What is this place? Urgh, the smell…

Sneaking around wasn’t my forte.

I was more the type of person who would cause trouble and then run away, rather than staying inconspicuous about things. If I did, if my actions didn’t leave a mark behind, then how could I rub my shitty behavior in my parent’s faces? The daughter of two respectful politicians was a little bitchy delinquent. It sounded better when I read the actual article after my first arrest.

However, that was when getting into big trouble never really was a problem. My parents couldn’t just disown me since my brother had taken his life and our relatives despised my parents so much they didn’t even want to speak with me. As such, even if I was arrested, I would be out and my name was taken off any jail time records. Bribery also worked when it came to silencing any news articles that were written about my arrest, defaming the writers until they were fired.

Now, though? I was all alone. Yoshka wasn’t around. Neither were my party members. The idiot that I was forgot to ask Hestia for some [Room] runes, so I couldn’t call for help. If I were to get caught here? Most likely, I would get killed if I couldn’t talk myself out of this.

Which begs the question, why was my first instinct to avenge the girl those two guards killed? The situation became even funnier after I had calmed down and my onnikais had informed me the girl was just an onnikai possessing a body, similar to Segawa’s puppies. In other words, that small girl was dead already, she just had been turned into an undead puppet.

Unluckily for me, I only heard that from my onnikais after I had already infiltrated this place. I wanted to bash those two guards with my mace, but before I could, more guards showed up and walked into the area behind the metal walls. Using my onnikais to distract the guards standing in front of the gate, I entered the place easily enough.

And that was when my mind calmed down after getting exposed to the atrocious smell. No wonder those guards were wearing gas masks. Not only did they wear the same armor those assassins had on when they attacked the Layavete cartel’s base, they also had a similar mask style.

Regardless, this was my situation now. My onnikais notified me of a guard station where masks were stored. Since this place just reeked of rotting corpses and probably crap, I couldn’t really focus on anything if I couldn’t breathe properly. Not like escaping was a real option since the gates were closed now and the only way to open them was through physical means.

Oh, this is so much better… I spent a moment relishing the clean air after I put the mask on behind a tree, but my mood instantly soured when I returned to reality.

[“What is this place?”] I asked the onnikais.

I turned around the corner of the tree, where I saw piles of bodies being stacked upon. Corpses, from what [Identify] told me. That terrible smell had to come from them. Looking at it closer, I noticed the body of that little girl from before on that mountain.

Weirdly enough, all the bodies had some black slime crawling out of the wounds they had on their bodies. For example, the girl from earlier had her legs cut and her head pierced by a sword. That ooze surrounded those spots like flies, acting like blood, in my opinion.

“Gouuueee…” As I continued staring in that area, the peace of the night was abruptly disturbed by the groans of a man. One of the bodies began to move, struggling out of the corpses it was covered with.

“No…tag…ain.”

Bodies fell off the pile of corpses like dominos, rolling around in their lifeless state until I flinched back at how some of them twitched around as if they were spasming. I felt an incredible urge to puke at this sight. I was used to the dead at this point, even dead humans, but this brought it to another level.

When I saw the one groaning body crawling around, I expected the twitching bodies to start moving also, only for the sound of metal clattering around to appear and weapons to suddenly stab into those bodies. It was those guards again.

“Always the same fucking shit. Every single day and night!” one of them complained as he furiously stabbed the corpse over and over again.

“Stop complaining!” A female guard chastised him. Similar to the assassins from before, all these people were beastmen. “We’ve been given another chance to live normally. This is all part of giving back to our saviors. Just wait until our Mistress and Master are finally done with the project.”

A third guard nodded as he placed the corpses back onto the pile. “She’s right, mate. Soon, all these onnikais will vanish. We’ll get our chance and then we can live normally with all the others. Don’t forget, in this human-infested world, we beasts have to stick together. Unity! For the Resurrection!”

““Unity! For the Resurrection!”” The other two guards exclaimed with a pound to their chest. It looked like a pose to me.

So this confirms it. The Resurrection and this village must be working together, or something like this.

“Hey, you guys are quite loud.” As I was thinking through this situation, I noticed a group of guards coming over with torches in their hands. “The western area is currently being covered by the Master. The bears these damn onnikais spawned using the dungeon are slowly getting whittled down.”

“What? Already? Did the Master suddenly create a new masterpiece? He couldn’t have improved his body so soon after repairing it, right?”

Repairing your body? What?

“Ha! Well, he has eight hands, technically, so he probably did. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s burn these bodies and hope they don’t regenerate them for a week before the next accident. The chief managed to sneak in a bottle of fine Greenveil rice wine for us, so let’s drink later. To nobody dying today!”

“““Yeah!”””

In merriment, the guards threw their torches onto the pile of corpses, setting it on fire like a bonfire before walking away. A few screams were coming from it, but they were quickly snuffed up, replaced by the disappearing laughter of the guards.

Seriously, what is this place? Did they really say these bodies could regenerate? How?

[“Asaka, we should move deeper.”] My onnkais gave me a suggestion to my horror.

[“W-What?! Are you kidding me? You know I don’t have much fighting power, especially against several people at once. I only have [Sacred Magic Lv. 1] and my mace. If I get caught, it’s all over.”]

[“We can protect you.”]

[“The only thing you can provide is a shield, that’s about it. You don’t have any offensive abilities, and I can’t shoot my spells out when the barrier is up.”] I shook my head in exasperation and began looking for a way out. There had to be another way since that onnikai girl managed to escape this place.

However, the onnikais squirmed around in the catalyst, sounding offended in their reply. [“Asaka, we have offensive abilities. You just never tried experimenting with us.”]

[“Yeah, and risk whatever you four are planning with that dog. And, besides, how do you expect me to train with you when all the four of you have been doing for these past three months was annoy me with ‘Oh, find the successor.’ ‘Ooooh, persuade the successor to meet the Alpha.’ Tsk, fuck that. I’m losing sleep ‘cause of the four of you!”]

Imagine having four annoying people you can’t get rid of. Imagine these four being with you all the time. And whenever you put them somewhere you couldn’t hear them, they would complain about how I should bring them everywhere for my safety. It would infuriate anybody.

The less I had to deal with them, the better. Which meant I had little to no time to actually know them better. While Tatsuya kept using his druid form despite knowing that a giant wolf might try something on our mind, I was more reserved since these onnikais were a “gift” to us. Who knew how much control Belzac had over them? Being suspicious and apprehensive was the obvious choice here.

As such, I rejected the onnikais’ idea and went in the direction of the guards. They wanted to go drink, right? This meant that they must want to go back to that village. If I could distract them with the onnikais, I could slip through their attention just like when I got inside.

While making sure I wasn't seen, I began following after the guards. Yorshka’s training was still fresh in my mind after the whole Belzac forest visit, I was able to notice the footsteps ingrained in the ground. They’re already too far away to hear properly anymore, but they still left a lot of footsteps behind to follow.

Hopefully Yorshka is done on her side. I really want to go home alr—

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Imila!”

The sound of somebody’s voice piercing through the night jerked my body back into the shadows of a nearby tree.

“No! Your body was almost recovered! Why did you have to run away like that!”

A person in a black robe, the one who screamed that, appeared from the forest and ran towards the fire. He looked around it in a panic, almost rushing, until he found what he was looking for. He pulled up his sleeves, revealing two gray arms with molds growing on him like rotting bread.

In the next moment, black slime oozed out from them, covering his limbs up to his shoulders. He thrust them into the flames, grabbed onto a burning body and pulled it out. It was the body of the girl from before.

“Ark! Your body! It can still be repaired. Here.” He took out a canteen and poured its contents onto the fire, dousing it. What was left of the small girl almost looked too blackened to appear human.

Jeez… I know she’s already dead but that just seems wrong.

While I was feeling disgusted at what happened, the man holding the burned body seemed elated, letting out a relieved sigh. “Goodness, yes, this can still be repaired. I can probably fix you up with some flesh for mana, but you need to stop being so reckless!”

He then stood up with the girl in his arms, looking at the rest of the bodies. “I will see all of you later on. Please, we cannot be too reckless all the time!”

A few black clouds, similar to the onnikais Tasianna talked to in Gleisvale escaped from the bonfire, following behind the robed man as he delved back into the forest. Curiosity got to me. Who was that person and why did he only grab the girl? Was he another onnikai?

Against my own good judgement, I decided to follow behind him instead of the guards. I had the feeling that if I could watch whatever he was doing, I probably could find out what was going on here. However, if I got caught by that person, would I be able to get away?

Warm bath or curiosity? Hard choice… Hold on, I don’t have a reason to do any of this anymore. Who cares! I’m not risking my life for information!

I decided to run away. No way was I—

“Grouuuh!”

“Khrraaaaaaiek! ELRIIICK!”

I shrieked from the top of my lungs as something suddenly grabbed onto my leg and attempted to pull me down. I wasn’t able to detect that through [Enhanced Enemy Sense] nor [Danger Perception]!

Shit! I just called for that dick!

I clenched my teeth at how embarrassing it was to call out for somebody who wasn’t even here anymore. But I didn’t have much time to dawdle on that thought as a strong tug caused me to fall onto my knees. Snapping my head around, I unsheathed my mace, imbued holy power onto it with my [Saint’s Wrath] title and smacked whatever did this.

A shrill groan. Something just screamed from below me, and when I looked under my shoulder, I saw a broken arm sticking out of the ground. The moment I became aware of what was happening, I jumped onto my feet only moments before another hand shot out.

Shit!

Signals suddenly appeared around me. There were more things hiding underneath the ground!

“Elri— Shit! Fuck! Not again!”

I couldn’t believe myself. Not once, but twice now? I knew I relied on him and the boys to protect me from any close dangers, but I didn’t think I was that reliant. It felt terrible how I was acting like a damsel-in-distress, but my offensive options were quite limited. I could use my mace well enough, but not against things swarming around me.

I had to relax and calm my breathing. My heart was racing too much. Elrick was gone. The bastard left on the earliest carriage the same day after he revealed himself as a vampire. He left at dawn, trying to avoid me and everybody else. I wanted to tell him to stay, but all I could was see him off.

I was isolated from everybody right now. I had to think and solve this by myself now!

[“Onnikais!”] I took out the catalyst that was holding those four wolf spirits, materializing a purple barrier around me.

Moments later, more hands sprouted from the earth, before pushing their bodies out from their hiding spots. Zombies! Actual, rotting humans were struggling to stand up, groaning and moaning like a bunch of sex-deprived office workers going to a love hotel after their monthly paycheck!

And, no, these undead weren’t like that girl from before. While the girl had considerable wounds which could scare people, she honestly looked more like a kid dressing up for Halloween. However, these things? I couldn’t see any light in their eyes. They looked like puppets forcibly held up with strings.

And these things dashed towards me, banging their pus-covered hands against the barrier. I was confident they couldn’t break through, but I wasn’t able to move or react with this thing up!

“Hey! You four, do something! Speak with them! They’re onnikais, too, right?!” I pleaded to them with a pounding heart.

[“They are not onnikai. They are the undead, bodies controlled through dark mana from a necromancer.”]

“What?! T-Then, what the fuck am I supposed to do— The amulet!” I opened my storage and pulled out the amulet that weird elven woman gave to me in Gleisvale.

[Amulet of the Blessed Spirits] was the name of this item. The moment I put it on, I shouted at the zombies to “s-stand back!” And, thankfully, these things stopped hitting the arcane shield and moved back slowly.

I-It worked?!

I couldn’t believe it. My idea was just a spur-of-the-moment thought. I wasn’t expecting this thing to actually work, but when I first appraised it, I noticed it mentioned an ability to speak with the undead and onnikais. Tasianna even told me the [Death Aura] skill it had would allow me to command the undead, although she never had the chance to use it herself.

Fortunately, it worked. The fact the zombies weren’t attacking me anymore was evidence this amulet actually worked. I couldn’t help but thank Klea’Hatma for telling me to keep it. Even if it was suspicious as hell, it certainly prevented me from getting a heart attack.

I hate jump scares! Fucking horror series these days!

I didn’t really know why zombies suddenly appeared out of nowhere, before the onnikais told me the undead were treated as monsters. Even those resurrected and controlled by necromancers were classified as monsters, enabling them to evolve.

Identify.

So, humans are normally ranked E? Is that what I’m understanding?

With the knowledge that zombies were actually real in this world, I was beginning to lose my sense of reality for this world. However, then again, I was in a party with a giant dragon my homeroom teacher died and was reincarnated as a giant lightning wolf. The crazier things got, the more I questioned how I hadn’t accepted all this craziness.

With that fact in my head, my heart began to race more, to the point I could hear it in my ears. Not like Any of this should make sense to me, really. Still, I would be stuck in here forever if I didn’t try to calm down. Reluctantly, I gulped, and inspected the creatures before me.

First, all five of these zombies were humans and, from the look of their armor, they were not a bunch of random goons. They had weapons on their hips and none of them looked too worn out. Same with the armor; aside from some damage to the leather and gambeson, they could still be used with no problems after some repairs. They honestly looked like mercenaries, but I would hazard a guess they didn’t belong to the beastmen guards. Definitely not.

I shook my head in exasperation. “Jeez, did they come from somewhere? Did they attack—”

“Who are you and how were you able to—?!”

“Kyaaaaaak!”

I shrieked. I shrieked once again, and pointed my enchanted mace in the direction of the voice only for my eyes to widen up widely.

It was the man from before.

“Tsk! Who are you?” He scowled at me and pulled out some sorta talisman from his belt and held it up. “Talk! Or I will make you talk after you die!”

“Grrrouuuu…”

I snapped my head around. The zombies were moving again and began attacking the barrier.

“What? What is that thing?” The man stared at the purple barrier in confusion, but somehow wasn’t able to see the onnikais. “Dammit! An unknown intruder!”

Shit! I noticed the exposed hands of the arm forming that black slime again. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, so this was the perfect time to use one of the few things my parents actually managed to teach me.

Speaking.

“Wait! I didn’t come here for hostilities! I just came to look!” I held up the amulet hanging from my neck, hoping its ability to speak with onnikais also worked on this one. Well, I hoped he was an onnikai.

“Y-You?! That amulet, where did you get it?! I can sense the aura of Goddess Death on it!”

Goddess Death?

The man started to become unnerved, against my expectations. I thought he would settle down but showing him the amulet just made him more distrustful of me.

“Y-You must be an enemy! The living! You are a human! You stole that from a follower of Goddess Death! You are here to extract more of our mana! Intruder! Ravager! Barbarian!”

Oi?! What is with all these accusations?!

The slime on his hands exploded forward, clashing against the barrier and pushing it back. The zombies were covered in that ooze, but instead of being taken out of this encounter, they simply became even more feral. What the hell was going on here?!

[“Hey! You four! Speak with him! Now!”]

[“We are trying but he isn’t registering our voices! He’s ignoring us.”]

[“Then speak fucking louder! Dammit! There has to be something we can do?!”]

Think! Think! A tool? An item? A spell?

But I had nothing in my arsenal. I wasn’t prepared for this kinda encounter. The barrier wouldn’t break unless the onnikais disappeared, but until something happened to stop him, I was trapped inside this ball. All I could do now was to lament how useless I was without the others.

[“Stop! Emil!”]

But suddenly, a girl’s voice resounded in my head and the black slime waves stopped entirely. The ooze moved, moving away from the barrier.

I saw the zombies falling on the ground, back to being lifeless, and a black cloud floating around their former master. The robed figure had his head turned towards that cloud, listening to its words.

[“That miss isn’t an enemy! She’s a faemancer. She has onnikais with her and that amulet has to be hers! She has to be a fellow follower of Goddess Ilsaphone!”]

“What?” The man turned back to me. “That woman? That human?”

Recognizing the rope tossed at me, I grabbed onto this opportunity and told my onnikais to break down the barrier and show themselves to the man. I clearly shouted “Onnikais! Show yourselves!” to make it believable that I was in control of them.

As he stared at the wolf spirits, I landed the finishing blow to persuade him. “And, yes, that onnikai is correct. This amulet is mine, but I’m not a faemancer. I can just speak with you through it.”

“…” The robbed man went silent, tilting his head around and around as if he was evaluating me. Eventually, he took his hood off, revealing the mangled, insect-infested face of his. It was horrendous to look at and I could feel my heart skipping a beat as I wanted to scream out.

However, I didn’t. I swallowed that shriek and remained steadfast. Negotiations were all about your poker face.

“… Come. We made too much noise. You’ll be killed if the guards find you, human.” And it looked like it paid off.

[“Yes! Good choice, Emil! This must be the one Goddess Ilsaphone told us to wait for! This has to be her!”]

“Silence, Imila… We will know soon enough.”

He turned his back around, moving with the onnikai floating next to him. In the next moment, numerous black clouds revealed themselves hiding behind all the trees around me. They had me surrounded.

Grrrrrrrrroummmmm! I screamed internally in my head.

I swallowed my saliva and began moving with them. To where? I didn’t know.

Please, everybody! Find me!

All I could hope was that the others would find me with their party bracelets.