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The frost-covered ground crunched underfoot as the party probed deeper into the cursed forest. After the incident with the corrupted, half a month had passed, and after much convincing from the higher-ups, the party was back together with a new mission provided by the head of the Delvers guild.

Investigate the necromancer in the cursed forest.

Reward: 50 gold per party member

“Remember, Sam.” Eve turned to the timid Hacker. “If we encounter that corrupted horseman or any other corrupted, we are to engage in conversation first.” She flicked Sam’s ear, and he yelped. “I know you Hackers hate diplomacy, but sometimes it’s needed, all right? Not everything should be killed on sight.”

“Yes, yes. Sorry,” Sam muttered as he dragged his feet. Rock, the gem golem from god knew where, loomed protectively over Sam while Zedd scouted on ahead. The rogue businessman was a mere blur of shadow and smoke as he maneuvered between the naked trees. The group had been traveling for a few days but had encountered nothing. And that was weird.

“Zedd, are there really no monsters for miles around? Where did they all go?” A rush of wind made Eve shiver slightly as Zedd appeared next to her. Her bikini armor was great, legendary even, but it sucked during the cold weather, and she couldn’t even wear a coat over it! Otherwise, its special defensive effects failed to activate. It really was a bizarre piece of armor in that regard.

“Nothing. Tracks are all weeks or even months old. I found a few rotting corpses but couldn’t discern what killed most of them. Even the insects are all dead. It’s as if a wave of death passed through the area.” Zedd ran a white-gloved hand through his hair and frowned. “But…I am detecting a large gathering of mana south of here. About another few hours of travel.”

“South?” Eve also frowned. Apart from Delving into the Empire’s dungeon, they had gone on multiple missions in this cursed forest, but nothing of note was ever in the south as it was the furthest point from the Grand Dungeon controlled by the dragons in the north. “Is the necromancer there? Perhaps he’s terrified of encroaching on the dragon’s territory, so they stay far away?”

“Plausible. But strange.” Zedd shook his head and dusted off his hands. “Nothing makes any sense. Some monster corpses look like they suffered heart attacks and just fell over where they stood, eyes still open in shock. In contrast, a few S-rank monsters have deep gashes from claws that could have belonged to a castle-size werewolf.”

“S-rank monster corpses?” Eve’s eyes practically had money bags in them. “Where? Can we sell them?”

Zedd chuckled. “Absolutely not. They are all destroyed beyond recognition. It would be far too much effort. But, funnily enough, the S-rank monster corpses are in better condition than others I found. I don’t even know what rank these corpses are, but they were reduced to burned lumps of unrecognizable flesh. They were so burned and destroyed that I don’t know how they died. My only guess would be some kind of lightning magic or stupidly high-tier fire magic.”

Eve deflated and let out a sigh. “I will never pay off this darn debt. Stupid Empire tax laws.”

“Now, now. All is not lost.” Zedd turned to the south. “I think we will find something very interesting soon enough.”

***

Nothing could have prepared the group for what they found.

“Goddess, am I dreaming?” Eve muttered over and over again. She bent down and scrutinized the wooden sign.

Four-Leaf Golden Bear.

She looked between the sign and the ice sculpture… Well, “sculpture” was the wrong term. “It’s the real bloody thing! A perfectly preserved Four-Leaf Golden Bear!” Its beautiful golden fur, four muscular arms, and ivory teeth were all there. Eve’s eyes darted around the hundreds of ice sculptures that surrounded her. Each one could pay back her debt, and there were hundreds. She felt like a kid in a candy store.

“There’s an S-rank Silver Bear over here—” Zedd paused, and two black blades materialized in his gloved hands. “We aren’t alone.”

Sam gripped his staff tighter and looked around as Rock maneuvered to stand over him. The gem golem’s presence gave the Hacker some confidence, but Sam stayed diligent. Although he commanded great power, he was weak and lacked defensive capabilities. One stray arrow to the face cared little if Sam could manipulate the System. However, he did wear many expensive defensive artifacts for this very reason. His power was preventive rather than reactive.

A tiny skeleton wandered between the sculptures carrying a basket filled with fruits. It gave them one look, and they all stiffened. A few seconds passed with nothing happening. The tension was so high the air was practically shuddering from it.

“Nut?” the skeleton asked and held one out. It was called a Winter Pine, a bad-tasting nut surrounded by a hard shell that peasant villagers harvested during the winters to survive.

Nobody moved.

“No nut? Okay.” The skeleton put the Winter Pine back in the basket and wandered off.

The Adamantite Delver party looked between each other as if they had all seen a ghost. Finally, Eve reached over with her muscular arm and slowly forced Sam’s arm down since he had raised his wooden staff and was shaking.

“A corrupted…” Sam whispered under his breath. “It just…walked away?” He followed the undead’s path to the left of an ice sculpture. “That has never happened before.” As a Hacker employed by the Empire, he had seen his fair share of corrupted beings that should not exist and must be purged. The undead always attacked without question. So why was this one different? Was Master wrong? His face then went pale as he realized another weird point. “It talked.”

“That it did.” Zedd slowly walked in front of the group with his daggers resting by his sides. Their long, curved blades gleamed in the midday sun as he twirled them around, something he did when nervous. “Do we follow?”

Eve hesitated. The mission provided by the guild was to investigate the forest, but so long as they all agreed to keep this incident secret, they could have Rock carry a few of these ice statues back to the Empire, and they would be set for years. Just selling the Silver Bear alone would clear Eve’s debts, and she could purchase a house in the capital. It was tempting. But a part of her wanted to know why. Why was this happening?

“Let’s follow. Keep teleportation artifacts at the ready,” Eve said, and everyone nodded. She wasn’t the team leader, but they all listened to the front liner. If she didn’t want to go, then nobody could.

Zedd vanished in a puff of smoke, and Eve kept close to Sam and Rock. They advanced slowly through the ice sculptures, eyes peeled for a potential ambush. “I think that skeleton was a goblin,” Sam mentioned quietly. “We saw many empty goblin camps on the way here. Perhaps the necromancer took them all here?”

“But what for?” Eve whispered as they shuffled along, careful not to damage any ice sculptures. The forest has been completely cleared out. Some monsters were preserved here in ice sculptures, and now there are signs of intelligent goblins. Is the necromancer planning for an invasion? Are the goblins working in mines near here to make weapons? This was becoming more serious. The undead horseman had accused them of trespassing on his owner’s land, but that was many miles to the north. We could be about to uncover an undead army. Is that the mana Zedd said he had located?

As the group left the grouping of ice sculptures, they came across a clearing. In the center was a group of very worn-down merchant carriages. Lounging outside the carriages around a stone slab with playing cards spread on its surface were two men wearing very torn-up and dirty merchant clothes. They both turned to the approaching group.

“Hey, Toby, you know them?” one of the merchants said to the other.

Toby lifted his hat from over his eyes and scanned the group. “Hmm, they seem familiar, Andrew…but I can’t put my finger on it.” He shrugged and returned to the stone slab they used as an improvised table. “It’s your turn, Andrew.”

Zedd appeared in a puff of smoke next to Eve and whispered, “They are strong.”

“Give a reference point,” Eve hissed back. Everything was strong in this forest.

“Hmm, weaker than that undead horseman we faced before, but about as strong as an A-grade monster? My threat-detecting skills are being partly blocked by something.” Zedd hid his blades behind his back and walked a bit forward. “Greetings, gentlemen. We are an Adamantite Delving team here on orders from the guild master. We would appreciate it if you could explain all of this”—he gestured around at the many ice sculptures—“and why there are talking undead goblins.” A few goblins littered the clearing, some carrying things while the others were lying on the ground and watching the clouds pass by.

“Why should we?” Toby grumbled under his hat as he set a few cards on the stone to counter Andrew’s recent move. “You invade our land and demand things of us? This is the cursed forest, not your shitty Empire.” He spat some green gunk to the side and huffed.

Eve stepped forward and politely pushed the rapidly angering businessman to the side before he assassinated the merchant. “We don’t mean to be rude or cause harm. We previously ran into an undead horseman, and due to a misunderstanding, there was a fight.”

“Oh?” Andrew answered this time, clearly interested. “You met Henry, then? Is that bastard still alive?”

“Errr…yes.”

“Classic.” Andrew frowned as he threw a set of three cards onto the table. “And we are just left here. Forgotten.”

“Shut it,” Toby murmured. “We will get in trouble.”

“Trouble with who?” Sam asked from the back. His voice was small, but in the brief silence, it carried weight. For the zombie merchants, it was unmentionable; for the Delvers, it was their most important question.

As the silence became too much, Toby turned to the carriage and hollered, “Bob, come out here for a second.” A minute of tense silence followed. Toby stood up, and everyone shifted nervously. He snorted and went into the carriage and reemerged with a small skeleton. However, this one was more human looking than the goblin but still very short.

“Hello,” the skeleton said with a surprisingly deep voice, but its posture and tone gave everyone the impression of depression. His voice lacked effort, and his head was hung low.

“That’s your leader?” Zedd’s danger-detecting skills were screaming at him.

“Huh?” Toby looked between the group and then Bob and chuckled. “No, he is our chef. You must have traveled far. Care to stay for a meal?”

The group looked among themselves. They were all on the edge and nervous, but they needed information. What better way than over a meal?

“COOK?” Rock thundered from behind after being silent for the entire conversation. “WE. CAN. COOK. TOGETHER!”

“Sure…” Bob murmured as he turned to head back into the carriage. “We can cook outside…”

“GOOD!” The ground trembled as the titanic gem golem wandered over and plopped himself beside the carriage.

Eve licked her lips. “That sounds good, but I must ask…are those ice sculptures for sale?”

“Perhaps.” Toby smiled. “To the right person, they might be…”