"We might have gone a tiny bit overboard last night. I'm reflecting on my actions."
"Agreed. We almost destroyed Yangyang's bathroom."
The following day found the two Rovers deep in the Dim Forest south of Jinzhou, sitting side by side on the gnarled root of an enormous tree that breached the earth like a surfacing whale. Between them hung the comfortable silence of shared guilt.
A young woman's bathroom, it turned out, was not built to withstand two Resonators of their caliber. They'd come within seconds of blowing the whole room apart before slamming on the brakes at the last possible moment. The only casualty had been a very wet floor.
It had, however, taught them a valuable lesson.
"We're going to need a much bigger bathroom."
"Couldn't agree more."
When she'd heard his plan last night to construct a pocket dimension and build a house inside it, her enthusiasm had been immediate and fierce. They might be called Rovers, but that didn't mean they had to wander forever.
No matter where they went, they needed somewhere to come home to.
Between Scar's generous contribution to their finances, the spoils from the past two days, and the support Jinhsi had arranged, they could build a full-blown castle without blinking at the price tag.
"Come to think of it, we're meeting the Magistrate tomorrow."
"Mm. Apparently she's prepared gifts for both of us."
"Something to look forward to, then. Though I hope it doesn't come with another round of brain-melting puzzles."
She eyed the puzzle box in her hand with a complicated expression.
This was the keepsake Jinhsi had left them, originally concealing the real meeting time and location, hidden from Fractsidus surveillance behind layers of interlocking riddles. You were supposed to solve each one to extract the code.
But they'd already dealt with Scar ahead of schedule.
So secrecy was no longer necessary.
What still stung was the memory of how she'd painstakingly gathered every clue, was on the verge of cracking the box open through sheer intellect... and then he'd taken it from her hands and "solved" it the simplest way imaginable.
One sharp crack, and the box split clean in half.
The mechanism had been designed to self-destruct its contents if forced open, but he'd applied the Temporal Mandate to it first, freezing its internal time. No trigger could fire in stopped time.
"Wait... that's it?!"
That had been her exact reaction. She'd twitched, then sworn a private oath: if she ever caught herself dutifully puzzling through another mechanism like a good little girl, she was no better than the Hoochiefs in the Dim Forest.
She was going to develop the healthy habit of solving problems with overwhelming force.
"Alright, stop glaring at that thing. They're almost done over there. Time for the finishing blow."
"Fine, fine."
He ruffled her hair, and they rose from the root together, drawing their swords as they walked toward what awaited them.
Inside a hollow tree trunk whose interior spanned a hundred square meters, the Overlord Class Tacet Discord known as the Feilian Beringal, apex predator of the Dim Forest, lay pinned to the ground. It couldn't move.
This colossal primate stood several stories tall and possessed terrifying strength, acrobatic agility, intelligence that surpassed most Overlord Class Tacet Discords, and a horde of lesser Hoochiefs at its command.
The Midnight Rangers and the Huaxu Academy had once launched a joint special operation against it. They'd failed to bring it down. The best they'd managed was implanting a tracker in its body for monitoring purposes.
Now, though...
The pale-furred king of apes had reached its end.
Five simultaneous roars shook the hollow tree.
Because four Overlord Class and one half-step Overlord Class Echo were beating it into the dirt. The ape had been completely overwhelmed.
Overlord Class Echo: Impermanence Heron.
Overlord Class Echo: Thundering Mephis.
Overlord Class Echo: Tempest Mephis.
Overlord Class Echo: Lampylumen Myriad.
Half-step Overlord Echo: Lightcrusher.
Five roars answered the first, rattling leaves from the canopy above.
Five Echoes, each worth an army.
Like five war gods standing in formation. Together, they could crush a thousand soldiers without breaking stride.
And when the two figures approaching them came into view, their masters, both Rovers, these five dreaded titans of the Jinzhou region... no, not Tacet Discords anymore. Echoes now, all of them.
They fell into a single line and dropped to one knee, heads bowed.
The Thundering Mephis went a step further, shoving the barely-conscious ape's face into the dirt, forcing it into a kowtow alongside them.
The Feilian Beringal bellowed in fury, a cry that roughly translated to: Five on one? You honorless cowards!
The Thundering Mephis slapped it across the face. Twice.
"That's called righteous mob justice. You've spent your whole life siccing your monkeys on people. How's it feel?"
"This is so easy it's almost unfair. I get why you love collecting Echoes now. Having these guys handle the heavy lifting saves so much energy."
She shook her head in genuine amazement. They hadn't even needed to fight. This Overlord Class nightmare that had given Jinzhou headaches for years was a fish on a cutting board, ready to be gutted.
They'd spent the entire day hunting Echoes.
The biggest haul: three new Overlord Class additions.
The Lampylumen Myriad, an Overlord Class Tacet Discord lurking in the mines of Tiger's Maw, south of Jinzhou. A dangerous assassin-hunter with built-in stealth capabilities and the power to flash-freeze a wide area.
The Tempest Mephis, an Overlord Class that had been sealed inside the massive crater southwest of where they'd fought Scar. He'd imprisoned it there with Spatial Power, and its purpose, if it had one, was obvious: break free behind the Midnight Rangers' front line and hit them from the rear. A nasty surprise gift that would never be delivered.
The Thundering Mephis, born on the battlefields of Desorock Highland from the consumed Frequencies of fallen soldiers. Like its cousin, it wielded the power of lightning, fast enough to transform into a bolt and teleport. This one had been destroyed once before, only to resurrect itself.
But dropping as an Echo after its defeat by the two Rovers meant rebirth was almost certainly off the table for good.
According to the original storyline, this thing would've caused serious problems during the main quest. Taking it out early means the Rangers on the front lines are that much safer.
Just like with the Crownless before it, reality wasn't a game. Enemies didn't wait for the player to show up before spawning. But that same principle meant they could rip threats out by the root before the real crises hit.
The last Overlord Class target of the day was the Feilian Beringal before them, ruler of the Hoochiefs, enthroned in a Dim Forest choked with mysterious spores.
Those spores drove the Hoochief Tacet Discords into frenzy and could seriously harm ordinary people. Against Resonators of their caliber, though, the effect was negligible.
They'd sent in their Common Class and Elite Class Echoes as a vanguard, holding back the swarm of Hoochiefs while the five strongest cornered the king.
And now, as both Rovers brought their swords down in unison, the ape king let out one last defiant wail before dissolving into golden light.
Their fifth Overlord Class Echo.