can live without a leg and an arm."

He didn't like to threaten even though he had all the intention of following through. This was war, a war for the very soul of the planet. These humans were opposing the chosen Hero so they had to be neutralized, one way or another. To push his point through, he summoned his fire sword.

"We surrender!" One of the women shouted back. "Take us."

Too easy, he thought. As he approached, he could swear he saw a smirk on some faces. They were too confident for people that just got an arrow through their knees. Zahariel waved his free hand and used a spell.

"[Dispel Magic!]"

Some enchantments fizzled. Probably tracking spells.

"Let me put these manacles on you," He dismissed the sword and pulled one of the chains held on his other hand.

The lead woman reached out with her wrists, "Of course, my lord. But why do you, a mighty Seraph, side with these rebels?"

He felt the question was valid. "Who said your King is the one in the right? What's at stake here is much more than petty politics, human."

The woman reeked of sin, her dark heart disgusted Zahariel. Dishonesty, falsehood, treachery, murder. "Of course. Please teach us, O mighty angel," She could barely hold her mockery and mirth.

He bent over to clasp the manacles on her wrists. There was a bigger splash behind him. As his wings were the only source of light around, he couldn't see the shadow jumping over him. He couldn't. The one that snuck around and rose to murder the Seraph exploded, washing bits of blood and gore around and over the angel. Unabated, he closed the cuffs around her wrists and the enchantment settled, sealing her MP and most of her Skills.

Marcy: Watch your back, wing-boy.

Zahariel: That's why I have you, dependable sniper.

Marcy: Damn right you, do!

"Of course. Please do try your other tricks, we are eager to learn all of them," He told his prisoner.

None tried. The other infiltrators quickly submitted. Once they all were bound by the manacles, the System deigned to chirp.

Grendel has gained 0 + 1 + 0 levels (5-Monster Wrangler 3 > 4).

It was funny to think the big guy was leveling up as he slept. The City Core extended the Experience sharing party feature as far as it reached. Stifling a chuckle, Zahariel dragged them through the mud until he reached the guild field. Then he used his passbook to teleport his prisoners to the Dungeon.

Zahariel: Seven more in the cells.

Marcy: Atta boy! I got another set of arrows in my view. I'm going to disable them again.

Zahariel: I'm coming. But please don't blow up people over me.

Marcy: Don't make a fuss, just burn it away!

Zahariel: This is going to be a long night...

Marcy, Alvus, Zahariel, and Cloude caught five groups and then Heorot stopped sending more. The night crew gathered at the main square's fountain to keep watch over the City Core intruder reports.

"If nobody else comes inside the field until sunrise, I'm counting tonight as a win," Marcy declared. "A boring win, but hey, I'm not picky."

Cloude and Zahariel exchanged a glance and agreed to disagree with the redhead. Alvus kept staring at the glowing box floating with letters, numbers, and squiggly lines going up and down that Grendel called graphs.

"Marcy, could you check on Alice? I haven't seen her the whole day," He asked.

"Alice? Isn't she in the Dungeon Shelter?" She replied. "I think I saw her there yesterday."

"She was but Helen asked her to tend the frillbush gardens. For the bees, you know?"

Marcy glanced back at the control panel. "I guess I do. Look here, this thing is almost entirely powered by the bees and husband now," she pointed out and then messed around with it. "Alice is not in town. Well, there's no harm in asking."

Marcy: Tancred, are you up?

Tancred: Yes. I don't need to sleep in my Dungeon.

Marcy: Can you check if Alice somewhere in there?

Tancred: ... She's not.

Zahariel: Where is she then? Did Heorot capture her? I'll go there right now to check!

Marcy: Hold it, wing-boy. There must be a proper explanation for that.

Shraaizar: You and your glowing wingsss are going nowhere near that army. If you need someone to check for the human girl, I'll do it.

Marcy: There's a huge army there. Are you sure?

Shraaizar: An evolved Naga, at night, amidst all this rain? With Grendel's Stat boosts? Even you would be hard-pressed to detect me. I just need you to come pick me up.

Marcy: I'm coming in a few minutes.

Marcy used the passbook to teleport to her guild crystal and back to Mirfield with Shraaizar. She saluted them and slithered away, jumping from the wall into the mud below and just vanishing from sight.

"She wasn't lying. I have no idea where she is if I don't use the Core," Marcy confessed.

The Naga moved quickly across the flooded fields, the few ripples and splashes her tail made completely muffled by the torrential rain. She felt free and ready to deliver her long-simmering vengeance. Free and unbounded, she decided to not only look for Alice but to also kill a few humans as well.

She hissed and shook her head. Who was she trying to fool?

She was going to kill a lot of humans.

"Sssisstersss, tonight I ssshall avenge you!"

She vowed in an extra hissy way.

Past the forested area covered by the rain magic, the first bonfires of the human camp come into view. Helen's magic was really impressive. With their backs to the fire, some sentries shivered, the drizzle hitting them when the winds blew their way. She raised a hand and pushed. Up in the sky, the wind changed direction. It blew north, pushing the water with it and making it rain over the sentries and bonfires.

"What the hell!" One of the humans cursed.

The rain falling on the fire raised a plume of vapor that another of Shraaizar's spells quickly cooled, forming a mist. Slithering under that cover, she reached the nearest sentry and bit his neck, injecting venom. The low-leveled human died without uttering a single whisper. She brought the body down quietly and moved to the next.

"Hey, Greg. Where did you go?" Another human asked in the direction of the first sentry. She halted, twisted her neck a full half-turn and hissed.

"[Poison Dart]!"

"Ugh!" This one did groan before dying.

"What?"

Shraaizar pounced the third sentry but not before he heard his companion dying. She bit his throat and he struggled. Her fangs ripped the soft, scale-less skin and he gargled blood.

"What is going on? Hector, answer me!" Another group of sentries by the next bonfire shouted.

No time for subtlety. Alice wasn't here with them anyway. "[Poison Mist!]"

The poison spread, mixing with the mist and moving as she commanded toward the humans. They too groaned and died. With the sentries taken care of, she released the wind spell to save ST and moved deeper into the camp.

A mix of colorful tents, the scent of human sweat, urine, feces, and blood, plus snores assaulted her enhanced senses. The camp was tired from the march, damp from the rain, and almost entirely asleep. They were the ones doing the siege, why would they expect an attack. As she slithered past the bonfires and into the camp, a wave of dizziness assaulted her. She felt very weak, almost as if she was back in the city.

One of the precious "repellent" potions the humans cherished so much. If it were not for her highly-developed intellect, Grendel's boosts, and getting used to staying inside Mirfield, not to mention her double mission, she'd have left the place. Lesser monsters wouldn't even approach. How the humans could sleep in that place was almost unimaginable. But the humans had no cores and relied less on the magic of the world to exist. She pressed on.

Their over-reliance on that gimmick meant they were not even dreaming a monster was about to invade their camp. They would never know what hit them. In fact, she came across a couple wards meant to detect human trespassers. She crossed them without a hitch. Weaving a bit of Earth magic, she covered her tracks as she made her way to the nearest long tent. A symphony of snores greeted her as she ducked under the canvas. Under her heat sight, She found twenty men sleeping. She'd see they never woke up. Her forked tongue felt the air and tasted the venom, almost gushing from her fangs because of all the excitement.

Thirty tents she visited, hundreds she bit. The levels accrued fast, twenty-three already. If things went that way, she'd probably be ready to evolve before sunrise. No sign of Alice though. Her particular herb-like scent was nowhere to be found. She smelt very few females, actually. Since humans couldn't lay eggs, it made sense to keep them from the front lines. Easier to replenish the population. Males were... disposable. Being a female-only species, the Naga view on males was a very utilitarian one. Find one, play around, mate, then eat.

Alas, her fun would not last for long. The camp was not entirely asleep. A few men patrolled the grounds, another bunch was hidden in the blind spots between tents, either gambling under torchlight or drinking a disgusting liquor. Why did the humans voluntarily poison themselves, she'd never know. On one occasion, she even found humans mating. Strangely it seemed both were male, or one of them was a very hairy female. Humans were a kind of ape, and the Flame Gorilla females were very hairy. But maybe the utter lack of snores, muffled giggles, and curses to the wind drew the others' attention.

As she heard the heavy footsteps approaching, she slithered inside a tent and waited. The thrill of hunting prey that was awake and alert made the tip of her tail quiver with anticipation. But she wasn't there to play. She was there to search for Alice and murder. In that order, she lied to herself. The footsteps halted somewhere near her tent.

"What the... Sarge, why is this section of the camp so quiet?"

"Now that you mention that, private... I can't hear any snores. Search a tent."

The footsteps went away from her. She knew they would raise an alert as soon as the first dead body was found. She lifted the canvas and poked her tongue out. Two humans, one of them requiring urgent cleaning. She knew Grendel, Helen and Marcy took baths almost every day. Why were this tribe of humans so filthy? They didn't seem to be primitive like Goblins or Orcs. Pushing these thoughts aside, she decided to close in for the kill before the alarm was raised.

As her eyes moved past the canvas, she saw a huge human, covered in clothes made of metal rings and a few plates for armor. He was watching a tent with a loose flap, probably where that private went. She moved behind him but the man shivered before she could pounce.

Damn, that one must have [Danger Sense], she thought to herself.

The big man turned around, his hand automatically going to the sword at his waist. Without time to waste, Shraaizar wrapped her tongue around her own fangs, tugged them, sucked, and then spat venom at his face.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The man shouted and drew his sword.

He seemed to be temporarily blind but the metal clothes had rings going around his neck. She'd have a hard time to find a place to bite and inject enough venom to kill that man. He should be high-leveled too. Pondering her choices, she used a spell Grendel taught her. Of the four basic elements, she was struggling to learn fire. The others, she'd almost mastered.

"[Earth Spike!]"

The ground shot up beneath the man, impaling him through the thigh. He shouted in pain even louder than with the venom spit and Shraaizar used the distraction to latch onto his crotch. Marcy once taught her that it was one of the weak points of a man. Fortunately, the rings were large enough for her fangs to go through and these were long enough to reach the tender flesh underneath the tight but strange clothing. She bit and pumped venom.

The big man screeched like an eagle. Funny, his voice seemed so deep before. The Naga didn't just stand idle biting between his legs. She tucked her tail forward and up past his back, wrapping around his neck. Whatever defense these rings provided, they couldn't protect against squeezing. Her powerful tail muscles finally silenced the man and soon she felt the spine breaking under the pressure.

But she wasn't fast enough to finish him before the other one came. She'd need time to recover, her venom temporarily spent and low on ST because she couldn't rest under the repellent potions.

Instead of attacking, the private gasped as he saw the big man down on the ground, her tail slithering around the broken neck as she removed it and readied to pounce. Private dropped the sword and ran, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Monster attack! Monster attack!"

She then noticed more shouting and more voices under the roar of the somewhat distant rain. Weakened, tired, and with a ton of Skill Points to spend, Shraaizar decided to get back to the safety of the waters. Alice wasn't anywhere in the camp, she was sure of it.

As the naga slithered away from the waking camp, she licked the human blood stuck to her fangs.

it tasted delicious.