The door of a small wooden shack creaked open, and a blonde young man entered.

Closing the door, Daru sighed, removing his armor and storing it back in the inventory before lying on the wooden cot in the default, dirty-white tunic set.

He then grabbed a carrot, seemingly out of thin air, and began munching, turning his head to the window to his right.

He had long stopped caring about counting days and weeks.

So, he didn't really know how much time he had spent in Limbo already, though he had a rough idea.

'It doesn't matter, anyway...'

Escaping to the surface couldn't be rushed. Daru had gradually come to learn and accept this fact.

On the contrary, he would be able to return to the Surface sooner if he took things slowly, one small success at a time — exactly how Egress had been doing things, even though it was only fairly recently, after the death of their previous leader, did they learn and began strictly adhering to this strategy.

They've had nothing but progress in the past few weeks because of this.

After the first operation, Daru won Ascalon, Lesha, and the party leaders' wholehearted trust, at least in terms of his competence in combat, and he was allowed to join all the operations going forward.

He naturally didn't disappoint.

His crazy actions that saved Thrad's life were only the first of the more than a handful of times he had saved the cemetery raid operations through sheer courage, valiance, the skills to back the first two up…and the benefits of having a few screws loose in one's head.

Every time he would put himself in harm's way, Ascalon and the others felt like they inched closer to Nando's age.

Eventually, though, his wretched comrades grew more tolerant of his high-risk, sometimes illogical actions.

Of course, it didn't mean they stopped aging every time; it was just that they aged a bit less than the previous.

Poor Ascalon would always be drained both physically and mentally after every operation.

Nonetheless, they couldn't deny that their days were filled with more hope now, especially since their average gains after each dangerous venture had significantly grown, thanks to Daru.

Since that fateful day, their numbers had grown from a little over a hundred — seventy-two of which were warriors and a little over thirty delegated to non-combat tasks, to now more than three hundred.

Egress could truly be considered to be a town now, and not just any town, but a bustling one.

The small army wasn't so small anymore, either, now numbering a little over two hundred.

Naturally, their raid-like operations in the Cemetery of the Damned were more like invasions now, and while their numbers made it exponentially difficult for Ascalon to lead the army, resulting in a few rather disastrous setbacks, the SS-ranker's leadership skills eventually improved.

Today's operation had just ended, and it was nothing short of a monumental success.

At least in the standards of Egress' history.

They've brought back twenty-five new members, found and raided the armory of the wraiths, securing a few good pieces of equipment, and, most importantly, permanent, sharp metal weapons for themselves.

Their stone swords had always held them back, after all.

Now, the strongest combatants of the army not only had armor, but they were also armed with the metallic gray jian of the Ashen Cleaners and Twisted Custodians.

This would only make their future operations easier.

Daru took another bite of the carrot and pondered another matter while gazing at the peaceful moon of the Hidden Reprieve.

Starting tomorrow, the very nature of Egress' operations would change, mostly due to the fact that they had the man-power, or rather, wretch-power to do more things now.

'About time…I guess…'

The number of graves with Visitors buried in them had also dwindled, with most of those that remained being located at the dangerous heart of the cemetery, where the Gravewarden apparently roamed.

There were still a few around the other edges, but there was no need for the entire army to go and save those few Visitors.

Sending a small number of elites to gradually bring the remaining ones to the edges would be best.

After all, Egress still had a lot of things to do before they could attempt to leave Limbo, at least according to Nando.

It would take more than just sheer numbers to succeed.

In fact, acquiring a large enough force was only a prerequisite — something that would give them the slightest chance of succeeding, but still a mere starting point nonetheless.

Daru's mind gently drifted off to the meeting with Nando yesterday.

He finally learned why he, who was considered a Visitor by Limbo, was the only one who could lead the Damnedlings to the Surface.

The reason was the Howling River.

There were multiple ferries scattered across the entire harrowing stretch of the river.

However, Damnedlings…are not allowed to ride the small boats and would instantly be obliterated by the eerie ferrymen if they dared step one filthy foot inside.

They could try crossing the soul-eroding Howling River by swimming, if they want to be a part of it for eternity, that is.

Even Visitors are not exempt from its unforgiving flow and would have to avail the services of the ferrymen.

This made it impossible for those who are not Visitors to return to the Surface.

After all, three of The Five could only be on the other side, as Nando had already scoured this entire side of the river and found only two.

'The Five…'

The Thorn, The Sword, The Eyes, The Ivy, and The Crown.

From what the old wretch knew, there should be a book about The Five, and to prove this, he suddenly showed everyone something he had never shown before: a mystical page that contained a few words.

"The diffident Eye thought he could only gaze, and so gaze he did, watching over his beloved. If only he had acted before it was too late…"

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