Much to my own surprise, I was successfully holding my own against the swarm of monsters. I'd managed to back away against the structure, which appeared to be built from tree-crystal but wasn't glowing at all. Presumably the material only glowed while alive, but regardless of what it was made from, it was enough that I didn't need to worry about being attacked from behind.

It helped a lot that the monsters were very obviously holding back. Or rather, being forced to hold back. For all Ja'yakril said about not wanting his pets hurt, he was obviously prioritising my safety over theirs, determined to capture me alive.

The tier two blocking and spear skills didn't hurt either, especially since I'd just got my hands on a proper, professionally made spear.

Proficient blocker advanced to level 11

"Where the heck did it get that shield from? And that's my spear!" exclaimed Si'janrii.

"Oh! She can restore things she had previously erased?!" shouted Ja'yakril, getting progressively more excited. "Then the shield must be something she erased earlier. And look at her movements; that's at least a couple of years of practice. With skills like that, she wouldn't be out of place in the town guard, even without her extra abilities!"

I stabbed something that looked like a badger crossed with a lawnmower, adding a pool of purple blood to the colours already staining the floor, then blocked the incoming attack of a metre long hornet, its stinger making a horrific ringing as it scraped down my shield.

There did seem to be some strategy going on among the monsters. It was mostly smaller, agile things that moved forward, while a lot of the bigger beasties were hanging back. Was he throwing monsters he didn't mind losing at me first, or were they planning something? The things that did approach were concentrating more on dodging than attack, too. It was almost as if he was trying to buy time, but if so, that suited me perfectly. It was giving trigger respawn a chance to count down.

As if my chances of escaping this alive weren't low enough already, all this noise going on for a protracted period had attracted even more unwanted attention. Some guardsmen from the town had come out to investigate, and I could see two talking to Si'chieen while a few more stood patiently outside the ring of monsters, eyes fixed on me.

Another one of the hornets came in, but this one didn't attack, hovering five metres up in the air in front of me. Wait, was it carrying something? There was a ball of some sort in its...

I didn't get a chance to finish my thought before the world burned a searing white, utterly destroying my vision. Some sort of flash grenade? These beasts were all too weak to pick up with sense presence, leaving me with no way to defend myself. That was the end, then; I still had too much time left on my trigger respawn activation to risk letting them send me to sleep or paralyse me, so I stored my equipment, including my fancy new spear, then pulled out a dagger and slashed my throat.

I heard Ja'yakril yelling in the distance, screaming for a healer, which was yet another alarming thought. There wasn't anyone in range who could heal a slit throat before I died, right? I collapsed to the floor, adding my own blood to the mix, and given the increasingly frantic noises he was making, I felt it safe to assume the answer was no.

New skill gained: Light tolerance

Sight is one of the most common senses, which also makes it a popular target. While the most obvious method to deprive someone of sight is to turn out the lights, the opposite works equally well. This skill increases the upper end of the intensity of light your body and your senses can withstand, and slightly reduces the damage when you go beyond your limit.

Shame I couldn't get a darkness tolerance, I thought as my consciousness switched back on. If it worked the same way as heat and light, it would help me see in low-light conditions. I felt at my neck, just to reassure myself it was free of any sort of collar, before standing up. This time I'd chosen to respawn at the shrine, and the toggle seemed to have worked perfectly.

That fight hadn't really gained me much. One new skill, and one level of an existing one. And a new spear, I suppose, along with a length of rope. Oh, and the collar! Could I maybe register myself as the new owner somehow? It would be some awesome poetic justice if I could get it onto Ja'yakril.

"Look, we need more people. That jungle was already too big for the four of us to search on our own, and we haven't even started to explore the other caverns yet. Besides, you must have felt it as strongly as I did. There was something in there with us. Something we do not want to meet."

My musings on slave collars were derailed by an unexpected voice. It was echoing from the passage that led to the new jungle, so I quickly moved to the opposite side of the shrine and hid behind the statue. Why were people up here?!

"I don't disagree, I'm just saying that anyone strong enough to deal with whatever we felt in there isn't going to be coming up here for the amount of money that Ja'yakril is offering."

Well, that's a fair amount of bad news wrapped up into a single sentence. First, that these fox-kin have people strong enough to deal with brood-mother level threats. Multiple people. Second, that Ja'yakril had apparently put out a bounty on finding more of my race. How did they get here so fast? I'd already used up a chunk of the time on my respawn timer before slitting my throat. Did dying for real with it active reset the time back to an hour?

"Let's just search the rest of the area. Anything too threatening and we turn back, but I'm not going to run away without even trying. I owe that thing that much."

I recognised that voice; Si'janrii. Apparently he was holding enough of a grudge that he came here in person to hunt down my whole... pack? Group? What did he think I was, exactly? Maybe I should shove the collar on him? And didn't this mean they could enter the shrine room? Aren't they monsters? Why didn't it keep them out?

I heard the group of four return from the forest and start up the next passage, which happened to be the one leading to the window. That would be interesting; they'd see more humans through it. Unable to resist the urge to see the response, I snuck up behind them.

Novice stealth advanced to level 7

"What the heck? It's just a dead end," came a fourth voice, but again one that I was familiar with. Si'chieen was with them, too. So they couldn't see the window? That was disappointing.

"Bah, still two more to try," responded Si'janrii, although I was too busy rushing back out into the shrine room ahead of them to pay much attention.

"Hey, did you just hear something?" said one of the unknown voices. "I swear something was following us."

"Can't be. This tunnel is tiny and leads straight to the shrine. You're imagining things."

"I'm... not so sure. I could have sworn I heard something too. Very soft footsteps."

"Okay, everyone keep your eyes open."

While they were debating my existence, I'd hidden back behind the statue, feeling thankful for the soft silk that masked the sound of my steps. If they had two more passages to try, and were working their way around in order, they must have done the dragon before I'd respawned. That was unfair. How come they survived? Had the biome changes removed the dragon? No, I could still pick him up with sense presence. Was he the dragon their species' description referred to? Maybe I should risk another peek at some point.

They emerged and headed out towards centipede territory. I refrained from following them this time; I figured my best option was to let them explore this floor in peace. The only signs of my species they would find would be the small amount of furniture and stockpiled materials I'd left in the care of my pet murder tree. Nothing was there that would suggest more than one of me. Hopefully, they'd conclude I was something unique, and since I was dead and they had my corpse, they'd abandon the hunt. Once they left, I could find my way down the cliff and explore their cavern in peace. I wouldn't be able to get into their town, but it would be a start.

Maybe I could make myself some fake ears and a tail? Enough to pass casual inspection?

I pulled out my stolen slavery collar while waiting for them. How was I supposed to take ownership of it? It was a simple-looking thing, two semicircles of a silver metal, connected by a hinge on one end and a clip on the other. It was rather large, far bigger than it needed to be to fit me, but I doubted they came in every possible neck size. Some of the monsters I'd seen them around didn't even have necks. The enchantment presumably kept them on regardless.

There was mana in there that didn't seem to be a native part of the item. Did it come from Ja'yakril? Did I need to replace it with my own?

Sense mana advanced to level 4

"Nope," came a voice from the corridor, only a few minutes after they'd gone in.

"Agreed," said Si'chieen.

"That was... That was a fucking chilopoda sagacitas. Dead. Dead! I have no clue what those things we felt in the room were, but I do not want to meet them, ever."

"Actually, I'm not so sure about that part," said Si'chieen. "Yes, they felt strong, and I wouldn't want to fight a single one of them, even with the four of us, but they weren't that strong. Certainly nothing that should have been a threat to a chilopoda sagacitas, even if they all ganged up on it. I suppose they might have some sort of natural immunity to mental manipulation, but it seems unlikely."

"Well, what's the alternative? At least it explains why the chilopoda wave ended."

"Maybe the Lord did it?"

"Can't have. The corpse was intact. Mostly. Did you notice small sections of shell seemed to have been cut off? Neatly, too—probably after its death."

"The monster that came down to the checkpoint wasn't particularly strong, but maybe it was one of their species' young, or a worker caste?"

"Then let's hope we don't find them. One more tunnel to go. Keep your eyes open and your senses sharp."

Clunk.

New skill gained: Bend mana

Mana flows through the flesh and bones of all living things, strengthening and protecting them. A rare few have the ability to direct that mana, providing strength to where it is needed, to take in more from external sources, or to release it. This skill permits you limited control over your internal mana, or mana in direct contact with your own.

Ah, so that's how I take ownership. I just needed to fill it up with my mana. Not that I had any idea how to do that, and had been trying for the whole of their conversation, causing me to miss a chunk of it. What was that about a lord? Hopefully nothing important. I got an awesome sounding new skill from it, though! The skill description made it sound like I could do body reinforcement!

"What was that? It came from behind the statue."

Alas, it had unexpectedly made a loud clunk as my own mana invaded the item. The statue was plenty big enough for me to sit behind, but it wouldn't hide me if I tried to make a break for one of the passages. I screwed that up... So much for being stealthy. Should I pretend not to know them?

Perhaps I could talk my way out of my face and voice being the same by claiming my species was completely uniform, but I'd also need to confront them unarmoured. My armour was not only distinctive, but I'd taken multiple hits in the earlier fight, and there was some very obvious damage. It would probably be recognisable as the exact same armour set by the two guards who saw the fight. Given that they would very likely try to capture me whether they knew I was the same person or not, appearing without armour wasn't something I was willing to do. With a sigh, I stored the collar, then retrieved my armour and Si'janrii's spear.

"Hello again, Si'janrii, Si'chieen, and the two I don't know," I said politely, standing up. "Sorry if I pronounced that incorrectly, but since you savages didn't even introduce yourselves last time, I did the best I could."

Si'janrii pulled a very interesting facial expression, staring at my face and the spear, trapped between anger at my insult and very existence, and confusion at the way I acted like I knew him, implying I was the same monster that 'died' earlier. From the artery I could see pulsating on his temple, it appeared that anger was winning.

Si'chieen was far more direct. "I watched Ja'yakril autopsy your corpse. How are you here? No, it must be some sort of knowledge sharing. Would explain why that one killed itself so readily. And one can materialise items that were taken by another?"

"More importantly, how is it here?" said the taller of the new pair. "Here, specifically. This is a holy area. Monsters shouldn't be able to enter."

"Didn't stop the chilopoda," answered Si'chieen. "Maybe it's broken. Maybe this thing broke it."

"Actually, I repaired it," I pointed out. "Not that I expect you'll believe me. And I can pass through the barrier because, as I said before, I'm not a monster."

"Hey," said the smaller of the new pair, "maybe you should consider that it could be telling the truth? We do know that the blessing returned to this area not long after the chilopoda attack ended."

"No chance!" exclaimed Si'janrii. "This thing humiliated us, and even managed to fake its death somehow. Screw Ja'yakril and his bounty. I'm taking it out."

The idiot charged on his own, anger clouding his judgement, thrusting furiously with a spear that looked very much like his old one. Probably standard issue; I hadn't had the chance to appraise my stolen one yet. I summoned my shield right into its path, catching him utterly by surprise despite the fact that he knew I could summon items, and knocking him far off balance. The other three were closing in too, but weren't close enough to stop me from placing my hand near Si'janrii's neck and summoning the collar out of my item box directly around it. I watched his face morph from confusion to comprehension and then terror as it dawned on him what I'd just done. Item box was a blatant cheat, and I loved it.

"Defend me," I ordered.