Piper impatiently tapped her foot against the ground as she watched the duke’s forces draw closer. Soon, they would be within range of the spellcasters if they didn’t get moving. But it seemed like her new friend Lukas wanted to turn himself into a human pack mule before entering the Black Pyramid.

  The young man had spent the last few minutes racing around the camp and stuffing all manner of strange items into a massive backpack. When he lifted it to his shoulders, it stretched from his lower back to well above his head. She had no idea how he didn’t tip over from the weight.

  “Do you really need all that stuff?” she asked slowly. “How are we going to run if we need to?”

  “This is everything I own,” he retorted. “If I lose all of this stuff, I might as well let the demons eat me.”

  Piper fought down an exasperated sigh. However, she couldn’t begrudge Lukas for not wanting to lose all his earthly possessions. The only things she owned in this world she carried on her person, and she would never give them up. On her belt was the knife in a sheath that Alfred had carved himself. And around her neck hung the Infernus medallion given to her by Ethel, along with the moonstone that Ophelia had presented to her in the barn.

  Then again, her keepsakes didn’t look like they weighed as much as a cow. And they certainly wouldn’t slow her down if they had to run from demons inside the Pyramid.

  With one last glance at the duke’s forces, she grabbed Lukas’s hand and dragged him toward the entrance to the Pyramid. She ignored his protests while she looked around to find Ophelia. After a few paces, she stumbled to a stop, as she spotted her friend over by the fire busily cutting a piece off the sizzling bird meat.

  “It’s not cooked!” Piper cried out. “Leave it!”

  “I’m just going to eat a bit…”

  “You’ll get sick!”

  “Fine,” Ophelia harrumphed before sheathing the blade and sprinting after them. But it was obvious from her expression that it wasn’t fine. And it was also clear that Piper would be hearing about this for the next few days. Assuming any of them saw another dawn.

  Piper jogged to the entrance of the Black Pyramid, with Lukas and Ophelia at her side. The entrance was large enough to fit the entire village of Alderwick in its mouth. But it quickly narrowed, and they were presented with three openings constructed of what looked like black obsidian.

  Lukas rubbed a hand down his face. Then he pointed at the rightmost one. “I think that’s the way.”

  “You think?” Ophelia exclaimed. “You don’t know?”

  “I was a little preoccupied when I left the pyramid,” he shot back. “The adventurers had just been slaughtered, and I was running for my life.”

  Piper started to reply, but then the notification she’d been dreading popped up in her vision.

  Congratulations! You have slain a Human, Level 60.

  Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached Level 32.

  Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached Level 33.

  Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached level 28.

  Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached level 29.

  “Oh, no…” She could only stare at horror at the writing. The young man she’d cast [Umbral Terror] on, must have met his end within the Pyramid. She’d killed yet another person.

  Ophelia’s expression softened as though she could sense her friend’s emotional turmoil. “What’s wrong?”

  Piper glanced over at Lukas, who was watching her quietly. How would he react if she told him that she’d killed his companion? They had been fighting each other, but she didn’t know if they were close. Still, she didn’t want to lie and then stumble across the body of the young man inside. That would only make things worse.

  “I just got a notification…” She trailed off to let the implication hang in the air.

  “For the guy who threw the knife at you?” Ophelia replied derisively. “I hope a demon ate his genitals.”

  “Ophelia,” she replied with shock. “You shouldn’t say that.”

  “He tried to kill you!”

  She gestured over at Lukas. “They might have been friends.”

  The young man shrugged—at least as much as he could with the massive backpack on his shoulders. “I won’t mourn him.”

  Piper twirled a strand of hair around her finger. While none of the others seemed overly concerned about the loss of the young man, she would carry his death heavily. “What was his name?”

  “His name?” Lukas repeated with a quizzical look.

  “Yes, his name. I don’t ever want to forget him.”

  “You shouldn’t burden yourself like that…”

  “I want his name,” she nearly shouted before lowering her voice. “Please.”

  “It was Demetrios,” Lukas said softly. “Son of Orion.”

  Piper repeated the young man’s name several times in her mind, committing it to memory. She would remember his death forever and use this memory to ensure that she never accidentally hurt anyone again. Next time, she would be far more careful in casting her spells.

  Ophelia poked her back. “Umm… the soldiers are getting awfully close.”

  “Right.” Piper shook her head. There would be plenty of time for self-recrimination later. They still had to escape the duke and cross the Black Pyramid. And with every second they delayed, the duke was drawing nearer.

  “Nice,” Gorebark muttered. “You’re finally taking out some humans. I mean, you didn’t use me, but still, it’s a step in the right direction.”

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  “Shut up,” she said vehemently. “I don’t want to hear another word from you.”

  “Did-did your bow just talk?” As Lukas spoke, his gaze fell to her quiver, and his eyes widened. “Is that a human face?”

  “It’s from a monkey,” she replied quickly. Not that her lie sounded much better, but hopefully she wouldn’t be seen as a crazed serial killer. Instead, she would just seem like a lunatic who killed monkeys and made gear from their corpses. Much better.

  Piper examined the doors. “Which one did you say again?”

  “I’ve heard of those animals,” he said, a look of relief washing over his face. “Some dwell in the mountains not far from Kalmyros. Why would you make your quiver from one of their faces?”

  “It’s a long story. Now, which door?”

  After a brief pause, Lukas pointed a finger at the door on the right. The entrance was easily twice her height, and two carts abreast could enter with room to spare. She was still having trouble comprehending the sheer scale of this place.

  “I’ll take the lead,” she said, nocking an arrow. “Try to stay behind me.

  “I think that I should take point,” Lukas said. “My level is far above your own.”

  Piper wanted to argue with him, but if she said too much, she might reveal her true nature. Instead, she gestured for him to go first. As he slid around her, she noticed he kept glancing down at her quiver. Before they arrived at the Arrisian Empire, she really needed to come up with a way to hide her demonic weapons.

  They continued down a perfectly smooth corridor, and as they walked, aetherstones sprang to life to light their path. The gems gave off an eerie red glow, though numerous slots were empty. In the past, it seemed that many of them had been stolen.

  Lukas looked at her over his shoulder. “How did you activate them?”

  She shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know?”

  “We had to bring a moonstone containing a spell to turn them on when we arrived.” It looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he just continued forward.

  Piper knew her act as a farm girl wasn’t going very well so far. Not only had she shrugged off a dagger to the shoulder, but she’d also cast a powerful fear spell. And now she’d activated the demonic aetherstones lining the walls.

  As they passed one of the gems, she surreptitiously leaned down and tried to pull it free. But just like the ones in the tunnels under the mountain, it was securely fastened to the wall. Perhaps if she had some time and a hammer, she could get it loose.

  “They’re almost impossible to remove,” Lukas said, catching her in the act. “I tried it myself not too long ago. I’ve heard with the proper enchanted tools you can get one out, though.”

  She didn’t reply as they kept moving down the corridor. Before long, they arrived at a massive black stone door that had been left slightly ajar. A face had been carved in the center of the door, and as they approached, its eyes focused on them.

  What is with demons sticking faces onto everything? She wondered to herself. Are there actually souls trapped in there, or is it some kind of magic?

  If she remembered, she’d have to ask Gorebark about it later. Not that her bow had been overly generous with sharing information, but he might be open to explaining his origins. Then again, Gorebark might just make up a story to amuse itself.

  “Beyond here is… bad,” Lukas said. “Are you sure you want to go in there?”

  Piper nodded her head, steeling herself for what lay beyond. But before she went anywhere, she needed to allocate her new attribute points.

  Since leveling up… accidentally, she’d received 40 new attribute points. Most likely, she was going to need her spells to get them out of here alive. So, she swiftly placed 10 points into Magic. Then she split the remaining 30 points between Mana and Mana Regeneration. That brought both of her mana-related stats up to 575.

  I hope that will be enough.

  With her points allocated, she took a deep breath and slipped through the door and into the chamber beyond. She’d prepared herself for many things, but what greeted her still shocked her to the core.

  The room was about the size of a football field, with vaulted ceilings, and a floor that swirled with power. But it was the walls that drew her attention—they were covered with thousands of human corpses mounted on spikes. By the looks of the bodies, many of them had been here for years, possibly even centuries. The ones near the bottom were little more than skeletons clad in rusted armor. Meanwhile, the ones at the top looked far fresher.

  Her heart skipped a beat as she caught sight of movement on the far side of the room. A pair of imps were dragging the body of Demetrios into place near the top. They were going to inter him in this ghoulish room forever.

  “Demons!” Lukas whispered. “We should retreat immediately.”

  “Is there another way through the pyramid?” Piper replied in a low tone. The last thing she wanted was for the imps to notice them. Thankfully, they seemed fully engrossed in their grisly job.

  The young man shook his head, a few curls of his dark hair falling over his face. “At least none that I’m familiar with. This place is a maze.”

  “We may not have a choice but to go through them.” Piper hurried back to the door and peered outside. As she feared, dozens of the duke’s soldiers had taken up positions near the ruined campsite. All of them bore bows and crossbows.

  At the sight of her, one of the armored women called out. “Demon! Come out and face the duke in honorable single combat!”

  She retreated and hurried back to the others standing behind the door.

  “What did they say?” Lukas asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied quickly. “And we have no choice but to go through here.”

  “We don’t stand a chance against the imps.” Lukas licked his lips. “I might be able to distract one while we run past, but there is no way I can handle two.”

  The imps didn’t look too different from the one she’d fought in the Infernal Realm. And that one had been relatively easy to defeat even with her low level. But then again, looks could be deceiving in a world with classes and attribute points. Somewhere out there might even be a man-eating bunny biting off people’s heads.

  And I don’t even have a Holy Hand Grenade.

  A smile flitted across her face as she remembered watching her dad’s favorite movie with him. She hadn’t understood all the humor, but she’d loved how much he’d laughed. That was why they had watched it over and over again.

  Piper realized with a start that the others were giving her a strange look. Obviously, this wasn’t the situation to start reminiscing about her past life. She needed to focus on the imps.

  Since the demons would realize they were here at any moment, she decided to use [Identify] on them. Maybe they wouldn’t be as dangerous as Lukas claimed. Regardless, their best chance of survival was still going through the imps.

  She activated [Identify] and read the notification.

  Summoned: Imp, Level 41

  The second one wasn’t much higher.

  Summoned: Imp, Level 45

  Piper had never seen anything with the title summoned in front of it before. She turned toward Lukas. “What does summoned mean?”

  The young man looked horrified. “You used Identify on them? Now they know we’re here! We must flee immediately!”

  “It’s not safe out there,” Piper said, grabbing Lukas’s arm. “We have no choice but to fight the imps.”

  “What did you see outside?” Ophelia asked, her features pale. “Is it the Crimson Guard?”

  “No sign of them yet,” she replied. “But there are lots and lots of soldiers with bows and crossbows.”

  “Are vampires as bad as they say?” Lukas pried her fingers off his arm. “I’ve only heard stories.”

  “Worse!” Ophelia said. “They love to feed on boys with dark and curly hair. In fact, they’ll probably take their time eating—”

  Piper interrupted her friend with an elbow to the side. “Most of them aren’t very nice.”

  Lukas took a deep breath. “I suppose we have to attempt to go through the demons. My elemental will handle one, while I try to fight the other. If I fall in battle, try to escape while they’re busy mounting me on the wall. The next chamber doesn’t have demons, and you can shut the door. At least it was empty when we arrived. You might be safe in there for a while.”

  As he finished speaking, he turned around, and his face paled slightly. During their conversation, the imps had clambered down from the wall and were advancing on them. Each of them clutched a familiar-looking dark blade in their hands.

  Piper couldn’t help but be impressed by the young man. These infernal creatures had wiped out his party only a short time ago, but he still planned to face them bravely. And on top of that, he was willing to give his life to protect two girls he’d just met.

  Piper raised her bow, preparing to fire. But she stopped when Lukas shook his head.

  “I’ll handle them on my own,” he said. “As a wayfarer aspirant, it’s my duty to protect those without combat classes.”

  For a second, she considered arguing with him. But then she stepped back and gestured for him to proceed. If he got into trouble, she could always step in and help. Until then, she would keep up her disguise as a farm girl.