On its trail

Mikael's hammer fell down on the first monster that came close to him.

They fell back after René made the call to use the narrower entrance for their advantage.

After Herald, Alf and René fought for some time, Mark and Meri had their turn it was now on Mikael and his companions task to guard their position.

"I'm sorry to drag you into this. They are quite a larger group then expected. Not that we thought something like that would happen at all." René apologize, handing away a bottle of water, resting his tired arms and shoulders.

The others did the same, and Herald trimmed some of his arrows he had used, salvaging what he could.

"Had I known there are so many I hadn't used nearly all of my arrows." he grumbled.

Mikael huffed as the head gave in under his strike.

Lifting his heavy weapon so often took quite a toll, even more so as he had to hit them so they wouldn't stand up right again.

"How the heck does a evolved monster even change so much it can raise the dead? I never heard of something like that." Sophia wailed, penetrating a deers head which was already showing a part of its skull. As it fell over its front legs it took her sword with it, leaving her empty handed in from of a approaching wolf that bared its fangs, a foul and nauseous smell emitted.

She wanted to kick it away, but her foot sunk into the skin, caught by its jawbone.

"Dammit!" was all she said as her other leg couldn't keep the balance, falling on her butt.

The wolf came closer, ignoring the foot stuck in its jaw, only struggling to open the mouth. The rescue came in Leon's form, as he cleaved of that Undeads head.

"If you are too tired switch out, no need to risk an mana infection." he warned exhausted, nearly stumbling over his own feet.

All of them were tired out, so much Mikael wondered that he felt still okay despite carrying his own weight.

He sweated and coughed for sure, but continued to break something here or slew a monster there.

They fought for maybe an hour, the already corroding corpses radiating a terrible smell, and their soft flesh making their footing slippery. Due to the sheer amount they had to fall back several times, the enemies climbing over corpses in a simple quest to kill them.

But then René seemed to notice something. He began to urge.

"Common, it's not far of, our victory! Grab your weapons and make sure no one here gets hurt!"

He charged to the front, next to Mikael and cleaved apart the skull of an approaching monkey like creature he never saw before. But he didn't voice his curiosity, simply focusing on the problem ahead.

He heard a arrow whistle, a body falling a distance away.

Mark and Meri together took Sophia's and Leon's place, gifting them their much needed pause.

"You got one hell of an endurance, boy. Impressive, but I guess that is youth." Alf praised as he also came to the front, wanting to take Mikael his place.

"Bullcrap, I'm not that much older and still grasp for air. If that is youth I never had one." came a breathless shout from behind, under a suppressed cough.

"I just don't feel so tired. My arms sure complain, but that is normal." Mikael said, staying at the front and weapon in hand.

"This boy is abnormal. Not long ago a complete beginner, now outshining us in a battle for persistence. I tell you he is a different species." Leon said in his usual casual tone sipping on his bottle.

"It's good you have such energy, but know when to rest." René adviced, shoving Mikael backwards and letting Alf advance.

"These guys movements grew more sluggish, the pace in which they move got slower. Nonetheless the pose a definitive threat, so minimize your own risk. We waited enough to jump into action, at least until this threat is survived."

His advice coupled with an unexplainable force made Mikael instinctively retreat, taking the flask that Leon handed over.

'Well that certainly isn't water.' He noticed when taking a sip.

Another ten minutes later all eight of them escaped into the night outside.

Climbing over dead animal and monster bodies, ringing for fresher air when getting outside.

Herald was taking his time, as he had to recover many of his shot arrows.

"Why don't I learn. I should use my sword more often, these Undead weren't worth my precious arrows." he complained again, just as he tossed an broken shaft over his shoulder.

The others took place a short distance away, sitting in a circle and catching calm breaths.

"So, anyone got an idea how these Undead came into existence? I don't remember that this was mentioned anywhere. Not just in the mission description, but anywhere in the compendium about the local roaming beasts." Mark said as Meri leaned on his shoulder, wiping away sticky black blood under the dim moon shine.

"Before that beast didn't show any traits that suggested this skill. Only the pure strength and stealth like moves were clear." Leon mentioned, looking into the round if anyone could answer.

"Don't forget that this is Nodan, not the well explored area of Corona." René began, his calm and deep voice calming their tensed nerves. "One question to our guides: When you wandered around here, despite the lack of monsters and animals, where there any corpses, signs that something died in the vicinity?"

All three denied, deepening the furrows on René's forehead.

"I think you are aware variants often gain intelligence in the process of evolving, maybe even the ability to wield mana. And we are not long in this area, so maybe this Tusk Stalker is not as young of an monster than we thought.

It could have developed skills and capabilities that are beyond what we estimated."

"And raising the dead is one of them?" Mikael asked, his tone dry.

"That empty grave takes on a whole new meaning than before, ain't it. Maybe it collects the bodies, forming some sick kind of army. Not that I would ever think a lone beast is capable of that." Sophia spat out.

"Don't say that. I heard of a case where an evolved Borno made a settlement, supplied its kin with forged weapons it collected over time and raided small hamlets. Sure they took it down, but that monster didn't went down without a fight." Alf told, getting some disbelieving looks.

"What is a Borno now?" Mikael asked, in this settled down atmosphere his curiosity flaring up again.

"That monkey thing, with that muscular tail and big palms." Herald answered from the shadows, holding a bunch of saved shafts in hand. He sat down in their circle, beginning to silently replace the tips.

"Then let's hope he doesn't have many more hidden abilities, or else we might need some more help here."

"Right, we weren't even supposed to get involved."

"And my apologies for that, but you should know being a hunter carries always the risk of the unknown. Even if this here is an extreme case. If we get this done, I'm sure Simon will boost up your profiles quite a bit, making it far easier to elevate your ranks in the future."

They spend some more time spekulating what dangers that monster they hunted could hide, but came due to the lack of information to no sufficient conclusion.

"Quickly summarized: expect always something is behind you and we face more Undead. And with that our night is gone." Leon concluded, the first sunrays breaking through the tree tops.

"Not gonna attempt to hunt today, don't we? Or me and Meri won't be of much help, not after a stressful night like this."

"Sure we don't. Our task for today is a bit of scouting, finding a new resting area and maybe find clues. We need more information before we continue. Who here thinks he can traverse on silent soles in this terrain?"

On René's question Heralds and Sophias hand went up.

"Good, then both of you work together. I won't let one walk alone with that beat around. We will walk around in search of an shelter."

He walked up to both of them, laying his hands on each of their shoulder.

He whispered into their ear, both of them nodded and then began to walk away from the group.

"How are they gonna find us?" Mikael wondered, and René simply answered:" I got my ways. Albeit no reason to hide it, I'd rather not talk openly about it." the next second Mikael felt a small sensation on his skin, as if he was pulled towards a direction, which coincidentally was where René stood.

'Why this concealed way of telling me? Is this part of the test? Or maybe... He thinks we are being observed.'

Nervously his eyes darted around, but of course it was for naught.

'If not even René is sure, I don't stand a chance to discover it. All I can do is staying alert.'

René then led their party deeper into the forest, the sun rising as they progressed. The lack of wildlife got more apparent as it did just a week ago.

That was also voiced by Leon.

"Last time we at least encountered some wandering Goblins, smaller animals and such. Now there is barely anything, as if that creature has devoid everything here of its life."

As they went on they found quite a distance away a natural shelter in form of a huge tree that formed a roof over their heads, the trunk and roots massive enough to let at least some of them sleep safe from the wind.

"As we sure won't find anything as fitting like this, we might call it a day and set up camp. The other two also can come back. I don't like to let them roam for so long."

Without a visible signal, René urged them a second later to hater firewood, set up some simple traps and scout out the perimeter.

Mikael took part in searching around, but except empty lairs and rotting trees he found nothing.

'Well, if nothing else I at least have this.' he thought, holding in a small box he had prepared for occasions a root he gathered.

'Finally all that reading had some use. This Root should be a Kanalis, useful for helping the bodies recovery against illness and in some cases poisons. Sadly I can't refine it, but it's raw form should hold some uses, too.'

To not come back empty handed, he gathered some firewood along his way back. He could see Alf doing the same, in a shouts distance away. But then Alf began to wave at Mikael, vigorously signaling he should come over.

'Did he find something?'