I began to explain my plan.
The town needed to be sent in droves to the camp, once they were freed.
Next came the complete headcount of all people in the prison, along with the retrieval of the people inside the mansion.
They were the worst exposed.
The group understood me, and Charlotte began to call Rose via magic phone,with Morgan staying behind with her, while Aura and I left the palace.
We climbed the stairs up to the town.
Aura said somethnig once we got up there.
"We should leave the portal here."
I nodded my head.
The center of the plaza was actually more optimal, since technically you didn't have to lead people to the portal personally.
However, Aura still thought abou her fellow classmates.
"Attention any wanting to escape slavery, come on down."
I yelled like an auctioneer.
Many did no believe, but when just one girl trusted in Aura enough to remove her shackles and go to camp, people started flocking.
"Aurelia, who else is left here?"
"It should be a few guards."
So we left to roam the walls of the old town.
We happened upon some of the old soldiers.
Some resisted to go back, others were more than happy to leave, and go to the camp.
Finally we got everyone in town.
"Let's get back we've spent maybe an hour here, and we're running out of time to free the rest."
Aura and I left back down from the town, back inside the palace.
***
*Charlotte's Pov*
"Morgan."
"Yes?"
"Is it me or are the students we're freeing becoming more aggressive?"
"No, they are."
"So now what?"
"We need to gate the ones we have, home."
"How many people do we have left?"
"The artifact Lucas left us with, should be able to find living souls in the surrounding area."
"Alright, so how many people are left in the mansion."
"32."
"That's a lot of people Charlotte."
"Yes, that's why we need to wait."
"The four of us can get the 32 out fast, and Lucas took the artifact that leads people to the closest person."
"Wait, you mean the 'Compass of Civilization'?"
"Yes."
"Who in their right mind, takes a artifact that expensive into a dungeon?"
"The Svarmet family."
"Also, Lucas never intended to use it for any purpose other than this."
"If everything went well, he planned to just get a high grade with his group and go."
Morgan looked confused.
"Wait, so you're telling me, you knew of all the artifacts he was bringing and you still didn't say anything?"
"Not exactly."
"Lucas has a reputation for carrying around many artifacts that have a lot of versatility, naturally in a dungeon more can happen than outside, so he focused his artifacts a little, and put a few more in his back pocket."
"As to how many, or when, I'm just as in the dark as you are."
Morgan nodded.
"Alright, so let's go to the entrance and find...."
"I guess not, they're here."
Morgan pointed down the hallway where we were going.
I saw Lucas and Aurelia jogging towards us.
"We got the entire town."
"How many do you guys have?"
"We have all, but 32."
"Let's get these guys home first."
Lucas presented a course of action.
"I have recharged enough to gate a few more times."
Aurelia also had given it some thought and went with Lucas' idea.
"Well, honestly, the crowd has been a little rowdy, let's do it."
Morgan said.
I watched as the other students were herded through the gate.
With that Lucas brought out some rope.
"This we will tie around each other."
"To prevent anyone from being sucked into a room, but also so that we don't all get whammied by the Ninmurta."
"Sounds reasonable enough."
We began to tie ourselves in pairs, Aura to Lucas and Morgan to me.
Then Lucas tied Morgan to himself.
We walked into rooms, alternating the people going in.
Many were empty, and we were fast at clearing the rooms.
"It's a shame the compass doesn't tell us their exact proximity from us."
"Right?"
"Well someone is definitely in that room."
Aurelia pointed as Morgan and I talked.
The light red hue escaped the door.
Lucas and I were chosen to go inside.
There was a boy sitting at a desk.
"Princess."
He stood and bowed.
"Why are you here?"
I asked.
"I have been resisting the psychic energy, and have been keeping this wing of the palace safe from other students."
"Would you act as our guide?"
"Yes, but be warned, most everyone here, about 29 people will not be so nice."
He led us into the first room.
7 people, two of which were the 5th tier boys we were looking for.
So in total we had secured 3 of the 11, and found 5 of the 11.
"Let's break the spell and get them out of here."
"Knight Lucas, it will not be so easy."
"It's okay, I have an artifact that clears minds, enough so that they can regain some semblance of reality."
Lucas knew this artifact had limited uses in a time span, and was willing to use it as this was a mass of people.
"Then please."
He let Lucas do as he pleased and Lucas broke their chains, while the artifact calmed their minds.
Once they regained some clarity, he pushed them out of the room.
8 people down, including our guide, Steven, 24 to go.
"Here is by far the hardest room."
15 people, no 5th tier beings.
Did that mean of the 7 souls in this wing that 6 of them were 5th tier beings?
"How is that possible?"
They looked like they were all fighting.
An invisible monster seemed to have tired them all out in battle.
"These ones were controlled by fear rather than desire, few, but enough."
Lucas nodded his head as he broke their chains and sent them to Aurelia who in fact had to let Morgan in as the rope wasn't long enough to get around to the far ends of the room where I needed to reach.
We added them to our group of people, who by now understood where they were and what was happening.
He led us to another of the rooms.
Here we saw just one person.
"What's going on with him?"
A clear 5th tier being.
The guide stood inside the room explaining Lucas and Morgan.
"He's just living a happy life, away from the horrors here."
Lucas and Morgan deliberated on how to wake him up.
In the end, Morgan won out, and they simpy cast mental protection magic on him, and to no one's surprise, the moment he snapped out of it, he went through the stages of grief.
The two weren't keen on helping him through it.
They pushed him out of the room and walked out behind him.
"6 left to go."
He led us into another room with two people.
There was one of the 5th tier boys lying beside a girl.
They looked happy.
"Lucas we need to hurry up."
"We're running out of time Lucas."
We sped through the last 5 rooms as we found only 2 more 5th tier beings.
"Let's gate home."
I told Lucas.
He looked at me oddly.
"Why?"
"We already have all 32 people if you catch my drift."
I whispered.
He looked at me oddly.
Then his eyes narrowed.
Alright.
So we asked Aurelia to gate us all home.
She was more confused than Lucas, but did it at his request.
Morgan wasn't so easy to convince, but she went along.
We all gated back to the camp.
We herded the other people into groups.
Rose was the first person we went to.
She came up with a good plan to single out what we believed to be a doppelganger monster.
Doppelganger monsters usually eat people but refuse to digest them so they have many forms to take.
Their bellies bulge in their untransformed state.
They also have two major weaknesses.
The first being certain magic that targets the soul, spirit, or mind of the original body.
The magic points to the doppel but doesn't identify them as the target.
The second like most monsters is fire.
They are loathe to contact it.
So in order to prevent it digesting the victims we needed to lure it into a room alone and kill it while it is unsuspecting.
Rose had the perfect plan for this.
"Everyone from the place called base, please line up to be identified."
"If you know anyone in your class, or otherwise in this grade level, please identify them as well."
"If we do this right, we'll be done here soon."
"Charlotte, we need to finish this thing off, and go kill the Ninmurta."
I agreed.
We knew the doppel had 3 bodies at least inside of it.
We also knew it was within the last 32 we saved.
I suspected the guide, Lucas thought it was one of the people in the room of 15.
He did admit that the guide was suspicious though.
As the students lined up, Lucas, Rose, Aurelia, and I, sat in 4 lane rooms.
We screened each one accurately.
When they entered, we casted a silence and cloaking spell and did a 'random fire test.'
In which we set the person in question on fire with blessed flame.
The normal people felt like they would have just bathed in water, but to monsters, it would feel like hell.
And so our screening continued.
In the end, we captured the doppel, courtesy of Rose.
She opened it's stomach to find the 3 kids, one guard, and 2 missing seniors.
So overall we saved a lot of people.
After that whole show, and actually registering them as well, since the lines did actually serve to identify them, we gated back to the town.
"Lucas, it's time to face off against the Ninmurta."
It was just me and him.
Aurelia and Claudia were both needed this time for the camp, and Morgan was too.
"Then let's get down to the prison. We need to leave the town and go down."
We left the town and walked down the road to get to the prison.
Inside we saw many monsters chained up.
We also saw many broken chains, likely courtesy of the students, or Tyrant.
***
*Lucas' Pov*
We started to walk down the prison.
I walked in what seemed like random paths, but in reality I was clearing the entire underground prison while grabbing the items I needed.
The first was the eldritch blood item.
I picked it up from a dead eldritch monster in the chains.
It was the last living strand of the ocular nerves.
Eating it granted you the power without the drawbacks, but most people didn't know that and opted to get it transplanted, since the game offered a place to do so early on.
The second was a mana crystal which was also a soul searching stone, rare even amonst the high echelons of society.
Lastly was the god's stone, but it was with the Ninmurta so, I led Charlotte towards the end of the prison where it was chained.
it was massive with it's third arm chained near the ceiling of the prison.
This was going to be difficult.
Even with the chains.
"Hello, weaklings."
"Says the one that is chained."
"That may be true, but how will you fight me, when she's fighting you?"
Shit.
I shouldn't have brought Charlotte of all people.
I tied her up quickly as she was actively resisting the psychic attack.
"Alright, is that all you got?"
The monster was clearly trying to use it's mental power but to no avail on me.
Then it smiled.
"You can prot-"
I stabbed it's forehead with one swing.
I was thoroughly annoyed already.
It smiled with the other head.
"I have beasts coming, weakling, you cannot kill me and protect her."
"Just watch me."
I said as stabbed the other head.
Two down, one to go.
I moved to the tail thrashing about and pinned it to the ground with Charlotte's rapier.
And then I chopped off the tail head off of the Ninmurta.
A relatively easy battle that shouldn't have happened.
Then I grabbed the god's stone and began my ritual as always.