Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 115: Third Citadel

"What kind of problem?" Damon asked.

"I’m sure you guys have seen the new world quest?" Victor replied, waiting until both of them nodded to continue. "I think I have some information about the third citadel..."

Damon raised a brow.

"When my group and I entered the rift, we soon found out that there was somebody already there..."

That wasn’t that surprising. Damon learned that multiple people can enter the same rift at different times a long time ago.

"A woman. She wasn’t from our citadel. The moment she saw us, she attacked us without even saying a word. We didn’t stand a chance. I’ve never seen anything like this... She thought I would’ve bled out after she severed both my arms, but my healing kept me alive."

The grand hall continued its noise around them, indifferent.

Damon looked at Victor’s arms, both intact, both present, the healing having done its work completely. The fact that he was sitting here telling them about it rather than being dead was either a remarkable stroke of luck or a deliberate choice on the woman’s part.

"She let you live," Damon said.

Victor paused. "Yeah, I think so."

"But why?" Damon wondered out loud.

"Maybe to scare us off," Ivy suggested. "Did she mention anything about their citadel, anything that could give us any information about it?"

Victor took a moment to think before a faint frown settled on his face, and he spoke up. "She really didn’t seem to like men. She killed the girl in our group with a swift strike, but... You couldn’t say the same for the rest." He didn’t elaborate further, and the way he didn’t elaborate told Damon more than the words themselves would have.

"But what made you think she’s from the third citadel?" Damon asked, finding a lack of correlation to his earlier claim.

"We were far up north. It was far enough from us, it would’ve been odd for someone from the south west part of the city, where the second citadel is, to go all the way up there."

Damon nodded.

It made sense. Every citadel would hunt around in their areas. Going too far out would mean stumbling upon other survivors, which often complicated things.

"I guess I’ll be going north then," Damon said, which caught Victor off guard, and he looked between him and Ivy, looking for answers.

"Everyone’s already been assigned tasks." Ivy began to explain.

For the next fifteen minutes, the two of them filled him in, the scouting assignments, the timeline, the plan to observe before making any moves. Victor listened with the focused attention of someone cataloguing information even while exhausted.

The disappointment when he realised he hadn’t been assigned to either scouting group was visible but brief. He understood the reasoning before either of them had to explain it fully. With the number of people returning from supply runs with injuries, his healing wasn’t a luxury the citadel could afford to send north. It was a necessity it couldn’t afford to lose.

He accepted it without complaint, which said more about him than any argument would have.

After Victor excused himself by saying he needed rest, Ivy immediately turned to Damon. "What are you going to do?"

"The plan remains the same. If they wish to fight, I’ll give them exactly what they want." There was no hesitation in Damon’s gaze as he looked back at Ivy.

Engaging in the open was preferable to a siege anyway.

Every citadel had a debuff built into the walls that affected anyone not registered to it, a mechanic Damon hadn’t fully understood when he first encountered it, but which made complete sense now. It was the system’s way of keeping the war from being entirely one-sided, of ensuring that superior strength alone couldn’t simply walk through another citadel’s gates unopposed.

Fighting on open ground removed that variable entirely, which suited him just fine.

After a short farewell with Ivy, one in which the girl simply told him to come and find her when he returns, she also mentioned where he can find Hana, the new girl she asked him to bring.

There weren’t many people Damon felt like he could rely on, especially with both Ivy and Victor having to stay behind and watch over the citadel. And so after a quick moment of thought, he decided to only take Nyla to accompany him and Hana up north, where they would look for the third citadel.

He went to find the new girl first, finding her exactly where Ivy told him he would, at the back of the castle, in a small courtyard filled with flowers he didn’t quite recognise. She was sitting alone at the only bench there when he approached and explained the situation.

"Huh?" She blinked as if the words didn’t sit quite right with her, or as if she was expecting him to say something about what happened in the council meeting room.

"It was Ivy’s idea." Damon quickly added.

He just finished telling the girl she would accompany him up north, which caught her off guard.

But hearing it was Ivy’s idea changed something in her expression.

"I see," she nodded, her fingers fidgeting slightly in the way they probably did whenever she was actively trying not to read someone’s mind and finding it harder than usual.

With Hana fetched, it was time to seek Nyla.

Damon already knew where to look, but finding her room took a bit longer than he expected it to be, traversing the castle was still new to him.

When her door opened up, a pleased smile flashed across her face, which died as fast as it appeared when she noticed a girl with golden hair and a mini skirt that was not quite long enough to cover her legs.

"This is Hana," Damon said, noticing Nyla’s gaze. "Ivy asked for her to accompany us."

A moment of pause passed before Nyla locked her arms with Damon’s and shot a possessive glance at the new girl.