Rushing through the streets, weaving past countless people running towards the safety shelters, all the while listening in to every conversation that she passes took most of Rontress' focus, leaving very little space in her mind for tactical thinking.

  Efficient. She calls this efficient. The reason for why is simple: she does not know what's attacking, the destruction caused in the designated area, or the state of fighting currently happening.

  She can know but it's a waste of time, especially when she wants to focus on actually saving as many people as she can, not just beat the beings attacking Ghorise.

  Yes. Beings. People talk about grey monsters that look like they are made of stone shattering the walls and causing wanton destruction in the parts of the town that they managed to breach, casualties are low and mostly centered within the town guards so they are weak and mindlessly attacking the town.

  That or they are willingly choosing to focus on the guards knowing that they pose the real threat.

  Rontress still believes they are mindless though, as if they are being led by an actual tactician and this really is just the start of an ongoing invasion then the most optimal thing to do would be to cause as much civilian casualty as possible.

  Not only does this lowers morale, it also reduces Ghorise's production capabilities, stops future guards forming, and hurts Ghorise in the long run by setting a reputation of a high death rate, effectively preventing future visitors from settling here and making the population bounce back.

  Any self-respecting noble would commit such atrocities if they hope to take over a town, which is why Rontress does not believe that these things are sent by the other Duchies.

  Things. That's an appropriate way to call them.

  She stops above a wall and gives the ongoing battle a quick visual scan, her helmet provided her information about the battlefield she would have taken minutes to get without it: dead bodies, the injured, broken infrastructure, possible environmental hazards, abilities of the aberrants, and so much more.

  Hopping down, Rontress runs to one of the smaller invaders, it looks like a squirrel, with a bushy tail dripping with viscous liquid, claws that look like scythes, and a snout armed with countless teeth.

  It's close to becoming a monster, but even if it undergoes monsterization, it wouldn't be enough. A single stab turned it into wet paint that coated the street, walls, and the front part of Rontress' armor red.

  Nothing here would be a threat to her, she realized. But if these things have a master then maybe...

  'Holding back is the ideal course of action.' Rontress mentally reminded herself as she moved past the dead squirrel and released a slash that tore through several dozen aberrants wrecking a street.

  Moving on, she finds herself face to face with a turtle, this one she actually managed to recognize: the animal species that this aberrant originated from is native to Misery Plant and usually comes out during autumn, they prey on the earth worms that rise out of the ground to feast on the fallen leaves and are usually very timid.

  The terrapin in front of her can be described as anything but that.

  With a growl that sounds like it came from a drowning person, the turtle comes forward, stomping the ground with powerful legs that create cracks with each step. Its shell, while though, couldn't protect the aberrant from Rontress' spear, the pointed tip breaks past the armor, digging deep enough to touch flesh.

  Once it stops, an explosion cooks the turtle from the inside, this, somehow, it survives. Or the shell does rather. It is intact even after getting exposed to an [Air Mine] boosted by Rontress' natural stats.

  She made a mental reminder to bring the shell to Wardcruncha later and figure out what the magic is doing to somehow cause that to happen. Did the shell nullify magic? Did it absorb impact like her armor? Does it matter right now?

  The answer to her last question was a heavy no, she had work to do and Ghorise wouldn't be able to defend itself for long.

  Rontress stopped just for a second and cast a spell, "[Maximum Dexterity Boost]."

  Half of her maximum mana gets consumed the moment she finishes talking, and this thing will only last her for a few minutes! And if she wasn't naturally resistant to corruption, she would be growing random body parts right about now.

  Everything in Rontress' vision slows down to a crawl as her thinking speed rises to extreme levels by her now boosted dexterity stat, moving feels like she's walking across the ocean floor, her senses are now sharp enough to feel the air surrounding her and think it's no different from ocean water.

  Wading through the atmosphere barely affected her however, she was moving even quicker than before so the difference in pressure was barely noticeable.

  Her ears pick up something loud, a few steps later, it disappears. Outrunning a shockwave with casual ease was made possible by over 2000 Dexterity, in this state, even Ifira would have a hard time catching her.

  Rontress moved so fast that all the aberrants attacking past the broken wall die in just three seconds. Corpses fill the streets whenever she passes, all of her victims had no idea what killed them before they suddenly lose their life.

  They were attacking one moment and in the next, darkness.

  When all the aberrants were killed, Rontress had excess time on her buff and she spent it organizing the ruined town. She didn't like doing labor like this but if she's more than capable of accomplishing it then why not help the town? It's not like she wouldn't benefit from Ghorise rebuilding itself quickly.

  Once the timer ended, most of the mess was cleaned up, leaving only the small pieces of debris she thought was a waste of time to pick up on the streets.

  Rontress walked to the broken wall and stared at the distant forest, she could have gone there and checked for whoever is responsible, theoretically, they wouldn't be able to escape her.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  If they are there to begin with.

  But what if they just sent these monsters to Ghorise without going near themselves? That sounds like the smart option, especially if the army she just killed really are nothing more than scouts.

  'And if that's the case then the enemy now knows I can move way beyond the speed of sound.' Then again, she wasn't really worried about that. 'But if they really do have the ability to spy on us then they must have a way to observe what's happening right? Should I ask Bylor to see if he can reverse it? That would be good.'

  Knowing who's responsible for the attacks would be good so with that idea in mind, Rontress grabbed both the durable turtle shell and a somewhat intact corpse, or more accurately, a decapitated head.

  While it is entirely possible that the enemy is strictly using spells to observe Ghorise from a distance— thus making it easy for Bylor to reverse it. — Rontress wouldn't put it past the realm of possibility that they are somehow viewing through the eyes of their own creations.

  Like some kind of corrupted version of her own sense sharing when connected to plants.

  'Maybe assuming that the enemy is competent enough to mentally connect with aberrants without going insane is too much, there's no way something like that exists.'

  She decided to bring a corpse anyway.

  Bylor's tower was something she had built with the old man years prior, this thing was developed alongside Flotol itself. Although it didn't consume the almost none-existent resources the town was producing back then, it was built solely with their efforts and maintained with the same mindset.

  As with its namesake, it looms over the part of Misery Swamp it is constructed on, vines, algae, and moss grow on the surface of the rocks, covering the structure in a layer of plants that almost made it blend with the swamp.

  Stones etched with runes stood proud amidst the murk, the humidity leaving them unaffected thanks to the enchantments they possess. Fog forms around the tower thanks to magic keeping the structure perpetually cold.

  Every breath that came out of Rontress' mouth turned to mist, this only got worse the closer she got to the tower.

  Wisely deciding to grow out her dress and turn it into a thick coat allowed her to feel some semblance of comfort, adding insulation as a feature also made things better.

  Yet it is still cold, she is already wearing a thick coat and has perks and sub classes that help stave it off. A normal person wouldn't be able to survive getting this close to the tower, invaders, assuming they have a high level, would begin to slow down, and once they do, the owner would come out and kill them with magic.

  "Rontress." Bylor, of course, wouldn't do this to her. The man suddenly appeared in front of her, his eyes going over Rontress' cloak-clad self before moving to the giant shell stuffed with an aberrant corpse she's carrying weightlessly. "What is that?"

  "You've heard about Ghorise getting attacked right?" Silence was the old man's response. "... You didn't? Wardcruncha, it literally caused a huge commotion, how?"

  Even if information travels slowly in this medieval world, this old man literally has access to magic, it shouldn't be so hard for him to just cast a spell and see what's happening around town right?

  "No, I was too busy with my research. Rontress, there's no realistic world where I am somehow able to see past the walls of my tower and observe the world while practicing magic." The old man's look was odd, like he expected Rontress to know that much.

  "Busy huh? I expected you to come out of the tower all disheveled and stuff, with ink staining your fingers and your hair standing up from alchemical explosions."

  Bylor barely looked like a mad scientist right now, no, instead his life was put together!

  What was once an old man Rontress saw biting an amulet one morning had become much cleaner, where he used to wear robes that barely fit his frame, now Wardcruncha has a wizard's cloak draped over his shoulders.

  "Huh? Why would I do something like that?" Wardcruncha's confusion came out of his body in waves, he looked at Rontress like she had genuinely gone insane. It was one thing to think she's insane and another to believe that she's gone past the point of sanity.

  "Your doubts on my lab safety and self care aside, I'm not just gonna check Flotol on the daily, what else is there to watch? It is a waste of time and mana for me to do."

  "Fine, I understand, you like to live under a rock or whatever." Seriously, how hard is it to look outside of his tower at least once a day? "Anyway, Ghorise has been attacked and the walls got breached, there were a bunch of aberrants there and among them, I found this cool turtle shell that resisted my spell!"

  "What kind?" Bylor quickly asked, it was one thing to resist stray magic from Rontress when she's targeting someone else but to outright resist a direct spell?

  "[Air Mine]." Rontress said the same of the spell that gets cast upon thrusting her spear, the explosion of that particular spell normally isn't so strong but because of her perks and passives, it got boosted to the point of being able to bring down buildings.

  And somehow, the turtle shell stayed intact even after being exposed to that kind of power, doesn't that make the shell valuable? It totally does! Armor made from that shell basically turns someone bullet proof.

  "It resisted your spear's main mode of attack?"

  "Yeah, the shell couldn't defend against a stab though, there's a hole on its back where my spear pierced through and allowed for me to release an explosion directly inside of the shell." The shell not being able to resist a stab was the reason why Rontress believed it has the ability to absorb magic instead of just being tough in general.

  "An anti magic shell?" Bylor murmured while inspecting the hole Rontress' attack made. "There are other materials out there with the same properties, and they are definitely better than the shell of some aberrant, but I think I can find a use for this."

  "That's great, I'm also happy to know how the shell resisted my spell, but this thing isn't why I came here."

  "I'm guessing it has something to do with the corpse?"

  "Yep." Rontress pulled it out of the shell, wincing as the flesh let out squelching sounds that strangely tickled her ears. "The attack on Ghorise was done to scout out the town's defenses, which means I was being observed while slaughtering the small army of aberrants."

  "And I'm guessing you're worried about that?"

  "No, not really. I could care less if the ones who sent those aberrants learn that I'm super strong, it's not like they can prepare against me anyway." Some would say that she has unfounded confidence, and Rontress would agree, but if she ever gets defeated then her enemy would have to deal with Ifira afterwards.

  "Then do you want me to figure out a way to track the one observing the aberrants? Finding the ones responsible for making these things... Which are expertly crafted now that I gave this corpse a closer look... Would be the logical next step right?"

  "Yeah, I don't want them to just keep sending monsters our way and learn more about us so I want to take the fight to them." Knowing what she's dealing with just sounds like a good idea overall as well, and to say she isn't curious about the mystery behind the aberrants would be lying. "Teach them a lesson or something, I don't know."

  "Then I'll help you." Bylor cast a spell and both the shell and the corpse were lifted off the ground. "I'm not sure just how useful I will be when tracking the creators of these aberrants but I'll try my best."

  "Wait, how can you be sure you won't be useful?" Rontress was confused, Wardcruncha was one of the most experienced mages she knows, someone like that saying he'll fail at something just didn't sit right with her.

  "My gut is telling me that our enemies aren't human, and also that they've been preparing this attack for years." The explanation made sense, it also made Rontress come to a terrifying conclusion. "Spending that much time preparing means that they've come up with a solution for anything I can throw at them."

  Rontress couldn't hear Bylor anymore, her mind was too busy connecting the dots and painting a clear image of the situation by remembering details she once overlooked.

  The aberrants are numerous, and not only that, they were artificially made with the kind of skill that dwarfs any human craftsman.

  Okay, she only had two clues, but putting them both together gave her an answer she didn't like. 'Why? Why would they be here?'

  Rontress hoped this wasn't the case, because if those things really are attacking Flotol then she might need to ask Ifira for help in eradicating them, not because she can't fight them on her own— she can. — but because Ifira would make killing every single one of them possible. Letting one escape is not an option.