FUCK! Rey screamed internally. And then there were three.

  Now, he could only lose three more people before his cuckoo clock of doom started. Technically speaking, it had already started. Gloria was one of the stronger ones. He had been hoping to take her along for the ride. Her looks had nothing to do with it, of course. Was she easy on the eyes? Yes, she was, but she had also picked one of the stronger Elements.

  She had picked Telepathy, which could have come in handy when communicating with the group in a fight or over vast distances. She could have been a walking, talking radio tower. Now, that radio tower had been toppled by her own stupidity.

  "Does that mean she's going to turn into a demon too?" Maria asked.

  Rey couldn't answer her as he was miles away. Maybe I could get someone else to take up the Telepathy Element. He doubted anyone would want to wait out the slow march of getting the Talent Points for it. The first five Talent Points laid the foundation of what most people kept for their run.

  This made him wonder, if anyone picked the Seer Element and didn't see as much or as many details as he did, then what? What reason would he give? With Zalathar watching their every move, he couldn't make a mistake, or the chaos demon would know something was up, and the peeling of Rey's flesh would begin early.

  That brought up an image in Rey's head that sent a shiver up his spine. He was lying on a spiked table, arms and legs strapped tightly. Every time he moved, the spikes pierced deeper. Blood seeping out of every hole. He looked like a cheese grater that leaked a special kind of juice. The demon was collecting the blood to make wine out of it. Zalathar was standing over him with a rusty scalpel and was taking him apart one piece at a time.

  "Rey?" Kassandra called.

  Her voice brought him back to the present. "I don't want to be a human cheese grater."

  "Huh?" She frowned, as did just about everyone.

  "Our fearless leader is losing his head, it seems." Tia relished his dread.

  "No, I am absolutely not losing my head," Rey snapped. "Nor am I getting my flesh peeled or—"

  "Rey, calm down," Kassandra said, gripping his shoulders. "Maria just asked you if Gloria is turning into a demon like Phil."

  "Of course she is," He replied. "Phil explained the gist of it, didn't he? Now, she will be resurrected somewhere with a calling to regain her soul. As soon as her soul starts leaving this body, it'll be like someone has rung the dinner bell for all the demons for miles around to come feast on a five-star meal—a fresh soul. If she 'consumes' her soul, then she turns into a demon like Phil. If she doesn't, then she turns into the mindless variety that I'm sure you've killed back on Earth, or like our dear Latoria."

  "Latoria?" Jerry asked. "You ran into Latoria."

  Rey crossed eyes with Ajay and smirked. "We did more than that. Our little arsonist burnt her alive. It was honestly so sad."

  "You told me to," Ajay cried.

  "Oh, that's right, I did." Rey chuckled. He sounded unhinged even to himself. "Latoria was gone; that was just a mindless demon, an animal, actually worse than an animal. So, we put her out of her misery."

  "But how could you…" Maria started and then trailed off.

  Rey raised an eyebrow. "Do we really need to have this conversation now? Did you not see what a mindful demon did to one of his closest friends who tried to help him? Now, imagine what a mindless demon would do. You've seen them back on Earth. So let me say this one final time—demons bad, humans less bad…maybe."

  "So, do we deposit her body far away from here like last time?" Kassandra asked.

  "If there is going to be a shit ton of demons coming this way, then what are we waiting for?" Jerry moved for the stairs.

  The others nodded or gave their assents while Jerry went to retrieve Gloria's body. Rey thought about this quickly. They had enough time to drop the body off by the stone boulder. It was far enough that the demons wouldn't find this place so easily.

  Yes, that would be best.

  Maria was conversing with Kassandra as to where they had deposited Phil's and Latoria's bodies and if that place would be safe enough for them. Then something clicked, and a dangerous idea began to take shape in Rey's head.

  No, Rey, that is a bad idea. Drop it.

  But he was far from dropping it. The biggest problem for this group was that they lacked any real fighting experience, and more than that, they were afraid. If he did this right, he could see to both things. His plan fell into the high-risk, high-reward category, but if they wanted to be ready for Unokir, then taking high risks was what they needed to do.

  "Okay, where are we taking her?" Jerry asked.

  All heads turned to Rey. He could tell them what he was planning and have a huge, destructive debate about it, or he could trick them into it. Then there would be no point in having said debate, which he was sure they would have anyway because they wanted to survive, not thrive. In other words, they were a bunch of people who were as fearless as a squirrel on a highway.

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  "Give her to me," Rey said. "I'll see to it. You all don't know the way."

  Jerry handed the once-beautiful Gloria to him, and even in death, she was among the top five hottest people in all of Hell. There was just no competing with the prostitutes of this fine establishment. Even Kassandra would fail against most of them, and she was something else.

  You're doing it again. Inner Rey reminded him. Thinking like this is what got her killed. Do NOT think about her like this.

  He hefted Gloria in his arms. Her bloody shirt was dirtying his already dirty clothes even more, but there was nothing to it. He carried her to the door as a groom carried his bride to their bedroom on their honeymoon, only this time the bride was dead. And Rey was not into that shit.

  Sergei unlocked the door for him. Rey stopped before he stepped out of the castle.

  "We're going to use a password system," he said. "It will change every day. I will inform you of the password every morning. Today's password is I am the chosen one. If you don't hear me say it, then do not open the door. No matter how much I beg or plead."

  Sergei nodded. "Okay."

  "Ah, Sergei, I love how little English you speak, and yet you are one of the more intelligent people here."

  "You speak English, it only language you know. I speak it cause it only language you understand," Sergei smirked.

  Rey paused, then began to laugh. "Good one. Who here knows more than English?"

  Almost every hand went up, which wasn't a surprise as, unlike Hollywood, Zalathar hadn't just picked people from America. There was someone from every corner of the globe. The only hand that didn't go up was Jerry's, who was indeed from Murica.

  Rey sighed. Just ruining your namesake's reputation.

  "Also, I, too, can speak more than one language. My mother tongue is actually Pun—"

  "Is this important, Rey?" Kassandra butt in. "We don't have much time left."

  "Oh, right. Wish me luck, and if I don't make it back in time, then Kassandra is your leader. She is the smartest one here, to be honest. You'll soon see why."

  Or so I hope, unless I change shit around so much that she ends up looking even worse than Jerry, and that would be a feat worthy of accomplishment. I would definitely receive a Golden Raspberry for being the worst leader in the history of leadership.

  He left without seeing her reaction or listening to more protests. Once outside, he picked up the pace, only to trip and drop Gloria's body. He feigned a groan, picked up Gloria's body, and began once again. Then he got a stitch in his side and put the beautiful corpse down once again. He took some labored breaths, and as he was wasting time, he saw the first movement in the trees.

  A light mist rose off of Gloria's body, and a smile split his lips. Ah, fantastic. Just on time.

  He picked her up as he ran to the edge of the clearing, and then Gloria's soul rose from her body. He dropped the body in fake surprise.

  [+1 Strength]

  "R-Rey? What's happened?" She asked. Her voice had a haunting quality as if she were speaking from a hollow oil barrel, and it echoed all around.

  "I'm sorry, Gloria," he said. "It pains me to say this, but you're dead."

  She gasped, and it looked like she wanted to cry, but quickly found she had lost the ability to form tears. So, she stood shaking, arms hugging herself, and looking more miserable than she had any right to be.

  "Phil," she finally said.

  He nodded. "Phil."

  "You warned us," she said pathetically. "You tried to warn us."

  "But all is not lost," Rey said. "Look, you're still within sight of the castle, and I will make sure that you get a chance to live again, even if it is as a demon."

  Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

  He nodded. "But it comes with a watermelon-sized caveat."

  She was quiet for a long moment, and then realization settled in her eyes. "I cannot come back to the castle."

  "Hey, beauty and brains," Rey exclaimed. "You're really something, Glo."

  "I understand."

  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the first demon jump out of the woods and race directly for him. He used Identify on it.

  [Demon (Exiled) – ?]

  It was grotesquely deformed and looked like an overly charred meatball. Its intestines dragged on the ground, and it had only three crooked limbs. Rey could only imagine what had happened to it for it to end up like that.

  "Bye, Gloria, and best of luck."

  With that hasty goodbye, he ran like a madman who had forgotten his weapon back at the castle. He could've blasted the thing away, but something told him he was going to need all the Mana he could get his hands on.

  The door to the castle burst open, and out stepped Kassandra like Artemis, with a bow in hand. She aimed at the demon. The arrowhead glowed with a silvery light, and it flew so fast that it left a white streak behind it. The demon fell dead on the spot.

  Rey huffed and kicked the demon before yanking the arrow out and walking back towards the castle. But his leisurely evening stroll was interrupted by a few dozen hollering demons. He looked behind him to the treeline and zipped back faster than Kassandra's arrow.

  He jumped inside, and Sergei closed the door behind him. Everyone erupted at once, and they didn't sound much better than the demons hollering outside.

  [+1 Endurance]

  He raised a hand, and they slowly quieted.

  "Thank you," he said, huffing. "Firstly, a gift for my savior." He held out the arrow for Kassandra, who took it and nodded her thanks. "So, I may have messed up. Now, before you explode once again and call me smart, handsome, a god among humans, and other such adjectives."

  "More like an asshole," Tia said.

  "A Jackass," Jerry added.

  "An idiot." Even Filomena jumped in, and that one hurt.

  "Okay, I may have messed up a little, but this is a good thing." He raised his hands again. "Please let me explain. Since Ajay and I found that dungeon, another one is not spawning anywhere near us. So, this will bring a dungeon's worth of monsters to us, and with more than enough to share. So grab your friends, wear your bloodstained florals, and let's go kill some locals."

  "You wanted this to happen," Kassandra stated.

  "Nope. Why would I put you all in grave danger?" Rey said with as much innocence as he could muster. "Look at it this way, now, you all will gain a hell of a lot of experience, and maybe some of you might even grow a backbone. I would never put any of you in harm's way on purpose."

  "Yeah, he did it on purpose," Kassandra concluded.

  They started throwing insults at poor old Rey, who was just trying to help them. So, in response, he did put them in harm's way by opening the castle door, which shut them up.

  "So, if you're done verbally abusing me, then let's go physically abuse demons and take a bath in their blood. I hear it does wonders for your skin."