"For sure." The one who replied was a voluptuous beauty with long wavy brown hair. Annoyance could be seen from her face, displeased at the subject of their conversation.

"This is why it should have been me sent to Country F."

"Blame yourself for being late. That guy surnamed Gu arrived first at the meeting place hence he was the one a.s.signed to the job."

The two walked down the long hallway. From time to time, normal people and lower-ranked members bowed to them as a sign of respect for core members like them.

The man frowned.

He disliked the presence of others, especially non-hosts.

But since they were asked to meet up with the other core members in the deepest part of this underground base and could not directly teleport there due to the leader's set up, they could only walk the long corridor.

He found it very troublesome and regretful.

With a sneer, the guy chose to divert the topic, asking, "So why did the leader say? Did you get punished? It must be painful having the base you've managed for a year torn down by some outsiders, and a traitor."

At the mention of the word 'traitor', Gloria's expression did not change. But her eyes turned sharper, glinting ominously.

"If only that dog Ver did not lead that woman into the base," the man clicked his tongue.

"Gavin. Shut up."

The guy only played with his necklace and then indifferently answered,

"Why would I? Don't treat me like your henchman. Even when you're still a base keeper, we're equal. Much less now that your castle in the desert has tumbled down."

The two reached the end of the hallway.

After rolling her eyes at the man, Gloria, the voluptuous beauty pushed the door open.

A white conference room complete with all the necessary equipment laid bare to their eyes.

Inside of it, there were already five people.

The one nearest to the door grumpily turned his head to them and then nodded.

If Chris was here, he would recognize this guy as the Level 4 keeper of a small laboratory near the largest airport in the capital.

The man was in the same mood as Gloria, grouchy, since like the woman, he had just recently lost his base.

"Why are we gathered here? A joint operation?"

A masked burly guy sitting near the opposite wall answered Gloria. "I heard someone visited the leader and requested to see us."

"Just because someone wants to meet us? Why would the leader agree?" It was Gavin who asked. 

"If the other is someone at the same level as the leader, why not?"

Gloria found it weird. Something seemed to be not adding up.

If the person was someone at the same level as her and there were people she could use as cannon fodders, she would not choose to speak on equal terms with the other. 

"Must be an acquaintance then." The guy next to her mumbled. 

Gloria could only agree and settle down. 

Not long after, two more people came into the room, both lower level than her. Now within the place, there were three level 5s, four-level 4s, and 2 level 3s. 

If those made into cash cows were to be taken out of the picture then almost every core member was already here. Only two were away, one was the strongest under the leader, the other a pervert at the same level as her. Both were away for missions. 

A few seconds after the last two system users marched into the place, two figures suddenly appeared revealed by a glimmering halo of light, one man and one woman.

The latter looked very charming in her old-fas.h.i.+oned black court dress. Her hair was reddish and eyes black.

People who see her in her complicated black attire would surely blurt out that she looked like the beautiful ancient queen from five hundred years ago.

Yet she also had a semblance with the infamous woman who reigned over a vast expanse of land in Country H at the same time frame.

There was no elaborate and gem-encrusted crown above her head, only a pearl necklace with a sapphire pendant on her neck. However, her aura alone speaks volumes of her royalness, power, and n.o.bleness.

The former wore a blue tunic suit.

Despite being a former immoral host, he didn't have his looks reverted to that of a young man in his twenties or thirties, instead choosing to let the pa.s.sage of time decide his appearance.

This man could no longer be more familiar to any of them. 

Everyone rose from their seats to pay their respects.

They bowed and chorused, "Leader."

The middle-aged looking man smiled at them all.

Without explaining anything to them, he respectfully turned to the dainty but country-toppling beauty next to him, and said,

"These are my people."

The woman swept her profound eyes around and then nodded.

Her gaze stopped at the voluptuous system user standing to the left of a lean and tall man. 

"I pick her. Seems good enough to be my errand girl."

Gloria raised her head at the middle-aged man, looking so puzzled and confused. When she saw how the leader treated the female stranger and heard that she would be made into an errand girl, anger rose from her heart. 

Yet it vanished as fast as a bolt of lightning when her sight fell to the red-haired woman and noticed how this witch-like lady seemed more imposing and at a higher standing than her boss.

Cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

When the other smiled at her, she felt like her heart was being squeezed by an iron hand. 

The leader spoke,

"It will be her honor to serve you, Your Highness. Her name is Gloria."

"I like the name. She's also at level 5. Though a level lower than that man's errand boy, she will do."

Gazes of pity poured towards Gloria when the others finally realized that this colleague of theirs was given away like a gift by the middle-aged man. 

Naturally, the former base keeper wanted to protest.

Yet all the words she wanted to say got pushed down her throat when her leader forcefully sealed her mouth through a system-generated device. 

The red-haired woman did not comment about it and only informed the other,

"I won't stay here for long. Probably only a day or two. I plan to visit the madman. It's been more than twenty years. How is he doing?"

"I heard that he's staying with the director of that abandoned convalescence center."

"I see. That's bad news then."

The woman giggled, her laughter like a playful bell teasing the listeners' ears.

When she tilted her head to the side and looked at the leader's eyes, the smile on her lips appeared very enchanting yet dangerous.

"You want to say that if I want to meet him, I would have to force him out of the monster's lair, right?"

Everyone else present couldn't follow their conversation so they pretended to be air and maintained their silence.

The oldest man in the place did not answer. He didn't dare.

The court lady in a black dress became disinterested with the topic hence she controlled her new servant to follow her in leaving the room. 

Before she could step out of the doorway, the leader asked in an ingratiating manner, "Miss Bathory, would you like me to arrange a place for your temporary stay here?"

The expression of the other immoral hosts who were familiar with the middle-aged man's way of speaking and dealing with things turned weird.

All of them badly wanted to know just who the heck this Miss Bathory was to make a Level 8 system user be this courteous and attentive. 

A laugh came to him as a reply. It sounded sweet, like the soft chirping of the birds in the morning. Nonetheless, the sarcasm on it couldn't be hidden. 

The regal lady in black still looked sophisticated when she glanced over her shoulder and sneered.

"If you insist, go ahead. I'll be out with this lady to check your beloved empire's delicacies and merchandises. When I return, I hope that's when I could meet the other person I wish to see."

...

While the puzzling exchange of words was taking place somewhere in C Empire, Sofony and the others had long arrived in the capital, Jasmine City. And no, they were not together.

They all split up since apart from the two men not liking the presence of each other, it would be stupid and a waste of time and resources if they all stick together.

She a.s.sumed her usual disguise and mixed with the city people.

Chris did not go far. The man only agreed to a.s.sist them and would not truly dive into the enemy's territories with her.

Sofony did not have any problem with that. This was her mission, not his. It was already nice that the guy promised to help in the name of friends.h.i.+p.

However, she made him look after the spy. He was also to a.s.sume her job and make that blonde spit out the real reason for her appearance at Country F. Maybe if they got lucky, the girl would turn out to be a member of greater importance than she claimed. 

In any case, Sofony did not truly believe Maila and suspect that she was hiding something from them. She hoped that Chris would be able to make that annoying blonde confess the truth.

Meanwhile, Sofia and Ver would attack a base each within an hour. Sofony too.

As a preparation for her own raid, she teleported straight into the empire's army headquarters and local triads to hypnotize everyone there. 

'My new minions will deal with the peripheral members...'

The disguised Sofony looked up to the starless sky and silently whispered,

"Time to attack. So I can go home. For Wendy too..."

...

...

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