World Keeper

Chapter 519: The Invasion Begins

One thousand enemies, huh? I looked towards the window which displayed the number of invading troops. If there were a large number, it was more likely for them to split up. A party of five could easily go unnoticed anywhere in the world with a bit of effort, whereas a hundred, or even a thousand individuals would attract attention if they moved together.

“Anything from the divine registry?” I asked, looking towards Tsubaki. In preparation for the invasion, I had moved to the seat of my power, the Sky Citadel, stationed over Rokindrol. Here, we would be able to quickly dispatch aid anywhere in any of the worlds that required it.

“Let me check with Dana.” Naturally, the first line of defenses against these invaders was the registry. If they were not properly prepared, and there were any half-gods or full ascended among them, their locations would be detected immediately.

However, there was a second figure standing at the base of the stairs as well, wearing her blood-colored dress and watching me. While Tsubaki worked with Dana to check the registry, I nodded towards Scarlet to signal for her to search for powerful ki signatures.

Scarlet closed her eyes in focus, probing the area with her thoughts. Unlike the registry, she could only cover a single world’s territory at once. Unfortunately, it would be pointless to dispatch her to each of the other worlds to check, since she would need to have knowledge of all of the present ki signatures beforehand.

“I’m not picking up any particularly powerful ki within this world.” Scarlet spoke with her eyes still closed. “If there are new arrivals here, it is likely that their energy does not surpass those of your own forces, father.” Tsubaki’s ears twitched, and she glanced in Scarlet’s direction at that form of address.

“Nothing from the registry, either.” The kitsune said as she directed her attention back to me. “They’re either on Fyor, lack any divine beings, or are able to hide from fourth-tier detection spells.”

“If they can be found with natural energy, we’ll hear back soon enough.” I spoke with a low sigh. I was already in the process of deploying my detection mirrors, though I had little hope in it being enough to locate a properly prepared group.

“How far to shore?” A man wearing a green tunic and brown pants spoke up on one of the frozen boats adrift within the ocean. Inwardly, he was just hoping that this wasn’t a ‘water’ themed dungeon, with only scarce scattered islands.

At his question, a woman with blonde hair in the boat answered, closing her eyes. “If we proceed in a straight line, it’s two hundred and sixty kilometers.”

“That’s all?” Relief washed over the man who had asked the question. “If that’s the case, mind if we speed things along?”

As he looked around the boat, he was met with the dismissive shrugs of the rest of the passengers. Everyone wanted to be first, but similarly knew the dangers. These were ‘special’ dungeons, ones where death was final. In order to claim this dungeon for the guild, they first had to clear it.

“Alright, then!” He rubbed his hands together, and a blue light appeared on his palms. One hand reached out, touching the side of the frozen boat. “Connection interface.” The blue light from his left hand spread out to cover the boat, while a holographic screen appeared in front of his right hand.

“Reinforce defense. Install special skill, visual obscurity. Install special skill, mana obscurity. Install special skill, mid-range fast travel. Activate fast travel, distance two hundred kilometers.” As he spoke, his right hand was rapidly typing away. With every command, there was a pulse of blue that spread throughout the ship.

Finally, when he activated the newly ‘installed’ ability, the area around them seemed to warp. Although they were still within the ocean, they were now able to see mountains looming over the distant horizon, a sign that land was nearby. Of course, this also meant that they were more likely to encounter other seafarers, hence the need to hide themselves.

And sure enough, there was another boat barely a thousand meters off to the side of the ship, causing everyone to tense up. Although he had installed two obscurity skills, there was no guarantee that they would be enough.

The blonde woman was the first to act within the group, her eyes focusing on the boat. “Three figures. They all show basic human characteristics, with more angular features. Ears elongated and pointed backwards, eyes brightly colored.”

“An elven world? Nice.” One of the others grinned as he heard that, waving his hand to activate the party chat. Looks like we know what to look like now.

As he said that, he retrieved an item that seemed to appear from thin air. The item was nothing more than a white sphere, which he crushed in his hand with ease. From it, smoke emerged, enveloping his body. When the smoke passed, his features had been altered to look more elvish in nature.

The others all nodded, retrieving similar orbs of their own. While they couldn’t be sure if any other race was present in the world, they had confirmed this one. “Halfway there.” The man with the green tunic grinned. However, he removed his hand from the boat. Now that they had come this far, it wouldn’t be good for them if someone noticed him using his ability again.

The final sixty kilometers was slow going, as they had to be careful not to do anything obvious. However, once they reached shore, they each equipped an identical ring. The blonde woman’s voice spoke into their minds as they walked towards the town. Once someone has the language, let the rest of us know so we can meet up.

The others all nodded, walking off in their own directions. Thanks to the effect of their rings, they did not have to worry about the checkpoint at the city’s gates. Instead, they simply walked past the guards, with none of them seeming the wiser.

The blonde woman, now a golden-haired elf, smiled faintly as she listened to the foreign conversations. Although her ring was capable of ‘obscuring perception’, there was the chance that someone might still notice her. As such, she had to pretend to be an ordinary citizen nonetheless. Meanwhile…

She was able to see a progress bar filling up in the corner of her vision as she listened in to the conversations around her. Every now and again, words would be simply translated on their own, showing the system’s effect.

She gave a firm nod of her head, having to spend nearly an hour listening to different conversations and reading the incomprehensible signs around the town. However, now that she had gotten this far, it was good enough. I’ve got it, everyone. Head to my position.

The golden-haired elf moved into an alley, simply leaning against the wall and appearing to rest. Within another ten minutes, the rest of their party of five had gathered, watching her expectantly. However, they noticed that they were receiving odd stares from the street at the alley’s entrance. The appearance of four men stalking towards a lone woman in a dark alley was… suspicious in an entirely different way.

Thankfully, they did not try anything funny. Instead, the woman rolled her eyes, focusing to conjure her menus nonverbally. Impart skill, Common Tongue.

Three days passed by without incident. While some groups had chosen to sail in the direction of the nearby continent, landing them in elven territory, others had chosen… more poorly. For those who were exceptionally unlucky, it took a full three days for them to reach land. This was even after using numerous abilities to shorten the distance.

However, those three days also yielded crucial information. By listening in on various conversations and sharing their information over the guild chat, they had identified the various races of the world. Furthermore, they had learned that there were actually multiple worlds within this ‘dungeon’.

Groups six through ten, integrate yourselves with society. You’ll be our covert squad this time. The guild leader’s voice spoke out after the third day ended. Now that enough people from the guild had acquired the language, the rest were able to purchase it directly from their guild menu. While they didn’t fully familiarize themselves with the environment, it was enough to get started.

One through five, we’ll go monster hunting. Play it safe, don’t attract unwanted trouble. Everyone else, spread out. Let’s set the scheduled update for two weeks.

I sat at my throne, tapping my finger impatiently. I had already finished my daily training, and was simply waiting on an update from… well, anyone. It had been over a week now, and none of the countermeasures had borne fruit. Yes, I knew I was getting a bit ahead of myself. It would take time to find anyone even under the best circumstances.

Until now, every invasion I faced was from a monster, a violent and very easily detected being. Yet even then, it could take a few days before I heard anything. Now that I was facing an intelligent race, one no doubt trained in infiltration tactics, it was bound to take longer.

That didn’t stop me from being impatient. The fact that I hadn’t heard anything so far was both good and bad. At the very least, it meant that they hadn’t caused any trouble yet that would get themselves noticed.

“Hello! How can I help you?” A felyn girl with bright red hair stood behind the counter of a small store, hearing the bell on the door ringing. It had been a slow day for business for her electronics store, so she was excited to have another customer.

“Cute…” The lycan youth spoke unintentionally as he saw the girl behind the counter, eliciting a pleased giggle from her. “I-I mean, I’m here for a gaming headset. You have some, right…?”

Seeing the hopeful look in the man’s eyes, the girl nodded her head. “Of course, we do! We just got a new shipment of the latest model delivered last night, straight from Darkflame!” She puffed her small chest out proudly.

The customer’s eyes widened, a happy gleam in them. “How much is it? No, wait… can I get more than one? I’ve got a friend that wants to play with me.”

“Of course!” She nodded her head again. “How many would you like? They’re eighty-seven haram apiece.”

The lycan’s brow furrowed as he seemed to do the math. “I’ll take two, then.” He put his hands behind his back, seeming to stretch. “Do they come with any games?”

The shopkeeper seemed to pout, realizing that he wanted a good deal, but shook her head. “Nothing but the basics. If you want, I can sell you a couple game codes for Vision Expanse and Natural Seed, too!”

“You guys have Natural Seed here?” He asked in surprise, before clearing his throat. “I’ll take two of that one, please. How much are they?”

“Hmm… five haram each!” She smiled brilliantly as she gave him the price, to which the boy let out a faint sigh.

“Just within the budget…” He brought a hand out from behind his back, holding a leather pouch that seemed almost bursting with golden coins. The shopkeeper took it happily, counting out the coins. There were exactly two hundred within the bag, and so she returned sixteen to the man, along with four cards. On two of them, there was an image of a virtual gaming headset, while the other two simply had long codes written on them.

The customer took the four cards, looking vaguely confused for a moment before wiping the expression from his face. He thanked the felyn and left, his tail swaying excitedly behind him.

“Follow him.” The shopkeeper spoke, her voice suddenly cold the moment that the man had left. “Tag him as a person of interest, and make sure his face is circulated to the others.”

There were a number of odd details that she had picked up from their conversation, each alone nothing special. Only when combined, and under the right circumstances would they truly arouse suspicion.

First, he had been unsure about the store carrying gaming headsets. Any electronics store nowadays had at least some in stock, though they could have been sold out. Secondly, his surprise that they carried Natural Seed, but not Vision Expanse. Any store that had one was bound to have the other.

Third… the way he looked at the cards. It was brief, but she had definitely noticed that he seemed unsure about what they were. Again, it was possible that he had simply been confused about the packaging, as this was the first generation of headsets to be produced with the ability to store itself as a card.

The main factor, however, was the money. She looked down to the golden coins. There were no problems at all with their design, but that in itself was a problem. They were too clean. Having looked at all two hundred coins, there was not a single scratch or smudge, not a speck of dirt on them. For coins that trade hands quite frequently, it’s more suspicious to find any that appear so untouched.

“Do you think he might be one of ‘them’?” A voice asked from her shadow, two eyes seeming to open within the darkness to stare at her.

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, before nodding her head. “It’s possible. Do not establish contact, and note down anyone he comes in regular contact with.”

A wide grin formed within the shadow, before it seemed to shudder, returning to normal. The presence within it left, exiting that shop. Inside, the felyn girl was left to look at the sign hanging above their door. ‘Visionary Electronics’ written above, with an image of an eye beneath, a sharp line splitting the entire thing down the middle.