A New Friend?

In the Gaia headquarters inside the Middle Realm, the lord of the Gaias, Varun, is laughing madly in front of his reporting comrades.

"Vax'taya, that Vax'taya has been defeated with his squadron?"

"Yes my liege. Our Gaia Sentinels' eyes cannot sense their energies in the human's world anymore."

These Gaia Sentinels are the strongest guards of the Gaia's headquarters. There are only three of these Sentinels, which are personally bestowed powers by Varun.

They are the only ones who can sense the energy even from realms away. Varun has tasked them to monitor their advance parties.

Now that no one among their parties is showing their energies anymore, the subordinates of each Sentinels report to their lord.

"I see, it seems that the humans still have the aid of the Heavens."

"Yes my liege. Particularly, one of them is showing different kind of energy, seemingly very similar to ours, my liege." the reporting subordinate said respectfully.

"Similar to our energy you say?" Varun curiously asked, and then followed, "Are they one of the Heaven-blessed humans?"

"I believe not, my liege. It seems that their abilities work differently than the rest of the humans. One of the Sentinels pointed out the difference between their auras, my liege."

"Aura… huh." Varun said disinterestedly. "You are now dismissed."

The subordinated kneeled before standing up and leaving.

'I shall personally observe you, human, who dares disrupt the visit of the Gaias', Varun muttered to himself with his growing interest.

Snap!

As Varun snapped his fingers, he disappeared from his throne room and reappeared on top of their headquarters' tower.

As he looks on the far horizon, he breathed in air before channeling a transformation skill.

Worlds Connect!

Taboo Skill: Form Shift!!!

As his new appearance, Varun changed himself into someone of a human Adventurer. He then set off on a gate he created after drawing in the air.

Vuoom!

[...]

After the final recovery mission for Plevo, Veil bid farewell to her temporary party members, Lurk and Silvia. The two are migrating from a faraway land to settle as ordinary citizens.

The war today that seemingly lasted for an eternity is now over.

They lost their party members, whom they treated as family.

"Thank you for fighting alongside me…" Veil said as she waved goodbye.

The two watching their friend's departing back shed more tears, as they turned around and walked the opposite direction, towards their new beginning.

Veil then inquired on the other Adventurer parties regarding the next subjugation mission for Gaias potential invasion.

"We really have no new information on their movement. Unfortunately, we could only settle down on nearby cities before rebuilding the ruined cities they invaded." The tanned man, Commander Wright of the various Adventurer parties said who is leading the members taking part in the recovery team.

"I see, how about other monsters or enemies with affinities for darkness?" Veil asked unhurriedly.

"You can proceed to our temporary headquarters in Marlov for the quest board. Just sign up as an Adventurer and you can take the quests you would like." Wright explained, he then said: "May I also ask why you are so interested in monsters with darkness affinity?"

"I just like hunting them, y'know." Veil said as she prepares to set off for Marlov.

She could not reveal that she could grow stronger by absorbing energies of the monsters with dark affinities, the Dark Soul Fragments.

"I see. Alright I won't pry on you anymore. Thank you for your work. Stay vigilant out there!" Wright and the rest of the recovery team bid their farewell for Veil.

Veil nodded before setting off.

[...]

As the sun sets, Veil looked for a safer place to rest for the night.

Cling. Clang.

But suddenly, she heard some fighting nearby.

Three Gaia stragglers are fighting against a lone Adventurer.

Veil immediately charged to help.

Skill: Shadow's Wings!

As she breezed through the lush forest, her aura has been sensed by the enemies.

One of them intercepted Veil with two long swords.

Clang!

The Gaia felt her arms go numb after blocking Veil. She retreated three steps back and regained her position.

However, before she could even breathe, Veil continued her assault.

Skill: Shadow Dance!

15 consecutive slashes found its mark and bisected the female Gaia straggler.

The two bullying the lone Adventurer stopped and charged towards Veil.

The lone Adventurer seeing one of the Gaias turn around, he immediately charged up with a skill.

Skill: Revenger Thrust!

His longsword pierced one of the Gaia's head, plopping down lifeless.

Thud.

Veil then finished off the other remaining enemy before striking down a conversation with the lone Adventurer.

"Thank you so much for your help, my savior! I am Varun, a surviving Adventurer from a subjugation party sent days ago!" The lone Adventurer by the name of Varun introduced himself.

"The rest of my party members have been slaughtered, and these three are the only remaining ones of the Gaias we have spotted. They have tracked and chased me down into this great forest for the whole day. So I thank you for your help! Varun added, while panting heavily.

"I understand. You are safe now. I am looking for a safe place for the night, can we set camp here?" Veil asked.

"Surely, this is a relatively safe haven for Adventurers. I heard there are barely any monsters here." Varun explained confidently.

The two then set a temporary camp for the night.

Veil immediately plopped down in her makeshift bed made from leaves and wood shavings.

While Veil sleeps soundly, Varun gestured towards the forest, signaling his Gaia troops to leave back to the Middle Realm and notify the Sentinels for his plan.

"I will act as an Adventurer for the humans to learn more of this girl right here. She is the one with the massive darkness affinity similar to us Gaias."

"I understand my liege, please stay safe." One of the Gaias said and left.

[...]

Another morning shines and Veil set off for Marlov with her new friend.

After running for a while, they see the city of Marlov, sporting various water canals with boats as the primary way of transportation for both goods and citizens.

The party of two then proceeded to sign up as Adventurers under Marlov, so that they could accept the quests issued there.

Veil then looked up in the board for enemies with dark affinity.

Varun watched Veil quietly while he scratched one of the staff inside the Adventurer hall with his finger.

This way, he could create more troops for his Gaia army without bringing them with a gate: which attracts a huge amount of evil energy.

The evil energy can be detected by the newly-invented devices given out to Adventurers to alert them of evil energy invasions.

While the two gathered more intel throughout the city, Varun constantly scratched one human after another.

In due time, all of them will transform into Gaias in one moment. Varun just needs to move with his plans very carefully and elusively.

To avoid Veil's suspicion. In the perfect time that they will strike, they will wipe out Marlov in one fell swoop, without any retaliation.

He will then make Veil a new Sentinel for his army, because she has an incredible aura within her.

The day ended with the two looking for an inn with two rooms to rest for the night.

When the night deepens, Varun left a clone on his bed while his main body dashed through the window.

He sneaked towards the taverns of various Adventurer parties to search for more humans with potential to become Gaia footmen.

He spent the night marking the necks of hundreds of Adventurers.

However, he made a huge blunder, which he was not aware of yet.

One of the party leaders of the Adventurer he marked, a robed man named Lozzaro, has detection ability.

Skill: Magic Eye!

He can spot the markings left by Varun's claw on the necks of some of his party members.

After watching Varun leave the building, he sneakily created sprites.

Summon: Observer Sprites!

Summoner to Summon Connect!

Skill: Ethereal Link!

Skill: Curing Mark!

Ethereal Link: Transfer Curing Mark into Observer Sprites!

After spreading out his observer sprites, he dealt with the marks one by one using his curing mark skill.

He slowly but surely wiped every trace of evil energy on the claw marks made by Varun.

Vuiiing. Vuiiing. Vuiiing.

Eventually, he treated every single marked person in the entirety of Marlov, however, because of this; he suffered a mind down and collapsed on his bed.

The following days, Veil has heard a commotion and went into the city plaza to check it.

It seems like an urgent subjugation quest is being issued live for the active Adventurer teams present in Marlov.

However, everyone listening to the client immediately paled and shuddered in fear.

It is because the target of subjugation is the destruction incarnate: a Dragon!