*Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab*

  Elaina was getting overzealous with this next kill... The assassin who almost impaled Frey wasn't being put to rest. Instead, he was being made into a combat dummy. She was dismembering the bastard and filling him with several new holes.

  Something that Damian had never thought about was that you could dismember an undead without risking them coming back as a wraith. But only after they had been brought back. Yes! You, too, can beat the living hell out of an undead with little risk. Just let them inhabit the body, then lop off their limbs. No wraiths!

  Elaina continued to poke new holes in the undead assassin, avoiding the brain and heart. Funny enough, they still had the weak points they had in life. You could have ripped the heart out of a living person, but once they returned as an undead, stabbing the spot where their heart once rested would be lethal.

  But eventually, even the undead's resilience gave out and passed on to the next life, wherever that might be.

  "Tch..."

  It seemed that Elaina hadn't had enough torturing the undead. Damian half believed that it had given up on its own murderous nature and tried to flee. Obviously, that couldn't be true; he was projecting himself into the undead's position.

  But this all reinforced one thing in his mind: That he'd better treat Frey well and never get on Elaina's bad side. If he ever met any of her numerous sisters, he'd better get down on his hands and knees while showering them with every pleasantry known to man.

  The last assassin was strung up, and all of his goodies were dropped and sorted.

  This assassin mostly used various knives and throwing weapons. For some reason, he also had a lot of paper and writing utensils. Elaina had tried to see if there was any hidden writing, but there was nothing.

  Maybe he planned to be an author, but never took the first step.

  These assassins clearly weren't making the most out of their spatial storage. Given that they were tier 6, they should have been able to hold much more.

  Damian was starting to suspect that they had trained themselves to hold that skill for the sole purpose of disposing of their own bodies upon death. If it weren't for Elaina, Damian and his party wouldn't have had a clue that their bodies would end up being so dangerous, other than the undead bit.

  Out of everything they've recovered, there was one major thing to note. There was no communicator amongst them. Damian had assumed that they would be carrying at least one. That meant these assassins were entirely on their own and didn't report their efforts to their master.

  Fortunate news, although slightly unfortunate for their wallets. It would have been great to get their hands on a communicator, regardless of its origins.

  "What next?" Damian asked the group, but mostly Elaina.

  With a flick of her wrist, the bodies hung in the trees were decapitated, and the snake-like strings dragged them back. It was unsettling to see the heads move so quickly. It was as if they had little feet under their necks that trotted them along.

  "Donna, would you store these? You never know what you might find out through a seer skill."

  With a bit of reluctance, Donna stored the heads while Elaina tossed the bodies far into the forest. The bloodstains on the ground sank beneath the road as if the road itself was thirsty.

  "Alex, would you be a dear and launch the rest of these items into the forest?"

  Another polite request was met. Alex stomped her foot, launching the leftover assassin tools and potions into the forest. Glass shattered, followed by the wilting of forest trees.

  The group continued down the road at a quick walking pace. The ice cart started to melt, having lost its purpose, leaving behind only a few scant traces of their battle and haul of goods.

  They chose not to use their makeshift method of flight. According to Elaina, they were nearing a town, and their flight method could draw too much attention.

  After another hour of walking, they met their first rest stop. It was situated on a hill and surrounded by farmland. A two-story stone wall surrounded the town, but the interior remained visible thanks to the incline of the hill.

  It looked like a nice place to settle down after years of adventuring. There was one problem, though. The whole town was crawling with soldiers. Not your regular guards, either, but fully outfitted military personnel. The presence of soldiers turned a quaint village into a formidable fortress.

  Ah, shit... Damian looked over at Elaina; she only shrugged. Meeting the eyes of his party members, they also shrugged.

  Do we just cut through the forest, or dare to learn more about the current situation? If we could grab a carriage, that'd save so much time.

  Damian took another look at his group and noted Frey's fiery red hair, Donna's golden blonde hair and short stature, Alex's freakish height, and Fergus's platinum blonde hair and slit-like eyes.

  Higgins was still wearing her guard equipment, so she'd stick out like a sore thumb. He didn't know what he'd be working with under it. She's never removed her helmet since he met her. She could be the number one beauty in Gamo or the most plain-looking woman he'd ever seen. The helmet covered just enough that he couldn't tell.

  After giving his party a good, long look, Damian started to feel self-conscious about his own appearance. He was slightly above average in height and had normal dark brown hair, bordering on black. Elaina mentioned that his face looked good... Frey never mentions that he's handsome...

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I'm likely our best bet for blending in and getting info from the guards.

  Damian started to raise his left hand to brush his hair back, but he felt nothing... Ah, that's right. He'd be easily identifiable with a missing arm.

  So that meant that they'd have to choose between Higgins and Elaina. Even though Elaina had the same colored hair as Frey, she could easily prove her identity by producing her blood manipulation skill.

  As for Higgins, Damian suspected that sending her off in regular clothes would end up with a trail of guards trying to capture her. He had witnessed earlier that she was almost incapable of telling a lie.

  "Elaina, do you think you could check that town? Maybe find out the latest news, and grab us a carriage ride?"

  She wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her close in a hug. "I'm not leaving Frey's side. Not ever. Never Again. The second I leave, you'll drag her into danger."

  "Big Sis, I'll be fine on my own. Wouldn't it be better to gather some information? You always taught me that information can be the key between success and failure." Frey was doing her best to turn her eyes into adorable saucers that blinked rapidly.

  Elaina was torn. She was bouncing back and forth between leading by example and sticking to her sister like tree sap. One would please her adorable little sister, while the other would fuel her own selfish desires. If her overprotective nature continued to escalate, she might end up strapping her sister to her back. Frey's feet would never touch the ground again.

  "Ok... I'll go. Promise me you'll stay out of trouble? Just tuck yourselves into the forest and use those enchanted camouflage covers we got from those assassins."

  "I promise, Big Sis."

  Another swift hug, and then she was gone, quickly moving through the forest and around the town. She was going to pretend she was traveling to Gamo, instead of from it.

  "So... How long do you think until trouble finds us?" Damian said in an attempt to tease Frey.

  'sigh'

  "I think we can manage to not get into trouble at least until my sister gets back," Frey said after sighing.

  Damian was watching his party closely. For some reason, he felt that something unexpected was about to happen. He had no evidence to believe this—just a gut feeling.

  ***

  Something unexpected did happen; Elaina didn't return. Seconds Matter had waited in the tree line and watched her enter the town. The guards had held her up at the gate for a while, but eventually let her in.

  That was three hours ago, and it was now dark. They hadn't seen any signs of Elaina since.

  Do we wait? Do we try to sneak in? What could have her so caught up in a small town that she hasn't returned? She's a tier 6 and should be able to run away from almost any trouble.

  "Frey, what do you think we should do?"

  "Sis said that we should stay put. That's what we should do." She was shifting uncomfortably as she reasoned why her sister was infallible. She, too, was concerned about what could have happened to her sister.

  What if they had a seer stationed in town? But then they would have sent soldiers out to capture us some time ago. But what if they were waiting for the cover of darkness, or to call for more soldiers to surround us?

  Imaginations of the worst possible scenarios were running afoul in Damian's mind. People with seer skills were scarce. The likelihood that one was stationed in a small town outside a capital city was slim to none.

  Although you could also go back around and believe that due to the attack, they evacuated the seers to defensible locations, there was always a way to logic that something could be true, even when it wasn't.

  "Fergus, I'm hungry!" Alex's open desires brought Damian out of his spiral.

  "Donna, could you take out the rations?"

  "...We're all out. There's still a good amount of uncooked dungeon meat, though."

  "I'll eat it! There are dishes where you don't cook the meat, right?" Alex blurted out in hangry urgency.

  "...Yes, but those are always done with meat that's free of parasites or other harmful things... I suppose dungeon monster meat shouldn't have anything like that. But I also don't have any of the spices or ingredients that typically go with it."

  "Just wing it. I'm sure your skill will help cover what you don't have. I'm hungry!"

  "Donna, if you would?"

  Donna used her water to clean Fergus's hands, then took out his cooking supplies.

  With a sigh, Fergus started to dice up the meat on his cutting board. After being diced into a pulp, he sprinkled on salt and pepper and began hand-mixing it. The entire time, he had a frustrated look on his face as if something was wrong.

  "Here it is, but..."

  Alex swiftly grabbed her plate and began shoveling the food in. Her eyes became wide, not out of reverie, but shock. She continued to eat, but with a disappointed look on her face.

  "What's wrong?"

  "...My skill wasn't adhering to the food. It seems that I need to cook with heat to use it."

  'Gasp!' Devastation appeared on everyone's faces. Something was sparkling in Damian's eyes. It wasn't intrigue, but the forming of tears shining off the moonlight.

  This means that whenever Fergus makes sandwiches, salads, or other cold food, they wouldn't get to enjoy the benefits of his skill. For some of them, it'd be cutting out their favorite meals. After tasting heaven, they couldn't go back.

  We could eat lightly cooked salads and sandwiches. I think they do that in the Empire. This must be put to the test right away!

  Damian started grabbing sticks from around him and piling them up. Before he could ask Frey to light the fire, she pulled him back onto the ground.

  "We'll test it later..." She, too, had a worried look on her face. What would happen to the budding cult if they had to cut out people's favorite foods?

  We've got to tier up to 5. Silent determination started simmering within them. A tier up could remedy this major flaw in Fergus's skill.

  All in due time... Damian was now looking at his status sheet. He had gone up to level 23. Another impressive jump, but nothing compared to fighting against the wraiths.

  There was a unique phenomenon, where fighting against dungeon monsters would actually help you level faster than fighting against people of the same strength.

  Another facet of this was that people would level even faster when combating the undead or wraiths. You could only gain significant progress toward your level when you actually fought against your foe. Performing the rites of the dead with a quick kill wasn't a fast way to level.

  Fighting against an undead and drawing a fight out over a long period of time would actually grant you far more progress than swiftly killing it. The act of challenging yourself against another was at the core of leveling.

  You could also spar against an individual of a much higher tier, significantly increasing your leveling progress. The only problem with this method was that it was challenging to break tiers with.

  Lastly, there was the question of what abilities you would receive when tiering up. Many people believe that the skills gained in life-or-death battles are far more effective than those achieved through training.

  Damian had always questioned this, but given what he and his friends had received in their struggle against Hans, he couldn't outright refute the claim.

  Where did normal animals fit into all this? For some reason, they barely helped in the progress of leveling, even if they were a significant threat, such as a giant bear. You were just as well off training your skill against the open air.

  '!!!' Damian was jolted from his daydreaming. His skill was picking up a projectile headed toward them from above.

  Everyone took notice of his alarm and prepared for battle.

  *Thud*

  A knife landed a little bit away from the group. Something was tied around the handle with a string of blood.