Red almost fell down as information began to assault his senses. Or, more specifically, his new crimson sense.

"Red, are you okay?" Eiwin asked, noticing the strangeness in the boy's actions.

"I'm fine." the boy shook off her worries, standing up by himself. "I just stumbled on something."

The woman looked skeptical at his reply, but she didn't press him on it. Of course, though, Red was far from fine. Dozens of fluctuations began to assault his crimson sense, and they only increased the further into the town they got.

'So many people...'

Now the boy had another reason to hate crowds if the previous ones weren't enough. Every person flared in the crimson sense quite clearly, and Red could not count how many fluctuations appeared. These signals were not as strong compared to the rest of the youth's companions, but there were so many of them that he felt overwhelmed.

Red tried to find some way to "turn off" his crimson sense to no avail, and it became difficult for him to process any other visual or auditory information. The boy could only focus on walking behind his companions.

Thankfully, though, they soon arrived at the isolated part of town where their Sect lived. The fluctuations disappeared, and the only ones that remained belonged to the boy's companions. Eiwin was looking at him, having noticed Red's plight despite his best efforts to hide it.

The youth, however, only nodded at her, and the woman refrained from asking any questions. Soon enough, they were upon the gate, and Red suddenly felt four other fluctuations within the courtyard.

One of them was remarkably energetic but smaller than the rest of the group - as if it was a spark growing into a flame. The second one was very acute, on par with Narcha's own signals. The third one was also strong once Red noticed it, but it seemed remarkably difficult to pinpoint, and the boy needed to do a double-take to confirm its existence.

As for the last one, it was the strongest of them all. It was even beyond Narcha's own fluctuations in strength, and it almost swallowed out all the others. However, Red couldn't help but feel there was something weird about this signal.

'There are such differences in fluctuations?'

Before he could study them further, though, Narcha turned around and spoke to him.

"We'll need to report what we saw to Hector." she explained.

The boy had already braced himself for that and simply nodded. The warrior pushed the gate open and began to stride in. However, she immediately froze in her steps once she saw the scene in front of her.

"You're back!" Allen jumped with joy.

Right by the boy's side, however, a taciturn Hector stood. The elder had his arms crossed and was staring down the group with his usual sullen expression.

"You knew we were coming?" Narcha asked.

"How could I not when you speak so damn loudly?" Hector scoffed. "By the looks on your faces, it seems you have a lot to tell, huh?"

The warrior was about to speak up but was cut short with a wave of the old man's hand.

"We'll talk inside." Hector turned around to walk into the hall. "...That includes you too, Rog!"

The hunter, who was trying to sneak off, immediately froze in his steps. As the rest of the group filed into the hall, Allen approached Red.

"Where did you go?" the boy asked eagerly. "Master Goulth and Eiwin were so worried!"

"I had to do something in the forest." Red explained.

"Then why didn't you take me? I could have helped you!"

"I don't think Hector would have liked that."

"...Well, I suppose you're right." Allen conceded. He then looked at the weapon strapped to the boy's back. "Woah, where did you get that?"

"I found it."

"Can I try it?"

"No."

"Oh, come on!" the boy looked exasperated. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Ugh..." he went quiet before his face suddenly lit up as if having an idea. "...What if I let you try my weapon too?"

"...What do you mean by that?" Red frowned in confusion.

"You'll see!" Allen smiled at him before walking into the hall.

The youth looked at his back suspiciously before also entering the building. Inside, the others were already getting seated around the table. To Red's surprise, Domeron was already there, sipping from a steaming mug.

"Here!" Allen called to him before pointing at a free seat by his side.

The boy walked over and sat down. Meanwhile, Red was also able to pinpoint each fluctuation he had felt to its corresponding individual. The energetic one belonged to Allen, the quiet one belonged to Domeron, and the strongest one belonged to Hector.

Coincidentally, as the boy looked at the elder, he noticed the old man was staring at him with narrowed eyes. Red suddenly felt a wave of anxiety travel over his body. However, Hector eventually turned his gaze away to look at the rest of the group.

"So..." the old man spoke up. "Care to tell me what happened?"

"I asked Narcha to accompany me to the forest." Red was the one that responded, much to the surprise of everyone around the table.

The elder turned around to look at him.

"For what reason?" he asked.

"To get something I forgot there." the boy explained.

"What about those two?" Hector pointed at Rog and Eiwin.

"They were just following us because they were worried."

"Actually, Eiwin made me do it..." Rog suddenly interjected, earning himself an angry gaze from both Eiwin and Hector. Eventually, he just piped down again.

The old man turned to look at the boy again.

"So is that it?" Hector asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Well, there's a lot more that happened, but..." Red hesitated.

"But what, brat?" this time, the elder seemed more annoyed.

"Aren't you going to punish us?"

This question was met with silence. A few seconds later, though, Hector simply laughed.

"Hah! Why would I punish you?" the old man asked.

"...For abandoning the Sect?" the boy proposed.

"But you're back here, aren't you?"

"I suppose so." Red nodded.

"Then you didn't really abandon the Sect." Hector shook his head. "I'm not your nanny, kid. Members of the Sect often travel out for other business, so why would I be mad when you were just gone for a week?"

Red was at a loss for words.

"Of course, if you were gone for longer, I would be angry," the elder continued. "But as long as there is a good reason and you don't get yourself killed out there, then it doesn't really matter to me."

Red was enlightened. It seemed he had been worrying for nothing.

"Then what about me?" Allen suddenly spoke up. "Can I go out too?"

"Absolutely not." Hector shot him down without hesitation.

"Why not?!" the boy yelled back. "You let Red do it!"

"You're the young master of our Sect!" the old man didn't back down. "Once you've proven to me you can take care of yourself, you can go out as much as you please!"

"But-"

"Enough!" Hector interrupted him. "I don't have time for your nonsense right now! If you want to remain here, then you'd better be quiet!"

Allen looked angry, but eventually, he just leaned back in silence. The elder then looked back at Red.

"What else happened?" he asked.

The boy didn't respond, instead turning his gaze to Narcha and the others.

"We met a zombie." the warrior explained. "And a demon. And the forest is dying... And the bandits are moving in great numbers too."

Immediately the mood around the hall changed. Both Domeron and Hector turned to look at Narcha in surprise, while Allen looked eager all of a sudden.

"Explain from the beginning." the elder instructed.

Narcha did just so. All the way from them leaving town to encountering the enemy and eventually reuniting with Eiwin and Rog. She also mentioned that Gustav's men were walking around with bandits, which didn't seem to surprise Hector. By the end of it, the old man had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You said you didn't feel Death Spiritual Energy in that area of the forest?" Domeron was the one who asked the first question.

"At least as far as I could tell, no, I did not." Narcha shook her head. "Whatever caused that, it wasn't undead corruption."

"Then that can only mean one thing." the man sighed. "Life Essence absorption."

The members around the table suddenly had expressions of realization. Red and Allen, however, looked confused.

"What does that mean?" the other boy asked the question before Red could do it.

"It's a common demonic practice," Domeron explained. "It consists of draining the Life Essence of other living beings to strengthen oneself. Hence why that part of the forest looked dead, and possibly why the demon was attracted to that area. So much concentrated Life Essence could attract demons from miles away."

Red felt enlightened once he heard the explanation.

"What about the zombie?" Narcha asked. "There was not any reason for it to be attracted to that region."

"Not if it was controlled by a Necromancer as I guessed." Eiwin was the one who responded.

"That still doesn't explain what it would want there in the first place." the warrior replied. "Can Necromancers directly convert Life Essence Energy?"

The younger woman shook her head, indicating she didn't have a reply to that.

"Eiwin is right," Hector interjected. "But this matter is more complicated than you might have guessed."

"What do you mean, Master Hector? I do not understand." Eiwin frowned.

"That's because you lack a deeper understanding of Necromancers." the elder shook his head. "You see, even if a Necromancer binds an undead to its will, that won't make the undead any more intelligent. A zombie, for instance, would only be able to execute simple orders no matter what."

"Then how could that zombie talk and perform such complex actions?"

"That's because it wasn't being controlled. It was being possessed."

This time, everyone around the table seemed confused. Only Domeron had a look of understanding on his expression.

"What do you mean by that?" Narcha interjected. "How can you even possess something already dead?"

"That's a higher form of Necromancy." Hector explained. "In most cases, a Necromancer may only give orders to their thralls, not directly control them. This obviously limits an undead's usefulness, its low intelligence acting as a permanent handicap. Possession, however, allows a Necromancer to slip a portion of their consciousness inside their thralls and control their bodies at will."

"Then you mean we were fighting against a cultivator inside of a zombie's body?" the warrior frowned.

"Indeed," Hector nodded. "However, their physical power will still be limited by their host, which is why you were able to get out of that alive."

Narcha's expression only worsened.

"Isn't there a range for this technique?" Red was the one who asked this.

"There is, but it depends on the cultivator." the elder explained. "The fact they can possess their undead means they are already very powerful. With the strongest Necromancers, they might be able to control undead from the other side of the world."

"If that Necromancer was so powerful, why did they need to rely on a weak zombie to investigate?"

"Because they're afraid, of course!" Hector smiled. "Their entire Sect was hunted down to near extinction, and the ones that remained alive could only live in secrecy. The mere fact a Necromancer this powerful would risk potential exposure means there must have been something very alluring for it in that forest. In which case, I doubt they will give up on it easily."

Red suddenly had a bad premonition.