When I opened my eyes, I found myself in an empty white room.I sat up and looked around... Nearby, I saw a woman with long dark hair in a familiar outfit with fox ears atop her head.There were also nine fluffy fox tails coming from her back."Hello, handsome. How are you sleeping?" She said.I simply stared at her face and wondered where I'd seen her before."Who are you, again?" I asked bluntly.She looked somewhat taken back by this."Y-you...don't remember me...?" She asked.I shook my head."I could swear I've seen you before, but I can't remember who you are.""Akari! From the guild!? The SS-Rank voluptuous beauty from the Dark Knights Guild!? Ring any bells!?" She said."I don't think I'd call you a voluptuous beauty, but I think I remember the name from the Guildmaster. You're the one who harassed us on our way out to a job, right?" I said."I was just saying hi!" "Why did you feel it necessary to charm me, then? My wife's si-...I mean, my wife said you were doing that.""R
After we went upstairs, I knocked on the Guildmaster's door and heard him speak."Come in, please," he said.Isabella and I walked in and shut the door behind us."Ah, good. It's you two. Isabella and...Markus?" Gearo said.I just sighed."His name is Mizik. Miz-ick. It's not that difficult to remember, Guildmaster..." Isabella said."Right...my apologies. Mizik and Isabella. I was just about to send for you two because I have your reward ready for the request. The total sum of money is around 12,500 gold coins. Which is around four years of wages at a regular job. Well done!" Gearo said."What rank was that quest?" I asked."It was originally A-Rank, but after we sent the previous group and they didn't return, we upgraded it to S-Rank. We have a system to rank the pay of requests involving a combination of the ranking of the request itself, the manpower needed, and also the payment from the one posting the request. ""I'm sure that's very interesting, but I have a-"Before I could fi
Akari had to be one of the most insufferable people that I had ever met.First, I couldn't trust her at all.She initially lied to us to cause a rift in the group and used blackmail to form the party in the first place. I assumed that she wanted to set herself up as the favorite. After that, she tried to move in on the reward money that she didn't earn under the pretense that she was 'part of the group and deserved a share'.She didn't work, so she didn't get paid.I assumed she was the kind of woman that Michael would avoid.A 'man-eater'.Someone who wraps her tentacles around a guy, chews him up, and spits him out after taking everything he has.I wasn't about to be a victim of that.Now we were traveling..."Can you to catch us some food or something, Mizik? That would be pretty useful," Akari said."We'll eat after we set up camp for the night. We had a meal two hours ago," I said."But I'm hungry! You wouldn't want me to starve, would you!?" "I might happier if you did," I said
At some point during our journey, we entered a forest steeped in a heavy fog."This is a really powerful illusion spell..." Cassandra said quietly."Can you dispel it?" I asked.She shook her head."If I could cast and control wide-reaching giant illusions, I might... But I can't do that...even with Deception," she said."Yeah...this is way above my skill level, too. I don't think I could touch this one," Akari said.I tried to grasp the magic hanging over this place, but I couldn't.I would need a significant amount of time to come close to that, and I wasn't about to waste any more of it.The journey had taken longer than expected. We were tired from moving so quickly to cover lost time...thanks to Akari.Regardless, we continued onward."Mizik darling, before we leave this place, the fog will have to be dispelled. It looks like it's designed to keep people from leaving," Cassandra said."Alright. Everyone stick close. We don't want to get separated in the fog!" I said aloud.At onc
When Isabella woke up, she had no idea where she was.She found herself lying in a cell. "Where...are we?" Isabella said."I don't know..." Cassandra said."I remember being pulled into the mansion, but after that, everything went dark..." Isabella said."At least we aren't in our underwear like that time you were at the Iratus Estate..." Cassandra said nervously."Look, that was partially your fault, you know? If you hadn't told Tyranus about our trip to his office, we wouldn't have been caught!" Isabella said."H-hey...I feel terrible about that, okay!? And Tyranus already planned to attack you, regardless. Please forgive me for that, sister...""Alright... You're forgiven. Besides, it's all in the past. That was over thirteen years ago, anyway.""Yaay! Isabella is merciful just like my darling Mizik!" "Please stop fawning over him...""I can't help it! He's all I can think about! I was in the pit for so long and the only thing that kept me sane was the thought of seeing him again
As Akari and I walked, we began to see more and more regular servants cleaning the mansion.Akari seemed to be scared of them because she said they were secretly undead cloaked in illusions.Apparently, she had been attacked multiple times by illusions from her past. The one of me was by far the most aggressive, however.I took comfort in knowing Akari might have been secretly terrified of me. I didn't think I was cruel, I just despised her deceptive behavior.Right now, she seemed perfectly normal. I found myself beginning to trust her.Eventually, I saw Leiso walking towards us."Here we go again..." I said.I raised my shotgun and prepared to fire."Relax," she said. "I come in peace. I just want to talk.""I know you aren't really Leiso," I said."Obviously. This is an illusion. I chose this form because it brings you comfort. I have a question for you, though... Mizik, was it?" The fake Leiso said."Are you the one in charge here?""I am a manifestation of his power containing hi
We continued onward as we remained on the first floor.Akari hadn't really done much since I began using undead to keep the enemies at bay.I even began summoning my own in the short breaks we took... Because Akari demanded we stop occasionally for her own sanity.The magic in Delvandal's atmosphere was dense and as a result, I had more mp than usual. This world was truly a breath of fresh air from Ignitus' suffocating and desolate enviornment.Also, some of the undead I summoned were apparently very powerful variants.I summoned high level death knights, ravenous flesh golems, and frost shades.I even found a spell to summon a skeletal dragon. There wasn't enough room for it to fit here, however. And lastly, a spell to summon a lich under my control.Unfortunately, nearby undead found it difficult to decide who to listen to when the lich was present. I had to dispose of it as a result.It was a shame... That lich was really strong...Regardless, I summoned about thirty skeletal sorc
After descending several more floors and fighting through a literal army of undead, I could feel something incredibly powerful nearby.The tunnels we were currently walking through had a dark red aesthetic to them.The lanterns on the walls had an eerie glow in the dim light.Eventually Akari and I, along with my small-but-potent army of undead, approached a set of massive double doors.I could feel a vast amount of magic behind them...Akari also looked somewhat afraid. The compass was leading us straight to these very doors.Somewhere on the other side, Isabella was being held... And the lich, Nevarius, was likely there as well.I prepared myself for battle and kicked the doors as hard as I could.They flew open and I walked straight into the massive room.What I saw was quite astonishing.The room was enormous. There were strange carvings all along the walls everywhere.I could see lights shining from the walls, ceiling, and floor to keep the room lit perfectly.There was a set of