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Suffice to say, the ruffians were no match against Erin and her companions. Though Erin wasn’t proud of killing, she didn’t hold herself back from eliminating her enemies. When every last one of the ruffians had been slain, Erin seized this moment to take a breather and looked around the room which had been dyed red. She felt a tad nauseating from the sight of her well-done handiwork. However…

“Strange… I don’t feel as repulsed as I expected myself to be…” Such a thought was in Erin’s head as she took a good long look at the scene of carnage.

It was basically a slaughter. The ruffians’ levels couldn’t be said to be low and they had numbers to their advantage. Still, Erin was triumphant. None of these ruffians had any substance or solid intent behind their movements. Their blows rang hollow. Most of them hit hard and move quickly but that was just because of their stats. They lacked form and dexterity, which one could only obtain from training and discipline.

The strangest thing of all, none of them were Demoids.

Erin couldn’t help but chuckle with pity as she recalled the many times the ruffians tried attacking her all at once. She recalled how she easily parried their blows and led their attacks to strike their own allies. Her tails helped a lot in that regard, especially with the Mesmerise skill. But the one ability that helped her the most was her Divine Gift, Lust.

The flow of the battle was completely reversed the moment she unleashed Lust on the ruffians. Their movements instantly became haggard and hesitant, as if they were thinking twice about hurting her. Essentially, the ruffians became enamoured with Erin after being struck with Lust. They lusted after her. Some even tried to gain her favour by attacking their friends and companions.

“What a terrifying ability,” Erin mused in her heart. Though it was incredibly handy in a battle, especially a large-scale one, she swore that from here on, she would only use it if the situation was bleak and required desperate measures. Else wise, she feared she would get drunk on this power.

To put her mind off of the slaughter she had just committed, she directed her focus to her stats. This single slaughter alone brought her a copious amount of experience, enough for two-level increments. She was currently level fifty-eight. With this level increment, she now had ten Skill Points, which she immediately allocated eight points into Spatial Magic.

[Spatial Magic: Level 6 increased to Level 7]

Like always, knowledge flowed into her mind as the level of the Magic Art went up. Shivers went down her spine, brought upon by the excitement she felt when she came to know of the spells she had acquired. She stared at a pebble by her feet. After a few seconds, the space around the pebble whirled and closed in on it, as if swallowing the pebble up. And swallowed the pebble up the space did. Erin was immediately assailed by a headache that nearly caused her to fall but her tails kept her on her feet.

This was always the case with Spatial Magic. The Mana expenditure was high and it was quite tasking on the mind but as her level went higher, the drawbacks were also reduced. Still, this sort of drawback would prove fatal in a battle, no matter how minor it was.

“Are you alright, Erin?” Aera asked upon seeing Erin stumbling. She immediately rushed up to Erin’s side with a look of worry.

“I’m fine, Aera,” Erin replied with the gentlest smile she could muster. In truth, she wasn’t fine, not completely at least. She was a tad shaken by how well she was handling the amount of blood she shed. She wagered she must have taken more lives than she ever had in her past life.

There were also the after-effects of Revenant that were bothering her. The diagonal scar along her torso was still throbbing even now and the throbbing alone reminded her of how had died. She came back to life in the end but the experience remained.

Erin scoffed with a self-deprecating chuckle. It was ironic that her inability to die made her all the more afraid of plunging herself into danger. With that said, that didn’t mean she would let her fears paralyse her.

Nivia watched Erin tracing her skin with a fretful gaze. “You always say that, Erin, but are you truly fine?”

“Do I not look fine?”

“You have been touching that scar ever since you… came back from the dead.”

Erin’s smile turned wry. “I suppose I have… It’s just… difficult to get used to it.”

Nivia plunged forward and hugged Erin’s arm. “You don’t need to get used to it, Erin. You’re not supposed to. You shouldn’t. Death may be a natural thing but it's not something people should ever take lightly. That includes you too, Erin. Remember that, else you may lose yourself.”

Erin’s smile returned to its usual warmth. “Thank you, Nivia,” she said, caressing Nivia’s cheek.

The Elf flinched and released her hold on Erin’s arm.

“What’s wrong?” Erin asked without dropping her smile.

“N-nothing,” Nivia stammered. “It’s just… that was too intimate of you, Erin.”

“Are we not already intimate?”

“We are but… not like that…” Her voice turned small.

“Oh, do you not swing that way?”

“N-no! That’s not it!”

Erin giggled. “I understand, Nivia. I will be reserved next time.”

“Ah? I-I… I didn’t mean that. I mean… you can do it again if you w-want, just… tell me beforehand next time…”

Erin chuckled. “I will, Nivia. Then, may I stroke your head?”

Nivia’s eyes widened but she didn’t shy away and instead nodded her head.

But before Erin could stroke the blushing Nivia’s head, a crude voice interrupted the sweetening mood.

“Damn these, bastards!” Amyra shouted as she kicked one of the headless bodies across the room. “Just where the hell is my sword!? It must be in here somewhere but none of these fucks would tell me!”

“Maybe they had already sold it?” Aera suggested in a small voice.

“The only things that these thugs would sell off are women, children, or jewellery. They would not sell off weapons. They would keep it and use it for themselves.”

“But who would use such a large and crude sword?” Nivia chimed in. “Maybe they had already melted it into smaller swords?”

Amyra clenched her fists tightly. “Then I regret giving these bastards too painless of a death.”

Erin cast a brief glance at the corpses that Amyra was responsible for. None of these deaths looked even remotely painless or swift. Half of these corpses were charred and the poses of the corpses suggested they died while writhing and squirming in agony. If these deaths were considered painless to Amyra, Erin didn’t want to know what she considered as painful.

Amyra sighed and tossed the greatsword she was wielding to Erin. “Regardless, my thanks, m’lady. Truth to be told, this sword is a better fit for me than the one I normally wield.”

“I’m happy to hear that, Amyra,” Erin said and dispelled the greatsword. “In any case, let us get out of this shithole first. I think it’s this way,”

They didn’t know the layout of this place but there were only two paths available to them, the stairs where they came from and the only other door in this vast room.

“Yeah, let’s,” Amyra responded with a tone of reluctance. Her gaze was still wandering around the room even as they left.

The door led them to a narrow and long hallway that spanned for around a quarter of a mile before coming to an end with a wooden door that looked worse for wear. Lights were spilling through the holes and cracks on the door.

A strong stench and a heavy odour were also coming from the other side of the door, causing Nivia and Erin to scrunch their faces and pinch their noses in reflex. But the smell didn’t deter them. They knew the smell well. It was the smell of the streets’ filth. This was the egress without a doubt.

The door creaked when Erin gave a gentle shove but it did not even budge in the slightest. Erin leaned her shoulder onto the door and shoved it with more strength. Still, the door remained unmoving. As she poured more strength into her shoulder and used Body Strengthening, the door finally moved but it was only slightly ajar.

“It’s locked from the other side,” Erin muttered after giving it a few more tries.

“Can’t we just break it down?” Nivia asked.

“We can but we will be plunging ourselves into another melee. I’m sensing a lot of presence on the other side of the door.”

“Well, I’m still itching for more,” Amyra said, winding her neck and cracking her knuckles. “Every last one of them is gonna pay for the loss of my sword.”

Erin sighed. “Alright, then. Let’s do this.” And Amyra sank her foot into the door, sending it flying off its hinges and tumbling across the street they emerged into. The light of the sinking sun blinded them but only for a brief second. When their vision returned, they saw haggard and shabbily-dressed individuals loitering around. All their gazes were drawn to them,

The moment Erin brandished her sword, the people scurried out of her sight like rodents instead of charging at them with battle cries at their throats and with their weapons drawn and raised.

“Huh… this wasn’t the type of reception that I’m expecting…” Erin remarked dryly. The street had become empty with the emergence of her presence.

Amyra’s shoulders slumped. “That was disappointing. It appears these people aren’t combatants. They’re most likely just your usual beggars and vagabonds.”

“What’s so disappointing about this?” Nivia scoffed. “Reel in your desires, you battle fiend.”

“Come on, you three. Don’t dawdle. We need to return— Oh, fuck.”

Amyra’s droopy gaze turned solemn. “What is it? Enemies?”

Aera clenched her fists at the mention of “enemies”. Her veins were glowing a faint violet.

“What else could it be?” Nivia retorted and prepared her bow. “Multiple individuals approaching us from the front at high speed. They’re on a carriage.”

Amyra frowned doubtfully. “A carriage? Coming into this kind of place? Now that’s just trite. A carriage only ever comes to this sort of place to deliver goods and not the legal kind.”

“Whatever the reason it might be, we’re in for another battle. Stay sharp, you three. I had a feeling our next foes would not be easy.”

Soon, the carriage came into sight. Though there was no paint to designate the carriage’s affiliation or any ornaments to show off the passenger’s wealth, the size of the carriage alone told Erin the people on board were not insignificant. Furthermore, the carriage was pulled by a large black horse with two horns, a Bicorn. Its muscles were unlike any horse. Its thews were bulging through its skin.

Such a horse was pulled on the reins to a stop and the entire carriage skidded to a halt. The cart and load it was pulling behind shook violently as the carriage stopped abruptly. The coachman immediately hopped off his seat and went to knock on the carriage’s door. After a short moment, the door was opened and a man in robes climbed off the carriage along with three other individuals who were completely clothed in black from head to toe. Their eyes were the only parts of their body exposed.

Erin widened her eyes when she saw the robed man. She knew him. “You?”

“What a coincidence, Lady Erynthea. Why, hello to you too,” greeted the robed man with a blindfold around his eyes and a sword by his waist.

“Ruyo…” Erin muttered.

“I’m honoured that the lady remembers my name. Well, not even a day has passed after all.”

“Erin, you know this man?” Nivia asked in a whisper.

“Yeah, I met him when I was held captive.”

“He’s a Covenant member?” Aera asked.

Erin nodded.

Aera cast a scowl at Ruyo as her eyes turned bloodshot.

Erin’s gaze then narrowed at the coffin-like crate that was pulled behind the carriage. She could sense life emanating from within the crate. There was someone locked inside. “Who do you have in that crate?”

Ruyo chuckled. “The viceroy, of course,” he answered and drew his single-edged sword. “If you’re here with the Augur, that must mean Ovir has failed, but it is what it is. It’s not as if Marduk didn’t plan for contingencies.”

Erin tutted silently and immediately activated the stats increment of Lust.