For now, absorbing the Corpse-Red Mist felt like the most direct path to power. Simple. Efficient.

  But every bit of power had a Price. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. The blood, the spiritual link she’d paid to Alchemize Elsa… that was just the first installment.

  So what was the Price for the mist? Was there a hidden catch? Some kind of contamination that would slowly turn her into something… less than human?

  Only one way to find out: keep absorbing it and see what happened.

  That decided today's objective.

  “Let’s go.”

  Pandora adjusted the strap of the satchel holding the alchemical books, her gaze fixed on the deeper parts of the woods. “We’re going to take a look at Grey-Stone Vilge.”

  “Grey-Stone Vilge?”

  At the words, Aurora perked up.

  For some reason, a light instantly ignited in her eyes! She straightened her back, and though the gesture sent a sharp pain through her shoulder that made her wince, she forced it down.

  “My Lady, are we going to… rescue people?”

  Grey-Stone Vilge was a small settlement, maybe a hundred people. If the zombification had happened there too, without the same kind of luck… the survivors would be screwed.

  And her Ladyship… as the Viscount’s daughter, the one in charge, she must have thought of this!

  Arthur? He was nothing but a usurper who’d seized the town and was hiding in a corner!

  “Rescue people?” Betty also blinked her big eyes, her face a picture of confusion and anticipation. “Are we going to rescue people, My Lady?”

  Pandora’s steps faltered slightly. She looked at the nearly burning light in Aurora’s eyes, at Betty’s innocent, hopeful little face.

  “…Mm.”

  She finally just gave a noncommittal hum, not denying it.

  Rescue people? Maybe, if the opportunity arose.

  But her main objective was to go “harvest.”

  To harvest the rotting husks that wandered the vilge ruins, the ones that provided the Corpse-Red Mist.

  That truth didn't need to be told to them right now.

  “Aurora, your wound…”

  “My Lady, I’m fine.”

  Aurora abruptly drew the sword at her waist—the knight’s sword Pandora had “borrowed” from the armory for her st night. Its polished edge glinted coldly in the morning light.

  A look of nearly tragic resolve appeared on her face, as if she were about to charge into a sea of corpses and carve a path of blood!

  “My Lady, please allow me to clear the path for you! This little wound is nothing. I can do it! For you, My Lady, for the people of the fiefdom, I, Aurora, would face death a thousand times!”

  She even took a step forward, her body trembling slightly with excitement.

  Pandora: “…”

  This knightess was a walking inferno, one spark away from self-destructing.

  She looked at Aurora, who looked as if she would spontaneously combust in the next second, and felt a headache coming on.

  “Aurora.”

  Pandora’s voice suddenly turned cold.

  Aurora froze.

  “Sheathe your sword.”

  Pandora stared at her, enunciating each word with absolute crity. “Your task is to stay with Betty in the safe zone and wait.”

  “The safe zone?” Aurora was taken aback, her fighting spirit instantly dampened by more than half.

  “Elsa.”

  Pandora didn't expin. She just called the name softly.

  Elsa, who had been standing silently to the side, moved like a phantom. No battle cry, no superfluous movements. She simply took a single, silent step forward and vanished into the bushes nearby. Behind the bushes were a few wild dogs they hadn't noticed before, drawn by their scent and waiting for a chance to strike.

  Shiiink!

  Thup! Thup! Thup!

  Several faint, swift sounds of cutting air rang out almost simultaneously, too fast for the eye to follow.

  The next moment, Elsa’s figure had already retreated to her original position. On her greatsword, in the blood grooves, several fresh, thick strands of dark red liquid were slowly flowing down, but before they could drip, they seeped into the bde and vanished.

  The wild dogs’ movements came to an abrupt halt. Their heads either slid clean off or their throats were precisely severed. Their rigid bodies colpsed like sacks of bones, kicking up a cloud of dust.

  The entire process was quiet, efficient, and possessed a kind of… heart-stopping elegance.

  The resolve, the tragic determination, the burning fighting spirit on Aurora’s face… was like a fme snuffed out by a gale, leaving only a bnk, dumbfounded stare.

  She had burned out.

  All that heroic, "I'll-die-for-you" nonsense? It evaporated, repced by a single, stark thought: I'd just get them killed.

  “Understood, My Lady.”

  Aurora quietly sheathed her longsword, her voice low, with a hint of imperceptible shame. “I… I’m still injured, so I will stay with Betty in the safe zone.”

  “Very good.”

  Pandora nodded, then looked to Elsa. “After we reach the vilge, clear out a safe zone first. It doesn’t need to be big, just enough for us to fit. Make sure there are no zombies nearby.”

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  Grey-Stone Vilge, once known for the high-quality quarry nearby, was now nothing but silent ruins.

  The group didn’t linger long at a distance.

  Inside the vilge, the air was thick with a familiar scent. The stench of rot and blood. Scattered on the stone-paved road were broken pottery jars, overturned carts, and… long-since-dried, dark stains.

  This pce was no different from the manor or the mill.

  Elsa moved like a phantom through the vilge’s narrow alleys. No wasted movements, no hesitation. Every strike of her sword was clean and precise, taking the “life” of another “new Grey-Stone Vilge vilger.”

  It only took a few minutes. A small area around a retively intact stone house at the edge of the vilge was completely secured.

  Elsa withdrew the tip of her sword from a still-warm corpse. Not a trace of blood remained on the bde, only the cold metal, shimmering with a demonic red light.

  She returned to Pandora’s side and reported calmly, “My Lady, it’s safe.”

  “Betty, you and Aurora will stay here. Don’t wander off. Keep the doors and windows shut.”

  Pandora dismounted, handing the reins to Betty. “No matter what sounds you hear from outside, do not come out. Elsa and I will be back soon. And… take care of Aurora.”

  “Yes, My Lady!” Betty nodded vigorously, her small face full of seriousness.

  She helped the weak Aurora, and the two of them walked into the cold stone house.

  Aurora gnced back, giving Pandora and Elsa a long, hard look. Her eyes were full of unwillingness and worry, but in the end, she said nothing, quietly closing the door behind them.

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