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Alice bashed the pale man in front of her with her shield. He flew backwards, crashing into a tree. With a jerking motion, the man climbed back to his feet, and he let out a roar while charging at the diminutive guild master. Alice frowned and braced her shoulder against her shield. She tackled forward, slamming into the man, sending him through the air once more. She glanced up at the skull perched on her head. “How do I restrain him?”
“Usually, we overwhelm them with numbers,” the skull said. “Five of us grab each limb, and then we throw them in a cell. Recently, the dwarves came up with this restraining jacket, so the cells don’t even have to be that reinforced.”
Alice’s brow furrowed as the pale man climbed up once again. “Is their stamina infinite?”
“Pretty much,” the skull said. “They’re always struggling in their cells. You can think of them as a type of undead that’s still alive.”
“No wonder why the adventurers’ guilds have been having so much trouble,” Alice said and swung her arm, sending the pale man flying again. “What if I break his joints? Can he still move?”
“What are you, a monster?” the skull asked, its eyes sockets widening. “He’s still alive! Would he even want to be cured after being crippled like that?”
“Well, what am I supposed to do?” Alice asked and stomped her foot. She swung her arm again, even harder this time. The pale man was sent flying again.
“Keep advancing,” the skull said. “Once you’re at our base, you can restrain him with a jacket or trap him in one of our cells.” The skull coughed. “Of course, you could always deal with him and bring him back as a skeleton. I’m sure he’d understand given the circumstances.”
Alice sighed and glanced at the carriage. Earlier, she was driving, and the pale man in front of her had appeared on the road. He saw her, ran at the carriage, and flipped it over with a tackle despite her best attempts to avoid him. Now, the vehicle was on fire, and she was sure it’d explode if she tried to use it. As a guild master, she had received quite a few reports about carriages exploding after a crash. Alice narrowed her eyes at the pale man. He was pretty fast and had unlimited stamina. If she could somehow control the direction he ran, wouldn’t he be a perfect mount? She shook her head. It wasn’t a bad idea, but somehow, it felt unethical. With that, she bashed the man away again and sprinted down the road. It wouldn’t take long to get to the undead base; she could see the tips of some buildings peeking above the horizon.
***
Gren glanced at Vur. Her gaze landed on the trail of blood following behind him. In his arms, there was a red bear’s paw that was larger and wider than his torso. Blood matted the paw’s fur, and droplets dripped from its claws, landing on the floor. Vur was occasionally taking bites from the paw as if he were eating a sandwich while walking.
“You ate the rest of the bear so quickly,” Gren said. “Do you have to eat its paw so slowly?”
“I’m saving it for Tafel,” Vur said before taking another bite. As the food provider, it was okay for him to snack on the dish before serving it; after all, he had to make sure the flavor was right.
Gren’s expression darkened. “Will she like it?”
Vur nodded. “Tafel loves eating bears too.” He glanced at Gren. “Do you want to try some?”
“No,” Gren said and shook her head. She stared at the wall and frowned. This was the fifth arrow she had seen. Clearly, the space inside the evil-sealing tower had been twisted. Not only had Grimmy unsealed evils, he also messed with the layout of the tower. Did he think he was invincible just because his parents were hibernating?
Voices came from up ahead, and Gren frowned. One of the voices clearly didn’t belong to a dragon. She charged ahead and came to an abrupt halt. In front of her, Grimmy was sitting on his haunches. In his front right claws, he was holding a goat by one of its ankles, dangling it over Ramon’s head. Ramon jumped up to grab the goat, but Grimmy jerked his paw away, causing Ramon to miss and the goat to scream. Leila was sitting off to the side, watching the two play.
“What is going on here?” Gren asked and slapped her tail against the floor, nearly hitting Vur, who had just walked behind her. “Is that Kozabokget? You unsealed her?”
“Oh,” Grimmy said and dropped the goat in his paw. Ramon barely caught her before she hit the ground. “You’re here. Kozabokget agreed to form a pact with Ramon. We were waiting for you to arrive.”
Vur stared at Kozabokget. While maintaining eye contact, he brought the bear paw up to his face and bit off a chunk of flesh. Blood flowed from his mouth to his chin, and he stared at the goat while chewing. Kozabokget shivered and hid behind Ramon, using the holy dragon to block the bloody sight from view. Vur swallowed before nodding at Ramon. “I’ll go back to Tafel and tell everyone we found Ramon.”
“No,” Grimmy said and grinned. “Why don’t you stay here for a little longer? Kozabokget seems to be afraid of you, and if anything goes wrong with the pact, you can eat her. Have you ever eaten a goat before?”
Vur tilted his head. Had he ever eaten a goat before? He wasn’t sure. Maybe one of the restaurants he went to with Tafel had served goat, but he never specifically ordered some. There was one thing he knew for sure. “I’ve never eaten a goat with pink eyes before.”
Grimmy chuckled. “Well, you might experience something new today.” He glanced at Kozabokget. “Who knows?”