Eldritch Creature's Guide

One hour later, after the breach of the main gates, the City of Torlen, Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

Approximately one hour after the Undead Tide, under the leadership of Ashimer and Dharzug, breached the main gates of the City of Torlen, the majority of the city was already burning in flames, as the Undead Mages were setting everything on fire on Samiel's orders. The city is already quieted down, as most of the inhabitants were either killed by Undeads or were killed as collateral damage during the spells and fire.

Samiel made himself home at the City Lord's Mansion as he waited for the Undeads to screen the city, destroy it entirely and kill all of the citizens before they departed from the place. The reason for that was he wanted to make sure that nobody survived his onslaught because the citizens of the City of Torlen were mainly craftsmen, workers and blacksmiths.

Meaning the more people survived, the less damage was caused to the human troops. Blacksmiths, craftsmen and other occupations were not something to which a person could be training within a few months. Those would require years and years of expertise, training, apprenticeships and knowledge.

With the destruction of the City of Torlen, not only one of the major Industrial Hubs of the Human Brotherhood is lost, but Samiel particularly targeted the people because, in the worse scenario could, the Human Brotherhood just send the artisans to work somewhere else. With the current ending, they won't have anyone to send somewhere.

Just as he was contemplating the next moves and thinking about the loot, he had obtained from the Torlen, as his Undeads and Ashimer also brought up some spatial equipment, either from the killed soldiers or some wealthy merchants who were in the city.

It was surprising to discover that they had some sort of spatial equipment; even if it was small, it should have been possible for them to have a decent amount of money. And Samiel liked any amount of money, as he loved looting, in this aspect, he was like the embodiment of a bandit god or pirate god, if such god existed in the first place, though it was highly possible that there was some God with domain over banditry and piracy.

Dharzug was bored as hell because there was practically nothing to kill. All of the remaining soldiers of the Human Brotherhood were already killed, the Silver-Tier Professionals were killed first, and the City Lord of the Torlen proved himself to be a huge disappointment.

So there was nothing to do for the big Ork, so the only thing he could do was to sharpen up his war axe "da big choppa". Naturally, Dharzug was doing it in hopes of participating in the next fight because due to the situation on the 8th Floor of the Tower, there was no shortage of potential fights and battles.

While sitting on the stairs that led to the enormous mansion that was filled with luxury, he sharpened his war axe using a whetstone, already preparing it for the next big battle that was soon to come.

After the supply chains collapsed, then the entire frontline would be technically drastically endangered because there were only so little of spatial equipment that were in possession of the Human Brotherhood, and they wouldn't be using them to transport supplies to the frontlines for sure.

As a result, within a few months at the very worst, the entire frontline would collapse, and the Demon Tribes would push once again deeply into the human territory, which would mean a whole new set of fights and battles. Of course, this would mean an entirely new set of missions and battles in which they could participate.

"Try to bear with it, my Ork friend; sooner or later, we will be going to another battle with stronger enemies."

Samiel stated as he saw Dharzug striking another of the status that remained in the gardens with his war axe, as he finished polishing its edges, as it was nice and sharp already. He then grunted a bit as he walked away, probably going to destroy some more things in frustration because it was hard for the Ork to stay calm.

Samiel meanwhile was thinking about participating in the war because right now, the battlefield started shifting a bit, and Samiel wanted to have his go at it. He knew that with his present strength, and especially if he increased his Level a few times, he would be practically at the higher end of all Professionals on the 8th Floor.

Aside from a few Gold-Tier Professionals and maybe some elite Silver-Tier Professionals and those who were already nearing the Gold-Tier, there were only very few people who could pose a threat to Samiel Zentaur. Till now he had never encountered someone of the same Level as he was, who could pose a threat to him, though he was sure that there existed people on the same Level as him who would be able to give him a fight.

Of course, without his Undeads, Samiel's combat prowess was lowered, as he preferred not to use them in the vicinity of some Demon Tribesmen, especially those who were from the main lines and had access to some sensitive information. That could give some bad hints to some people, which would attract unwanted attention. As someone from the Hall of Kadath, the Demon Tribes were his enemies.

And as he was contemplating about some things, he noticed that Yvraine was approaching the City Lord's Mansion while she was dragging some unconscious old man with one of her hands, who was wearing clothes reminding him of scientists. He was rather curious why she chose to drag the man through the entire city, but there was one thing about which he was pretty sure, which was that he must be someone pretty important or valuable if she personally dragged him here.

"I take it that you have found something interesting as well..."

Samiel stated as he eyed the unconscious elderly scientist, as he started typing the number of Bishop Abraham Antigonus to open the portal so Yvraine could drop the scientist there, adding another person to the interrogation process.

Yvraine dragged the old man here, so Samiel could call someone to transport him to a place, where they would extract everything he knew. Because he had already sent two people to Bishop Antigonus, one more would make no difference, especially considering the fact, this time, they managed to capture one of the scientists.

As Samiel looked at the man, he realized that he had seen that face of the old man somewhere before, and only after several seconds his eidetic memory kicked in because it was really an insignificant memory, hidden somewhere, in which he just skimmed it with his eyes. If it wasn't for the perfect memory aspect of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, then he wouldn't even recognize the man before him.

"That man is Johan von Meckerstein, a rogue scientist from the Scientia Hierarchy who was exiled several centuries ago."

Samiel explained when the memory became clear to him. When he was training with the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, the old man once showed him the catalog of the inter-cosmos criminals, basically the people who were wanted by some of the most powerful factions in the Cosmos.

Ironically though, the members of the Hall of Kadath were not present, even though they would certainly fulfill all conditions to be supervillains of the Cosmos. But as he was reading through the catalog, he just memorized the files together with the pictures, names and their crimes and bounties.

"Johan von Merckerstein, Age: 705, formerly Gold-Tier Professional, rogue scientist of the Scientia Hierarchy who is wanted for illegal experiments, several murders, kidnappings, bribery, sabotage and stealing from the Genebank of the Scientia Hierarchy and for initiating another version of High Human Project."

Even Yvraine was surprised by the summarization as the man had a long list of crimes, not to mention that he was previously Gold-Tier Professional and now he was barely a Level 10, as both of them sensed that there was something wrong with his body. It seemed artificial and unnatural, like it was manufactured, probably some sort of clone.

"What kind of bounty did the Scientia Hierarchy put for him?"

Yvraien asked curiously because she could sense that this man was someone very important in the Scientia Hierarchy when he was still with them. He probably escaped death by transferring his soul to a clone, which then wandered the Cosmos and somehow went to the Avalon Kingdom. Scientia Hierarchy was a member of the 13 Gates and ranked as 12th, but they were relatively neutral, only interested in their research and they often just remained on their Floor within the Tower or their Principal World.

Because of that, it was relatively rare to meet someone from the Scientia Hierarchy, but that didn't mean that they were weaklings; in fact, among the 13 Gates, despite their low ranking, they were one of the most powerful factions in the Cosmos.

Their Magetech and Technology research reached an absolutely frightening degree, they developed a few really, really scary technologies, and they were one of few factions in the Cosmos that had ability to reproduce the Voidshisps.

Voidships were special spacecraft that were able to traverse through the Void itself; so far, only a few factions had the capabilities to produce such things, the most notable ones being the Mind Flyers, Swarm, and Scientia Hierarchy. These three were able to mass-produce them in large quantities; aside from them, some smaller factions were able to produce them, but not on such a large scale.

"15,000,000 Credits, 1 Legendary Level Core and personalized vessel from the Scientia Hierarchy."

When Samiel said those words, they struct in his throat because those numbers were... absolutely out of this world. Such bounty was high enough to order the death of even Advanced Legendary Level Powerhouse; 15 million Credits was absolutely outrageous for a single Gold-Tier Professional, but the Legendary Core and personalized vessel directly made by the Scientia Hierarchy... Samiel predicted that the worth of his life would be more than 70 million Credits.

Though on the other side of all things considered, when Samiel thought about what crimes von Merckerstein committed in the Hierarchy, he wasn't that surprised. Aside from that, Scientia Hierarchy was one of the richest factions in the Cosmos, probably even richer than Hall of Kadath in terms of finances like Credits and Gold, because the entire Material Plane was buying Magetech Weapons, Siege Equipment, Gadgets and other things from them.

Most of the bounty came from the pockets of the Scientia Society, which was the strongest sub-factions within the Hierarchy, after which the Hierarchy is named. Apparently, mister Johan von Merckerstein managed to kidnap the daughter of one of the Hierarchs and carried some... disgusting things on her, which really wanted Samiel to torture him for a bit.

A really hypocritical coming from him, but Samiel interestingly had a bottom line, which was not to act against your allies. It was one of his weird rules regarding loyal; as long as someone was loyal to him and was his ally, then Samiel would not make a move, but towards others or once this was changed, he wouldn't really hesitate even with most unspeakable rituals or torture on the person.

"Yvraine, you have captured him, so the final decision is up to you... though I if had to advise, hand him over to Scientias. That man is wanted there for some unspeakable things that would make even some worshippers of the Outer Gods like amateurs. Still, most importantly, if the Scientia Hierarchy learns that you have captured him, they would want to extradite him. From what I know, the Hierarchs may even result in some military action towards the Nesser Dynasty."

Samiel stated because he knew that the knowledge that Johan von Merckerstein possessed, especially on the High Human Project, was invaluable, but at the same time, it was a double-sided axe.

He himself would hand him over, technically speaking, for the Hall of Kadath; something like the High Human Procedure had little to no value, while the friendship of the Scientia Hierarchy was way more precious. Even though the Hall of Kadath was powerful at the moment, it didn't mean they could act as tyrants.

Contrary opposite, as Hall Master Faulhaber stated, it was better to act low and not to create an unnecessary conflict. Creating unnecessary conflicts always proved detrimental to factions, as they would be slowly but steadily overwhelmed by countless wars, battles and fights and would perish with the passage of time.

Even the Hall of Kadath was not an exception to this rule, and neither were the Transcendental Factions. Passage of time was merciless and even the strongest hegemons could fall to the preys of time, becoming destroyed in the process and fading into non-existence of oblivion.

Because of their relatively mild approach, the Hall of Kadath didn't have many enemies among the 13 Gates and had only a few; they were not like the Underdark, which was the enemy of practically everyone, or the Avalon Kingdom, which the majority of the factions across the Cosmos wanted to destroy.

Though most of it was attributed to the isolationist nature of the Hall, as they never interfered too much with the affairs of the Cosmos and most commonly only kept to themselves. Sometimes fighting with the Calamity Church or some Demon Tribes, but that was it.

"You are probably right."

Yvraine, too weighted her opinions, and whilethe knowledge tempted here that von Merckerstein possessed, she was also aware of another side of the coin. The world was not all about the benefits, and even for the Nesser Dynasty, the only usage of the High Human Procedure was the development of the countermeasures to it, or rather, perfecting already existing ones.

Meanwhile, she could potentially create a war between the Nesser Dynasty and the Scientia Hierarchy, something which would cost her dearly, as the Nesser Dynasty was right now preparing for the war against the Underdark, which could erupt any century right now.

"I will send him to Nesser Dynasty so they can turn him over to the Scientia Hierarchy... at least I will get the bounty."

In the end, she decided to hand him over to the Scientia Hierarchy, and then there was another purpose that Samiel wanted to achieve with this. By turning Johan von Merckerstein over, they would subtly comment on the side that the Avalon Kingdom has been sheltering the man, which would create a dispute between the Scientia Hierarchy and the Avalon Kingdom.

While the Avalon Kingdom was largely independent in terms of resources, they still depended on some resources of strategic character and their import from the Scientia Hierarchy, especially in the area of the Magetech, and Samiel planned to sabotage that relationship.

This would be a grave hit because while the Scientia Hierarchy was making an enormous amount of money, for Scientias, it was not that great deal because they would quickly find someone else to fill the gap created by fall out with the Avalon Kingdom.

"Excellent, we should be slowly getting out... after a few hours, the reinforcements from the Human Brotherhood will arrive here."

Samiel stated as Yvraine took hold of Johan von Merckerstein and as she sent a message through her Holo-Brain to someone from the Nesser Dynasty so that they could open a spatial portal, and she could drop the captive to them.

Several seconds later, the portal appeared near them, and Yvraine threw Johan von Merckerstein through it, and this act concluded their stay in the City of Torlen, or at least what remained from it.