The misadventures of the necromancer

Chapter XVII

Suddenly, the fun of watching Blondie try to cast a spell ends. It's a shame, as it was at least a distraction from the frustration of failing to recall spells that Nero should know.

The figure that ended the fun is momentarily unrecognizable to him. For a moment, the creature seemed like a fat cow, which led him to wonder if the annoying farmer had lost an animal.

That was until the creature approached a little closer, and the creature's tusks began to reflect the firelight, forming quite an imposing image.

The only sound is the creature's heavy breathing and the crackling of the fire.

With one eye seemingly gouged out or something of the sort, the creature turns its head to better use its remaining eye.

That is until it stopped, and its good eye seemed to focus on them.

That's when the creature begins to advance, most likely to charge at them.

At that moment, the world seems to pause, the absurdity of the situation. Where this strange giant animal appears out of nowhere and decides to attack. For some reason, his brain refuses to recognize the urgency of what is happening. Knowing that the distance between him and the creature is too short to simply be admiring what's going on.

But still, his mind is blank. He can't even think about whether he should do something.

Strangely, he reflects that this hadn't happened in the face of the undead. Maybe it was because, on some level, he had entered that situation already mentally prepared for something to go wrong.

But he finally snaps out of his bizarre state when another figure darts past him. For a second, he is alarmed by what had passed by him.

Until realizing it is the mule, charging toward the attacking animal.

Very close to them now, maybe three or four meters. The mule rams directly into the creature's left side. Forcing it to veer off to the side.

The creature then stops and starts to observe the mule that had dared to attack it. It goes from immobility to taking a few steps forward, then retreating. As if studying its opponent.

The mule, for its part, moves closer each time it advances but allows it to retreat without attacking. Always silently while its opponent continues to grunt.

One thing is certain, whenever the animal tries to advance towards where they are, the mule blocks it. Leaving him and the two fools behind to watch this weird scene. Where this dangerous animal is being kept in check by a pack animal.

The creature begins to snort wildly, seeming upset or something of the sort.

But suddenly, it stops grunting and begins to retreat, never taking its eyes off the mule. The aggressive posture the animal had before seems to disappear. Being replaced by something akin to fear.

It almost seems like it suddenly decided that this fight was no longer worth it.

He was puzzled by this development until he had an idea and said it aloud, "It realized it's facing an undead."

"Yes, that makes sense. That's likely why it started to retreat," exclaims a voice that seems to belong to Blondie.

For a moment, he feels like grumbling at him. But what would be the point of that action?

With his brain back in action, he thinks about what to do. The animal is clearly dangerous, so he should do something. But the usual problem arises. His only truly offensive spell is just too powerful.

The two creatures are now far enough away that if he were to cast 'Draco's Flames' the three of them should escape unscathed. But the mule would be caught by the spell, and as the situation just demonstrated, it would be a pity to hurt... to damage her.

As he tries to think of something, the animal finally seems to give up and starts running out of this clearing.

"So, what do we do now?" Blondie asks, looking at him for answers.

For a moment, he feels like asking how he's supposed to know that. This isn't even his world.

In the silence of his absence of response, grumpy's voice is heard.

"I don't think the boar will come back. After all, most animals avoid undead."

Hearing the comment, he is amazed. That was a boar? But what kind of boar is that size. It almost looks like a creature from mythical stories.

Then he remembers where he is. And it dawns on him that in that damn game, there were indeed creatures that size. But he didn't remember interacting much with them. He usually didn't play as a hunter. The creatures he usually fought were very different from normal animals.

So, if a creature he would normally disdain in the game reacts like this, then it's better if he doesn't encounter the beings he usually fought.

"But I don't really feel like staying here to see if it comes back," Grumpy speaks again, interrupting his thoughts.

He can't really disagree with him, but…

"And where would we go? Night has fallen," he says, pointing to a dark sky. And a really dark sky, despite there being a half-moon in the sky, most of it is obscured by clouds, and the other moon hasn't appeared yet.

"Adar, he's right we can't stumble around in the middle of the night," his blond friend asserts.

"Yeah, I agree. I just don't think we're going to have a very restful night," hearing this comment, he can only agree with Grumpy's sentiment. Not that his nights are that relaxing. After all, he has to sleep with an undead, and these two.

And the undead whom he sometimes dreams is going to eat his brain is the most reliable of them.

"I don't know why. The mule has already proven that it can and will face whoever attacks us," says Blondie cheerfully while pointing to the aforementioned mule.

The mule, who was previously standing watching the direction from where the monstrous boar had fled, decides to move to a position in front of where the boar had come from.

In the silence that falls between them, sounds from that same direction can be heard.

In the midst of darkness, three figures can begin to be seen.

"More???" says a concerned and anxious voice, which, with the new agitation, he doesn't recognize. While the two useless idiots approach him, seeking protection, although he isn't paying them much attention.

Fortunately, this time he remains focused and composed. Knowing that it is unlikely that the mule can easily overpower multiple adversaries. He quickly understands that he will have to intervene in the next fight.

So, he prepares to start casting fireballs, although he doesn't feel comfortable with it. Something inside him tells him that throwing powerful fire spells in the middle of a forest will end badly for everyone involved.

The only luck is that they are in the middle of a relatively large clearing. So, maybe they'll be lucky.

As he reflects on all this, the three figures approach, revealing themselves to actually be three human beings. Which lowers the tension that was felt among them.

"People!" grumpy exclaims the obvious.

Finally, the three figures approach them and the light from the fire illuminating the clearing. Allowing three strangers to be clearly seen. Although they exchange some looks among themselves, they don't seem so surprised to find people here.

In front is a middle-aged man with dark hair and dressed in leather armor. He is the shortest of the three, seeming even shorter because although he looks at them sometimes, he seems more focused on the ground.

Behind him is a woman a little younger than the first, with hair that seems dark, but when the light hits it better, it gives the impression of being light brown. She also wears leather armor, although hers seems stronger than the other man's. She leans on what looks like a long stick, taller than her. Until he notices a reflection at its tip, revealing that she is holding the handle of a spear.

Finally, leaning on the woman is the tallest of the three. Despite his height, the guy must be the skinniest of the three. He also seems to be in worse shape than them. Although all three appear tired, he is almost out of breath as he leans on the woman. In his other hand, he holds what looks like a bow and two arrows.

Other than his height, he can't find any other distinctive feature in this man. Probably about the same age as the others, and another leather armor of the same quality as the short one.

"He passed through here," the guy in front says quickly. Pointing to the ground, he seems to follow something only he sees. Until finally, pointing to a branch broken by the boar as it left and started talking again.

"And it went that way?" the other two follow what he says with tired and serious faces.

"How long?" the woman asks after taking a deep breath.

The short one turns to her and answers by tilting his head towards the group near the fire. "Easier to ask them."

With that answer, the woman, who even if she wasn't ignoring them, was more focused on her partner, turns to them to ask.

"Have you seen a black-backed boar?"

In response to the question, they can only nod their heads as they look from one to the other. After all, what else could they say?

With them nodding like fools, the woman approaches them more, and with this approach, it becomes possible to see red spots on her face and the hand she raises and points to where the short one is.

"And he went that way, right?" she asks.

While the others nod their heads again, confirming what the other man had said, he realizes that the red spots on her are blood. This leads him to try to assess who these people are. They just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a forest. For now, he will continue to mark them as a potential threat.

"Come here," he commands his mule, who promptly obeys. Considering that it is better to have nearby what is currently his best weapon.

Seeing this, the woman becomes somewhat embarrassed and puts her hand to her head as she tries a relaxed posture, saying. "Oh, sorry. We were hired by the village of Flatrock to hunt a dangerous boar. Unfortunately, things haven't been going very well." While she speaks, the woman almost unconsciously rubs the arm that holds the spear.

An interesting action that is interrupted by the short one's voice. "We don't have time for this. We have to go after it before we lose it."

Upon hearing this, she looks seriously at her partner and starts to go towards him. When everything seems decided, a new voice is heard.

"How did he let you pass unharmed?" the tall one asks, looking at the group that still hasn't moved away from the fire. But that only makes it easier to see that they don't have a hair out of place.

The dangerous question leads them to look at each other. The two, just like him, must feel that an honest answer to the question will only result in problems. After all, the explanation that his undead faced and scared such an animal is never a good answer.

"Well..." Grumpy begins hesitantly to tell the tale, or rather create the lie. "...it appeared out of nowhere, from where you guys came from. Then he stayed there for a while," here he points to where the animal was blocked by the mule. "And then, when he seemed to be getting ready to attack..." he stops talking and seems to think a little before continuing. "But before attacking, he fled. I think he realized you were approaching and fled."

"Yes, that makes perfect sense. That must have been what happened." his blond friend immediately agrees, giving more reliability to the lie they were creating.

For his part, he can only observe this story, which he has to admire. After all, not only did they, not really answer the question. But the story also made the three hunters heroes, even though they weren't even here. Stroking their egos, making everything more believable to their eyes.

He had already realized when they had found the farmer, that Grumpy was a first-rate liar. Which although it is, being very useful now. It means that he cannot afford to trust them.

This only makes him regret not having handed them over to the authorities in Dantar. But his need for reliable local information had made him hesitate. He will have to think about what to do with them the next time they are near civilization.

The tall one, on the other hand, seems to be swallowing the whole story. But now the short one speaks.

"We scared him! That's ridiculous, that monster demolished us." his voice carries a bitter tone.

"Ben, don't be like that. We certainly injured him. He may feel cornered and upon hearing us approaching decide to avoid a fight," says the tall one, trying to be comforting.

"And you did manage to injure him in the eye. Maybe that made him hesitate when he met these boys," adds the woman.

"Yes, that's true, he has one eye completely destroyed. I saw it!" exclaims Blondie upon hearing the woman.

"Thank goodness. Especially considering how hard it was to hit him," says the short one, grabbing his armor near his stomach. Upon seeing this reaction, he can observe that in that area of the man's armor, there is a tear. And that his hand also has what seems to be blood.

Then, a scream that sounds like a woman's can be heard, completely diverting their attention from what they are talking about.

The three hunters look at each other for a few seconds until the tall one almost whispers, "The old man's farm."

With this comment, they started running in the direction the boar had gone, and from where the scream had come.

Seeing this, he looks at Grumpy and Blondie, who just look back at him in silence. Not knowing exactly what to do in these circumstances, he finally decides to run after the hunters.