While mermaids plotted to enrich the lives of their new faction members, half of their new family was engaged in battle on the other side of the river. While the ghouls did not attack due to the alliance, that did not prevent the flying eyeballs or the occasional rat from trying their luck.

Harold fired off several rounds from his loot master to end his turn. A flying eyeball shrieked in agony and fell to the earth below, defeated. The battle had already run for several turns now due to the sheer number of the flying beasts. In a land of the dead, only those who could fly had any real chance to survive unless they had powerful attacks.

The eyeballs for the most part were purely physical attackers. Now and then one would appear who had a paralytic gaze or that might instill fear in the same manner. Those attacks were weak, however, and rarely lasted for more than two or three turns. It was that very weakness and their design that made them the perfect fodder for the group.

Michael fired on the next eyeball, but despite his superior prior-life training his level and stats forced his hand. He could not attack much, and his accuracy was abysmal. Still, he managed to score two hits out of the brief momentum that he had during his turn.

An eyeball made its move, shifted five spaces closer to its target. It was still too far away to attack anyone, but that was how the group liked it. They had retreated as often as possible to maintain that distance after all.

Cia suddenly jumped up and down then kicked one leg up in the air and winked. “Jump and jive. It’s oh so sweet. These eyeballs are gonna… be our meat! Yeah!”

Her cringe worthy little cheer refreshed the current party buffs that kept the group going strong. They regained multiple points of stamina each turn whenever she cheered. Happily, her cheer worked across the entire battlefield. At least, it had seemed that way in the last few fights that they faced. Of course, that could just be due to the smallish size of those battle fields as well.

The only negative to her ability was that once activated, she could do nothing else. However, oddly enough she would not freeze when her turn ended. Instead, she would lose control of her body and continue to dance around and cheer excitedly regardless of her true desire.

Two eyeballs drew closer to the group, and then Rosa made her move. She left the safety of the combat team and strode further into the battlefield. She was a melee fighter with excellent attack and defensive abilities. Drawing the attention of the enemy would keep them focused on their strongest point and leave them vulnerable to attacks from the gunners. A simple tactic that would not necessarily work on more intelligent people. Thankfully, the eyeballs were less intelligent than an actual squid.

The battle continued for several minutes while Cia cheered, Rosa tempted the eyeballs, and the fathers in the group fired from a short distance. In truth, it was not much of a battle. The eyeballs were just as low-leveled as the combat team, and easily dispatched with their superior fire power.

“Team Badass is Victorious!” crowed the announcer voice, just before the curtain of light fell. The corpses of eyeballs littered the field, but the combat team was relatively unscathed. It was hardly the first time they had faced a lengthy battle with the beasts, Michael not included until now.

Coins and a few crystals littered the battlefield. Dozens of the eyeballs had fallen before their fledgling might.

The eyeballs were incredibly difficult to deal with if they managed to sneak up on someone from behind, but their giant central eye was a glaring weakness at their current level when faced with a frontal attack.

“Well, I hope you all like octopus… because we’ll be eating a lot of it from now on,” said Michael.

Cia made a face that showed her sudden lack of cheerfulness. “Really? I like sushi, but this is…”

“Free food?” asked Michael.

“I suppose so,” said Cia with a snort. She blew a few strands of hair up out of her face then set about adjusting her clothes. All that jumping and kicking had put certain things out of sorts.

Michael coughed into his fist and turned away. Clearly, the girl had no sense of shame or decorum.

“Let’s see,” said Harold lightly. He walked around the battlefield and scooped up various bits of loot. Despite the numerous instances of shiny things discovered, the drops were of low value or quality.

They did acquire two blood stones for making health tonics, and a salvation crystal. Beyond that, they had only gained a few dozen coins most of which were low Value.

“Well, the meat is something at least,” said Michael. Before he could say anything else, though, he received a string of messages that mentioned his personal outcome for the battle. It was enough experience to raise his level straight to four!

“I gained a level as well,” said Harold.

Cia went up two levels, which was odd since she should have acquired the same amount of experience as Michael. After some discussion, the consensus was that her class had great starting ability but required more experience to grow since it was not a basic class.

“We need to try to avoid battles in the near future,” said Rosa. “Those of us who are unlocked, need to build out professional experience.”

“Time to head back?” asked Michael.

“Yes. We cleaned out the most useful supplies from this block,” said Rosa. “Let’s get it back to the house.”

The quartet set about hauling the dead flying eyeballs to one of the pull trailers that they had located earlier in the day. They had already completely loaded down six of the eight trailers that they had gathered. The meat took up most of the remaining space.

“Now, how do we get all of this back to the house?” asked Harold. “It’ll take at least two of us to pull each of these things.”

“We’re going to have to—” began Rosa, only for her words to die on her lips. Eyes widening, her silence drew the attention from the others. The other three members of the team turned toward the source of her gaze and they immediately tensed up.

Dozens of ghouls had snuck up on them. They stood in small crowds and watched them silently from within the safety of their superior numbers.

A ghoul who appeared to be less rotten than the others soon stepped out of the throng. Most of his hair had fallen off, only small patches and oddly shaped sprigs of it remained on his head. His eyes a slight shade of pink, he looked over the quartet.

The announcer did not call them to battle, so Rosa decided. “Hello. Are you part of Brittani’s faction?”

The ghoul nodded his head once then looked to the cart loaded down with the most meat. He pointed gnarled finger at it then gurgled out a simple word, “Meat.”

“You want that meat?” asked Rosa hesitantly.

The ghoul nodded then pointed to the other pull trailers. “Help.”

The quarter glanced back and forth at each other for a moment. It seemed like the ghoul was trying to make a trade. Rosa asked for clarification. “If we give you that trailer of meat, you’ll help us pull these trailers?”

The ghoul nodded but said nothing. Rosa looked to the others and then as one they nodded. She turned back to the ghoul and thanked him for his help.

“Fan. Brittani,” said the ghoul om a strangely high-pitched tone. He hugged himself and offered the parody of a grin. “Happy. Scott.”

“You’re a fan of Brittani and happy that she is going to spend time with Scott?” asked Rosa.

Not only the apparent head ghoul but the other few dozens of them amassed in the area all nodded and seemed quite as excited as any dead thing might be. The quartet certainly saw it as a good sign as well. Cheap undead labor, and they found somewhere to put some of the meat. They did not want to just leave it behind, but in all honesty they had nowhere to store all of it.