Red frowned at these words. He felt nothing different about himself after repeating these sentences, but he knew a cursory glance wouldn’t suffice.

“What happened exactly?” the boy asked.

“Moonstone core same energy as ghost.” the bear said. “Core naturally absorb energy. Easy to absorb ghost with right trick.”

The boy frowned in confusion. “How does this involve necromancy?”

“Core catalyst, words technique. Necromancer words, ancient, very primal, very powerful. Can draw out more than ghosts out of bodies with right words.”

Red hesitated. “… You mean they can draw out souls too?”

The bear nodded. “Red catch on quick.”

The boy could only imagine what these insane necromancers could do with these kinds of powers at their disposal.

Red continued to examine the insectoid core with skepticism. “So the ghost is inside this core now?”

“No.” the bear shook its head. “Turned to energy, pure, without will. Ghost completely gone now.”

The boy was both relieved and scared at the necromancer’s words. Everything was solved very easily, and yet it was this extreme ease with which someone’s soul was snuffed out that frightened Red too.

Would these people even have the chance at a possible rest? Would any trace of their presence remain in this world at all?

Such concerns troubled Red, but he had more to worry about right now.

He looked over at the unconscious Allen. “Does that mean he is okay now?”

The bear grunted. “Should be when awake.”

Red considered waking the young master up to verify the necromancer’s claim when he noticed a problem.

His gaze wandered back to the giant undead bear sitting on top of Allen's back.

“He can’t see you here.”

The bear seemed surprised. “Oh, right! Forgot!”

The boy couldn’t afford to have his involvement with the necromancer be made known to his companions. Back then in the forest, Allen and Rimold had discovered it too, and Red thought he would need to find a way to convince them to keep quiet after the trial.

Yet, the hawk spirit thought that far, and it erased their memories of the occurrence, as Red learned later. Now they only had a faint recollection of talking with the necromancer before entering the trial, but they couldn’t remember the contents of the conversation.

The undead bear got up and suddenly began to walk away.

“Wait!” Red called out to it. “Where are you going?”

“Leaving.” the bear said. “Job done, what else to do?”

The boy frowned. “I still need your help to find my other companions.”

“Have other things to do.” the beast shook its head. “Red can track them. Good tracking skills. Use same technique once you do.”

“What about the head? Isn’t it still around?”

“No worry about head. Caused too much commotion. Curse Breakers already on trail.”

The beast resumed its retreat.

Red wanted to say something, but he was at a loss for words as the undead bear continued to walk away without looking back. It wasn’t until the beast disappeared out of his detection range that the situation dawned on him.

The necromancer obviously didn’t care about his companions. They only used this opportunity to teach him a necromancer technique. What happened to the others didn’t matter to them.

It was an obvious conclusion now that Red thought back on it, but he assumed the necromancer would try to teach something more complicated to him that would unmistakably mark the boy as a necromancer. Instead, they taught him with a few magical sentences and then left.

‘What exactly are they planning?’

It was not like Red could go asking about these words to others either, so he could only put this concern to the back of his mind for now. However, now that he didn’t have the help of the undead bear to guide him to his companions, the boy needed to hurry even more to make sure he could pick up on their trail.

He looked over at Allen, who was still unconscious. Before he gave the young master one of their healing pills, he needed to make sure he wasn’t being possessed any longer.

Red took out a pouch with some special medicinal herbs from his backpack before waving it in front of Allen’s nose. The effect was almost immediate as the young master stirred awake.

Allen moaned in pain. “Ugh… Why does everything hurt so much?”

“Allen, is that you?” Red went straight to the point.

It took the young master a few seconds to stave off his initial confusion. “Huh? R-Red, is that you?”

Recognition appeared in Allen’s face. Red didn’t respond immediately, examining his companion’s facial expressions.

“Oh, gods…” the young master gritted his teeth. “E-Everything burns! My arms! I can’t move them! W-What is going on?”

‘It seems convincing.’

Red, however, knew better than to trust first impressions to discern the young master’s current state. He couldn’t ask him questions either, since the ghost was apparently privy to all of its host’s memories, so instead, the boy used something else to assess the situation.

His crimson sense.

There was a lot of distress in his fluctuation, which was to be expected given the situation. Yet, to Red’s relief, he couldn’t sense any lingering hatred or anger from Allen’s presence, which made him feel more confident about the ghost’s disappearance.

In the meantime, the young master continued to groan in pain. “R-Red, please help me! Everything hurts so much!”

Red nodded. Now that he had confirmed his companion’s identity, there was no point in not treating him.

He took out of the medicinal pills Hector had entrusted them with before bringing it to Allen’s mouth.

“Here, take it.” Red said. “It’s medicine.”

The young master didn’t hesitate and swallowed the pill. Red also cut him free from his bindings as the medicine took effect.

There were two audible pops in Allen’s arms as his limbs realigned. The puncture on his leg too closed on its own. The young master howled and thrashed in pain as the recovery process took place, but his wailing about was at the very least a sign his arms were in working order once again.

It took a few minutes for Allen to recover his breath, and Red waited patiently by the side.

When the young master felt strong enough to speak again, he looked over at Red in confusion. “W-What is going on?”

“What do you remember?” Red answered with another question.

“I… W-We were traveling together and then we went to investigate something, and then… And then…” Allen trailed off. “… I don’t remember what happened next.”

Red nodded. “We were attacked by… a floating head. It used its powers to compel you and the others. I tried to stop it, but I fell unconscious. After I woke up, I went after your tracks and found out you had been possessed by a ghost.”

“P-Possessed? G-Ghost?” Allen’s face paled. “W-What does that mean?”

“I don’t know the specifics either.” Red shook his head. “All I know is that someone else was in control of your body.”

“That… N-Now that you mention it, I remember dreaming about something.” the young master trembled in fear. “I was on a farm with my family. O-Only I was someone else. And then… a-and then…”

“There’s no need to dwell on it.” Red cut him off. “It’s over now.”

“R-Right.” Allen nodded. “W-Were you the one that saved me?”

The boy hesitated. “… I was.”

He expected a followup question about how Red did that exactly, but instead the young master just looked at him with a grateful gaze.

“T-Thank you Red.” Allen said. “I felt like every moment I was in that dream it was becoming harder and harder to wake up. If you didn’t come along, then I don’t know what could have happened.”

Red frowned. “… I might have been the one responsible for awakening that head, so there’s no need to thank me.”

“W-What do you mean?” Allen seemed confused.

“I’ll explain it later.” Red shook his head. “Right now, we need to find the others.”

“R-Right!” Allen nodded. “We need to… Wait, it’s already day?! What about the horde?!”

“That’s not something we can worry about right now. Remember what Hector said - our priority is our own safety.”

“But…” Allen gritted his teeth. “No, you’re right. We need to help the others first. Do you know where they are?”

Red was relieved Allen didn’t fight him on this. “I don’t know, but we can try to track them down.”

Truth be told, a lot of distance could be covered in these hours Red was unconscious, so he couldn’t be confident he would reach his possessed companions any time soon. Still, he had the advantage of knowing his terrain, and as long as he had enough time, the boy could definitely track each one of them down.

However, right now, he had to hurry.

“Which direction are we going?” Allen asked.

Red hesitated. The easiest option would be to go back to where they confronted the head, but the necromancer told him that the Curse Breakers were on that being’s trail. It was entirely possible the boy could end up stumbling into them if he went that direction, but what choice did he have?

‘The necromancer said three of our number were possessed. Then what about the other two?’

Red looked back at Allen. “We will retrace the steps you took on your way here. Maybe someone else was also tracking you down in the meantime.”

Indeed, although Rog was the hunter, everyone else in the group had some experience with traveling through the forest. It wouldn’t be that hard for some of them to follow Allen’s obvious tracks.

“That’s a good idea! Let’s do that!” Allen got up and checked his equipment. His expression changed as he looked around in confusion. “Wait, why is my sword on the ground?”

“The ghost who possessed you tried to attack me.” Red said.

“W-Wait…” Allen showed an expression of realization. “Did I… Did he try to kill you?”

Red nodded. “I needed to subdue you.”

The young master seemed to be deeply affected by this revelation. “I… There’s no way I would-”

“It wasn’t you.” the boy cut him off. “Remember what I told you - don’t dwell on it. The others might also be possessed by ghosts and according to what you said, the more time passes, the harder it will be to wake them. We need to be swift.”

“R-Right!” Allen nodded. “Lead the way, then!”

Red did as much, starting to track the young master’s footprints from all the way where he first spotted his possessed self.

“Are these bear footprints?” Allen asked in wonder.

Red nodded with some hesitation. “There is probably a tree-bark bear around. We should be careful.”

Red put on a brisk pace as he tracked Allen’s path over. The ghost seemed to change directions very often, though, and the boy needed to stop now and then to reaffirm the direction he had been heading.

More than an hour passed by, and Red recognized some landmarks around him. They were indeed not too far from the road now.

At that moment, however, Red suddenly froze up.

Allen immediately noticed this. “Is there someone ahead?”

The boy nodded. “Eiwin.”

“Really?!” the young master looked elated. “Then we need to-”

“Don’t!” Red held him back. “There’s something strange about her.”

Indeed, the boy could feel her fluctuation in great distress like never before. Was she too possessed?