Just a little over 800 football fields away from the jungle, the Midnight castle was deployed. Although the arrival of night was a full week away, and the mercenary group hadn't initially planned on stopping during the night either, it would be foolish not to take every advantage that the Midnight Inns' presence provided them with.

The fact that they had deployable, reliable fortifications made this job easier by many orders of magnitudes for the mercenaries. They took each and every opportunity to stop and take a rest that they could get - not to mention that they were playing some kind of role playing game with the three mischievous beasts from the Inn.

The existence of the tavern also allowed the mercenaries to do things they weren't able to previously, such as being able to study their destination. Through the use of clones and drones, they had been able to confirm that even if they lose line of sight, within the vicinity of the jungle, individuals won't be teleported away.

This meant that they could do something they hadn't done in Abaddon ever before - scouting! They could also deploy advance parties for stealthy infiltration instead of directly marching through the forest and fighting everything in sight.

So from within the safety of the castle walls, Kaemon, Lex and a few others planned out what to do.

It was odd. Lex was used to handling everything by himself. Even now, he half expected to venture into the highly suspicious jungle by himself, uncover its secrets, foil some ancient plot that threatened to destroy the universe and…

Okay, on a realistic note, he just thought he was the most versatile one in the group, and would do a good job scouting. Yet it turned out his help wasn't actually needed, possibly even leaving him time to rest in the Recovery pod.

Lex kept looking around the conference room, expecting something to pop up that would require his help, or for him to step in personally but it never happened. It was almost as if the whole universe did not rely solely on him, and every issue did not revolve entirely around him.

Filled with trace amounts of hesitation and doubt, Lex eventually concluded the meeting as he went over the decisions that they made.

They would observe the jungle from a distance for about a day, and after that Little Blue, Fenrir and a mercenary named Malfoy would sneak into the jungle to explore the strange calling Little Blue felt.

All of them came to a conclusion that the reason they were able to encounter this jungle now, but the mercenaries had never seen nor heard any sign of it for years, was because of the presence of Little Blue.

Clearly it had some connection to the forest, though the exact reason for that connection was a matter of speculation.

With everything decided, Lex was left with nothing to do save getting in the Recovery pod, while Little Blue, Fenrir and Malfoy geared up to go outside. Malfoy kept giving Fenrir distrustful looks, and seemed ready to protect Little Blue no matter the cost.

In the meantime, the rest of the mercenaries started the ritual to contact the Condottiere.

A day passed uneventfully at the castle, though they observed a lot of movement within the jungle. It seemed that all sorts of insects called the place home. The thing that all of them shared in common was that they were all pack insects, preferring to move in teams rather than by themselves.

That presented many difficulties and opportunities of its own. Eventually, once the time was up, the three of them set out.

"Do not think you can get away with trying anything suspicious," Malfoy said to Fenrir the moment they exited the castle. "I have activated Dread protection. The gifts of the Reaving Dread mercenary group go far beyond what you can imagine. At even the slightest whiff of betrayal, I can eviscerate you."

Fenrir growled at Malfoy, as if threatening him, but Little Blue suddenly spread its wings, unleashing some of its power, which cowed the pup.

Malfoy snorted, and turned away from him. He knew that the protector was too kind to deal with his own twin brother, but Malfoy would never risk their mission over something like that. That's why he didn't hesitate to use his ability which would punish anyone who betrayed him - since technically they were on the same team.

He'd understood by now that it wasn't that the entire Midnight Castle was an illusion, but that the twin brother had been corrupted by Abaddon. They had to hide their powers usually from the caretaker, Lex, but when he wasn't around, they would unleash their true selves.

Oddly enough, however, his ability to punish traitors informed him that the brothers actually had full and complete loyalty towards each other, and would never harm one another.

He hadn't yet decided if that was a trick, or if they still had remnants of who they were still stuck deep within. It seemed that the protector really might be able to redeem his brothers and save them from eternal damnation of being a Reddit mod - whatever that meant.

Fenrir activated his ability which allowed the three of them to become hidden, undetectable by most, so that they could finally enter the jungle.

It took them only a few seconds to reach the jungle, and after making sure there was no trouble, they entered.

As soon as they entered the jungle, Lex, who was sleeping within his Recovery pod, suddenly opened his eyes. The exact moment they entered the jungle, the flow of time between Abaddon and the Midnight realm became equal.

Up until now, Abaddon had been going much, much faster than the Midnight realm.

With this change, however, time would flow equally. As a result, only a few seconds later, Lex got his first visitor in Obsidian.

Lex gave a deep look towards the jungle. It seemed like he would need to visit it after all to explore its secrets. He was not saying that just because he had severe FOMO (fear of missing out).

After a moment's deliberation, he managed to keep himself from sneaking into the forest, instead deciding to wait until Fenrir returned with his report. In the meantime, he diverted his attention back towards the Inn.