"We surrender."
As the captain and her teammates heard the words of the Arachne leader, they were surprised and confused, initially suspecting a trick.
The Arachne leader watched the humans with an amused smile. She understood their reaction, which only amused her further. Her subordinates stood behind her, smirking at the intruders.
"Why?" The captain, filled with questions, started with the most basic one.
"Why, you ask? Well, you could say I'm intrigued by you little girls," the Arachne leader replied with a lazy smile.
The captain and her teammates exchanged confused glances, their expressions questioning.
The Arachne leader laughed softly at the human assassins' bewilderment. "Alright, I won't tease you anymore. There are a few reasons why I want to surrender. But first, let me introduce myself: I am Nysera Nightweaver."
"I am Ying Yue, and this is my team," the captain introduced, without elaborating further.
"Now that the introductions are over let's get to business. The first reason I want to surrender is your physical attributes. All of you are rank 1 extraordinary, but your strength, defense, and agility are far higher than any rank 1 I've ever seen. While it's not impossible to have such physical attributes—some are born with innate capabilities—these are usually limited to one attribute, rarely two. Three is legendary, and you all have three. I don't believe all of you were born with such remarkable capabilities.
"Now, I'm not saying it's impossible, but that usually relates to special families where descendants share similar capabilities. Yet, you don't look like you belong to the same family. That leaves only one option: you use external help to achieve your current capabilities. Unless you belong to a big organization with access to such resources, it's improbable for all of you to possess them," Nysera explained, her tone detailed and precise.
Ying Yue looked at Nysera, slightly impressed by her deductions from their fight. She remained silent, allowing Nysera to continue.
"The second reason is your path. After observing you, I can confidently say that all of you follow the same path. This means the organization behind you either has a steady supply of potions or possesses a potion formula. I'm willing to bet on the latter. Furthermore, since all of you are wayfarers from the same path, it proves that your organization must have higher-rank potion formulas," Nysera continued, her eyes sharp and analytical.
"The third reason is your skills. All of you used similar skills, and I know how precious skills are. This similarity means your skills come from the same source—your organization. That implies they must have superior skills," Nysera stated, detailing her third reason.
Ying Yue was extremely impressed by Nysera's deductions, as they were close to the truth. Yet, even with her keen observations, Nysera couldn't fathom the whole reality.
Nysera suddenly showed a mysterious smile. "And my last reason is your lord. When I heard you discussing your lord, I was struck by your loyalty. It's extremely challenging to earn such loyalty. Your lord must be exceptional to inspire such dedication in women like you. The more I listened to you talk about him, the more intrigued I became. Watching your performances from start to finish, I realized it might not be a bad idea to surrender to someone like your lord."
Ying Yue's eyes widened as Nysera spoke about her lord. By the end, Ying Yue and her teammates were pale. They realized the implications of Nysera's words. During their rest, they had spoken about their lord in hushed tones, yet Nysera had still heard them. This meant she had been close enough to overhear their conversation and understand what they were saying. Moreover, she had watched them from beginning to end.
The more they thought about it, the more they sweated. Nysera had been so close, and none of them had perceived her presence. If she had harbored ill intentions, she could have easily killed them without them even realizing it.
"Hey, no need to panic. If I wanted to kill you, I had more than enough chances to do that easily. But I want to surrender to your lord, so why would I do that?" Nysera said, guessing their thoughts and trying to calm Ying Yue and the others.
She continued, "Didn't you want to find the treasure that allowed the spider monsters to attain such high mastery in the shadow element? I will dedicate it to your lord as a sign of my surrender. And I know you wanted to give it to your lord so he would reward you," she added, her expression turning slightly seductive as if she knew what kind of reward the assassins desired. "You can just hand us over to your lord. That way, your contribution will be much higher, and I'm sure he will reward you all," Nysera said, licking her lips seductively.
Ying Yue didn't like that she and her teammates had come so close to death. She was hesitant to accept Nysera's surrender, but her loyalty to her lord was unwavering. She knew that if Nysera was telling the truth, she and her subordinates would be a great asset to her lord. Her dedication to her lord outweighed any petty grudges.
Of course, she wasn't authorized to accept their surrender. In a normal situation, she would have consulted her Mistress Ayame, but since the party in question was monsters, she directly reached out to her lord.
{Ying Yue: My lord, I am extremely sorry to disturb you, but I need your opinion on something.}
{Drake: Sure, what do you need?}
Ying Yue explained everything to Drake, detailing Nysera's offer and the potential benefits.
{Drake: Agree and bring them to the territory. Maria and Samantha will take care of the rest.}
{Ying Yue: I understand, my lord. Thank you for your guidance.}
Ying Yue focused on Nysera and said, "You can come with us."
Nysera showed an intrigued smile. "Interesting, you can mentally communicate with your lord in the fog zone."
Ying Yue's eyes widened in disbelief.
"It wasn't hard to tell. You didn't look like you were thinking; you seemed to be conversing with someone, even though you didn't speak. As for why I think it's your lord, I assume only he or someone with very high authority in your organization would have the power to allow strangers, especially fog monsters, into your ranks. Since you received the order so quickly, it must be your lord," Nysera explained.
Ying Yue didn't comment, deciding instead to work hard to level up her poker face skill to avoid future embarrassment.
"Show us your treasure," Ying Yue said, trying to cover her embarrassment.
Nysera smiled and led them deeper into the forest. They reached a cave and followed her inside. There, they found more than a hundred dark vines growing in the darkness. The only source of light came from a few glowing mushrooms.
The vines sprawled and twisted, reaching up to three meters in length. Their dark, glossy stems supported heart-shaped, dark purple leaves with a smooth, leathery texture and a faint silver sheen featuring slightly serrated edges. Large, star-shaped flowers with five broad, velvety petals in deep violet to black, each with a central luminescent core emitting a soft, eerie glow, grew in clusters. Small, glossy, inky black berries with a glassy surface grew in clusters, developing a faint internal glow as they ripened.
Name: Nightshade Blossom
Level: Sequence 9, Peak-Stage
Description: Eating the Nightshade Berry will increase Shadow mastery to level 1, advanced stage, if below it, or increase by one level if in the advanced stage. No effect above the advanced stage. The plant produces fruits every three months, 20-30 per harvest.
The fruits on the vines were the reason for the unnaturally high shadow mastery of the denizens of the fog zones. Ying Yue and her teammates were extremely excited. None of the previously found mastery plants were much usable unless they decided to study a new element, which they weren't interested in at the moment. But now, they had found a way to quickly improve their mastery and not be left behind by the other territory residents.
Nysera watched them with a slightly smug smile, knowing how pleased the human assassins must be.
Ying Yue and her teammates carefully collected all the vines, stored the fruits separately, and then left the cave.
As they were leaving, Nysera suddenly asked them to stop. Eighteen giant extraordinary spider monsters emerged from the shadows. Two of them were the ones who had fled from the earlier fight.
Startled, Ying Yue and her teammates quickly brandished their weapons, watching the spider monsters and even Nysera and her subordinates warily.
Nysera laughed and said, "Don't worry, they're not here to attack you."
She turned to the spider monsters and said, in a playful tone, "Goodbye, little ones. Take care."
The arachnes were a higher lifeform than the spider monsters, so all the spider monsters in the fog zone were their servants, with Nysera akin to a queen. She had no feelings for them and viewed them as mere tools. Only her fellow arachnes received a bit of respect, though they were still treated like servants.
The spider monsters skittered away, blending into the shadows. The assassin women calmed down and sheathed their weapons. The return trip was uneventful. Five Arachnes, including their leader, walked with them and were not attacked even once.