Megumi quickly downed her last mana potion and continued firing Eldritch Blasts towards the smug trio on the upper floor of the building while two of her minions scooped up the fallen Poro-tan and tossed him over one of their shoulders. She sent mental commands to her other remaining minions to cover their retreat and she spent a few precious moments casting Sanguine Infusion on several nearby corpses as she retreated backwards.

Despite the horrible luck of running into a foe so much stronger than herself, the gods did see fit to grant her a reprieve because she luckily gained 2 TPs from the half dozen quick spell casts. Poro-tan's limp body was carried back through the side entrance to the textile factory while Megumi fired off a few final blasts and used the very last bit of her mana to erect yet another Spirit Barrier just a huge ball of black energy came for her. The shield just barely held and spiderweb-like cracks covered the entirety of the ethereal barrier. She didn't spare another glance at her enemies and ducked out of the hole in the wall as quickly as she could. Despite having just drank the last of her mana potions, her mana pool was basically empty. Just hang in there, Poro-tan! Megu will get you to safety. The four of them ran across the street and back towards the alleyway they had come from as quickly as they could and she could only hope that the enemy would be stalled long enough for them to get a little ways away at least.

That warlock must be an incredibly high level. Megu couldn't even dent that shield, and those spells she was firing off were absolutely devastating. She panted from the physical exertion of having to run away after a pitched battle, but she didn't allow her tired body to stop running. Adrenaline coursing through her veins and the desire to not see her companion dead kept her moving. Megu will not lose Poro-tan, he came for me when he didn't have to, and Megu will come through for him now.

Within a few minutes they were far away from the textile factory and Megumi knew they needed some place safe to hide, but where? She considered going back to the hotel, but it was all the way across town, and it didn't look like Poro-tan's health was rising like it should have, in fact if anything he was looking worse and worse by the second. What in the seven hells kind of curse was attached to that spell? He would need medical attention beyond what a simple potion could do, that much was clear. We can't stop now, that succubus demon might be coming for us right now. It tore apart Megu's golem like it was nothing.

Her legs burned and she spent one of her TPs on Undead Mastery to increase the overall stats of her summoned minions before having one of them carry her. The things had incredible endurance, and unlike Poro-tan, they didn't ever get tired. That was mainly due to the fact that while Poro-tan was also undead, he still had his own soul and his body was more-or-less like a living one, while her raised minions were little more than marionettes. It was slightly embarrassing to be carried around like a little girl, but she could swallow her pride. Better to keep breathing and fight another day than to die for pride. She directed the two minions to take her to the local Adventurers Guild. If anyone will help us in this city and for free no less, it will be them. Hang in there, Poro-tan! She just hoped that they had a healer around when she got there.

After what felt like forever, they arrived at their destination and Megumi had the undead let her down. She rushed into the building, which was markedly smaller than the one in Rivean and the building was even kind of run down. "I need a healer! My companion here is in bad shape, I think he's been cursed by a warlock!"

Several of the people who were sitting and relaxing in the common room of the guild hall stared at her dumbly, but thankfully a beautiful woman with skin the color of almonds and hair as dark as midnight, jumped up and ran over to the doorway next to her. "Bring him inside. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Megumi replied as she sent commands to the one carrying Poro-tan to bring him inside.

The woman knelt down next to Poro-tan and stuck a hand on him. "This man is not just cursed, he's some sort of undead," she said but not loud enough that the others could hear her.

Megumi was prepared for this sort of reaction and already had her guild card in her hand before she even came into the building. She leaned in and whispered into the woman's ear while at the same time pressing the card into the woman's hand, "I'm a necromancer, but I'm a member of this guild. Please help us. Megu doesn't want to lose him. Please keep his secret."

The woman gave her a momentary scowl but must have seen the desperation in Megumi's eyes and after a second nodded her agreement. A white glow began to surround the palm of the woman's hand and glyphs began to form in the air around them in intricate patterns. "I don't know if this will work... considering his... condition, but it's his only chance if he wants to ever awaken again, he's afflicted with a nasty curse called Nightmare."

Megumi nodded and she was somewhat surprised that she felt tears on her cheeks. She hadn't thought she could still cry. She wiped away the tears and gripped her companion's limp hand tightly as the healer slammed her fist onto his chest. An explosion of white light clapped through the air and Poro-tan began convulsing.

"Hold him down! I have to keep my hand here!"

Megumi let go of Poro-tan's hand and put both of her tiny hands on his shoulders, putting every ounce of weight she had onto him in an effort to hold him still. The magical energy from the spell pulsed into Poro-tan's body over and over at an increasing speed and intensity. For just over a minute she held him there until finally the woman released her hand and the white light disappeared as abruptly as it had started.

He was still alive, just barely though. He took slow, ragged breaths and when she checked his health he was down to just a single HP point. The bond from her Soul Trap ability had been strained to near breaking from the spell the priest had just cast, but it had held and was probably the only reason he was been able to remain alive now that she thought about it. "Is he going to be okay?" she made herself spit out, although it came out only as a whisper.

The woman gave her a sympathetic look and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If the gods will it, he will recover. I've managed to remove the worst part of the Nightmare curse, but he will likely be in a nightmare filled sleep for a few days. I've done all I can, the rest is now up to him." She stood up and turned to the other few guild members who were sitting at their tables gawking at the scene. "What are you idiots doing? Help me get this man to the infirmary!"

The adventurers who had been gawking at them jumped up at the sharp remark and ran over to help, at the same time offering their apologies. A large man carefully scooped him up and carried him off towards the back of the building. Megumi started to follow but the woman grabbed her wrist. "I know that you want to go be by his side. I can tell that he means a lot to you and I'll let you go soon, but for now I need to know what happened. I'm Aery, the master of this guild hall, and if there is in fact a warlock in this city powerful enough to do something like that, then I need to know the details about it."

Megumi didn't want to sit around and answer this lady's questions, but she saw the merit in the woman's words. If trouble followed her back to the guild hall, they would need to be prepared for what was coming. Megumi spent the next few minutes detailing everything they had been up to since they had come to the city. Aery asked questions here or there, but mostly just listened as the story unfolded.

Once Megumi was done retelling everything the kind woman gave her a reassuring pat on the back before saying, "You should have come here and gathered a large party before going to take them on. Even if you had an army of those... things," she pointed at the undead with slight disgust in her voice, "it was reckless to go alone knowing that the enemy was powerful enough to create that death trap in the entertainment district. Don't worry, though, you'll be safe here. I'm much more powerful than I look, and although we don't have a lot of members here right now, there are enough of us to keep those who would harm you from attacking you here. Go ahead and take care of your friend, he'll be at the infirmary, which is straight down the hallway at the back of the building. I'll come speak to you again later."

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

Megumi thanked the guild master again before heading off down the hallway with her remaining undead bodyguards. She found Poro-tan in a bed with a heavy blanket covering him and three of the guild members standing around in the room. They exited when she came and she grabbed a wooden chair that was on the side of the small infirmary and sat down next to Poro-tan. She couldn't help but admit to herself that what Aery had said was correct. She knew that the warlock had been powerful, but she thought she was invincible. It was her fault that her companion nearly died for his second time.

She couldn't help but feel as helpless as she had long ago when she was separated from her parents. She leaned forward and placed her face on the blanket and allowed herself to cry and feel something real for the first time in a long time. After a while she lost track of how long exactly, she began feeling sleepy and passed out in the chair with one hand gripping his.

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Ursei looked dejectedly down at the remains of her demon familiar. The cost of summoning her pets from the other realm was to give up a portion of her soul for each contract. It irritated her to no end that she had lost one of her minions on this job, which was supposed to be a routine bodyguard job. Her remaining minion, a succubus, stood at her side while the leader of this little Thieves Guild paced around ranting and raving about how a wisp of a girl, the necromancer, had been able to do this much damage to his organization single-handedly.

She couldn't hardly bring herself to care about this little man's problems. The gold he had been paying her for this cushy, laid-back job wasn't even worth it anymore. It would take him months to rebuild after this catastrophe and she didn't know if she wanted to stick around. At the very least, he would need to pay her more; triple sounded like a reasonable amount for the new risk. The little necromancer girl had been formidable, but her powers were far below the caliber of Ursei's abilities. The problem that could arise would be if she returned with help. Even though the girl was weak, she couldn't ignore the fact that the girl's companion had managed to take down her pet. Shouldn't I just cut my losses and leave?

One of the thieves who had gone after the retreating necromancer came back panting. "They're at the Adventurers Guild. I wasn't able to follow them myself, but after asking around I found out that people saw them running in that direction. One man even saw the four of them enter the building. They're definitely there."

"Damn them! They're from the Adventurers Guild? That means there might be more powerful fighters headed this way at this very moment. We're going to need to gather things up and change locations. Ursei, can you handle whatever comes like before? I can't believe how fucking worthless you turned out to be. First, your little fun house didn't manage to stop them, and then you let her get away! Are you listening, bitch? What the fuck do I pay you for?!"

This man had the gall to address her like that after she had just literally saved their asses. She grimaced. This is not worth my time anymore and I need to get back to the villain's guild in Traverst and find another job. It would take well over a week to get back to the guild, which was in a small town just outside of Oleander. She didn't answer the thief and simply fixed him with a glare and a frown before turning to her demon and giving a slight nod of her head.

The succubus sprang into action and tore the remaining half dozen thieves apart limb by limb. Ursei reveled in the screaming and agony that she was able to inflict, the pleasure that she got from hearing the screams of those weaklings was almost erotic. Seeing her pet tear them apart and seeing the blood and viscera splattered all over the place while they screamed and tried to run away was one of the few things that let her feel alive. When the bloody task was done, she leaned in and gave her succubus a sensual kiss. I guess it's time to collect my severance pay. she grinned and left the bloody mess on the floor behind.

Ursei and her pet demon went back up the stairs to the second floor and took all of the money the thieves had been hoarding. The fool didn't even hide the location of his treasure trove from her. She grinned widely as she shoved bags full of pilfered coins into her bag. She and her succubus demon changed into commoner clothes so as not to stand out so much and then left the building, heading for the city gates.

She was irritated at the necromancer, but losing minions was just the cost of business. She didn't let it get under her skin too much, and at the very least, she had managed to sentence the one who killed her demon to a painful and terrible death. Who knows, maybe one day she would even get a chance to finish the job by killing the girl, but only if she was getting paid. Ursei had a rule, and that was that she never wasted her time doing anything unless she was profiting off of it.

Spoiler: Poro-kun's Stats

Name Hideki (Poro-kun) Level 029 (57,644/59,230 EXP to next Level) Class Warrior HP 9/2000 MP 75/75 TP 3 Adventurer Rank B Attributes Vitality 71 Magic 32 Endurance 66 Magic Resistance 37 Strength 63 Luck 6 Agility 54   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 2 (Killing an enemy gains you one stack of Adrenaline. Each stack adds +2 to Strength, Vitality, and Agility for 4 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 030 (59,720/65,513 EXP to next Level) Class Necromancer HP 475/475 MP 1330/1550 TP 2 Villain Rank C     Adventurer Rank D Attributes Vitality 19 Magic 81 Endurance 12 Magic Resistance 53 Strength 6 Luck 19 Agility 10   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 11 (Raise weak undead to fight for you. Max: 55)

• Undead Mastery - Level 4 (+20% to stats of Raised Undead)

• 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 Soul, except luck. 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 5 (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)