"He can make runes," Adrine spoke with a bit of shock, as he looked at the circle made by Mink. The inside of the circle was filled with strange patterns, and just as I was about to touch, it suddenly lit up with real fire. It wasn’t cold like hellfire; the flames were warm and comforting, just like a campfire, but without wood.

Yellow flames lit the cave in warm light, filling everyone with warmth. Emi quickly came up and began removing her shoes, sitting close to the fire. I looked at Mink, who was also sitting in front of the flames, the flames reflecting in his obsidian black eyes.

"Did you teach him runes?" Adrine asked me, his eyes glowing with curiosity.

"Not really, I just gave him study material, he learned it himself," I replied casually. Obviously, I’m not gonna tell him about Mink’s origin.

"Oh, you know, rune masters are really great assets for a clan. Currently, there are fewer than a hundred rune smiths who even make the basic runes. That’s when they learned from a young age, and the runes they use are the most simplified versions of the original ancient runes. The rune that your pet just made was an ancient rune, and he was able to control the rune output so precisely... he is purely a genius." Adrine continued praising Mink like a crazy person. I hadn’t seen him getting so excited since we met.

"You know, according to what you said, that he learned it by himself. He might be able to become a rune master or even a grandmaster if we teach him properly." His voice became more and more excited as his golden eyes looked at Mink, like he was some kind of walking treasure trove.

I didn’t stop him from blabbering, because I got to know from his words, how much of a weight a rune master carries, maybe I could turn Mink into one of them. It would be nice to have a personal grandmaster rune Smith by your side for a casual show off.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a terrifying roar erupted outside, causing the entire cave to shake and as more rocks began to fall at the entrance.

I panicked a little, but quickly came to my senses, as Emi hugged my arms. I looked at her, our eyes met, and I didn’t need to say anything to her. She quickly calmed down, knowing this wasn’t the first time; the previous night and the night before that, all of them had been horrifying, but we survived. There wasn’t really a need for her to worry while I was here.

"What was that?" This time, I was the one to ask.

"Don’t worry, it wasn’t for us, let’s get out of here." Ron stood from his place, ready to move out of the cave, without really answering me clearly.

I turned to Adrine, wanting to know if he had anything to say.

"Don’t look at me, his senses are way better than anyone, I know," he shrugged, standing up with his feather fan.

Ron shifted to the side, making way for him, and Adrine waved his fan lightly, causing all the rocks to burst out of the cave, clearing the way instantly.

"Hehe... all done." Adrine turned to look at Emi standing behind and winked at her.

I ignored his shamelessness for a second, as my eyes stared at the sky full of dark clouds, but there was no rain or thunder anymore. Everything had turned silent as we stepped out of the cave, and a disgusting, rotten scent penetrated our noses.

Emi quickly covered her nose, controlling herself from vomiting. I wasn’t really bothered by this stench, mostly because of my huge subset of demonic talents.

When I glanced at Adrine, he was also pinching his nose, while waving his fan to get rid of this stench.

On the other hand, Ron wasn’t doing any of that, staring at the ground where he had the battle with that demonic ape.

I followed his gaze with curiosity, and what I saw made me pause for a second.

"Waaa..."

Suddenly, Emi began vomiting; she was unable to take on the sight in front of us.

The place where those monkeys’ bodies were lying was now getting cleaned by the half-rotten people, or we say the undead.

There were several human skeletons, with some of them having half-rotten flesh on their body. They were eating the corpses of the monkeys, while some of them were busy devouring that giant monkey’s corpse.

Their bodies were dripping with blood, and some of them even had parasitic worms living in their bodies, as they moved around eating corpses in the surroundings. That thick stench wasn’t coming from the corpses but from them. I hid Emi behind my back, blocking her view so she won’t see this disgusting sight again.

"What the fuck~ no one told me that we are dealing with an overlord with an undead army," Adrine complained in a low voice, hiding behind Ron. He didn’t look afraid of these undead but disgusted by their rotting smell and appearance. Well, I too won’t be willing to punch these disgusting creatures.

"So, what’s now?" I turned to Ron and asked in a low voice.

"Ricky~"

Before I could hear the answer from Ron, Emi called, pointing her fingers at a small group of rotten skeletons.

When I turned to look at them, I saw the half-eaten face of an old lady, which was quite similar to my dear grandmother, and beside her was a skeleton that was crawling over its hand as it fought for the flesh of monkeys.

"Grandma, and Grandpa..." She said with half-teary eyes.

"Okay, it seems they’re dead, let’s go back, we need to tell the mom," I said, as I was long thinking about them being a demon or some kind of shapeshifter creatures, but being a low-class undead wasn’t bad either. It’s not like they haven’t lived their life happily. If not for the mom, I wouldn’t have even come here in the first place. Unlike Mom, who was still struggling through her life, they had gotten a much better life in the mountains.