Walking Corpses

Silence loomed in the room. Jake kept looking back and forth between Audrey’s eyes and a corner of the room. Scratching the back of his head, he said, “This came as a surprise.”

“It did.”

Hearing her reply, he couldn’t help but remark, “She doesn’t understand romance, it seems.”

“She definitely doesn’t,” she agreed with a chuckle. Seeing her reactions, Jake eased up somewhat.

“Thanks, and sorry for making this situation look more awkward than it is.”

“No problem,” she waved her hand.

Walking over, Jake sat down beside Audrey, his shoulder touching hers. Fiddling with his fingers, he started, “When we were occupying the school and didn’t know Elena, I always found interest in you. I find you really charming. But there are many beauties, so that isn’t the reason I’m interested in you. Well, it’s definitely a good part of it” he admitted, seeing her raising a brow.

“That’s more like it,” she nodded her head.

“Okay, I’ll be honest with you. Anyway, you were always alone when you weren’t out with Krin and Raven to get some food, which I found weird at first. All you did was shut yourself in your room, though that’s nothing bad in my eyes. My feelings changed when Elena appeared. You didn’t have that deadpan face all the time and you started smiling. I found it fabulous-”

“Well, I’m sorry for being having a deadpan face,” she interrupted him, turning towards the windows.

“I didn’t mean it that way. Please, stop pouting. Back to the point. When I saw you smiling from day to day, an emotion erupted in me. I wanted you to smile at me the way you do at Elena,” Jake explained himself.

“Eh? Were you jealous of a little girl or what?” Audrey ridiculed him.

Clenching his fists, Jake continued, “No… It just came to me. After that, I couldn’t help but watch you whenever I saw you. I liked how you seemed to be so caring about Elena, who seemed to be your only friend. I wanted to receive the same kind of attention from you. I saw as you worked hard to get better. I saw as you got along so well with Elena and I was even happier to see your somewhat tomboyish side. This is, by all means, a good thing, please don’t misunderstand it.”

“I mean that you don’t whine all day, you don’t break out in hysteria. You make me remember the time I was a soldier. I can work as a team with you and stuff… and I find this very enjoyable.”

“So I’m a guy to you,” she chuckled, interrupting him again.

“Damn it, Audrey! I’m trying to be serious here!” he shouted, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her down on the bed. “Why do you keep joking around when I’m being honest here? I can’t hear your thoughts, I can’t hear you whining, but you surely have your troubles. Let me be the person who hears you out,” he followed up.

Audrey’s eyes opened wide upon experiencing his forcefulness. “Ah! I’m terribly sorry. It was my bad,” Jake pulled back his hands upon noticing her reaction, still sitting over her.

“No, it was my bad. I appreciate your honesty. I’m just bad with these kinds of things. I don’t know what to do, to be honest. Do you really want to hear me out?” she asked, looking into his eyes.

“Yes.”

Sighing loudly, she closed her eyes. “Okay. Please, get off of me first…” she mumbled. Realizing their position, Jake got off. Sitting up, she told him her past, something only Elena knew. Learning the reason behind her introverted personality, that she was almost raped, Jake felt both angry and terrible at the same time.

Covering his face, he mumbled, “And here I was, pushing you down. I’m really sorry about that. How could I make up with you?”

“Haha, don’t mind it. It happened a long time ago. I’m not afraid of such things anymore. It’s just that it happened when I was young and so, I was afraid to leave the house. Even in classes, I didn’t speak to anyone. It hit me like a trauma. Every day, I just went back home, shut the door to my room and spent my time with playing games or reading fantasy stuff. My mind was weak and I couldn’t process the idea of ‘what could have happened’.”

“I also lack social skills thanks to that, though after being with Elena, I learned quite a lot about it. Well, and I’d be quite old if not for the Apocalypse. It would be terrible of me if I was still living in my past, even after so many years.”

Showing an honest, bright smile to Jake, she added, “Your words made my heart beat faster for a few seconds. Haha~ I like how you kept telling me what you liked in me. Since you wish to make up with me and I want to reward you, I’ll…” she started thinking.

“Go on a date with me?” Jake cut into her thoughts, having an idea of his own.

“Sheesh, fine. You keep asking me to go on a date, but I don’t even know what to do there” she waved her hand, still agreeing with him.

“Great! Well, it’s just a day when we have fun together, make memories together and… don’t care about money!” He pointed his index finger towards the ceiling.

Shit. I don’t have the face to ask money from Elena, even if it is common in our little group. And I forgot what I had in Derrel’s pocket! Damn it! The guards have surely taken it away and stuffed their own pockets… I’ll have to push that date further away in time. To weekend when I get my salary, Jake’s mind stormed about his money problem.

“You seem to be troubled. Did you lose your money? It’s not a problem, Elena gave me half of what we earned from the store. She told me to share it with you anyway. It’s just that I forgot in the middle of our talk-” Audrey said, taking out a pouch, stuffed to the brim with gold coins.

“Hmm… we will have to find a way to store it. We can’t walk around with so much money,” she added.

“Absolutely no. I don’t need money, haha. I have my own, after all. Haha,” Jake laughed in an awkward way, catching Audrey’s attention.

“You lost it, didn’t you? It’s good to see that you are as terrible when it comes to communication as me,” she laughed at him, holding out the pouch.

“No.” Jake refused to take it.

“You said that you would carry my burden. This pouch is really heavy for my weak arms. Would you make a lady carry such a heavy bag?” she covered her red lips with her hands, gasping loudly.

“...I’ll carry it, but I won’t use it!” he grabbed the pouch and proceeded to tie it around his waist. Puffing out her cheeks, Audrey thrust her right hand forward and tore out the bag from his hands. “I’ve changed my mind! Go and suffer if you won’t accept my help! No, it’s not even my help. We explained to you when you became Elena’s familiar that we will share everything!”

“Eh? Why are you getting angry?” he made a surprised face.

“Well, you wanted to carry my troubles. I’m just letting you in. This side of mine is something only Elena has seen!” she exclaimed, throwing her red hair over her shoulders, crossing her right leg over the left.

“This sounded arousing for some reason,” Jake mumbled, shaking his head.

“... You are just a pervert,” she remarked.

Laughing at her words, Jake leaned forward, grabbed the back of her head and kissed her on the lips. “You will be mine,” he said as he pulled back. Standing up, he went towards the door and tried wanted to leave, only to remember that the door was closed. He tried to open the door, but the handle didn’t budge. Turning around, he looked at Audrey with an awkward smile on his face.

Raising her hand, Audrey touched her own lips and then looked at Jake strangely. “You are an idiot…” she remarked, seeing him trying to open the door with his hand behind his back.

“This totally screwed up my cool scene” he laughed, while Audrey only shook her head as she said, “It did. Use your head instead!” she pointed towards her temple with a smirk on her face. Reaching forward, she pointed at the door. Hearing a clicking sound, Jake quickly left, knowing that he would feel too awkward to speak, after such a failure.

THIS WAS SO SHAMEFUL! He screamed in his mind, walking down the stairs. Sitting down at a table, he asked the waitress to bring him some drinks. He forgot that he had no money…

Audrey laid down on the bed, looking at the ceiling. Touching her chest, she felt her heart beating rapidly. “Stupid…” she mumbled with a red face, touching her lips. “Just you wait, I’ll get back on you for this!”

Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on meditating, with little to no success. Raising a pillow, she threw it towards the wall before rolling up into a ball on the bed. Feeling somewhat tired, she fell asleep.

---

“What have you learned?” Elena questioned Dred, her hands on her hips.

“You seem like a mother questioning her child…” Dred’s chuckle resounded in the room.

“...”

“Status,” he said aloud, seeing her unmoving.

Name: Dred

Race: Devouring Panther (Legendary)

Level: 133

EXP: 9 215 / 17 000

Class: ShadowMoor (Exclusive)

Specialization: Stealth

Health: 1 982 745

Mana: Cosmological Constant

Titles: The Only One; Blood Drinker

Strength: 413 575

Vitality: 396 549

Agility(+10% Panther): 398 347 (+39 834)

Will: 71

Intelligence: 365 436

Wisdom: 392 747

Elemental Magic:

Fire Lv.70 (91%); Water Lv.65 (93%);

Wind Lv.73 (71%); Lightning Lv.65 (99%);

Nature Lv.63 (59%); Earth Lv.69 (47%);

Light Lv.57 (75%); Dark Lv.71 (41%);

Cosmological Constant: Lv.51 (76%)

Void Lv. 22 (37%); Eon Lv. 66 (25%)

Resistances:

Magical: 392 747

Physical: 206 787.5

Poison: 18 453 / 100 000

Passive:

Stamina: 1 982 745

Precision: 2 190 908.5

Skills/Spells:

Mana Control Lv. 66 (25%)

Sense Lv. 83 (69%)

Stealth: Lv. 92 (47%)

Shapeshift Lv. 42 (32%) (Bear; Wyvern)

Necromancy Lv. 31 (15%)

Racial Skills:

Devour Lv. 56 (12%)

Passive Skills:

Ambush Lv. 42 (91%)

Poison Lv. 18 (45%)

“Hmm~ Cosmological Constant reached the fifty-first level for you. That’s some nice progress you made. Did you hide Inspect and Meditation?” she asked.

Nodding his head, he replied, “Yes, since they reached the max level. There is no need to look at something I know… By the way, I just thought of something while staying back and after hearing your explanations about the current turn of events, I find my idea even better. Nobody knows anything exact, other than a black tail and that people keep being murdered. What if we used Necromancy instead of devouring the thugs?”

“I know that we our advancement will be slower, but we could lead them towards the idea of some evil cult building its foundation in the city. The series of murdering events would also make more sense. I don’t know if necromancy is prohibited here or not, but it would definitely help us in the current situation.”

Elena’s eyes glimmered in the dark room upon hearing his idea. “This sounds great! We could make Jake catch the corpses we create and help him climb the ladder. The suspicion about cat-people would also divert and the usage of Mind Magic would make more sense. But I’ll have to be careful of using Ekilsta,” she exclaimed, showing her white teeth.

Placing her hand on her chin, she mumbled, “But we should get somebody useable. Do you remember to that pair of hooded people who entered the city with us? I mean, when we came here for the first time. I can still sense my bacteria on them. They weren’t too weak but too strong either. Shall we visit them?”

“You are screwing up the life of every person you meet…” Dred remarked, shaking his head.

Sighing loudly, she hung her head as she muttered, “I know. But I have nothing in my inborn memories other than the common language people speak, some basic information about the universe, and the knowledge of my own abilities and mission. I was born to destroy and devour. I know nothing else. Audrey and Jake don’t even know… that no matter where I am born, that world will collapse and die out. Since I came to life on their planet, it changed everything and again, since I have to climb up the ladder of strength, monsters appeared probably because of me. This planet shall be no different. I’ll devour it.”

Hearing her words, Dred couldn’t help but laugh, “Haha, you are telling this to the wrong person. I mean, I am the same, in case you forgot… But seeing you enjoy your life with our friends, I’d advise you to sometimes just take it easy and have some fun too. It’s not like all you have to do is destroy. I know that we will be hunted soon enough, but our abilities aren’t something to be trifled with.”

“We are the best when it comes to hiding, so we should use that aspect and gather more information about a place before getting into anything. This whole thing was a little hurried as we didn’t even know enough about the local powerhouses. Now they keep popping up one after the other. And that Gautama guy Jake told us about. He was the same person who was looking towards the forest through the breached wall. He felt truly powerful and-”

“Wait, wait! Okay! Fine! I get it now. I was hot-headed,” Elena interrupted him, holding up her hands.

“It’s good to see that you understand. I didn’t say anything when you got into this mess. I’ll protect you as much as I can, but I can’t do it if you get yourself killed. Don’t die on me, you silly girl,” he said, hitting her forehead with his huge paw.

“This felt rather soft,” she chuckled, grabbing his paw.

“I’m not a pet…” he remarked, pulling it back.

“Are you thinking about our main goal?” Dred muttered, resting his head on his front legs.

She looked at him from the corners of her eyes, staying mute for a few minutes. Not minding it, Dred waited for her to speak. “Even silence is enjoyable, haha,” she chuckled.

“What’s up? Did our goal become a sore spot for you?” Dred asked, snuggling up to her.

“You see, I have to decide for myself if the universe should be reset or not. Our goal is to reset the Universe into a blank sheet and let new life grow in it. It would mean the end of the current civilization, but I don’t think that it’s such a bad thing. Life and death walk hand in hand. They come and go. Short-sighted people would call this evil, but in every bad, there is something good, isn’t there?”

“I mean, look at people. The place I was born at, people fought over everything. It’s the same here. Although I haven’t seen too much of them, there are signs of evil everywhere. I wonder how will people turn out… I think that there is something going on in this city, other than our little game. I bet my neck on it that they want to overthrow the mayor or something. Everywhere I go, I see backstabbing.”

“But there is one problem with all this. We were born for this reason, but it’s not something I decided on. Such being the case, I’ll change it to fit how I want things to be. If my words are true, and there is something bad going on, I’ll devour this city. If not, I’ll leave it be. That’s how I’ll proceed from now on. I’ll count the number of places where I’ll leave without devouring and where I’ll devour! Once I reach the top, I’ll see where the scale tips. If there will be more places I had to devour, that shall mean the end of this Universe. I can take it easy at the better places. How does that sound?”

Showing his teeth, Dred replied, “I’m glad to see you finding your path. It’s not necessary to kill everyone you see. We were born to destroy those who we deem unworthy of life. Collateral damage is inevitable, especially with the number of people who will hunt us. I bet that they will be here in a few weeks or months. You can play around until then. I’ll take over the leadership at that time.”

“Muh- fine. What? Wait, no! We will work together, not just me or you!” Elena agreed with him instantly, only to realize his meaning. Seeing the sudden change of her facial expressions, Dred laughed at her as he said, “That is the best choice, obviously. Two halves become one, as the Ancestor says!”

“Don’t drag it into this… who knows if it would appear!” Elena rebuked him.

Sitting down on the side of the bed, a comb formed in her hand. As she started to comb her hair, she mumbled in a low voice. “Don’t you think that it’s really bad of us to be the ones to decide who is worthy of life and who isn’t?”

Sitting down in front of him, swaying his tail, Dred replied, “We weren’t the ones who decided this. It was the Ancestor. We have to do as we see fit. But hey, it’s not like anyone can control us. Not even it.”

Looking at him from the corners of her eyes, “Am I not a terrible person for deciding the fate of others? Am I not evil? Someone, to be hated and cursed at? That’s all people do with me,” she asked, a few tears appearing in her eyes.

“Haha, you might be more human inside than the humans. Unless we look at your murderous behavior… but to reply to your questions. No. You might be evil or cruel in other people’s eyes, but not for me. You are an angel with black wings, for me. It might not be enough but then look at Audrey and Jake. They surely like you and I don’t think that it’s because of your blood.”

“Come here, you big crybaby,” he said with a chuckle as his fur-covered legs turned into human arms with hands. Seeing her turning her head to the side, he stepped forward and hugged her. Hugging him back, she enjoyed the touch of his soft fur.

“You are still like a pet…” she remarked, freezing Dred.

“And you look way too weird now. A panther with hairless human arms…”

“You little!” he grumbled, smacking her forehead.

“Ouch… that wasn’t soft,” she rubbed the stinging spot. Turning back into his normal form, he decreased his size to that of a cat. Jumping onto her lap, he coiled up into a ball and closed his eyes. “I’m glad to see you feeling better now. Your smile is really bright, Miss Sunshine. Elena bright sun, huh? Your name matches you, after all,” he said, trying to pull up the skin on the sides of his mouth, with no success.

“You can’t smile in your monster form…” she remarked, patting his back.

“You don’t say?!” he snapped at her, his fur standing up. Feeling her hand reaching a good spot, his whole body trembled in pleasure.

“Nyah~ scratch it a bit above,” he cried out. In the next moment, he opened his mouth and eyes wide as he cursed aloud, “Damn it! This was totally shameful! But it felt good…”

Seeing his inner quarrel, Elena couldn’t help but let out a heart filled laughter. Hugging him into her bosom, she said in a low voice, “Thank you. I’ll be there if something similar happens to you. Count on me and I’ll count on you. Both of us are lonely, in a way. Being unique isn’t as fun as people think…”

“Yeah, but we aren’t unique, are we? It’s just that we see the world in a different way than others,” Dred remarked, tilting his head to the side.

“Yep, though there is one thing we are unique in. We can take any oath we want since it won’t have any effects on us! Haha~” Elena said with a chuckle, feeling happy about the only real advantage they had, other than their quick training speed.

“Well, what do you expect? Powerful people could walk around and make everyone take an oath, stating that they aren’t devourers. We would be caught quickly… Such a thing would be unfair to us.” Hearing his words, Elena nodded her head.

“Oh, right. We should tell this to Audrey and Jake too. If they were to fall into such a situation as Jake before, this piece of information could help them a lot. Now that I think about it, if he knew this, he could have ignored Derrel and kill him on the spot… Although those who drink Audrey’s or Jake’s blood wouldn’t be immune to oaths, those who drink our blood are,” Dread advised, purring in the meantime.

“You big cat… Haha. I’ll tell them, but it came in handy this time. I mean, we were able to get the better of our situation. Now we have some room to work with. Shall we train? Who knows what will those two do,” she threw her hair over her shoulders, throwing the comb back to her storage ring. “Now I’ll focus on you with two hands!” she chuckled as she started scratching Dred’s neck, chest, and the part behind his ears.

“Purr~” he closed his eyes. Realizing what he did, he snapped, “Damn it! I did it again! I’m not a pet! I am a Devouring Panther for fuck’s sake! Just you wait… we will see about this in a few days!”

“What do you mean?” Elena asked, her head tilted to the side.

“You shall see,” he replied, sticking out his tongue. Calming down, he picked up on the conversation, “Also, I don’t think that anything would happen between those two. I’d say that Jake will leave when he could go for it, thinking that it was best to let Audrey think. She definitely won’t make the first move either…”

Snorting, Elena remarked, “What are you? Love guru? They-”

“Why are you trying so hard to make them into a couple?” Dred asked the most crucial question, interrupting Elena.

“Why…” she mumbled with a thoughtful face before giving an answer, “It’s because I find pleasure in teasing them and if they were a couple, they could work even better in a team.”

“And what if they quarrel in the future?” he asked, making Elena realize a problem.

“Ehm… they can quarrel as friends too. Well, I didn’t pick them based on their looks. I’m quite sure that they would be able to handle such things. Not to mention that Audrey isn’t too emotional. She has her times, but most of the time she is collected. I don’t think that they would have anything big going on in the future, even if they became a couple.”

“You just thought of your own reasons… how stupid of you. I hope that your words are true. Make sure to stay out of their relationship at this point or you might screw things up. It’s for them to solve what they want.”

Scratching the back of her head, she laughed in an awkward way, “Leave me be… stupid cat. I’ll reflect on my actions.”

“Good to hear.”

Ignoring him, Elena continued, “Let’s train in the meantime!”

“...”

---------

A few hours later, Elena got up from the bed and walked towards the door, Dred following in her wake. Before leaving the room, she sighed loudly as she slapped her cheeks. Although it felt sore afterward, she didn’t mind it. “This woke me up. I thank you again for your talkativeness. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die” she chuckled, rubbing her cheeks. Looking at the handle of the door, her eyes shone with a new light and a tinge of seriousness as she said, “I shall change that kind of thinking if I see a person fit.”

Looking at her back, Dred chuckled, “I’ll obviously help you in doing so. Also, no problem. Now go through that door and kick some asses. I don’t want to stand, looking at your back the whole day…”

“Haha, okay.”

Slightly opening the door to her own room, she peeked in through the gap. Seeing Audrey lying down and sleeping, she took out an empty sheet of paper from her storage ring and left a note by using Dark Magic.

It read, “I went out with Dred to advance our plans. I might be back only in the morning. Meet you soon, be good.”

Feeling satisfied, a smile formed on her face before turning around to leave. Walking down the stairs, the dimly lit dining room was right in front of her, while the counter was on her right. There were only a few people downstairs, who were having dinner. Ignoring them, she was about to leave when Dred bit into the black cape on her back and pulled her back.

“What is it?” she asked, raising a brow.

“Think,” he said, tilting his head to the side with signs of expectation in his eyes.

Squatting down, she whispered into his right ear, so as to not let others listen in on her words. “I understand. I was being rash again. If big things were to happen this night too, people seeing me leaving the Inn could report me. Being a suspect equals failure with my current power.”

“You don’t have to go to the toilet anymore? Let’s go back in that case,” she said with her normal voice as she stood up, looking at Dred.

“I curse you,” he grumbled through gritted teeth, wishing to knock her over. Seeing the look in his eyes, she was barely able to hold back her laughter. Not even hearing Dred, the people eating chuckled, while some laughed.

“What’s so funny about taking out your pet? You guys are so rude. I apologize in their stead,” the innkeeper rebuked them, waving her finger, and then apologized to Elena.

“It’s not a problem. It just shows their own lack of courtesy,” Elena replied with a smile before turning back and walking up the stairs. Everyone laughing turned quiet. Although some of them felt somewhat angry, they didn’t utter a word.

“I swear that I’ll bite your ass in the future,” Dred muttered on the top of the stairs, before turning into his Shadow Form and rushing out of the building, down the stairs, through the door on the left.

I shouldn’t have said such a thing, Elena rubbed her buttocks, already imagining the pain. Will it hurt? It definitely will… she thought, following him in the same manner.

Two shadows rushed through the streets, passing through anything that blocked their sight, for the night was their domain. The elements were only the basics of the basics. It wasn’t surprising that she knew how to use Light Magic since Shadow Progenitor never meant that she was some kind of Dark Magic related being. But it was understandable if people thought it otherwise upon the first sight.

Their shadow seemed to be darker than the barely visible stone roads.

“Five hundred meters.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

“We are here~” Dred counted back, sensing Elena’s Shadow Bacteria on the hooded people, who arrived at the city with them, a few days ago.

As they arrived at a tidy park, they saw huge mansions and villas all around it. The one in front of them was no different. Both Dred and Elena raised out of the ground and looked at the magnificent building. From the outside, the mansion looked luxurious. It had been built with spruce wood and had tan brick decorations. Tall, half rounded windows added to the overall style of the house and had been added to the house in a mostly symmetric way.

With the help of Magic Crystals, a blue light lit up the entirety of the building, irradiating even the streets and the circular park. “Are you sure about this? This might be the mansion of somebody really powerful and we have no idea who those two are. Black capes, hoodies, no backpacks. They seemed too strange for travelers to me,” Dred questioned Elena, waiting if she would reconsider her idea.

“Well, that was also one of the reasons I put my bacteria on them. And if it still wasn’t noticed, the people living in this Mansion aren’t all that strong or have bad sensing abilities. Either of the two it is, we are good to go. The only bad possibility is that they know about it and are waiting for the preparators. In this case, us,” she explained herself, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Good insight. Let’s go in that case,” Dred chuckled, pushing her forward with a paw. Although she didn’t say it, Elena was startled for a moment when she felt his paw on her buttocks. She turned a little paranoid after hearing his latest threat.

Since it was night, even if the person in question was really powerful, they could leave at any moment. Seeing two guards in front of the door, both Dred and Elena used Inspect on them.

Name: Unidentifiable because of a spell

Race: Unidentifiable because of a spell

Level: Unidentifiable because of a spell

Threat Level: 4

Seeing his threat level, she looked at Dred for confirmation if the other person was just as powerful.

“The question is, how much can we trust Inspect this time? I’ll leave it to my instincts. I’m not such a creature for nothing!” she whispered as she closed her eyes and focused her senses on the guards.

“Clear Mana Veins, but they aren’t that thick. The left one is built as a physical type, while the one on the right seems to be a Magical type instead. They are chatting about whores…” she mumbled, sensing everything she could.

“Is the last one something your instincts are telling you?” Dred was barely able to hold back his laughter.

“No… you can hear them too, so don’t play such pranks on me,” she replied, opening her eyes and looking at Dred with a frown.

“Haha, sorry, but your reaction was just too funny. You should have seen your face,” he chuckled, almost screwing up. The guards looked their way but saw nothing so they went back to chatting.

“I’ll believe in myself. That’s all I can do!” Elena muttered before rushing forward.

“Poor guys. Well, she isn’t killing you because of your topic. Having sexual desires isn’t a crime. I wonder how it feels,” Dred mumbled to himself before following his partner in crime.

Without even noticing her, she raised out of the ground behind the Mage type and coiled her arms around his neck from behind. “Do you need some help with your lust?” she whispered into his ears with her gentle voice, her cherry lips catching the guy’s attention from the corners of his eyes.

Feeling mesmerized for a moment, he didn’t react in time to the dagger that penetrated his heart. She covered his mouth with her hand. The other guard was strangely silent, even after seeing all that happening. Elena looked at him with a smile as she let go of the guy, letting him fall face first towards the ground. The eyes of the other guard bulged as he did the same.

There were three large gashes on his back and a green liquid was filling up the wounds. A greenish foam came out of his mouth as the light in his eyes faded out.

Looking at their corpses, Elena frowned. “Now that I think about it, what would have it mattered if people saw us leaving the Inn? If we are going to use Necromancy on these two, those claw marks on his back will make everything clear, considering that people have seen you not only in the Inn but on the training grounds too. What are you- Oooh!”

“Have you realized it yet? They will definitely connect the dots with me, sooner or later. I haven’t seen any pet in this city with a black tail, which means that I’ll become a suspect sooner than later. It will be the same with you. But these people are at the lower levels. They surely don’t know the meaning behind the sudden death of a whole Planet, the new connection with it, and the basics of the basics about our race.”

“As long as we take an oath, stating that we weren’t the ones killing or doing anything of the sort, these people will believe it and we will be clear of any suspicion. It’s a really stupid solution, but since these people don’t know this exclusive ability of ours, we can use it. This shall be our first playground where we can learn the basics about intelligent races. It will be harder in the future, but we should be fine for now,” Dred explained his plan.

“And here I was wondering why you didn’t hide and walked around in your full size instead. By the way, you should train your shape-shifting ability. That Wyvern form of yours is pretty enjoyable to me…” she said with a chuckle, squatting down in front of the corpses.

“Other than being able to transform more quickly, I didn’t find anything worthwhile reason. But I’ll give it another try. Maybe I can have more forms than two or I don’t know…” he replied, looking at the green light that covered Elena’s hands. Looking down at his paw, the same thing happened with him. Putting it on the corpse of the guard he killed, he closed his eyes as he started to pour his Mana into the dead body.

The guards’ fingers started twitching, followed by their whole arms and every muscle in their bodies. Opening their eyes, they sat up and looked around, under Elena’s and Dred’s control. “This is pretty fun, but we can’t control them forever. We need to give them some kind of consciousness… Ekilsta still has Derrel’s knowledge. Maybe if I…” Elena muttered to herself, her hand on her chin.

Sending Ekilsta into the Mage type guard’s body, she controlled it to load what it knew into the brain of the corpse. “Since we have consciousness only if we have memories and knowledge, this should work. Ekilsta is spreading through blood cells, and we have blood at every part of our bodies. It takes some time, but it’s worth the trouble. It seems like we can’t use necromancy without a spell, that can give some basic consciousness for a corpse.”

“It’s no wonder that necromancers are seeking living beings and are hated by most. Well, it’s not like I have a clear idea about their standing in society, but I’m pretty sure that they are at least frowned upon,” Dred concluded the matter at hand, failing at giving the corpse real life.

“Haha, imagine yourself walking around in a city, dragging corpses behind you so that you could control them when it comes to a battle. That’s definitely not something normal. But considering how though corpses can be, I’m pretty amazed by the true power of necromancers. If they meditate enough and have big enough Mana Pools, they could very well destroy a smaller city!” Elena said with a chuckle, seeing the guard she used necromancy on, looking around with an observant face.

“Welcome, little one. Can you speak? What do you know?” she asked, looking into his eyes.

He looked down at his hands before his eyes met with Elena’s. “W-What the hell?! Elena? You killed me you bitch! How come I’m alive? N-Necromancy!?” his voice started getting louder and louder, so Elena cut her supply of Mana. The body fell back to the ground, lifeless.

“This was creepy…” she mumbled, but her eyes almost bulged in the next second.

“Huh? Strange. I have to supply my body with my Mana!” Derrel spoke through the body once again. Elena frowned as she controlled Ekilsta to kill him, this time for real.

“N-No! Don’t suck it out!” Derrel exclaimed, feeling his memories fading away. He wasn’t a real, living being, so he had nothing to protect his mind. He had no soul! He was just a collection of memories, who reacted based on what were his original emotions. A few seconds later, he slumped his shoulders and hung his head.

“Okay. We definitely can’t use the full copy of his brain. It will just make him come alive, which I don’t want. Let’s try doing only a part of it, but we should go further away before we get caught,” Elena mumbled, grabbing the guard’s collar and dragging him out of the light. After another round of testing, she finally succeeded in giving it some basic consciousness. It did nothing but listen to her commands, which was good enough for her.

She didn’t wish to surround herself with creepy corpses as servants unless it was really necessary. “Dred, try commanding it. I wonder if it will do anything people say,” she said, looking at Dred.

“Lick Elena’s face.”

“Yuck! You idiot,” she exclaimed, slapping the back of his head. But the corpse stood on his hands, unmoving. That was what Elena commanded.

“Get on all fours and shake your hips,” she said in a low voice, but the corpse obeyed. Seeing such a strange sight, she didn’t feel like laughing. It felt rather humiliating, even for a dead person…

“I-I’m sorry, you poor guard. I won’t do such things anymore. Just walk there and sit down in a dark corner. We will bring you more friends!” she commanded this time, pointing towards a small building. It looked like a storage house of some kind. The corpse stood up and did as told.

“Great. Now, let’s go and do what we came here for,” Elena said, rushing towards the front door.

Thanks to her great eyesight, she was able to spot a tiny hole on the door, which seemed to have the shape of some kind of crystal. People were supposed to insert a unique crystal and pour their Mana into the formation on the door to open it. It was a powerful defense system. The only problem was that it was night and her racial traits were at their best.

Jumping towards the door, she turned into a thin, black line of shadow and entered through the hole. She found herself in a corridor, with a pathway on the left and on the right too. “Go left,” Dred whispered, smelling somebody from that way.

Nodding her head, Elena followed Dred, who was already ahead of her. Since he was more of a physical type, it was best if he was the one leading. Hearing footsteps, they stopped in the shadow of a nice piece of furniture. It was just a shelf, but it seemed to be made of some kind of ancient, dark brown tree.

A guard slowly passed by them, looking at the pictures on the walls, sometimes sneaking a look outside of the mansion through the windows. Elena promptly checked him and realized that he wasn’t any stronger than the guards outside. She controlled Ekilsta and started to copy his mind, slowly following him a from a few meters behind.

Sensing that Ekilsta was done, she jumped up in front of him like a flash of lightning. Reacting quickly, he was about to thrust his spear forward, but Dred’s paw struck his side. He crashed into the wall with a loud bang, his bones giving out cracking sounds. Spitting out three mouthfuls of blood, he fell unconscious.

“Shit… this guy was completely focused on Magic. Ah, his staff has a Magic Crystal in it. He just used it as a catalyst. I’m sure that somebody heard this,” Dred whispered in a low voice, looking at Elena with an apologetic face.

A smirk formed on her face as she kept rolling a lock of her hair around her finger. Looking around, Dred realized that she created a Wind Barrier, stopping any sound. “Alright, I won’t bite your ass anymore. Nice one,” he praised her, looking at the dark red blood, slowly trickling down on the wall.

Sighing loudly, Elena used Necromancy on the corpse, along with some Healing Magic. Although the guard was still in a terrible shape, it was good enough. “Should I look at his memories? My head will be jumbled up for a few minutes, which doesn’t sound fun in our current situation. But I should get some information about this area of the city. As a guard in the house, he should know quite a lot about the residents too.”

“No. In the middle of breaking into a house, not knowing anything about the residents, I can’t have you lose your mind. I could cover you, but devouring somebody’s mind would have a much longer effect on you than you think. Although you didn’t notice it, Frank’s simple-minded stupidity came out on you. Thanks to your will, you got back to normal quite quickly, but it was still a bad move.”

“You should gather information in a different way. Just summon some other kind of demon or something like that. We will think about it later. I know that it sucks to do these kinds of things without information, but it’s still better than having you lose your mind for a few weeks,” Dred disapproved of her idea. Thinking back, Elena couldn’t help but agree with him. Nodding her head, she made a normal zombie out of the guard’s corpse.

A black mass flowed out of the nostrils of the corpse, going back to Elena’s feet before disappearing. Tilting his head to the side, seeing that nobody was coming, Dred asked, “I never asked before. How does Ekilsta enter other people? I’ve never seen it leaving your body before, and I rarely see it coming back this way.”

“I can turn it into something very similar to Mana. People won’t even notice this thing entering through their pores. It’s akin to air. They can breathe it in, they can simply use their Mana and suck it in. Anything is possible for this little, translucent creature. The only problem with it is that it sucks out a lot of Mana from my body. I can’t thank Audrey enough for learning about Cosmological Constant,” she replied, intriguing Dred.

“That’s really neat. But we have been chatting too much. Let’s go,” he nodded his head.

“Yeah, but we haven’t had our alone time for a good while now, and this is the first time that you are so talkative. You were more responsive when you were a cute little cub,” she mumbled as she followed him.

“I’m sorry, I just spent my time with observing our surroundings. I think that those two were some kind of spies and the person owning this mansion invited them to gather information. If that’s really true, we should be careful since they might have good senses,” he apologized, stopping before another group of guards. But this time, it was a group of three, all standing in front of a huge, thick, metal door. Inspect.

Name: Unidentifiable because of a Spell

Race: Unidentifiable because of a Spell

Level: Unidentifiable because of a Spell

Threat Level: 6

The one on the middle was a man, who had a threat level of six, whilst the other two were females with threat levels of four. All of them stood silently, but the man had a dangerous aura surrounding him.

You are nothing but intruders here, for the night is my domain, Elena thought as she used ShadowStep to teleport behind them, going through the door without any trouble. Sensing a slight disruption in the flow of Mana, the man in the middle furrowed his brows as he looked around. Not seeing anything, he used Sense, but it didn’t catch any signs, other than the location of the other guards.

Elena commanded all of them to walk around, except for those two at the entrance. Sensing that they weren’t too far away, the man thought, they must be taking a piss… I’ll rebuke them tomorrow. With strength came confidence. He was confident that he would have sensed an intruder.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Elena looked into Dred’s eyes with a meaningful look. She wanted to kill those three. As long as she stayed unmoving, not using anything other than her Shadow Form, nobody could sense her at these levels. Even if the man in the middle was above the two-hundredth level.

Leaving her Shadow Form, she stood behind the door. It was kind of ridiculous to see her in the prohibited area, even though there were three guards who were supposed to stop her. The fact that I can’t read anyone’s stats means that there is a global spell in the Mansion. It must be some kind of formation, with only a few people added.

If I was to knock now, he should think that I am the owner since he wasn’t able to sense me. When he opens the door, we will strike! She thought with emotion as a feeling of excitement and worry filled her heart.

*Knock - Knock*

“Huh? Is that you, Milord?” the man in the middle asked, turning halfway towards the door. Clearing his throat, Dred told him to open the door.

“Haha, Milord’s voice is a little cracky-” he chuckled with his eyes almost completely shut, his hand moving at the same time. As he opened the door, a paw, the size of his head, flew towards his face. His eyes bulged out in surprise. Ekilsta, who entered his body long ago, delayed his mind for the split of a second. Combined with their Ambush abilities, his awareness was lowered to bottom rock.

Dred’s paw tore off the front of his face, splashing his brain matters onto the walls. Broken splinters of his skulls penetrated the wall, cutting the faces of the two pretty girls too.

Using their initial surprise, Elena appeared behind one of the girls with ShadowStep, and slit her throat. She tried to scream, but all that came out was her blood and the low whistling of the air, leaving her lungs. Grabbing her forehead from behind, Elena broke her neck and used her Mana to clean off her fingerprints. She didn’t know if it was a thing here or not, but she heard of it from Audrey, so she made sure to leave as few clues as possible.

The last girl immediately wanted to draw her short-sword, but she failed to do so, thanks to the thick Vine, Elena grew around their hilts when Dred first stricken. Although she tore it off in the split of a second, Dred was already flying towards her head. Sensing that Elena set up another Wind Barrier, he roared loudly to scare the girl. Seeing his long, sharp, white teeth, with tints of green, her mind almost blanked out.

She wasn’t used to real combat and nobody dared to attack their Lord anyway. Seeing that he had a choice, he bit into her left shoulder instead and tore off her arm. Before she could scream out in pain, a ball of cold water hit her face, drowning her voice. Using Devour, Elena started to draw strength from the girl, followed by the other two.

“It’s inside you,” she said with a smile, pointing at her own head. The girl made a confused face before she felt as if something was lurking inside her head. Raising her right hand, she shot a ball of fire towards Elena, but it turned around in the next second. Her mouth and eyes were opened wide when it hit her face, burning her brain in a moment. The smell of burnt flesh and hair filled the corridor as she fell to the ground, lifeless.

The irony smell of blood and the burnt odor mixed together, creating a disgusting scent. “Forgive me,” Dred said before leaning forward and tearing out a good chunk of fresh meat from the girl’s body. Chewing as silently as he could, he grounded her meat, along with her ribs. Nothing was able to stop his jaws.

“I don’t care, but is it tasty to you? No matter how I look at it, it looks very disgusting to even touch these corpses,” Elena remarked in a low voice, frowning.

“You are right, but she is fresh and young! Her meat is really good,” he replied, licking the blood sides of his mouth. Shrugging her shoulders, Elena devoured half of their power, leaving the rest to Dred. After making two steps, she felt a sudden feeling of pain flooding her body.

“Shit. Were they this strong? It’s good that we surprised them,” she said through gritted teeth, feeling her cells collapsing and rebuilding themselves. Her strength raised, the processing capacity of her brain increased, her Mana Veins turned thicker, and her senses turned sharper. Looking at her status window, she saw her stats continuously increasing, until reaching an average of seven hundred thousand.

“Straight to the seven-hundredth level, huh? That’s really nice. This guy must have been somewhere around two hundred and fifty levels. This is why assassination rules the world~ And we didn’t even have information about him!” Elena whispered in a low voice, visibly excited over the sudden increase of her capabilities.

She also learned a few skills from these people, but none of those was good enough for her, so she simply hid them from her status. Things like Meteor, Fire Dragon, Earth Elephant, Icicles… they were surely powerful, but nothing over the top. She didn’t want to be a jack of all trades, master of none. Time was pressing more people than fewer and she was one of the first. She didn’t have the time to pile up stupid skills and spells and learn all of them.

But even if she had the time, she wouldn’t do it. The only thing that caught her interest came from the man.

New Skill Acquired: Second Skin

Allocating a kind of Attribute to your Mana, you can cover your body with a thin layer of Element. Either of the elements can be used, but it’s advised to use the one you have the most efficiency in. It’s also good to protect your body from different types of climates.

It’s nothing great and I won’t keep it on my status board, but I’ll definitely remember to use it and train it. It’s a useful skill. I guess I can’t call it a spell since it has physical effects on my body… she thought, trying to decide the type of this skill.

Dismissing the message, she thought about moving forward, but she heard the door clicking. Jumping into a shadow in the corner, she waited silently. A girl with long, red hair came out of her room, rubbing her eyes. Her white robe accentuated the curves of her body. After trying to inspect her, she had the same result as before. Except for the fact that this girl’s threat level was ten, even after such a huge boost in her strength.

It meant that she had no chance, even if she tried to assassinate her. It was likely that she would react way much quicker than her or Dred. She looked exactly the same as how Jake described Hoa, the employee of Gautama.

Raising her head, she looked around as she muttered.

“Why the hell are there corpses, walking in our yard? What happened to the guards?”