We were about 30m away from our targets when one of them stopped.

“!” My heart rate sped up at the thought that our preemptive attack might go down in flames. We immediately halted our movement and crouched behind one of the coffins.

“Did he spot us?” I whispered to the others.

“I’m not sure” Hero mumbled as he remained alert

I turned over at Timez who appeared to be translucent. He simply shook his head without saying a word. Then could it be because of my raccoons? No, I doubt they would even register as a threat. Considering Hero and I were not a class that was specialized in stealth we were not adept to sneak around. I didn’t summon the rest of my pets since it would be very hard to hide with a pack of wolves. I also wanted my freshly summoned raccoons to soak up some experience.

‘What should we do?’ Thoughts began to race through my head. We needed to act fast or we might be the ones to get hit first. As I was contemplating a plan of action the robed person continued to move forward catching up to the other 2. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw them continue to walk away.

“That was close” Hero said under his breath putting a hand to his chest

“Yeah…” we looked at each other with a smile.

But our happiness ended there. The 3 robed people stopped simultaneously and slowly turned in our direction. A cold chill ran down my spine as I got a glimpse at they distorted rotting faces.

“They’re ghouls!”, There was no point in hiding anymore. We quickly pulled out our weapons and prepared for a battle. The ghouls only stood there, coldly staring at us with their dead eyes. We expected them to come rushing but nothing happened. Time felt like it slowed down, one of the ghouls took a step forward and began to open its mouth.

“Get ready!” My instincts were screaming that something dangerous was about to happen’.

An ear-shattering shriek shook our heads.

“Gahh!” I covered my ears and instinctively crouched to protect myself.

‘A stun?’ I felt my senses being dulled. After 3 seconds that felt like an eternity the screeching stopped. But a constant ringing in my head was left in its place. Along with my hearing my vision was also impaired. I tried to look for the ghouls, but they were nowhere to be seen. Another chill ran down my spine. I felt 3 existences suddenly enter my [King’s Domain]. They were directly behind me.

‘Did they teleport?’ there was no way that they could close that distance in such a short time. I was forced into melee range but I didn’t have my short sword anymore, I hesitated. Before I could turn to face the ghouls one of them wrapped an arm around my neck.

“!AAHHH!” I could feel its teeth sinking into my shoulder. I tried pushing him off with all my strength. I looked around for help but Hero and Timez were currently engaged in combat with the other 2 ghouls. I looked down at my feet and witnessed my 3 raccoons desperately clawing and biting the ghoul's legs in an attempt to save me. Red 1s and 0s appeared over the ghoul's head. My summons might as well be bugs to him. I couldn’t just let my raccoons do all the work. I placed the palm of my hand on the ghoul's face.

[Cursed arrow] The force of my attack sent the ghoul flying backward. Blue numbers appeared over the ghoul's head. My attack didn’t seem to have much of an effect. I specialized in curses, dark energy and debuffs, there’s no way they would be effective against the undead.

There was no more time to hesitate. I couldn’t afford to worry about what others might say about my abilities. I summoned Luna, Snow, and Gris and without waiting for a command they jumped towards the ghoul with their fangs bared. They tore at its rotten flesh as chunks of flesh hit the floor with a wet thud. The ghoul was unable to put up much resistance against the small and nimble cats and the strength of Luna who managed to keep him pinned to the ground. My raccoons also didn’t miss this chance and continued their feeble attacks against it.

The ghoul’s body ceased moving shortly a few moments after the mauling began. Its motionless body gave me the idea that it might have died but I wasn’t taking any chances. I made my way towards him as my summons held it down. I raised my foot over its head and slammed it down with all my strength. Its head exploded like a watermelon as it’s flesh scattered in every direction. I ignored the messages that appeared before my eyes confirming the ghoul's death.

I looked for my party members preparing to assist them as soon as possible. But it wouldn’t be necessary.

“Are you okay?” I asked as Hero and Timez approached me.

“Yeah I think I’m fine,” Hero said as he gave himself a quick pat-down.

Timez simply nodded.

“Well, that was interesting.” Timez wryly smiled

“Yeah I wasn’t expecting them to have crowd control and teleport, that really caught me off guard.” I looked over at the ghoul carcasses just to make sure there won't be any more surprises.

“By the way” Timez glanced down at my pets. “How many summons do you have? I’ve never seen so many.”

I flinched slightly at the last part, but there was no sense in trying to lie about it or make up an excuse that I would probably forget later.

“Umm... I have a few more wolves.. so I have... ten in all” I had to think for a second to make sure I had the number correct.

“

Timez’s eyes widened “10!?” He shouted

“Ugh… yeah...” The cat was out of the bag.

“How do you have 10?”

My voice began to shake “I.. I have a unique trait that allows me to have multiple summons”

“A unique trait? What trait? And how did you get it?”

I hated this, it was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I tried to think of the right words to say “Well... that’s kind of…”

“That’s enough questions” Before I could finish my sentence hero jumped in. “You’ve barely even met and you already want him to spill all his secrets. I know we formed a party and we have to work together but he doesn’t have to give you any explanations about his character. So there’s no need to interrogate him.”

Timez stood frozen for a few seconds with a puzzled look on his face at Hero’s sudden comments. He then seemed to realize he was stepping over the line.

“You’re right… I’m sorry for being so pushy.” Timez said softly with a downward gaze

“Oh no It’s okay, I’m really not bothered at all” I smiled at the assassin who looked like he had just been reprimanded by his parents.

Timez looked up at me for a second “I’m sorry” He blurted out before reverting his gaze downward.

I tried putting him at ease “It’s fine really!” I continued to say with a smile. He slowly raised his head and softly smiled back.

“If you guys are done crying into each other’s shoulders I think It’s time to move” Hero pointed to the stone coffins that were all around us. I had failed to notice that Luna was Growling and Snow’s and Gris’ hair stone on end. I leaned down to inspect the sarcophagus closest to me. I placed a had on the cold block of stone. My eyes immediately widened.

“Yeah, we need to move like right now” Timez immediately started pacing backwards when the situation became clear.

They were vibrating. All the sarcophagi began to shake violently as their covers began to slide off.

“Run!”

My body moved on its own as I trailed behind the party. My summons followed close behind and my raccoons didn’t hesitate to cling to my back. We were running at full speed, we didn’t know where we needed to go but our feet didn’t stop. We kept running and didn’t look back as our eyes frantically looked around the crypt for an exist. Our view was beginning to be obstructed by the bodies of the dead rising from their coffins.

“There!” Hero pointed to a thick wooden door

We didn’t even stop to look we simply ran in that direction. The undead reached their hands towards us as we reached the exit. Hero thrust out his shoulder and slammed his body into the door. It flung open and bounced against the back wall. Hero fell to the ground as we rushed in the undead only inches away. In one swift movement I turned around and tried to shut the exit. The undead’s forced their way as their limbs trickled through the door.

“Help me!” I pleaded as I leaned my entire body against the door.

Timez was frantically cutting through the putrid flesh of the undead with his sword. Hero was back on his feet and helping me push. His face became a deeper red as he used all the strength he could muster. Wails were heard as the zombie's bones snapped under the door as we managed to force it shut. I thrust the doors had 3 sliding locks shut. We slowly took our body weight off the door hesitating to completely remove our hands as we felt the banging coming from the other side. We weren’t sure the door would hold, but after a few seconds, it appeared as if the zombies were giving up on trying to break through the door. The banging began to fade until it was completely gone. It wasn’t until we were completely sure that nothing else would happen that we decided to relax.

“That was scary” I whispered as I let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah” Timez said as he was catching his breath

“The movies didn’t prepare me for this” Hero added.

“I don’t think there is a way to prepare for something like this... haha” I tried to laugh as the mood seemed to have become lighter.

“Where are we by the way?”

We were standing in what seemed like another corridor but this time it was much more narrow. Only wide enough to allow 2 people to walk shoulder to shoulder.

“I don’t know but I don’t think we should wait to see if this door will hold.”

“I agree, I don’t feel very safe standing here either.”

“Let’s keep going”

We made our way down the corridor, it was brightly lit from the lanterns that hung from the ceiling. We walked until we arrived at a flight of stairs. The party moved in a single file behind Hero who was leading the way. At the peak of the stairs was another large wooden door. This one didn’t seem to be as flimsy as the last nor did it show any signs of wear.

“Should we go through?” Hero asked while looking back at us.

“Do we have any other option?”

“Guess not” Hero shrugged “Be ready for anything”

We each branded our weapons and my summon also got into a fighting position.

“We’re ready”

Hero nodded as he placed his hand on the door. He pushed and the door made a creaking sound as it opened. Hero peeked past the door and looked around for a bit.

“I don’t see anyone” he whispered as he pushed the door all the way.

Hero walked in first and we followed close behind. We were standing in a large spherical chamber. The windows were made out of beautiful decorated stained glass. Symbols resembling the sun adorned the stained glass and ceiling.

“Are we inside a Cathedral?” Timez asked puzzled

“I think so, I’ve never actually been inside of one so I’m not exactly an expert here”

“Whatever it is, it looks pretty divine if you ask me”

There was no doubt that this was a place for worship, or at least it used to be. Despite the beautiful decorated stained glass windows and walls. There was still a gloomy atmosphere as well as a slightly rotten smell from downstairs.

“Where are we supposed to go from here?”

As big and spacey as this chamber was there was nothing here. It was just a nicely decorated large open space. I looked around the chamber and noticed the stairs that wrapped around the room all the way to the ceiling.

“Maybe we have to follow those?”

“More stairs huh...” Hero said jokingly

“It looks like this place does have multiple floors after all.”

“I just hope each floor doesn’t have a mini-boss or something like that.”

“Don’t jinx us…” Timez shook his head

“Well the faster we can clear this dungeon the faster we can get out of here.”

“Let’s keep moving” I said as the party made its way to the next level.