Chapter 5 : Next Steps

Next Steps

Character: Brody (Mercenary)

Level: 9

Status: Fear

Spirit: C+

Strength: E

Dexterity: C

Endurance: E

Constitution: E

Charisma: B

Luck: B

Skill: Cross Slash (First Tier)

Description: A repugnant mercenary—perhaps calling them bandits would be more appropriate.

This was the profile of one of them, and the other one was about the same. If they had confronted the enemy head on, these two might have had a slim chance of resistance; after all, although the two skeletons were high level, they were merely low-rank undead without intelligence.

However, those two mercenaries gave up on resisting. Throwing down their weapons, they exposed their backs to the enemy, and as a result, the skeletons closed the distance swiftly, ending their pitiful lives with a single strike.

Stepping over to the two corpses, Serea skillfully activated Blood Absorption and Undead Revival.

After offering Serea their Fear Crystals and Blood Crystals, the two once again took up the form of loyal soldiers, providing Serea with a continuous supply of Death Crystals.

System: Obtained two Blood Crystals.

System: Obtained ordinary undead units. Gain one Death Crystal every 24 hours.

System: Obtained ordinary undead units...

Looking at the four skeletons of varying heights by her side, Serea couldn't help but feel emotional. If she had discovered the secret of the 'Dragon's Fang' earlier, she wouldn't have met such an end in her previous life.

But the past was the past. Since she had come to this world and inherited Serea's identity, she intended to live well here. At the very least, this time, she wanted to truly ascend to the pinnacle of the world.

"But then again, just where exactly am I?"

With four newly revived skeleton warriors in tow, Serea looked around in confusion.

Dense jungle surrounded her; in such thick forest, even telling direction would prove very difficult.

System: Generating map, please wait...

A prompt sounded in her mind. The next second, a small map appeared in Serea's field of view.

"So convenient..."

Looking at the minimap, she saw that about half a kilometer away, there was a winding trail.

The trail ran through the Corrupted Forest, a road stretching directly from the Otto Kingdom to the Ailera Empire; it was on this road that the previous owner of this body had been ambushed and killed by mercenaries.

What was peculiar, however, was that this group of mercenaries seemed odd. Normally, wouldn't you ambush a convoy for money?

But they were different. When Serea abandoned her dowry and ran, she became their primary target. Through the conversations of the four previous mercenaries, Serea had learned a lot.

They intended to kidnap Serea, then use some kind of cursed ring to control her. As for what she would be made to do under control, that remained unclear.

Although the purpose of the other party was unknown, Serea knew there was something fishy about the convoy's ambush this time. The most likely reason was that someone wanted to sabotage the marriage alliance.

But that was not what Serea needed to focus on right now. What she needed to think about was how to become stronger.

With the Soul Altar sealed, her only paths to power for now were through Blood, Fear, and Undead!

As for the undead, she now had four subordinates, who would, in turn, continuously provide her Faith, which meant Death Crystals.

Blood was also easy; deep within the Corrupted Forest dwelled plenty of monsters. They could supply abundant blood, and all Serea had to do was send her skeletons to hunt them.

The real problem was Fear. Who knew if unintelligent creatures could feel fear? If they couldn't, she'd really have to make her way toward human or intelligent race settlements, or she would have no way of acquiring Fear Crystals.

Yet, due to her identity, both the Otto Kingdom and the Ailera Empire must be searching for her. Thus, the safest move was to lay low and grow stronger within the Corrupted Forest for now.

If they discovered she was alive, she'd probably be dragged off to marry some third prince...

Just imagining that outcome made her dismiss it immediately— it was not her style at all.

Moreover, in this world, dark powers were somewhat ostracized. While she wouldn't be sent straight to the stake, it'd be troublesome if she were unlucky enough to attract the attention of the Holy See.

So, until she had enough strength, it was best not to leave the forest—at least until this storm blew over.

With this plan in mind, Serea made her first move: return to the site where her convoy had been ambushed!

Since she—or rather, Serea herself—was en route as a princess being married off to the Ailera Empire, she had been accompanied by many guards. By now, most of those guards were no more than corpses, which was exactly what she needed.

In addition, the convoy carried an abundance of dowry and valuables aside, there was definitely enough food; as for armor and other gear, it would be enough to fully arm her squad of skeletons.

Granted, she might run into mercenary search parties scattered along the way, but...

Hunter and prey had completely swapped roles now!

With her skeleton warriors, she had no fear of them.

So, resupplying at the convoy was a completely feasible plan!

"Let's do it—follow me!"

After making up her mind, Serea set off with the four freshly resurrected skeleton warriors toward the ambushed convoy.

Following the trail, it was less than four kilometers to the destination—not too far.

Night gradually began to fall as Serea led her four freshly converted skeleton warriors through the Corrupted Forest.

After over an hour's trek, the site where the convoy had been attacked was nearly in view. Oddly enough, they had not encountered any danger along the way—not even the shadow of another person.

"Did those guys just give up?"

No sooner had Serea thought this than she caught sight of figures flitting not far ahead.

Three mercenaries in leather armor—more precisely, two swordsmen and an archer, one even carrying a shield.

When these undead warriors detected the threat, they immediately wanted to rush forward.

Realizing their intentions, Serea hurriedly stopped them.

"Don't rush in. You, go scout ahead!"

Serea put her hand on a skeleton warrior's shoulder, expression serious as she addressed one of them.

But as she spoke, an awkward scene unfolded: the skeleton warrior, clearly confused by Serea's words, cocked its skull to one side.

With limited intelligence, it simply didn't understand what its master wanted, and so froze in place.

Witnessing this, Serea slapped her face in exasperation.

"Damn, I forgot—you don't have any intelligence. I subconsciously treated you as teammates."

No sooner had Serea finished speaking than another skeleton warrior swiftly put her to shame.

This one nodded its skull as if understanding, gripped its sword, crouched down, and began to stealthily circle around.

Seeing this, Serea blinked in disbelief.

"There's actually one that understands?"

(To be continued...)

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Oh, different skellies have different intelligence...