"A class 4 at the landbridge? Are you serious?"

Two men were sitting inside an office. One was a lean man that looked to be no more than 30. He was dressed in a fine suit and sat in an adorned chair. The other was not quite as refined and gave off a masculine and rough aura that didn't seem to match his surprisingly charming voice. He sat across the table and made his chair look tiny compared to his overly muscular body.

"That is correct. And it's the reason we're back so early."

"So what happened? A single class 4 would be no match for you and Idona."

"Long story short, there was a stronghold on the choke that led to the mainland. There were 70 class 3's there and our team was able to take them out without much difficulty. But this class 4 had kept himself hidden and attacked one of our class 3's, Dream, who was maintaining the balance of the battle. After that, Idona and I reacted and fought this class 4, but during that time our class 3's sustained heavy losses without Dream to be the guardian. Out of the 55 class 3s that we started with, over half died, leaving only 23 alive. We obviously couldn't continue after that and returned."

"...I see. Are the demons really that strong?"

"That's the thing about the demons. Individually, they aren't that strong. Any one of our class 3 would destroy a demon at the same level. But in groups? Demons are far more terrifying. Their teamwork is beyond what humans are capable of. Throughout the fights, the demons were constantly doing flawlessly coordinated surprise attacks without any communication. This obviously leads to deaths when our own get caught off guard."

"Indeed it would."

"And that's not all. When we were on our way back, everybody who had fought was talking about how the demons grew stronger after the class 4 appeared. It was like their abilities were amplified. And vice versa, the more demons died, the less strength they had."

"So their power grows with numbers? Like blessings?"

"That's what I'm thinking. These demons have quantity over quality, but the more they gather, the more their power grows. But even besides that, these demons are already expanding their territory. They had a base with a class 4 on the landbridge. We were only expecting to find class 4's in their core, and even then it might've only been 1 or 2."

"..."

"We need to reevaluate their threat level. Not only that, but the other Empires need to jump on this issue as well. Because if these demons really do grow in strength as their numbers grow, and their teamwork is as terrifying as I saw, then can you imagine if they were to have multiple class 4's in one place? We can't let them get to that point. What's worse is that we weren't even able to establish intelligence on their main base.

"...So what do you think we should do?"

"Two things. First, we need to set boundaries. And that land bridge should be target number one. We need to set up a stronghold there just like the demons did so we have the ability to control their spread and send troops into the continent. Second, we sent another expeditionary force. But much larger than before."

"How large?"

"Minimum 250 class 3's and 8 class 4's."

"Eight?!"

"Yes."

The lean man jumped a bit in surprise, but Ciroc nodded as a matter of factly. He rubbed his head a bit as he thought about it.

"...Look, I don't doubt your assessment. The problem though is getting the other Empires to cooperate. The Spire is already generous enough, and they only sent one. And even Idona is a recently advanced ranger. But trying to get 2 class 4's from each Empire? Just for an expedition? Unlikely."

"Well 8 is so we could be safe. I would actually prefer more, which is why I said it's the minimum. This demon threat is very real, and if we don't get on it fast, I can see it spiraling out of control very quickly. And soon enough, they're going to be right on our doorstep, trying to destroy us. Derrin, you know I don't exaggerate about these things."

"..."

The man across from Ciroc, Derrin, sat back while tapping his fingers on the desk in thought.

"...I know, Ciroc. But you're advocating for a large scale siege on an unknown enemy who we don't have hardly any intelligence on and want to rope in the other Empires."

"What do you mean hardly any intelligence? We have that report that was passed between everyone. It was the whole reason we went on that expedition."

"Well, believe it or not, there has been a lot of speculation about that intelligence. Everyone has begun to doubt its contents due to how dramatic it presented the demons. It even says in there, "World ending". Even I have a hard time believing that. You guys were more or less sent out on a whim, not because we believed it to be a huge threat. Even your objective was just to collect intelligence."

"And we've done that. I watched everything personally."

"And I get that, but... Look, you know that the others won't want to do anything for no reason. Everyone's always too busy reading books and wrestling bears. So if they don't see how these demons are affecting them, it's going to be very difficult to get their asses up and moving. So if you want to try and get that many people on this issue, then you're going to have to convince them that this is something they need to be concerned about."

"You expect me to be able to do that? You know I'm not the best talker. I'm the fighter. And that's why I came to you first. You can help me convince those people."

"*sigh* I knew you'd say that. You know, I may be good at talking, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it. You think I like all the political bullshit?"

"If you didn't like it at least a little then you wouldn't still be doing it. Come on, Derrin. This is something we all need to worry about, I just don't know how to tell them that. But you do. So help me out."

"...Damn it all. Fine."

"Thanks."

"Oh don't thank me yet. You and I are gonna be doing plenty of work together. You'd best prepare yourself, cause there's gonna be a lot of paperwork and a lot of meetings."

...........

.......

For the next week after the expedition failed, everyone who was involved were constantly either in meetings or healing injuries. Ciroc and Idona especially.

Since they had watched everything and were the highest authority, they obviously had the most trusted word. So their respective Empires were getting all the information possible about what happened. And neither of them had any problem with it either.

Like Ciroc, Idona also wanted to convince the other class 4's of the demon threat. Though she was a little more vengeful about it than him, both were saying the same thing. They were convinced of the threat and they wanted to garner a force to do something about it.

Both of them described the peculiarities of these demons to their Empires. Their teamwork, how they grew stronger with numbers, and just how there was a ridiculous amount of them. The map that Ciroc was given was supposed to have any major outposts marked on it, but they obviously hadn't marked the stronghold. This likely meant that it wasn't there when the scouts had related the information.

But the scouts relayed the information only a few days before they set off for the expedition, which meant that it was constructed during the week that they were heading there. And not only that, but it was manned by a class 4. This was far from their initial estimations in how fast the demons would grow, and using these deviancies, Ciroc and Idona tried to convince as many people as possible.

But while people may have been convinced, this didn't mean that they would move to fix the issue. In fact, the expeditionary force may have inadvertently hindered their ability to move combat power.

Since they had cleared a huge amount of forces on their way to the land bridge, there were no more attacks that the Empire had to worry about. They could also pull back troops and recuperate, which they indeed did. While this may seem good, the lack of enemies on their doorstep and the fact that troops had just relaxed made it so that nobody wanted to send them right back out. It contrasted the urgency that Ciroc and Idona were trying to convey, and made it harder for them to argue.

While there were some that were willing to come and fight, it wasn't enough to get anything worthwhile done. So although they tried their best, it wasn't enough and the issue was put on hold.

This caused both Ciroc and Idona to feel helpless. While they were class 4's, there was only so much they could do alone. Their power was still small before the Empires, so it wasn't like they could coerce anyone.

Though they still had one more hope, but even he still wasn't an option.

Idona had hoped that Dream's recovery would only take a couple of days, at most a week. But even after the week passed, he still hadn't woken up. His body was still laying on her table in the highly mana dense environment, covered in the metal that was Aegis. But although he still wasn't responsive, there had at least been improvements.

For one, Aegis told her that Dream's body had reconstructed itself, with his assistance of course. And while she had thought that meant he was okay, Aegis burned her hopes after he said that it was merely his body doing its job. Dream still hadn't communicated with him in any way, and the only reason that Aegis didn't consider Dream dead was because he basically wasn't allowed to.

This actually caused Idona to almost consider it hopeless. Aegis wouldn't give up, no matter how long it took. But that was because he was built that way. Idona knew how to look at the situation objectively though, and the fact that Aegis, by all forms of the word, actually did consider Dream dead, caused her to believe that this was all for nothing. Even she couldn't feel any aura coming from Dream.

And around the 9th day since the expedition failure, Riddick had come to her with more bad news.

Though he left out many details, he spoke about a familiar that Dream made a connection with. And while this familiar wasn't exactly nearby, there had always been a connection between them. But supposedly, this connection had disappeared on the day he got attacked.

Idona was no stranger to familiars and the like as an elf. She knew that a connection could either be broken voluntarily by both parties or one would die, also resulting in a broken connection. And hearing how this familiar had lost the connection, she had come very close to declaring Dream dead. That was if not for one peculiarity.

Idona was never able to put Dream into her inventory.

If he were a corpse and not living, then like every other corpse, she would be able to put him into her inventory. When something died, it was then just material shaped like a body. The only reason people couldn't put something in their inventory was if their inventory wasn't big enough or if it was a living being. And her inventory was definitely big enough to fit Dream, so that only meant that Dream was still living.

But this went against everything she observed. She couldn't sense him, any connections he had were broken, and he obviously never communicated with anything or anyone. He should be dead, but he wasn't. So she didn't give up hope and just kept waiting.

...........

.......

....

But even after a month, there was still nothing.

Everyday, Idona would check up on the body and check in with Aegis, hoping for some news. But she would only get the same answer: that there was no change.

Everyday, she would also try putting Dream into her inventory, but it also never worked. So she just kept patient.

Though today was the first day that Idona didn't check in with the body. And that was because of a meeting she attended.

"There have been reports of two class 4 demons sieging a kingdom within the territory of the Mercenary Empire."

When this event was announced, it not only caused waves in the Spire, but every other Empire. Everyone who heard the news immediately focused their attention on it.

Something this bad hadn't happened for who knows how long. Kingdoms don't just get wiped out of existence easily. Even if there were monster attacks, those kingdoms under the Empires are helmed by class 4's. But even this class 4 died, and the entire population was killed without exception. Such a massacre had never been seen before, and it caused everyone to panic.

And so, something was going to be done about it. Along with the news came a notice that 3 class 4's were going to be recruited to hunt down this duo that was currently occupying the kingdom. A force was also going to be amassed to clear the tens of thousands of lesser demons there as well.

Although it was grave news, Ciroc and Idona, who had been fighting for a reaction over the demons, were more happy than aggrieved. They were finally getting the concern and urgency necessary.

Though they did something that came as a shock to the community. When the notice came out to recruit 3 class 4's, they had been the first to be recommended since they had experience. But both turned it down, refusing to fight.

Not only did this shock the others, but it brought along waves of ridicule and scorn. They were refusing to avenge the several hundred thousand people living there, and everybody was obviously displeased. But they actually had a plan by doing this.

When they got the notice, both Ciroc and Idona had met up and discussed what to do. And after discussing, they came to this conclusion. But the reason was not out of spite, but because they needed more support.

After they had fought the demons directly, they were finally able to understand their threat. But nobody else had fought them, and they had a hard time realizing their threat because of that. So if they wanted more people to understand, then they would have to get more people to fight the demons. And this was a perfect opportunity.

If they had taken the recruitment, then it would be them plus one. That one person would more than likely understand after that battle, and it would be another voice on their side. But they didn't only want one, they wanted as many as possible. So by rejecting the recruitment, there would be three fresh people to go and have that fight, thereby understanding their side.

For this, they were willing to take on the ridicule and hate. It was for the greater good, and since when did they need to concern themselves with any badmouthing? They were class 4's at the top of the world. Nothing would come of a bit of bad press.