"We're finally here," said the bard.

I said to the adventurer group "Let's finish this quest as quickly as we can," with annoyance clearly in my tone. I thought back to three days ago when this whole ordeal starts. The church wants to continue the search for the princess because even after two weeks of search she still wasn't found.

Since Evermoon was a small kingdom that only has small town and villages in its influence, no knights or priests were interested in doing this mission since they thought it would waste their time and wouldn't help advance their career. So they sent their trainees and their squires to do the job.

That was my chance as I was one of the first squires that were there when the church occupied the Evermoon Kingdom. The reward and recognition from finding the princess could help me boost my career to the point where I might even become a knight. So I decided to accept the mission.

The princess was last seen running towards the forbidden forest with three guards chasing after her. Those three guards hadn't returned after two weeks it's very likely that they died inside the forbidden forest with the princess. I know that I shouldn't go there alone. So I post an escort quest going to the forbidden forest at the adventurer guild.

That's when my bad luck began. A young man accepted my quest, he was accompanied by three beautiful women. Lucky bastard, he does look handsome with his blue eyes and black hair. He was wearing plate armor that covered his whole body except his face. He was carrying a kite shield on his back with a hammer on his belt, he must be a guardian.

After I traveled with his party for three days, I realized that he was the luckiest bastard in Mondo. All three women in his party seemed to be in love with him. They all praise him and fawn over him, all of them tried to get closer to him along the journey. The worst part of this was that he was clueless to all of their advances, he thought of them as his friends.

His childhood friend Layla, was the party magician and healer. She was a druid which meant she could harness the power of nature to ensnare enemies with enchanted vines and heal party members by increasing their natural regeneration. She wore a white shirt with a black skirt and a green robe that was too big for her. She had short black hair and blue eyes and her height is around 160 cm. She had an oak staff as her weapon.

The rising artist Esme, was the party buffer. She was a bard, and she used sound magic, the specialized form of wind magic, to enchant her music so that it would buff her party members or debuff her enemies. She wore a purple dress and black leather armor covering her vital areas. She had brown hair tied into a ponytail with brown eyes with a lean figure and a height of around 165 cm. She had a lute and a rapier on her belt as her weapons.

The cool older sister Rosario Enlynn was the scout and damage dealer. She was an elven ranger. As a scout, she can find traps, safe roads, and track enemies. As a damage dealer, she used her bow to attack enemies from a distance. She wore a full set of green leather armor with a hood covering her face. She had long blond hair and green eyes with her height being around 180 cm. She had a bow and multiple daggers as her weapons.

All these women liked him, but he hadn't made any moves on them. He must be as dense as an earth crystal because other than a written invitation they have done everything to seduce him. Damn you, Dean, I hope Goddess Sole tortures you in her eternal sun fire.

"Hey old man, are you daydreaming?" asked Emse.

"I'm not old, I'm 118 years old that's still young," I said to her angrily.

"I'm sorry Aiwin, that was rude of Esme. She's nice if you get to know her," said Dean trying to apologize for Esme.

"It doesn't matter, let's just finish the quest," I said clearly annoyed.

We all went into the forest and I could feel that something was off. Looks like I wasn't the only one that felt it, Rosario and Layla, also feel that something was off. Everyone is cautious as they were all holding their weapons since the place was more dangerous than usual.

Usually, the forest feels like it ’s watching you, like everything in this place is alive. Now that feeling is gone and the forest looks like it is empty. The forbidden forest should be crawling with beasts like wolves and bears, but why is it empty? It got so bad that knights used this place as a training ground for squire's to practice for real combat. It wasn't time for the annual training, so this place should be crawling with beasts.

When we went deeper into the forest Rosario found something. It was rotten corpses, which were filled with scratches and bite marks. The smells were repugnant, I saw Esme covering her mouth trying hard not to vomit and Layla closing her eyes as to not see the dead bodies.

"They were probably the guards that went missing after chasing the princess."

"You think?" Esme said sarcastically.

"What's that?" Layla asked as she point toward a leather bag.

I went closer to take a look. When I opened the bag to look what's inside, I was greeted with the same foul smell of the corpses. Inside the bag, there was a rotten head. I assume that it was the princess. Finally, I can go home and take a shower. While I was thinking that, an arrow slipped past me and hit a tree. I turned around and saw Rosario knocking another arrow on her bow.

"What are you shooting at?" I asked concerned that she wants to kill me.

"A zombie," she said.

A zombie jumped down from a tree and began running in our opposite direction. I immediately chased after it, the others not far behind me.

"The mission was to get that princess right? We got her head, so let's go home. Why are you going after this zombie?" asked Esme clearly annoyed.

"No, the mission was to escort me for one week and there are still four days left, so quit whining and buff us."

"Damn it, [Haste]"

After being buffed by Esme, we were getting close to the zombie, when suddenly a wolf ambushed us from the side. It was a good thing that Dean was ready as he blocked the wolf attack with his shield before hitting it with his hammer.

"It's a death hound. Rosario, chase after the zombie. We'll handle the death hound," Dean commanded his team.

"Ok, Dean, be careful," Rosario said as she runs passed us to chase after the zombie.

"[Root]"

"[Holy Slash], Die you undead fiend," I said with anger in my voice.

I slashed its neck with my sword. Its head rolled on the ground. We began searching for Rosario and the zombie. After running for a few minutes we finally found Rosario standing in front of a cave.

"Dean, this cave is a dungeon and what happens next will be your decision. Whether we go inside to fight the undead or go back and take the unfinished quest penalty. Whatever you choose I will support you," said Rosario.

"Dean, let's just take the penalty. I don't want to go to an undead dungeon because it probably smells bad in there," said Esme trying to dissuade Dean.

"We can probably get treasure and the dungeon core could help me with my magic, let's go, Dean," said Layla.

"I'm going in there even if you guys won't go, every single undead must die," I said with hatred in my voice.

"Whatever you chose Dean, I will support you," said Rosario trying to comfort Dean.

"Let's go inside, if we don't stop this undead dungeon it might attack the Evermoon Kingdom," said Dean heroically.

As we all entered the dungeon. We formed a diamond formation with Dean at the front as the defender, Rosario and Layla at the left and right side respectively as the long-range damage dealers. Me right behind Dean as the close range damage dealer and back up defender. Lastly, Esme at the back to provide support and buffs. The first room was a mine, there were ores and minerals everywhere but no undead to be seen. We continue deeper inside the dungeon, through the corridor, Rosario told us to stop because she found a trap. It was a pressure plate trap that would cause a stalactite to fall if we step on it. After carefully passing the trap we delve deeper into the dungeon. The next room was a forest filled with animals and plants everywhere. There were even birds and fruit tree and a pond in the room.

"I'm beginning to think that this was a nature dungeon that was corrupted by something or someone," said Layla as a matter of fact.

"I don't care, I will kill every undead that I see and anyone practicing necromancy or dark magic."

"Cool your head Aiwin, those that are blinded by anger tends to die easily," said Rosario trying to calm me down.

"Tch fine, let's carry on."

We went deeper only to find an altar with a skeleton statue right beside it. There was something written on the statue it was something about how you can revive someone if you sacrifice people at the altar. It was disgusting, I will definitely kill anyone or anything that is behind this dungeon. I will let them know the wrath of the Goddess Sole. Every undead here must be killed and this place must be destroyed. When we went deeper into the dungeon there was another stalactite trap at the corridor intersection. We easily avoid it and went deeper and found a graveyard.

When we reached the middle of the room we saw undead. It was a squad that looked prepared to fight us. They have a warrior, a scout, and an archer. There were also other regular zombies along with them. Esme buffed our strength, then we started fighting the undead. Layla rooted the undead warrior while I tried to cut off his head. He blocked my sword strike but Dean hit his abdomen with his hammer. I tried to finish the warrior but the scout blocked my attack. Esme was busy killing the regular undead and distracting the undead archer. Dean and I kept on double-teaming the warrior until Dean finally crushed its head. Layla and Rosario were also finished with the other undead. There were arrows sticking out of their heads along with vines and trees destroying the undead archer and scout’s bodies.

When I turned around I saw an undead eating Esme's brain. Due to the chaotic fight, we didn't notice the undead killing Esme. When the party saw Esme's corpse they began rushing to the undead and quickly killed it. It looked like the undead closed her mouth and snapped her neck. I saw Dean on the ground crying and holding onto Esme lifeless body.

"I'll kill the one that made this dungeon and sacrifice him on the altar to bring back Esme," he said while crying.

"Yeah" Layla and Rosario also chimed in while crying.

We found a metal door after going through the corridor. We opened it and went inside, we found a forest room like before, but there were also ores and minerals in this room. It seemed to be the boss room. There was an undead in the middle of the room that was sitting and eating coal. Before we even have time to plan, Dean rushed towards the boss in a blind rage. There were a click and the ground where Dean had stepped on exploded. The boss threw spherical objects in our direction. When I saw that Dean was injured, but fine, one of the spheres exploded.

"Bombs, scatter!" I yelled.

We all ran in different directions, while the boss ran into the forest. I lost sight of everyone and I began searching for Rosario since she is the most reliable person here. I heard a girly scream and an explosion so I ran towards it. What I found was gruesome, Layla’s body was torn to pieces and if that wasn’t enough, her body was on fire. That monster, Goddess Sole please give me the strength to kill this bastard. Rosario and Dean arrived and saw the scene, Rosario the usually calm person puked when she saw what happened and Dean began to mutter “kill, kill, kill, kill.”

A canister drop near Layla's body and purple smoke began to come out.

"Poison, let's get out of here, kill this son of a bitch and make sure not to get separated," I commanded them.

They both nodded.

While we chased after the boss, it kept throwing firebombs our way. Rosario hit its knee with an arrow that caused it to slow down and stop running. The three of us got close to it and attacked interchangeably. I attacked it with my sword that had been imbued with holy magic while Dean kept defending us from his attacks and Rosario kept attacking him with her daggers. His fists seem to explode every time it hit Dean’s kite shield. Dean’s shield is dented and we were all very tired after fighting the zombie squad and continued to fight the boss. Rosario got careless and stepped on a mine. Causing it to blow her leg right off.

"Rosario!" Dean yelled.

"Don't get distracted we can revive her and everyone else after we killed the boss," I told Dean.

Dean nodded.

We kept attacking the undead. I slashed at its right leg with my sword. After it had been injured, Dean used his hammer to attack it and I used my [Holy Slash]

"Die, you monster!" We yelled.

Dean destroyed its abdomen while I tried to chop its head off. Even though its head was being chopped at he was smiling. I felt chills on my back.

"Dean, defend!" I yelled.

"[Stone Skin]" he chanted his spell.

After the boss died he immediately exploded. The other landmines began to explode and his firebombs caused the whole room to turn into a flaming inferno. Dean didn't survive the explosion, but thanks to his [Stone Skin] I managed to survive. I'm not going to die here. I'm going to be a knight and kill all of the undead. I tried to get out of the room that was covered with craters and flames, but it's getting harder and harder for me to breath. My body felt heavy and my mind is forcing me to sleep. I can't bear all the pain and I fell down.

"Goddess Sole protect me," I said while closing my eyes.