Regretful Screams left Red’s mouth. It sounded like the calls of a thousand dying people. it echoed in the building, though that was unnecessary. It was loud, and Red could see that Ellis was bothered by the sound alone. Then the effect of the skill set in, and Ellis stumbled back. Even Red felt like the skill had affected her, and her body burned as the mana was used for the skill. Hearing the wails of thousands of people coming from her own mouth had been horrifying.

Ellis managed to avoid falling by propping herself against a nearby wall. Red couldn’t manage much; her mind was still reeling from whatever Ellis had done. It had to be a sealing skill of some kind, and her use of mana had made her feel like her stomach was burning. Red had managed the scream, but it was designed to be used in desperate situations. Her other skills were still a struggle to use. Even if she couldn’t manage a skill, she could still use her body a little.

Red knew that she needed to do something. Her skills effects wouldn’t last forever. She simply jumped at Ellis, who was suffering from the effects of her own wail. Without thinking much, Red pushed her hand into Ellis’s mouth. The woman instinctively bit down, and Red winced as the woman’s teeth sunk into her hand. Her blood fell into Ellis’s mouth.

Ellis pushed Red away, a burst of wind spreading from the women. Red rolled across the ground. She tried to use the momentum to stand and managed it for a second. A blade of green wind cut into her face. She stepped back as her soul took the brunt of the blow. She fell to the ground as the green aura didn’t dissipate. It clung to her body, and Red continued to feel her body burn.

While she was focused on the pain, she barely even noticed Ellis falling to the ground. The women were struggling with the pain, and Red could see tears of blood streaming from her face. Like the bandits, she seemed unable to even move. Red had managed to get the blood directly in Ellis’s mouth, and she doubted that Ellis would cut her head off. Red tried to stand. Rising to her knees, she stumbled forward crashing into the ground next to Ellis. That was all she had wanted. Now Ellis was within the range of her Aura of Infection, and Red could see the hate in Ellis’s gaze. They were both struggling. Red realized that Ellis’s attacks had done more than just hit her soul. It had left something there, a seal or something that was preventing her from gathering herself.

Red could tell that their classes were somewhat similar. However, Ellis’s class wasn’t as fatal as hers, and that made the difference. Ellis’s body was failing her. Even if Red couldn’t move freely, she could struggle through the pain. She needed to get out to do something. Ellis was going to die in a few seconds, Red was confident of that. Now, Red needed to worry about whoever would come next. Red’s skill had been even louder than Ellis’s skill and others would’ve heard them.

Red’s arm was shaking, but she still moved it. She reached into the space beside her. While she couldn’t wear all of her items while traveling stealthily, she had her storage space. When she was at home, she had gotten a new storage space. One that was significantly smaller, so that she could wear it for jobs like this. She reached for her mother’s bracelet.

The item was even more valuable than Red could have expected. The item would give her a temporary barrier. It had plenty of conditions for its use, and one of those was being near to death. Red didn’t know how much damage had exactly been done to her, but she wanted to try. She couldn’t see into the storage space with how she was laying, but she grabbed the bracelet and pulled it out.

It was the wrong one. In her hand was the coiled wooden sculpture of Priscilla. Mash had given one to each of them so that they could find each other. Oddly she found herself smiling. This was the fate that she deserved. Her decisions had led to this point, and she was facing the consequences. She gripped tightly around the bracelet, imagining how much better it would have been to stick with the others. She felt the rush of level-ups and knew that Ellis was dead. At the very least, she had managed to do her job, and kill someone who deserved it.

She could hear other noises echoing through the building, now that Ellis had stopped squirming. Their whispers told Red she didn’t have much time left before their arrival. Elli’s skills showed no signs of fading either, and Red couldn’t move her body properly. She just lay there, the ground pressing against the side of her face. Then she heard more fervent talking and managed to turn her head to see several soldiers crowding the entrance. They had looks of horror spread across their face, but one of the men pointed at her when she moved. All seemed completely lost for a moment, and then they exploded into motion as someone started giving out orders. What had to be a healer dropped down beside Ellis, though it was too late. Unless he had a class similar to Luke’s. She hadn’t considered that possibility and was relieved to see him shake his head.

Another of the knight stepped toward Red, and she didn’t even try to put up any resistance. It’s not like she could’ve done much considering the state she was in. What she was surprised to see was the man pulling out a shackle. It was a slave collar, and he slapped it around her neck roughly. The metal felt cool, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to use any skills. Even still she didn’t feel like fighting back at the moment. Regret was the only thing she felt. Everything she had done since parting with her friends had been terrible. Even her time in this town. She had rushed her task stupidly and had taken the first opportunity she was given. Why had she been so careless? Did she want to die?

She realized that she did. That she didn’t want to face her friends again after this. For them to find out what she had done. She couldn’t find the courage for something like that. Still gripping the wooden imitation in her hand, she crushed it with her last vestiges of strength. At least this way none of them would be able to find her. They would hopefully just assume that she had died on her trial.

______________________________________________________________________________

Mash P.O.V

Mash flew across the sky. After his conversation with his siblings, he learned a good bit about the situation here. More dungeons had started appearing, and they had been busy dealing with them. Even his sister had needed to actively heal the knights around some dungeons. Monsters were coming out of some of the dungeons, and the knights had to contain them while the adventurers cleared them. Furthermore, the situation was worldwide meaning foreign kingdoms were facing similar struggles. There was a general ceasefire between the kingdoms for the duration of the invasion. His brother had gained a few levels, but nearly at the rate which Mash had.

The sun had fallen, and he was flying through the night sky. He was moving quickly, far faster than he ever had before. The wyvern’s wings were designed for speed. They didn’t have the same durability as his dragon wings, and they were even lighter than his cat wings. They used a mix of wind and lightning magic, his energy naturally flowing into the wings. He could feel the passage of energy with his domain and was surprised by how circular the process was. Very little energy was actually used, the wings were somehow circulating the lightning mana. It was interesting to observe the process though, he had no idea how it worked.

The moon lit the ground in front of him, and he watched as the forests passed below him. He had even spotted several groups of adventurers and knights fighting monsters in the woods. Whenever he saw them, he hung around in case they needed help. However, this forest didn’t have any particularly dangerous monsters within it. Considering how late it was, there were a surprising amount of people outside. He guessed that most people had realized that leveling was easier now and we're eager to take advantage of it. It worried him. many people would die in vain attempts to gain a handful more levels.

Mash could act like them, killing every monster he saw and trying to level rapidly, but he knew that it would come to him naturally. Especially if things kept going as they did. There were enough dangerous situations waiting for him that he didn’t need to try and seek them out. His flight was cut short as he felt one of his imitations reappear. Strangely, they didn’t appear in the dungeon.

It wasn’t that far away either. It was maybe a few minutes north of where he currently was. After speaking with Arthur, he had been asked to investigate a village to the east of where he had been. Apparently, they had requested aid after a dungeon opened nearby it. Some monsters had come out, though they had been weak. His brother was worried that something stronger would come and wanted Mash to at least check it out himself. Mash completely ignored his task when he felt the connection to his imitation.

He had his map in his hand and scanned over it quickly. He couldn’t tell who it was but got an idea of their location. According to the map, the only big location to his south was Krall. That didn’t make any sense, but he didn’t hesitate to fly in that direction. He wasn’t worried about the contract. When he used his earrings, he had noticed that the contract was nowhere to be found. It seemed like he had broken it with one of his advancements. He increased his wingspan and moved as fast as he could manage. He had a bad feeling, and he doubted that the others would’ve been able to break their contracts like him. The air rippled as he sped through it, and he felt his ears pop as he picked up speed.

He spotted the walls of the city, then something else happened. He felt the imitation break, and his mind surged with terrible thoughts. That was the signal that someone was in serious trouble. The kind that could spell their death. He couldn’t help but imagine his friends dying. Ignoring his energy concerns he mixed his forms, the second set of wings growing beneath the current ones. Mixing his cat form and wyvern form, gave him the expected result. His speed was drastically improved, and his reflexes and sight felt better too.

His speed had let him dash into the city with hardly any notice. Most people wouldn’t be able to follow his movements at this point. He was different though, and his eyes could easily take in his surroundings. He noticed an obnoxious yellow castle in the distance and figured that whoever ruled hear would know where he could find his friends. He doubted that they would just be walking around freely considering their level. As he flew he felt like he hit a barrier of some kind, as if the world itself was trying to slow him down. He didn’t let it and pushed on though he couldn’t make himself go any faster.

It didn’t matter, he cleared the distance in an instant. Even in the middle of the night, he could see from the light of the moon. The moonlight painted the ground, and he could see a group of soldiers standing outside of the castle. There was a commotion of some kind, and he noticed that they were moving out. Someone came out carrying a body. It was sickly and he could see that their skin was marred with specs. An infection? It was rare to see someone die from a disease. Although his attention snapped toward the next person they brought out.

Red was dragged out, her skin a sickly grey and he could see a trail of blood dripping from her face. She looked sick and the cut across her face looked bad. He wondered how someone could even do that to someone like Red, and why she wasn’t healing it. Then he noticed the glint of metal around her neck. While he wasn’t very well studied, he knew what that object was. It was a slave collar, something that was banned from use on anyone other than murderous criminals. Seeing Red, he struggled to even think. However, he was only stunned for a moment. Then he was overcome with a burst of anger. Everything else was secondary, and he dove down toward the soldiers.