Ruba was certainly hesitant, after I animated his former enslaver as a zombie, even more so. But having Tiss and Jackal to vouch for me made them in the end accept my offer. They were definitely wary of the zombies more so than I but they definitely stuck close to Jackal as Tiss stayed too close to me as usual.

 

“How about this?” Jackal asked, showing off the hat.

 

“We all have plenty of clothes, right Ruba?” Tiss asked pointedly.

 

“Uh yes, a lot of clothes,” Ruba nodded.

 

I glanced down at my new clothes. The tailor had been able to alter the clothing with magic to make everything fit so we didn't have to wait. I felt exhausted after so much shopping and I had a headache. Even the few times I had used [Call of the Mistress] today had taken their toll as I was still recovering. Thankfully my soul ember skills were unaffected.

 

I had even taken a moment to fix up the blacksmith zombie’s face. I had conjured a needle of orange light and had to stitch the flesh back together. Then welded it with a hot orange glow from the tips of my pointer and index finger that was very similar to how Ruba had cut away the collar. I had never been good at arts and crafts but thankfully despite the hand-eye coordination required, it was mostly just the skill.

 

I couldn’t imagine anything else we would need and I was more than ready to get out of Llyne. Unfortunately, half of our little group needed sleep which meant we couldn't leave until tomorrow. I wasn’t sure if it was safer inside the city or out.

 

It wouldn’t take a genius to put together the attack on the church and the zombies in the ally. Worse was that one of those zombies I had gotten from Lord Humphry’s home. If anyone looked too closely they would see everything was connected.

 

I may have been weakened right now but I much prefer the odds outside of the city walls as if something went bad we weren’t surrounded by my enemies. 

 

As we exited the store my zombies fell in line, we must have looked like quite the group in our well-tailored clothes. It had burned a hole in our gold but considering how cheery everyone seemed it had been worth it. Ruba just seemed generally confused but Jackal was glad to have someone close to his age. 

 

Two teenagers, two young adults, two mindless zombies and an undead paladin just smart enough to have an existential crisis. We were quite a group.

 

It was mid-afternoon and while I wasn't entirely confident returning to our rooms would be safe we had left things behind. Thankfully there had been no alarms raised yet. Not having security cameras made people far slower to respond. However, with magic, I had a feeling they would be able to find me the moment they looked.

 

“We should spend the night on the road,” I said.

 

“Noooo, but the beds are so nice,” Jackal groaned.

 

Tiss must have seen the concern on my face because she simply nodded. The street of the inn was quiet except for a few people walking about. However, two Order guards were posted by the ally. I ordered the zombies to follow me and to ensure they were well covered by cloaks.

 

“Pack whatever’s left in your rooms and then we need to get going.”

 

“What’s the matter, friend? Scared you might get into trouble?” A voice said. We all turned and my hand went to my blade.

 

A well-put-together dwarf stood between us and the front door. He was smoking a cigarette and looked almost like a mobster from the 20s

 

“Rooms pack,” I hissed at Ruba and Jackal and they wasted no time scurrying upstairs. It only then occurred to me that I really had no idea if upstairs was any safer so I sent the blacksmith with them for protection. It wasn't much but it had a hammer and knew how to use it.

 

“And you are… friend?” I replied.

 

“Beltharn Rolbren. I assure you there's no need for violence, we’re all friends here,” he replied, motioning to the other patrons to go about their business. Considering how organized this was I very much believed they were all friends. “I… wanted to apologize for a subordinate of mine… Miss Songweaver. I was appalled to find out what she did to you, Miss Morgan,” he continued taking a long drag from his cigarette. “No hard feelings.”

 

The way he said it made it seem like he was forgiving me for something. Considering I had killed Cleo and three others before looting the place, maybe he was. I crossed my fingers that he was too out of touch to recognize the pyromancer.

 

“Unfortunately an… acquaintance of yours owed us quite a lot of money before his… tragic and untimely demise,” he said, pausing to take a puff for dramatic effect. “That means we have to reclaim our losses from his assets. Fortunately for us, you've got two of 'em following you around like you're a carrot on a stick.”

 

Dread settled over me. This whole time I had been worried about the Order, I had totally overlooked good old-fashioned organized crime. Part of me urged me to fight but the pounding in my head was a reminder I was weakened and couldn't access my magic easily enough. Regardless of my health, I wouldn't simply hand over my friends. I had a potential ace up my sleeve though I wasn't entirely sure it would work. Consuming flesh repairs my body and replenishes my magic, I crossed my fingers that that would extend to arcane sickness, if it didn't then I would probably die here. No, I wouldn't die here, there was the potential for something far worse.

 

I gently placed a hand on Tiss’ shoulder and squeezed as I issued my orders through [Call of the Mistress] and took a step forward. “That's certainly understandable, however, I’m not entirely certain of who you are referring to,” I replied as conversationally as I could.

 

“Oh, why Lord Humphry of—”

 

His words were drowned out in the torrent of flame which erupted from my zombie heading straight for him. Tiss yelped as Nimue wrapped an arm around her and picked her up, carrying her up the stairs. I was already running as the pyromancer sent spell after spell toward the patrons setting the whole room ablaze. I couldn't be sure they were all part of Beltharn’s ambush but I couldn't take the risk.

 

The zombie had followed my instructions perfectly, sending the ball of fire noticeably to the right of the doorway. Dodging to the left would be the easier route to not getting hit by a massive ball of fire. I collided with Beltharn as he dodged left, the surge of panic that flooded him not giving him a chance to see my plan. I tore at him as we hit the floor biting and scratching into him with my claws and fangs—fun fact about 1920s mobsters and those who resemble them otherwise, no body armour. 

 

I had never gouged out someone’s eyeballs before, they popped like grapes as he howled. I bit into his meaty neck, gulping down the blood and flesh. He hadn't had a moment to defend himself before I was absorbing his soul embers and rising to my feet invigorated and ready to kill.

 

[Level Up!]

 

I glanced down at the dead man, he had made the mistake of assuming he could intimidate me. Despite seeing red, the inferno that raged around me made me do the reasonable thing, run out the door so I didn't get burned to a crisp.

 

I stumbled onto the street as smoke billowed from the inn. I felt a little bad, the rooms had been really nice.

 

Nimue, Tiss, Jackal and Ruba stood on the street with varying expressions but with backs full of stuff. Suddenly the blacksmith zombie slammed into the ground beside me. Not graceful but it worked. 

 

“Run!” I yelled taking off down the street towards the western side of the city. I had no idea how things would play out from here but I had no intention of sticking around to find out. The pyromancer had had far more firepower, haha, than I had anticipated and the inn was quickly engulfed in flames as patrons scrambled to get out, not so much concerned with attacking us. Still a worthy sacrifice for the pyromancer, I doubted they would survive the blaze.

 

“Oh gods, oh gods,” Ruba repeated as we ran through the city. Unfortunately, Nimue and I, being tall compared to the others, had to move slower than I would have liked. 

 

I pulled us into an ally a few blocks away to regroup. The living were breathing hard.

 

“I levelled up,” Tiss snickered through laboured breaths.

 

“Oh good for you,” Jackal groaned, clutching his side.

 

“How did you manage that?” I asked. I had ensured she wouldn’t be there to fight though perhaps I had missed something.

 

“I made fire sounds,” she snorted. Before making a sound that sounded surprisingly close to a fire.

 

I laughed, I had been surprised by how loud the flames had been. I hadn't realized Tiss was so good at impersonations. Once again the little illusionist saved my butt.

 

“So… is that… common with all of you? Almost dying?” Ruba asked.

 

“Well…” I trailed off with a shrug.

 

“Oh…” they replied uneasily.

 

“It’s fine, Morgan always figures it out,” Jackal said, nudging the hare-folk. That seemed to cheer them up a bit.

 

“Good job, Nimue,” I said. “You… not so much,” I added, turning to the blacksmith.

 

I really didn’t like the fact that we had just gotten lucky. I could kill someone without armour if I got the jump on them and had a powerful fire wizard to back me up. My claws would be useless against a knight like Nimue or even an opponent who didn’t feel like monologuing. I had only been able to kill the knight from the chapel because he hadn't been wearing a helmet. If we had had the time and the money I would have gotten armour for myself. Despite being able to heal, simply not getting hurt in the first place would be better. The Order has steel plate armour, they were like walking tanks, I had no hope of facing them without similar protection or some way to hold them down while I wedge a blade through the gaps. Alternatively, a really big two-handed weapon would also do it.

 

It was more important to outthink your enemy than to outfight them but the day I had to outfight them… I would be in serious trouble.

 

Not having any fight training was a major flaw, hell, I had forgotten my sword and dagger and simply tackled the man. Nimue seemed to be the only one of us who knew how to fight, maybe we could all use some training. I had been fine in these chaotic skirmishes but I wouldn’t be lucky forever.

 

“Did you manage to get our things?” I asked Jackal.

 

“Think so.”

 

“Good, then we need to get out of Llyne,” I nodded looking around. “Anyone know where the hell we are?”

 

“I can help with that,” Tiss said cheerily before waving her hand in the air and an image appeared. It was a map, a holographic three-dimensional map of our area. She waved her hand through it and it zoomed out a little. Tiss’ new skill was effectively Google Maps but a much fancier version. I would not complain, it was very cool.

 

“That’s awesome,” Jackal said before waving his hand through it. The illusion went undisturbed.

 

“It’s going to be a bit of a walk,” Tiss sighed as she looked at the miniature city.

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be doing that plenty for the foreseeable future,” I said, unable to help myself. 

 

Tiss shook her head and Jackal groaned. I wasn’t keen on it either and I wasn’t gonna get blisters but it was our best choice. Granted that didn’t mean anyone was happy about it.

It felt weird to be leaving Llyne. It felt somewhat like a failure despite everything. Yes, I had a group of friends now, of allies but Llyne was still standing and as horrible as ever.

 

I had debated exiting from the eastern gate so I could get my skeleton but that hadn’t worked out. So it had to be left behind, It wasn’t like the skeleton was particularly subtle either. At least the blacksmith had skin.

 

Despite my melee abilities lacking there wasn't really anything I could do about it in terms of a new skill. Skills were just tools, so it was probably better to just focus on what I was good at. The magic part. If I wanted to take skills directed towards melee combat I would need to get better at it in the first place. Plus when I read the description of one of the potential skills it was impossible to resist.

 

[Corpse Explosion]

You may cause a corpse or undead you control to begin to gather explosive energy causing them to bloat and glow dimly. When the energy is released the corpse or undead explodes violently, the more time between the activation of this skill and the release of energy the larger and more powerful the result, to a limit. Corpses must be damaged to explode while undead explode upon destruction or trigger themselves at your command.

 

This would require me to be creative, luckily that's what I was good at. I was already beginning to imagine the possibilities. Everything from small skirmishes to mass combat, I would be able to make the most of it. Of course, it also seemed quite dangerous and that it could easily backfire. I would definitely need to be careful. Still, in a world without modern explosives, it was too useful to pass up. And since I could animate corpses without using soul embers it was doubly so.

 

As we exited the city walls I took a moment to glance back at Llyne. I had only seen a fraction of it. The castle itself was far beyond my reach even from the upper-class area I had been to briefly to kill Humphry. The city may have still been standing but I had a plan in place, a better one beyond simply burning it all to the ground.