Megumi awoke to the sight of dim moonlight shining through the thin curtains of the hotel room and Poro-tan nudging her on the shoulder. "It's around midnight. You still up for doing this tonight?"

Megu blinked away her sleepiness and sat up slowly, rubbing her left eye with the palm of her hand. "Tonight is our best chance to get some leads. Megu doesn't think that the building in the market district is their base of operations, it's probably just a drop off point or something for the things they steal. Either way, if we take them out, we can get another clue."

"Makes sense, I guess. I'm ready if you are." Poro-tan went to the small armoire where they kept their bags and cloaks.

While he was getting ready, Megumi dragged herself out of bed. The floor of the small room was cold on her bare feet and she shivered slightly. She headed towards the washroom and splashed some water on her face to wake up. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't nervous about the operation that evening. The culprit behind the thieves little fun house was definitely a warlock and that could be a big problem for them.

She didn't know a lot about people with that class other than they tended to be truly demented. It was likely that he or she was being contracted by the Thieves Guild, which meant that there was a decent possibility that he was a member of the Villains Guild. If they had the kind of money to hire someone of his apparent talents, then who knows what else they could run into out there.

Suddenly, she found herself missing having Kieren around. Having a second ally to watch her back was definitely invaluable. In just a couple levels, she would be able to gain another pawn through her Soul Trap skill. She considered placing both her own TPs and Poro-tan's before heading out on the operation. She pulled up his skill tree to have a look since it had been a while since she had looked at it.

Sword Styles Ki Skills Passive Auras Tiger Style Holy Blade Warrior's Essence Intimidate Turtle Style Shockwave Stalwart ???? Crane Style Flame Blade Fortify Health ???? ???? ???? Adrenaline ????

She had been neglecting to look at his skill tree and couldn't help but wonder if she should have been working harder to expand on his skill set rather than focusing on just the few skills he already had. She wasn't interested in him learning another sword style, at least for now so she ignored that tree. The Flame Blade skill could come in handy in a lot of situations. It was definitely a skill to consider unlocking. Adrenaline was also a new skill that hadn't been on the tree the last time she looked at it, so she read the description.

Adrenaline Killing an enemy combatant gives you a stack of adrenaline which invigorates you, raising your strength, vitality, and agility by 1 for 3 minutes. Maximum stacks at level 1: 5

The skill didn't seem to be very strong, but it looked like it had potential to turn Poro-tan into a true killing machine. If each stack of adrenaline added one to each of those stats, then at 5 stacks it would add up to a lot. This would probably be the skill that she was going to invest his TP into, but just to be on the safe side, she read the description for Intimidate.

Intimidate Strike fear into the hearts of your enemies! Activating this aura will cause anyone within 15 feet of you to be filled with a sense of dread causing them to doubt themselves. Enemies of significantly lower levels will be filled with so much dread that they will run away. At level 1, the chance of a successful intimidation is 5%. MP Cost: 10 MP per 30 seconds.

It didn't seem like a very good skill. Megumi judged it to be trash, considering its low chance of success and high MP cost. She placed the point into Adrenaline. She decided that she would hold onto her TPs for now. She might need to place them at the last second if something happened, but it was good to know she'd be able to give herself a power boost when and if she needed it. Poro-tan had finished getting ready and was in the process of sliding his bed back into place. "What's the hold up, Megumi? You don't look ready to go at all."

She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't been getting ready at all. "Ah... right. Megu was just looking at your skill tree and unlocking the Adrenaline skill." Megumi headed over to the washroom again and changed into a fresh set of clothes. She put on some warm leggings and put on a black dress that was comfortable and good for skulking around in the dark. Megumi was ready to deliver death to her enemies. She grinned at herself in the mirror when thinking about the carnage she would get to partake in this evening.

Megumi grabbed her cloak and magical bag from the armoire and put them on. "Let's go have some fun, Poro-tan."

Her companion let out an exasperated gasp that only mildly annoyed her and they made their way downstairs. To her surprise, there were still people up and about in the common room. Several staff members were busy wiping down tables and cleaning up after what looked like was a busy evening. The manager who had checked them in saw them coming down stairs and came over to them.

"Is everything okay? Anything I can assist you with this evening?"

"We're just going out for a bit. Hopefully we'll be back in a few hours."

"Very good, miss. We keep a staff member on duty at all hours of the day, so if you need anything when you return, don't hesitate to ask." With that, he excused himself and went back to micro-managing the staff members while they cleaned.

Megumi was happy that she wasn't a normal person who had to put up with working for someone like that. She would literally snap and kill him if he followed her around barking orders like that. The night air was especially cold in this area and she rubbed her hands together before reaching into her bag and pulling out a pair of long gloves that she put on her freezing hands.

"Let's be quick about this. Megu doesn't want to spend the whole night out here freezing."

Poro-tan had the advantage of being less sensitive to the cold due to being undead, it was one of the few things about his condition that she envied. The city streets were more or less empty at this time of night and the only pools of light were near the various lamp posts that lined the streets intermittently.

The trip to the market district went a good deal faster without having to shove their way through crowds. The few people who were on the streets seemed to be heading to their homes. On several occasions they saw people going into houses along the way. Additionally, they spotted three different guard patrols before they reached their destination. Megumi wondered if it was normal for so many to be out on the streets or if it was the king's way of trying to reduce crime in the city in light of the thieves guild popping into existence here recently.

Lights were on here and there in the various buildings and in the building that supposedly served as a thieves hideout, lights lit up the glass window in the front. Light peaked out from behind thick curtains on the second and third floors of the building as well. It looks like someone is home at least. The question of course is if this is another trap. There's no question that they would have discovered their dead comrades in the slums by now. They might be waiting for Megu and Poro-tan to come crashing into the building.

The two of them stood in the shadows of an alleyway near the little shop and watched for any sign of movement for several minutes before Megumi spotted some shadows moving around in the second floor's windows. "Did you see that?" she asked.

"Yeah. There's definitely some people in there. You know... it's entirely possible that this is really just a little shop and the guy fed you a load of bullshit once again. We might bust in there and kill some little old lady who is just a shopkeeper trying to get by based on a bad tip. Are you sure about this?"

"The men who went in there earlier today didn't come back out while we watched, and they looked the part. Megu is confident that this will not be a dead end."

"So what's the plan? Do you want to charge in head on?"

Megumi shook her head slowly and brought her hands up to her face to blow some hot air against them. Her nose felt like it was going to freeze off if they didn't get out of the cold soon. "Let's get closer. Maybe there's a back door behind the building or something in that alleyway over there," she whispered.

Poro-tan simply nodded and the two of them crept quietly across the street and to the front of the store. There wasn't anyone watching the front of the building and they could clearly see through the window into the dimly lit store. Megumi leaned up against the glass and peered inside. Various trinkets and useless looking knick-knacks lined the shelves of the store. There was a single door leading to the back end of the building.

Seeing that there wasn't anything of interest to see from the front, the two of them made their way slowly and quietly around the front to the adjacent alleyway. The alleyway was nearly pitch black in some places and some rats or something could be heard scurrying around. Megumi didn't especially like the idea of wandering down that dark alleyway, but it was unlikely that anyone would be down there, so the two of them proceeded.

Megumi dragged her fingertips along the rough brick wall of the shop and in a few moments they found themselves standing next to a side entrance. Moment of truth. It's time for Megu to cut loose and have a bit of fun!

Poro-tan unsheathed his sword and she got her staff, casting Magic Skin, before he placed his hand on the doorknob. Megumi kept her back against the wall and looked up at him, giving a slight nod of her head. Poro-tan opened the door and bolted inside.

"Who the hell are you?!" a gruff voice yelled.

Megumi heard the sound of bodies hitting the floor and so she ducked inside the building, The light was nearly blinding after being in that alleyway, but she squinted and blinked while she moved around and in just a couple seconds she was fine. It looked like they were in a storage room. Shelves were lined with boxes of various things that she didn't take the time to examine. She glanced around for a moment and noted the three bodies on the floor. Two of the enemies were gripping daggers that they hadn't even had a chance to use from the looks of it.

The sounds of thudding feet could be heard above and in seconds there was another group of thieves in the room, weapons drawn. A middle-aged woman stepped out from the back with an angry look on her face. "You dare to break into my building?! Kill them."

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Four thieves charged towards Poro-tan, one of them threw several daggers at him as he tried to circle around. Megumi didn't have time to pay attention to what was happening there as two enemies were coming straight for her. Megumi took a few steps back, trying to widen the distance while she aimed when a knife slammed into her throat. It bounced off her Magic Skin and landed on the ground with a clang.

Her MP pool had only taken a slight hit and she didn't have a scratch on her, but the force of the impact knocked her slightly off balance. Before she could steady herself, two more knives hit her, this time in the face. She stumbled back even further. Damn it! Megu is not supposed to be fighting people on the front lines. Take care of those guys already, Poro-tan!

One of her attackers got in close and she fired off an Eldritch Blast into the smug looking thief's face. His head exploded sending brain matter flying backwards onto her second attacker. The air in the room suddenly felt weird, almost as if all the moisture had been sucked out of it. Megumi looked around and saw that the woman's hands glowed a dim blue.

Poro-tan had taken out two of his attackers and was busy. Megumi had to stop that magician from finishing whatever it was that she was doing. The remaining thief charged in towards her and then quickly changed directions, just as she fired off another Eldritch Blast. The green fireball hit the wall of the house with a loud boom, causing the building to shudder.

Megumi's attacker managed to get in close and stabbed at her chest with his dagger. Her shield held, but she was dangerously low on MP at this point. She couldn't just keep letting him pound away at her. When he saw that his dagger wasn't able to penetrate her defenses, he backhanded her in the face, sending her to the ground with a thud, dropping her staff.

The man moved to stomp her while she was down, but she rolled out of the way and raised her hand and blasted him right in his abdomen. The thief flew backwards screaming as the flames burned away his flesh. The air in the room had become extremely dry, it was like she was in a desert or something. Megumi got to her feet and saw that Poro-tan had a pile of bodies around him. More and more enemies just kept flooding into the room.

There had to be nearly a dozen thieves around where he was fighting. Megumi needed to take care of that caster. She raised her hand, palm facing her target, but before she could get her spell off, the woman released a ball of liquid that flew through the air straight for her. Megumi didn't know what the spell was, exactly, but she knew that with her MP as low as it was, meant that her Magic Skin probably wouldn't save her from that.

The ball of liquid tripled in size in the second that it took to close the distance towards her. Megumi wouldn't be able to dodge. She tried to move out of the way, but the ball seemed to pursue her. Damn! She ran towards Poro-tan, the blue ball was now the half her size and zipped right behind her. Poro-tan saw what she was doing and ran towards her, jumping in front of the projectile and slashing at it with his sword.

It was ineffective and the ball slammed into Poro-tan, expanding even more and dragging him up off the ground. Her pet was trapped in a watery prison a foot above the floor. Luckily, he didn't really need to breathe since he was dead. It appeared that the spell was designed to drown a person. The enemy caster had a smug look on her face.

"He can't hold his breath forever, girl. He'll be dead soon and you're going to die slow for what you've done. When we're done with you, you'll wish that my spell had hit you instead."

Several more thieves came into the room grinning as if they had already won. The idiots underestimated her even though she had burned the life out of two of their number. There were bodies all over the floor, which meant that there was a ton of blood available. Megumi grinned, the fools still didn't realize that she was a necromancer.

She cast Summon Blood Golem and the blood of the fallen began to spiral towards the point she had directed. In no time at all, her golem had formed and glowed a bright red. The smug looks on the faces of all the enemies, including the caster were wiped clean off their faces. "Kill them all."

The summoned creature charged forward with incredible speed. It was fueled by the large amounts of blood in the room and it seemed to be far more powerful than the one she had summoned at the orphanage. It closed the gap with the thieves in the blink of an eye and began tearing through them like they were nothing, absorbing their life blood as it slashed them open and broke their bodies.

The enemy mage and several of her cronies turned to run, but Megumi wouldn't have it. She fired off Eldritch Blasts into the jumble of people who were scrambling for the door followed by Corpse Explosion. Nobody made it more than a foot out the door and her golem managed to grab the enemy mage by the arm, squeezing with its incredible strength.

The woman let out a terrible scream as she was dragged back inside. Megumi had the golem break both of the woman's arms and then her legs with brutal, crushing force and then she stepped over to the weeping mess that remained. "Release my friend," she pointed.

"I'll let him go if you let me live." The woman said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry. No can do. Megu will be taking your life tonight one way or another. If you cooperate, though, we'll make it fast and not... drag things out."

The woman spat to the side. "Fuck you. Your friend can drown then."

"He wont be drowning. Now, you're going to tell me where the main hideout is, and if you don't tell me the truth, I'll have my friend here have a bit of fun with you."

The woman trembled in both fear and pain on the ground. Megumi was sure the pain of having four broken limbs was probably enough to cause most people to pass out. She had to give the woman credit, she was tough as nails. After a few minutes of Megumi's special brand of persuasion, she had the information she needed and the woman's life was quickly snuffed out. *Ding*

Congratulations! You have reached level 28!

+1 TP

A thud and the sound of a large splash of water sounded behind her as Poro-tan hit the ground coughing. Her pet hacked up a good amount of water over the next couple minutes while she cast Sanguine Infusion on most of the dead bodies. Luck wasn't with her that night and she hadn't yielded even a single extra TP.

"That was fucked up, Megumi," Poro-tan croaked as he coughed up more water. "I might not be able to die from drowning, but that was the most horrible feeling I've ever experienced. You should've just killed her."

"You'll be okay. Megu is sorry about the pain you had to endure, but we have the information we need. You probably weren't able to hear very good, encased in water like that, but our next destination is an old abandoned textile factory in the industrial district of the city. That's where their base is."

"We're going there tonight?"

"No. We'll go tomorrow. She also gave me some information about the warlock. It's as Megu thought, she's a paid contractor. Megu would be willing to bet that she is a member of the Villain's Guild. Apparently the guild leader keeps her close by at all times as a bodyguard. She set up that house in the entertainment district, and has two demons that she has contracts with that she uses to perform various nefarious tasks for their guild."

"Great. Let's head back to the hotel?"

Megumi shook her head. "We're going to stay here." She cast Raise Undead six times and set them to work cleaning up the mess they had made, dragging the bodies to the third floor of the building. Meanwhile, she and Poro-tan explored the upper floors of the shop. As she had hoped, there were a few bedrooms on the second and third floors and she took the one that was obviously the caster's bedroom for herself. "You're free to do whatever you want for the night, Poro-tan. Megu is going to get some sleep. Wake me up if there's trouble or more thieves come. Don't kill them if you don't have to. We should try to confirm the information Megu was given, just to be on the safe side."

Megumi shut the door to the room and had one of the weaker undead come in with her. She gave basic mental commands to the undead minion to keep watch over her. She issued further commands to the others, telling them to finish cleaning up the mess and then to stand guard as well. For some reason, in the midst of an enemy stronghold, she felt more safe than she had in a long while. In just a few minutes, she drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

Spoiler: Hideki's Stats

Name Hideki (Poro-kun) Level 026 (45,817/49,541 EXP to next Level) Class Warrior HP 1763/1925 MP 75/75 TP 1 Adventurer Rank B Attributes Vitality 71 Magic 30 Endurance 60 Magic Resistance 36 Strength 58 Luck 6 Agility 50   Dexterity 45 Passive Skills • Warrior's Essence - Level 5 (+50 HP regeneration/min)

• Sword Mastery - Level 7 (+70% proficiency with swords)

• Tiger Style - Level 2

• Turtle Style - Level 2

• Stalwart - Level 1 (+10% natural defense)

• Fortify Health - Level 3 (+150 HP)

• Adrenaline - Level 1 (Killing an enemy gains you one stack of Adrenaline. Each stack adds +1 to Strength, Vitality, and Agility for 3 minutes. Maximum stacks: 5) Active Skills • Holy Blade - Level 1 (Envelope blade in holy aura for 15 seconds)

• Shockwave - Level 3 (Release shockwave from blade)

Spoiler: Megumi's Stats

Name Megumi Level 028 (55,120/59,230 EXP to next Level) Class Necromancer HP 475/475 MP 1500/1500 TP 5 Villain Rank C     Adventurer Rank D Attributes Vitality 19 Magic 79 Endurance 11 Magic Resistance 52 Strength 6 Luck 19 Agility 9   Dexterity 10 Passive Skills • Mage's Essence - Level 6 (+180 MP regeneration/min)

• Fortify MP - Level 2 (+100 MP) Active Skills • None Necromancer Magic

• Sanguine Infusion (50 MP) - Level 15 (Absorb life essence of recently deceased, 15% chance to gain +1 TP from human victims [Cap reached. Lvl Requirement for Lvl 16, (50)])

• Corpse Explosion (30 MP) - Level 7 - (+70% damage from explosion)

• Corpse Absorbtion (10 MP) - Level 1 (Absorb a corpse's essence. Recover 80 MP)

• Raise Undead (20 MP) - Level 10 (Raise weak undead to fight for you. Max: 50)

• Summon Blood Golem (500 MP) - Level 1 (Raise a Golem to fight by your side by using the blood of the fallen. Max: 1)

• Blood Golem Mastery - Level 2 (+8 Minutes to summon duration. +10% defense, +10% attack power)

• Soul Trap (350 MP) - Level 1 (Trap soul of a recently defeated foe. Max: 1 [Cap reached. Lvl Requirement for Lvl 2: (30)] )

• Soul Trap Mastery - Level 7 (+28 to all stats of Summoned, except luck Soul. Max level reached. Lvl requirement for Lvl 8: 50)

• Spirit Barrier (100 MP) - Level 2 (Erect a barrier using souls of the dead for fuel. Blocks spells and projectiles)

• Magic Skin - Level 4 (Actively consumes MP to negate physical and magical damage. Higher levels lower the MP cost)

• Decay (120 MP) - Level 5 - (25% chance of success. Causes body to rot from the inside out causing extreme pain and slowing movement at joints)

• Siphon (70 MP) - Level 1 - (Drain health of enemy at a rate of 10 HP/second for up to 5 seconds. 30% chance of success.)

• Eldritch Blast (75 MP) - Level 13 (Unleashes a roiling ball of Eldritch energy that burns its subject on contact for 5 seconds)