"Ah… maybe not. This was from a fireball of the lights, and it seems like the lights don't serve her, but fear her, so perhaps she doesn't control them."

Something about it made him wonder, though. How could these lights which could cause such heinous wounds fear this leaf-wielding woman?

Asra closed her eyes and leaned her head back, trying to get used to the pain once more. Jay couldn't tell what she was thinking, but he didn't want to ask.

He had Blue carry her again and got the skeletons moving, but this time, he headed towards Dark and Lamp, who were still hiding in swamp reeds and grasses, observing that woman through the fog on the swamp island.

"Don't worry Asra, there's another way." Jay whispered, trying to sound like he wasn't lying.

Yet as he walked, he realized that talking to the swamp woman would not be so simple.

"Hmm… how do I make contact without alarming her… she probably wouldn't know I'm a necromancer, but I need the skeletons for protection. If she's hostile and high level, she could probably kill me on the spot, so I need my bodyguards."

"Dammit… how should I get to her without causing a fight and having to execute her? I need her help after all." he glanced at Asra's charred leg, pursing his lips.

"Maybe she can heal Asra, but is it worth the risk..." He thought, walking through the swamp grasses at the edge of the water.

"Hmm... But I can minimize the risk, and before I try anything, perhaps I can test the swamp woman's strength." He nodded.

As he walked towards Lamp and Dark, Jay thought of a few problems with making contact.

- There was a slight chance she had a communication crystal and would warn Astrata, which would send mage hunters directly to his location, whom he had worked so hard to escape, concealing and throwing them off his trail. Or so he thought.

- She could be so powerful that she could crush him and his skeletons. He didn't even know what kind of magic she could wield.

- Like the lights stalking them, she may be capable of causing wounds that don't heal, wounds that shift back to the victim no matter if they cut their leg off.

If he went himself, it would be too risky, but if he sent his skeletons, she would react with fear or aggression. If he went with his skeletons, the same would probably happen, and it would still be just as risky.

Jay made it to Dark and Lamp, and since there were no lights pursuing them anymore, he had Blue recall its five sub-skeletons.

Jay made sure they all moved slowly and quietly in order to not alert the hunchback woman with their tapping bones as he began the first steps of his plan.

(Archers. Go.) Jay ordered, pointing into the swamp water, giving the level one skeleton a series of commands.

The skeleton moved slowly into the water, not causing any splashes and only causing as many ripples as the decaying gas bubbles.

Archers kept moving slowly as it sunk deeper into the water and disappeared.

The only traces of the skeleton were the bubbles it released with each step, and gentle movements of water. Otherwise, it was completely silent and undetectable.

As it waded through the black waters, Jay sensed it moving about 20 feet deeper, watching bubbles making a patch across the surface until he could no longer see through the heavy fog.

Yet, after a moment, Archers stopped.

"Hmm?" Angela's Library