Serum

Dirk stood in the command center of the ship. All around him, the walls and floors had magically turned transparent, allowing him to see images beyond the ship. 

The scenic view of the landscape around them appeared before everyone present. There were even some people on the deck of the ship leaning over the rails to get a good look. 

There was a dividing line between the Otherworld and the rest of the world that those of the Dark Kingdom and Horizon Empire knew of. Hence the name Otherworld. 

This divide was created in part by the huge mountain range between the two regions. Unlike the Dark Kingdom that had an easily accessible route to the Horizon Empire, there was no easy way to reach the Otherworld through the impossibly mountainous terrain. 

And these weren’t normal mountains. On Earth, Dirk had seen Mount Everest and the surrounding mountains that made it seem like an insurmountable natural formation. The scale was magnitudes beyond anything he had known before. 

But here, it seemed like that kind of mountain was... subpar. 

It was an entire mountain range of those towering behemoths. A single mountain seemed to pierce into outer space, rising so high that it forced any onlooker to crane their neck. Even then, it was difficult to discern where the peak was. 

The mountains were many miles tall, and the one that Spyte had a clear view of and measured was around 14 miles from base to tip, not including how high above sea level they already were. 

However, what made the entrance to the Otherworld amazing wasn’t the mountains, but the lack thereof. 

It was like a god had carved out the planet with a blade, like taking a slice out of a cake, before reaching out for the sky and burying its edge into the ground. 

For miles it was a snowy hellscape of untraversable rocks, and then everything abruptly stopped as the bright blue sky seemed to curve and fall down before piercing into the world and creating an impassable barrier. 

There was no other way for Dirk to describe it. There was no dome that he thought would be there, like some kind of bubble protecting the territory of the World Tree. Instead, it was like the World Tree had completely divided itself from their world with the sky of the planet it lived on. 

As the sky curved downward, it also seemed to fade into celestial darkness, almost like it was giving a glimpse of the space beyond the planet. There were no discernible details about the landscape beyond this barrier. 

It made him wonder how they were supposed to get past it, or how anybody would for that matter. 

The Sky King hovered in the sky, but as it approached the barrier, it had to lower its altitude so as to not hit the sloping sky. 

Pandora spoke as they were lowered close to the ground. 

“Welcome to the entrance to the Otherworld, a place that may as well be its own dimension. Fortunately the elves are too stupid to perfect the technology of the Fairies, so they were unable to completely separate the territory of the World tree from the rest of the world. The result of that imperfection is what you see before you. Like the sky has been pulled down as if it were a curtain, space has been warped down to carve out a chunk of the planet. The size of that chunk equates roughly to the size of a continent, but a large portion of it is ocean, so the actual landmass isn’t that large. But it’s more than enough for a single Empire, so the Elves, who have managed to remain relatively unified, have enjoyed isolated growth and development for centuries. They are exceptionally powerful, and their attitude matches their lofty status. The only advice I have is to try not to punch everyone you talk to. They tend to look down on humans, figuratively and literally.”

“Hm.”

Dirk smiled curiously. The only elves he had encountered had assimilated into human society, that and most of them were mixes between elf and human. Not even his father was pureblooded, though he was more elf than human. 

This was to say that he wasn’t sure what elves would be like in their own territory. He was excited to see it all, especially the World Tree. 

Pandora waved. 

“Alright, bring us in.”

“Beginning insertion procedures.”

The Captain spoke, and Exos, who was nearby operating a console, started pressing buttons. 

Along with assistance from a few officers, the Sky King burst with power. Dirk could sense the space around the Sky King fluctuate as dark and air mana merged. They were wrapped in a bubble, and when that solidified, the ship flew forward, colliding with the barrier. 

The barrier was pierced through, applying heavy resistance and wearing down the spatial shield as they moved forward. 

Thankfully the barrier wasn’t thick, because before the shield was riddled with holes, they emerged. 

Space stopped warping as the shield dissipated, letting everyone see the surroundings clearly. 

Dirk’s brows raised, not expecting what he saw. 

Despite it being daytime, the sky wasn’t a bright blue, but a dark cosmic black. However, that didn’t make the surroundings dark as there was still a sun in the sky shining light on everything like a normal day. 

And in the distance in front of the ship, there was a large city with a tall spire in the center. 

Except that spire was shattered to a fraction of its original height, and the rest of the city surrounding it was on fire, probably caused by the army sieging and invading it. 

Even Pandora frowned. Although they hadn’t received any specific intelligence about the cities in the Otherworld, this was still completely out of expectations. This city in particular was called Tallico City, and it was supposed to be a trade hub between the Otherworld and the normal world. 

Dirk leaned over. 

“Are you sure the Elves are unified?”

“Maybe they’re just doing renovations.”

“Yeah…”

Dirk barely held back a chuckle. 

But then, the smile abruptly disappeared from his face as he focused on something in the distance. 

Pandora sensed it too, her eyes widening. 

“Captain, evasive maneuvers! Get us out of here!”

“Roger!”

With a shout, the Sky King suddenly accelerated. 

At the same time, an aura bloomed in the distance. The power of a Tier 7 burst from within the city as a small figure rose to the sky. 

Then, a 10 circle spell was formed in front of their body, aimed directly for the ship. 

The Captain yelled. 

“Raise defenses!”

“Roger!”

One of the officers operated a terminal, rapidly tapping as mana fluctuated around the ship. 

Right as the shields formed, the enemy mage’s spell finished, launching a lance of air toward the ship. It was so fast that Dirk almost thought it teleported. More than that, it was completely invisible, only able to be seen with acute mana senses. 

Dirk watched as it made contact with the shield. Thankfully, the Sky King lived up to its name. The shield only flickered as it dissipated the attack. 

Then, the ship started rising as it continued to gain speed, ascending beyond the reach of that mage and shooting into the distance. 

Pandora sighed as that mage didn’t give chase. 

“Seems something big happened in the last several months.”

“Maybe they’re changing their architectural style.”

“And had to demolish a city to do it?”

“The governors could be going through a renaissance of some kind.”

“I just wonder how involved the Church is.”

Pandora rubbed her chin. To the side, the Captain frowned in confusion, trying to wrap his head around their code speak. 

Dirk thought for a moment. 

There were only two reasons that a city such as that one would be attacked. 

The first is a rebellion. The supposedly unified World Tree didn’t have any external enemies that could attack with an army, so the only conflict that could occur would come from within. Perhaps that attacking force was putting down a rebellion stemming from that city. 

The second reason would be along the same lines but quite a bit more sinister.

Dirk had received some information on that city. Because it was so close to the barrier, it was primarily populated by non-native races such as humans and vampires. It was a hub for trade between the empires and an unspoken symbol of diplomacy, like an embassy. 

But it was being sieged by Elves. That meant that the World Tree was dissolving all forms of friendship between the Empires, and more than that, targeting all non-elves. 

What would happen to the non-natives, Dirk wasn’t sure. If they were simply being driven out, then the Elves were simply becoming radical isolationists. But if they were enslaved or killed, then it would become genocide. 

Rebellion or genocide. Both would indicate massive shifts in the political landscape of the World Tree, and considering the War Cataclysma, things became even more concerning. 

Why would the Elves, after so many years of neutrality and peace, suddenly point their spears at what were once friends?

Dirk knew something big was happening, but he also knew that Pandora probably had a better idea of the situation than he did. 

He let her think for a while before she suddenly raised her head. 

“Find a landing zone nearby and prepare a team! It’s time to do some reconnaissance.”

“Understood!”

The Captain responded sharply, rushing off to gather men. Right then, Pandora turned to Dirk. 

“I’m staying here. I’m not going to get in your way, so go with them and gather all the information you can. I’ll be in your ear. Prepare to stay for a few days.”

“Alright.”

“And don’t get caught. There’s no fooling the senses of a Tier 7, so maintain stealth at all times.”

“I will. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Dirk smiled and pat her head before walking out. Pandora watched him leave with a weird grin. 

After that, several people gathered in the hangar deck. There were 4 of Pandora’s Shadow troops and Dirk who would join them. 

Two men and two women. All of them were dressed in tight dark clothing. They prepared quickly and finished with a mask over their face, completely concealing their identities. 

As for Dirk, he continued to wear basic casual clothing. Everything he would need was in a pocket ring. 

Soon, there was turbulence in the ship, rattling the walls before coming to a halt as it landed. After that, a door on the hangar deck opened, dropping a ramp to the outside. 

At that moment, Dirk retrieved a small earpiece from the pocket ring. This earpiece would give him a direct line to Pandora’s own communicator. 

It was actually a device forged by Dirk and enchanted by Exos. They made it specifically for this use case, and their communications, while being transmitted through mana, would be completely encrypted and indecipherable. Nobody would be able to trace where the signals were coming from or what they were saying, not even a Tier 7. 

While a Tier 7 would still be able to know that there were mana signals being sent, that didn’t matter much. It just meant that they had to be a tiny bit more careful, especially if they were in the vicinity of anyone who could notice. 

“Comm check.”

“I read you.”

Dirk heard Pandora’s soft voice in his ear as he left with the shadow troops. After dropping to the ground below, the Sky King closed up and took back off to the sky. 

“We’re going to maintain our position in the skies above.”

“My own early warning aircraft.”

“Kind of. The Sky King does in fact have what equates to mana radar. The main thing I’ll be doing though is bridging your communications with the shadow troops.”

As Pandora said that, Dirk looked ahead to those four infiltrators. All of them started running on foot, and he followed behind. 

The city was around 40 miles away, which they could cross in a few hours comfortably. The main point was being quiet about it. 

That Tier 7 knew that they had disappeared in the direction they would now be coming from, so they had to be prepared to hide from his focus. 

Even the earpiece in Dirk’s ear could be sensed if he weren’t careful. While it wasn’t traceable, if you had a direct line of sight to the source, it wouldn’t be difficult to pick it out while it was active. 

Pandora knew this too. 

“Reach out when you get there.”

“I will.”

Dirk said that before deactivating the earpiece. Then he activated his Stealth and completely disappeared. 

The shadow troop, who had been running in front of him, all looked back with surprise. They couldn’t sense the slightest hint that Dirk even existed. 

The next moment though they also activated their stealth abilities. The priority was their job. 

Like that, five invisible soldiers drifted through the landscape. 

After a few hours, they arrived a few miles away from the city, able to see the walls that had been partially razed. 

Dirk glanced at it all before heading in. 

He wasn’t worried about avoiding the Tier 7. As he figured out, although there were some guards monitoring the walls in the direction they were coming from, there was too much going on for the Tier 7 himself to get involved. 

Still, Dirk could sense his presence. He was careful as he crossed into the city. The shadow troop also crossed in with him, but since they couldn’t sense him, he let them go on their own. 

The first thing Dirk did was head toward the city center. 

And the thing he saw made him solemn. 

Thousands of elven soldiers marched the streets, raiding all the buildings and houses and ripping out their occupants. 

And without exception, all of the people being evicted were either human or vampiric. There were even some beastkin hybrids. 

All the resident elves were either gone or leaving. That left the non-native races, and they were all being rounded up. 

Those who resisted were subdued forcefully or killed. 

Of course, not everyone here was powerless. There were many strong mages and knights, but that was what the army was for. 

They simply couldn’t resist, and in the end most of them surrendered. Dirk heard constant screams and saw the signs of battle everywhere. 

Whatever happened, the humans and vampires didn’t go quietly. It took the destruction of the entire city in order to subdue them. 

Dirk could see the bodies of many elven soldiers, and from the looks of it, this battle was still ongoing. It wasn’t something that happened in a day. Just a quick calculation from Spyte told him that whatever battle was going on had been happening for at least a week. 

But the army was winning, that much was clear. The battle was only lasting this long because whatever resistance had been formed was biding their time, surviving instead of fighting back. 

Dirk immediately knew what to look for. 

So he scaled a building and started scouring the city. He looked for any signs of resistance activity, but with such a huge city, he couldn’t find much. Anything obvious would have already been found and cleared out. 

His search lasted several hours. The entire time, he didn’t contact Pandora, though he did reactivate the earpiece. He just felt that he shouldn’t, so he trusted his instinct. 

However, after a long enough time, Pandora contacted him with a one way signal. 

“The shadow troops have told me the gist. This is a targeted attack on non-elves. It seems Elven pride has risen to a new level. They’re carrying out what I can only assume to be a genocide. Our top priority has now shifted. We need to head to a Branch City and gather information. However, before you pull out, I want you to see if you can contact any remaining humans or vampires in that city. Most of them will likely be high value diplomats or soldiers, and they’ll have valuable insider information. Find them and report back. I’ll wait for you.”

“...”

Dirk was silent as she finished, overlooking the city from the building he was perched on. 

By now the sun was setting, making it evening. Night time would likely be a good time to try and find any survivors. 

So he waited a while, continuing to scan the city while gradually lowering his Stealth. He also kept tabs on the Tier 7, testing the limits of how close he could be at differing levels of Stealth. 

In fact, when Pandora sent him that message, the mage had moved over to Dirk’s general area. It seemed this Tier 7 was strong, or just sensitive. 

But Dirk knew he was safe. 

However, right as the sun was went under the horizon, Dirk’s neck tingled. He felt a bad omen. 

‘Run.’

That was his only thought, so activating his Domain, Dirk both shrouded himself as well as enhanced all of his abilities. 

His body exploded with power as he took several Void Steps, heading straight for the edge of the city. He spared no amount of energy, using his full power to cross that distance. 

Since he was in the center of the city, it took him a few seconds to make his way over. 

He was quick, but with every fraction of a second, the omen only got worse and worse. 

Then, Pandora suddenly sent another message. 

“Tier 8! Get out of there now!”

She almost screamed, but unfortunately her warning did nothing to help. 

Right as Dirk was about to throw himself over the wall, he sensed an atrocious amount of mana explode above him. 

Then he watched as the air seemed to solidify into an invisible barrier, creating an impenetrable dome around the entire city. 

Dirk almost collided with it, barely stopping himself an inch away from it. 

He let out a large breath as he stood before the dome. 

Not only was the barrier tough, but he could sense that if he disturbed it in any way, he would be detected by the entity that placed it. 

But even more concerning was the fact that a Tier 8 was here at all. 

Dirk’s thoughts were almost instant as he made his decision. Taking out the earpiece, he stashed it in his pocket ring and cut off all connections with the outside. 

Then he took off in another direction. 

Dirk knew a few things about hiding from a Tier 8, things that Grandpa Qoi had told him about.

The main point was that it was close to impossible, at least for normal mages. 

If a Tier 8 let out a burst of mana intent on scanning an area, they would find anyone and anything that stored mana. It was impossible to hide that from their senses. 

However, Dirk knew that with his Mana Body, he would be able to hide. So long as he didn’t use the slightest amount of mana, he would look like an ordinary person. 

Of course, if he so much as bled, the mana could be sensed. But at least for wide range scans, he would be able to hide. 

However, he couldn’t hide his Anima, and he didn’t have anything he could do about that. This meant that the chances were rather high that he would be discovered at some point. 

Thankfully he had come prepared for that. 

After taking off, Dirk no longer utilized his Domain. He hid all his mana within his body, not the slightest bit leaking out. 

Then he found a building to hide in. After that, he started preparing. 

He roughed up his hair a bit and stripped a corpse, putting on their partially bloodied clothes. 

After that he took measures to hide his other items. The first was to hide Obsidius. 

Obsidius had its own pocket space, which meant that Dirk could discard his pocket ring. 

And he did that. After moving over his items, he buried his pocket ring in a corpse. 

Then he hid Obsidius. And he did this using an unconventional idea he had thought of recently.

Obsidius couldn’t hide itself, and Dirk could only hide things underneath his skin. There was simply no other way to hide the blob from a Tier 8. 

Dirk needed to get Obsidius inside of him. 

So after grabbing the blob, he smiled wryly and opened his mouth. 

And he swallowed it. 

The blob slid down his throat and rested in his stomach. Dirk barely suppressed the urge to vomit, but thankfully, Spyte was able to contain Obsidius with a layer of nanites, isolating it from his organs. 

Dirk had the weird feeling of being full. Still, he didn’t linger for long and finished preparations. 

All of this took about a minute. Dirk acted fast and without hesitation. Then, he waited.

And sure enough, not long after the dome was created, a massive surge of mana passed over the entire city. 

Dirk felt himself be discovered, as if a pair of eyes were looking at him from afar. He knew he had been spotted by that Tier 8. 

The feeling faded a while later. However, by that time there were already soldiers running in his direction. 

“The human knight was spotted here!”

“Spread out and find him!”

Dirk heard them talking about him. However, he didn’t do his best to evade them. 

Instead, he found a corner in the room he was in, taking a seat and slouching against the wall. With that, he made one last preparation, the knife in his hand being raised to his face. 

Then, the elven soldiers turned the corner. 

“There!”

They ran inside and spotted Dirk. When they reached him though, they were surprised. 

He had a dried bloody face with a rag over his eyes. Upon hearing them, they saw him panic with a half angry, half scared expression. 

One of the soldiers blurted out.

“He’s blind!”

……

…

Up in the sky, the Sky King had long flown away. 

And they never stopped. The Captain looked back toward Pandora, who sat at the helm. 

The air around her was cold, so cold that even he couldn’t bear to stand near her. The frost around her caused his skin to crack. 

She was furious, that much he could tell. However, her face seemed completely calm. 

Until she spoke. 

“Captain.”

“Awaiting orders.”

He saluted, the entire command center deathly silent and listening to her words.

She took a small breath before speaking. 

“Chart a course for the nearest Branch City, and be ready to deploy in full force.”

She muttered, her voice almost shivering in hate. 

“By the end of the month, I will have either burned that city to the ground or turned it into an ecological wasteland. Those prideful tree huggers are about to learn a very painful lesson.

“The queen bitch is here, and they just took away my only impulse control.”