Still Alive?

Everyone except Harry and Ashy grabbed their weapons. The air was tense with the sudden death of the lost Eclipsed Walker Hassan.

All Eclipsed Walkers that Baroness brought here were sufficiently experienced, so losing three members in a matter of minutes was bad news.

The Baroness, who was suspicious about the matter of Ludwig's betrayal, was now sure that there was really something wrong with Ludwig.

"…"

A man stepped out from where Hassan came out. Stepping on Hassan's lifeless body, he pulled out the sword from the corpse before pointing at the Baroness. His eyes were widened to limit, and tremors were constantly passing through him.

"Kill him immediately! He has gone mad by inhuman knowledge!" The Baroness ordered and all hell broke.

***

'Fuck…'

After seeing the madman's state and hearing the Baroness' words, Ashy didn't have anything to do but curse. If he understood correctly, even information could kill or turn him into 'this'.

'Although I didn't search through the house in detail, I am sure there was nothing nasty here.'

The dark-armored groups were battling against the madman called Ludwig. After striking one to two times, the attackers would always step back and another one took their places.

No one from the group received a fatal injury because of this attack pattern, though Ludwig wasn't in bad condition either. Being mad, his strikes were both unpredictable and sharp, plus his body was bending at unexpected degrees to avoid incoming attacks.

Seeing his movements, Ashy remembered a singer who was so popular and played a lot with children.

'Ahem!'

In short, the fight was a stalemate.

Well, that was a good thing. With just a little bit of time, the Gate was going to activate. So, maybe this fight was the last drama of this 'expedition'?

"ARG—!"

Ludwig's arm swung smoothly from his shoulder to his back, surprising the approaching man. A quick stab over the head followed, piercing into the man's brain and exiting from his chin.

'Scary bastard… can knowledge really do something like this?'

Seeing someone literally break their shoulder bones and turn their arm 180° just to kill someone, without even showing any signs of pain at that too.

It was just ridiculous.

'It seems it wasn't a stalemate but some kind of warm-up for the madman.'

Ashy felt the tension once again, the actual enemy wasn't still in sight. Maybe he overstated the danger called Elissa? Maybe this madman really just happened to find a dangerous piece of knowledge?

"Misha!"

"A minute left!"

Ashy shook his head. He refused to believe such a convenient coincidence.

*Creak!*

The ceiling broke down abruptly, the heavy wooden pieces fell over Ashy and the others. A man covered in wooden branches landed on Michy, directly breaking his spin with a disgusting popping sound.

The Baroness, who evaded the broken-down ceiling, swung her sword. Divided cleanly, the man collapsed onto the ground, his upper chest separated from the rest of the body, and a fountain of blackened blood spurted.

"Undead wood came alive! Be careful where you stand!" The Baroness shouted as she pulled Ashy from the rubble and freed his hand from the cuffs. Then she put his dagger into his hands before releasing Harry too.

"Misha!"

"Alive and well!"

The fight against the madman continued, the madman was losing, and his legs which were in good shape were now damaged significantly. It seemed that the ceiling did a number on him.

To this, most Eclipsed Walkers were fine.

In a matter of seconds, they slashed Ludwig's back of the knees and tendons. The madman fell on his knees but still fought.

"He! He! He!"

The madman began to scream as if he sensed that his end was near.

"Di– Di– DISGUSTING ABERRATION!"

The worn-out sword in his hand shattered. It's one of the many sharp pieces pierced the madman's left eye.

"I– I– I MIGHT BE—!"

A sword slash came from his behind, severing his head.

"..."

Before the head fell to the ground, he grabbed it and put it onto his neck. Darkness covered his neck and when it disappeared, his head was sewed back with dark stitches.

"NOTHING MORE THAN AN ANT—"

Another fountain of black blood erupted as his left arm got cut cleanly.

"B– BUT I AM NOT A—"

The madman grabbed the hand of his severed arm and swung wildly. Seeing this, the Eclipsed Walkers backed off.

"PUPPET!"

Throwing his arm toward the Baroness, the madman clawed his chest.

"NOT A PUPPET! NOT A PLAYTHING!"

Effortlessly tearing his skin and breaking the bones, the madman pulled a dark, still-beating heart before crushing it into a pulp.

With a grievous hole in his chest, Ludwig collapsed and crumbled into fine gray ash.

"Pheew…"

'That was kind of intense.' Ashy thought as he loosened his grip. Like everyone else, he too managed to take a calm breath after witnessing this sight.

"Take the tags of the fallen and burn their bodies. We are leaving!" The Baroness shouted orders as the blue Gate began to fluctuate.

Eclipsed Walkers monotonously collected the tags of the fallen and splashed a kind of liquid on the corpses. With a matchstick, the corpses were enveloped in vigorous fire. If it let be, the corpses would turn to ashes in a matter of minutes.

At the same time, the Gate behind them shone and its inside turned waving a mass of white light. The light of the Gate was distorting the world around, it was a somewhat scary sight.

'Do I need to pass through this?'

Just seeing it, Ashy felt like restrictions were lifted from his mind as if his worldview broadened.

Fear of the unknown was not something Ashy conquered, and this white Gate felt familiar. It was when he crossed into this world, in the dark place he kicked something thinking that it was a wild dog. The darkness there was so pure and absolute, and this light in front of him was also so pure and absolute.

Maybe they were somehow similar in nature or at least in power?

"Get in line!" The Baroness ordered, maybe for the last time in this expedition.

The Eclipsed Walkers began to enter the Gate in groups of two, one after another while the Baroness was head counting. Now that Michy was dead, this job had fallen on her.

Gradually, the time for Ashy to step inside the Gate was coming.

The Baroness parted her lips. Now that just a few people left, it was time for the head group to enter the Gate. "Misha, you take Ashy and I will tak—"

*Spurt!*

Five semi-transparent claws protruded from the Baroness' chest, with her heart on the palm. Ashy, who was right at the Baroness' side, jumped back.

"Baroness!"

"Captain!"

"That is how you blend, dear Ashland~" Harry whispered as he pulled back his hand from the Baroness' back.

"How did you fake it?" Not fallen even without a heart, the Baroness asked Harry before wiping the murky but bright red blood that trickled down from her lips.

"Oho~ you are clinging to life so hard~ is this the ability of Mermaid? How do you have it"

Without giving an answer to 'Harry', the Baroness and her group rushed at him, and 'Harry' welcomed them with a deep smile.

It was four against one, but why was Ashy feeling hopeless?