"This can't be real...!"
In're the healer popped out of her hiding spot, clenching a vibrating medallion in her hand.
"That tiny guy! He's an undead!"
She exclaimed excitedly and started running after the undead who just downed a griffin from the sky with one kick.
"Stop that necrophiliac bitch before she'll get herself killed!"
Lairs jumped out from the bushes after the speeding healer.
"In-in! Come back, you dumb slut!"
The mage shouted.
"My innate skill! Subdue undead! I can use it! That little guy is so strong! I'll tame him and finally show everyone!"
"In-in, you are going to fucking die!"
The only two spellcasters have left shouting to each other without stopping.
"..."
Uresha, Shanks, and Rotte left the cover too.
The tank and the warrior were looking dumbfounded at the thief.
"W-we can't just leave them! After them!"
The rat-faced man shouted and dashed after the two women and the other two followed after him.
In're arrived first, with her chest rising up and down with her heavy breaths she hid behind a tree and observed.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, In-in, you moron?!"
After arriving, Lairs grabbed her by the hood of her priest robe and started pulling her back.
"No! Leave me alone! This is my chance!"
The healer struggled to shake the mage off.
"This medallion is finally useful! This guy is a strong undead!"
She growled while struggling for air since the collar of her robe was tightening around her neck the more Lairs was pulling on it.
"Why are you two even doing?! We have to get out of here!"
Shanks and the rest of the party arrived and joined Lairs in pulling the healer away.
"Noo! You don't understand! This is my chance!"
In're wailed, she was holding on to a tree so strongly, that she was ripping the bark off of it.
"A chance for what?! An early dea...?"
*WHOOOOSH*
"SCREEE!"
Something suddenly flew past the Dandelions like a cannonball and the griffin screech pierced the air.
The adventurers shut up and hurriedly hide.
In the clearance between the trees, the massive griffin with a broken wing was limping around.
Its other wing was fully stretched and the beast was looking in the direction of the hidden Dandelions. There was no sign of the small undead anywhere.
"H-hey, do you think that this thing that flew by was the undead? it must have been hit by the griffin's wing- Ah! It must be wounded! A perfect chance!"
In're started fidgeting and tried to sneak away but got instantly grabbed by everyone else.
"Shut your whore mouth! The griffin will tear us to fucking shreds if it'll spot us!"
Lairs ended up sitting on In're's back.
"Shh! Both of you, shut up! Something's coming!"
Shanks silenced both of them, his eyes and ears were glowing and he wasn't looking towards where the undead was flung to, but behind the griffin.
"SCREE!"
Even the monster flinched and turned its head.
"Crack*
Even the rest of the Dandelions, that didn't have skills that could enhance their senses, heard the footsteps of someone coming.
That person either didn't know that they were walking towards an injured griffin, or simply didn't care about the danger.
"SCREEE!"
The griffin screeched as if it was trying to scare off the newcomer, but there was no change in the pace of the footsteps.
And what came from between the trees was...
"Haa... Finally."
A tall, red-haired girl looking as if she was preparing to go for a horse ride.
She patted her raiding pants and frowned at the griffin as if she just noticed it.
"SCREE!"
The monster roared at her but she didn't even flinch.
Instead, she smirked and rested her weapon on her shoulder.
It looked like a thin mace but had intricate carvings all over.
"Who is that bitch...?"
Lairs frowned and her eyes darted towards Shanks.
"She doesn't look like any adventurer I know, and I would've heard some rumors about someone using a weird weapon like that"
The rat-faced man shook his head.
"So what? She's just some random bitch that doesn't fucking know what's good for her? Let's just let herself get fucking killed and get away while the griffin is ripping her to fucking shreds."
The mage shrugged her shoulders.
"No! What about the undead?!"
In're cried while struggling to break free.
"..."
Lairs and Shanks looked at each other.
"That is a good question... the undead isn't returning... Maybe it's not with the girl...?"
Shanks wondered.
"She doesn't look like a corpse puppeteer, that's for fucking sure."
Lairs shrugged again.
While the Dandelions were busy talking, the red-haired girl casually walked over towards the monster.
"SCREE!"
The griffin backed of and its talons ripped through the air in front of the girl as a warning.
The girl's eyes turned cold.
She put one hand forward, readied the bat in the other, and started circling around the monster while keeping a constant eye-contact.
"Scree..."
Griffin let out a low screech and started turning after her cautiously.
They looked like they were dancing albeit very slowly.
Their careful movement showed that both the monster and the girl, despite her age since she looked to be fourteen at most, showed experience in their movement.
Both were looking for a chance to strike, for the opponent to show the weakness.
The Dandelions watching from their hiding spots didn't even dare to breathe, and the notion of coming out and helping the girl hadn't even crossed their minds.
The tension-filled calmness finally broke when the griffin ended up blinking first.
In an instant, the girl's eyes and body started glowing and she lunged at the monster.
"NO! THAT'S A FEINT!"
Shanks couldn't stop himself and shouted, trying to warn the girl.
And indeed, the beast climbed on its hind legs, the girl's weapon ripped through the empty air, and the griffin's talons shone and dropped right at the girl's unguarded head.
*CLANG!*
"!!!"
The bat in the girl's hand flashed and without even changing the uncomfortable stance she struck at the talons, countering them with such force that the griffin lost its balance and started falling backward.
The beast tried to keep itself steady using the one working wing but that wasn't something that its opponent would let it do.
The girl's whole body and even her weapon started glowing.
Not only that, a purple light started coiling around the bat as she gripped it so hard that her knuckles turned white.
The next attack sent chills down the spine of every Dandelion.
The girl launched at the griffin, dodged the wildly swinging talons, and delivered a horrifying swing that cleaved the griffin's eagle head clean off in a single strike.
The girl landed safely on the ground at the same time as the monster's head.
"Watch out!"
Shanks shouted again.
Even though it should be dead, the decapitated body of the beast, spurting blood from its neck, stepped forward wailing its talons.
"GRAOUGH!"
With a deafening growl a small undead, with its body glowing brightly, dashed past the Dandelions hiding spot and landed between the monster and the girl.
Talons thick as a human arm fell at the small figure and mercilessly ripped into it.
"Zombie, what took you so long?"
The slightly annoyed girl asked calmly watching her protector take on attack after attack.
"Garough..."
The undead groaned a complaint and raised its left foot.
The shoe he was wearing, which was a high boot with a high heel, was actually missing the heel.
"Haa... I see. Don't worry, I'll buy you another pair."
The girl sighed and waved her hand dismissively.
"Now, how long will you get that headless chicken to ruin your clothes? Get rid of it."
"Graough!"
She commanded and the small undead growled in affirmation.
While it was taking the hits, its body was still glowing, and when the chance arrived, he struck the body of the griffin with a wide roundhouse kick that sent it crashing into a tree on the opposite side of the clearance.
"Haa... Now since that's dealt with..."
The red-haired girl breathed out and raised her bat, pointing it exactly where the five Dandelions were hiding.
"Come out."
She ordered in an ice-cold voice.
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"Graough. (Master, they look weak, are they some rookie adventurers?)"
Zombie growled when five people stepped forward from behind the trees.
They all look rather plain, and as Zombie groaned, none of them had a particularly strong presence.
"Haa..."
Cranberry breathed out and rested the baseball bat on her shoulder.
"You bunch... just get out of this area before you get yourself killed."
She shooed them away with a tired wave.
The Dandelions looked at each other dumbfounded.
"Um... ah... First of all, I'd like to thank you, miss, you really saved our backsides there!"
Rotte decided it wouldn't be fair to just leave without a word.
"...!"
Shanks, who has already turned his back away from the pair and was walking away looked at the warrior in shock.
"...Miss...?"
"Graough. (He's either blind or stupid if he dares to be so casual with a high-born noblewoman.)"
Cranberry frowned and glared at the warrior, while Zombie shook his head.
"As the leader of the Dandelions I would like to thank you for dealing with the griffin, now we can safely finish our mission. I'm Rotte, a warrior, by the way."
Not realizing his rudeness, Rotte confined talking instead of walking away.
"The scrawny guy ower there is Shanks, a thief, the big girl is Uresha, a tank, Lairs is our mage with a nasty case of constantly cursing, and the last one is In're, a healer."
He even started introducing the rest of his group as if this was some sort of social event at the local tavern.
But as he did, Zombie flinched and started glaring at them even more fiercely than Cranberry.
"Graough! (Those names! All of them have unique names!) Graough? (But that means that they're all related to the story?) Graough. (We shouldn't get acquainted with them, master.)"
The blue boy got closer to the red-haired girl and started tugging on her shirt while growling in low voice.
"Graough... (And that healer woman is looking at me with creepy eyes...)"
Zombie added hiding behind his master.
Cranberry was tall for a fourteen-year-old, so her servant who stayed the same since the first-kill party could easily disappear behind her.
"That little guy is surprisingly shy for someone so strong. What are your names? Are you a newcomer from some strong group? This guy is a corpse puppet, right? So do you have a corpse puppeteer in your party or is he a stray undead that someone subdued?"
Rotte smiled friendly and took a step forward, only a step because he was stopped by Shanks.
"What the hell are you doing?! That YOUNG LADY told us to leave!"
The rat-faced man quickly glanced between Cranberry and Rotte, putting a huge emphasis on the words 'young lady'.
"Oi, Shanks, you're too stiff, adventurers should stick together even if their ranks are different! We should get to know each other!"
But Rotte completely missed the thief's point.
"No! No we should not! Can't you see that you're annoying this young lady and her companion?!"
Shanks was desperately trying to pull Rotte away, but with the difference in weight, height, and the distribution of status points, it was futile.
In the middle of that little internal struggle, In're came forward with a somewhat uneasy expression.
Shanks instantly got a bad feeling.
"Please, give me that little undead!"
In're closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and said in a shaking voice.
"...!"
"Oh, shit...!"
The red-haired girl froze and Shanks cursed.
Even though she didn't even blink, Shanks felt a wave of pure aggression coming from the girl and crushing against them.
"You're with a group with a corpse puppeteer, right? You're all probably very strong, right? So they surely have lots of corpse puppets like him! Please, just give him to me! I have a skill that can make him mine! You won't even notice the difference whether he's there or not!"
The healer's face became flushed as she spoke.
"We can go meet your group if you can't make that decision by yourself."
Added the warrior.
It was a disaster...
The rat-faced man instantly realized that Rotte and In're made a grave mistake, he had a gut feeling that those two in front of them weren't a part of any group, and the small undead wasn't just some pawn, but rather someone extremely important to the girl.
Then, the small blue boy came out from behind the red-haired girl and approached the healer.
"Ah! So you want to join me on your own?!"
In're gasped excitedly and her eyes shone.
/A subtype of charm skill detected\
/Warning
The skill level is higher than the magic defense status of the Servant\
/Calculating...\
/Rotten brain title is active
Charm skill: Failed\
"Ah! It failed! Wait a moment, I'll try again!"
The healer yelped after a message popped in front of Cranberry and Zombie's eyes.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Shanks shouted at In're and blinked.
Before he closed his eyes, In're was standing in front of the serious blue boy.
After he opened his eyes, In're was crawling on the grass, her face a bloody mess, and the blue boy was putting down his leg.
"Graough. (How dare you.)"
Zombie groaned coldly staring at the healer spitting up her broken teeth at his feet.
"You fucker!"
Lairs shouted and her hand started glowing, a fireball formed in front of her and shot out at the blue boy.
When it connected, the undead instantly became a torch - the fire was the greatest weakness of the undead aside from the holy magic.
"Shit!"
Rotte cursed while drawing his sword and charging at the red-haired girl.
"NO! YOU CRETINS! STOP!"
Shouted Shanks, throwing himself at Uresha and grabbing onto her head blocking her vision before she could jump into action too.
The next moment both Lairs and Rotte flew past them and crashed into trees.
Lairs crashed into the tree and fell on the ground beneath, but Rotte smashed into the tree, broke it with his back, and tumbled deeper into the woods while his sword, broken in half, got lodged into the ground a few steps from Uresha and Shanks.
"...the audacity..."
Cranberry shook her head with disgust and rested the bat back on her shoulder.
"Graough. (It looks like they were actually just some thugs.)
Zombie patted down his clothes, charred here and there, and put down his leg.
"You, a thief making out with the tank, you seem to have a working brain."
Cranberry turned towards Shanks.
"Uresha, no matter what, don't attack them!"
Shanks whispered into the blushing woman's ear before jumping down and facing the angered girl and her servant.
"I beg for your forgiveness, young lady!"
He fell to his knees and started to kowtow.
"Nice apology..."
Cranberry nodded her head.
"But do you think that an apology is enough after attacking a member of the Pride family and her servant?"
She added and her ice-cold voice made Shanks's heart sink.
"The P-Pride fa-fa-family...?!"
He stuttered and started trembling.
He heard approaching footsteps and felt that something touched the back of his head and started pressing his forehead into the ground.
"How are you going to compensate for disrespecting me?"
Cranberry asked stepping on Shanks.
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Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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