'More bandits...'

Neither Narcha nor Red approached the scene immediately. The boy had noticed something strange with the carnage in front of him. The woman seemed to share his suspicions.

These bodies were not torn apart like the last ones. In fact, their manner of death was not evident at first glance. Red counted five bodies, including the one belonging to the survivor who was on the ground. His cries of pain, however, made it hard for the youth to focus on examination.

Narcha looked to be of the same mind. She nodded at him before walking forward into plain view. Red reckoned this was the woman's indication that the area was safe to examine, so he followed behind her.

As soon as they appeared into view, the survivor's eyes lit up.

"Oh god, please..." he struggled to get the words out. "Help me."

Once Red got closer, he was able to see the condition of the man. His leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, and he was holding onto a bleeding wound on his side. Whatever had done this didn't even bother to check whether the man was dead.

The boy didn't respond immediately and examined the corpses of his companions. They had similar wounds, with broken and twisted limbs, as well as crushed skulls. They weren't as lucky as their companion, evidently.

"What happened here?" Narcha asked the survivor while Red examined the rest of the scene.

"It was a monster..." the man moaned in pain. "Oh god, it hurts!"

The woman frowned. It was evident the man was not very interested in replying to her questions in this state.

"There's something wrong with these wounds." Red called out to her, interrupting the conversation.

"What is it?" Narcha approached the boy.

He was currently crouched near a corpse. The body had its leather armor punctured by something, and blood was flowing out from the wound on its chest.

"Here." Red pulled the armor straps apart and exposed the bare skin of the corpse.

The area of the puncture wounds seemed to be infected by something - the flesh around it taking a darker blueish color. Even the blood flowing down had an unnaturally dark shade to it. The boy could immediately recognize the phenomenon from his experience in the underground.

"It looks like venom..." he pointed out. "But there are four puncture wounds, so I don't think it was made by fang-"

"Get the fuck away from that!" Narcha suddenly pulled him back.

Red was so surprised by her actions that he didn't even have time to resist before being thrown a few meters back. He got into a combat stance instinctively, watching out for any danger. However, the only thing Narcha was looking at was the corpse.

Without hesitation, the woman pulled out her saber and chopped down against the body. It was decapitated in one swing, the head rolling a few meters away. She didn't stop, though, and proceeded to do the same to the rest of the corpses.

By the end of it, there was no one bandit left with their heads attached at the scene, excluding the sole survivor. Red watched the whole scene in confusion before the woman turned to stare at him with a frown on her face.

"That's no venom, kid. It's fucking undead infection," she explained. "These people were killed by an undead."

"Then does that mean..." Red trailed off.

"Yeah, they were all probably going to come back as zombies soon enough." Narcha guessed his question.

The boy couldn't help but shiver once he understood that. To think he had been so casual while examining the corpses.

"Does cutting their heads off prevent them from transforming?" Red asked.

"Most of the time." the woman explained. "Once they transform, though, they won't die until almost their entire body is destroyed."

"How long does it take for them to transform?"

"I have no idea," Narcha shook her head. "That's one of the reasons why I took precautions."

The boy still found it hard to believe these mutilated and headless bodies could possibly come back to life at some point. However, the warrior treated this as a dangerous threat, so Red would take it just as seriously.

"Then what about him?" he asked, looking over at the survivor.

The remaining bandit looked to be in so much pain that he had not even been bothered by Narcha's actions. He only looked at the two of them with pleading eyes.

"He's already infected." the woman shook her head. "There's no hope for him."

"Oh, god, it hurts so much..." the bandit cried.

Red frowned. He didn't particularly care about the man's life, but it seemed he wouldn't talk much in his state.

"Give him something for the pain." the youth suggested. "At least so we can get him to talk."

"It's a waste of supplies." Narcha complained. "But you're right."

The woman took out a medicine pouch from her bag. She approached the bandit and threw the item over.

"Eat that," she instructed. "It will ease the pain."

The bandit's eyes lit up once he heard that. With trembling hands, he opened the pouch before pouring down its powdery contents down his throat. The man didn't even bother using water to swallow it all. While he had his arms raised, Red had the opportunity to examine his chest wounds. Black-colored blood was pouring out of it, as he expected.

A few minutes later, the bandit was able to somewhat relax, the drugs doing their job. At that point, he looked around at the bodies of his companions before letting out a hollow laugh.

"Fuck me... Why did I decide to be a bandit?" the man mocked himself.

"I wouldn't be too sad." Narcha scoffed. "If you didn't die at the hands of some monsters, you would eventually get killed by us."

"Hah!" the bandit laughed. "I would recognize that saber anywhere... Boss did warn us to be careful about you."

"I know you must want to have some meaningful last moments, but I'm afraid we don't have the time." she cut him off. "What was it that attacked you?"

Her words made him grimace.

"We found a body on the riverside..." the man began to speak. "Old peasant, drowned in the river and carried downstream... Imagine our surprise when he got up and started to attack us."

"It's a zombie then..." Narcha grumbled to herself. "How strong was it?"

"Strong enough to give even Narcha the Barbarian some trouble." The bandit smiled.

"That's for me to judge." the woman replied in an angry tone. "Why are bandits moving so close to the city?"

"Come on, girl." the man shook his head. "I might be a bandit, but even I'm not low enough to sell out my companions before I die."

"What about Rickard? Is he nearby?" Red interjected with a question of his own.

The man just looked at him and smiled.

"If you're such a loyal individual, why did you not die when your country was being conquered?" Narcha ridiculed the man.

"Hah, don't try to lecture me." the bandit shook his head. "I did what I needed to do for me and my people to survive. Better than those idiots who decided to die for nothing against the Imperials..."

"Making excuses until the end, huh?" the woman scoffed. "Nobody forced you to be a bandit. And now, look at where that got you!"

She pointed around at the forest and his dead companions.

"Dying in the middle of nowhere where no one will remember you." The woman continued. "Was it worth it?"

"...I chose what I chose." the bandit replied after a long silence. "No matter what you say, you won't make me regret my choices right before I die... Just finish the job while the drugs are still working."

"I could just leave you here to your pain." Narcha replied. "Probably no worse than how you treated some of your victims."

"What, and risk me turning into a zombie?" the man laughed. "You wouldn't do that. And I’ve heard enough about Narcha Valt to know she has some honor to her name."

His words made Narcha frown. Eventually, though, she just sighed.

"Have it your way, then."

With that, she swung her heavy saber, decapitating the man in one go. His lifeless body toppled to the ground, and Red watched the scene silently. The woman turned around and walked up to the river, washing her weapon of the bandit's foul blood.

"It's important to wash your belongings after interacting with undead." she explained to the boy. "With some of them, you can get infected just by touching their blood."

Red wondered to himself how she knew so much about this matter. In the end, though, he refrained from asking. While Narcha was occupied dealing with her equipment, the youth began to examine the scene for tracks.

A few minutes later, the woman approached him.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"Bandit tracks from up north." Red pointed out. "Probably from where they came."

"What about the zombie?"

"There are some very light footprints, but they became too faint to follow." the boy shook his head. "They were leading to the south...."

The same direction they were supposed to go.

"Great." the woman spoke sarcastically. "If a tree hopping monster wasn't enough, we are following behind a zombie's footsteps now too!"

"...Can you kill it?" Red asked.

"I don't know." Narcha honestly replied. "I've never fought an undead myself before. What you need to be asking yourself, though, is whether this little trip is still worth the risk."

Her words made the boy go silent.

"...I need to." Red finally replied.

"God, you're really putting me in a pinch here, kid." Narcha sighed. "Eiwin is definitely going to kill me, but I did make a promise, didn't I? Just make sure to be ready for anything. If shit goes bad, I might not be able to protect you."

The youth nodded in understanding.

"Don't bother looking through their belongings." the woman instructed. "You don't really want to touch anything the undead came into contact with."

Red wasn't planning to, either way.

"Should we continue searching for a place to sleep?" he asked.

"That would be a good idea." Narcha nodded. "Preferably far away from here."

The two of them agreed on a course of action and walked back into the forest again. The sun had completely risen at this point, and Red could no longer feel the lunar gaze upon him. For obvious reasons, though, the boy found himself completely unable to relax.

Eventually, they found a secluded area to camp some ways away from the river. Red set down his bedroll, but he found himself unable to fall asleep. Narcha, who stood on guard not too far away, noticed that.

"What, are you too afraid to fall asleep?" she asked him in a mocking voice.

"Of course I'm afraid." the boy replied as if the answer to her question was obvious. "It would be stupid not to be afraid."

"Uh, well..." Narcha looked taken aback.

"But that's not why I'm not sleeping." Red shook his head. "I'm thinking about something."

"Thinking about what?" the woman asked with some curiosity.

"It's a secret."

"Bah, go to hell, you brat!" Narcha roared at him and walked away.

Red, finally left alone with his own thoughts, began to reflect on the events of the previous night. He recalled what Goulth had told him about Lunar Spiritual Energy and its connection with the undead. And now, it just so happened that the boy came across a zombie not three days later.

Maybe this was all a coincidence, but it made Red consider. Was this all somehow connected with his stash of moonstones or the insectoid crystal? If that was the case, the youth had another thing to worry about.