The wagon slowed to a stop.

“There’s a Dominion presence here. First thing we need to do is figure out exactly what that means so be discrete, people. Remember, no skills; people might be able to see and that’s a whole shit show we don’t want.

“You four are all better than me with people so I’ll just stay with the wagon. Keeping them company. Understand?” Riza patted the horses.

Nods and murmurs of agreement resounded, promptly followed by the rest of her group hopping off and disseminating into the village itself.

She had stopped right on the outskirts, a partially destroyed house on her right and a completely empty plot of land, filled with debris.

She wasn’t telling the entire truth when she said she’d stay with the wagon; there was something she really wanted to do beforehand anyway.

Hopping out herself, she began a gentle jog back out onto the field filled with demon corpses.

All beast demons, from what she could tell. Useless reanimation targets, weaker than humanoid entities and utterly incorrigible. Those weren’t her goal. Instead, she jogged straight up to the lip of the crater they had passed by.

Fog filled the bottom of the bowl, the curved walls smooth and unnatural, and, sure enough, there were demons beneath her. She could sense a great number but that was all–best to not submerge herself into the feeling unnecessary.

Confirmation was all she needed. Now that she knew the nest was alive and healthy, she returned to her wagon, giving her horses a little pat on the back, issuing them a command to resume walking at a slow pace as the wagon began to drift further into the heart of the village.

The sights were sombre. Barely a sound could be heard, the buildings crumbling to dust as mere remnants of life were all that was left. Dried blood, torn clothes, rotting food. They littered the ground, the floor, inside the panoptic images that were the torn-down homes.

The sky was bright and sunny, light streaming down and juxtaposing the dark feelings surrounding Riza.

She stopped the horses once they emerged past the invisible circle indicating life. She could faintly hear the hubbub streets over now, as well as the buildings feeling warmer and more lived-in. The street was as dirty as it always was.

This was close enough. Riza clambered into the back of the wagon, settling herself down and pulling out her journal, rife with vocab, grammar, and all sorts of language lessons.

What better way to pass the time than improving her literacy?

She immersed herself in the foreign words and letters, drinking in their historied past and moulding her instinctive mind to work better with these new facets of language.

She lost herself in the pages for whoever knew how long until, suddenly, the shaking of the wagon, a loud thud on a wagon wall, and the deep, resonant tones of a voice called for her.

“Hello there, miss.” A tall man wearing the all-too familiar robes was standing just beside the wagon, peering at her. He was tall and slim, his frame narrow but the loose cloth hid the forms of his limbs. His hood was down, displaying a warm but worn face, with a few scars to show his experience. A bushy, black beard paired well with his bald head.

Riza just stared, eyes wide open but not saying anything.

The man looked her up and down, clearly appraising her.

“Er… well. We’ve got good cause to believe you’re a person of interest so we’d appreciate it if you could follow me to someplace where we could talk. In private,” The man explained.

Riza’s heart was racing as she listened, wondering what to do. Panicked thoughts fluttered through her mind.

After a few seconds of a tense awkwardness, with neither party doing anything, Riza nodded quickly, preparing to get out before being stopped.

“You can take your cart with you. Just follow me,” The man said, walking around in front of the wagon, throwing a glance back as Riza whispered to get the horses moving, and walking on ahead.

Riza diligently followed behind as the man lead her into the heart of the village itself. The roads twisted and turned, curving inwards and out, thoroughly disorienting her before they finally arrived outside a cluster of houses, clearly commandeered by the Dominion and Chosen if the handful of robed and armoured figures meant anything.

Along the way, many people stared at her as she rode past.

“We’re here,” The man said at Riza’s side, looking up at her. That was nice. “We just need to head inside,” He nodded towards a building, “where you can help us with some questions.”

He stepped back as he watched Riza descend, leading her towards the smallest of the buildings.

Walls were made of cobbled together stone, the door wooden and rickety, this was clearly a peasant's home. So far, Riza had only seen the Dominion set themselves up in buildings that were already made but unused. She wondered what a purpose-built building for them would look like.

As soon as she stepped inside, the chill air didn’t dissipate. The windows were open and without any glass, there was poor insulation. The wooden shutters blocked the wind but that was all.

The room was small, with the furniture taking up nearly all of the space. A large table beset with chairs on all sides and covered in papers and parchments and weird objects was located in one half while the other housed a desk and a weary-looking man huddled behind it, also covered in papers but at least neatly stacked and organised this time.

“Protector Asum, I’ve brought her,” Riza’s escort announced upon their entrance.

The weary man looked up at his name, eying Riza carefully. His eyes looked down at some paper once more before looking back at Riza.

He nodded at the escort before making eye contact with Riza and then pointing at a chair in front of his desk.

“Please, have a seat.” His voice was deep but smooth. A surprisingly gentle tone.

Riza looked at her escort briefly before sitting herself down, eyes darting all over the room. No other doors but plenty of windows.

Asum shuffled some papers around before placing a stack right in front of him. His eyes quickly skimmed for just a few seconds.

“I believe your name is Riza?” He asked, tone steady and level.

Anxiety spiked. Her arms felt sticky, hands clammy, as she checked her essence.

11300. Fuck! Calm down. They can’t hurt you.

Her breathing was rapid, her fingers tapping away incessantly on her knees, but she remained sitting.

“Am I wrong?” Asum asked after no response.

“I am Riza,” She replied, inwardly cringing at how worried she sounded. Not good.

Asum nodded.

“And I see you’re a Healer of some kind, as well?” He asked, making it obvious he was reading the pages in front of him. Pages of incomprehensible scrawlings.

Riza breathed in, breathed out, calming herself.

“Yes.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. I’m just making sure of the facts.” He placated. “Now, I see that you’re alone. Do you happen to have a friend with you? A lightning neophyte, perhaps?”

For but an instant, the tension in Riza was replaced with confusion. Lightning neophyte? But Lefie’s a- oh!

She shook her head.

“I see. Well, you’re not in trouble but we are very interested in you. Don’t be alarmed,” He said, probably sensing Riza’s mounting worry. “We’re not detaining you and you’re free to leave at any time. However, we do have questions we think you could help us with.”

Her eyes darted to the door, to the windows, then back to Asum, mentally calculating if she should stay.

Once again, she checked her essence. Her level. Her parasites.

A slow, single nod.

“Good, good. Well, I suppose the thing I’m most interested in is what happened in the quarry. As I understand it, while your team was underground, there was a cave-in, trapping you down there. How did you escape?” Papers down, Asum leaned forward as his face was etched with genuine curiosity.

Riza, however, was mute.

That was the last time they heard of me. I was, what, level 13? But what skills had they seen? Only [Leech] and [Cleanse], right?

“Understandable,” Asum said after a few seconds of silence. He leaned back. “You don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to.”

He was being surprisingly accommodating and the most annoying thing was, Riza didn’t know why. Is this or isn’t this an interrogation?

“I see that you’re wearing some Ancient clothing. Did you find them while you were underground?”

Again, no response.

Asum huffed but didn’t express annoyance.

“We are aware that you were in Litchendorf at the time of the last storm six days ago and were instrumental in defending the place. On behalf of the Dominion, we thank you for that protection.

“I have a report that claims you killed over fifty beast demons without even touching them, and without even letting them come close to the village. I also know that you managed to kill an elder great demon all by yourself, which is quite an impressive feat.

“In the interest of improving our own defensive capabilities, do you mind sharing how you managed to accomplish all of this?” His hands were clasped together.

The whole conversation confused her. What the fuck do they want? Gentle tone, subservient demeanour… it was like he didn’t actually want information at all.

He even took Riza’s flat-out refusal to say anything in stride, as if expecting it.

“Okay. Finally, I have two requests. One of them is official while the other is more of a favour to me.

“Firstly, we’d greatly appreciate it if you stayed in Hotton for the next storm, to help out against the demons.

“Secondly, and this is what I’m personally asking you, my men have sustained a few injuries. Some of them will be just fine with some rest while the others aren’t looking too good. I know you’re a Healer so if you could do something to help them, I would personally owe you a debt.

“What do you say?”

There had to be a catch somewhere. The Dominion, the entire reason she wanted to get away from Litchendorf quickly, wanted to hide her capabilities, couldn’t be this accommodating, could they?

There was no reason to distrust what Asum was saying other than her instincts. Something was wrong, she was certain.

But… so what if it was? She recalled falling from the water tower, the feeling of free fall. Utter weightlessness for a second and then sudden impact, crushing her bones into powder but then, POP! Back alive without a scratch on her.

Literal death barely impacted her anymore. What could the Dominion do?

So, she agreed. To both requests.

The entire point of coming here was to fight demons so official endorsement by the Dominion was great. Then, there was the debt. The Dominion would have more members but if they got injured from beast demons, they weren’t exactly strong?

Asum smiled when Riza accepted both requests, shaking her hand with gusto. His grip was firm but painless and he eagerly led her to the building housing their injured members, wanting to escort her himself.

This was one of the larger houses and the interior was filled with beds which, for a house of this size, was not many.

Five people occupied the beds, all in various states of injury. Two of them were what Asum said could recover with just a bit of rest: a few scrapes and gashes but none too deep and already bandaged up.

Riza went ahead and healed them and whenever they asked who she was, Asum stated she was a Healer and nothing more. They accepted that without question.

The third person had a large chunk taken out of his shoulder, his arm barely hanging on. She’d likely die without modern medicine but Riza placed her hands on him and used [Heal], watching the flesh reach out and reconnect, knitting together near instantly as green energy flowed into the injured man.

She remained sleeping, presumably too exhausted from struggling to stay alive.

Unfortunately, Riza lacked the ability to [Cleanse] any longer so who knew how long they’d live with any infections they may have gotten.

The fourth person was in a similar state to the third, and Riza healed them as well.

The fifth and final, however, was different. Trouser leg cut off; his bare skin was exposed to the air. His leg was atrophied to hell, thin and sinewy. The skin was mottled and grey and even peeling off in places.

It had been a long time since she had seen this but instantly, Riza recognised what it was.

Essence poisoning. Only, she had never seen it this bad before.

“Where’s the yellow liquid?” She turned around and asked Asum.

“Stabilising fluid? Unfortunately, we don’t have any. It’s expensive stuff.”

Shit. Riza looked back down at the man, writhing in pain. He was mumbling in his delirium. Blind to the world around him.

“He will die soon?”

“Almost definitely.”

Fuck it. I can’t do anything else. Riza rolled up her sleeves as she knew what she had to do.

“We have to amputate the leg. I need a flame.”

“Aren’t you a Healer?” Asum asked, now looking confused himself.

“Yes, but I’m not omnipotent. Can you get me a fire?”

Asum nodded and headed out, quickly returning but calling Riza outside.

A stack of firewood and some kindling was just outside the door, with a woman hunched over and trying to light it with a flint and some steel. It took a few goes until the wood alighted.

“What’s the fire for?” Asum asked as Riza knelt down and held her dagger over the fire, heating it up.

“Sterilisation. How long ago was he injured?”

“It was the storm so six days ago. The poison progresses quickly with stabilising fluid.”

Riza didn’t reply, focused on the knife. She didn’t really know what she was doing. Heat killed bacteria and so helped to sterilise medical equipment but beyond that, she was clueless. How long did she leave it in the fire? Was the fire even hot enough? Would she need to reheat it?

In the end, she kept the dagger in the flames for over a minute, even taking a bit of damage herself, before rushing to the patient’s bedside. Asum closely followed.

“Now, er… Hold him them. He might thrash about,” Riza said quickly, starting to panic as she realised, she was actually going to do this.

Asum leaned over the injured man, holding both his arms down. Riza tried to do the same for his legs but as soon as she touched his injured one, the man let out a blood-curdling scream of pain and anguish.

Fuck! Just fucking do it. Get it over with.

Holding her breath, the tip of the flaming hot dagger sank into the rough, thin flesh. Instantly, the man tried to trash and flail like he was fighting for his life as the knife sank deeper.

Riza hit some resistance which she grimly realised must’ve been bone and put more power into her arm, actually beginning to saw into the leg. Asum grunted with exertion.

It felt like an eternity before the last few strands of muscle were sliced through, the leg fully amputated from the body. At some point, she didn’t know when, the man had stopped moving entirely, hopefully because he fainted and not because he died.

Riza breathed a sigh of relief as [Heal] went through, covering up the bloody stump as scar tissue rapidly began to form, wrapping itself over and over where his leg used to be. He was still alive.

She pumped a good 1000 essence into him just in case before falling flat on her arse and breathing heavily.

Fucking hell.

“That…” Asum sighed himself. “Thank you.

“No problem. Am I free to go?”

“You were always free to go.”

Riza nodded, struggling to her feet. She wasn’t tired, merely mentally fatigued by the events.

“Bye.”

“They already know about you?” Lefie asked, quickly clambering into the wagon just in time for Riza to send the horses forwards, following the convoluted roads to Daven’s location.

“And Litchendorf. The Dominion already knows I’m a threat and I don’t even know how!”

“Someone must’ve told them,” Meren chimed in. “Whenever something involving demons happens, we usually send a messenger to the quarry.”

“Then it’d take a few days for a messenger to turn up here. There’s no way they could’ve known the same day we arrived.”

“Unless they already knew who you were beforehand?”

“Nope. Impossible. He mentioned–in detail–what I did at your village. It must’ve been some long-distance communication but the ranges involved is insane!”

Psyche

0th Tier

[Message] (1/10)

Telepathically send a [Message] to someone of up to 20 words. They can send a [Message] back.

10m range

Cost: 5 es

[Detect Truth] (1/10)

Enhance your ability to detect truths

Cost: 1 es/sec

1st Tier

[Inform] (1/10)

Telepathically send a one-way [Message] to someone of up to 100 words

2km range

Cost: 50 es

Requirements: [Message] (10/10)

[Imprint Image] (1/10)

Telepathically exchange a mental image to someone

10m range

Cost: 50es

We’ve gotta be over 100km from Litchendorf by now. Even if [Inform] is at level 10, that’d be 10km range probably. [Seeker Mastery] makes that 30km, so you’d still need to triple the range somehow. [Way of Psyche] would only double it and I can’t find another range increase.

“Should we just go somewhere else?” Lefie posited but Meren answered before Riza did.

“There’s no reason to. He specifically asked you to help kill demons. That’s what we want!”

“I don’t trust him. There’s something else going on that I’m unaware of,” Riza said.

“Or, maybe you’re being paranoid. You’ve seen the destruction. Sounds like they actually need your help and the Dominion isn’t some evil organisation that wants to kill you.” Meren’s tone was firm but not condescending.

“Urgh. What do you think, Lefie?”

The teen, wide-eyed, whipped her head between the two people looking at her.

“Er… Stay here? We could help these people. Oh, we could even destroy the nest!”

Riza sighed but didn’t say any more on the matter. Maybe they’d change their minds in the future.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. They managed to regroup with Sanders and Daven, who didn’t find out anything Riza hadn’t, and picked a building on the outskirts to make camp in.

Unfortunately, Riza had to restrict what skills she could use. No [Message] to control her critters no [Essential Leech] to continue her stat growth. She had advised Lefie as well to not use any skills unless necessary, seeing as how the Dominion had no idea who she was yet.

Riza continued her language lessons with Meren, learning that it was unusual for the average person to be literate and Meren got lucky in having a blacksmith as a father. Apparently, the Chosen, whenever they’d pass through a place, would take some time to teach some people reading and writing, with Meren’s father being one of them many years back.

At one point, Lefie went off on her own to find out a bit more about the nest. Maybe there was some useful information that could help them.

The most unexpected thing to happen was the same escort that had found Riza earlier that day had found her again. Apparently, Asum wanted to speak with her again, a notion that definitely didn’t trigger her flight or fight response.

Nonetheless, she acquiesced and was led not to the small encampment the had set up amongst the houses but, rather, out onto the nearby, battered field overlooking the crater, the entrance to the demon nest.

Asum was standing there, towering amongst the relatively flat lands, looking like a bastion of strength. His long, dark hair was flowing behind him gently in the wind, wearing a thick overcoat to keep himself warm.

“Protector Asum,” The escort said once more, gaining Asum’s attention.

“Thank you Marven,” He said, turning around to look at Riza. The escort trotted off, apparently having been dismissed somehow. “I hope you don’t mind but I thought it best to discuss how you could help us in a defence,” He began.

Almost immediately, Riza tensed up, not liking where this was going. Asum seemed to have noticed this shift in demeanour.

“I’m not trying to control you. How you fight is up to you. I just want you to be fully aware of how we operate here,” He said, turning back to look at the hole. Riza remained a few feet behind him.

“I’ve only have a small force here. Five Chosen and seven Dominion, and not all of them are capable of combat. Accounting for Savin, that’s only nine people who will be on this field when a storm hits.

“The Chosen will work together with this village’s patrol team. They’ll be working as a team, as a unified front, a bit behind these fences,” Asum’s arm swung out, gesturing towards the area.

“Behind them, I have two lightning and three ice neophytes providing ranged backup. They’ll start attacking as soon as they can and only stop when the demons are upon us. Too large a risk of hitting my own men.

“Do you think you can work with that?” He looked at her once more.

Riza’s face was impassive as she worked through it in her mind.

Lefie and I are capable of killing everything by ourselves. There’s no need to put themselves in danger.

A thought came to her, partly inspired by what Meren had said earlier.

“Do you know of a way to permanently destroy a demon nest?”

“Permanently?” Asum chuckled. “No but if you find a way, I’d be happy to hear about it. The fewer of these things there are, the better.”

Riza didn't respond, mulling over whether to say anything.

“How much do you know about demons?”

Asum took this question differently than the rest, his demeanour hardened and his face grew serious. He looked over Riza carefully.

“It sounds like you perhaps know more than I do. Quite frankly, I don’t know much. The demons attack us, take our men, kill innocent civilians. They’re monsters. I don’t know what goal they have, or how they breed. I barely know anything about their nests other than that’s where they propagate.” He began walking over towards a beast demon corpse, a little bit away.

Riza waited a second or two before following him.

“I don’t know what the Dominion may have done to you but I can tell you, I am not your enemy. Whole villages have been destroyed because of these monsters and Litchendorf very well would have been too if you didn’t step in.”

He was staring at the dead demon before him, as if directing his ire at this one specifically.

“So many innocent lives have been lost. So many good men and women have died to these things. If you know of a way to destroy these things for good… I implore you to tell me,” He said, finally looking at Riza again.

She thought for a good minute, ignoring his stare, before finally answering.

“I might know of a way to destroy them but I won’t tell you.”

Asum stood up, for once looking a little bit tired.

“I suppose there’s nothing else I can do. Thank you for coming here and obliging an old man, though I think it’s time I turn in. Goodnight, Riza.”

Another day, another village, another meal. The townsfolk offering food for free didn’t seem to be a quirk of just Litchendorf; Hotton was happy to provide hot, fresh meals for Riza’s group and they eagerly accepted.

There was no timeline for how long they would stay in the village for and so Riza wanted to discuss what they would do in the forthcoming days or even weeks when, suddenly, bursting into the patrol house cafeteria, a young boy, barely a teenager, even, shouted:

“The demons are attacking!” With all the energy only a teenager could muster.

Immediately, the room erupted into fervour as everyone leapt out of their seats, grabbing whatever equipment they could, and rushed out the door, leaving Riza’s group slightly dumbfounded.

“But it’s not raining?” Riza said.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ve agreed to help,” Meren replied.

Once outside, Riza’s group kitted up, donning their armour and weapons, preparing to run off to the east where the demon nest was.

Then Riza stopped in her tracks.

“Message from Protector. Come immediately to the South-East side of the village. He will explain there.” An unfamiliar woman's voice resounded in her head.

She knew the feeling; that was a [Message].

“Change of plans. South-East. Now!” Riza ordered, climbing in the driving seat and kicking the horses into high gear.

The hooves thudded along the uneven, cobbled surface as the wagon shot down the roads. They were empty, with most people hiding in their houses, afraid any demons might show up. A few people were still milling about, seemingly unconcerned with the alarm or maybe, they just didn’t hear it.

Regardless, the desolate streets allowed for them to make good time, finding their way to the outer edge of the village promptly.

The group disembarked once Asum and his people appeared in front of them, standing beyond the low, wooden wall of the village and staring out at the field of wheat in front of them.

A field with a large, conspicuous, circular area absent of wheat.

“Asum,” Riza called, catching his attention. The robed woman at his side frowned at her but didn’t say anything.

“Good. You’re here,” He turned towards them. “As you can see, there appears to be another nest. Two nests around one village. It’s unprecedented.”

“Another nest?”

“I’ve never heard of two nests so close together before,” Meren said.

Asum’s arms were crossed as he stood up straight, exuding confidence and leadership.

“Even stranger, since it emerged, there’s been no sight of any demons coming out of it.”

“Nests sometimes have other exits. Small tunnels leading above ground.”

“They do?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well, w-”

“Demons!” A soldier suddenly shouted, drawing everyone’s attention.

Riza could see nothing, a combination of her short height and the tall wheat. She needed to climb onto the wagon to finally see a small trickle of demons exiting the nest.

That’s barely anything! Something’s up.

The demons hurried towards the village but once they got within range, flying icicles and arcs of lightning besieged the creatures, rendering them dead before they could get very far at all.

“Good job, everyone!” Asum shouted. “Keep an eye out for more.”

“This feels wrong,” Lefie said, sounding a little bit worried.

“I agree. And why call us here when there’s another nest on the other side of the village?” Meren asked.

Riza thought it was a good question, and relayed it back to Asum. The answer actually came from the woman beside him.

“The other nest is peaceful. No sign of any demons there,” She explained. It clicked once Riza recognised her voice as the same as the [Message].

They’re keeping an eye on both nests.

They had to wait ten minutes before another group of demons emerged from the nest, barely even a handful. Just like before, they killed them with ease.

Then fifteen minutes for the next group. Then ten minutes. Only four or five each time, and with such a long time between them.

Something was definitely up. This wasn’t how demons acted. Riza tried to reason it out; demons attack villages for human bodies but humans are tough so they wait for rain so fire has less effect and attack all at once to overwhelm them. That was their simple game plan each and every time.

This was so, so wrong. No rain, and not wanting to capture human bodies?

The better part of an hour had passed already and even from this distance, Riza could feel multiple demons underground still.

“This is taking too long. We have to go down there and figure out what’s going on ourselves,” Riza told the group.

“I hope you’re not wanting to take me down again; I did not like the last time,” Daven commented, arms crossed.

“I want to go too. We’d be much more effective down there than up here,” Lefie said.

“No, you should stay here,” Riza quickly replied. “Don’t give away what you’re capable of and if the other nest does have activity, you’re needed up here. I won’t be down long; just to check things out.”

Lefie pouted, looking like she wanted to argue but Meren spoke before she could:

“Are you sure you want to give yourself away like that? That you can go into nests?”

“It’s fine. It’s just the passive form of [Cleanse] which they already know I have. They probably already know about it,” Riza whispered.

Having made up her mind, she hopped off the wagon and walked to Asum.

“I’m going up to the nest. Be sure to tell your people not to hit me.”

“Are you sure about this?”

Riza nodded. Asum relayed the command as she got to walking, pushing through the tall wheat as she made her way towards the opening.

About halfway there, Riza sensed another surge of demons ascending, No more than last time and a few seconds after she sensed them, she heard another shout of ‘demons!’, presumably indicating they were now aboveground.

She readied her dagger, the wheat blocking line of sight. So close to her now, she knew instinctively where they each were; they were trying to circle her.

The first one lunged at her but she was ready; her dagger, pointed upwards, found itself lodged into its jaw as she palmed its head, a powerful [Leech] instantly killing it.

[Leech] (10/10)+ -Learned

Drain 1000 points of health from a living entity

Range: 80m

Cost: 50 es/sec

I need [Range Compression] for close quarters. That range is going to waste.

The next two attacked in concert but Riza managed to dodge out of the way, killing them both before they could react.

The last two faced a similar fate.

The demons dealt with, Riza picked up the smallest one and began dragging it back to the nest. She passed by multiple other corpses before finally arriving at the relatively small crater.

The fog at the bottom barely looked big enough to let a greater demon through, let alone anything bigger.

With a powerful kick, the corpse she was carrying tumbled and rolled down the side before slowing them but not before sliding into the fog and falling however deep it was to the bottom.

Riza quickly followed, jogging down the side of the crater, struggling to maintain balance, before finally jumping down through the fog.

The descent lasted for about a second before her feet met the ground, her leg muscles imploding in pain as she collapsed onto the ground not dead but barely alive.

Her health was low but that was quickly dealt with, [Heal] magicing the pain away.

Good news. My health is high enough to withstand that drop without dying.

Riza’s arms swept out as she searched for the dropped corpse, quickly finding it and spending the necessary time to resurrect it.

Entity Manager Excess Essence 2.23 es/sec

Entity Name Skill Level Health Stamina Essence Cost (es/sec) Daven Raise Dead 8 120/120 120/120 64/64 3.94 Sanders Raise Dead 8 100/100 100/100 65/65 3.94 Horse 1 Reanimate 4 200/200 200/200 20/20 1.55 Horse 1 Reanimate 4 200/200 200/200 20/20 1.55 Demon Reanimate 1 80/80 60/60 20/20 0.39

She was focusing on the additional demons she could feel as she waited and the results were rather disconcerting.

For one, no beast demon was near her. The only ones she could feel were very far away, right on the cusp of her senses.

But that was far from the biggest problem. No, the other signals, the ones right close by, were a far greater worry.

Humanoid demons. Three of them to be exact.

Oh, fuck me.

With her demon finally raised, Riza stood with a huff.

I’m strong, right? I can’t die. What’s the harm? But just in case…

[Inform] (1/10)

Telepathically send a one-way [Message] to someone of up to 100 words

2km range

Cost: 50 es

Riza checked the range on [Inform]. Lefie was in range. She had an emergency button if she needed it.

Grabbing the beast demon by the neck, she swapped her vision with its and began to walk, heading straight towards the suspiciously close cluster of humanoid demons.

Part of her was dying with curiosity whether these demons would run away from her as well or, perhaps, they were different.

The tunnels were much like the rest she had found underground, both from the nest with a crater in Litchendorf and the nest without in the forest. They were clearly made from the same methods, which Riza believed to be an earth skill.

However, what made this one stick out was the utter lack of offshoots. One straight tunnel heading… towards the East? No mazes, no labyrinthian tunnels, just a single road.

With that observation, a thought emerged about what this could be.

A single path leading to three strong, humanoid demons.

A trap.

And as Riza rounded a curve, there they were. Standing tall and apparently waiting for her, three featureless, humanoid bodies watched her appear.

Before she could do anything to act, to attack, a sudden wall of rock shot out from the ground, reaching up to the ceiling with the sound of a rockslide and blocking Riza off from the demons.

What the fuck?

Riza hurried to the wall, feeling the humanoids run away from the other side. She banged on it, feeling the immovable strength of the ground.

Seriously? Just like last time?

She grunted in annoyance, kicking a loose stone.

Except, not like last time. They shouldn’t have been here. No hive, no parasites, no guards.

Single tunnel leading to them. Waiting for me. A trap, except, I’m still alive?

Then the goal wasn’t to kill me but for me to see them?

With a final annoyed bang on the wall, Riza decided to head back.

This day is just getting weirder and weirder.