"What caused this?" I wonder aloud, staring at the scene of blood and gore whilst attempting to restrain my stomach’s rising intensity at the smell.

Kaede, unperturbed by the carnage, rolls over a man's corpse. It squirts blood over her hands, as a massive gash is almost diagonally bisecting his torso.

"Yes. Probably a Skull Beast." She states, deadpan. She moves to the centre of bloody ledge, pointing.

"It landed here. Cut a bloody swath with... a large blade? Five of these people died instantly. Yes... taken by surprise. None have drawn weapons in the centre. Several are not even in armour." She shakes her head.

"It landed!? How!?" Aria exclaims, tears in eyes.

Kaede shrugs. "Wings? Dropped from ceiling? Don't know. Probably dead a few hours. But not more than a day ago. Bodies still warm. And we did not hear screams, yes?"

Aria brows twitch. It looks like she wants to say something at the callousness of Kaede's appraisal, but it is hard to fault her logic.

"How troublesome. I appear to have jinxed these individuals by mentioning a skull beast." Seria muses, crossing her arms with a shudder.

“I take it that a Skull Beast is like some kind of chimera of bones, or something?” I ask, not really wanting a reply.

Seria looks at me wide-eyed.

“Chimera… you really do know about a surprising number of strange creatures, boy. I suppose the comparison is not… incorrect. It is a caused by an especially powerful Void force. It can have any number of strange features, and it only knows rage.”

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I suppose you can’t underestimate the usefulness of memorising stat-blocks from the Monster Manual in a good RPG, after all.

Rishya urgently checks the female corpses, and seems mildly relieved. "Not Yuuzu." She mutters, but still looks distressed.

"T-there is... nothing I can do for these people." She states. Aria puts a comforting hand on Rishya's shoulder.

"Considering the level of this ambush, it is no longer safe to rest here. We should move on or retreat. What do you ladies think?" I ask.

"Um... we need to tell the local guild about this. This place is... is vicious for some reason. A proper investigation should be conducted by elite mercenaries." Kiku suggests.

"I think we need more information before that. Vague platitudes of danger will not stir rapid response. And the curious concentration of Void spirits is certainly fishy. Under normal circumstances, there tend to be several years between the generation of Skull Beasts." Seria adds.

"Yu... I mean... there could be others still inside. They need to be warned!" Rishya pleads.

"It's up to you, Elijah... This place is more dangerous than we thought and I couldn't be... ahem... it would not do to have any of us die at this juncture. But... but... well... as far as opportunities go to give you experience..." Aria has a troubled expression as she struggles with her own conflicting feelings and logic.

Kaede shrugs. I don’t she cares either way as long as she follows the group.

Well... I crease my brows. Undoubtedly part of me feels weak at the knees just looking at this carnage. I've hardened up at quite the rate these last couple of weeks... but even so, a little voice is always telling me I should just run. Especially when the gamer in me is screaming ‘This is a boss monster! You’re too weak to take it!”.

But... there's no way I can succumb to that. No one likes a quitter. I promised to Aria, after all. I can't let any of these girls down. And I'd rather be a dead fool than living coward.

I take a breath and...

"You're a fucking moron, Nii!!" Rowdy Kiku rebukes me, startling me for a second. She sighs exaggeratedly. "But I guess I'll have to keep up with you." She changes to a wry smile.

"How did you know?" I ask.

"Hehe... um... your eyes..." she blushes.

Am I really that easy to read?

Aria sighs exaggeratedly, and the girls begin to laugh amongst themselves. The dissonance between cute jovial girls and this scene of a massacre is quite bizarre.

"No rest for the wicked. None for the good, either." I state, shrugging.