Liliana looked at herself in the mirror, fingering the tattoo on her collarbones. The ink for this one was glimmering white and pink, with occasional green and brown mixing in with it. Around her collarbones, circling her neck and then dropping down towards her sternum, sat a serpent, its elegant coils and inked scales standing out against golden skin.

Liliana did not often stare at herself in a mirror, less so while out on this trip, but when she hadn’t been able to locate the new tattoo easily, she’d used a mirror to find it. It seemed almost poetic that the place where the pendant had sat now sported the tattoo of her Bond, as if protecting her from such things.

Liliana straightened her clothes, hiding part of the tattoo under hardened leather. Her hair was tied up in as tight a braid as she could manage on her own. Nemesis sat in her hair, the snake’s favorite place to rest now. When she was particularly still, the snake appeared to be nothing more than a vine with a flower resting on it. Liliana suspected that this was how many flowered serpents avoided notice, disguising themselves among flowers and undergrowth from searching eyes.

Liliana turned and exited her tent, stretching a bit under the light of the sun. A bored guard was sitting by the entrance to her tent, though Liliana had a feeling the boredom was a ruse. She had yet to escape from the man’s ‘protection’ even when she’d borrowed [Vanish] from Lelantos. She’d been right. After her misguided attempt to eat a Mana core left her sick for two days, Amelia had placed a guard back on her.

Liliana was just glad the woman still allowed her to leave the camp to level. Liliana wasn’t sure if it was because the sergeant was sure that Liliana would be safe with a guard and Nemesis looking after her, or if she wanted to avoid the chance of Nemesis eating one of the prisoners.

Thinking of the prisoners, Liliana’s eyes darted to look in the direction of them. They were kept chained up, and she knew what little food they were given included the same potion that restricted their access to skills and spells. Their going was far slower now, with the prisoners being tugged along after them. Many had high levels, but it didn’t mean all, or even many, of them had put points into Speed. Thankfully, they only had to see them to the closest city, Ariowood, then they could go back to the same clip as before. But it would take probably three weeks total to get to Ariowood at their speed. Liliana didn’t know if she was grateful or not.

The longer they were away, the longer before she had to deal with her stepmother. But traveling with the prisoners kept bringing up a confusing mix of emotions in her. Hatred, she hated every last one of them for what they’d done. Pity, sadness, those two were harder to handle for her. She felt wrong for pitying them, but wrong too for hating them. It felt wrong to so strongly wish for the death of so many when she couldn‘t even level the same amount of hate for her own stepmother. And the wish for someone else’s’ death felt villianous, and with her most recent experiences, Liliana was scared more than ever of straying down that path.

But did people who had murdered innocent, intelligent creatures deserve clemency? Did people like that deserve her pity? Liliana couldn’t say, and she did what she usually did when she had to confront the endless questions she couldn’t answer regarding morality. She shoved them to the back of her mind, locking them in a box.

Liliana turned her body, so she didn’t see the prisoners at all, even if she could still hear their voices on the cold autumn wind. She strode towards the thick forest that she was becoming more and more familiar with. It seemed other than the farmland and settled areas, most of the Rosengarde territory was forested. It was one thing though to see that on a map, another thing altogether to see it herself. To see endless armies of trees huddled together like soldiers on a battlefield. Towering far above her as they disguised untold monsters beneath their boughs.

“No Lelantos again?” Alistair asked as he joined her from his own tent, Emyr his ever present shadow.

“No, he’s hunting stronger prey, and doesn't want to share the experience with us,” Liliana responded with a smirk.

“Like mistress like beast,” Alistair teased, and Liliana rolled her eyes. It was well known Liliana disliked sharing her experience with anyone, even if she understood the value of having others with her.

Liliana waved at a few guards who called out to her as they passed the tent line. Overall, the guards seemed far more comfortable with her. The regular game nights had done much to build a relationship between noble and guards. The nights were a bit more subdued now as the guards were tired, though. More of them than ever had to be on watch because of the amount of prisoners they were transporting.

“Lelantos found some Flying Squirrels when he was hunting. They were too low for him to be interested but should be in our range,” Liliana told the boys as they slipped into the forest. Liliana couldn’t hear her babysitter behind them, but she knew he was around. He always was.

“Horde monsters? I hate horde monsters,” Alistair grumbled, though he could’ve also been upset by having to navigate the forest in plate armor. Stealth was out of the question, with him clanking and cursing every other step.

“It’s good experience, and they’re usually individually weak,” Liliana shrugged. Flying Squirrels weren’t very frightening creatures on their own. They weren’t smart and had trash Vitality as an almost rule. But in a group, they could tear someone apart. With three people fighting them, some of their benefit of being in a horde decreased, though.

“Well, there are also some living trees…” Liliana trailed off.

“Flying Squirrels it is,” Alistair hastened to cut off that idea.

Liliana snorted and shook her head. That was not a surprise. Living trees were troublesome to fight. Their bark was usually reinforced by Earth if you were lucky. Metal if you weren’t. They also had Nature affinities one and all, and Life as well. Meaning they could have you trussed up in seconds. If you managed to avoid getting trapped, good luck doing any damage, and if you did, it would probably be healed before you got a second hit in.

Fire or Poison was the best way to deal with them, with Poison being far less effective. For Poison to work, you had to get it into the tree, which meant being able to damage it enough to pass the bark or getting its roots to drink it. Fire was far superior for handling them, as you could keep the fire on the tree until it burnt past its defenses and continued to burn the tree, hopefully doing more damage than it healed. With none of them having a Fire affinity, it was a pointless endeavor. They’d waste hours trying to kill one when they could’ve gotten more experience fighting easier prey.

“What affinities does this flock have?” Emyr asked.

“Wind and Dark,” Liliana answered, summoning her naginata. She sliced through branches and brush blocking their way.

Maybe I should get Fire for my next affinity. It’s a fairly powerful element, and it could make getting through woods like this less of a hassle, Liliana thought as she sliced through more branches. Fire and Wind went well together as elements, and Fire had a few combinations with her current affinities she wouldn’t mind having. Combustion and Lightning were powerful offensive affinities.

Wind overall worked best with her current affinities, and Liliana knew she’d have to settle on which affinities she wanted to focus on for combat, eventually. Wind, and its sub affinity Sound, were almost too perfect for a Dancer class like hers. Light had been working for her but it would fall off before long as far as offensive capabilities went, and she’d need someone to take its place. Fire would be a good replacement.

Or Death, Liliana thought. A subset of Life magic Death magic was meant for little more than what it stated. The ending of life. It would require more focus on Life magic, and trying to twist Life magic to do harm, rather than to heal it, to get a Death affinity. From what Liliana had read, Death was a hard affinity to get, and an even more difficult one to raise.

Apparently the System gave Death spells and skills very rarely. From her memory of the game, it had been the affinity with the least amount of classes or abilities attached to it. It was strong, but many saw it as pointless when there were other affinities with more abilities connected to them that could do as much damage. Then there was the social opinion of a Death affinity. Liliana couldn’t even name a single person she’d seen who had such an affinity. Or at least not one who had a class affected by the affinity.

“How much further? I’m getting tired of walking in brambles,” Alistair asked, and Liliana looked around, trying to match it up to the mind pictures Lelantos had sent.

“Shouldn’t be much further,” she said. For a bit longer, they walked in quiet, only the sounds of fall leaves crunching underfoot and the clanking of Alistair’s armor surrounding them. Birds called abuse at them as they walked, upset at the presence of strange threats in their woods.

A rush of wind and a hiss from Nemesis were the only warning Liliana got before a furred body launched itself at them.

1st Combo. Liliana thought. Power filled her as three abilities activated rapid fire. Liliana’s arm and weapon blurred as it swung through the air, the blade sinking into flesh and carving through the Flying Squirrel with little effort.

“Found them,” Emyr called out, his voice sarcastic. Alistair rushed ahead of Liliana, summoning his shield and sword as he did. Golden light surrounded him, illuminating the delicate gold runes etched into his silver armor.

“Nemesis, if you’d be so kind?” Liliana asked, holding her blade close to her head.

The serpent detangled herself partially from Liliana’s hair and leaned towards the blade, her fangs descending. Venom poured out of them, coating Liliana’s blade in the deadly clear liquid. Her job done, Nemesis burrowed back into Liliana’s hair. She’d stay there unless they got overwhelmed. From previous experiments, Liliana knew Nemesis coating her weapon in poison wouldn’t result in any essence being transmitted to the snake. She had to actually actively participate in the fight to gain anything.

A gust of wind buffeted the trio and Liliana squinted her eyes, activating [War Maiden’s Waltz] and [Dancing Doubles]. Illusions of her popped up and Liliana sent them to range around them, hopefully drawing some of the Flying Squirrels to them.

Chittering cries filled the air, and the wind got stronger. Liliana dug her feet in as she looked around them, seeing leaves and branches twisting and turning around silver furry bodies. She identified the ones she could, getting back a range of levels between 72 and 84 from what few she could focus on long enough to get the information. Their small bodies moved too fast for her to successfully identify them all, but she disregarded it. Their levels were as Lelantos had relayed, and all within a good range for her to fight.

“Alistair!” Liliana shouted. Light flashed as her brother yelled a challenge to the nuisances. The wind faltered as some of the Flying Squirrels fell under the taunt and turned to attack her brother.

Liliana missed Lelantos’ [Bestial Roar] at that moment. The wind was still buffeting them and Liliana knew other skills were mixed in with it, invisible blades made of air slicing into her clothes and bits of skin they could reach. Liliana felt a bit of nostalgia, remembering a similar fight with an oversize Horned Hare that had a fairly similar fighting style.

Enough of this, Liliana thought. She darted off towards the edge of the tornado they were trapped in. Her blade swung through the air, little more than a blur trailing blood as it connected and sheared through a body. There were still so many of them flitting around them, buffetings them with wind and shadows.

Wish I had more arms and blades right about now, Liliana thought as she struck again, felling another Flying Squirrel, but the wind did not die down. There were too many Flying Squirrels left to pour their Mana into the spell.

“Emyr, can you do anything about this?” Liliana shouted out over the rushing wind. She got no verbal answer, but shadows popped up all around them, grasping and twisting. Other shadows appeared, fighting the ones trying to hold down the fast moving fliers. The wind faltered though as more Flying Squirrels were distracted by the new threat.

Lights popped up around Liliana as she swung her naginata at the wind wall trapping them. Another body hit the ground as [Light Barrage] darted off. Some balls of light found bodies to hit, others struck trees or brush and fizzled out. Screeching cries filled the air as the Light skill injured but didn’t quite kill. The wind died down more.

“Some help over here!” Alistair called out and Liliana whirled, [Leap] already active and sending her across the fight to her brother’s side before she fully formed a thought. He was practically covered in a coat of Flying Squirrels, all of them trying to rip the tank apart. Liliana landed and moved, dancing around her brother in a blur of blood and death as her naginata sang in the air. Bodies dropped off of her brother like rain.

Alistair finished the last of the ones on him off with a pulse of light. Liliana nodded at her brother before darting off, more lights trailing her in a morbid procession of death. Lights shot out and hit more bodies, enraged chitters and screeches announcing that the Flying Squirrels were just about done with her light shows. The surrounding wind died off completely as the horde gathered together, furry bodies a shifting sea of silver.

“Alistair!” Liliana barked out, her brother responded with another aggro generating skill, an aura of Light surrounding him.

Most of the remaining flock of Flying Squirrels called out their war-cries and shot at her brother. The few who had not fallen under her brother’s skill turned to her. Liliana braced herself, spinning her naginata before her as they screeched and charged at her. Bodies flying or jumping from branch to branch in the surrounding trees.

A dark blur appeared from the shadows, tendrils of darkness coming off of him like tentacles as they grabbed and ripped into Flying Squirrels, a thin blade appearing only long enough to vanish in a blur of darkness and steel as it plunged into furred bodies. Liliana rolled her eyes at the unnecessary assist before she engaged the Flying Squirrels herself. She danced through the enraged creatures, spinning and twisting in a dance of death. Her blade was ever moving, blocking one body flinging itself at her with her shaft before turning to decapitate another opponent.

Her feet danced over dropped bodies and blood slicked leaves, finding purchase wherever she stepped. Flying Squirrels were only dangerous if they could bog her down and overwhelm her, so she kept herself moving, pushing the limits of her Speed to avoid their attacks and attempts to pull her down. She bent and twisted her body, ducking to dodge a skill, jumping over a charging grounded squirrel, twirling around a flurry of spells, ignoring the few hits that got through her evasive fighting style. Flying Squirrels dropped from the air around her as she twirled and swung, her blade a deadly partner that wrought death wherever it moved.

Liliana’s carefully choreographed battle ballet brought her to her stepbrother’s side as she finished off the Flying Squirrels that had targeted her. With the three of them focusing on the remaining horde, it took them no time at all to finish off the last of the Flying Squirrels.

When the last of the creatures dropped to the ground, dead, Liliana swung her weapon with force, shaking off most of the blood that had coated it. Liliana turned off her active abilities as she looked around them. There had to be thirty dead bodies lying around them, and she almost instantly regretted the choice to fight a horde. There would be so many bodies to skin.

Liliana sighed deeply as she looked over herself. She was coated in blood, and she’d been hit with Wind abilities so much her clothes were still in the process of repairing holes and slashes across her. Her Health was climbing back up and as the adrenaline faded, Liliana felt like she’d suffered a thousand paper cuts across her body, all of them stinging and smarting as they healed.

“I hate horde creatures,” Alistair complained as he put away his weapons. His own armor was soaked in blood and what little bit of skin not covered by armor was also covered in cuts.

“Same,” Liliana responded as she activated [Healing Harmony] and [Regeneration]. Hoping to eke out some more levels for the healing skills. Sighs of relief filled the air as cuts healed faster and soon they were all healed up, if still covered in blood. Liliana looked at the bodies and her sigh turned to one of resignation.

“Best start skinning these things,” she said, earning grumbles from Alistair and a muttered curse from Emyr.