“Formation!” yelled a man in full plate armor. He ducked behind a well-worn kite shield with an image of a boar on it, and held a battleaxe in his left hand.

I sort of just stood there and gaped at the unexpected group of people.

From behind the shield bearer, a tall man with a goatee, leather armor, and a spear took up position behind him and to the right. “Ready!” he yelled, leveling a spear at me.

On the guy’s weapon side, a raven haired woman moved to cover his other flank with a small shield and hammer. She wore a tabard of Rymena, the goddess of light. “Ready!” she yelled.

From behind the newly formed arrowhead, a guy in a noble outfit ran behind the leader to hide. He didn’t say a peep.

A fifth person showed themself by shooting an arrow at my face. Nearly succeeded too. My new bodyguard moved with a frankly implausible speed, catching the projectile with his sword and knocking it away.

I don’t think any of us were ready for that, because it was their turn to stand gaping. The group’s hesitation didn’t last long, and they advanced on us together.

Skelebro’s next swing caught the edge of the leader’s shield, and the sickle part of the blade ripped it away like a blanket. Its follow up punch to the dude’s helmeted face sent him crashing into the cowering noble, and they both rolled down some steps.

Holy shit! I think my minion here is quite a bit more powerful than everyone else.

A shadow to my left caught my attention, and I looked up just in time to see a masked woman with a short sword flying at me. Her blade extended outward to my head. On my command, my much faster ghoul claw flew forward and intercepted the blade. Her sword penetrated all the way through the hand, but the unexpectedness of a limb launch messed up her aim.

I still wasn’t taking chances.

Using Spring Forward, I sprung, well, backward to create distance. Right after that, another arrow whizzed right past my head.

“What the f--” yelled the girl in the mask. I looked up to see my ghoul claw had ignored being impaled and stuck all five nails into her sword hand. She collapsed from paralysis mid curse.

I jumped behind the wooden double door, right as another arrow came for me.

“By the light of the heavens, I cast thee out!” yelled the priestess of Rymena, and a bright light sizzled through the air. The smell of ozone accompanied her chant, and I felt a needle pricking pain all across my body.

Crouched behind my wooden barrier, I shuffled over to the door crack to take a peek. My knight was smoking and being forced backward up the steps from the radius of painful light. Merely looking at it hurt my eyes.

It wasn’t all bad. The guy with the spear was missing his head. And the plate guy was running after his shield. Meanwhile, the archer that I still hadn’t spotted took useless potshots at my guardian.

I could have told you that was a waste of time.

Finally, the team’s rogue was still out cold on the ground.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out one of the two books I’d kept. Then, after the next arrow skidded off my knight, I stepped from behind cover and hurled the novel at the priestess. The book opened up mid-flight, flapping through the air like a bird. A moment later, the corner of the binding smashed directly into her nose.

“OW!” she yelled, stumbling backward. Then the light winked out. A second later, her head tumbled away.

I can’t believe that worked.

“Retreat! I say retreat! I order you to retreat at once!” yelled the posh nobleman. But his plea fell on deaf ears. I wished they’d have listened; it was good advice.

The armored guy with the shield charged forward, screaming at the top of his lungs. I wish I could say his heroic charge did him justice. But he lost his head like the others. The decapitation was almost casual. As offhand as one could get, really.

The noble ran for his life, and I commanded the knight to let him go. Instead, I had him drag the paralyzed rogue into the temple, then shut and bar the door.

Well, now what do I do?

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I didn’t want to kill the girl in cold blood. It made perfect sense for her and her allies to attack me. You know, being a monster and all. I thought about just throwing her back outside, but if I did that, I was afraid she’d catch me with the next sneak attack.

Communicating seemed like the best idea, but I had to make sure she didn’t off me while I drew in the dust. So, I stripped her down into her underwear—not because I’m a perv. I just figured a rogue would have stuff squirreled away. That done, I bound her hands with the laces from her boots.

Her eyes were panicking the entire time. I yanked down her mask and got my first good look at her. She was blonde-haired, pretty, with a dainty nose and a smattering of freckles.

Of course, I recognized her instantly. She was my cousin Rosamund Farrow.

Like really? How many nobles from great houses are going to be down here? This place probably went centuries without a visitor and now it’s the hottest spot.

I slapped my forehead.

Together, we waited for the ghoul toxin to wear off. And as the minutes passed, I was no closer to knowing how to approach the situation.

Rosamund hadn’t been close to Oran, but I also knew he wouldn’t have wanted her to come to harm. For that matter, neither did I. Yet most of her party had died, and her chances of making the trip back alone were slim.

The only good thing about all this was she hadn’t recognized me with the mask on.

Once she started twitching, I knew she’d be able to talk again.

“Why are you here?” I wrote in the dust.

A calculating look came over her eyes as she reconsidered the situation.

“We are down here looking for a noble woman that disappeared,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Who?”

“Her name is Lovina Strain of House Vandergast.”

I threw back my head and laughed at that. It couldn’t be helped.

The horrible gasping sound that was my chuckle made her tense. I could see the blood rush to her cheeks in fear. I made a shooing motion for her to calm down.

“Dead.” I wrote, watching her face closely. She just sat there.

I mimed a zombie with my hands up, shambling around. Brought back some splendid memories.

That cracked the veneer.

“She’s undead now? Like you?”

I shook my head at that.

She ain’t a thing like me, lady.

“Mindless.” I answered. “Killed by Pollina.” I wrote under it.

“Can you prove this?” she asked.

I admired her for that. Almost naked, tied up in a freezing crypt and surrounded by monsters, she still had the fortitude to keep her mind on her mission. She hadn’t even once begged or asked what I planned on doing with her. For an eighteen-year-old girl, she impressed me.

I reached behind me and pulled out Pollina’s backpack. Opening up the side pockets, I poured out miscellaneous crap that I didn’t find useful. An assortment of jewelry and hair care equipment tumbled to the floor.

“Anything?” I wrote.

Rosamund leaned forward, examining the stuff with a critical eye. After a minute, she leaned back and shook her head.

I shrugged.

The two of us sat quietly for a bit, planning what to say next.

“How are you, I m-mean, are you a zombie?” she started.

I nodded my head and smiled at her.

“Not dangerous.” I wrote.

She bit her lip to avoid giving away her disagreement.

I laughed at that again, then wrote, “You attack me.”

Rosamund let out a gigantic sigh, releasing some of her tension. “Okay, what now, then?”

“You don’t attack me, I let go. Must promise.”

“You are just going to let me go? All I have to do is promise not to attack you?” she looked understandably skeptical.

“Yes. Will you?”

“I promise not to attack you.”

Smiling, I reached behind her and cut the bindings loose. My skeleton knight stood nearby. I’m not a total idiot.

I shuffled back while she freed her feet, giving her space.

After getting dressed, she turned to face me. “You know, even with you letting me go, there are going to be more people down here. The man with us was Lovina’s fiance. He won’t stop until he knows for sure what happened, and his pockets run deep.”

“Tell him.” I wrote.

“What, that Pollina Mavis killed her? Who’s going to believe that? I don’t even believe that.”

"Truth," I wrote, and shortly after, "Saw it."

“Oh, okay. I’ll just tell him the zombie that killed three tenth level classers saw it happen.”

I held out my finger to make a pinky promise, and she rolled her eyes.

“No one is going to believe any of this shit,” she mumbled to herself. But my superior hearing caught it.

“Okay alone?” I asked.

“Guess we’ll see,” she said, setting her jaw with resolve.

“Can escort you.”

“Why?” she asked, a confused look on her face. I could tell that she was putting on a brave face, but this interaction was wearing her down. She’d just seen people she’d probably trained with and broken bread with slaughtered.

“Want to see.” I wrote.

“See? See what? What’s out there? Don’t you already know?”

“No.”

“Alright, let’s go,” she said, suddenly upbeat.

My skeleton opened the door, and she sprinted out like a rabbit. Never looked back even once.

Clever girl. She just might make it.