Stalk

Taking a vacant spot on the roof of a church dedicated to the worship of a god that Axiolypito couldn't be bothered to care about, he very much had a similar stature to the gargoyles decorating this place.

His stillness also aided him in not raising much attention, although it was mostly due to the fact that few ever gazed atop this building and even if they did, they weren't going to bother paying much attention to the fact that a gargoyle that had fallen years ago was suddenly back with a strange makeover.

Axio looked enough like one for them not to bat an eye.

From there, the wretch had a good view on Otrera, with enough focus, he could actually see from quite a far distance, he had most likely unknowingly gained some vision enhancements, it was handy, no need for him to carry a spyglass or binoculars around.

He had been standing there, in this exact position for nearly a week now, having a great view into some of the rooms of the guild and an almost full one into their backyard, which wasn't in the back but on the side.

He could see them training in there pretty much every day, the walls were high but not high enough to stop him.

From peeking at these rickety amazons at least, whatever magical thingy they had put around was certainly keeping him from getting inside comfortably.

He had no understanding of the magical arts and such, all he knew was to eject a bit of mana, learned solely to be able to activate Souriceau's explosives if needed.

Still, he had very little mana to go around and no magical capabilities, so he could actually get through the barrier, mana-wise, he could pass off as a small, harmless animal, especially when he shrunk to the limit and moved close to the ground.

However, the few times he had tried to actually enter the building itself, he had failed, the place was strongly built with resilient materials brimming with mana.

He would get shocked with sparks of lightning every time he put a hand on the thing, almost igniting his white fur each time.

He had tried to dig underneath it but after some point, the soil would harden as well, seemingly having been condensed with magic as well.

He had still left a bunch of holes in the training grounds and stolen a training dummy, which was kept locked up with Souriceau, the dummy seemed to have a similar intelligence to the man, so they should be able to keep each other company.

After all, after Axio had murdered and eaten the supposed inspector, he wasn't going to let his newly acquired minion out in the open.

He needed him for a few things still.

Otrera was too great of a guild to just to some random excursions without reason, they had no trainees at the moment either, an incentive would be needed for them to end up where he wanted them to be.

This was an occasion to rack up some more XP along the way too.

He didn't have any need to worry, he pulled out the crystal, there had been another presence apart from the bright yellow eyes staring at him, it had manifested shortly after he visited the Defy dungeon.

This one appeared much less bizarre compared to the other, however, in the constant cacophony of the owner of the white goo, it was impossible for Axio to hear anything the other was saying, if this new presence had anything to say that is.

He didn't know what to expect of either really, was one of them going to suddenly manifest in the flesh like Vlasfimia before? Both at the same time perhaps, or would they simply remain there?

Axiolypito couldn't count on those guys for anything, so he put the crystal back in his coat and after night came, dropped down from his hiding spot, ignoring the broken dungeon Souriceau was hidden in and instead moved straight for the Defy.

The dark night that would soon fully engulf the city would serve as a perfect cover.

The wretch entered the dungeon again, having since long familiarised himself with the interior, this dungeon was quite small, which was due to the fact that it wasn't truly a dungeon but a battle tower.

While similar, they were different in a few aspects, this one in particular didn't have either a core or guardian, the whole thing was apparently supported solely by absorbing ambient mana and that of the people that entered the dungeon, even absorbing everything if someone were to die inside.

Which wasn't so uncommon.

Axiolypito entered the very first room, not bothering with the many other below him, the tower had fifteen floors with one boss room each, the last being especially deep underground, so much that the heat was close to unbearable.

The first boss wasn't anything too grand, it wouldn't qualify as a boss in many other towers or dungeons, mostly because it was but a simply minotaur, not even equipped with anything special or slightly stronger than average.

Minotaurs were still generally difficult opponents though, as far as the average adventurer went.

There had been a few of those back when Axio was still nameless and part of the horde.

Now that he thought back on those, he wondered if that horde had anything to do with the self-proclaimed queen of monsters.

He completely ignored the bull-headed monster charging at him, even with it charging from the very end of this huge room, it was still severely lacking in speed compared to him.

He stood perfectly still until the very last second, the minotaur was convinced to have seen its horns ram into this small furry thing but instead, he embedded himself into the wall as Axio was already standing on the monster's back.

Pushing a needle claw into the back of his neck, the fight was considered as over, although the tower didn't award him anything for winning.

'That's the sixth one' he thought to himself, ordering the minotaur to follow him.

'What a shame this trick doesn't work on anything other than monsters' he added in his mind, sitting directly on his unwilling servant head as he gave it the directions to the broken dungeon.