I opened my eyes and the red light of Erma and the grey-blue light of Irma entered my vision. I slowly sat up, taking in my surroundings and trying to remember what happened. I looked down at my stomach in panic, the feeling of a sword stabbing through my gut still vivid in my mind, but when I looked down, there was no sword, and no wound. Just torn clothes stained by blood. I gasped in confusion. Or, at least tried to. It was then I realized I wasn't breathing. Panic overtook me again as unexplained things kept on happening one after the other.
'Why am I not dead? Where is everyone? Why am I not breathing? Why am I fine after not breathing?'
A myriad of questions swirled in my mind, to none of which I knew the answer to.
"Okay Sabrina, deep breaths now."
I tried to relax myself by taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling from habit, only belatedly realizing that I couldn't breathe. Though, the mental image of me breathing deeply served as a calming enough distraction. As much as the fact that I couldn't breathe was threatening to spiral me back to panic. I began analyzing what happened and formed conjectures. It was then I noticed a stream of messages in the corner of my vision. I focused my attention on them and they floated to the center of my sight.
[You have escaped death and returned as an undead under the influence of 'Hecate's Chosen']
[While an undead, your stats will be reduced by 20%]
[The undead state will last for 11 hours 59 minutes 28 seconds]
[The undead state will go on a 720 hour cooldown after it ends and you will not be able to escape death while the undead state is unavailable]
Alright, that explains why I'm not dead after meeting the business end of a longsword and why I don't need to breathe. What I don't understand is where this skill came from. I do have Hecate as my patron as Oracle, but I don't remember having a skill like this before.
'In the first place… who is Hecate?'
Even though I understood Hecate was most likely a god, I've never heard about them. I didn't know what this god's domain was, but I could make some guesses, as all the abilities being their oracle provided me were somehow related to death or immunity to status effects.
I stood up as I pushed those questions out of my mind. Brooding over the identity of the god that seemed to have saved my life wouldn't suddenly grant me an answer out of the blue. It was better to go to the city and meet up with Testa to let her know I'm alive.
'Wait…'
I looked to the sky, the three moons peeked down at me through the thick tree canopy. Atraias, Erma and Irma, the triplet moons, hung high in the heavens, utterly indifferent to the perils of mortals. The black backdrop of the sky enveloped them as the stars filled the otherwise empty void.
"Fuck."
I cursed and kicked a stone, which then flew into one of the shoddy goblin huts and smashed something inside the hut. I guessed it has been around half a day since we were ambushed, meaning the gates to Thormia would already be closed for the night. The gates will stay closed for at least another six hours if my guess is right, so I had plenty of time to spend by myself in a monster-filled forest. I cursed some more and after getting an understanding of my surroundings, I began making my way back the same way our party entered the forest, though doing so proved to be a much tougher endeavor than I would have liked. Were it not for the light shone down by the moons, I wouldn't be able to see at all. Thankfully, the moons were bright enough light up the night so I could somewhat see, even if it was still incredibly dark thanks to the forest's canopy blocking most of the light.
I walked for a while, getting used to the fact that I didn't need to breath, at least for the time being. Neither did I feel any kind of thirst or hunger, and I wasn't tired or sleepy either. It seemed that apart from having my stats lowered, I didn't have the need for any of the things living beings usually needed. As a test, I tried running, and as I had thought, I didn't feel any form of exhaustion even after running for a long time. If I wasn't in the undead state, I would have collapsed long ago with my meager stamina. This greatly decreased my travel time, though it was still nothing compared to Syndra or Testa if they ran at their full speed. I'm not even going to bother talking about the guy Syndra seems to have fallen for. My eyes could barely follow his speed.
It took some time, but I finally found myself at the forest's boundary. The monsters I ran into ignored my presence, probably because I turned into an undead. I opened my status window for the umpteenth time since I woke up, still flabbergasted by the new passive skill.
Sabrina Blaire
Race: Human
Trait: Undead (Humanoid)
Age: 17
Sex: Female
Class: Oracle
Level: 32 (74 325/140 017 XP)
Titles: [Epic] [Hecate's Oracle]
HP: 2 400 (3 000)
MP: 800 (1 000)
VIT: 240 (300)
DEF: 56 (70)
STR: 76 (95)
AGI: 68 (85)
DEX: 224 (280)
MAG: 400 (500)
Magic:
[Fire Magic II] [Light Magic I] [Holy Magic I] [Dark Magic I] [Necromancy Magic I] [Support Magic I] [Barrier Magic I] [Lifestyle Magic I]
Active Skills:
[Alchemy LV. 4] [Hecate's Blessing LV. 5]
Passive Skills:
[Health Regeneration LV. 2] [Mana Regeneration LV. 5] [Mana Sense LV. 3] [Mana Control LV. 5] [Hecate's Chosen LV. MAX]
Unique Skills:
[Adaptability] [Oracle's Gifts]
[Hecate's Chosen LV. MAX] – You have a 50% chance to resist negative status effects. Negative status effects cast on you have their duration decreased by 33%. Once every 720 hours, you can escape death by turning into an undead 12 hours after your HP drops to 0. The undead state will persist for 12 hours, after which it will go on cooldown and will not be available while it is on cooldown. Grants affinity for [Necromancy Magic]. Necromancy magic has its MP consumption decreased by 66%.
Not only have I gained a new magic affinity, but the effects the skill gave me were absolutely insane and it gave me decreased MP consumption by two thirds for Necromancy magic on top? Hell fucking yeah!
The torches that burned at Thormia's gate shone brightly in the sunless night, lighting up the tree-less expanse that separated the forest and the city. Making my way out of the thicket onto the expanse, I slowly trudged my way to the gate. While it was exceedingly rare, there were times when the guards on night watch duty would let you through even if the gates were already closed. As I neared the gates, a figure wearing a grey cape flew over the walls and landed a short distance away from me. I was alarmed at first, but as I began to recognize the features of the figure's face, my guard dropped down and turned into joy.
"Sabrina?"
Said Merlin with palpable confusion. I breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing a familiar face. Or, tried to sigh. I kept on forgetting I wouldn't be able to breathe for the next 5 or so hours.
"Hey there. Judging by your reaction, you've already met up with Testa?"
Merlin stared at me as if he'd seen a ghost. It felt as if he was looking at me, but also not looking at me. I unintentionally tensed up. Being stared at like this didn't feel all too pleasant, especially when I didn't know the reason. Merlin belatedly opened his mouth to answer my question.
"Yes, though she passed out right away after meeting up with us. She hasn't been up for long and was just telling us what happened when I… sensed your presence."
'I don't think you quite sensed my presence, but I'll leave it be. Everyone has their secrets, after all.'
I thought to myself after picking up on the not-so-natural pause when he said he sensed me.
"I'll take you to where we're staying. Don't bother going through the gate, the guards are the stuck-up types tonight."
Merlin continued as he pointed at the gate with his thumb. I wondered how we were going to get inside Thromia if not through the gate, when it hit me that he flew over the ten-meter-tall wall before meeting up with me, so he must have a way to get over it.
"That'd be great, but… how exactly are we going to get over that?"
I questioned, pointing at the wall with my right index finger. Merlin smiled mischievously and walked closer to me.
"Like this. Excuse me for a moment. Huup!"
"Uweh?!"
I yelped in surprise as Merlin picked me up by putting his left hand beneath my knees and his right hand around my back. He was now carrying me in the fabled princess carry, the dream of every maiden that liked stories of knights and damsels in distress. My cheeks would have definitely flushed if blood flowed through my body right now, I was one of such maidens after all. No blood flowed as of right now, though, so my cheeks were devoid of any red. At least apart from the blood I coughed out after I got gutted by a sword, but that is beside the point.
Merlin began mumbling something under his breath, so quietly that I couldn't hear what he was saying despite being mere centimeters away from his face. A dark green magic circle glowed beneath his feet, signalizing the casting of wind magic, and a red magic circle appeared behind him, a sign of fire magic being cast. The robe he wore fluttered as the winds quickly picked up in intensity around us and with a boom we were shot into the sky.
"What the hell?!"
This was far beyond anything I could have expected. I knew he must have had a way to get over the walls, but this was far too absurd. Using wind magic and fire magic interchangeably like this must be a massive drain on mana, so how the hell was he completely fine? Does he have an infinite mana supply or what?
"I will punch you if you drop me."
"Heh. I'll keep that in mind."
I warned him to not drop me under any circumstances, which elicited a chuckle and a half-hearted affirmation from him. We flew over the roofs of Thormia while Merlin occasionally adjusting our altitude or the direction we were flying in. It took no time at all before the inn we were staying at came into view. Merlin dropped down to the street with practiced movements and gently put me down once we were on the ground.
"Aand we're here."
Said Merlin as my feet met the solid ground. I replied with a quiet thanks and fixed up my attire. What could be fixed of it, at least. There wasn't much I could do about the torn hole on my stomach. Merlin walked inside the inn and lead me upstairs to the room he and Astoshan were using.
"Sabrina, you're alive!"
Testa jumped from the bed she was sitting on and quickly tackled me into a hug in an extremely rare show of strong emotion from her. Because of my low strength stat, I had trouble keeping my balance when she smacked into me with superhuman speed and strength, but I somehow managed to stay on my feet.
"I'm so sorry, I really thought you were…"
"Shh, it's fine. I was the one told you to run and get help, wasn't I? I didn't actually think I'd survive either. I was prepared to meet my end there."
Testa apologized to me, feeling guilty for leaving me behind in the forest. I comforted her by hugging her close and patting her head. She had nothing to feel guilty for. I was the one who told her to run. I was the one who told her to go look for help from Astoshan and Merlin. I had no idea my death would activate a special skill I didn't even know I had. All in all, I trust the choices we made back there were the best choices we could have made in the given situation.
'Speaking of Astoshan…'
I turned my head while holding Testa to a table in the corner of the room. On the table lay a mountain of dishes, no doubt Testa's credit. Astoshan sat at the table, silently overlooking my and Testa's interaction, though I didn't think his eyes were actually focused on me and Testa. His expression was blank, but I could tell he was holding back an unhealthy amount of wrath.
"Has Testa already filled you in on their situation?"
I asked and gently separated from Testa.
"Yep, and Astoshan took the news of Syndra's kidnapping rather poorly."
Replied Merlin from behind me. I realized I was still standing in the doorway. Testa went back to sit on the bed and I sat next to her. Merlin closed the door behind him and sat on the other bed that was in the room.
"In that case, I know this is presumptuous of me, but can we count on your help with saving Syndra? I doubt only I and Testa would be enough to get her back."
I would understand if they didn't wish to risk their lives for someone they've known for such a short time, but at the moment, they were our only hope in saving her. The Blackhardt knights had defected under the Sinclairs, the Tyrolls were entirely on their side, the Runtals we could not count on and the adventurer's guild was a neutral organization. The adventurer's guild would step in if a nation put pressure on an adventurer, however, this was a fight between noble families, and according to the international agreement that allowed the guild to function across all three continents and their nations, this was outside of their hands.
Merlin chuckled at my response.
"Have you seen that guy? He's already planning on how to make those bastards suffer so much they'd wish they were never born."
He nodded his head in Astoshan's direction. This assuaged my worries somewhat, but I still hadn't heard Astoshan's decision, and he seemed to be the one making the important decisions between the two.
"Do you know where they might be taking her?"
I was surprised for a moment that Astoshan finally spoke. Testa didn't seem surprised at all, though, and she quickly answered him.
"Most likely the Blackhardt estate. Last we heard, the Sinclairs invaded and occupied the Blackhardt territories without a fight."
"How long would it take us to get there by carriage?"
Testa fell into contemplation for a moment.
"About a week."
"I'd bet the knights and Netherwalkers will be able to make that journey in five days, plus they are going to have a day of a head start, which means we have around four days to make it in time. Yep, it's doable. It'll be tough, but definitely doable."
Astoshan said with a dead serious look.
Doable? How the hell are we supposed to cover the distance that would normally take seven days on a carriage in only four on foot. I thought he was crazy at first, but the image of him fighting against Martinos, the bandit leader, and moving so fast my eyes could barely follow him reared their way up. If it was these two, they might just be able to make it in four.
"First, however, I'll need a weapon. Mine broke. Again."
"What the hell do you keep on doing with your weapons that you need to keep on replacing them?"
I asked incredulously.
"Fighting monsters way above the weapon's recommended level."
He said with a deadpan face. Yeah, I can see him doing that. But a weapon, huh. The smithy in Thormia, while not shabby, doesn't sell the kind of swords that can stand up to weapons produced in the capital or core cities of each dukedom. At best the weapons sold here will let you fight up to low B-rank monsters, but anything stronger than that and you might as well fight barehanded. Procuring a weapon capable of fighting against Rozes is going to be a challenging task, at least from what I've heard about the man from Testa and Syndra.
"I think I can actually help with getting you a decent sword."
Testa raised her hand and spoke up. My right eyebrow rose in intrigue to Testa's remark, because I knew her to be a person that does not tell lies.
"My family's heirloom. My younger brother is not old enough yet to hold that sword, and my uncle doesn't even know of its existence. I planned on taking it out of my family's secret storage and giving it to my brother for his fifteenth birthday, but I'm not even sure if he's alive or on our side anymore."
Imagine that. Her family had a secret storage where they keep a high-end sword as an heirloom. How convenient.
Actually, a renowned family of swordsmen that has served the strongest family of swordsmen for generations keeping a quality sword as an heirloom in a secret storage doesn't sound too farfetched. More like, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. How come it never occurred to me that a family of sword fanatics would keep a sword heirloom somewhere?!
"If we make a little detour before we go to the Blackhardt estate and visit my family's mansion, I can go grab that sword for you. It's of much higher quality than anything you could get here, so I think it will serve you well."
"Alright, let's keep that in mind then. First things first, though. Miss undead, how are you still alive?"
Merlin approved of Testa's idea and Astoshan nodded along. However, Merlin brought up something I had hoped he wouldn't notice, let alone bring up.
"Uhm, when I died, I got a new skill that lets me return us an undead for half a day 12 hours after dying? I'm not too sure myself, but that's what happened according to the new skill's description."
I then described everything from how I woke up, the new skill I received and I explained a little more about my class so that both Merlin and Astoshan would be in the know. Upon learning that I really did technically die, Testa tightly hugged me and apologized again. Merlin seemed to already somehow be aware and Astoshan didn't have much of a reaction. I thought that odd, but just chalked it up to him being more distraught by Syndra's kidnapping. I also told my point of view of what happened before we were ambushed, during the ambush and anything that could be of help to Merlin and Astoshan.
We spent the night coming up with a plan on how to infiltrate the Pendragon mansion, where the heirloom sword was hidden, and then how to get Syndra out of the Blackhardt estate. Testa took on the brunt of explaining and theorizing in which room they could be holding Syndra. I drew up a shabby building plan according to Testa's descriptions, but she claimed it was close enough to use as a reference. Once we've had a rough rescue plan drawn up, Merlin and Astoshan went to sleep to get some rest as they have been up for a long time now.
○○○
After I and Merlin woke up, we ate some quick breakfast-slash-lunch and we left Thormia around noon. I carried Sabrina on my back and Merlin carried Testa in a princess carry. I would feel no difference in weight if I had to carry either Testa or Sabrina, both were light with my stats, but with Merlin being a mage, his strength was noticeable lower than mine, so it was better if he carried the lighter Testa.
Thanks to Merlin's [Map], we could travel through the middle of the forest without getting lost, so this greatly reduced our travel time. Merlin flew over the treetops while I ran on the ground and zigzagged around the trees or other obstacles that littered the forest floor.
Monsters occasionally approached or blocked our way, but I either sped past them or gave them a kick to the head which was generally enough to put them out of commission. Sabrina eventually turned back to a living person. As a consequence of not feeling thirst and hunger for the past 24 hours, she was absolutely parched and starving the moment her body turned back to normal. We had a short break so that she could get her metabolism back in order, while the rest of us ate some food and refreshed ourselves with water.
After about half a day of nonstop running, we stopped in a village when it started getting dark and Merlin's mana began running out. The stunt he was pulling was already draining enough, so it was surprising he could keep it up for nearly the entire day. I also felt my stamina slowly but surely drop to near zero. I didn't want to collapse, and we all agreed that we had covered enough ground for today and it was time to find or make shelter. The people in the village were nice enough to let us use a few vacant rooms where we could sleep and recover.
Like this, we travelled nonstop, stopping only to eat, sleep and for other necessary human bodily functions. Four days later, we finally arrived at the edge of our destination, Obvin, the core city of the Blackhardt territories and the girls' hometown.
Merlin hasn't spotted Syndra on his [Map] anywhere along the way, which wasn't too surprising. The knights and Netherwalkers most likely stuck to travelling on a normal road, whereas we made beelines through forests and across meadows. I thought that we made it here before the knights who kidnapped Syndra, but my hopes were deftly crushed by Merlin confirming that Syndra was already inside the Blackhardt estate. With no time to waste, Testa led us to the Pendragon mansion.
Because we didn't want to raise alarms yet, Testa hid her face under a hood after we arrived in Obvin. Sabrina wore a hood as well, just in case she ran into someone she knew. While her presence wouldn't raise alarms, gathering unnecessary attention was still unwelcome. She lived here almost her entire life, so there was a plethora of people that could recognize her. I and Merlin were fine, though. Nobody here knew us, we just looked like your average run of the mill adventurers.
When we arrived at the Pendragon mansion, it finally hit me that Testa was indeed a member of an influential noble family. She came off as silent and uninterested in most things, so she didn't exude the noble aura and intimidation that Syndra had. Though, I found Syndra to be more cute than intimidating.
The mansions itself was a massive two-story building made out of white stone. A wide, paved path led to the mansion. Neatly trimmed green bushes lined the path, ending in a delta shaped staircase that went up to the large main doors. The doors were made out of dark wood and black iron hinges kept the door in place. Black iron décor embellished the doors with intricate designs.
I approached the guards standing in front of the entry gate, who looked completely relaxed and unfocused on their job. I'd have thought they were currently on break were I not told otherwise. I covered my face in a robe just in case. What I was about to do was a crime, after all. Best to not have my face on a wanted poster the next day.
"Good afternoon. Could I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
The guards didn't seem too pleased by being bothered by a random passersby, but they didn't find me suspicious either. They kept their relaxed attitude even as I got dangerously close.
"You see…"
With a swift right hook, I knocked out the guard closer to me. The other guard finally realized I was a threat, but before he could even raise his voice, a blast of electricity struck him and after doing a little spasm dance, the guard fell down to the ground. The mansion was on the outskirts of Obvin, so the number of people moving on the road was minimal throughout the day. Because it was still early morning, there was nobody on the road yet. Those that woke up this early already left their homes, and those that didn't have to wake up before sunrise were still asleep.
Merlin appeared from behind a tree that stood in front of the walls of the mansion. Testa and Sabrina popped out of an alley as well and we hid the unconscious guards in the alley. We stripped the guards of their armor and I put it on. Sabrina didn't fit in it, but Merlin quickly changed its shape to fit her with transmutation magic.
"Alright, as we've discussed. I and Sabrina will pose as guards so that nobody finds it suspicious why a noble's mansion has nobody guarding it. Testa and Merlin will infiltrate inside the mansion and look for the sword. Once you have it, hightail it out of there and sent up a signal. We'll then meet at the place we agreed upon and once I have a weapon, we'll go to the Blackhardt mansion at once and proceed as planned. Everyone on board?"
I asked just in case. We've been going over and improving our plan on how to save Syndra for the past four days, and I think it now has a very high chance of success. Everyone nodded that they understood, and Merlin threw a pebble at me to not bother them with pointless questions anymore. I caught it, of course, and threw it back at him. Because I threw it rather lightly, he easily sidestepped the pebble and it flew past him.
"I declare the mission is a go."
I put on the most convincing imitation of a military operation leader. Merlin chuckled with a grin, whereas Testa and Sabrina raised their eyebrows and looked at me as if I had hit my head.
○○○
Astoshan and Sabrina stayed outside to pose as guards, as we had discussed, while I and Testa infiltrated the mansion. Getting past the locked gate wasn't difficult, Testa simply unlocked it with the key she had on her. After all, this was her home, even if she spent most of her time at the Blackhardt estate.
Bzzzt.
Another servant fell down unconscious under the effects of my lightning magic. We've been making steady progress through the mansion. Our goal was the hidden compartment that held the sword in the underground storage area beneath the mansion. So far, we've dispatched a number of servants, but we've yet to run into any knight or guard patrol. It seemed as though there was the minimum posted outside in front of the gate to keep up appearances and the rest were sent somewhere else.
"We're here."
Testa stopped in front of a door and opened it. Regularly spaced lichtfels, luminous dim yellow stones, illuminated the staircase that led to the storage area below. We descended down the stairs and cold and humid air hit us in the face as we entered the storage. The storage also had lichtfels illuminating it, though they were far more spaced apart than on the staircase, and because of that, the storage was shrouded in a veil darkness. Dust particles floated in front of the light cones cast by the lichtfels, like snow illuminated by a lamp in some horror movie. The storage area felt eerie and my intuition was telling me something wasn't right here. I looked over the entire room with [Analyze], but I found nothing suspicious. The only thing I found were large crates
While I was looking over the entire room, Testa pressed a specific stone brick on the far wall and a crude stone keypad revealed itself. She typed in a combination of numbers and a portion of the wall sunk into the ground. Beyond the sunken wall lay a pedestal that had a sword displayed on top of it.
"Well, getting this was far easier than I thought it would be."
Testa said as she reached for the sword and grabbed ahold of it. I fully expected some sort of mechanism to trigger due to her saying a jinx, but nothing of the sort happened and she took the sword without a hitch. Once the sword was safely removed from the hidden alcove, the wall rose back up.
"Let's go. There is nothing more to do down here."
Testa moved past me onto the stairs. I gave the storage one last glance, but the sight that greeted me was the same as before. Crates, crates, glowing yellow eyes staring at me from the darkness, more crates… wait.
'Glowing yellow eyes?'
I did a double take and indeed, a pair of eyes was looking right at me.
"Khyaaaaak!"
"Fire Bullet!"
Without a warning, the creature lunged at me. I quickly cast a tier one fire spell, Fire Bullet, and blasted it square in the face. The creature's head got charred black but that didn't stop its advance.
"Testa!"
Before I could even call for her, Testa already dashed in front of me and kicked the creature away. The thing yelped as it crashed into a wall, but it got up right away, as if it wasn't hit in the first place. I cast Create Light to properly illuminate our surroundings and see where the hell this thing came from. One of the crates had its lid slid to the side, so it probably came from inside the crate. Just as that thought struck my mind, the lids on the other crates were pushed off them and more of the creatures crawled out. The creatures looked exactly like humans, though their skin was a grey-purple and they had glowing yellow eyes.
I decided to take a look at the one Testa kicked with [Analyze] and see what it was, because I had no recollection of reading about a monster like this back at the royal castle in Hosefelia.
Orton Stone
Race: Ghoul (Corrupted Human)
Trait: Humanoid, Undead
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Class: Ghoul Knight
Level: 35
Titles: [Epic]
HP: 1 200/4 800
MP: 46
VIT: 480
DEF: 58
STR: 456
AGI: 347
DEX: 86
MAG: 23
Magic:
Active Skills:
[Night Vision LV. 5] [Body Strengthening LV. 2]
Passive Skills:
[Sword Mastery LV. 4] [Sword Proficiency 45%]
Unique Skills:
[Corpse Body]
'These things are ghouls?'
The monsters that ambushed us seemed to be some kind of ghoul species, though I had no clue what a corrupted human might be. Putting such pointless questions to the back of my mind for now, I supported Testa with my magic after casting some buffs on her. Because we were in an enclosed space, I couldn't use more powerful magic, like Fireball, in fear of hurting Testa in the process, so I stuck to some tier one and tier two spells.
Undead monsters in general should be weak to fire and holy magic, so I fought mainly with those. A ghoul from a newly opened crate rushed at Testa from the left. She was already busy with a number of ghouls, so I sent the ghoul a welcome gift in the form of a Holy Arrow, a tier one holy magic spell.
The golden arrow shot through the air and lodged itself in the ghoul's shoulder. This halted its advance and drew its attention to me. I had no intention of ever letting it get close, however, and sent a few more Holy Arrows its way. The ghoul turned into a porcupine and finally ceased moving after the final arrow pierced its brain.
While I was turning the ghoul into swiss cheese, Testa dispatched the ghouls that were bothering her with a few slashes. Another wave of ghouls was already crawling out of the newly unsealed crates, so we made a beeline for the stairs and quickly ascended to the door.
I shut the door behind me and sealed it with frost magic. A thick layer of ice coated the door, entombing the ghouls behind it. This whole charade caused quite a ruckus and I could already see people move on my [Map] to our location. Because we had what we came for, we no longer needed to be stealthy. Testa punched a window in the hallway. The glass cracked and shattered like fine sand under Testa's powerful fist and we crawled out onto the courtyard.
I sent a Fireball into the sky to let Astoshan and Sabrina know we succeeded in retrieving the sword and that we would meet them at a predetermined location. We escaped from the Pendragon residence and entered the side alleys of Obvin. I knew we weren't being followed thanks to my [Map], but it doesn't hurt to be extra careful if it doesn't take much effort. We stopped running and began moving to the place where we agreed to meet up. I could see Astoshan and Sabrina on the map, and Astoshan could communicate with me through Sera, but Testa and Sabrina had no need to know these things for now. It'd be a different story if they decide to join our party permanently after this whole circus is over, but until then, it was better to keep our circumstances hidden.
○○○
Testa and Merlin arrived at the meet up point shortly after me and Sabrina. I was pleasantly surprised Merlin didn't blow up the mansion straight up, though I guess he didn't really have the chance with Testa around.
"Here."
The first thing Testa did after they met up with us was to pass me the sword they retrieved from the Pendragon mansion. I could tell that the quality of this sword was on a completely different level from anything I've used thus far as soon as I took hold of it. The sword felt like an extension of my own limb as soon as I gripped the hilt.
The blade itself had some sort of runic characters running down its length, but other than that it was without a scratch and was polished to the point that I could see me reflection on it. The cross-guard was a painted black and had stylish silver engravings of two dragons. The hilt was wrapped in black leather, making it comfortable to hold. The disc-shaped pommel had engravings on its flat sides. One I recognized as the insignia of the Blackhardt house, so I assume the other one was the insignia of the Pendragon house.
Thanks to the stats the system provided I didn't even feel the blade's weight, but I could tell handling this sword would be no joke if I was still a regular human.
"Thanks."
I replied as I scrutinized the sword.
"It's made from a special alloy of adamantite, mithril and a portion of orichalcum. The runes are enchantments that give the blade increased sharpness, durability, mana conductivity and a self-repair function, so as long as the blade doesn't break, you could theoretically keep on using this sword forever."
Testa explained and I was certain of one thing. This piece was pricy enough to last an entire family of peasants for generations if they were to sell it. An alloy made from some of the best metals for weapons, designed into a beautiful masterpiece, and further enchanted with runes that give it incredible abilities? If Syndra's rescue didn't depend on me getting a proper weapon, I would feel afraid to even hold this thing. Merlin didn't seem to have such inhibitions, though. I could see the gold coins reflect in his eyes as he stared at the sword with a greedy look. It put me at ease to see him be his usual self, hungry for money.
"It's amazing. I'll make sure to put it to good use. Does it have a name?"
I asked as I sheathed the sword. The scabbard was painted black and was also engraved with the visage of two dragons in silver, but in more detail than on the sword's cross-guard.
"The Black Dragon. It is part of a pair of swords. The other is called The Blue Dragon. The only difference between them is that the Blue Dragon is painted blue and has blue leather on its hilt instead of black."
"Black and blue, huh? I'm guessing the Blue Dragon belongs to the Blackhardts?"
Testa nodded to my question. I personally found it amusing that the Blackhardt family's signature color was blue. One would think they'd adopt the color black instead, but you have to remember that 'black' wasn't even a word in the language the people here used, so the name Blackhardt had nothing to do with the color black.
"Oh, it looks good on you."
"Yeah, it does suit him."
I fastened the sword along with the scabbard on my side and Merlin and Sabrina complimented that it suited me. I felt oddly embarrassed at such straightforward compliments, but it felt nice. I chuckled and replied with a thank you.
"Now then… hm? What's up Testa?"
As I was about to go over the rescue plan once again, I noticed that Testa was deep in thought but it wasn't the philosophical kind of look, in which you contemplated the infinite mysteries of the universe, life and existence. It was the kind of look when you think on something painful or unpleasant.
"Ah, it's just… we ran into tons of unique ghouls down in the storage."
"Unique ghouls?"
I repeated, confused as to what she meant. I wasn't down there and they didn't tell me or Sabrina about what happened in the mansion. All I knew was that they went in, got the sword, got out and sent up the fireball as a signal.
"Oh, instead of the normal green-grey skin and blank white eyes, their skin was purple-grey and they had glowing yellow eyes. When I checked their status, it said they were ghouls made from corrupted humans. No clue what corrupted means, though."
Merlin explained. I pinched the bridge of my nose, however, as he just revealed that he can see other people's status. Thankfully, that's not too big of a deal.
"You can see other people's status?"
"Wait, you can see the status of others?!"
Or maybe it is a big deal. Testa and Sabrina both exclaimed at the same time, their faces frozen in shock. Even Testa, who normally shows the bare minimum of emotions, had her mouth wide open. The people of this world can normally see the status window of another person only when using a Status Crystal. I can see how this could come as a shock to them.
"Oh, uh… yeah. One of my unique skills does that. It's also how we figured out you three were either in hiding or on the run."
Merlin scratched the back of his head and avoided making eye contact with Testa and Sabrina. It looked like they had a ton of questions, but I wanted to focus on the actually important part of this conversation, which were the unique ghouls. We could explain our circumstances later.
"Keep your questions about that for later. We can talk more while we decide how to move forward after we have Syndra back. You said they were corrupted?"
"Yup."
Merlin's gaze conveyed his deep thanks for steering the conversation to a different topic, at least for now. He wasn't one to make mistakes like this, so if he let his guard down and accidentally revealed information about his [Analyze], it meant he already trusted Testa and Sabrina enough to consider them as permanent party members.
Testa sighed at the change in topic but decided to go along with it.
"That's not what bothers me, though. What bothers me is that I recognized them as knights that worked in the mansion."
Well, that's one heck of a revelation. Ghouls normally appear only on battlefields that weren't properly cleared after the fighting was done. The fact that these ghouls seemed to have some special characteristics and were inside a storage area in a noble's mansion hinted to one rather unwelcome fact.
"They were created artificially."
Merlin spoke my conjecture out loud.
"I think so too."
Testa nodded in agreement. If the ghouls indeed were created artificially from the knights that used to work in the mansion, that meant her little brother either joined sides with the Sinclairs or he met the same fate as the knights.
This knowledge also raised the questions of who created them, how and why. As far as I knew, you could summon ghouls using necromancy magic, but those were usually without any real defining features, just blank slates.
Sera informed me with a well-timed explanation. I could always rely on her to clarify things for me, at least that were related to the system.
"I remember hearing somewhere that you can forcefully turn a corpse into a personal undead, but that would be limited to only a few. I don't think that's what we're dealing with here."
"Most definitely not. There were far too many ghouls for all of them to be personal undead. I counted at least 20 in total, who knows whether there were more hiding in the crates."
"I have to agree. I can have at most two personal undead right now at [Necromancy Magic I], and I'll get an additional personal undead slot for every tier of necromancy magic."
Testa agreed with my theory while Sabrina practically confirmed it with her own understanding of necromancy magic. Regardless, the fact that someone could forcefully create undead with means other than necromancy spelled trouble, and not just for us, but for the entire nation. As if the Netherwalkers weren't enough of a problem, we now had a possible undead outbreak on our hands as well. The scariest part about all of it was that both of these problems most likely had the same roots. The Sinclairs, more specifically Zika Sinclair.
I was liking the situation less with every passing minute and while I am generally a patient person, I was starting to grow restless.
"Okay, everyone. Let's go over the plan one more time, this time with the possibility of facing a horde of ghouls as well. We no longer have time to properly adjust the plan, but we should still think up of some contingencies in case we do get swarmed with undead."
We brainstormed some easy and effective ways on how to proceed in such an event but didn't dare waste too much time on it. According to Merlin's [Map], Syndra was already in their clutches. Every second wasted could be a second too late. We agreed on some signals and courses of action in the event of a ghoul swarm and we set off for the Blackhardt estate.