Pathor the Fleskofalin turtle was in no mood to listen.
It crawled toward the tiny ant-sized humans where all the light and noise was wafting from.
"
I can't wait any further!
" Sayan yelled out, dropping the seeds he had been holding in his hand. He held his empty hand's palm out facing the seeds now scattered on the floor. "
Jagoron
!"
The seed-like items wriggled before bursting and swelling up to form humanoid zombies. Not the weak mindless types but rather an intelligent army of Undead units who were ready to listen to their necromancer summoner.
"
Patience isn't taught in the Dor household, I see
," Wan Jinju taunted, slicing through the freshly-spawned gang of zombies before they could begin carrying out Dor Sayan's instructions. One clean sweep with the sharp edge of his katana's blade ended all of their wretched afterlives. "
But I must thank you for letting me warm up before the main battle, ha!
"
"
Akamine dog
," Sayan lifted his chin up to look at Wan with an arrogant gaze. "
Don't forget that I could rip out your heart and feed it to the turtle if you try to test my nerve. Let's see you grow yourself a new one. Just because you can heal yourself up doesn't mean you're immune from pain
!"
"
SILENCE
!" the old man's voice dominated the room. "
Time is running short. Because of you guys. Don't make me mad, lad. Otherwise even your guildmasters will not be able to save you.
"
He walked towards his giant alien pet, unafraid of the tremors and seismic waves that the turtle was producing.
The armored head of the turtle with its tiny eyes could barely spot Eolum at its massive height.
'
I need to get closer to him
,' Eolum's neck was at its limit by just trying to look at Pathor's eyes deep-set within an armored exoskeletal skull.
Sayan pounced on top of the nearest flipper limb of the turtle, stabbing into Pathor's scaled body to use his dagger as a climbing tool.
The turtle roared even louder, not exactly injured severely but surely annoyed by the tiny mosquito-level pricks that Sayan made as he ran his way up to strike at its head.
"
Oi, Sayan
!" Wan sprinted forward, using his legs to climb up the turtle's body directly without needing any assistance from grabbable points. "
What's wrong with you? What do you think you're doing
?"
"
Doing exactly what you've asked me to do, fool
," came the reply. Sayan continued climbing up using his crude stab-and-grab method. "
You are the one who keeps losing track of your vision and mission, buddy. I'm doing exactly what you had brought me here for. Remember?
"
He's not wrong. But that was ten minutes ago. Right now, the situation has changed. We must leave the monster unharmed. But oh well, he's not the sort of person to listen. Making use of loopholes and doublespeak to only put his own desires on first priority. Spoiled Dor brat.
Wan's movements' tickles and Sayan's bites were certainly not making Pathor any happier. The movements were making visible changes to the surface of the ground level above.
Miyura's reflexes produced a shielding ward spell that blocked a falling stalactite from impaling Takira.
"
S-see? I told you I'm here for you
," Miyura proudly claimed, forgetting the fact that she had been the one to beg Takira not to leave her behind.
'
Yes. Sink and bathe in this confidence, Miyu. Good work
,' Takira smiled. "
Ah, goodness me, Miyu. Thank you! I really would've been a goner if you weren't here for me
."
Her father on the other end of the cavern prepared an ice spell in his hand.
Sayan was too close to Pathor's head.
The necromancer jumped one last time, the dagger ready to pierce through one of the eyes of the monstrous turtle.
Shooowth—hling!
"
Ugh
!" Sayan's dagger got knocked away by an extremely sharp and cold frost spike, with the blood of his fingers freezing and swelling up his hand. He performed acrobatic stunts while falling back down nearly eighty meters.
He used a brief teleportation spell to go near his airborne dagger, picking it back up in his other hand, before continuing the fall back down.
Eolum shot some more bolts of ice towards Sayan, with a precision accurate enough to miss him only by a few millimeters every time. The necromancer also sliced through many of the incoming projectiles with his ammolite dagger.
He landed with his dagger pointing at the ground first, somehow absorbing all the kinetic energy before the momentum transferred to his body.
Jinju continued his climb near the top of Pathor's head, interrupted by the icemage on the account of trusting him not to harm the beast. Once near, he expertly performed an acrobatic spin around the turtle's head, to land right behind its skull – in a position where the turtle couldn't directly see him.
"
Old fool
," Sayan got back up to his feet. "
Do you know what this is
?" he rotated the dagger in his hand, fidgeting around with the harsh-looking weapon. "
Hmm? Do you have any slightest clue of what I am here for
?"
Takira gasped, remembering that she had seen this same person attempt at taking her father's life.
"
Father! Stay away from him
!" she called out.
"
Ah, so that's your daughter
?" Sayan licked his lips, then he licked his dagger. "
I wonder what she… tastes like.
"
Eolum heard it all, yet the only signs of anger he showed were his fists clenching tight.
'
Wow, what a feast! This night truly is in my favor, hahahaha
.' Dor Sayan kept glacing between Hon Eolum and Hon Takira, with his tongue flicking left and right, as if deciding whose blood to shed first.
Wan was too far away to hear what was going on down below, but he knew he couldn't let someone like Sayan remain without a leash for too long.
Necromancers make me wanna puke. Disgusting deathly abilities to disrespect the balance of life and nature.
ROOOOOOOOARRR!
"
Calm down, big guy
," Wan laid his hand on the roof of Pathor's head, closing his eyes and allowing his mind to sense the deep vibrations of the turtle's soul. Among the three years he spent in his grueling attempt to rebuild himself, Wan had learnt and trained upon several branches of magic. Beast taming was certainly one of them, even though he was not one of the best in that skill.
Let's see if you actually listen to people, you big shelled reptile!
Down below, Eolum Hon charged forward with a rising battle cry, pointing his axe like a lance as he prepared to slash brutally at the blue-haired devilish youth in front of him.
"
Too slow
," Sayan chuckled. "
And too weak
."
He clicked his fingers.
Eolum saw a blast of necro magic hurtling towards him. He applied his most powerful ward spell to deflect the blow.
"
Humf
!" the senior battlemage grunted, as he swung his axe to dissolve another death bolt.
TING
!
Finally, his axe blade met Sayan's dagger.
"
Surprise, surprise
!" Sayan smiled so wide, his canine teeth stood out like fangs. His hands were bloody, soaked in Eolum's blood spraying out of the old man's mouth. "Escaping from a death bolt doesn't mean you're truly safe. It's fine. Your discipline of being a battlemage never taught you these. Tsk tsk tsk."
"
Hgjkhgh… ghkhh…
" Eolum tried to speak, but his lungs had been punctured badly by a shadowy knight who had been born from one of the death bolts thrown by Sayan. His axe slipped away from Sayan's dagger in bladelock.
"
FATHER
!" Takira watched in horror, her reflexes forcing her to walk towards her father, but her intuition telling her to stay away as much as she could. Miyura's cool charm disappeared, making her tremble as she held onto her friend's arm – ready to sob loudly and beg for mercy at any moment.
The blood-tainted blade slithered out of the ice mage, making him collapse and fall down on his knees, before his face hit the ground in total darkness.
"
Wooo
" Sayan whistled, feeling a sense of happiness take over his body and senses. He cracked his head and knuckles before continuing to walk over to where the two female humans stood helplessly. He already commanded his death knight companion to handle Wan up there while he made his way to play with his prey.
'
Hmm, didn't expect that old man to fall down so fast. I guess it did make it more fun that he was in full gear than the party apparel he had been wearing
,' his eyes shifted between Takira and Miyura. His sinister mind took on a perverse tone. '
Ah, but it's a pity that dead bodies don't react so much as a live one. My knight can be busy defending me while I treat myself to these… delicacies. Wonder how curvy they are beneath what they're wearing and how juicy they would be, as I slice, stab, stretch, pull and bite out parts of their bodies
.'
Takira and Miyura became like twins, mimicking each others' frightful facial expressions and making low faint pitiful noises like sheep as the dangerous killer wolf marched towards them.
'
It's been a while since I could get an opportunity to target such weaklings. Two of them, too. The brown-haired one would be a great appetizer as I experiment how deep should the wounds be, and measure her screams and pain… before I go for that white-haired descendant of that Hamadaw supporter, for maximum pain equivalent to as much pain the Akamines caused me… on that day… when my beautiful lover and her elven families got massacred. I think this is justice. I think fate has led me here tonight, to enact revenge as a substitute for blood money
.'
"
GET BACK!
" Takira managed to bring herself to mutter, facing off the person who had just killed her father. "
MONSTER!
"
'
Monster? Me? I'm the monster?
' Sayan stood in his tracks for a moment, looking at his own reflection on his dagger – still clean and ready to be stained with blood. '
They all look at me as if I am the villain. Or maybe I am. Was I destined to be evil? What about those Akamine demon hunters? Were they evil? Was Claira evil? She was hoping to get married to me one day. And I was dreaming about all the romantic things we'd do before we settle in a cottagecore meadow someday, that all the humans' wars were over. Little did I know what would happen to her and all races that didn't look human enough to fit into our society. Oh Claira…
' he took a close look at Takira, now panting between sobs with her blue eyes watery with sadness. '
Claira…
.'
"
BACK OFF!
" Takira managed one more strong phrase, knowing that she was cornered with her equally helpless best friend. '
God, please… no! Please no…
'
"
Claira
," Sayan called out aloud, grabbing Takira's shoulder with one hand and beginning to cut away her clothes with his dagger. '
Hmm… she looks similar to my dear Claira! This must be fate indeed. To carry out my urges on my enemy's own daughter!
'
"
HEEEEEEEEEEELP
!" Takira emptied her lungs with the loudest shriek she could manage.
Sayan's conjured knight sprang up from the floor like a springy grasshopper's jump.
"
Hush
!" Sayan shook his head, making his eyes meet hers. "
It's over. Everything is going to be over, too. No one can save you now, love. For you is the kiss of death. Enjoy… your last moments of life while you're still conscious
."