Edge awoke an hour before dawn.

  It didn’t require any special effort on his part, since that was when he usually got out of bed these days—if he wasn’t exhausted or hungover at any rate. There was a terrifying moment of disorientation where he couldn’t figure out where he was or why the stench of the filth hung heavy in the air, before it all came flooding back.

  He let out a sigh of relief when he realized that nothing had found him while he was asleep. He felt even better when he poked his head outside and didn’t see any monsters nearby. Edge could tell from the level of magicytes in of his reservoir that Conceal had been active all night, confirming that his skills could be relied on to behave as they had promised.

  He offered a silent thank you to his powers while he got ready to head out. I’m glad that I can Generate mana faster than Conceal drains it, even if it cuts the rate down to a trickle. I wouldn’t have a chance of surviving in here without it. While he couldn’t recover his missing reserves overnight while using this technique, the benefits far outweighed the cost.

  He took a drink from his canteen, then stepped outside the hollow and cast his gaze into the distance. As he’d hoped, the mist was gone, and a faint navy glow heralded the approach of daybreak. He repacked his gear, grabbed his polearm, and was on his way a few minutes later. While Edge didn’t have enough Perception to see in the dark, he did have enough to see in the dim. He had no trouble navigating the jungle thanks to Penetrate Foliage and the starlight filtering in through the canopy.

  That being said, he had to be careful not to run into any monsters, or anything else that was inclined to murder him for that matter. At least he didn’t need to worry about getting lost with his wayfinder in his pocket. He walked beside the river until he found the spot where he’d run headlong over the precipice while fleeing from the apes. Then he followed his original path back to the entrance to the maze.

  Judging by the footprints he found along the way, the convicts hadn’t been in this zone for long. The group he had spotted were probably scouting the jungle for the first time after fighting their way through the maze.

  Edge hoped that they had learned how much stronger the monsters in this region were the hard way, since the expedition had already eliminated the deadliest creatures living in the dungeon’s first zone. With any luck, the Savage Garden will kill some of them without me having to lift a finger.

  By now, the sky was starting to lighten. In another half hour, the sun would be up, even with the dungeon’s wall in the way. He needed to gather intel on his enemy and then get the hell out before that happened—maybe kill a few monsters if he found some tempting targets along the way.

  As it happened, he didn’t have to search very hard to find his first crew of convicts. They were camped in the glade where Team Arrow had battled the demon, right near the border of the jungle. He would never have been willing to get close if he didn’t have Penetrate Foliage. But with the prolific vegetation filling the maze, there was no way they could see him unless they had skills that could sense his presence. Even if they do, I should be able to escape before they can close the distance.

  Heart hammering in his chest, Edge crept close enough to make out more details, then activated Conceal. As he’d been hoping, most of the jailbirds were fast asleep, although the one standing guard looked alert enough.

  It was a woman wearing a suit of ring mail. She was leaning against a tree with a scimitar propped up beside her, staring out toward the jungle. The other three were still in their bedrolls. He could see a long spear, a short bow, and what looked like a morning star lying within reach.

  There wasn’t anything else that he could learn from here, so he decided to enter the maze and scout a bit further while most of his enemies were asleep. He walked along the borderlands until he came across a glade that was free of both monsters and jailbirds, then stepped into the zone. Luckily, Edge had memorized the map of trails that Gram had compiled from the reports of the clearing crews.

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  He eventually discovered two more teams camped deeper within the maze. Unfortunately, he hadn’t come across any stage-one monsters, and he was running out of time. Besides, fighting this close to the prisoners would come with an extra side order of danger, which defeated the purpose of seeking out weaker enemies to begin with.

  Instead, Edge decided to stay where he was, keeping Conceal running to mask his presence. Not long after, the prisoners woke up and got ready to head out. He remained frozen in place, listening in on their conversations—poised to bolt the instant that anyone looked his way.

  His gamble soon paid off. He learned a wealth of information as the jailbirds chatted while cooking breakfast over their campfire. The first detail he gleaned was that they were pressed for time. The forces that were clearing the dungeon were needed on the Ivory Plains. It meant that they represented a sizable fraction of the gang’s forces, which was called the Crismon Claws.

  Like Sakura had warned, there was another group waiting outside the entrance. They had already killed someone from Puppet Town who had been inside the dungeon and tried to make a break for it. While any loss of life was tragic, Edge prayed that it wasn’t one of his friends.

  He was pleased to discover that these convicts weren’t working in concert with the other clearing crews. If anything, they viewed them as rivals—barely on this side of the line from being enemies. Good. My odds are a lot better if I’m dealing with four or five disparate teams, instead of a unified force.

  Just as Edge turned to leave, he caught one last exchange that made him freeze in place again.

  “One-Eye sold us a promising lead last night. That crazy bastard has already scouted deep into the second zone by himself while hunting for survivors from Puppet Town. He ran into an elite monster that offered a quest with a fantastic reward for defeating it. In exchange for a reasonable cut, he told us where to find the ape’s lair and revealed a critical weakness. If our crew uses our ultimates in conjunction with Ripper’s, we can muddle the monkey’s mind and hold it in place. Then Ella can turn its own army against it.”

  The convicts laughed, excited by the prospect. “We can earn a ton of experience on top of that quest reward and get a head start on taking down the dungeon’s boss. We’re just waiting for some specialized supplies to arrive from the outside, and we’ll be ready to slaughter the elite ape early tomorrow morning.”

  Shit. Edge slipped away while considering what he had learned. On top of having to remain on guard against this One-Eye fellow, the jailbirds were planning to take out the elite ape far faster than he’d anticipated. He had only been stranded in the dungeon for a day, and his plans were already falling apart.

  Gods fucking damn it. I don’t have a choice. I have to kill it first. No matter what happened, he couldn’t afford to let them take out the gorilla general. He needed to claim that reward for himself, and it was certain to have rare skills to steal. If the Claws powered up and took out the elites too quickly, he wouldn’t have time to grow strong enough to have a chance of soloing the dungeon’s boss.

  The only bright spot was that he had almost 24 hours before the Claws made their move. He could use the rest of the day to figure out what he was going to do about the situation. But before he got to that, Edge needed to leave the maze before convicts caught wind of his presence.

  On his way out, he removed all the trail markers that the expedition had placed, except for a few that he swapped around. He also entered the glade with the spike traps and pocketed the markers indicating the position of the pitfalls. With any luck, it would slow the jailbirds down.

  While Edge decided on his next move, he pulled back to the jungle and activated Conceal, observing his enemy from a distance. He watched them for a few hours through his spyglass, which he was pleased to learn worked just fine with Penetrate Foliage.

  The convicts were employing a different dungeon-clearing strategy than the hunters of Puppet Town. Rather than teams that were working in shifts, their crews were staying in the Savage Garden around the clock, creating a clear lane to pass through rather than pacifying it zone by zone.

  Their plan was riskier, especially since the Claws’ teamwork was lukewarm at best. However, they were progressing faster than the expedition and seemed excited by the prospect of battling the dungeon’s inhabitants.

  Edge hoped that the bone slime would keep them busy, since he couldn’t imagine coming up with an easy way to defeat that gelatinous horror. Although, if they kill the elite ape, the reward might help them deal with the other mini-bosses.

  He had been wracking his brain for an alternative all morning but ultimately came up short. If the convicts killed the gorilla general, his chances of claiming the core manufactory for Puppet Town would crumble to dust. He had to find a way to defeat it first, no matter how great the risk. Since the jailbirds were planning on fighting the monkey in the morning, he had to make his move before the sun set.

  It seemed that Edge’s first solo fight in the Savage Garden would be a battle with a stage-three elite and its army of minions.