We crest the blackened hill with the withered grass. The dead earth all around contrasts starkly to the stars twinkling in the night sky above us, gems sparkling with energy in the deepness of space. Below us down the hill, I can see the city of Lintball, and further out near the horizon, the masts of ships sway in the wind, the pale yellow moon reflecting off of the dark expanse of the sea.

”I bet the kids would love to sled down this hill come winter.” I remark. Grom-san grunts a non-commital reply. I get the feeling he might've gotten used to me a little bit. That's good, right? It's definitely not a case of normal people ignoring weird people, okay? Goddamn it!

In any case, as we make our way down the steep hill, I spot something strange in the distance. ”Grom, what's with those eerie flickering green lights?”

”Me thinks they be coming from the Ziggurats. I feel a disturbing energy from them.”

If that block of meat can sense something from the lights, there's no way this magical death-loli won't be able to, right? I focus my gaze on one of the green, pulsing lights and furrow my brow. ”Hnnnngggg.” I let out a weird sound and clench my jaw, squinting at the green light.

Just when I think it's no good, I feel somethiing mysterious tickling the back of my head. A strange energy that feels cold and foreign, yet somehow soothing. It runs down my spine and makes me shiver. It feels like weird, cold lotion. Not that I ever used cold lotion for anything suspicious, alright?!

”Uuuuh.” I let out another weird sound. This time Grom doesn't ignore me. ”What're ye doing?”

”I.. uh.. I'm sensing the green energy.” I say, closing my eyes briefly and letting the cool and envigorating sensation rush over me. ”Ahh, so refreshing. It's like I'm being bathed in tingles.” I mutter underneath my breath.

”Oy lass, what are ye doing!?” Grom shouts. I open my eyes and look at him in confusion. ”What?”

”One of the green lights just disappeared lass! That...no, it can't be you that did that. Must be a coincidence.” Grom says before chuckling to himself. However, I think he's wrong. After all, I can feel a strange foreign energy squirming around inside me. It's a bit creepy, almost like a cold lotion slime in my stomach, but it also tingles and feels kind of good. It feels like I am overflowing with energy.

”Need a moment.” I gasp, falling to my knees gasping for breath. Once more, I close my eyes and focus on the strange foreign energy. I try to feel its squirming flow.

Slimey energy-chan what are you trying to do to my body!? It's too early for Alyce-chan to become pregánte!

I try to get a grasp of where the energy wants to go, but it's no good. It's so unruly, this disobedient energy. Disobedient children must be punished, yes yes.

”Hnnnnngggg” I focus, trying to force energy-chan to join my own flow of energy. I know the feeling of my own mana since I summoned Raven-chan several times now. Mana's becoming a familiar sensation. It's not that hard for me to group the two together and I can somehow control the unruly energy despite the fact that it's foreign.

Slowly slowly, I force the energy to follow the flow of my mana, circulating it a bit like blood rushing through my veins, except that it's mana through my... veins? At least that's what I'm imagining.

Slimey energy-chan gradually starts obeying me and going with the flow. Then my body starts tingling all over as energy begins dissolving into the River of my own Mana. A river flows in me, fufufu.

Ping! Gained skill: Mana Manipulation. Ping! Gained skill: Death Energy Manipulation. Ping! You've successfully manipulated a large mass of death energy. Ping! Your Death Energy Manipulation has leveled up +1. Ping! Through skillful manipulation of death energy, you've done what should be impossible and absorbed death energy, integrating it into your very being. +50 intelligence (affected by Odin's blessing). Since it is your first time, you gain +5 int +5 wis +10 spirit aswell. Ping! Gained skill: Death Energy absorption. Ping! Achievement unlocked: Death's embrace. Due to your affinity with death energy and your persistent efforts in trying to manipulate it, you've unlocked the Necromancer class option.

Shivering, I open my eyes and look over at Grom, who studies me with wide eyes and a resigned expression. The last thing I hear before fainting is ”Hey lass, your eyes are glowing.”

...

Sway, sway, hey! There's a gentle swaying motion. My eyes snap open with a pyon as I realize what happened. ”Not again.” I mumble and the swaying motion stops. I realize I'm being carried by Grom-san and tap his arm. ”Hey, let me down now please.” He silently complies, lowering me to the ground.

We haven't moved that far, but Lintball is closer now. The fainting was just a cover. It is actually my special teleportation technique, you know?

It wont be long before we reach the outskirts of the city. It doesn't have a wall or anything, but the whiskers of darkness that creep out from the city's distant streets is ominous. If I get close, it feels like I will be snatched away by curling tendrils of darkness or something, but maybe that's just my imagination. I hope it's just my imagination...

”Do my eyes still glow, how long was I out?” I ask Grom-san.

”No, they don't glow any longer. They are just dull green now. And you weren't out long.” Grom says, then after a brief pause. ”What happened back there lassy?”

Sighing, I decided I'd better explain myself to Grom before we enter the city just in case.

”You see, when I get a large power-up it feels really good and I get tingles all over and then I faint. I wish system-chan would stop with the fainting spells, but power-ups are good so I can't complain too vehemently.” I say. Grom looks at me with a puzzled expression.

”Power-ups? Ye mean ye leveled up?” Grom asks and I shake my head.

”No, it's different. My power increased but I didn't level up. This time it was because I absorbed the green energy and it made me stronger.”

Grom runs a hand through his beard and sighs. ”Ye mean ta tell me that the death energy that an Arch-lich gathered in a ziggurat by slaughtering the inhabitants of this island and capturing their souls, was absorbed by ye!?” Grom says.

”Poor dwarf-san, he is clearly exasperated. It's no use getting so worked up over it, you know?” I mumble.

”Stop talking to yerself Alyce!” I jump. Is that the first time he used my name instead of lass? It must be serious then. ”Tell me, is it true? Did you really absorb the energy of the Ziggurat?!”

I lower my head and nod a few times. I definitely did smoke the ziggurat.

Grom lets out another sigh. ”Ah, I wonder why I'm even surprised. Tell me, can ye absorb more?”

I shrug my shoulders. ”I don't know for sure, but I get the feeling that I can. Even now I can feel where the energies are.” I say, making a peace sign infront of Groms face. His expression is neutral. I wonder, have I lost my touch? Should I try ahegao double peace on dwarf-san to elicit a reaction? Hmm, maybe later when he least expects it. Now's not the time since we're about to begin the Lintball expedition.

”Looks like I can absorb more, and if I'm careful I don't think I'll faint again. It was probably because of ping ping overload.” I report to Grom-san with a serious face.

”I don't really get it, but good. If ye can absorb them then please do so. It'll help a lot.” Grom replies. At that, I raise my eyebrows. ”How so?”

Grom scratches below his beard as he replies. ”Well, ya see. Ziggurats be where the arch-lich stores the death energy he collects. With each full Soul Ziggurat, his power grows and he becomes more difficult to defeat. That's why we hafta get ta the mainland and report to the guild before he can become truly strong and raise an army. By the way, ziggurats start as small bone-piles and grow in size depending on their power. These are very new, so we're lucky...” Grom says.

”Understood. I will try to absorb the rest. I'm gonna sit down and focus, so please guard me.” I say, and Grom grunts an affirmative and takes up position between me and the creepy city of Lintball oozing with darkness.

I close my eyes and imitate a Lotus meditation pose, stretching my out consciousness to the five remaining slimey energies. ”I'm gonna smoke some more ziggurats, fufufu” I mutter beneath my breath as I grasp the first one and pull at the strands of energy. It's difficult at first, but after a small tug of resistance the energy obeys my command and flows to me. I repeat the process of merging it with my own mana flow and feel tingly and full of energy.

”Ooooh this is bad. I'm getting hyper from the energy.” I say, wiggling my toes in my shoes and tapping my fingers on my thighs. I'm resisting the urge to jump up and down, but it's hard. ”Four more to go, kvickly kvickly, let's go!” Rocking back and forth, I swiftly redirect my attention to the remaining death energy and frantically absorb it.

Ping! You've successfully used Death Energy Absorption x5. +250 int Ping! Death Energy Manipulation level up. Ping! Death Energy Absorption level up. Ping! Mana Manipulation level up. Congratulations! Achievement unlocked: Harvester of Souls. Through wielding the forces of darkness and death, you've reaped the souls of countless individuals. Reward: Unlocks the High Warlock class option. +Title Acolyte of Death. Congratulations! Achievement unlocked: Power overwhelming. You are a truly monstrous and unnatural existence, possessing magnitudes more power than anyone your level and rank should have. Gained Title: Paragon. +1 Monster rank Congratulations! You've become the worlds first Mythic grade monster. +2 to attributes gained per level. +5 to cons gained per level (total 15).

My eyes flutter open as the pings ring in my ears and my vision swims for a bit but I manage to retain my consciousness. ”Oh. My. Gah!” I shout.

Grom looks over at me. ”I take it ye succeeded?” I nod, still unable to speak. My head is swimming, my power is surging. I feel... different.

”Yer eyes lass. A smokey energy be flowing from yer damn eyes like ye be a lich!” Grom shouts.

I blink my eyes a few times and take a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm my energy flow. ”Better?” I ask, my voice a bit hoarse.

”Aye, they only be glowing faintly now. But hells bells lassy...” Grom says, his voice trailing off into the dead silence of night. Now that I look closer, this is a pretty creepy situation isn't it?

After all, the yellow moon hangs low in the sky, lending a weak eerie glow to the streets of Lintball. And that silence is too unnatural. It's the silence of the dead.

I shake my head a few times to banish the thought, but a shiver still runs down my spine. Well, I'm dead too after all. I should be more comfortable with this. Hmm, I guess this is my human side coming out? I don't feel particularly anxious about this now. It's just that I feel like I should be creeped out and scared, yet I am mostly fine. I guess it's time to finally... ask that question before I delve into the dark streets.

”Say Grom, how do you select a class?” I ask, and he looks at me funny, though I am used to it by now. ”You know I lost my memories. I don't know anything, even if it's supposed to be common knowledge.”

Grom nods, still keeping half his attention on the outskirts of the city. ”Aye lass, I know ye lost yer memories, but still... to lose even such basic knowledge. How terrible.” I quietly resist the urge to pull on Grom's beard and yell at him to hurry up with the explanation. It's not like I'm retarded you know?! My brain is just woefully empty of relevant information, okay? Goddamn it!

”A lot of people get their first class by simply performing their work, duty or training. A swordsman trains his sword skills, a farmer simply works her farm and so on. But if ye want to actively choose, then ye usually go to an adventurer's guild. They have a room, and a few other places too, but the adventurers guild is the easiest. It's the same one where you set your stat priorities when you level up, but I guess ye don't know about that either.” Grom says.

”Well done beard-san. You're beginning pay back the favour you owe me by being useful. hmm hmm.” I say, smiling up at him and tilting my head to one side. Grom grumbles beneath his breath, and his beard undulates weirdly. Poyo poyo... bushy wushy.... no, I shouldn't get distracted.

There is a goal, an objective. An epic quest! Whoever heard of a heroine going on an epic quest without at least a class? A lady's gotta have class, you know? And I'm definitely a lady, alright? Just a funsized lady, that's all, okay? Goddamn it!

”You said some interesting things there Grom.” I remark as I sit down again and close my eyes.

”What're ye doing now?”

”I'm going to try to set my class. I have a few available.” Grom looks at me as though I'm an idiot, but I'm not an idiot, you know?

”And how are ye going to do that without a blueroom?” Grom asks, his tone incredulous. Instead of replying to Grom, I close my eyes and pull up my stats, mumbling "I'm blue dabudidabudai."

Alyce Katheryn Francisca McDowell

Titles Demon Monarch Lady of Ravens Lifebinder Scholar Paragon Acolyte of Death Monster Rank: G++++ (Mythic) Basic Information Race: Undead (Ghoul/Demon/High-elf) Gender: Female Age: 10 Level: 17 Character Status Health: 1923 Mana: 15557 Stamina: 1279 Class: None Strength: 42 Intelligence: 461 Charisma: 68 Sub-Class: None Dexterity: 26 Wisdom: 77 Spirit: 62 Sub-Class: None Constitution: 165 Perception: 46 Karma: -100 Sub-Class: None Affinities Holy: -100% Light: 0% Death: 100% Darkness: 100% Water: -15% Earth: 10% Fire: 25% Air: 10% Resistances Holy: 100% Light: 100% Death: 100% Darkness: 100% Water: -15% Earth: 10% Fire: 25% Air: 10% Traits Untiring (Undead) 99% decreased stamina drain at night. 33% increased Stamina drain in daylight. Life Sense (Undead, Ghoul) You can detect the pulse of life all around you. Radius is twice your perception. Current radius: 64 Meters (100 max). Hungering (Undead, Ghoul) If you eat the majority of a corpse, you will gain 10% of the experience you would get from slaying it normally. Spitfire (Demon Racial) +1 attribute point per level. +20% fire attribute affinity. -20% water attribute affinity. Ancient blood (High-Elven Racial) +1 Attribute point per level. +5% earth affinity, +5% air affinity Status Effects Perfect Corpse (Condition) -1 Charisma. Uhm, you look perfectly fine, if a little cold. Those with the darker predilections such as necrophilia may even prefer you this way. To those people you appear to have an extra 20 charisma. Curses Eian's Condemnation (Curse) -100% to all attribute gains. Hurry up and perish. Titon's Judgement (Curse) When exposed to the sun and when outside in daytime, -50% to all attributes. Blessings Darkness of the Demon Monarch (Blessing) 100% resistance to holy and light magic acquired. 100% affinity to Darkness acquired. Call of the Grave Queen (Blessing) By consuming the flesh of the fallen (dead), you will absorb a small part of their stats. 100% death affinity. 100% increase to all death related skills. 100% immunity to poison and mundane (non-divine) curses. Odin the All-Father's Retribution (Blessing) 1000% increase to all mana related skills. 1000% increase to growth of all mana related attributes (doesn't apply to achievement bonuses). Skill acquired: Summon Raven Familiar(s). Title acquired: Lady of Ravens. Earthmother Gaia's Compassion (Blessing) 200% increased growth to all health related attributes (doesn't apply to achievement bonuses). Skill acquired: Flesh Manipulation. Skills Summoning Magick 1 (Active) Capable of contracting and summoning creatures. Strength depends on character attributes. Higher proficiency allows for more and higher leveled summons. Flesh manipulation MAX (Active) Through excruciating effort and pain, the user can manipulate their own biomass. Eating flesh will add to available biomass. Mana Manipulation 3 (Active) The basic skill of mana manipulation allows you to more freely use your mana. The more you train, the higher the efficiency and strength of your spells will become. Death Energy Manipulation 3 (Active) The basic skill of a Necromancer, one who manipulates death. Death Energy Absorption 2 (Active) To become one with death is to go against the natural law of the world. You have somehow found a way. Spells Summon Raven Familiar 1 (Active) Summon a raven familiar to do your bidding.

Blimey! It looks like I've grown considerably from eating the slimey energy, but a normal person wouldn't be able to do such a thing. First of all, the huge power-up was made possible only because I have 100% death affinity, which I think is very unusual. Secondly, the power-up was so enormous because it was boosted by Odin's blessing. When I get the chance, I want to wear a raven accessory to thank him, maybe a cool necklace would do?

I shake my head and put those considerations to the back of my mind since I've got more pressing matters to attend to right now, namely getting my first class!

High Warlock or Necromancer. Which one should I choose? Necromancers are masters of death, but in video game lore all they do is raise an army of skeletons and zombies. Not that I don't think having minions is cool or that I think it would be useless, far from it.... but High Warlock sounds cooler. I just hope it's a world of warcraft style warlock, but... come to think of it, I have no idea about any class in this world. How does a class work? I guess I'll find out. Yolo! You only loli once.

Ahen.

Ping! Congratulations! You've become a High Warlock, a deeply reviled taboo class even more so than the ordinary warlock, who is simply a mage that strayed from the path. You, on the other hand, did not even attempt to set foot on the righteous path, instead you followed your dark inclinations and became a soul eating High Warlock, a master of the forbidden dark arts. Class Description: A High Warlock is a rare and powerful class, capable of using darkness and flames to attack the opponent directly, curse the enemy indirectly or summon frightful and mighty demons from the realms beyond to drive your enemies before you. You possess power over the realm of souls and death as well, and can create soulstones in which to store the souls of slain opponents for later consumption or use in nefarious rituals. Ping! You've learned a new spell: Darkbolt 1 Ping! You've learned a new spell: Conjure Soulstone 1 Ping! You've learned a new spell: Conflagrate 1 Ping! You've learned a new spell: Summon Rare Imp 1 Ping! You've learned a new spell: Curse of Weakness 1 Ping! You've learned a new spell: Drain life 1 Ping! Due to you being a High-Warlock, your Summoning Magick proficiency has leveled up. Ping! You have a talent point available, spend now? Ping! You have a trait point available, spend now?

I squint, focusing intensely so that my consciousness doesn't fly away due to ping ping overload. Taking a few deep breaths to calm my shaking body, I finally relax and smile lazily up at Dwarf-san.

”I did it, you know? I'm amazing, you know?” I say as I get to my feet feeling better than I've ever felt before. Because I have attack spells now. Goddamn attacking spells, yes!

”High-Warlock was the right choice after all. I doubt necromancer would have that many starting spells, especially direct damage spells like.... Grom what's wrong? It's rude to stare at a woman like that, you know?” I say. Dwarf-san swallows his saliva and clears his throat.

”You're... not lying, are ye?” He asks.

I shake my head. ”Foolish mortal. This Alyce would not lower herself to the extent that she would tell untruths. Behold, this is true powah!” I yell, taking a chuuni-pose with my hand outstretched, I cast [Darkbolt] and a dark tendrils swirl to my outstretched hand, quickly gathering and forming into a spherical ball before launching itself forward very quickly and striking the hill we just came down, exploding in a puff of darkness.

When the shadows bleed away from the impact crater, all I can see is... nothing much really. It's like the darkness just ate away at the hill, like chomp.

I glance over at Dwarf-san, who has frozen. Grom.exe has stopped working. Maybe I should restart him with fire? I cast [Conflagrate] and this time the cast is faster and fire erupts violently from my hand, blasting forward in a sizzling snake-like pattern and burning wildly for a few seconds before receding, leaving a scorched trail in its wake.

”Ho ho ho. This is fucking cool, awesomely fucking cool.” I say, grinning as I turn back to Grom. His face is pale, and he looks at me with wide eyes.

”You... how is your magic that strong. It should be beginner level...” Grom says. I just shrug, but a shiver runs down my spine because I heard an eerie rustling sound coming from the city.

”Are ye DAFT?!” Grom shouts, drawing the blue blade and turning towards Lintball. Hmm, now that I think about it... wouldn't using magic like I just did attract monsters and perhaps even the attention of boner-kun? Just as I think that, some skeletons come out of the darkness, their boners, I mean bones, rattling. They carry swords, axes, daggers or spears and their average level is about 35. Since Grom is level 79 this should be a piece of cake. Speaking of Grom.

Ping! Do you wish to invite Grom to your party?

”Hell yeah, let's party all night long Grom!” I shout, stepping forward and pointing a finger towards the boners, I cast [Conflagrate].

The skeletons at the front disappear in my roaring fire but the ones at the back don't seem to be affected.

Just as my fire disappears, Grom jumps infront of me.

Grom has accepted your invitation and is now in your party, experience points gained are shared between party members.

”Yah!” Grom shouts, the blue sword flashing. He easily cuts down the remaining skeletons. In the mean time, I call Raven-chan to me and cast [Summon Rare Imp]. A circle of fire spreads from my feet, painting a pentagram below me. I instinctively know what to do, so I point my hand towards another spot near me and another flame pentagram forms, scorching the earth and releasing a smell of sulfur into the air. I pour plenty of mana into the spell because I want to make sure my imp is useful and not some trickster that can't fight. I have plenty of mana to spare anyway and It's nice that I can feel my mana reserves precisely.

After the summoning spell, I have about 85% percent left and although it isn't regenerating quickly, 85% is still good. A small imp creature appears in a flash of fire and a burst of the sulfuric smell. It's body is about 2/3rds my size, but it has wings that are just as big as its body. It has grey skin, jagged horns and a long prehensile tail that looks more like a weapon than a decoration. It turns to me and grins, showing jagged teeth that look like spiked rubies. Fire burns in its eyesockets.

Congratulations. You've succcessfully summoned and bound a Rare Imp

The Rare Imp clicks its jaw a few times and bows in my direction, stretching its wings wide.

”Zan recognizes massterss ssuperior sstrenght. Zan sshall sserve.”

”Welcome to the party Zan. Let's have some fun, shall we?” I ask, a mischievous grin playing across my face. The Imp called Zan responds in kind, displaying jagged spiky ruby teeth in response.

”Come on lass, to the docks quickly before the lich can organize his troops!” Grom yells, taking off and sprinting into the city. I frantically try to follow, but the huge block of meat is moving extremely fast. Grom-san is a frightening creature. He is like a big block of meat, a tank plowing through tiny alleys and crushing rotten wooden crates in his wake.

I somehow manage to keep up because he has to occasionally instagib some stray skeletons and zombies. I leap over a pile of bones and clear an alley. A city square with a well in the middle comes into view, and Grom is waiting for me at the well. The mobs around here seem to be pretty low level so far, which is good but... Grom made the Arch-lich out to be a badass, so there's no way such a badass guy has only weak minions... Organize the troops...

Jogging up to Grom, I stop to collect myself. He stares off into the distance and I follow the line of his vision. The road is straight and the width of several caravans. It seems to be the main avenue through which goods traveled once they were unloaded from the ships at the docks since I can see the masts in the distance. This is pretty much a straight path to the docks.

The medieval style buildings on either side of the main road look like they could crumble any moment and a dark rotten stench emanates from some of them accompanied by groans and the rattling of bones. But that is not what Grom is staring at.

”So that's what you meant by organizing the troops.” I remark flatly and Grom lets out a grunt.

Rank and file blocks of chalk-white and yellow skeletons and rob zombies dripping with rot, march towards us from the direction of the docks. Not all the units have shields or spears at the front, but some do. These tactics remind me way too much of a Roman Legion... Grom's constant grumbling and cursing brings me back from my observations just in time to see a hail of arrows heading our way.

”The fuck is this, some sort of battle?! Aren't the numbers a bit too unbalanced?!” I shout, retreating underneath the overhang of the well alongside Grom. Just as I manage to shift myself under cover, I hear the thunk thunk thunk of many arrows raining down. Most strike the stone pavement with clinks. It's hypnotizing, which is why I fail to notice it until its too late and there's a sharp pain in my shoulder. I look over at Grom who is still watching the advancing undead army.

”Phew, looks like we avoided the worst of it.” Grom says, not even looking at me. ”Now what do we do with those buggers.” He continues.

”We kill them.” I say, my voice flat as I step from cover. And then a little lower, I mutter.

”Well, at least it's not to the knee. Zan, Raven-chan, do something about those fucking arrows.” I command. The cry of a Raven and the cackle of manic laughter I get in response, is all the confirmation I need to know that they understood. Now fingers crossed that Zan can fight, though I get the feeling he is not an ordinary imp. Those ruby teeth and the smell of sulfur around him gets my hopes up and Raven-chan is quite a big bird with glowing red eyes. Go my minions! Make mummy proud!

As two dark shapes, my minions, streak past above me, I scan the mobs on the road and find that the army is comprised of mostly level 35-45 skeletons and zombies so it's not like they are terribly strong, yet there are many of them. Grom steps up beside me just as I pull the arrow out of my shoulder with a wet sucking sound and throw it on the ground.

Then I raise both my arms and cast [Conflagrate] and [Darkbolt] at the same time. It seems I can do it, but the required mana doubles for each spell if I cast simultaneously. Still, I have alot of mana and these bastards are a lot higher level than me, so I focus intensely and send out conflagrations and darkbolts continuously in the hope that the destruction they wreak makes up for the extra mana cost.

A wave of fire crashes into the leading ranks of the undead. At the same time, streaks of dark power smash skeletons apart with great force, sending their splintered boners flying like shrapnel from a hand grenade and causing collateral damage.

”Ahahaha, who's laughing now you bastards?” I yell laughing a bit crazily as flames and dark energy continues to flow from my fingertips in a stream of destruction. I stop the magic briefly to catch my magical breath and look over at Grom, who is just standing there gripping his glowing blue sword tightly. Then he nods to me seriously and steps forward. It looks like Dwarf-san wants in on the action and who can blame him?

In the sky further up ahead, I can see a flash of dark red and my Imp, Zan, hovering over the enemy. His whole body is burning and he is sending waves of zig-zagging flames sizzling down. It almost looks like magma waterfalls. I can't see Raven-chan, but my GPS is no doubt also working hard. I mustn't slack off. Although my mana reserves have dipped to 67% we've cleared the front ranks and Grom is advancing on the second wave.

He lays in to them with his sword, easily one-shotting them and even sometimes destroying several in one go with sweeping attacks. I furrow my brow and try to support from the back by casting a few carefully aimed darkbolts. This time I aim at a small group of zombies on the edge of the formation. They explode rather grotesquely, covering Dwarf-san with brown and black goo.

Oops, the way he is growling and getting more aggressive means he is probably a bit angry with me. Let's apologize later. After a bit more of Grom's furious slashing and growling like a berserk animal and a few more spells from me, we've cleared a few waves and all of a sudden things go quiet as there are no more enemies before us.

”Looks like there's a lull in their attacks.” I say. Grom grunts an affirmative, squinting down at the masts in the harbour, some of which seem to be moving... That's not good, right?

”Could this be a distraction, I feel like they were way too weak.” I say.

”Aye, that be likely. Looks like the damn Arch-lich is further along that I thought. He sent a few disposables to slow us down. As I thought, its' primary focus is to make a landing on the shores of the mainland and spread from there.” Grom says, swiping a sleeve across his face.

”Sorry about the smelly black goo, I didn't think the zombies would explode like that.” I say, trying to sound apologetic although it looks kind of funny.

”It be alright lass. Still, just what the hell are ye...” Grom says, looking at me once, shaking his head and then staring ahead. It looks like he has decided to ignore my abnormalities. That's a good thing, right?

More and more of the ships seem to be moving, if we don't hurry... Grom glances back at me. We seem to have come to the same conclusion and so begins another frantic dash. Dwarf-san can run ridiculously fast, what the hell is up with his speed?

As I dash after him down the crumbling main street, the stars twinkle above and the moon is reflected in the waters surface before me as several large ships sail for the horizon, no doubt loaded with abominable undead creatures waiting to feast on the living. I'm undead too though, but I don't feast on the living only the dead, okay? Goddamn it!

Anyway, as I try to catch up to Dwarf-san, I command Zan and Raven-chan to scout ahead and see if they can find a suitable vessel for us to commandeer. After all, there's no way we can sail a huge ship with just the four of us... as romantic as that would be. Besides, I have no idea how those things work anyway. I can't suddenly sail Queen Ann's revenge better than Blackbeard, or fly the millenium falcon better than Hans yolo.

Ah but still, one day I want to own a huge dominating black galleon and aim to become the Queen of Pirates or something. Sounds cool, right? Awesome, right?

My fantastical machinations come to an abrupt halt as I arrive at the docks to find the majority of the ships already sailing off and the remaining ships ablaze, the fires mocking my dreams of piracy. Incidentally, I definitely did not pirate many eroge's in my last life, okay? Goddamn it!

”Son of a bitch. Blasted piece of monsterdung, stupid ass pile of bones. Gaaah.” Grom yells.

Zan sweeps down to land right infront of us, which makes Grom jump and draw his blade.

”You little!” He shouts. Zan ignores Grom and looks over at me, clacking his jaw and showing his jagged ruby teeth and forked tongue.

”Massster, to your left off the pier near the lighthouse, there is a sssuitable vessssel. Your fleshling servant can row it for you.” Zan says and his words are echoed by the cry of Raven-chan, who sweeps down and sits beside Zan.

”Ohoho, what's this, you two getting along?” I say. Zan shrugs. ”Bird isss not bad. Ssstrong, fasst, sssmart.”

”I'm proud of you Raven-chan!” I shout. ”Come on Grom, let's go.” I say, pointing to where Zan said that my mighty vessel awaits.

”I am not a blasted fleshling servant, what in the fucking goddamm hells is this shit.” Grom grumbles, continuously flinging out expletives under his breath as he follows me off the dock and unto a jagged outcropping of rock where a small squat lighthouse looms unmenacingly. I look to Zan and raise my eyebrows.

”Sstairs inssside. Lead down to alcove. Masster vessel is there.” Zan responds. I give him a nod and motion for Grom to come with me. The dwarf gives Zan another dubious look, but in the end he lets out a sigh and follows me to the lighthouse.

Just as we enter the lighthouse, I remember something and wave Zan closer, whispering an order in his ear. He bows and takes off towards the burning city and I lick my lips in anticipation of the potential boners coming my way.

A girl's gotta eat, you know? It'll be delicious, you know? It's definitely not weird that I'm contemplating cooking up some boner broth in the near future, okay? Goddamn it!