Why? Our Sakura stone… then our village.

A woman was walking alone on a snowy path, tightly wrapped up in an old and torn up cloak. She trembled as the blistering wind crashed into her body, her skin turning even more blue than before.

Why were they all taken away from me?

She clutched an empty blanket in her hands, one that once held someone barely larger than her arm. Now, there was nothing left except a small wooden toy that would never be used again.

I'm sorry. I couldn't keep you warm.

The woman tried to take another step forward, however, her legs gave out from under her. A single weak sob escaped from her lips as she rolled up into a ball, trying to preserve any heat her frozen body still had left.

Cold…

The white snow began to cover her body. Her vision, already blurry, began to fade completely, as the last stream of sunlight disappeared over the horizon, giving way for the night sky to take over.

So… cold…

The woman closed her eyes, accepting her fate. She felt the bone-chilling cold start to reduce and a gentle warmth began to spread across her body.

Please, take me away… from here…

But she didn't seem to be freezing as much anymore. The blistering cold started to disappear completely and her body felt a lot warmer than before. She felt something warm wrap around her and lift her off of the ground.

The woman opened her heavy eyelids, her vision still blurry. But in the hazy winterland, she could make out a small pale face looking at her with white hair blowing in the wind.

"H-hello! Who are you? Do you know where we are?" the girl asked her.

What are you… doing here?

"Um… I don't know. I was asleep and then I was here. I'm Reiya, by the way," the girl said, putting her hands on the woman's cheeks to warm them up.

So… warm…

"Let me help you stand up. Where is your village? I can help you get back," Reiya sputtered out, looking around. Instead of answering, the woman grabbed Reiya's waist and pulled herself closer to her.

I got no one else to return to… so please… stay with me… you're warm…

"O-of course! Don't worry! We'll find you help! I'm sure there is another village nearby and we can help you!" Reiya exclaimed, holding the woman tighter.

Thank you. I have forgotten what warmth felt like.

"Wait wait wait! Don't go! Please, tell me something!" Reiya begged. However, the woman simply smiled and shook her head.

Goodbye.

And before Reiya could say anything else, the woman's body had disappeared, leaving behind a few glowing blue particles. They began to move towards Reiya and were quickly absorbed into her skin.

If only we met… when I was alive…

Clara slowly opened her eyes as the first rays of sunlight shined through the window and poked her in the face. She blinked a few times before stretching her arms and yawning. Then she paused and frowned.

Weird… something is missing. Clara thought, looking at her hands. It took her a few seconds until she finally realized what was wrong, or rather, what wasn't.

I didn't have a nightmare this time!

Clara got brought out of her thoughts as she felt something shift next to her. She looked down to see Reiya's head next to her chest, with the ghost girl's hands gasping tightly to her shirt. Her white hair now had a slight pink tint to it and flowed down over the edge of the bed. Clara raised her hand and hugged Reiya.

Thank you. Thank you for protecting me, even in my dreams.

"Mhn… miss… Clara?" Reiya mumbled, stirring from her sleep.

"Um… good… good morning Reiya," Clara sputtered out, pulling her hands away. Reiya looked up at Clara and then pushed her head into Clara's chest again.

"Five more minutes."

"W-wait, Reiya! The wave is in a few hours! We have to go get ready!" Clara protested, trying to shake Reiya awake. However, the ghost girl refused and grabbed even tighter onto Clara's shirt.

"Mhm… warm," Reiya mumbled.

"Reiyaaaaaaa!"

"Morning, Cooking Hero," Ellrona greeted Clara as she and Reiya walked into the controller room, with Reiya being almost uncomfortably close to Clara. Laura was there as well, glancing over the map and in her battle outfit.

Why is she- oh right, pretty much everyone found out about her.

"And here I was wondering if I needed to drag you two out of the room or not," Laura smiled. "We're doing last minute preparations for the wave. Elora gathered a bunch of knights for you so we're about to arrive at the palace so you can pick them up."

"R-right! I forgot that I had to teleport them this time around," Clara mumbled, quickly scrolling through her status screen.

"Since the next wave will be on Ground Zero this time we'll have a lot of open land to start with, unless we get thrown into the forest," Laura started, pointing to the map.

"If you do, we can provide aerial support. I have 2 cloud V's on standby with artillery. We can provide support fire and help you locate the boss," Ellrona replied.

"Wait, you're coming with us?" Clara inquired, looking at Laura.

"Well, gotta be prepared if another hero shows up again. This way I'll be able to help out," Laura explained.

"Right. Thanks," Clara mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Don't look so down. You'll be fine. Let's go visit the queen and pick up an army along the way, alright?" Laura smiled, leading Clara and Reiya out of the room.

"And make sure to keep a portal set here just in case you need to teleport out! And stay safe!" Ellrona yelled after them before Laura closed the door.

"Nervous?" Laura asked, glancing at Clara.

"A bit," she mumbled in response.

"Don't worry. You have me and big sister Laura. And a lot of knights to help out too," Reiya exclaimed, smiling and leading the way.

"That is true. However, the queen didn't look quite pleased last time I saw her," Laura mumbled.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Clara inquired.

"Well, she said something about a knife disappearing without a trace and she thought you died because of it?" Laura recalled, glancing into the distance.

Knife disappear- oh… oh no. Elora is gonna kill me. Wait, that reminds me.

"Portal knife," Clara mumbled, summoning a knife and tossing it onto her room as they walked past the living quarters. "Alright, I'm ready to leave."

Laura pushed her hand into the hard stone wall of the royal palace and watched the door to Elora's room open up. The queen was sitting at her desk behind several stacks of papers, the room almost as messy as it was last time before Clara cleaned up. Papers were once again scattered all over with coffee cups stacked in a crooked tower. A loud scribbling was heard reverbing through the room as Elora continued to scribble away, seemingly ignoring the trio.

Laura coughed once, but there seemed to be no reaction. She coughed again, louder this time, causing Elora to jump and spill some coffee on herself.

"Huh? W-who is it?!" she exclaimed, standing up from behind the papers with a shortsword in hand. But once she saw who had entered the room, her expression softened and she put her sword down. But before Clara could say anything, Elora glared at Clara and slammed her hands on the desk.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" she screamed, running up to Clara. On her way, Elora grabbed a newspaper and rolled it up into a makeshift bat. "Not only do you disappear in the middle of the night, with a badly written note, but then you proceed to almost get yourself killed!"

"Wait wait wait! We don't need to resort to violence," Laura exclaimed, picking up the queen and holding her in place. "I have already lectured her and I'm sure she learned her lesson."

"Learned her lesson my ass!" Elora yelled, squirming in Laura's arms. "I'm here every day trying to keep the world from collapsing, and she just recklessly decided to run off and get herself killed! What was I supposed to do if she died?! We barely have the resources to summon another hero and almost no time to do so!"

Elora continued to yell, but Clara wasn't listening anymore. She looked down at the ground in shame, seemingly shrinking under Elora's glare.

The second Laura put Elora down, the girl began to approach Clara, however, Reiya quickly stepped in between the two, spreading her arms to guard her friend.

"Don't hurt Miss Clara. She's still recovering and is going to fight your wave in a bit," the ghost girl reasoned.

"And you are?" Elora inquired, looking at her up and down.

"This is Reiya. She's Clara's new companion I told you about," Laura explained.

"I see. My name is Elora, and I'm the queen, as well as the representative of this island," Elora introduced herself.

"I'm Reiya. I eat souls," Reiya replied with a smile and shook Elora's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Ah… I see," Elora replied, taken aback by Reiya's blunt introduction. "I hope you can keep an eye on Clara from now on to keep her out of trouble if Laura isn't around."

"Of course! I won't let Miss Clara out of my sight!" Reiya exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Clara.

"Laura, you stay back. I need to talk to you about a few matters. You two wait outside until Sherone shows up so you can pick him up with the army," Elora commanded, turning to Laura. "And make sure you come back here after the wave! I want a detailed report."

"Alright. I won't let you down. Portal knife," Clara replied, laying down a small knife onto Elora's desk and quickly leaving the room with Reiya in tow.

"Well, that could have gone worse, right, Miss Clara?" Reiya asked once they were in the hallway. When she didn't receive an answer, she looked back at Clara. The girl already leaned onto a wall, raised her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She was swaying back and forth, her breathing labored and her body trembling. Her face grew notably pale as she stared into nothingness.

Oh god, 10 minutes. Oh god! Oh no! I-I don't think I have enough levels. Should I run down into the forest? Maybe get a last minute kill? I should get potions, see how they affect me. Those can buff stats, right? O-or maybe magic buffs? Th-they had the shield. Oh god, 9 minutes, what do I do?!

Her breathing became panicked and her swaying grew worse as the chair under her began to creak. Clara felt like her heart might leap out of her chest as her body continued to tremble even worse than before.

"Miss Clara, it's going to be ok," she heard someone next to her say. Warm, soft arms wrapped around her, calming her down. Her body relaxed and her heart began to beat slower and slower. Clara closed her eyes and leaned onto her friend. "You're strong enough. If anything happens, I'll be there as well. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

"Thank you," Clara smiled, relaxing completely. They sat there for a few minutes, leaning on each other, as the timer ticked down. "Do you want me to make something for you when we get back?"

"Can we try petsa?" Reiya's face lit up and Clara felt her bounce up and down with excitement. "Chef guy cooked it when you were out but I couldn't try any cause it would phase out of me."

"What, he's not 'Mean Chef Guy' anymore?" Clara laughed, turning her head to Reiya.

"We get along when we cook something, and we were both worried about you. But he was on the first search squad that went out to find you, while I went with Big Sister Laura," Reiya explained.

"I'm glad you guys are getting along," Clara sighed in relief. The two stayed there for a few more minutes, the only sound between them being their own breath. Clara smiled as she thought about the girl next to her. They hadn't been together for very long, but Clara felt like she could trust Reiya with her life. Her presence alone gave her a feeling of safety, something she desperately craved while in this scary world.

"Hey, you two. Fancy meeting you here," a voice called out to them. Clara opened her eyes and looked up, seeing a knight dressed in white and blue armor. He was leaning on a white tower shield with a golden cross pattern and a few gems around the edges. The knight flipped open the front part of the helmet, revealing a familiar grinning face.

"Hi Shield Man!" Reiya exclaimed, smiling at the man. "Nice new shield."

"It is, isn't it? Cost an arm and a leg, but being a former hero party member has its perks. It's actually even better than my last one," Sherone added, tapping the sturdy metal.

"How so?" Clara inquired, looking over the shield.

"Well, why don't I show you?" he smiled, pouring mana into it. Clara felt a warm sensation spread around her body as her HP bar began to glow.

"Now I can not only defend but also administer emergency healing!" Sherone bragged, attaching his shield to his back. "And I still have the barrier and defense buffs so it's all good. It isn't as good as what Izuma or even April would do, but it'll get the job done."

"Izuma? Was he the wizard guy that was with you and Hol?" Clara asked.

"Yep. Great guy. Got a bit of an ego but pretty reliable when it comes to it," Sherone smiled, remembering some fond memories. Suddenly his smile disappeared and he glanced at Clara's left arm.

"How is the… you know…" he muttered, pointing to the bandaged area under Clara's sleeve. She brushed her hand over it and sighed.

"It still stings a bit but I should be fine for now," she said, tugging down on her sleeve. Sherone nodded and turned towards the door.

"Well, let's go. We got a wave to get to. Let's get a drink or something after this," he said, a friendly smile returning to his face as if it never left. Clara looked at Reiya and saw that the ghost girl was smiling at her as if encouraging her. Clara sighed, but a smile crept onto her face as she was led out of the building.

"Don't look so tense, you did fine last time," Sherone comforted Clara as she paced back and forth. "Your nervousness is gonna make the troops uneasy."

"I can't help it! Hol isn't here to help out if something happens. This will be my first solo wave."

"Well, you aren't exactly on your own. You have an army behind you," Sherone commented.

"And you have me, Miss Clara!" Reiya exclaimed, hugging Clara from behind. Clara smiled and patted the ghost girl on the head a few times before turning back to Sherone.

"I know you guys are here to support me, but sadly we don't have any vassal weapons right now, so…" Clara mumbled.

"I guess you're right. But what we lack in power, we make up for in quantity and the finest artillery and weaponry!" Sherone exclaimed, pointing at the army behind him. However, he noticed that Clara wasn't convinced. "You'll do fine. You know what, how about you, me and a few other friends go on a fishing trip after this? I know a great spot."

Clara thought about this for a second and shrugged.

"I'll think about it. I'll have to see if I can fit it into my schedule," Clara mumbled. Sherone smiled and patted her on the back.

"Don't worry about it too much, just give it some thought."

Clara nodded and glanced at her status screen to check the timer.

"1 minute," she told Sherone, who nodded and walked towards the troops behind Clara.

"Alright everyone, let's go over the mission. We will be teleported with the Cooking Hero to a random location. Our primary goal is to evacuate any citizens in the area and keep the weaker monsters from spreading. Leave the boss to the hero and don't try to do anything stupid to look cool. Our main job is to keep casualties to a minimum. Understood?!"

"YES SIR!" A harmony of voices replied as the army prepared their weapons. A few adventurers were in the mix but they were kept on the backline behind the more experienced and armored out people.

"Alright, let's do this quickly and return home for tasty food," Reiya whispered in Clara's ear, drooling a little at the thought of food, just as the countdown hit zero and a bright light began to surround everyone.

In just a moment the gathered people disappeared, leaving no trace behind.

Somewhere far away, another bright light appeared, alongside an entire army of soldiers. Sherone quickly surveyed the area and found a small farmer town nearby.

"Everybody, 3 o'clock, set up a perimeter and defend! Go go go!" Sherone commanded the soldiers. As they began to run towards the town, a large crack split the sky, turning it into a crimson-red hellscape with clouds twisting and turning chaotically. Monsters began to jump out of the wave.

The monsters were small, human-shaped mushrooms dressed in knight armor. A couple held knives with light armor that made them faster, while a few others were dressed in heavier armor with random heavy weapons.

Far behind the army was a large golem with burning green eyes, a large cleaver in his hand and light armor around him. He was sitting on top of a burning salamander and swinging his cleaver around like a madman.

"Alright, how do we proceed?" Sherone asked, raising his shield and pulling out a mace from under its handle.

"We need to get to the boss as fast as possible so that I can kill it and end the wave," Clara responded. "Can you clear me a path while Reiya supports us with magic from behind?"

"So we're bashing through. Outa the way!" Sherone yelled, summoning a barrier around the trio and bashing his way through the hoard of mushrooms. They tried to stab into the barrier, but their weapons bounced off with ease. However, things weren't as easy as one would wish.

As soon as Sherone slammed his barrier into the heavily armored knights, his advance came to a halt. He tried to push it further, but the armored knights pushed back harder. The ones that surrounded them raised their weapons and began to bash them against the barrier mindlessly, cracking it.

"Get ready, the barrier is coming down!" Sherone warned. Not even a second later the barrier disappeared and a bright light formed in front of Sherone's shield.

A loud explosion rang out, blasting the heavy armored knights away and clearing up the space.

"We got it from here. Knife Rain, Crescent Slash!" Clara called out her skills and sent dozens of knives ahead of her, followed by a burst of blue energy. To her surprise, the knives easily slashed through the armored troops, tearing them to pieces in seconds. Before their bodies even dropped to the floor, the crescent slash swept them away, destroying their bodies to bits.

What's going on? Why are they dying so quickly?

Clara dodged one of the mushroom knights that rushed her from the side and stabbed her knife through the monster's torso. Her eyes widened as her knife easily burrowed through the monster and came out the other side.

She pushed the monster away and activated Erst Slash to clear up the monsters in front of her to buy some time as she checked her status.

I thought I had to be level 70 to face this wave since level 35 knights managed to face the first one. So why does it seem too easy even though I'm only level 66? Well, I won't complain if the wave ends up easy.

She continued to slash away at the monsters as she moved forward. She checked on Reiya and Sherone. The pair didn't seem to be struggling too much. Sherone was swinging his mace around and bashing it into the heads of the monsters, while Reiya picked up one of the magic staffs from one of the monsters and was sending off magic bullets left and right, while also sending a few into the monsters next to Clara.

Now sure that everyone else was doing okay, she looked around to try and find the boss. It wasn't hard due to its size towering over the rest of his minions, so she quickly spotted him in the distance, quickly advancing towards them while stomping over his own troops

"Guys! The boss is coming this way! Erst Throw!" Clara exclaimed, swapping out her knife for the dynamite knife and throwing it at the boss. The knife hit the boss and exploded, knocking it off of the salamander. The monster continued to run towards them, but Reiya shot out both its eyes with magic pellets and Sherone finished it off by bashing its head with his mace.

Clara jumped onto the corpse and summoned 'Second Lid' to get even higher and get a better vantage point for the boss. The monster rose from the ground, knocking away several armored monsters to the side. It glared at Clara with its bright green eyes and brought down its cleaver onto her.

Clara jumped out of the way just before the knife hit her and swapped back to the Crescent Wolf Fang Knife and ran towards the boss' legs. It raised one of its legs to try to stomp on Clara, but she quickly ran up to the other leg and through it. The golem roared out in pain, collapsing to the ground as its foot was separated from its body. Clara didn't wait for it to recover and wrapped it up in heavy chains before showering it with knives once again.

The monster dropped to the ground and groaned in agony. Half of its left side was now destroyed, crumbling to pieces from the damage. It tried to pick up its knife again, but the chains held it firmly in place. Clara looked upon the wounded creature and walked up to it, raising her knife to put it out of its misery. With one last slash, the head of the titan dropped to the ground.

The wave timer stopped and the sky began to change back. Clara sat down on the corpse as the monsters began to flee towards a weaker target but were shot down by the soldiers surrounding the village. With the wave gone, the monsters stopped spawning and the knights quickly took care of the small fry leftover. Clara decided to check her weapon stats to find out what was going on.

Crescent Wolf Fang Knife

abilities unlocked equip bonus: "Crescent Slash", +6 agility

special effect: Lunar Blessing (weak)

mastery level: 100

Huh, it seems a bit over twice as strong as when I first got… it…

Right! I have upgrade methods unlike the knights!

So while they would need to be level 70, I could pass with a lower level as long as I use my upgrade methods. I didn't have to exhaust myself so much in the forest. Dang it! I mean, it's great to come overleveled, but I should still take some time to rest.

"Miss Clara, can I eat its soul?" Reiya inquired, pointing to the monster Clara was sitting on.

"Sure, go ahead. I'll see what I get from it in the process."

Clara picked up the armored mushroom head and turned it over in her arms.

This feels weirdly not that disgusting as when I was trying to dissect the vultures.

…

I hope that's because this is just a giant mushroom and I'm not being desensitized to murdering things. Well, time to see what it gives me.

Unfortunately for Clara, the monster didn't seem to give all that much.

[Requirements for the Royal Mushroom Knight Knife have been met met]

[Requirements for the Royal Mushroom Knight Carapace Pot have been met]

Royal Mushroom Knight Knife

abilities locked equip bonus: +10 attack

special effect: Poison Knife (medium)

Royal Mushroom Knight Carapace Pot

abilities locked equip bonus: poison resistance (medium)

special effect: poison spore burst

Both forms didn't have any good stats, easily outshined by the knife she already used. Even the minions didn't give much.

[Requirements for the Light Armored Mushroom Knight pot have been met]

[Requirements for the Heavy Armored Mushroom Knight pot have been met]

Light Armored Mushroom Knight Pot

abilities locked equip bonus: 3 agility, 2 defense

Heavy Armored Mushroom Knight Pot

abilities locked equip bonus: 7 defense

Dang it, I wanted more easy stats! Well, I guess I'll take what I can get and… wait, did the royal mushroom say poison?!

Clara's eyes widened and she leaped away from the boss monster corpse just in time for its chest to explode, with thick green smoke pouring out into the air. A few nearby knights quickly jumped away, but unfortunately Reiya and Clara were still within the blast radius.

Clara swapped to the Royal Mushroom Knight Carapace Pot for its poison resistance bonus and ran over to Reiya as fast as she could. The ghost girl didn't seem to react at all as the poisonous cloud surrounded her, as she continued to look at something on the ground.

"Reiya! We have to move and get you some antidote before the poison starts to hurt you, come on!" Clara yelled, trying to drag her away by the arm. To her surprise, the girl didn't budge at all, and instead kneeled down as her entire body began to glow.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" Reiya suddenly screamed in a deep, booming voice, startling Clara. The ghost girl was now covered in glowing white armor similar to the one that the boss monster wore, and had a large mushroom hat on her head that materialize out of nowhere. She picked up the cleaver the boss monster dropped and raised it into the air over her head. "THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE THIRST FOR BATTLE AND BLOOD!"

"R-Reiya?" Clara stuttered out, unsure of what to do. Reiya turned her head so fast that her neck would have snapped if she was not part mushroom now.

"A human! Come at thee and brandish your weapon! I shall slay you in a glorious battle and bathe in your blood for nutrients!" Mushroom Reiya declared.

The ghost mushroom girl began to swing her knife around wildly. However, despite her immense strength, the knife was still much too large for her to use properly and she ended up tumbling to the ground. Clara opened up her status and loaded up the autocraft function. After she pressed on a recipe, it began to craft away while Reiya was too busy trying to get up off of the ground while refusing to let go of the large knife.

It finished crafting just as Reiya finally got off of the ground and opened her mouth to yell something. But before a single word could escape, Clara pulled a small sandwich from her knife and tossed it into Reiya's mouth. The ghost girl dropped her comically large cleaver and grabbed the sandwich to stop the filling from spilling out.

"What is this? I am receiving energy… but not from soaking in the blood of my enemies?" the mushroom girl asked, perplexed.

"It's called eating. That's how most creatures I know get their nutrients," Clara explained, setting a few more sandwiches for creation.

"Mhm, it's not as tasty as before," Reiya whined, her voice returning to normal. But then it turned back to the deep loud mushroom voice a moment later. "This is not enough sustenance for my kind!"

"Well, we still have pizza for a post battle party," Clara replied. "I can make you that if you don't start any battles."

The mushroom girl looked at the half eaten sandwich in her hands and then back at Clara.

"Does it have more nutrients than blood?" Mushroom Reiya asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes, pizza does have more nutrients than… blood… and it tastes better!" Clara confirmed nervously.

"Then lead me to this… pizza you speak off. We shall enjoy the spoils of battle over pizza!" Mushroom Reiya exclaimed. Clara sighed in relief and grabbed the cleaver, watching it unlock a new form.

"Did I hear pizza? Are we having a pizza party?" one of the knights asked.

"Wait, I was just making pizza fo-" Clara tried to correct the knight, but a few others heard him.

"Pizza party?! Sign me up!" "Pizza?!" "Hey guys! The cooking hero is doing a pizza party!"

Soon enough everyone, including Reiya, were chanting "Pizza Party!" with excitement and looking at Clara expectedly.

Aw man, how did I get here? Clara sighed in despair, not having the heart to disappoint several knights.

"Don't worry, I'll help you out," Sherone replied, patting Clara on the shoulder.