“Search the room! They couldn’t have vanished into thin air!”

“There’s nothing, George! The cellar is empty!”

“Wait, look! The brickwork over here has collapsed! They must have used earth magic to dig their way out!”

“Curses! Spread out around the inn and hunt them down! With an injured companion weighing them down, they can’t be far! Deliver them to our Lord!”

“What about the two we caught?”

“Throw them with the others. They’ll make fine sacrifices for His Holiness.”

“Of course, George. For Maleosis!”

Determined not to let the heathens escape, all the cultists storm out of the cellar. All except one.

The lone devotee walks over to several barrels hiding a misshapen wall. With a few hollow taps, the stone masonry shifts to reveal a makeshift cavity where Hachirou, Minna and I are hiding. I crawl out of the hole and look at the “cultist” leaning on the wall, massaging her left temple.

“Great job, Lili. You completely misled them.”

“How are you fairing, Lili?”

“T-the drug is giving me an awful headache, but I can manage.”

"I'm sorry for pushing you like this."

"Don't be, Enbos. It was the only choice we had."

As convenient as and may be, I didn’t have the time or the mana to take everybody outside the building grounds. By having Lili slip into the crowd, she was able to manipulate any trace of our presence like an image editor on their consciousness. It was a sound idea, but one I wished I had thought of sooner.

“Damn it! If we had done this earlier, Sen and Norf wouldn’t have been captured.”

“C-calm down, Enbos. We can't say it would have worked otherwise.”

“Hachirou is right, Enbos. Please don’t blame yourself. You're not the only one who could have thought of this idea.”

“Y-you’re right, Lili, Hachirou. There are better things to do than to lament.”

“Speaking of which, what should we do now? Minna is still unconscious and the inn will only be vacant for the moment.”

“We can’t leave without Sen and Norf. Worse, it sounds as if there are others confined in this village.”

“We shouldn't leave them, but it's only going to make our escape more difficult."

“Then we won’t. If the other captives are adventurers as well, we can rally a force to fight back. But if there are too few people or they are unwilling to fight, we can try escaping to Tiel Woods instead. Hachirou, can you track Sen and Norf by scent?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good, because I want you and Lili to free the captives. This place will be the last place they’ll check, so it should be safe to leave Minna here while we’re gone.”

“Okay, but what will you be doing, Enbos?”

“While you two are gathering an army... I will distract the cultists and buy you guys enough time.”

“What!? B-but that’s…”

“… That’s far too dangerous! Let me take your place instead. I can use to create illusions of us all and slip away at any time.”

“No, Lili. You’re still under the effects of the drug, and you lack the speed and endurance to outrun an entire village. Your magic is better served for sneaking while Hachirou tracks Sen and Norf.”

“B-but Enbos, if you do this you will be locked in constant combat! Y-you may even…”

“I won’t, Hachirou. I swear.”

“I-I… I understand.”

“Thank you, Hachirou. Now carry this with you.”

“Huh, why are you giving me Mr Bonny?”

“I’m spiritually connected to my pet, remember? As long you have him, I’ll know where you are. See you guys later.”

“Godspeed, Enbos.”

Replying with a nod, I depart while Lili goes to inscribe an enchantment around Minna. I slip out the back door and begin putting some distance between me and the inn.

“... Come on, Hachirou. I’m sure the cultists will not get him.”

“T-that’s not what I’m afraid of, Lili. As mighty as he may be, Enbos is not a man of conflict. H-however, it’s a fact he himself struggles to believe...”

“He’s headed to Shelly’s house! Don’t lose sight of him!”

“Quick, somebody cut him off around the corner!”

“Curses, where did he go!?”

Capitalising on my limitless stamina, I lead the crazed mob on a fruitless chase. It’s been several minutes since I revealed myself. The prisoners are probably locked somewhere in the inner region, which is why I’m leading them towards the village outskirts.

As I run, I actively map my surroundings with and to quickly familiarise myself with the area. No matter how skilled some of them may be, no one can catch me under the cover of darkness. That being said, I don’t plan on running aimlessly for the entire night.

Breaking out line of sight, I from the ground to the nearest roof and wait for them to gather in confusion. I then activate and carefully scan them from above.

Name Ed Patton Race Human Class Fighter Name Shari Dean Race Human Class None Name Theodore Ward Race Human Class Mage

The cultists vary greatly in ability, so it’s important to memorise their faces, mana signatures and classes. If I can take out a few of the more dangerous individuals, it should tip the coming battle in our favour.

“Up there! He’s on the rooves!”

Damn it, I couldn’t scan all of them in time!

Evading a volley of projectiles, I parkour across the rooftops and use to jump across the streets below. I then drop into an empty alley and make myself scarce as they narrowly pass me by. Right now, they’re too spread out to easily evade. Is there anything I can do to round them up?

“… Over there, everybody! I saw him enter the blacksmith’s! Hurry up and surround that building!”

The zealous horde swarm around the vacant workshop, but unbeknownst to them, I’m really outside their circle. The voice that informed them actually belonged to me. Well, to be accurate it’s an imitation of one of their own, but in the heat of the hunt, I doubt they will take their time to check.

“Look guys, he’s escaping down the back path! Somebody cut him off!”

“All three of them are heading west! We need to blockade that street!”

“The deer-head is back on the rooves! Get our mages and archers to up there to shoot him down!”

Again, I move away and imitate various voices to disrupt their search. With a makeshift mini-map in my head, I manoeuvre around the streets like a local while they’re hopelessly confused. So far so good, but I haven't been able to isolate any of the spellcasters. I better rethink my strategy before they catch onto my trick.

“Grrrrr…”

Huh, what was that?

Tracing the new spirit signature, I turn to find a large, emaciated dog with patches of exposed flesh staring at me with white pupils. I don’t need to realise it’s an undead, and that the cultists sent it to track me.

“Um, good doggy?”

“Grrrrr… RROWFF, RROWFF, RROWFF!”

“Did you hear that!? One of them still in the village!”

Bad doggy! I have to get rid of it as soon as possible, but the cultists are right around the corner. I need to distance myself and take it out from range.

I immediately bolt off at full speed, but I’m still unable to shake the dog on my tail. Spotting an old storehouse, I onto its rooftop…

“ Eh?”

… when all of a sudden, the wooden roofing gives way beneath my feet. With a loud clack, I land on some logs and rattle down the pile of wood.

Ugh, well that was a graceful landing. While nothing is broken, I’ve sure gotten myself into a fine mess. I’m now locked inside a storehouse with an undead canine scratching at the door and a mob of deranged cultists on the way. The best thing to do now is to set a trap and wait for an opening to-

Crash!

“Arrrgh!”

Smashing through the flimsy shutters, the dog jumps through the window and manages to bite onto my arm. Out of pure reflex, I draw my sword and immediately decapitate the hound, but with mixed results. The damn thing is still latched to my forearm and the rest of the body is getting back up. Honestly, why are undead so hard to kill!?

“!”

Pinning its body in place, I look around and find a large piece of masonry nearby. I proceed to lift the stone block before dropping it atop the undead at twofold its weight.

Boom! Crunch!

… Okay, I may have overdone it a bit, but at least it won’t be getting up ever again.

Rattle, rattle…

Damn it, the cultists are unlocking the door! Where do I hide!?

Behind the logs? No, that’s a terrible idea.

Out the window? No, they’re moving to surrounding the place.

The hole in the roof? No, is still on cooldown.

Where do I...?

“DELIVERA-… a~nd it’s another empty room!”

“I swear to Maleosis they’re making fools of us at this point. Where did they go?”

“Good Lord, they sure made a mess of the Risen Hound.”

“Look Theo, its limbs are still twitching and the window over there is broken! They must have escaped through it before we arrived.”

“Spread out and search the area! They couldn’t have gone far.”

Indeed, he couldn’t have gone far at all. In fact, if they were to crane their necks by 60 degrees they would find that very man hiding above the doorway. Holding on for dear life, I’ve even cast on myself to pin my body in place. Regrettably, I can’t out of here due to the torches illuminating the walls. On the bright side, the enraged cultists won't be staying for long. I just have to hold out until-

Oh hell! The dog’s head is still stuck to my arm! The jaw is going lax and it’s about to fall on the departing cultists! If I can just… reach it…

Fwip!

DAMN-… Oh, thank goodness! The teeth got caught on the fabric. Now all I have to do is wait for these two laggards to leave.

“Terry, we need another Risen Hound. Do we have a spare stored below?”

Huh, below?

“Just one, Theodore. I’ll go awaken it immediately.”

“Thank you, Terry.”

So, Terry here is the resident necromancer. Now that he’s alone, I can take care of him without alerting the others. However, I want to see where he’s going first.

Biding my time, I watch as he walks over to a large trapdoor in the corner of the room. He then begins chanting a spell to deactivate the hidden barrier. Meanwhile, I silently descend from above while erasing my presence. I’ve already drawn my sword and I’m right behind his defenceless back. As fate would have it, this situation feels eerily similiar as I find myself contemplating a cultist's murder once more.

He’s just like the guy who bound me to this form, a man willing to raze an entire village for their dark god. If I stain my hands once, he won’t ever stain his again…

… No, I better not leave a mess for the others to find. Sheathing my blade, I quickly put him in a sleeper hold and cut off the blood flowing to his head. He loses consciousness within seconds and I take him with me through the trapdoor.

Throwing his downed body aside, I examine the room I’ve just entered. The entire space is lined with rows of long, rectangular boxes, all of which are enchanted with necromantic inscriptions. I walk up to the nearest one and pry open its lid, only to find an inactive corpse stashed within.

I knew it, this entire room is filled with sleeper coffins. By design, risen undead are temporary beings, but if one has absorbed enough souls, the conjurer want to keep it instead. These sleeper coffins are designed to store evolved undead such as myself in a state of stasis, slowing the degradation of the risen’s . On further inspection, it seems these sleeper coffins have also been imbued with teleportation magic, allowing the necromancer to summon their undead minions from within a certain distance.

While there is a lot to praise about the spellmanship, the implications are far too disturbing for admiration. Using myself for reference, you would need 10 sacrifice to instantly evolve a single risen undead. Knowing this, the amount of lives lost to build this arsenal of undead is actually far greater than the number of coffins. Many of these souls must have been irreversibly shredded, then amalgamated into an abominable mass of essence.

But what horrifies me the most is that this was my original design. If I didn't have , I would have slaughtered innocents and merged with their souls, only to be stashed away and released on another unsuspecting village. While I would rather not think about it, the fact I started with from the moment I was raised means I already have something else bound to my soul.

Is this their master plan? To collect powerful adventurers and turn them into catalysts to empower their undead with skills? No, it doesn't sound quite right knowing they went through the trouble of capturing them. But, for weaker or less developed souls like the elderly, the sickly or the young...

Shaking my skull of these thoughts, I contemplate about what to do about all these undead. I can always hijack the lot and turn them against the mob, but I don’t want the captives or even the cultists finding out I’m a necromancer. I just have to settle with burning the place down. I hope these tortured souls will find solace, even as a patchwork of spiritual fragments that can hardly be called a soul.

“Rest in peace. .”

“The storehouse is on fire!”

“Quick, bring the water and tear down the walls! We can’t let the flames spread!”

“Damn it, all our undead were stored in there! Where’s Terry? Can he teleport them out?”

“Last I heard he was off fetching a Risen Hound? Oh God, don’t tell me…”

No, don’t worry, your friend Terry is still alive. He’s bound, gagged and locked in a wardrobe, which is frankly better than he deserves. After seeing the atrocity he was a part of, I’m surprised I dragged him out of that oxygen-enriched room. I’m probably being unreasonably soft, but I didn’t like the idea of killing him after sparing his life.

As the flames rise higher, more cultists rush to the former storehouse, stretching their limited manpower. With so many wooden buildings there’s a strong risk the entire village could burn down. If we have have to retreat, I should burn a few more houses to keep them occupied.

“D-damn it, Terry was a good man. It's too soon for him to be delivered unto our Lord.”

“I share your pain, Ed, but we can mourn the loss of our brother tomorrow. For now, we must suppress this fire and find the ones responsible.”

“May Maleosis bless his soul.”

Don’t start acting like humans, you damn lunatics. I can’t believe these people feel justified living like this. Were the previous residents nothing but materials to them?

Anyway, I’m done scanning most of the cultists. It’s about time I check up on Hachirou and Lili, and-

“ARRRRRGGGH!”

All of a sudden, the angonising scream of a man in pain echoes throughout the village. It sounds as if it’s been magnified through a loudspeaker-

Oh my god. Sen...

“ENBOS, DID YOU HEAR HIS SCREAM…”

No, no, no, no, NO!

That second voice belongs to the innkeeper. D-don’t tell me he woke up and…

“… I BELIEVE HIS NAME IS SEN! IF YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS DON’T SHOW YOURSELVES, I WILL DELIVER HIM TO MALEOSIS SOON ENOUGH!"

Using the Winged One's , I track the direction of his gloating voice and bolt towards it without reserve. I can hear Sen’s faint groans of pain in the back of the projection, and its churning my marrow with dread.

“I KNOW YOU WON’T LEAVE THIS GUY BEHIND, OTHERWISE YOU WOULD HAVE DONE SO ALREADY! WILL YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON HIM TO SAVE YOUR OWN SKIN!?”

Damn it, go faster, faster Enbos! There's no strain in my legs, but the lack of feedback is making me think I'm holding back..

“YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES, ENBOS! FOR EVERY MINUTE YOU ARE LATE…”

“!”

Crouching on an empty building, I gaze down at the village square… and instantly lose what little composure I had. A dozen cultists are standing guard around the innkeeper and my shackled companion. Sen is on his knees, clutching his bleeding hand as a man with a bloodied cleaver watches on. The innkeeper is shouting into a wooden implement in the shape of a magnifying glass… while brandishing a human finger in his other hand.

“… WE’LL CUT OFF ANOTHER ONE! THERE IS ONLY SO MUCH BLOOD THE HUMAN BODY CAN SPILL!”

I-I can't believe it! H-he actually cut off Sen's finger! If I wasn't so horrified to project my voice, I would be screaming in equal parts rage and despair.

T-this is all my fault. I should have taken Sen and Norf with me, even if I had to face the entire mob. I should have lead everybody into the cellar long before they breached the inn. I should have done something about the innkeeper... when I had him by the throat.

“FOUR MORE MINUTES!”

Come on, think Enbos, think! He already lost his finger because of you, so don't make him lose another! If I fight them, they'll just threaten me with his life. The fact they chose such an open space makes it nigh on impossible to surprise them. If only Lili were here to support me.

“THREE! I KNOW YOU’RE STILL WATCHING!”

Damn it, should I turn myself in? No, it would only endanger everybody else as well. Is there any other way? First off, I have to do something about the torturer. I have to-

“TWO! ARE YOU STILL BEING STUBBORN, OR IS HE NOT WORTH THE-!”

“FORGET ABOUT ME, ENBOS, EVERYBODY! FIND NORF AND- Ugh!”

Sen!

“You insolent heathen! You think your fingers are too small a price? Fine then! We’ll chop off your hand and continue in similar portions instead!”

“*Cough* D-do... your... worst!”

“We’ll see how long your bravado lasts. Oh, and if you die before we’re done, I’ll reanimate your corpse and use you to hunt your friends, so do your best to hold out."

"You bas-"

"Do it, Nill.”

Y-you... YOU! I've had... eNougH... of EveRy sinGle dAmn oNe of yoU! I... wILl...

... As anxiety overwhelmed all reason, and fury overwhelmed all dread, my mind suddenly came to a still. Time slowed to a crawl, and in that span devoid of thought and motion, I saw a fleeting vision. I'm standing behind the innkeeper, staring at his defenceless back... staring his black heart beating within.