715 The team gathers

Hera and Freya walked through the city, carefully keeping up the 'amazed tourist' persona. That was proving to be difficult, which was very odd. This room was the kind of place that Hera dreamed about. A city that was grown like trees, clockwork golems that couldn't exist anywhere else, and mysterious clock towers with countless small clocks inside, each showing the current time in a different room inside the MAZE. Only the first floor was currently active in any of the towers, and even then, a large number of clocks were currently blank. It was just a shame that there was no indication of which clock was connected to which room, but still, people could actually see the progress made in the MAZE while inside those towers. And despite the existence of something so curious and unique, Hera couldn't stop thinking about Silah. Hoping that she was ok.

"Hey, what was the name of that city? The one where the Terracotta warriors were discovered? It was close to a mountain, wasn't it?" Freya asked.

"I don't remember. It was in China but the name of the city… I don't know. Why do you ask?" Hera replied, noticing the use of their code.

"There, to the left. I thought that street could have the same name as that city."

Hera looked over, trying to see what made her use their code word for lookout, but she only saw the plaque with the name of a street in front of the narrow cobblestone road surrounded by three-floor houses in black and blue. They were just crossing Chennai Street, "Sorry to say this, but I'm pretty sure that's a city in India."

"Really? Sorry, I must be with my head in the clouds."

With that hint, Hera chuckled and started talking about the room's architecture, even if she barely understood the subject. They continued walking, and when the sunlight was no longer hiding behind the houses, she pulled her tablet and used the reflection on the screen to look at the roof of the houses on the left. It took her a moment, but she noticed a clockwork construct made out of black metal plates, a plague doctor mask for a face, and an amalgamation of daggers forming its wings. A clockwork crow watched them. Beside it, a man with a bow in hand and a quiver on his waist just looking around. He didn't seem interested in them, or he was pretending not to care, but knowing that there were people on top of the houses in this room was something they would have to consider.

Already aware of the possible issue, they continued walking, passing by a few of the clockwork golems who politely greeted them by taking out their hats and giving a short bow to the two. Despite the bulky bodies, those creatures were surprisingly elegant, with plates on their chest that made it look like they were wearing a dress shirt, tie, and a vest under the long coats. Each of those golems also had their own colors. All metallic and dull, of course, but would vary from dark reds and greens to even yellows and purples. Hera couldn't help but use her [Observe] in the third of them they saw.

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Clockwork Gentleman Patrol - Level 39

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To her surprise, the mana she felt from them wasn't metal or clockwork. Instead, it was protection, the same type of mana that Nimbus used. Somehow, that was a comforting notion. Even if those beings were classified as monsters and could potentially attack anyone at any moment, because of the Sentinel's personality, Hera felt safer being close to them.

After a couple more minutes of walking, Zestra gently tapped on the shoulder of the two explorers twice. Another signal they had prepared, this one indicating that the previous code had been resolved. What actually was the solution wasn't something they could know now since it would require a code that was too complicated for anyone to learn quickly. But they trusted that the spy wouldn't say that just to calm them down.

Hera and Freya had to continue their acting for another 40 minutes until they finally arrived at their destination. It was a neighborhood made out of mostly hotels. Those were created by the MAZE but adapted by the people who lived here. Instead of using the singular houses as rooms, people broke down the inner walls of an entire block and remodeled them to fit their needs. It was in one of those places they would stay. But not a large one, one of the smaller versions that only took half a dozen houses to create instead of the 30 from which the larger hotels were made. The entire place had been bought out by one of the members of the team. This wasn't that unusual for this particular hotel, which made their movements even less suspicious, at least for now.

As they walked inside and closed the door behind them, a burly beastman with black and white fur covering his arms and two small bear ears on the top of his head appeared. He wore a long coat with short sleeves with red frills covering a halfway-open button-up shirt, exposing his hairy chest. The man also had a simple pair of black dress pants and sandals, which were necessary due to his large panda-like feet, "Welcome! What can I do for you today? This is the Livendark Hotel, but I'm afraid we don't have any rooms available for the month. Maybe I can assist you in getting suitable accommodations?"

"Don't worry about it. They are with us," Becca's voice came from the side as Zestra dropped their invisibility, "Hey Eirik, I'm glad to see you are doing well."

"Becca!" Eirik, the beastman, smiled and went in for what could only be described as a bear hug, "It's been too long," he let her go after a moment, and while the reporter caught her breath, the man just glanced at Zestra, "I see you are still alive."

"And I see you still keep your nasty feet out in the open," the spy huffed before the two laughed and hugged each other.

Becca let the two greet each other before introducing the women who entered the hotel with them, "Eirik, these are Hera and Freya. Both will be helping us. Girls, this is Eirik, our engineer."

"Engineer?" Freya tilted her head.

Eirik nodded, "That is correct. We will need devices, and gadgets, if you want to call them that. I'm also the one who knows the weak spots of the structure and where we should aim to deal damage."

"Oh... So you won't be participating in the actual rescue operation?" Freya asked.

"Correct. I'm better suited for other tasks."

"What about the rest?" Hera asked.

"For now, we are the only ones here. The rest should be arriving in the next couple of days," Eirik leaned over the counter, the wood creaking beneath his weight, and took four keys, "These are your rooms, take a moment to rest and settle in."

"We are not going to just wait until everyone is here, are we? We can already scout the area and start formulating the plan. Also, is this place really safe for us to talk about that? Won't people randomly walk in? Or find it weird that the entire hotel is booked?" Hera didn't like the idea of just waiting while Silah and the others were being held captive. There was no guarantee that they were not suffering at the hands of the guards.

"Hera, calm down. I know you are worried, but we need to do things correctly. For the hotel, you don't have to worry. It's common for a group to rent out the smaller places, even asking the staff to be away. Because of the room, many mages come here to do some research, and you know how paranoid they get," Becca held the Empress' shoulder.

"And yes, we are not going to wait until the rest get here to start checking the area, but we need to be smart about it. I'm the stealth master, remember? I appreciate your help, but you will need to follow my lead," Zestra said with a serious expression, which was unusual for the elf.

Hera took a deep breath, "I know. Sorry, it's just… I'm worried."

"We all are, but we can't rush this. If we do, we will make mistakes, and that will hinder our mission. Trust me, we all want them to be safe," Eirik took Hera's hand and placed the room key before covering it with his other hand, "We will save them. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah… Yeah. I'm going to rest, maybe take a shower. Do we have food here?"

"The mini fridges are stocked up, we also have a kitchen here with some food, or we can just order in," Eirik started walking to the kitchen before he snapped his fingers, "Before I forget. Each room also has some robes you can use to sleep. I got those one size fit all kinds of things and made sure to wash them properly. Feel free to use them. The robes are surprisingly comfortable, and well put together enough that it won't be weird to walk around the hotel with them."

"Eirik, you are the best. Thank you. I really don't like sleeping only in my underwear," Becca smiled as she headed to her own room.

A few hours later, Hera and Zestra were discussing the possibilities of what they could do to find out more about the place. The Empress had a specific idea that involved Lurize. The Royal Tutor could stay in his beetle form and look around. Taking in all the details and coming back after checking the area. Bugs were not native to this room, but it wasn't unusual to see one sneaking in through a delivery of produce or something like that. Another idea was to use the snakes from the viper's pit. However, to do that, they would need to head to the outskirts of the city first and then let the snakes loose. Clockwork City was too open, and the snakes wouldn't be able to sneak by the Clockwork Crowns or Patrols. Not to mention that if they were seen by anyone, it might tip them off that there was something going on. This room didn't have any snakes. In fact, the only monsters in the room, aside from the Clockwork golems, were weird concrete or steel treants that appeared in the outskirts every so often, but even they were very peaceful and wouldn't bother anyone. This meant that snakes would stick out like a sore thumb, unlike Lurize, who could pretend to be just a random bug.

In the end, they agreed to keep the snakes for the actual day of the rescue. When they invaded the prison, the mana reptiles could spread out to find what they were looking for. The confusion of seeing a dozen snakes appear out of nowhere could also be very useful to their plans. Aside from that, Zestra was also joining Lurize in some scouting. He also needed to know how sensitive the sensors in the area would be against his specialized invisibility. The problem with all those plans was that Hera herself had nothing to do. She only created a Royal Quest, gave all of her mana, and had to wait. Seeing the Empress' restlessness, Becca asked for help to organize all her data about the prison for future planning. Both of them knew this was just something to keep Hera busy, but she was grateful.

Late that evening, the next person on the team arrived. Sylvi was a triton with broad shoulders that went against his slender frame. She came wearing a gray jacket and gray jeans that hid the leather armor filled with bright blues and greens she wore underneath with her short dark blue hair tied in a bun. The woman was their healer. The one who would help not just to buff everyone but also to heal any prisoners who were too hurt to move on their own. The last thing they needed was someone, having to carry another person as they escaped.

Early the following day, Hornet arrived. No one knew the fighter's actual name, but his moniker existed for over a hundred years already. The nickname was due to his fighting style, which revolved around strikes made to cause the most pain possible. He also used various weapons but was exceptionally proficient with a hammer. The man was tall for a dwarf, getting to almost 120 centimeters, had short brown hair, a plump nose, and was neatly shaved. Something he only did when working on secretive missions. His armor was completely metallic but surprisingly quiet, thanks to a few enchantments that reduced the clanking noise. He was their brute, the person who would attack the guards when needed and take care of all issues that involved brute force.

A few minutes later, Faenethe appeared. He was one of the Children of the Sky, a harpy. Wings instead of arms and legs that were very similar to Nimbus' and his clothes were much lighter, being only a simple pair of black pants made out of loose silk. He had yellow eyes and brown feathers covering his back. His hair was the same color but it was just like any other sentient species. He was the extraction specialist. Nethe, as he preferred to be called, had helped many people escape from the wendigos once they started appearing and now his talents would be used in a different way.

The last one to arrive came just after lunch. Lysandra was the stereotypical elf. Blond long hair, piercing green eyes, long ears, and a face so beautiful that it made others feel betrayed by their genes. Being a controller, she had access to a few skills that would help them during the event, and more importantly, she was the one responsible for planning. Lysandra went around the MAZE doing all dungeons related to rescuing people from secure locations, giving her a unique type of experience for their current objective. Her keen intellect and analytical mind were accentuated ever since she was a child by her parents, who wished for her to be a grand strategist. She was old enough to have seen the end of the devil hunt, and thanks to her plans, a few minor conflicts were resolved with the use of elite forces instead of full-blown armies.

With that, the team was complete. Now all they had to do was prepare a plan and rescue the people inside the prison.