Hideki had spent the rest of the night murdering thieves and when all was said and done, Megumi would definitely have a small army at her disposal for their next operation. The tendrils of morning light had begun to shine through the large window at the front of the shop and through the open door to the room where he and the other undead had commited mass murder all night. 

It felt good that they were cleaning up the world instead of just killing random people, but that change seemed to be purely temporary if Megumi was serious about taking down the king. He couldn't see why she was even interested in trying to do such a thing, it had to be more than just because of that corrupt Lady Undine of Rivean. Megumi had been more-or-less tight-lipped about the whole thing.

He idly wondered if the king of this country had somehow wronged her in the past. It seemed fairly obvious to him at this point that Megumi had been some sort of noble. She just seemed to have that air about her. Even so, he didn't think that she was from this kingdom, so why would she hold any sort of personal grudge against the king? She was morally bankrupt most of the time, maybe she just thought it would be fun to destroy a kingdom. He would ask her for her reasoning and try to convince her against this course of action again if they manage to get out of this whole Thieves Guild predicament in one piece.

I'd better go get her up. Hideki left the stockroom and headed up the stairs to wake Megumi. He didn't see how they could manage to stay here through the day. For one, if the shop didn't open it would definitely raise some alarms. He wondered if she hadn't thought about that little problem. The girl was smart, he had no question of that, but sometimes she thought about things too directly. 

He pushed open the door to her room and walked in. "Megumi. Wake up, it's morning." Hideki put a hand gently on her shoulder and shook her awake. 

"Did you encounter any more thieves last night?" she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"Throughout the rest of the night 8 more of them came. I was able to take care of them quickly and quietly. None of them came in large groups after the last time you were awake," he replied. "We need to talk. I don't think this plan of yours is going to work if we wait all the way until night."

"Why's that?"

"For sure they already know someone is targeting them. We already took out their operation in the slums, and then ruined their little fun house. When they don't see all these guys around and the shop here is closed today, they're gonna be on high alert. I think we should attack now, or as soon as possible."

Megumi had a thoughtful look on her face. "You're probably right, Poro-tan. Let's go raise the rest of them and see what we can do to hide their wounds and such. Once that's done we can go. I can send them a few at a time so we don't raise suspicion by having such a huge group exit the shop at once."

The two of them headed downstairs and Megumi brought the corpses back to life. After a bit of preparation, they were ready to go. Megumi took out her map and was examining it. It was eerie standing in a room with so many corpses just standing stiffly in place. He didn't think he would ever really get used to it, even though he was one of the corpses in a sense. 

Megumi placed her index finger on the map. "We're going to take this route, Poro-tan. Megu is going to give the undead instructions to leave the building and head over to here." She dragged her finger across the map to a spot a few streets over. 

"How complicated can you make their instructions?"

"Not extremely, but enough. Megu's spell also has enough range that they can go fairly far away, remember the ship?"

Hideki nodded. "Are we going across first? What do you want to do with the money and random junk these guys had stolen and were delivering?"

"Keep the money, leave the rest. We'll go first. Let's go, Poro-tan."

The two of them exited the shop and into the cold morning air. The sun was just over the mountaintops now and there was frost on the rooftops of the nearby buildings. His breath appeared in front of him as they carefully ducked out of the alleyway and onto the main street, which was already starting to fill up with people starting their days. 

No one seemed to pay them much attention and they went up the street a ways before ducking into another alleyway as Megumi had indicated on the map. Once they were into the alleyway, groups of 5 undead thieves joined them shortly after until everyone was crowding the narrow space. 

They repeated the process and wound their way through the city over the next hour without any issues and found themselves near the enemy stronghold. While they waited for their horde of undead to catch up to them, he examined the enemy base. The old textile factory was dilapidated and several large holes marred the walls of the huge building. They were hiding near one of the sides of the building, but it seemed that they could definitely get in through one of those holes in the wall. He had to push down a feeling of apprehension. They saw a few people hanging around the broken down fence that surrounded the building, Hideki had no doubt that these were sentries for the Thieves Guild.  

Considering how many of their numbers the two of them had taken out, the people guarding the entrance to the place didn't appear to be fidgety or anything. He didn't see anyone looking out from the holes in the building, either, which was a relief. I wonder if they're going to be significantly stronger than the weak ones we've faced so far. The caster was definitely on a different level from any of the ones we fought up until that point. 

"I'm going to go circle around and see if I can get the full picture of this place, okay?" 

"That's fine. Megu will wait here until you get back. We need to be careful about how we do this."

Hideki backtracked through the alleyway they were hiding in and made his way around the building to get a new vantage point. The building butted up against the wall of the city, so he couldn't sneak all the way around it without getting too close. There appeared to be more people guarding the front side of the building. He counted eight people there. Looks like going in on the side with the holes and stuff might be our best bet.

Since he couldn't really get to the side that was against the wall, he once again backtracked towards the direction where Megumi was before working his way around to the back of the building. Fortunately, there only a couple people watching the back, but there was no entrance to the place from this side. Satisfied with what he had seen, he went back to Megumi's location.

"The front is pretty heavily guarded, there are eight of them. There's only a couple of them watching the rear of the building. I wasn't able to get around the building to the far side, but there's just a narrow gap between the building and the wall anyway. If you ask me, we probably want to go in from the side." 

"Megu agrees that we should go in quietly to be on the safe side. Get ready, Megu is sending six of the undead to get those ones blocking the side entrances." 

Hideki unsheathed his sword and took a deep breath before stepping deeper into the shadows with Megumi and the others as he watched the six undead thieves walk over to their former allies, keeping their faces toward the ground. The three men who had been seemingly lazing about jumped to their feet and headed towards the group.

"Where in the hell have you guys been? We've been waiting all night and almost none of you guys have checked in after making your drops. Did something happen?"

The undead just continued moving towards the three men without responding. Hideki idly wondered if Megumi could make them talk before brushing the thought aside. 

"You got wax in your ears, mates? What's wrong with you?" one of the three sentries asked.

Megumi's undead thieves were close to the enemy now and they began to move at a rush, drawing their weapons and going in for the attack. The stunned guards never had a chance to react. They each fell to the ground without a chance to sound the alarm. "So far so good. Let's go, Poro-tan."

They ran across the small street and through the fence. Once they were up against the building, Megumi raised the three dead guards and had them go back to their posts. It was feeling very crowded in the small space between the half-rotted fence and the building. Megumi sent a few of the undead in ahead of them in case the entrance held traps or anything of the sort. When nothing happened they went in behind them.

The room they entered was a large one, filled with broken down looms that looked like they hadn't been used in years. The place was eerily quiet and he glanced around for exits. There were doors on each of the three walls of the room. The one to the left was up some stairs and had a small steel walkway that overlooked the production floor. "Which way do you want to go? The leader will probably be up there," he whispered.

Megumi looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "We'll go to the right. It's toward the entrance. We can catch those ones at the front of the building off guard and add them to our numbers. We'll have to be fast. Cut them down as fast as you can."

"All right. Do me a favor and put that TP from my last level into Adrenaline, okay?" he wasn't sure if she'd do as he asked, but it was worth a shot. He definitely missed being able to choose his own skills when he leveled up. Not that she had really chosen anything he wouldn't have done himself, it was just the principal of not having control over it that irked him a bit.

"Good idea." 

A moment later he saw that the gains he would get from the skill had doubled. This is definitely going to help if we have to fight a bunch of these guys. They didn't waste any more time and went through the doorway and into the entrance room. It was much smaller, but he could see the front doors of the building ahead of them, wide open with people standing there facing the street. There was a large reception desk in front of them and the two of them ducked down behind it.

Megumi sent all but three undead back into the previous room. He saw that they were spreading out and ducking down behind the machines for cover.  Hideki gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and, with a nod from Megumi, he sprung into action. He sprang up on the men who had been watching the street like death itself and his cursed blade expertly ended life after life. 

In mere seconds there were only a few of the bewildered men left standing. They had taken out their weapons and were circling around him menacingly. One of the thieves blurred for a second as Hideki slashed through where he had been. What he had seen was an after-image. A sharp feeling of pain flooded through his side as a dagger pierced him just below his rib cage. 

Hideki could feel his health flooding away, but he had five stacks of Adrenaline coursing through him and it allowed him to maintain focus. Without any hesitation, he smashed his elbow into the smug face of the man who held a dagger inside of his body. The sound of bone crunching against him as the man fell backwards was satisfying and he spun quickly, stabbing his blade into the downed man. 

The two remaining thieves, surely thinking that he was mortally wounded, charged in on the offensive. Hideki dodged the first man's flashing daggers while spinning and managed to nick the second man's throat. That was all it took as his cursed blade went to work. The man's skin blackened and rotted and in seconds the wound which had been little more than a scratch, became deadly and the man fell to the ground lifeless. With just one man left standing, he reached down and yanked out the dagger that was still inside him. It hurt like hell, but it was hindering his movement a bit to have that thing in him. 

It seemed that the blade had been poisoned as his health was continuing to drop at a steady rate even though he should be resistant to stab wounds like that one. He grimaced and charged towards the last man, who had decided to run into the street. Shit. I can't let him get away. His side hurt and his vision was getting slightly blurry, but he was much faster than the bony man and caught him in no time, slaying him right in the middle of the street.

Now that the job was done, he reached into his bag and pulled out a health potion, downing it quickly. The poison must've been potent as even with the health potion, it took several seconds to put a stop to his draining health and stop the bleeding in his side. He went back through the front door to find Megumi standing in front of the desk waiting calmly. Does she ever get nervous? I know that I am. 

He leaned back against the wall. "It's done. Got stabbed by a poison dagger. Do we have any more health potions?" His health had stopped going down but he was in pretty bad shape still. 

"Just three left. Here." She reached into her bag and pulled out two of the small vials of red liquid and handed them over to him. 

"Thanks." Hideki drank one and placed the other in his belt pouch while he waited for his health to recover. 

Meanwhile, Megumi was quickly raising more minions. Some of the corpses were missing body parts as he hadn't been extremely careful while fighting such a large group of enemies, but he was fairly certain that she'd probably just be exploding those guys anyway. Just as they were about to go back into the room with the looms, they heard a yell.

"What the fuck is this! Intruders!" 

"Damn," Hideki said.

"Let's go," Megumi said as she ran through the doorway and into the other room. 

The room filled with enemies in just seconds and Megumi's undead sprang up from their hiding places and the cacophony of battle filled the room. Hideki ran around a few of the looms and engaged the enemy forces. Tiger Stance served him well here as he faced off against three more thieves. Explosions could be heard here and there as Megumi was using some of her army as fodder.

It seemed to him like this would be an easy job as he cut down the three enemies near him. Before they even hit the floor, he saw that their eyes had begun to glow the pale green and they got back up, becoming his allies. That was when a large, red demon flipped one of the looms up into the air like it was a child's toy and came crashing towards him. 

The thing was monstrous and was holding a large two-handed blade that glowed a deep red like the color of blood. Two large rams horns stuck out from the side of its head and it fixed him with a wicked grin. Hideki spared a glance to the upper platform, and he saw three figures, two beautiful women and a man. One of the women held a long staff, similar to Megumi's, except that atop it was what looked like a human skull with a purple-black energy glowing from the eyes. 

Shit! Hideki jumped back as the demon swung its huge sword for him. The blade whooshed through the air and flames trailed behind it as it went. Bolts of black energy began shooting through the air towards him and his allies. Several of which were hit and exploded upon impact. Hideki had nothing but problems as he continued to dodge the attacks of the huge monster that was trying to take his life. 

He managed to get some distance for a moment and fired off three Shockwaves in quick succession. The energy from his blade slammed into the beast causing black blood to spray across the room. The thing roared in rage and pain, but it seemed to barely be affected by the wounds. Hideki reached behind him and grabbed his shield. He hadn't really used Turtle Style as it wasn't his favorite thing, but he needed defense against something like this.

Backing away, and using the looms as cover from the blasts of dark energy, he managed to get the shield on. The demon smashed the loom that separated the two of them out of the way and came for him once more. Hideki ducked under the horizontal sweep of the thing's blade and brought his shield up with perfect timing shoving the blade up and knocking the demon off balance. He took this opportunity and stabbed his cursed sword into the gut of the demon.

The blood red eyes of the demon glared down at him with shock as blackness spread out from the wound across its body. Hideki rolled to the side as the large blade came down vertically towards him. The damage had been done, and he noticed immediately that the demon's movements had slowed substantially.

Hideki knew that pound for pound this thing was far stronger than he was, but he had the advantage of speed on his side. The room crackled with magical energy around him as bolts of black energy and balls of Eldritch Blasts exploded all around him. Hideki dodged the enemy's blows and each time managed to score a scratch on the demon's body. 

The thing was more black than red at this point and it was on its last legs. It made one more desperate swing for him, and he batted it away with his sword just enough that the could get in close. He brought his blade around and slashed horizontally, catching the demon in its side, his blade biting deep into the thing's flesh. It fell onto its back howling in pain and rage and in one quick motion, Hideki brought his blade down into the its eye socket. *Ding*

Congratulations! You have reached level 27! +1 TP

Hideki saw a blood golem charging toward the warlock's location and he took a second to take in the battlefield. The room was in shambles and there were very few people left fighting on the ground floor. It looked like both sides had fought fairly evenly and their side only had about ten undead remaining. 

Hideki set himself into position and fired off a Shockwave towards the smug enemies on the upper platform. The energy of his blade bounced off of a magical shield and the woman holding the staff gave him a smug look before firing a barrage of purple energy his way. I won't be able to dodge this! He tried to turn and run but knew that he wouldn't make it out of this one alive.

That was why he was surprised when the enemy's spell was blocked by a barely visible wall as well. The shield cracked against the force of the spells, but it held, if only just barely. The blood golem was at the top of the stairs now and charging towards the three enemies. The other woman who was dressed scantily clad in red leather grinned and pushed the man aside as she casually walked toward the charging monster.

She reached out and caught it with one hand as it leapt for her and slammed it against the wall with a crunch. Hideki watched as her fingernails grew long and into spikes as she plunged them into Megumi's golem. Once it was pinned against the wall, the woman proceeded to rip off its limbs one at a time like she was pulling the legs off a bug. 

Hideki didn't see a way that they would be able to beat these guys. They didn't seem at all worried even though their numbers were critically low. He cut through a few more of the thieves as he ran back towards Megumi. Another barrage of black energy hit the shield protecting him, only this time, it didn't hold. The shield shattered and dissipated and he looked back over his shoulder in horror as a dozen bolts of energy headed towards him. 

One of the bolts of energy hit him directly in the back and sent him flying across the room, skidding to a halt on his face in front of Megumi. His health was critically low and the world was once again going dark. He felt the feeling of four arms grabbing him and lifting him. "Hang in there, Poro-tan! Don't you dare die on me! We're getting out of here!" 

The world went black around him.