The dead leaves crunched under Piper’s feet as she moved in the direction of the redcap’s camp. She didn’t know the hills as well as Alfred, but she knew most of the major trails. And if she was right, the redcaps were camped near the entrance to the largest mountain pass.

  At least she hoped that’s where they were. It was hard to tell just from glimpsing their campfire smoke from a distance. What if she couldn’t find their camp in the darkness?

  The last thing she wanted to do was risk ticking off Alfred and have nothing to show for it. She had a feeling he would forgive her if she managed to deal with both of their problems. But who knew how he would react if he caught her sneaking back into the cave after accomplishing nothing?

  Piper paused as she heard a rustling in the bush. Standing completely still, she slowly drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it on the bowstring. As she did, her eyes scanned the dark forest. But after a few minutes, when she didn’t spot anything, she continued on her way.

  As she moved through the trees, she cancelled her spell [False Face], exposing her true demoness self. Her spell shimmered as her skin transformed to an alabaster white color. The hair swaying at the side of her face became silver, and her horns once again reappeared—far larger than she remembered.

  For a second, she considered approaching the redcaps in her demon form. Maybe she’d get lucky, and she’d scare them off. But that meant the Crimson Guard would still be right on their heels. If she was going to reach the Arissian Empire, she needed to deal with both groups of enemies.

  She allowed her Mana to nearly refill—a small portion being used by the [Veil of Lies] back at the cave—before she cast [False Face]. But this time she didn’t choose to look like her old self. Instead, she changed her hair to coal black and made herself look older. While she’d only seen the Crimson Guard woman from a distance, she hoped she looked similar enough to fool the redcaps. The armor wouldn’t be as easy to replicate, but she had a plan for that.

  Ding! Your spell False Face has reached level 5.

  She raised her eyebrow slightly at that. Apparently, trying new faces also granted her levels. She’d have to play around with that later. She could even play a trick on Ethel and make herself look like Ophelia. The thought of Ethel’s expression when she saw two of her troublesome daughters made her smile.

  Now that she’d finished altering her appearance, she tied her spell off with [Enduring Casting]. It would remain active until she cancelled it. For now, she looked vaguely like the Crimson Guard woman. And that should be enough for her plan.

  Her path took her up a rocky slope, past stands of scraggy pine trees, and over a sharp ridge. In the distance, she spotted the flicker of flames through the bare trees. That must be the redcap’s camp. Now all she had to do was use her bow to draw them out and then lead them toward the Crimson Guard below. If all went well, they would eliminate each other.

  “Redcaps, huh?” Gorebark said. “Not bad from an experience perspective.”

  “You know about redcaps?” Piper thought her bow wouldn’t have any knowledge of the world. Perhaps it could help her plan her attack. “Do you have any advice about attacking them?”

  “I know exactly what you should do.”

  Piper waited a moment for a response. When none came, she said, “Well?”

  “Stick the pointy bit of the arrow into them.” Gorebark chuckled at its own joke.

  “Very helpful,” she said, rolling her eyes. “If you don’t have anything useful to say, why don’t you be quiet?”

  “Because I don’t want to?”

  “Well, you’re going to get me killed if you don’t shut up.”

  Piper fought down a sigh when Gorebark didn’t answer, and she resumed creeping forward. As she neared the edge of the trees shielding the fire, she lifted her bow slightly. She scanned for any redcaps but didn’t see a single one in the dancing light. Were they all sleeping?

  She settled in almost like she was hunting game with Alfred and kept watch for any movement. At least one of the redcaps must be awake. No one was dumb enough to sleep in the hills without someone on watch.

  Piper pressed her lips together and squinted her eyes. There must be someone on watch duty. Were they really so confident raiding Alderwick that they didn’t keep anyone on sentry duty? Weren’t they worried about monsters?

  After a few minutes, she finally spotted a figure moving through the trees. It stopped a short distance from the fire and crossed its arms. She could barely make out any details of the creature, but at least it looked shorter than her.

  Piper would have liked to use [Identify] on the redcap. However, if she did, then it would feel her gaze and know someone was close. She didn’t want anyone heading her way until she was ready.

  Now that she’d found the sentry, she cast [Veil of Lies] on herself, focusing on changing the image of her body. But instead of trying to make it look like she was invisible, she visualized a suit of armor with a red cloak. After a few minor alterations, it looked like she was wearing the gilded armor and red cloak of the Crimson Guard.

  Drawing back the arrow, she peered down its length. She aimed her shot at the shadowy outline of the redcap sentry. For a second, she hesitated. This was a living, breathing humanoid. This wasn’t like facing a demon or a lion. When she loosed, she was likely going to kill someone.

  But then she reminded herself that the redcaps were planning to raid the village. They were going to kill defenceless farmers and steal their herds if she let them. They deserved everything she had planned.

  “Yes,” Gorebark whispered. “Kill them all. Send their souls screaming down into the Abyss.”

  Ignoring Gorebark’s creepy words, she loosed and watched her arrow soar through the darkness. A second later she released another, and then a third. She was rewarded with a yelp, but before the redcap could react, the other two arrows struck the creature.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  A boom shook the trees as [Demonic Mark] triggered from the final arrow. The blast sent a gust of wind hurtling past her, and a handful of dead leaves were torn from the surrounding trees. Almost immediately, the camp erupted into chaos.

  Congratulations! You have slain a Redcap, Level 45.

  A significant bonus to experience has been granted for slaying a higher-level creature.

  This was followed by more notifications.

  Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached level 16.

  Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached level 17.

  Ding! Your class Deceiver has reached level 11.

  …

  Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached level 13.

  Ding! Your skill, Archery has reached level 7.

  Piper heard shouts and screams, and dozens of figures appeared in the dim light. She briefly considered firing another arrow, but she’d stirred up the hornet’s nest enough. Now was the time for the second part of her plan.

  Trying to sound haughty, she called out, “The Crimson Guard will never allow you to attack these lands. I will slay every last one of you.” She wasn’t sure if the vampires really talked that way, but it sounded right to her ears. Once she was sure the creatures had gotten a good look at her, she took off running down the mountain.

  “Wait!” Gorebark shouted. “Where are you going? You haven’t even killed them all yet!”

  Piper ignored her demonic weapon as she half-slid, half-ran down the slope. An avalanche of pebbles skidded around her boots, but somehow, she managed to keep her footing. Alarmingly, the sound of redcaps was rapidly growing closer.

  She’d thought for sure she could outrun them in the darkness since she knew the area better. Perhaps she should have put some points into Swiftness after all. It sounded like they were going to be on top of her any second.

  The sudden appearance of a redcap in front of her made her stumble to a stop. The creature almost seemed to have sprung out of the shadows. Crap, did it have some sort of shadow class? If that were true, she was in serious trouble.

  Without thinking, she swung her bow at the redcap. She ignored Gorebark’s protests, her weapon sailing over the creature’s head as it ducked. The darn thing was fast. Way too fast.

  Piper barely dodged her attacker’s talons as it swung its hand at her. A follow-up strike raked across her shoulder, making her cry out in pain. The redcap chuckled at her reaction, circling her like a hyena sizing up a meal.

  For the first time, she got a good look at the redcap. The creature was like a monster spawned from nightmares. It had a hunched back, a ridiculously oversized head the size of a pumpkin, and greyish flesh. Perched on top of its greasy hair was a ratty woolen cap dyed the color of blood.

  As it watched her, the creature’s mouth split open into a wide grin, displaying uneven yellow teeth. But it was its hands that concerned her the most—the fingers ended in long dark talons like an eagle’s.

  I have claws, too, she reassured herself as her plan began to fall apart. And I know how to use them.

  She needed to deal with this redcap before the others caught up. Otherwise, she would never reach the Crimson Guard. At least not before she was overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Even with all her tricks, she knew that a fight against a mob of redcaps could only end badly for her.

  Piper quickly made sure that [Truth Shroud] was active and that it was showing her as a level 10 human. Hopefully, the redcap would underestimate her like the men on the farm. Not that she wanted a repeat of that fight—the images still haunted her mind.

  Backpedaling away from the redcap, she slung the bow over her back. At this short of range, she wouldn’t be able to shoot any arrows anyway. Then she used [Identify] on the creature.

  Redcap, Level 66

  Ding! Your skill, Identify has reached level 2.

  Piper quickly tried to figure out if she had any chance against the redcap. At level 66, it probably had a second class. That meant it must have close to 150 attribute points, which was way lower than her total. Then again, it had used some sort of shadow magic. It might have a rare class, which changed everything. Her best bet was to try to escape.

  “Where others?” the redcap said in a halting speech, like it was struggling with the language. “Where vampires? I smart. Know you not kill Bloodstitch. Tell and I let live. You become slave.”

  Piper shuddered at the creature’s offer of slavery, reinforcing her opinion that the redcaps needed to be stopped. She was doing the world a favour by wiping them out with her plan. They all deserved to die for what they were planning to do to the villagers below.

  Instead of answering, she sprang forward. The redcap didn’t move, instead raising its hands as if to grab her. However, instead of catching her, he was bowled over by her momentum.

  The redcap’s eyes widened with surprise, clearly not expecting the power behind her leap. It grappled at her, but she knocked away its hands. Before it could recover, her fist slammed into its face, snapping its head back.

  As the redcap toppled to the ground, she tried to jump past. But somehow the creature’s hand caught her ankle. She yelped with surprise, her motion coming to a sudden stop and making her face plant into the hard ground. A rock struck her temple, and for a second, she saw stars.

  Piper pushed down the pain and kicked at the redcap grasping at her feet. Her foot struck something meaty, and the redcap let out a howl of pain. Then suddenly she was free from its grasp. She stumbled to her feet and raced away, not giving the redcap a chance to recover. She had to keep moving.

  As she ran, she heard more redcaps closing in from every side. For the first time, fear started to seep into her mind. Her plan was failing, and she had almost no hope of reaching the Crimson Guard before she was caught by the redcaps.

  Her only chance was to keep running and pray to whatever god had brought her here that the redcaps couldn’t see through her illusions.

  A loud boom wrenched Justina out of a deep sleep, and she rolled over in her cot, her hand finding the hilt of her sword. In one fluid motion, she rose from bed, the blanket falling from her body. She listened intently, awaiting another sound of magic being cast. But as the seconds stretched out, she heard no follow-up to the first spell.

  She rubbed a hand down her face and tried to dispel the cobwebs of sleep. One of the curses of being a vampire was being unable to sleep during daylight unless they were deep underground. And while someone of her level only needed a few hours at a time, she still required sleep.

  Once she was fully awake, she strode out of her tent and spotted Augustus standing nearby with his head tilted up toward the hills. He held a halberd in one hand, and his armor gleamed in the dancing light of the fire. He glanced over as she approached.

  Justina stopped beside him. “What did you hear?”

  “Magic of some sort,” he muttered. “Unbelievably powerful magic at that. I could feel the ripples from here.”

  She raised her eyebrow at that. Most Spirit Realm magic could barely be felt when a person was standing a few paces away. Only something from the Upper or Ascendant Realms could be sensed from this distance. That meant there was an incredibly strong spellcaster in the hills.

  Was Ransford telling the truth about encountering a demon?

  Justina took a half step forward as another boom echoed across the hills, followed by another one. There was a battle being fought up there. The question was, who was fighting it? As far as she knew, there were no patrols in the area. Were the town militia fighting a redcap incursion? Or had an aspect beast crossed the veil?

  “We must find the source of that magic,” she said. “Give me a moment to retrieve my weapons.”

  “But your armor…” Augustus said.

  “There is no time,” she replied. “There is a battle being fought in the hills, and most likely, citizens of the empire need our help.”

  “Might I remind you that we don’t know who’s fighting?” Augustus’s frown deepened. “For all we know, a hydra is eating a feast of redcaps right now.”

  Justina paused at her companion’s words before shaking her head. It was her sworn duty to protect the citizens of the empire. Something powerful had intruded upon the lands near Alderwick. She would find out what it was and stop it if necessary.

  No matter what she encountered in the hills, she felt confident they could defeat it. Unless Ransford was telling the truth and a demon truly had crossed over the veil. But if that was the case, then she would meet her end with honor, as befitted a Crimson Guard.