Chapter 129 – The Six-Armed Guest.

The descent down the damp staircase of the decommissioned southern sewers took place under the silence of midnight.

The complete squad — Diana, Rhea, Kael, Aurelia-Elysia, and Seraphina — walked single file with travel packs strapped to the backs of their armor.

Upon reaching the wooden pier of the Black Worm Docks, the smell of machine grease and cold mud hit the group's faces.

Master Gurn sat on the same ale barrel, smoking his thick clay pipe. The old demon pulled the stem from his mouth when he saw Diana leading four warriors in full dragon armor, with volcanic shields and glowing staves.

“Returned quickly, Commander.” Gurn vented a puff of dark smoke. “And brought the whole squad with elite weapons.”

“The trip down is for five passengers with sealed military baggage,” Diana said, straight to the point. “What is the fare?”

“Twenty silver coins for the return trip with a full load.”

Diana drew her dimensional bag and handed twenty silver coins into the ferryman's hand with a metallic clink.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[CLANDESTINE TRANSPORT PAYMENT]

- Vertical Descent via Abyssal Worm (5 Passengers): -20 Silver Coins (2,000 Bronze).

[NEW NET WORTH IN VAULT: 460 SILVER COINS (46,000 Bronze / EXACTLY 46 PURE GOLD COINS!)]

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Four hundred and sixty silver coins kept safely in the faction vault. Exactly Forty-Six pure Gold Coins.

***

The group climbed the rope ladder and entered the reinforced oak cabin on the back of the thirty-meter worm.

The descent was a test of physical patience.

Kael bumped his head twice against the ceiling beams trying to get comfortable on the bench with his broad 870 HP shoulders, forced to sit hunched over. Aurelia-Elysia covered her nose with a linen handkerchief to avoid inhaling the fish-oil stench of the annelid's slime, while Seraphina opened her silver grimoire on her lap, noting the creature's chitin density with academic curiosity.

Rhea sat glued to Diana's side on the padded bench, holding the Commander's hand beneath her coat throughout the entire journey, silver ears relaxed as she felt her friend close.

Twenty-four hours of continuous rattling later, the sound of diamond jaws grinding rock ceased.

The worm broke through the floor of the subterranean stone cistern at the Lower Cauldrons Estate, emerging into the basement's cold mud.

Diana unlatched the cabin's iron hatch and climbed down to the stone floor, followed by the four squad members.

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They ascended the basement's granite stairs and entered the ground floor of the manor.

Aurelia-Elysia released a long sigh as she stepped barefoot onto the thick black-and-red wool rug in the living room:

“Commander... this house is a thousand times better than the boarding house you described in your letter!” Aurelia said, admiring the cedar armchair and the pine-oil lamps.

Kael looked through the kitchen window toward the courtyard's high granite walls: “The masonry is truly solid. We can set up the training matrix out here perfectly.”

It was at that moment that the ajar kitchen door creaked.

A tall, gray-skinned man crossed the threshold, wearing dark trousers and a sleeveless leather vest, carrying an earthenware platter loaded with smoked sausages grilled over embers in his primary right hand. His two curved moon steel swords were strapped to his back, and his four secondary arms of black chitin rested relaxed at the sides of his torso.

Zarek paused in the center of the room, chewing on a piece of sausage with a relaxed, sharp-toothed grin:

“Arrived just in time for lunch, folks.”

***

Silence fell over the room like a slab of granite.

Kael stepped forward on pure military reflex, locking his arm into the grip of the Volcanic Shield and tightening his jaw before the stranger's Level 60 presence.

Aurelia-Elysia widened her lilac eyes, pointing a finger with a muffled squeak:

“IT'S HIM! THE SIX-ARMED SUITOR!”

Seraphina adjusted her glasses with trembling fingers, studying the man's lunar blades and chitin markings: “An arachnid demon... Candidate for the Sin of Wrath...”

And then, there was the metallic scrape of two blades being drawn.

SHIIIING.

Rhea drew both Dragon Silk and Shadow Daggers from her waist in a motion so fast that the room's air hummed.

The wolf girl took two hard steps forward, placing herself between Diana and Zarek.

Her silver ears were pinned flat against her skull in a rigid line of absolute fury. Her wolf tail bristled, and her amber eyes flashed in vertical slits, with her 109 AGILITY POINTS radiating a murderous pressure throughout the room.

“Take your hands off that food, you insect,” Rhea growled, her voice dropping into a low, guttural snarl. “Who gave you permission to enter Diana's house?!”

***

Zarek blinked all six eyes, looking at the two black dragon blades leveled at his chest and then at the silver-haired girl's ferocious glare.

The Level 60 swordsman broke into a wide, provocative grin, chewing another piece of sausage without retreating a single centimeter:

“You must be the famous Rhea, aren't you?” Zarek said in a velvety voice, crossing two of his chitin arms. “Diana talked a lot about you while we were hunting Level 55 drakes in the mountain rifts.”

Rhea narrowed her eyes with even deeper venom, the hilts of her daggers creaking under the grip of her 53 Strength hands:

“She said what?!”

Diana stepped swiftly forward, cutting into the space between Rhea's daggers and Zarek's chest, raising her gloved hand with black claws.

“Sheathe your weapons,” Diana commanded in a dry, authoritative tone. “Now.”

Rhea hesitated for half a second, but snapped her daggers back into their sheaths with an irritated motion, keeping her frame glued to Diana's left shoulder and glaring daggers at Zarek with a look that promised decapitation at the first opportunity.

Zarek let out a hearty laugh, setting the platter of roasted meat in the center of the dining table:

“I like her, Diana. Her bite is just as quick as yours.”

Diana rubbed her temple near her obsidian horn, letting out a long sigh at the chaos that had just moved into her new home.

The Arcane Greed Faction was reunited in the Third Circle. And life in that stone manor promised to be anything but quiet.