Piper scanned the room full of aspirants, trying to figure out the best way to assemble a group. If she were going to complete the quests, then she needed at least two additional party members.

  At first, she considered going to find Wisp. While the thief had said she wasn’t interested in becoming an aspirant, all she would need to do is lie and say that she went on the quest with Piper. But she had no idea where to find the thief.

  Alternatively, she could attempt to find Platon’s group. However, time was running out, and they could be anywhere. They could even be out on a quest outside of the city.

  For once in her life, she decided to be assertive. She picked a group of three young men standing in the corner. They all had wooden badges marking their classes as poor quality. She walked up to them and pointed at the nearest aspirant. “I need to take out an undead cult. Will you help me?”

  The young man, probably not much older than Piper, pointed at himself. “You want me to help?”

  Piper nodded.

  “I just have a wood badge…”

  “Is that a yes or no?”

  “No?”

  Piper sighed and turned to face the room. “Will anyone join me in taking down an undead cult?”

  Everyone averted their gaze except for a young man and woman, who strode forward. The man clutched a staff and wore flowing white robes. His long black hair was tied loosely behind his head, and he had a long, crooked nose.

  Meanwhile, the girl wore chain-mail and had dark hair closely cropped to her head. She had similar facial features and an oversized nose, which meant she was most likely related to the man. A mace hung from her belt and a round shield from her shoulder.

  “I’ve been looking for a challenge,” the man said in a warm voice. “My name is Xander, and this is my sister, Lydia.”

  Piper’s gaze fell to the silver badges on their chests. Hopefully, they could hold their own in a battle. Not that she planned to let them do any of the fighting. She planned to take out the entire undead cult on her own.

  “My name is Anna,” she replied. “And this is my… friend, Hector.”

  Xander nodded vigorously. “It’s a pleasure to meet fellow esteemed aspirants.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Lydia said with a scowl. “Just because she has a shiny badge doesn’t mean she can fight.”

  Piper glared at the young woman before realizing she hadn’t gotten the location of the quest. She held up her hand and hurried back to Chloe, who was grinning behind the counter.

  “I was wondering when you’d come back,” Chloe said with a laugh. “The cult is believed to be operating from an abandoned warehouse near the river.”

  “Right.” Piper pressed her lips together. “Which one?”

  “It’s near the fish market.”

  When Piper gave her a blank stare, Chloe gestured for Hector to come over. She then proceeded to describe the location.

  Once the woman was done, Piper turned to the others. “Are you ready to go now? I have to finish this quest quickly.”

  The brother and sister nodded, and they proceeded to leave the aspirants' guild together. Once they were outside, Xander fell into step beside Piper.

  “Your friend looks like he can take care of himself. But have you ever fought the undead?”

  “I’ve faced my fair share.”

  “This isn’t a skeleton or a zombie,” he continued. “If you want, we can take the lead to show you the ropes.”

  Piper fought down the urge to glower at the man. She thought she’d avoid people questioning her ability by having a gold badge.

  “Like I said, I’ve fought a lot of them.”

  “That didn’t answer my question.” He nudged her in the side with his elbow. “Are you hiding something from me?”

  “Fine. I’ve faced a vampire, a necromancer, and something called a bone monarch. Is that enough for you?”

  Xander chuckled. “There’s no need to be sarcastic. Now, what have you truly fought?”

  “I told you.”

  The young man slowed his pace, and his eyes widened. “You’re telling the truth?”

  She nodded.

  Xander’s brow furrowed. “By the Undying Emperor, my skill tells me you’re not lying. You and I, we’re going to do great things together. How in the Abyss did you manage to pull off a win against a bone monarch?”

  Piper’s heart skipped a beat at Xander’s words. “Did you just use a truth spell on me?”

  “I wish,” he said with a hearty chuckle. “I’d be living a life of luxury in a villa somewhere if I had a useful spell like that. I just used a skill that allows me to get a general sense of whether someone is being truthful.”

  Piper immediately felt her hackles rise. Anyone with that sort of ability could be very dangerous around her. But at least with an epic class, she could explain away most of her power.

  She realized that the man was still waiting for an answer. “I had a lot of help,” she admitted. “And I got lucky with the vampire.”

  “Whatever you say. You’ll still make a great addition to our group.”

  Piper pursed her lips. The next part wasn’t going to be easy. “I need to ask a favor of you.” She spoke quickly as the man’s brow rose. “Some people I know were badly injured earlier in the day. I need the money from the quest reward to pay for their treatment. But I’ll do however many quests it takes to pay you back tomorrow.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Lydia shot her a dark look. “She’s not going to pay us?”

  Xander held up his hand to silence his sister. “I’m sure she’s good for her word. Plus, there’s still the matter of loot.”

  “You can take all the loot,” she said. “I just need the gold piece.”

  “That sounds more than fair. Now, what are your classes?”

  “I have an illusionist and a martial arts class.” Piper hoped they would understand what that meant.

  “That’s a great combo. I’m a healer myself, and my sister over there has a brawler type of class. What’s the plan when we reach the undead cult?”

  “I’m going to go inside and make them surrender.”

  “That’s not much of a plan.”

  Hector, who was trotting ahead of them with his lizard, turned and laughed. “Trust me. It will work.”

  Xander frowned. “Do you just expect me to sit around like an old stump? I’ll tell you right now that’s not happening.”

  “I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Piper said. “And you could always make sure none of them get away.”

  Lydia shook her head. “Typical new aspirant with a gold badge. She thinks she can take on the world.”

  Piper didn’t respond and kept following Hector. After a minute, Xander seemed to get the message and began to converse with his sister in a low tone.

  The surrounding streets slowly transitioned from mostly residential to large commercial buildings as they neared the river. Warehouses dotted the streets, and the stench of rotting fish hung in the air.

  When they reached the waterfront, Hector took a hard turn and moved along the shoreline. Only when he reached a run-down area near the outskirts of town did he slow down .

  In front of them loomed a tall wooden building. At some point in the past, it had partially burned down, and the roof gaped open near the corner. Scorch marks blackened the walls, and the windows gaped empty.

  “Is this the place?” Piper asked.

  “This is where the cult is supposedly hiding.”

  “Great.” Piper took a deep breath. “I’ll be right back.”

  Xander moved to stop her. “Going in alone is an excellent way to get yourself killed. We’re a group, so let’s work out a plan using all of our talents.”

  “No, thank you.”

  Without waiting for him to protest, she cast [Wraithskin] and disappeared from sight. Lydia gasped while Xander facepalmed.

  Cloaked in her illusion, Piper hurried forward. It was already nearing lunchtime, and she still had to track down the rot summoner. If the healer at the hospital thought her group members would only survive until sundown, then she was rapidly running out of time.

  Piper reached an open window next to the front door and climbed through. On the far side of the building, a single torch burned, casting a pool of light around a young woman in armor struggling against the chains binding her to a stone altar. A group of at least twenty people were clustered around her as another in dark robes mumbled incantations.

  The sight of other crumpled bodies scattered around the room made her slow her pace. She quickly counted at least five fresh dead bodies scattered around the room. Their badges had a sapling engraved on them, which marked the corpses as wayfarers. As she watched, a pair of cultists carried another corpse to the altar.

  She clearly wasn’t the first one to attempt this quest today. Another group had already tried and failed to clear out the cult. And all but the girl on the altar had met their doom.

  This might not be as easy as I thought.

  Piper headed toward an alcove on the far side of the room where she could observe the cult a little longer. But when she reached it, she realized bodies had been stacked to the ceiling inside.

  Flies buzzed around the pile of putrid flesh and bones, and the smell was nearly unbearable. These must be victims of the cult, most likely to be raised later as undead.

  Glancing around, she took in the rest of the warehouse. Wooden boards covered the floor, while the ceiling had broad beams crossing it. A door on the far side indicated another room, which might have more cultists in it. In the corner, a staircase led to the second floor.

  The cultists began to chant as the one in dark robes produced a dagger from a pouch. The metal almost seemed to devour the light and reminded her far too much of the vampire’s swords.

  Piper realized they were about to sacrifice this girl for whatever dark reason. If she were going to do something, she needed to do it now.

  Unlimbering her meteor mace, she fed some of the chain through her hand. Then she crept forward, weapon at the ready. For a second, she considered summoning Gorebark, but that might bring the nuns down on her immediately.

  Except this time, they’d be looking for an aspirant named Anna. Still, she didn’t want the others to be rounded up by the inquisitor. She barely knew them, but they were trying to help her.

  Swinging the metal sphere over her head, she smiled as her spell muffled the whistling noise. With a cry of exertion, she released it; the weapon sailed toward the robed figure.

  Just as the man brought down the dagger to stab the chained-up aspirant, the meteor hammer crashed into his chest. He let out a yelp as the impact sent him flying backward. The blade tumbled from his fingers and skittered across the floor.

  At first, none of the other cultists reacted, staring in shock at the robed man who had been sent hurtling toward the wall. Only when she cast [Shifting Veil] to create a copy of herself nearby did the cultists finally seem to clue in to what was happening.

  She tweaked the illusion of herself to make it look as if it were speaking. “Surrender, and I promise that you won’t be harmed.”

  At her words, the cultists scattered from the altar. A blast of fire magic from a woman disintegrated her illusion, while others charged in her general direction.

  They can’t say I didn’t give them the option to surrender.

  Notifications appeared in Piper’s vision, but she ignored them for now. She was outnumbered almost 20 to 1, and she had to focus on the battle. After all, her illusion spell wouldn’t last forever.

  Piper whipped her weapon back before hurling it at her next target. The chain clanked as the hammer’s head sailed through the air. It slammed into a man’s chest, dropping him like a stone.

  She moved through the cultist’s panicked ranks, whirling her meteor hammer above her head. With her strength and the length of her chain, she could strike targets half a dozen paces away.

  With each release of her meteor hammer, she took out more of the cultists. Most died instantly on impact, but a handful survived with grievous wounds. Maybe if they were too incapacitated to move, she could force some of them to surrender after all.

  Piper reeled the hammer’s head back in, already focusing on another cultist nearby. Then the fire mage with blond hair stepped forward, twisting flames arcing between her hands. The fire pulsed before exploding outward in an intense fireball.

  Screams filled the air as the fire consumed other nearby cultists. The wall of burning flames rushed toward Piper.

  All she had time to do was turn her back to the firestorm and hold her breath. The blaze washed over her, burning holes in her clothing and searing her skin. Apparently, the spell was too strong for [Infernal Resistance] to counter. To make matters worse, her illusion shattered, breaking apart into shards of light.

  Before the pain even reached her brain, she activated [Demonic Blood]. Her skin glowed like molten steel as the damage repaired itself. With a shake of her head, she pushed down the stinging sensation and gathered up her meteor hammer.

  The blast of fire had killed nearly a dozen cultists. Their seared bodies remained curled up on the floor in poses speaking of unbearable agony. But while it had killed many of the caster’s allies, the spell had succeeded in revealing Piper’s location.

  As she watched, the robed man staggered to his feet and joined two other casters near the altar. The female mage had flames dancing in her hands, while another man with a twisted body had dark green currents of magic swirling around his body.

  She quickly identified the casters, and they all came back as ‘???’. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d first hoped.

  The man with the green flows of magic extended his hand; the energy burst forth, shooting across the room.

  Piper instinctively dodged to the side but quickly realized the spell hadn’t been intended for her. The magic poured into the aspirant corpses on the floor and the mound of bodies piled in the alcove. A moment later, the dead began to twitch and groan.

  Lifting her hammer, she advanced on the casters. She wanted to end this quickly before the undead joined the battle. Otherwise, she’d have to face a horde of zombies again. And she had no desire to experience that a second time.