However, there was a new obstacle before them: halfway through their journey, remnants of a landslide blocked the merc's path. Part of the rock wall that extended between the first and second district had crumbled into the lower area of the city, burying many houses under a pile of rocks. The sight of a familiar object stuck in the rock face drew the private contractor's attention. It was one of the great tortoise's spines. Why is that thing here? The young magic user had implied that, as long as the unhired blade didn't stay in the reptile's territory, then the animal would leave them alone. Furthermore, after escaping from the tortoise, they learnt that it could control its quills within a certain radius and pinpoint its prey's location thanks to its heightened sense of smell. So why was one of its spikes stuck in a rock wall at a distance too far away for the creature to control it? The mercenary inspected the prickle once again. At that point, a possible scenario came to mind: what if the tortoise had been in the first district and had caused the rockslide? The position of the spine indicated that this was a possibility, but that prompted the sellsword to consider why the reptile had done so and why it had left its territory. Unfortunately, they didn't have answers for that.

After reflexively recording their observations in the notebook and putting it back in its place, the sword fighter pondered how to continue their escape from Soldra. Due to the landslide, they couldn't proceed forward as they did until now. The nearest building that was still intact was located a few meters away from the newbie parkour athlete. Because of the wide main road to the city entrance that separated the two edifices, the distance was too big for a regular jump to do the trick. From atop the building, they saw a small pile of stones easy to climb in a portion of the main street. It seemed that the merc had to climb down and go on foot from now on. And so they did. Once their feet touched the ground, they scanned the area. They had already done it from above with no sightings of undead, but some of them could be hiding in the open buildings, therefore checking another time wouldn't hurt. In the end, the results were the same as before. Scouting concluded, the soldier began walking towards their destination with caution. When they arrived in front of the heap of rocks, they examined the surroundings one more time before going back to their task.

"Woof!" The sound made the mercenary reach for their sword, but once they turned their head towards its source, they stopped. A medium-sized brown dog stood at their right, watching closely the human's movements. Could it be an undead dog? The hireling studied the animal, searching for any sign that could indicate that she was a walking corpse. Fortunately, the dog looked like a living creature. The sword fighter put their hand away from their blade's handle and tried not to look hostile in the dog's eyes.

"Hey, I mean you no harm," they said while approaching the wary animal. For her part, the quadruped barked and moved backwards, retreating further inside the alley she had come from. A part of them urged the unhired blade to flee this city instead of losing time with an animal which would most likely bite their hand if approached. But they shushed their inner voice and instead got closer to the dog. They probably knew why the four-legged creature was reacting in this way. She must think that they were just another undead ready to attack her at any given moment. The private contractor could understand her fear, especially after their encounter with Joseph. They could not leave her in this place; she would die horrendously at the zombies' hands. Their soft spot for dogs was also an incentive. The dog seemed to sense their concern and lowered her head while still letting out a few growls. The mercenary seized the opportunity and stretched out a hand towards her furry head.

Suddenly, her drop ears moved slightly and the sellsword swore they could hear a flute's melody drift in the wind. However, they had little time to question where the music came from before an awful pain shot up from their right hand. They looked down at their hand and froze at what they saw. The dog had bitten it and was now trying to chew their index and middle fingers with wild abandon. The terrified soldier shouted at the animal to no avail until they punched her in the face to free their bloodied hand. The pain was less discomforting than seeing the quadruped's broken jaw heal itself in a matter of seconds. The hireling immediately turned to get away from this nightmarish situation, but their escape attempt was stopped by another bite on their ankle this time. Without them knowing, a black dog had appeared at their back, locking the sword fighter in a pincer attack. The brown dog joined the fight and lunged at their other ankle, trying to immobilize the human. The unhired blade wasn't going to go down without putting up a fight though. They evaded the brown dog's bite with a spin and used the momentum to kick the other dog who had got closer to them. While the animal was out of breath on the ground, they limped their way towards the exit of the alleyway as fast as they could with the sword in their left hand. It soon came in handy when the brown quadruped ran at them. One of her forelegs was amputated with a quick slash of the blade, even if the wielder had to put more strength in the blow because of the weapon's bending.

They had almost arrived at the street exit when, all of a sudden, something fell from the nearby building in front of the limping fighter. It was another dog, his entrails splattered on the ground as a consequence of the devastating impact on the street floor. That moment of pause was decisive for the merc's ultimate defeat. The recovered black dog capitalized on their distraction by sinking his teeth in their uninjured ankle. The excruciating pain that soon followed made the mercenary tumble to the ground. They tried to hit the animal at their feet with the pommel of their sword only to be halted by the brown dog. After reattaching her lost forelimb to her body, she managed to gnaw on the fighter's left hand, making them lose their grip on the weapon. At that point, the mercenary used their free foot to kick at the black creature more than one time. However, the dog never wavered, even when his head was reduced to a pulp by the human’s kicks. Several growls echoed through the alley, as if to announce the sellsword's imminent death. Soon after, a dog pack walked into the street and pounced on their prey, chewing on every bit of flesh that wasn't protected by the leather armour. Every bite created a wave of atrocious pain that shook the mercenary's body, making them wish this torture ended once and for all. Their wish was granted by a fatal bite to the jugular. Death washed away the pain and the hireling embraced it in the boundless void they were in once again. However, their peace was fated to end: a familiar female voice whispered the words they would soon come to fear.

Vita mutatur non tollitur. 97 lives remain until the true end.