56 1v6

"That was a mistake." Muck complained under his breath.

What did he expect? He punched his friend's face into oblivion, causing them to delay their investigation at least until Dirge wakes up.

After realizing what he just did, Muck calmed down and contemplated. He thought that he may have overreacted a bit. He beat up his friend despite having no clear confession.

Within that time of confusion, Enma was bust fiddling with the body that had most of its damage on the head. It was a corpse that was left to rot and its face was not distinguishable.

"I wonder who this is." Enma, a guy who can't read the mood, said.

He inspected the body and found the ornaments that Muck screamed about. There was a necklace and a bracelet made from indigenous materials.

"What are these?" He asked.

"We made those." Muck replied promptly.

Muck stood up and turned to the corpse. He walked to it and inspected the ornaments. Upon observing them, he concluded that they were indeed the ornaments he and Dirge made.

"Sick bastard. Why in the hell would he do this?" Muck was extremely concerned.

Dirge was like a brother to him. Realizing that his sworn brother may be a psycho turned his mood sour. Muck grabbed the necklace and yanked it from the corpse.

"This blundering buffoon." Muck cursed as he realized he's in this mess balls deep now.

'Now there are four dead bodies to report. Shit has just gone from bad to worst.'

He walked back towards Dirge and kneeled to match him. Bob let go of Dirge and laid him on the ground. Dirge was audibly snoring, indicating that he could now be awakened forcefully.

SLAP!

A resounding smack to the face resonated as Dirge woke up with a ringing in his left ear. As Dirge slowly opened his eyes, he found that Muck was staring at him dead in the eyes.

"Hey you, you're finally awake." Muck said as he waved his hand in front of Dirge to confirm that Dirge was conscious.

"Confess, Dirge. Did you kill this lad here?"

Dirge was surrounded by E's party and was confronted by Muck. Dirge remained silent, his eyes trembled, supposedly intimidated by the group before him.

'This sick bastard, putting his ornaments on corpses.' Muck thought to himself as he stared down at Dirge.

Naturally, Muck looked at Dirge's neck and wrist to confirm his thoughts. However, what he expected to be absent was present. Dirge was wearing the necklace and bracelet which was a complete copy of the one on the corpse.

"Wait just a fucking minute!" Muck raised his voice, prompting everyone to flinch.

Dirge suddenly stood up and hit Muck's chin with his rising head. With that in mind, Dirge suddenly ran through the weakest link of the encirclement, Annera.

"Woah there!" Annera exclaimed as Dirge stubbed his foot on Annera's.

Dirge stumbled and fell to a roll. However, instead of stopping, he continued his motion without caring for anything and immediately stood. After getting up, he continued running without care.

"Not this time." A faint voice echoed within the group and an arrow whisked through the air.

Blight shot Dirge on his shoulder, causing Dirge to stumble further. However, Dirge suddenly dropped into the ground and a disturbing sound ensued.

"ReekEKt" Dirge screamed but it was not out of pain.

His body was morphing. Or at least it felt like something was coming out of his back as parts of it extended beyond any normal human anatomy. Was he growing wings? No, he was breaking apart.

"Fuck me sideways, my eyes might need some bleaching after this." Minion's retinas were burned with the sight of Dirge.

Dirge's clothes changed colors, and it suddenly fused with his deformed body. Now, it was obvious that Dirge wasn't who he was.

"Capture him!" Muck held his chin in pain as he said.

After seeing the bizarre exhibition, Muck was certain that the Dirge he's been talking to was not Dirge at all. It was a monster.

Still, everybody just stood still. They witnessed quite a lot of disturbing things within the past few days and this is a great addition. After a while, Dirge finally became something else entirely.

His body was not that of a human but instead that of a massive brown bear.

ROAR!

The arrow was still lodged in its body. It howled in anger and turned to look back at the party. The enraged big brown bear now wants revenge.

With a raging fury, it rushed towards the party with a swipe of its ravenous claws. Enma walked forward and blocked the swipe with his weapons.

CLANG!

The attack was fully blocked. Enma may have heroically stopped the assault but at the cost of one of his swords breaking apart. And with that opening, the bear used his other arm to swipe Enma away.

Grunt~

Enma was thrown aside, now wounded. He smirked as the damage was not outlandish unlike the battle with Ligma.

"I really should have repaired them beforehand." He scoffed as he stood back up.

"Lethargic Slow!" Minion casted his spell immediately after.

The massive bear—which was already quite average in speed—was now moving to a crawl, effectively making it a sitting duck.

"I don't think wolves are enough for this. Summon Boar!" E also summoned his minions in time as a single boar emerged from a portal on the ground.

"Damn, maybe I shouldn't have invested more points into wolves?"

The boar took center stage as it rammed its head onto the bear. Also did her part and began healing Enma who was thrown aside.

"You fool! Don't heal me!" Enma evaded the healing light of Annera.

He was a berserker, he attacks faster and hits harder when he's low in health. This was the reason why he didn't want to get healed. It was only Annera's instinct as a healer to heal.

"Sorry."

Bob took the front stage with the boar and stood his ground. Lavanuk flew around him like an ember wisp and began burning the surroundings.

"Good thing we are at a clearing." Bob was relieved as he observed Lavanuk using her flame wings.

Lavanuk flew straight above the bear and encircled around it. The ground the bear walked on became a sea of flames and it seared the fur on its hide slowly but surely.

"Sugarcoat!"

Bob readied his spear with an enhancement buff. However, unlike the usual where a candy-like membrane covering the weapon, it was now filled with violet tinged lumps.

[You took 150 damage.]

Bob took damage from using his skills, but he didn't care either way. He ran straight into the flames and stabbed the bear.

[You dealt 434 damage.]

It was a ludicrous amount for a single normal attack. The effects of the usual Sugarcoat were that it would only deal additional damage against unholy enemies and slows down any affected unit.

However, it was no longer a holy element spell but that of chaos. It was an element that had no weakness but it brought disadvantages to the users who are capable of wielding it.

However, the bear didn't die from that single hit alone. It had hitpoints comparable to the Slime Bear Frog but it didn't have the regenerative abilities. So Bob just had to strike it more!

ROAR!

The bear howled in pain once more, opening its large mouth as it screamed. This was a perfect opportunity for someone that has been waiting. Another arrow flew and it landed straight into the mouth of the widemouthed bear.

"Gag. Kek." The bear was choking on its words.

The flames, the boar on its feet, the chaos covering its limbs, the arrow on its shoulder and mouth. It was all too much for a brown bear to handle. The bear fell face flat causing the arrow to lodge deeper into its skull. Enma jumped from outside the fiery hell of friendly fire and chopped the bear's head off.

"Nice. That should take care of t- ow ow ow." The heat finally got into Enma's perception.

But, something was amiss. The words of the system prompt never came to tell them of experience gain. It was obvious that the monster did not die.

The bear—whose head has been cut off—suddenly twitched and morphed. It suddenly transformed into a woman with gorgeous clothing and had the majesty of royalty.

The woman was someone they were all familiar with, Ligma. Fangs grew longer than they should be and Ligma's eyes became as red as blood. Crimson aura shot from her and held everyone captive.

However, unlike before, the party was able to forcefully get through the enchantment of the aura due to a firm will within the party.

"Dispel!" Annera casted with an angry look on her face. She remembered the humiliation Ligma put her up with last time.

"This isn't her!" Bob could feel it. He didn't know why he was certain but he was.

The vampire before them was weaker than the one they faced last night. However, this particular vampire would still cause them quite a bit of trouble.

"Um. Can I go home now?" Muck was terribly out of place.