Elia stumbled trough the tunnel, one hand on a wall to keep him from falling. He was exhausted, after more than half a day of running without a break, so much that he might faint on the spot.

Eventually, he reached the end of the tunnel, which opened in a big circular room. The place was furnished like a normal home, a kitchen in a corner and a living room on the other side. But, before he could enter, he froze. It wasn't much the realization that the cave was filled with some kind of undead insects, but more the sight of the girl sleeping in their midst that made him stop in his tracks.

She wasn't a breathtaking beauty per se, though she wasn't ugly at all, even if you didn't ignore all the scars and badly bandaged injuries. She was rather... plain, but the aura of death and decay that she exuded made her quite daring, like a forbidden fruit.

Dark, long hairs flowed down her body, like a shadow wrapping around her, covering what her white dress would not cover anymore. It seemed that she had ripped the hem of her skirt to make the bandages that covered her, but was starting to run out of cloth.

Elia gulped, trying to break the trance he had somehow entered, and focusing on more important facts. After all, she seemed much younger than himself, so...

The girl woke up and proceeded to lift herself from the ground, while Elia started to panic, though he himself wasn't sure why.

Then, she slowly turned around and looked straight into his eyes with her own. Deep, dark wells of blackness stared right at him, likely trying to rip his soul out of his chest.

Then, after a couple of seconds, that felt like minutes but could have as well been hours, she spoke.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

She woke up, pain still making way trough her body from the damned bracelet. By the looks of it, her minions somehow managed to get her out of the dungeon in one piece and brought her to her lair. When she turned around, she found a guy staring at her. So she started staring at him in kind. After some time, she gently asked him what he wanted, to which he replied with a stuttered

"Ah... erm... do- do you need some help with your... um... wounds?"

Elena looked at him, slightly confused at what he said. Fortunately, he seemed to understand her confusion and spoke again to clarify.

"Ah, yes, you see, I'm a Cl- Cleric... yeah."

"A Cleric? Like a Priest?" Elena asked, still not sure if she understood.

"Yeah, something like that..." he answered.

After some discussion on the difference between Priests and Clerics, he offered his name and started to treat her wounds, chanting some kind of prayer to a certain 'Melia'. Her bruises, gashes, and even scars disappeared, and her Status Screen seemed to agree that she was 'Okay'. Also, she took the damned bracelet off, because it was starting to itch like hell and it was really annoying.

When he was finished, Elena took some steps back and introduced herself in kind.

"My name is Elena, these are Ro, Rao and 'Queen'" she said, pointing to her minion, to which she added, "I'm a necromancer, by the way."

Elia raised an eyebrow but didn't seem otherwise surprised. Which wasn't too surprising, Necromancers were still beared with by most nations, unless you didn't go around killing innocent people or ravaging cemeteries.

They sat on a chair each and started sharing their experiences. Though it still pained her to think about her parents and friends, she was done with grieving and her thoughts went only to revenge. When they were finished, Elia spoke first.

"I- I'm not sure what to do now. I'm not strong enough to venture out into the forest alone, and I wouldn't even know in which direction to go. I was already lucky enough to survive long enough and reach this place, I don't want to defy Fate again so soon."

Elena quietly debated as well over what he just said. Then, she had an idea.

"You could help me in the Dungeon" she said.

"Wha- in a dungeon? Me? I don't want to die!" he answered, shocked she would even suggest something like that. Dungeons were incredibly dangerous, even to highly trained soldiers, and even though Elena assured him that she could 'manage the scariest' no problem, he still wasn't sure.

"My undead will protect us," she said, trying to convince him. Healers were a must if you were going to explore a dungeon.

"Uhm... alright then... but at the first signs of a problem, we scram, okay?"

"Agreed"

And so, the human duo, followed by a procession of undead, entered the dungeon together.

Elena decided to start small to show him the ropes, only going as far as half the first zone, where the Acidic Roaches, Centipedes, and occasional Earth-Worm crawled and crept around.

At first, he wasn't all too keen on making contact with the monsters and stayed quite a distance back, but when he was ambushed from a stray Centipede he decided to stick with the rest of the group, actively joining the battle on some occasion with the enchanted knife he got from one of the Paladins. It wasn't anything special, just a normal steel knife enchanted with a durability enchantment.

She had to admit it though, he was pretty useful. Thanks to his healing, she could cast aside all caution and give all of herself to the fighting, sure that a round of Heal would come her way if she was injured.

This trip was also useful to reinforce her ranks, in preparation for the next assault to the spider's den. By the time they reached the end of the first zone, she had managed to add seven Centipedes to her forces, but she had emptied her mana pool while doing so. On the bright side, her class leveled up, together with One-Handed Combat, and her Mana filled up once again, allowing her to resume her recruitment of undead.

She also noticed she got the Poison Resistance Skill somehow, and it was already at level II. She had a suspicion on what had caused her to get the skill, but she put it aside for the time being.

In the end, they stopped before actually stepping in the Ants zone. Elia already seemed exhausted, and he also used up all of his mana with the healings, so Elena decided it was time to return. On the way back, they defeated eight more centipedes, which she promptly turned into zombies.

[ --- Status Screen --- ]

Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer – Apprentice | Level: 6

Condition: Okay | Mana: 34/34 (16 Mana/3h)

[ --- Stats --- ]

Str: 6 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8

Int: 8 | Wis: 7 | Per: 7

[ --- Skills --- ]

Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat IV

Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead IV [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton] | Poison Resistance II

Rare: Analyze-Self

[ --- End of Status Screen --- ]