Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

Isera rushed up the deserted part of the fortress's second floor located below the main basin. With the battle in its full swing, the space between the walls where the fighting was taking place and Banjay's trap she noticed from above…

It was empty.

As weird as it felt to find herself in such a pocket of peace and calm in the middle of all the ongoing slaughter, Isera wasn't going to complain.

Jump from the height at which those foreigners' strange vehicle was nothing much for a patriarch's ear like Isera, especially now that she got comfortable as a supreme.

But if not for this pocket that those foreigners mentioned before advancing above the fortress, Isera could either land right where the battle was most heated or right where the patriarchate's reserves were readying themselves to spring up the trap.

The existence of a spot like this was the greatest proof that it was an all-hands-on-deck situation for the defenders. And yet, in this particular scenario, Isera felt thankful for it.

'Now, all that's left is to find Jay,' she thought, her face souring at the very same moment.

Up until this point, fed by the drastic images from her pendant, all she thought about was how she could help… But not what would the details be of the moment of reunion.

'Oh right, we didn't really part on good terms…'Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Fighting off the cold shiver that ran down her spine, Isera continued to rush through this deserted space, passing empty barracks, warehouses, and grain silos.

This whole area used to be the heart of the fortress, conveniently closer to the first wall than the higher ground behind the third wall while sitting safely behind the second wall, much less prone to sudden attacks.

Now, though, this entire place only served to paint just how desperate the situation came to be.

'I need to move faster!'

The not-so-distant cries, shouts, and general noise only served as a constant reminder of what was at stake.

Rather than trying to pass straight through the main ramp up the basin, Isera took the long way up, going as far as the very edge, where the basin's cliff was steepest.

'It's still here…'

Isera breathed a sigh of relief, jumping up and grasping at a tiny, rope-ladder hanging off the cliff's protrusion up top the cliff.

It was extremely hard and inconvenient to climb, a task impossible for anyone burdened with any sort of cargo, armor, or weapons.

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A leftover from one of the many reconstruction and development efforts their ancestors put towards reinforcing the place.

With her supreme strength and agility, Isera scaled the difficult-to-hold ladder like some sort of a monkey, pulling herself up several steps at a time. The height of the cliff was of no issue, taking less than five seconds for the girl to climb.

Upon reaching the top, she encountered a simple, resetable, combinable lock. Still relying on her memory, Isera twisted a total of five leavers before pushing the heavy doors out of the way.

Only by setting the levers in the right pattern would the lock on the doors release. And the moment they would naturally swing back and close down, all the levers would fall down.

A countermeasure only aimed to slow down anyone using one of many shafts like this, a structure as easy to break free from… as it was for the defenders to cut the ropes and toss it down the cliff, doors, leavers, and the rope ladder alike.

'Fa…'

BOOM!

A massive explosion shook the air, making the entire structure of the cliff's shaft tremble, the ropes trembling… but holding strong.

Perfectly timed, whatever just happened gave Isera the perfect opportunity to sneak into the basin unnoticed…

That is if she could care about sneaking around in the slightest.

'FASTER!'

Isera had no clue of the extent of the means of those strange people who picked her up. And while they surely managed to escape the trap that imprisoned the greatest minds and practitioners for hundreds of years…

Wasn't it all just the benefit of the vehicle they rode?

It surely was an intricate magical device, but…

'No,' rushing past the members of the crowd that reached nearly all the way to the edge of the cliff, Isera shook her head. She paid no mind to how her rush instantly alerted all those around her and simply continued to make her way to the front of the crowd.

'Still, if they can make a vehicle like that, then… Would their weapon-making ability be any worse?' Isera resisted the desire to look over in the direction the massive explosion came from. Yet, as she refocused her eyes and looked out ahead, trying to find the best possible path to her old friend, she finally noticed the detail that she missed from up and above.

'So that's why…'

Several questions suddenly clicked in Isera's head.

The strange looks those magical foreigners exchanged when mentioning the gathering. A short, singular glance filled with contempt when she brought up the topic of Jay's location.

For this wasn't a retribution army of patriarchate's best crowding eagerly to get a piece of the empire once they step into the trap.

This was a rag-tag bunch of the people that always plagued every military grouping.

Beggars, tiny merchants, whores, slave dealers, scammers… Just the usual bunch. Then, there was a layer of obviously newbie recruits and…

The mothers, the sisters, the wives, the young kids, and the old parents alike.

With just an escort of several newbie units, Banjay pushed all of the families living in and around the fortress into the crowd, as if aiming to make use of them in the battle.

Only all the way up at the front, a three-men-deep line of proper soldiers circled the gathering, and a two-man line of perfectly well-armed elites made up the front of the crowd.

Even further ahead, just by the tiny wall that protected the main tunnels, a lone, tiny turret stood. And from a distance, Isera could easily see Jay's figure cutting across the blue sky of the early day.

Quite noticeably, he looked ahead, his eyes fixated on the floating device that Isera just jumped down from.

'Shit!'

Rushing forth, Isera managed to catch a glance at the situation at the wall.

The battle… has frozen. All the soldiers, both patriarchates and imperials, stared in a daze at a huge field of just… emptiness.

Where once imperial officers crowded their men to the attack, hoping to finally push through the walls with this next wave, there was now a field of scattered limbs, torsos, and only a few relatively intact corpses.

A bloody bite aimed right at the imperial belly.

Rushing with all her might, Isera ignored the possible ladder inside of the small tower, simply jumping as soon as she reached near enough.

'Did I grow quicker?' she thought when all those who rushed to stop her upon notice appeared to be extremely sluggish. 'Or did he fake the veterans too?'

Isera's face darkened down even further, only for the girl to reach out and grab the edge of the tower's top, kicking her legs over the obstacle and landing mere meters behind her long-lost friend and one of his subordinates.

But even with her newfound speed, Isera failed to take Jay by surprise. By the time she landed, he had already turned around and pulled out his sword, while starting to raise his left hand to give the obvious order.

"It's been quite some time," Isera carefully spoke out, slowly raising her hands away from her hips, recognizing the abruptness of not only her appearance… but also her return.

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