"So what you're saying is that you found the way out, but it is teeming with over a hundred undeads, and not only that, but the undeads are apparently weak, so we can take them because they're weaker than anything we've encountered so far?" Ms present threw Damon a skeptical look.
"That's does not sound very believable. Say, how does this your 'scouting' ability even work?" she inquired.
After Damon deduced the cause of how the undeads looked slow in his perspective, he briefed the women about how he scouted ahead and found a way out of the Ashen Deadlands. And how he apparently 'sensed' that there were over a hundred undeads blocking the way, and that the undeads were weaker than them.
Damon sighed.
"I know, it sounds unbelievable to me too."
Then he scowled. "But why the hell would I tell you how my ability works?"
"How else do you expect us to believe you?" Mira chipped in with a venemous glare.
'The hell is wrong with this bitch?' Damon frowned. Mira had been getting increasingly hostile ever since it came to light that Damon killing that blue tiger cub was the reason her party had gotten kamikaze 'ed by it's entire clan.
Damon realized the best solution was to just ignored her, so he turned to Ms present.
"Oh about that!" Damon smiled coldly. "You guys need not believe me, I can go just by myself if that's the case."
"Surely you jest, little brother, of course we'll come with you." Ms present effortless diffused the tension. After all Damon had proved quite resourceful during their time together. And it'll be idiotic to let him go when he had apparently found a way out no matter how unbelievable it sounded.
"Wise choice." Damon nodded and stood up. "I'll be back in a few minutes." he said to the two women, as he headed outside.
Where was he going you ask? Well he was going to get his egg. Before a confrontation, Damon doesn't leave it on his person in fear of it getting broken. Instead he would stash it somewhere close, then go back and get it after they death with whatever fiend they were fighting.
And again, in the past few days, the egg had been leeching oof Damon's aether. Like any regular transmigrated person, Damon didn't even need to question why that was happening.
"There you are." Damon muttered as he unhooked a makeshift basket from a pole, then opened it's top. The egg lay nestled inside the basket.
He hurried back to their hideout.
"You and this egg... do invite me to your wedding." Ms present teased.
Damon had been holding on to that egg for the past two weeks as if it were his soul.
"Well if you're ready, let's go." Damon ignored her jab.
The three set out, and soon reached the point where Damon's reflection had seen the far patch of greenery.
"By the gods." Mira looked at the scene in awe, or perhaps shock.
Meanwhile with Ms present, "Little brother, this big sister is proud of you." she gave him a thumbs up.
'Aiiiish, this annoying brat.' Damon felt like pulling his hair out.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ms present continued. "Let's go on."
The trio slowly descended the slope until it started to even out.
"Wait!" Damon whispered. "Any further and they might notice us."
"You better be right about their strength little brother, or if I die, this big sister will haunt you forever." Ms present whispered back.
Damon rolled his eyes. Even if he was indeed wrong, he doubted Ms present would die here. She was extremely cunning, maybe even more so than him. If push came to shove, and they were in a position none would envy, he was sure Ms would readily sacrifice both he and Mira for a chance to escape. And not only her, Damon himself would readily do so.
"Mira, make me a long sword this time." Ms present whispered to Mira, before turning to Damon. "How about you?"
Damon's sword had lost it's edge and looked like it would break with the slightest bit of pressure after the earlier bout with the undead ape.
But Damon shook his head.
"No thanks. God knows, I've been wanting to punch some faces since the past two weeks." he muttered with a somewhat irritated face.
"Ohohoho, I'm flattered." Ms present let out a chuckle as she covered her face with her both palms.
Damon looked at her weirdly.
'I see now, she's bat shit crazy.' he concluded.
"But little brother, since you're the one who figured them out, we'll let you do the honours of confronting them first." Ms present suggested with a smile.
"..."
'I change my mind, this cunning bitch!' Damon thought at a loss for words. She just wanted him to test the waters first. If the undeads were indeed weak, then all is well. And if Damon was wrong, then he could at least be a distraction for her to retreat.
It took but a moment to compose himself.
"No, why don't you go first my lady, a gentleman always lets ladies go first." Damon countered.
"I insist." her smile grew chilling.
After a short while of cold staring contest, Damon finally relented.
"Tch fine." he clicked his tongue.
"Not so hard now was it?" Ms present smile grew warmer, but it still didn't reach her eyes, just like always.
Damon hung his makeshift basket around his shoulders, then left the two women, and continued down towards the undeads. He walked brazenly, without even trying to hide his presence.
About twenty meters away from where he left the two, he sighted an undead almost at the same time that it saw him.
The undead was a boy that looked no older than Damon himself
"Mraaauughhh!" It roared upon sighting him. As if calling for back up, many more undeads began to show up in Damon's view.
"Ahhh, let's get this over with." Damon cracked his neck.
Damon activated aether reinforcement, enhancing his entire being with aether, then burst forward in a sprint towards the first undead. He didn't want to give them undeads a chance to cluster.
The undead swung a wide hook, but Damon effortlessly ducked under it's assault, then sprang up with an uppercut to it's jaw, before sending it flying with a roundhouse kick.
"BAM!" the impact from Damon's leg hitting the undead's chest sounded through the air.
"Hehehehe, my theory was correct." Damon couldn't help but chuckle. "They are fucking weak!" he sidestepped a punch, before delivering a punch of his own to another undead's head.
The next few minutes felt like a blur to Damon. He flew amidst the undeads like a hurricane. He broke necks, tore limbs, weaved under attacks, and even headbutt.
"Hahahaha! This is what I'm talking about!" Damon laughed like a maniac as he swept an undead off it's feet.
"BAM!" he stomped on the undead's head decimating it's skull and whatever remained of it's brain.
But just then, as Damon was enjoying himself, javelins made of ice hurtled down from the sky tearing through the undeads with pinpoint precision.
And at another side, a black blur had begun cutting down undeads with impeccable speed using an ice sword.
'So they finally decided to come.' Damon observed the two women.
Damon ignored them and turned all his focus to eliminating as many undeads as possible. After being on the weaker side ever since arriving in this world, it felt exhilarating to finally be on the stronger side for once.
Not that the 'weak' undeads they were fighting were actually weak. Damon only classified them as weak because he could see their movements, and that each of the undead here was far weaker than the ones they had encountered before.
But truth was, the undeads here weren't actually weak. In fact they were still stronger and faster than than Damon himself. The only reason why it looked like Damon was stronger and faster was because, technique and intelligence mattered.
Which none of the undeads seemed to process.
Damon caught a hand swinging at his face, then proceeded to twist it, until the undead it belonged to had it's back facing him.
"BAM!" Damon's leg landed on the undead's shoulder, before he viciously pulled at the hand still in his grasp.
A tearing sound echoed through the air, but it was lost in a cacophony of other sounds.
After tearing the arm off, Damon delivered a brutal kick to the undead's skull, sending it flying. From the Damon catching the undead's hand, to him sending the undead flying, it hadn't taken more than two seconds.
Time blurred as the trio kept fighting,ten minutes, twenty, forty, but the undead seemed never ending.
"Piece of shit." Damon muttered as he kicked a fallen undead sending it crashing onto the incoming ones.
"Little brother, why do these bastards seem never ending. I thought you said there were only over a hundred." The haggard figure of Ms present appeared beside him. Damon himself didn't look good, he was all covered in all kinds of fluids, filth, and even some of his own blood.
Damon raised an eyebrow as Mira also came with a questioning look.
"So what? I said over a hundred, there might be a thousand or a million for all I know."
"..."
"..."
*********
Elder_Spectre(furious): " You!"
Reader(confused): "Eh?"
Elder_Spectrestill furious): "Why do you keep reading but never write a review?"
Reader(sweating bullets):"Sorry author-san, I'll do so from now on!"