"Pretentious fuckers," spat Ash as he walked through the bushes, his gun still pointed forward. "I am an idiot, too, for not keeping my mouth shut."

The forest was on the opposite side of where he wanted to be. The Crows should be making a move soon, but it will never be through some bandits in a forest.

Ash glanced backward to find the rest of the vagabonds following him, and some of them gave him nods of respect. None of these people liked the guildsmen, and it might not be bad for Ash to be seen as a hero or a man with a backbone.

Then, one of the vagabonds raised his bow and launched an arrow at Ash. His eyes widened, but the arrow whistled past him, striking something ahead.

"AHHH!" screamed someone as he fell from the tree, his chest turning a grey shade starting from the arrow. Then, the man began convulsing and died.

"This must be one of their scouts!" announced the archer as he stepped forward to retrieve his arrow. "Be careful. The guildsmen might be arrogant, but they are hardly mistaken," said the archer to Ash.

"Thank you," nodded Ash to the man, who smiled and returned into formation. Ash was given a wake-up call that his life might end before executing his revenge. That would be pathetic.

Then, they resumed their search. Ash was wary because finding a scout meant they were close to being ambushed. However, there was no sound or any movement in the forest.

"This is too close to The Great Unseen," said Ash with a frown. "Are you sure that we did not miss them?" he asked the vagabonds behind him, who were all as confused as he was.

"Maybe we should return and report," said the archer with a frown, but Ash felt that the guildsmen would just send them here again. That would be a tremendous waste of time and a hindrance to his plans.

"I vote to explore until we reach the darkness. Then, there is no danger as long as we do not enter it, right?"

"The captain was right. You like the darkness," laughed one of the vagabonds. Ash gave a shy smile to the middle-aged man who seemed to be the strongest among their team.

There were five of them in total, and they were the first to explore the forest. The rest of the team did not seem afraid since the bandits\' absence relieved them.

Then, they voted to keep going until they found out what was happening. The forest grew quieter as they walked farther, and the world became darker.

Ash frowned because there was a sound ahead of them. It was faint, but it creeped him out. The rest did not seem to hear it, which was one of his better traits. However, Ash did not warn them.

There was a peculiar curiosity after learning that the bandits were not here. This can be related to Hyde, so he wanted to explore. Ash did not warn the group and allowed them to keep exploring.

After some stressful exploration, the forest ended, and the darkness began. A field of withered trees separated the two, and the sound was coming from there.

"May the holy light show us mercy," prayed the priest as he pointed forward. "Those are... bodies..."

Ash saw it too. The rattling sound he was hearing was none other than corpses being pulled into the darkness. Black tongues reached out from the unseen to pull the destroyed bodies of countless bandits.

"The darkness... is swallowing them?" asked the archer with visible fear. Ash was equally disturbed because he could see that something had killed these bandits.

There was nothing other than the overflowing blood of these men, suggesting that whoever killed them met not struggle. It was a massacre.

"We need to leave, now!" whispered the armored man with panic, but it was too late. The darkness seemed to realize that it had been seen, and it let go of the corpses.

The team realized that something was about to attack them, and they prepared themselves. The eerie quiet of the scene made them stand on the edge of their toes, their eyes darting everywhere.

Then, like a giant monster that unhinged its jaws, countless tongues of darkness left The Great Unseen. The priest cried as holy light exploded to block the attack, and it momentarily worked.

"Run!" shouted the first to do so, a usually quiet mage. The rest followed suit and turned to flee except for the priest.

"What are you doing?" stopped Ash as he glared at the priest. The man was spreading his arms as sweat rolled down his face.

"Those who flee the darkness can never embrace the light! I cannot move while using this skill. You need to run without me!"

"You are a fucking idiot!" said Ash with shock. Then, he turned and ran away. Ash was huffing as the trees flashed past him. There was no saving for the insane, and the priest was the best example.

However, Ash gritted his teeth as the image of his sister appeared in his mind. An unremarkable girl who devoted her life for others\' sake. It was a cruel memory for him to remember because it made him stop.

"I am an idiot too, goddammit. I will kill that priest myself!" shouted Ash as he turned back toward the darkness and rushed to rescue the crazy man.

It was fortunate that the man was still holding the darkness back. However, his body was on the ground now, shaking. It pissed Ash that this man was still not running away even though he had nothing to protect.

"You priests are a bunch of lunatics," glared Ash as he stopped behind the man, striking him with his gun. The man fainted as the holy light disappeared.

Ash grabbed the man and rolled to the side, away from the tongues of darkness. The attacks destroyed the ground, trees, and everything that stood in their path.

"I did not want to use these bullets!" shouted Ash as he loaded his gun with the elemental bullets. Then, he aimed them at the tongues of darkness that rushed toward him.

These bullets were of the few he had with him, planning to use them against Hyde himself. However, these creepy tongues were far scarier than any man. Ash was about to pull the trigger when the darkness stopped moving.

"Wha..." muttered Ash in confusion as the darkness began receding. The tongues went back into the darkness to leave him confused with the unconscious priest beside him.

The tongues resumed pulling the corpses into the darkness as if Ash was not there. The process was eerie, making him feel invisible. However, somehow, he was safe now.

Ash did not try to play dice with his life and decided to run while he could. The priest was still unconscious, looking to be blissfully peaceful while he was knocked cold.

"I should kill you myself, idiot," spat Ash as he carried the priest back away from the forest. Then, in one final glance, Ash turned toward the darkness.

The event left him confused, but somehow, he felt a familiar feeling. Those tongues only stopped attacking when they got close to him.

"Did the darkness... recognize me?"

***

Nikolai yawned as his mage brought all of the bodies into the darkness. Unfortunately, the bodies would ruin his items with their blood, so he did not use his pocket dimension.

The mage was confused when Nikolai controlled it to cease its attack. He would have never expected to meet Ash so early here. It was a close call, as he almost killed him.

"Maybe I should have killed them all," pondered Nikolai. However, Ash was useful somehow, and he helped Nikolai in his past life. The fence can also serve as a middleman between Nikolai and the rest of the world. "It seems he is working with the vagabonds. That is a good plan."

Nikolai did not have a concrete plan yet, so Ash gave him some ideas. First, however, his army of undead could not pose like vagabonds as he could, so they needed to hide.

There were now twelve monsters in total, and the number was growing faster than Nikolai could count. The one who pulled the corpses into the darkness was none other than his newest mage, who had a different skill that was perfect for crowd-control and restraining.

It was not a skeleton, though. Instead, this creature was nothing but a cape that floated around. A monster solely created out of the darkness. It looked cool, though, so Nikolai secretly made it his favorite.

"Good job," patted Nikolai the humanoid darkness, and the mage gave some screeches of happiness. All of his undead were the cutest. "You can eat them now," he waved his hand to summon those who devoured corpses.

Nikolai watched as his monsters appeared to devour the bodies. Then, he started wearing clothes to disguise his appearance. Finally, it was time to infiltrate the ruins himself.