The next day, Daneel was surprisingly in the Order.
The day before had been spent with a lot of discussions and back-and-forth between his sovereigns, his master, the Head and even himself.
Yet, at the end, the obstinacy of the King had paid off, and the final plan had been decided - it almost completely resembled the idea that Daneel had gotten during the meeting, and the main reason why there had been so much discussion was that there had been a certain question regarding whether it would even work.
Thankfully, his master had come through on that, and given him quite encouraging information. He had understood that it was an emergency, and even though he had looked as if he was in the middle of something, he had responded.
Master Jonah had also looked as if he wanted to have a word with Daneel regarding the outcome of what he had uncovered regarding the backup plan of the Church, but he said that he would do so after this affair was done.
With that, it had been decided that there was a specific treasure that they needed in the Order, and right now, that was why they were here.
They stood in front of the obelisk while ignoring the stares from below, and Daneel was acting as if he was flipping through the missions that were available.
The system had already picked out what he was going to do, and he was only doing this for the sake of those who were watching. He was also eavesdropping on the people below, and so far, what he had heard was quite disconcerting.
It looked like his fame had reached such a level that almost all of the top members of the Order were quite infuriated with him, and apparently, the main reason behind this was that those who did not have as much potential or power had used the opportunity to ridicule these individuals who were usually capable of maintaining their cool.
This had resulted in them declaring publicly that they would change this status of his in the headquarters in some way, and although Daneel did not know just what they had planned, he wasn't really keen on finding out.
Also, he had found quite a few informers, who had directly exited the headquarters after seeing him, as if they were going to tell someone about his presence.
He ignored them all, though, as he wasn't even going on a very difficult mission - well, his meaning of the word 'difficulty' was skewed, though, because for him, a 5-star mission was nothing too special.
What he had chosen now was a 4-star one, as the treasure he needed was in that tier.
His main priority had been that the mission should be one in which he could readily embark on, and one which he could finish quickly without having to devote days or weeks to it.
The one which fit in that criteria was the mission which was really similar to the first he had undertaken in the Order - a Hunting mission.
The only reason it was not a 5-star one was that what they would be hunting was not something as powerful as a Great Shark.
Even if it was a Great Shark, Daneel didn't care, so he directly chose it, and in the next moment, he and both of his sovereigns disappeared.
Indeed, he had brought Faxul and Elanev long even though he was confident in finishing a mission by himself, and it was mainly so that he could save on time if possible.
Surprisingly, where they were teleported to was not the Endless Sea as he had been expecting - it was a forest, and as Daneel asked the system, he widened his eyes when he found out that the location they were in had been completely masked using Hero level formations.
For the briefest of moments, he wondered whether he had been teleported to a trap, but thankfully, the same transparent display trinket that always appeared to explain missions came into existence in front of him.
"Welcome to a 4-star Hunting mission! Your target is a weakened Swordfin Whale that has ventured into a deposit of water under the continent. Typically, Swordfin Whales are on the same level as Great Sharks, and the only thing stopping them from being more powerful is their extreme mass which does not allow them to move very quickly. It is said that during the ancient ages, Swordfin Whales had the ability to also manipulate the gravity around them, but this ability has been lost. Currently, Swordfin Whale hunting would be classified as a 5-star mission, but this one was cut off from the endless amount of Energy that the creatures in the sea can ingest. Hence, it is not as much of a danger, but it can still erupt forth with fury. Participants are advised to take care. Preparation phase begins now. The mission shall begin in five minutes. Total number of participants: 5"
Swordfin Whale?
Asking the system, Daneel found out that what the panel had said really was true - these creatures were descendants of a certain Godbeast that really had been a terror in the sea along with the Great Shark, and it was a fact that it had actually used to prey on the latter, too. However, unlike with that creature, it looked like the ages had not treated the species well, which led to an overall degrading in power level.
Whatever the case was, all he wanted to do was be done with this and move on. During his absence, his sovereigns had picked out rewards for their own 4-star missions, or otherwise, he would have directly used one of theirs. So, he had had no option but to embark on this slight detour, and he hoped that it would end soon.
He had read that there would be five participants, but as he looked around, he found no one.
They appeared a few minutes later, and all they said was, "Oh, it's the famous Overlord! It'll be an easy mission, then. Do you want to take the lead? We're only here for the reward."
Daneel raised his eyebrows with pleasant surprise as he heard this, as that was exactly what he had been hoping for. There were two types of members in the Order, usually - those who wanted to obtain rewards and use them to gain power, and those who wanted to hone themselves using the missions. He had been hoping that the former type would come on this mission, and seeing that that had happened, he smiled and nodded.
Those who had come were a man and a woman who were quite young, and smiles burst on their faces as they saw him agree.
"He's not as arrogant as we heard, right? Maybe those reports were exaggerated?"
Hearing the woman say this to the man, Daneel shook his head, and in the next moment, they were teleported away.
What they found themselves in was a massive cavern that was strangely filled to the brim with water.
Instantly, they all cast spells to teleport the air from the outside to allow them to breathe, and Faxul was the one who cast it for Elanev.
Daneel had heard of these underground water pockets before - they were apparently formed whenever small holes appeared in the lower part of Angaria, leading to water seeping in over a long, long time, until it hollowed out a place for itself. Finding these holes was harder than finding a toothpick in a haystack the size of a football stadium, and often, due to bad luck, the offspring of creatures in the Endless Sea would find themselves venturing into one and making it so that they would not be able to find their way back. This would be because the hole would be angled downwards, leading to the creatures not having enough strength to wade through the water while fighting gravity for kilometers on end.
Seeing the Swordfin Whale, it looked like this was the case - it had apparently grown up in this area which definitely did not have as much Energy as the endless sea, and it actually looked quite pitiful. Its body was such that it reminded Daneel of the whales from back on Earth, but it was much leaner, and as its name suggested, its fins were so sharp and long that if swept to the side, they would easily reach half its length. Its length was nothing to joke about, either - it was at least 20 m(65.6 feet) long, and 7 m(22 feet) wide.
Unlike the shark fins of the Great Shark which were a supplementary weapon, for this creature, its fins were what it used to mainly kill its prey. Hence, each fin's pointy end made those present feel a slight sense of danger, because they could detect the elementary particles gathering there as the whale was unconsciously commanding them using its ability and understanding into the aspect of sharpness that was passed down in its blood.
Daneel wondered whether he would see a cartoonish scene of the whale raising itself and fighting with two swords like a man, but soon, he cites method of attack.
Seeing them appear at the spot above it in the gigantic cavern, the whale pointed both of it fins forward, leading to the elementary particles around its two sword fins congregating into a single point that allowed it to transform into a humongous spear.
Then, it shot forward, using the attack that was programmed into its blood.
It reached a tremendous speed because of the fact that the attack was complex enough to not allow any resistance to befall the creature that was executing it, and in nearly the blink of an eye, it was upon them.
"Move," Daneel said, without caring to be polite, and in the next moment, it was as if the entire area around him had transformed into jelly.
Just like with the Paths of Heroes and Champions, the World was able to tell him the weakness of any attack that was used. Sharpness could be easily countered with a swamp which was difficult to move through and which also ate away at the elementary particles that were used, and hence, the more the whale moved, the more it began to tire, as it had to exert more and more Energy to make sure that its attack still remained activated.
Alas, it had grown up in this solitary place where it had no experience in fighting, and hence, it did not know that in this situation, its brethren would have abandoned and retreated in order to charge and try again.
It kept trying and trying until its weakened constitution made it finally fall unconscious, and even Faxul and Elanev could not believe that it had been so easy.
With that, Daneel was about to go forward to cut the whale into pieces, which was the condition for them to fulfill if they wanted the mission to end.
Yet, the other two intruded at this moment, saying, "We'll do that! We shamelessly benefited from your actions, so we should at least pay you back in this manner. Is that alright?"
Thinking for a bit, Daneel nodded and said, "Fine. Just make it quick."
With a nod, the man and woman went to the whale, and began to expertly cut it up into slabs of meat.
Daneel slacked off for a bit, thinking of the plan that he was soon going to begin, and of how lofty it was.
Yet, a few moments later, just when the two were about to be done…he felt a premonition that made him snatch Faxul and Elanev, who were beside him, by their collars and teleport away.
A terrifying explosion erupted in the spot they had just been in, and in the next second, they were all teleported away.
All five of them reappeared at the obelisk, and seeing them unhurt, the two did not even seem disappointed.
In fact, they even smiled and winked before saying, "We look forward to the next mission we take with you!"
As they flew away, the King and his sovereigns could only stand there with bewildered expressions on their faces.