After another day of traveling, the seven cloaked figures finally caught the trail of the recently deceased Grog and his subordinates.

 

"Stop!" Just as the sun was setting, one of the figures said as he held up his right hand with a clenched fist.

 

The figure took off his hood revealing a tanned face with tribal tattoos on his face. He crouched to the ground and rubbed his finger against the dirt, his brown eyes flickering thoughtfully after careful inspection.

 

"16, have you found their trail?" The leading hooded figure asked.

 

"Yes." 16 replied with a deep voice.

 

"Fucking finally! My legs were just starting to feel sore after trekking through this damn forest." One hooded figure sighed as he cracked his neck.

 

"Stop whining 21." The female hooded figure said scornfully.

 

"Go back to the kitchen and make me some stew." 21 snapped back.

 

"You! I'll turn you into a stew you shit." The female hooded figure growled angrily.

 

"Quiet!" The leading hooded figure reprimanded the two sternly. He then turned towards 16 and said. "Lead the way, they can't be far."

 

"Follow me." 16 said as he walked deeper into the forest. The others followed silently.

 

It wasn't long before the group came to a small clearing in which a camp was set up. The fire had long since burned out and the beddings had been trampled. The bags had been emptied with their contents laid about randomly on the dry ground.

 

16 observed the area with a frown.

 

Seeing his expression, the leading figure asked. "What is it?"

 

"15, this mess was done by animals considering the tracks..." 16 replied to the leading hooded figure.

 

"That's odd, is there no sign of struggle?" 15 asked curiously.

 

"No but the human tracks do lead off towards the north. It seems they only took their weapons and torches."

 

"Hmm.. something must have attracted their attention and caused them to investigate." 15 hypothesized, he turned to the others and said. "Now that we have his trail, Grog can't escape. Let's follow the tracks and get the artifact back."

 

All the hooded figures nodded. Just as they were about to move, they heard an audible shuffle in the nearby bushes.

 

21 pulled out his sword from beneath his cloak.

 

The other hooded figures cautiously pulled out their weapons and slowly moved towards the bushes.

 

Nearing the location of the noise, they heard another rustle. As they were preparing to strike, something shot out from the bushes with a frightened squeak.

 

The female hooded figure flicked her arm, a blurred object leaving her lithe hand.

 

With a resounding thump, a short pained groan of an animal could be heard.

 

The hooded figures all locked eyes on a nearby tree.

 

Nailed to the tree with a small throwing dagger was a small squirrel. It struggled a little bit before taking it's last breath.

 

"Nice shot 18." One of the hooded figures clapped their hands with praise.

 

"Yeah, killing a defenseless squirrel.. good job." 21 said sarcastically.

 

"Humph.. Hypocrite." 18 sneered.

 

Seeing as it was nothing but a harmless animal, the 15 gestured with his hand and said. "Enough nonsense, stay alert." Before following the tracks with 16.

 

 

                                                                                  **********

 

 

Running towards Nero's dungeon was Charlotte, her wet blood red hair swaying in the cool wind.

 

Her armor was now immaculate and clean, free of the dried bloodstains that previously dirtied it's jet surface.

 

Charlotte had been on her way back from bathing in the river when she caught the scent of humans. After following the smell, she came upon a group of mysterious hooded figures. This was a large surprise to Charlotte considering the fact that the location of Nero's dungeon was far away from any civilization.

 

She was already a little baffled from the previous group of bandits that invaded, but that could be summed up to a coincidence with the large disturbance that Nero's creation caused, but could coincidences happen twice? Charlotte thought not so she investigated the group with a suspicious eye.

 

It didn't take long for her to find out their motives after which she began to leave so to warn Nero but as Charlotte is not skilled in being sneaky, she had made a mistake in disturbing one of the bushes but luckily, a poor squirrel took the fall for her.

 

Sighing with relief, she made sure to take a small detour on the way back just to be careful. By the time she got back to the dungeon, it was nighttime and she had dried somewhat.

 

"There's more intruders." Charlotte said as she caught her breath.

 

"Some more guests? Good, I'm in need of more soul points right now." Nero took a piece of venison that was being cooked over the campfire. "Do you want some?"

 

"No, there's no time to eat." Charlotte shook her head and said with a look of seriousness in her eyes. "These guys aren't weaklings like the three before."

 

"Explain." Nero looked at Charlotte with interest.

 

"I sense danger from them which means they're not just another ragtag bunch of bandits. It won't be easy to defeat them." Charlotte said firmly.

 

"This sense of yours.. how accurate is it?" Nero questioned.

 

"I wouldn't have been able to escape the demon lands without it." Charlotte said with a look of remembrance. A brief flash of hate appearing in her violet eyes.

 

"Oh, forgive me. I've made you remember some bad memories." Nero patted his chest, his expression unchanging.

 

"It's alright." Charlotte sighed.

 

Nero threw a bit of meat into his mouth while saying. "Though you know Charlotte.."

 

"What is it?" Charlotte's brow raised.

 

"Hate is a good thing, hold onto it."

 

"Like I would let it go." Charlotte snorted.

 

"We'll see." Nero smiled. Stroking his chin, he asked. "How many are there this time?"

 

"Seven."

 

Nero's eyes shone. "That's 210 soul points!"

 

Although one more day had passed since Nero started his little hunting spree, there hadn't been much success recently with his undead catching only 3 deer and a couple wolves for 50 soul points and that was only because he sent out his 3 new ghouls.

 

Either the forest animals had gotten wise of Nero's evil machinations and fled, or it was just simple bad luck. No matter, with this new group, his need for soul points would be temporarily taken care of at least for the meantime.

 

"Would the disappearance of these intruders bring even more?" Nero thought hopefully.

 

"Apparently, they are after an artifact that the bandits from before had." Charlotte added.

 

"Oh?" Nero remembered taking some clothes from the lead bandit. He searched the pockets of his leather vest and eventually found a small trinket.

 

It was a circular metal plate with a blue gem in it's center. Around the edges there were several runes.

 

"Let me see that." Charlotte asked with an outstretched hand.

 

After Nero handed over the trinket, Charlotte gave it a look over.

 

"It's a defensive artifact, well half of one at least and it has signs of dwarven craftsmanship. Quite rare and expensive too, it would be a second life to a warrior." Charlotte gave her analysis. She had plenty of experience with artifacts and treasures considering that she came from a rich noble house.

 

"Can it be used?" Nero asked.

 

Charlotte shook her head and said. "It's useless without the second half."

 

"Perhaps the other half will fall into our hands one day." Nero mused.

 

Charlotte closed her eyes, her grip on the artifact tightening. A gentle glow of blue light flowed out from her fingers. "The other half is 43 miles west."

 

"Really? How'd you do that?" Nero's eyes opened wide in surprise.

 

"These dwarven artifacts are expertly made and always have tracking runes located on each piece. You just need to input a little mana into it to find the other pieces." Charlotte explained with a smile.

 

"How useful!" Nero sighed. "If only I had such a thing when I lost the remote that one time.."

 

"Remote?" Charlotte tilted her head in confusion.

 

"It's nothing important, forget I said anything." Nero smiled. "Now, how should we deal with these unwelcome guests."

 

Charlotte contemplated before saying. "How about an ambush when they've entered, just like before?"

 

"That's a good idea, but you're forgetting something." Nero shook his finger from side to side.

 

Charlotte crossed her arms. "What?"

 

"What if they don't come in at all?" Nero asked.

 

"Eh?" Charlotte was caught off guard.

 

She didn't think of that scenario. To her knowledge, the discovery of a dungeon, especially a newborn one would elicit intense greed. From her experience, whenever a new dungeon was born, the demon nobles would immediately send out forces to secure it. This was often the most common source of conflict between houses.

 

This was even more true for the common bandit, she just assumed the same for the cloaked group too.

 

"Don't forget that we have the artifact, they came here for it remember?." Charlotte reminded Nero.

 

"Yes we do, though they may be too cautious. When they find out that the artifact is inside a dungeon, a new one at that, I suspect they will find it strange. Think about these two questions Charlotte." Nero gestured with his hand. "Why haven't the bandits escaped with the dungeon core? And lastly, if they are dead, how can a newly born dungeon kill three bandits?"

 

"That's right.. it would be strange." Charlotte muttered with a thoughtful expression.

 

She knew that recently born dungeons tended to hide themselves due to them being very weak after their birth. For example, a fire elemental dungeon would only have access to some fire sprites at the beginning and it would take 3 of them to defeat a single wolf.

 

A lucky pack of wolves who comes upon such a dungeon? Now that would definitely prove fatal. So how could one take on three intelligent humans? That was the question.

 

"Since we don't know what they will do, I'll set up some preparations." Nero said as he took out his grimoire.

 

135 soul points was all Nero currently had so he had to spend them wisely. He turned the pages in his grimoire until he came upon the undead page.

 

Surprise was the biggest weapon in his arsenal in this world that has never encountered the undead so he decided to buy more zombies as they were good at ambushes.  Who would expect a corpse to just stand up and attack? This was the mindset that Nero expected people to have.

 

 

With a heavy heart, Nero decided to spend all of his remaining soul points. First he summoned 5 zombies for 75 soul points and then he bought the zombie strength upgrade.

 

Next he used the telepathic link he has to all his undead to recall them back from hunting, along with his two first zombies who were loitering in the depths of his dungeon.

 

"I have some ideas, Charlotte could you dig some holes for me? Seven with space for a body should be enough, and they should be evenly placed around the entrance." Nero pointed towards the outside of the dungeon where there was a flat patch of dirt.

 

"Really? You are a real slave driver you know." Charlotte grumbled before going ahead and digging a hole with her hands. With her strength and the plated gauntlets she was wearing, it wasn't too much trouble for her.

 

"Oh and avoid digging too close to our little crematory." Nero chuckled.

 

Charlotte clicked her tongue and asked. "Why don't you help?"

 

Nero sighed. "I would help Charlotte but alas, this invisible barrier prevents me." He patted the edge of his dungeon entrance like a mime would while stuck in a box.

 

Charlotte snorted while muttering. "How convenient.. "