The next day unfolds just like the previous one. Get up, travel further inside the marshy dungeon, and do whatever is assigned to me as a porter.

  Following behind a hunter, I slowly narrow my eyes and glance to my side.

  Well, with one exception…

  On my right is Mary, alongside the Essevian girl who had followed me back last night.

  "Here, have some more of this," the woman says, stuffing another slice of bread into the girl’s hands. "You are so skinny. Like a little minnow."

  As the Essevian girl opens her overstuffed mouth to say something, Mary stuffs another piece of bread into it.

  The woman continues to make tutting sounds with a shake of her head.

  "Kids like you shouldn’t be so skinny," Mary huffs, pinching the girl’s cheek between her fingers. "You need more meat on your bones."

  As the two of them continue to act so affectionate with each other, I simply watch them with half-lidded eyes.

  …Ugh, why are they acting so close when they’ve barely known each other?

  Through the bond, I feel the tentacles send out a pulse I can’t quite decipher. From the corner of my eye, I even see a few of them slowly turn their tips toward me.

  Narrowing my eyes, I glance at them.

  …What?

  The hunter before me suddenly stops, nearly making me crash into him.

  "There are some monsters ahead," Mark says from somewhere at the front. "Hunters who can use shields or are good at tanking, to the front. The remaining hunters, to me."

  People begin to move, some bumping against my shoulders as they pass. Internally cringing every time someone touches me, I resist the urge to lash out at the nearest person.

  Chewing on my bottom lip, I focus on herding Mary and the Essevian girl away. Some porters—specifically the younger, less experienced ones—are swiveling their heads around with wide, unsure eyes.

  "I think there are some spaces toward the back," I say, jerking my head farther down the group. "It won’t be as crowded."

  The space has more padding of people behind and in front. If anything were to happen, it should give us enough time to get away if needed.

  "Sure," Mary says as she gently herds the Essevian girl with her.

  Narrowing my eyes, I watch them go with a small huff. Lightly shaking my head, I let out a sigh and follow after them.

  As the group begins to shift, I briefly catch a glimpse of Mark standing far off to the side with another hunter.

  The man is standing beneath the branches of several trees with sprouted roots. The asura flowing from the leaves creates a sort of misty drape over them.

  …What is going on over there? Are they—

  Everything in my vision suddenly goes blurry as something sharp claws its way into my brain.

  Glaring down at the man, I slowly tighten my grip on his neck.

  "Where is she?" I hiss, my fingers digging hard enough into his skin to break it. "Where did you leave her?!"

  As the man chokes on his words, blood spurting from his mouth, Mark begins to slowly raise a shaky hand—

  "Beatrice?" Mary says, jolting me out of my thoughts. "Is something the matter?"

  Rapidly blinking, I shake my head. The vision clears just as suddenly as it appeared.

  "This was just like back then," Mary says, a frown beginning to form on her forehead. "Are you sure you're okay?"

  "Yes," I answer, lightly rubbing my head. "I thought—"

  Pausing, I feel my eyes widen. Just as quickly as it appeared, the memory slips away within seconds, leaving no trace except for the strange undertone of dread settling in my stomach.

  "You thought what?" Mary asks softly, slightly tilting her head to one side.

  "I don't know," I say, chewing on the bottom of my lip. "…I forgot?"

  Through the bond, I can feel the tentacles sending me questioning pulses.

  Mary stares at me for a moment, slowly scanning me up and down. After a minute, she sighs, slightly lowering her head.

  "Alright, no pressure," she says, giving me a smile as she looks up at me again. "I'm sure it will come back around later."

  Gently patting my shoulder, Mary gestures for me to follow her.

  "C'mon, the little girl is waiting for us," she chuckles. "We shouldn't leave her alone for too long."

  Nodding numbly, I follow after her. Occasionally, I glance back at where Mark and another hunter are still standing. The gnawing dread continues to build, even when I can barely see them, the farther I move away.

  Wading through the swampy mud, I scan my surroundings. As far as my eye can see, there is nothing around me except the same trees we’ve been seeing throughout this dungeon.

  Narrowing my eyes, I move again, making sure to cover all angles while Mary and the Essevian girl are busy dismantling a monster. The tentacles twitch in the air—most of them on high alert, the others more relaxed, almost bored.

  Ugh, when are the rest of the hunters going to return? I really don't like that we porters were just left to our own devices.

  Chewing on my bottom lip, I begin to pace around, my senses still on high alert.

  What should I do if some monster suddenly appears out of nowhere? Small monsters are hard enough as it is—how am I supposed to protect Mary from something larger or more dangerous?

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Ugh, can you believe they just leave us here?” Mary’s voice rings out in the quiet space. “It’s not unexpected, but it’s annoying.”

  Without taking my eyes off the surroundings, I scan the area again, staying on high alert.

  “What can we do?” I say, narrowing my eyes slightly and letting out a small sigh. “Most hunters don’t exactly like having porters around while they hunt. It’s hard enough protecting themselves—let alone us.”

  I pause and tilt my head a little.

  Of course, leaving porters on their own while we’re dismantling corpses, harvesting, or doing other jobs doesn’t look great. But since there’s no clear guideline on it, no one really cares if we get killed.

  “Well, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky,” I continue. “The place we’re stationed at isn’t too bad. Plus, at least we’re grouped together instead of being stuck with strangers or worse, completely alone.”

  “I don’t know if I should be concerned or not that I agree with you,” Mary says.

  Before I can say anything else, the woman suddenly let out a small gasp.

  "Careful with that, Hazel," Mary says from behind me. "You do not want to touch the asura organ when dismantling it."

  Slowly glancing back, I see Mary and the Essevian girl huddling beneath one of the trees while working on dismantling the pile of monster corpses beside them.

  "Hazel?" I ask, tilting my head to one side.

  "It's this little sweetie's name," Mary says as she ruffles the Essevian girl's hair. "It suits her."

  The Essevian girl simply blushes from embarrassment, her head slightly bowing to the ground.

  "Not really," she says. "My eyes aren't hazel, though?"

  At this, Mary simply lets out a bark of laughter, patting the girl harshly several times on the back. It's hard enough that Hazel would have tumbled forward if she hadn’t held onto the ground beneath her.

  "Well, you look like a little hazel," Mary comments, pointing at the girl's hair. "You look so cute, I'mma gobble you up."

  The woman makes a fake evil face as she snuggles against the girl in an iron hug. She opens and closes her mouth several times, mimicking a fake eating motion against Hazel's tentacles.

  "Eeek!!!" Hazel shrieks, doing a faux attempt at trying to get away.

  Watching the scene silently, I stare at them with half-lidded eyes.

  Yup. Those two got awfully close to each other so fast. Too fast. It literally hasn't been more than a day?! Again, how?!!!

  Crossing my arms, I slightly lower my shoulders as I set my mouth in a straight line.

  …Is it really okay to let these two get closer to each other? Considering our profession, loss isn't something uncommon.

  Chewing on the bottom of my lip, I frown.

  …This is a very familiar situation. Wasn't Trevor like this with so many people?

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, a certain memory of a certain boy briefly surfaces before I quickly push it down.

  Quickly shaking my head, I briefly close my eyes and let out a sigh. When I look at Mary and Hazel again, I see that the Essevian girl has managed to wriggle free from the woman’s iron hug.

  Hazel haphazardly straightens her hair before pointing at the monster’s corpse she’s currently working on.

  “Why can’t we touch the asura organ?” Hazel asks as she gently brushes Mary’s hands away. “And why do we have to put them in the weirder-looking boxes?”

  As she says this, the little girl points at the metallic boxes with small blinking lights embedded in their surface.

  “Do you know how asura are stored inside our asura organ?” I begin, stepping a bit closer to Mary and Hazel.

  Lowering some of the barriers on my side of the bond, I leave the tentacles in charge of staying on high alert. I can feel their mental pulses pressing strongly against my brain—every emotion they emit is amplified.

  “Yeah?” Hazel says, tilting her head to one side.

  “Even though we do take a bit of asura from the environment, most of what we use is produced by the asura organ,” I say. “It helps provide the, hmm…”

  I pause, squinting at the girl from head to toe. The younger Essevian is staring back at me with wide eyes, her mouth half open.

  Despite her curiosity, I can see her eyes starting to glaze over from the overload of information.

  “Let’s just say it’s an energy source for now,” I say with a shrug. “It’s used every day—for something as simple as levitating a cup of water to much more complex tasks.”

  Crossing my arms, I frown. “The asura organ also acts as a buffer—something that helps the body adapt to the asura in the environment. Of course, all of this is limited by how much asura the organ can produce.”

  Slowly turning toward Mary, I give her the smallest smile.

  “That reminds me, have you taken your meds yet?” I ask, giving her a look. “I swear—”

  “Yes, yes, yes!” Mary quickly says, raising both hands in defense. “God! You act more like my mother or something!”

  I give her a pleasant smile—and a sharp glare. “Well, maybe if someone stopped testing death and actually remembered to take her meds for once.”

  “May I remind you,” I continue, one eye twitching, “that your asura organ can barely produce any asura at all? Your resistance to new asura is almost laughable. At least as an undead—specifically an Essevian—I’m immune to any side effects from environmental asura. You, however, are not. Remember the last time you forgot your medicine and ended up so lightheaded you took off your shirt and jumped on some poor hunter’s back yelling, ‘I am the fearless sea princess! Bow down before my—’”

  “Okay, okay, okay!” Mary yells, frantically waving her hands. “I get it, alright?! I'm sorry! Please stop!”

  A loud snort draws my attention to Hazel, who bursts into giggles. Catching my gaze, her expression quickly flips through several emotions before settling on nervousness.

  “Sorry,” the girl says apologetically. Her four tentacles lower slightly—the most movement I’ve seen from them.

  Mary quickly moves to her side, gently patting the girl’s head.

  “I’m sorry,” Hazel repeats.

  “No, it’s alright,” I say, blinking slowly. “It’s not a bother at all.”

  “Can you continue?” Hazel asks hesitantly. “I like hearing about it.”

  “You sure?” I ask, tilting my head with a frown. “We can take a breather if you want.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure,” she mumbles.

  “As I was saying, the asura organ produces asura,” I continue, giving the girl a look as I uncomfortably resume my explanation. “Because of that, everyone ends up with some variation in their asura—no matter how small.”

  Watching her carefully, I raise an eyebrow.

  There’s definitely something going on with that girl. Should I be worried?

  “So, does that mean everyone’s asura is unique?” Hazel asks hesitantly.

  “Yes,” I say, the uncomfortable feeling slowly fading. “Since everyone’s asura is different, what’s safe for one person can be toxic for another.”

  That, and sometimes an asura organ can explode from even a small touch if you’re not careful.

  “So, if we accidentally touch the asura organ… some of it might leak out?” Hazel asks, brows furrowed. “And that could be bad for us?”

  “Exactly,” I say with a small smile. “Of course, it’s not that simple, but to simplify—yes. It’s very bad.”

  I hum, tilting my head slightly.

  “As Essevians, we have some resistance, but not full immunity like the parasites that entered our bodies and turned us into this,” I add, eyes half-lidded, letting the resentment show in my voice.

  The tentacles twitch in annoyance—one even swats me in the back of the head.

  I ignore them. “Despite the risks, monster asura organs are still a great energy source. They can be drained and used in many electronics. You can make decent money selling them. Especially high-quality ones—organs scavenged without much damage tend to hold stronger asura.”

  As I finish, I see two pairs of eyes blinking at me in stunned silence. More tentacle swats hit the back of my neck. I give an awkward smile.

  Oh shoot. Did I overload them? I keep forgetting not everyone finds this stuff as interesting as I do…

  “Wow, you know so much,” Hazel says, blinking. “You’re like a computer. Or a library.”

  Scratching the back of my neck, I cough awkwardly.

  “Ah, thank you,” I say. “That’s… a nice compliment. I think?”

  “Yeah, it’s because she’s so smart,” Mary says, puffing her chest out with the smuggest grin I’ve ever seen. “A real bookworm, that one.”

  Her face shifts into a mock-tired expression. “Of course, that means every time she talks about it, it turns into a multi-hour lecture.”

  Humming thoughtfully, Mary gives Hazel what can only be described as a wise sage’s look as she pats her on the back.

  “I suggest you buy yourself some padding for next time,” Mary says. “This is the shortest I’ve ever seen her talk about this. Trust me—you’ll thank me later.”

  “Says you,” I retort. “You always try to force-feed me history lectures every time I try to sleep.”

  “It’s interesting! And hey, you get to learn something new!”

  “I really don’t need to know how everything used to be better before the arrival of asura and the millions of deaths that followed right before bed,” I deadpan.

  I already learned that back in school! For goodness’ sake, I really don’t want flashbacks of sleepless nights and tears, hunched over a desk trying to cram eighty pages of text for exams.

  As I think this, a strange feeling suddenly pierces the back of my mind. It wriggles upward as my vision begins to white out.

  From the shadow, I watch as the hand holding the wicked blade comes down—

  "AHHHHHHHHHH!" The scream echoes through the air, sharp and shrill, reverberating in every direction.