– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 52 –

On the opposite side of the cavern, a grey-skinned man with sunken cheeks emerged from a platform.

Death-emphasized mana…

Terry narrowed his eyes.

The man was also emitting an aura that reminded Terry of the blood idol he had seen during the Preacher’s reception.

“Corrupted necromancer,” spat Matteo. He raised his hand to the hilt of Soul Fury.

“Terry, retreat back to Cadence,” ordered Sigille.

Terry quickly did as instructed and retrieved a barrier spear.

“You would have done well to ignore my presence and count your blessings.” The necromancer spoke with a hollow-sounding voice. “I planned to be gone in a few days anyway, but we’re not quite ready yet.”

“If you surrender, I may just trap you for a few days before letting you go.” The necromancer smiled amicably.

Creepy.

“Not sure who you think we are,” said Sigille. “But If you surrender, you get to keep your head on your shoulders until you get an examination trial.” She shrugged casually. “Going by your aura, I very much doubt that the trial will show a favorable result for you though. Quite nasty even from here.”

“You are with the Guardians?” The necromancer’s expression fell. “Or with the death hunters?” He warily observed Cadence’s mana signature that heavily featured the light aspect.

“Why not both?” Sigille smirked. “Seems as if karma is working as it should. Your deeds have caught up with you and your luck has run out. Surrender and submit to trial or we’ll skip ahead to the inevitable result right here and now.”

The necromancer scowled.

“There is mana movement below him,” whispered Terry.

“They know.” Cadence whispered back. “Matteo should be aware of all changes in the surrounding stone structures. They’re probably waiting for others to reveal themselves. That necromancer switched between ‘I’ and ‘we’, so there should—”

“I think I’ll choose neither,” growled the necromancer and the rock below the platform he was standing on split open to reveal a large creature.

Looks like a gorilla bred with an ant, died, and then came back to life with some additional spiky armor…

Terry shuddered.

“Behold, my masterpiece!” The necromancer shouted gloatingly.

“Reanimated hellspawn corpse?” growled Sigille with narrowed eyes. “Young juggernaut from the looks of it. This ought to be interesting.”

“Probably found somewhere deeper in the dormant dungeon,” surmised Matteo.

A tear?

Terry’s ears perked up.

Is that related to the dungeon becoming dormant? Wait, why would a corpse remain? Wouldn’t the dungeon claim the corpse immediately?

Terry involuntarily wondered before he reminded himself to focus on the situation at hand.

“What do you think?” Sigille glanced at Matteo.

“I doubt this lunatic is capable of drawing out most of the hellspawn’s aspects,” said Matteo. “The necromancers whom I’ve seen pull that off successfully were strained with the required control. This lunatic looks as if he is already struggling to deal with his own mana.”

Sigille nodded. “The usual then. At this point, I doubt that there are more. That creep is probably including his icky baby in his manner of speaking.”

“I’LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE!” shouted the necromancer with an arrogant smile. “IF YOU—”

He was interrupted by a blue lightning bolt cracking towards him. The bolt collided with the palm of the undead juggernaut that had raised its arm to block the attack on its master.

The juggernaut clicked its mandibles angrily.

The necromancer stopped his hubris, came to his senses, and prepared barriers for defense.

Matteo and Sigille were already dashing forward.

Matteo reshaped the earth to create steps for Sigille while simultaneously throwing elemental attacks at the necromancer.

Sigille used the improvised stairs to leap to the juggernaut’s eye level.

The inscriptions on Sigille’s axe flared up with an intense light and a glowing golden hammer that seemed almost tangible appeared to the juggernaut’s right.

The divine hammer smacked the juggernaut against the head and the creature fell to one knee.

Inscriptions lit up on Sigille’s boots and translucent golden sheets of mana appeared to provide her footing in the air.

Sigille dashed forward with a burst of mana and before the juggernaut had recovered from the initial hit, Sigille slashed upwards with her axe that aimed for the juggernaut’s neck.

Unfortunately, the juggernaut raised one of its giant forearms in time to block and the axe merely left a deep blood-less gash on the hellspawn’s carapace.

Sigille positioned herself between the necromancer and the juggernaut. She nodded to herself. Matteo’s estimate appeared to have been correct. The corpse did not show any signs of active mana abilities. Only some of the innate passives.

Dark tendrils emerged from the gash on the hellspawn’s forearm and the wound sealed itself.

Sigille channeled mana into her equipment and went back on the attack to separate the juggernaut from its master.

While Sigille pushed against the hellspawn from its front, a bright golden flame spear charged at the creature’s side – courtesy of Cadence.

The hellspawn hissed and a vile stench erupted when the holy fire ravaged the necrotic flesh.

Panic flashed through the necromancer’s eyes as he saw Matteo slashing a katana at his first barrier while being surrounded by purple lightning. The necromancer’s barriers shattered one after the other without offering much resistance to the fiendish blade.

Fortunately for the necromancer, he realized his predicament quickly and immediately used a Shadow Step spell to escape.

Unfortunately for the necromancer, he was greeted by a flame created from Matteo’s elemental mana as soon as he stepped out of the shadows.

The necromancer’s eyes were trembling from fear and he gave silent commands to the juggernaut while preparing a volley of Death Spear spells to push Matteo back.

The juggernaut suddenly retreated from Sigille and charged at Cadence as his master had instructed.

Sigille stopped herself from reflexively pursuing the creature and instead chose to trust Cadence and Terry to hold it off while she and Matteo got rid of the necromancer. If the necromancer fell, so would his reanimated creature.

Cadence finished a quickened casting of a holy-infused Circle of Flames spell. The flames bit into the hellspawn’s flesh despite its fast movement speed.

Terry had finished his spell preparation and hurled his brightfire-aspected spear at the creature’s torso.

*KRCHK* The transfixed spear was hit by its target. While the juggernaut continued pushing forward despite having an immovable spear stuck in its body, the spear managed to slow the creature down.

Terry prepared a bolas, but held off on throwing it.

Cadence finished her empowered summoning of golden chains that bound the hellspawn creature. Afterwards, she infused the chains with the holy element.

Wherever the corpse touched the holy chains, its flesh started to sizzle and burn.

Terry eyed the creature warily when he noticed the dozen mana signatures behind him. He did not have to turn around to know who had arrived.

*Thwish* *Thwish* *Thwish*

Arrows with arrowheads that were burning, brightly glowing, or radiating intense cold were hitting the juggernaut one after the other.

*BAM*

A translucent golden hammer rammed the necromancer into a giant earth spike that had been shaped by Matteo. The necromancer had been pushed with such force that he was nearly ripped in half from the wound stretched by the earth spike.

When the necromancer’s eyes glazed over, the reanimated hellspawn collapsed to the floor.

***

“Why the Wastes did you come back in?” complained Sigille.

“What the Wastes was that?” retorted Wallace and ignored Sigille’s complaints. “And was that always here? Gives me the creeps!”

“That one was a necromancer that looked about ready to completely lose his mind to corruption,” said Matteo. “The big one was the reanimated corpse of a hellspawn.”

“Uh-huh.” Wallace looked repulsed. “That thing was just lurking here?”

“Seriously, did you think we would not be able to handle it?” grumbled Sigille. “And that you lot might?”

“Last time I was here, I did not sense that thing,” said Matteo. “But today, it was probably there from the beginning, yes.”

Wallace glowered at the corpses.

“I thought we had it planned out that you would stay outside to watch over Little Emily and your vultures,” grumbled Sigille.

“Thank you,” said Wallace in a heartfelt manner. He let his eyes wander over Matteo, Sigille, Cadence, and Terry. “Seriously.” Wallace’s eyes became distant. “If you hadn’t been here, if that thing had come out during the ceremony…”

“I think the necromancer wanted to stay hidden,” said Matteo. “He probably would not have made an appearance if we had not been here to force his hand.”

“Bows are not exactly the best equipment for a cave,” grumbled Sigille.

“Still,” muttered Wallace while looking pensively at Matteo.

“If you had gotten yourself injured, then poor Emily would have her whole day ruined,” grumbled Sigille.

Wallace silently turned to Sigille and grinned. “Give it a rest already, old lady. No one likes a Nagging Nana.”

“You know, come to think of it, I have some healing items,” said Sigille, who was decidedly unamused. “I think we can make a few injuries and get you patched up before showing you to Little Emily.”

“Kinky,” said Wallace with a deadpan expression. “I’ll take a raincheck.”

Sigille shuddered exaggeratedly.

“While I appreciate your concern for our health, I wanted to see what was lurking in the shadows for myself,” said Wallace. “And the others and I thought it felt weird to let Little Matteo fight without at least trying to lend a hand. Old habits, I know.”

Matteo smiled and shook his head.

“Nice sentiment, but I think it’s been a while since ‘Little’ Matteo has left your weight class,” said Sigille.

“Meh, to some of us, he’ll always be the gloomy beansprout whom we had to pull back from fights that need not be fought,” interjected a human dungeon scavenger that looked to be in her fifties.

“I mostly remember the first time he took over cooking duty,” said Bigsby, who looked to be of comparable age. “My tastebuds are still having traumatic nightmares.”

Matteo rolled his eyes.

“Right,” exclaimed Wallace. “I sometimes suspected he was secretly training to become a poisoner.”

“The kid somehow made the food taste saltier than pure salt,” added Borf. “I can understand the suspicion.”

“For me, it was the stew that tipped me off,” said Dee. “I mean how on earth can you mess up stew? Sure, it takes some ability to make a good stew, but I never realized that it was possible to make a stew inedible.”

“Truly eye-opening,” exclaimed Wallace and grinned. “We’ve learned so much from him.”

“Right back at you lot,” said Matteo with a heartfelt smile.

After some more banter, Wallace turned to Sigille. “Do we need to do anything with the corpses?”

“You? No,” replied Sigille. “Matteo and I will send a message so that the Guardians and death hunters are aware of the incident.”

“Given that the necromancer managed to reanimate a hellspawn, I expect that they’ll send someone over,” said Matteo.

“Hm, do you need to wait for them here?” asked Dee from the dungeon scavengers.

“Probably,” said Sigille.

“Then some good has come out of it,” said another dwarven dungeon scavenger. “Some more time with everyone together. I really hate to see the little bird leave the nest.”

“No love for me huh?” exclaimed Wallace in insincere sadness. “Everyone just misses the little baby, no one misses the caring father.”

The dwarven dungeon scavenger snorted. “I don’t remember you ever being adorable and cute, Wallace.”

“Nor as polite,” added another dungeon scavenger.

“Nor as pleasant,” added yet another.

“Come to think of it, she cooks better, too,” added a third.

“Bunch of ingrates,” exclaimed Wallace in insincere exasperation. “Decades of self-sacrifice in leading this group of barely competent savages and this is the thanks I get. You are lucky that I agree with every one of your assessments and that every praise for my little angel is music to my ears.”

“That kind of takes the fun out of it,” grumbled the dwarven dungeon scavenger. “Spoilsport.”

“Let’s get out of here,” said Wallace. “My nose just reminded me how much this place stinks. The mixture of rotten corpse and goo beetle goo is surprisingly not all that pleasant.”

“Could be worse,” muttered Terry absentmindedly. He recalled the dungeon of ghouls as well as Poppy’s ‘fragrance’ inscription.

Wallace stared at Terry with exaggerated pity. “You poor soul. What happened to you to be desensitized to such a degree?”

“Uhh…” uttered Terry eloquently.

“And can it be bottled up and used for entirely benign purposes?” continued Wallace whose face had broken out into a grin.

“Let’s get going already,” interjected one of the dungeon scavengers.

While the group left the cavern, Sigille walked up next to Wallace. She sent him a scolding look. “Seriously, show some sense. I appreciate how much you care about Matteo, but have some self-awareness. It won’t do anyone any good if you get yourself hurt.”

Wallace glanced down at the dwarf at his side. “I know.”

“You better,” retorted Sigille. “Leaving Little Emily aside, whom I would hate to see grieving over your weirdo bum, Matteo has already lost enough. He does not need you getting yourself hurt on his account to add to his unwarranted feelings of guilt.”

“Thanks again,” said Wallace sincerely.

Sigille raised an eyebrow and was taken aback. “I can’t deal with you suddenly acting all serious. Almost like a grown-up person. Where is the confrontational weirdo version?”

Wallace glanced at her with a deadpan expression. “Thanks for the offer, but I’m not into roleplaying in a goo-corpse scented environment. Raincheck?”

“Nevermind,” growled Sigille with revulsion evident on her face.

***

A translucent grey pigeon flew down and circled Matteo, who was sitting with the others at camp.

“Just once,” grumbled Sigille. “Just once, I would like to see the Guardians react quicker than the Guild. Just once would be nice.”

Matteo shot her an amused look and then raised his hand to receive the bird. Afterwards, he retrieved a small orb and a piece of spell paper from the bird’s feet.

Matteo channeled some of his mana into the spell paper, which reacted to his mana signature and revealed the message for his eyes.

“I take it that the hellspawn corpse makes them a bit jumpy?” inquired Sigille.

“Seems like it,” muttered Matteo while moving his eyes over the message. “And I can fully understand them.”

Matteo’s expression darkened. “We don’t have that many records on reanimated hellspawn, but from the numbers we have, the incidents seem to be increasing. While the numbers are too small to infer any robust trends, it is not too far-fetched that someone may have opened the floodgates, shared some specific insight into how to increase the chances of success.”

“Necromancers aren’t usually the community-oriented type though,” said Sigille. “Not that inclined to share their insights with others.”

Matteo glanced at Sigille with a distant glint in his eyes. “We both know that there are exceptions.”

Sigille’s expression fell and she became pensive with a grim look in her eyes. “Do you suspect Anand might have his fingers in this? I’ve never heard of him messing with hellspawn before.”

“Me neither,” replied Matteo absentmindedly before looking up from the message. “But I don’t believe there is anything he would not touch. Every source of power is on the table and it’s not like this would be a big deviation from his study of necromancy. Different corpses, that’s all.”

Matteo shrugged. “Besides, my former mentor keeps his powers hidden and varied. Back at the elemental tower, no one had any idea that he was a necromancer or a dimensional mage or...” Matteo’s voice trailed off while he subconsciously glared at the empty air.

Concern flashed through Sigille’s eyes while she looked at Matteo. The same was true for many of the other dungeon scavengers sitting nearby.

“As powerful as Anand may be, we should not raise specters of him everywhere,” stressed Sigille. “There are plenty of other bastards wandering the earth. We’ll find him. Sooner or later, we’ll find him.”

Matteo nodded. “No matter what.” He stood up. “Guild management wants to have a little chat in private.” He waved the little orb.

“Dramatic bunch, aren’t they?” quipped Sigille.

“I’ll remind them that I will tell my Guardian-partner everything anyway,” said Matteo. “That should sour their mood.”

“Thanks, my son,” said Sigille and grinned.

***

“We’ll have a pair of death hunters arrive two days from now at the latest,” said the translucent woman.

“I’ll be here,” said Matteo. “Together with my Guardian-partner.”

“Good to hear,” said the woman. “That is all. Farewell.”

“Bye,” said Matteo and collected the orb into his storage item.

Matteo stood for a moment in silent contemplation when he felt the air behind him shift abnormally. He reeled around and jumped to the side on instinct.

*BOOM* A long speartip had pierced into the ground where Matteo had been standing and a small explosion followed.

Matteo saw the frenzied eyes of a dwarven woman with short hazelnut-colored hair through the haze of smoke and falling earth.

The woman was holding two long spears that were much longer than her own body. She lunged at Matteo.

She thrust the spears forward and grabbed them way back on the pole, which was a testament to the dwarf’s iron grip and arm strength.

Matteo turned his waist and moved his legs while a slick sheet of ice was created on the forest floor. He exhaled a strong gust of air and distanced himself from the assailant.

Inscriptions on the dwarf’s boots lit up. A small whirlwind appeared underneath her feet and allowed the woman to propel herself forward in the air.

She bypassed the ice and violently slammed the front of her spear onto the ground.

*BOOM* The explosion burst the ice apart.

Without pause, the dwarven woman pursued Matteo.

In between thrusts, she rotated her torso to either change the line of attack or to switch from piercing thrusts to wide and powerful slashes.

Matteo narrowed his eyes at the intensity of the attack. The hatred in the woman’s eyes made it seem personal, but he did not recognize her at all, nor did he spot any identifying markers of associations that might serve as an explanation.

Matteo dodged the woman’s vicious attacks while wondering if she was associated with the necromancer and if so, why she would single him out.

The speed of the fight was so intense that even after a dozen exchanges only a few seconds had passed.

Then, Matteo started to go on the attack with the goal of incapacitating the assailant and gathering information afterwards.

Matteo’s eyes glowed a bright purple and he stepped into the woman’s next attack while dodging her first thrust. He unleashed a numbing lightning discharge.

The dwarf noticed the mana movement and rapidly slapped both spears down.

*BOOM* She paired the explosion with her boots to have herself propelled backwards.

From the corner of her eyes, she saw the rising earth wall in her path of retreat. The dwarf somersaulted in the air and with an impressive display of leg strength jumped back to go on the attack.

“EMALDINE, STOP!” roared Sigille, who was dashing towards the battle location.

For a second, both the dwarven woman and Matteo were staring at Sigille. Emaldine with unbridled rage. Matteo with a mixture of realization and resignation.

Matteo let go of his combat stance and stood up straight with lowered head. He grabbed his heartseeker dagger tightly. His other hand was clenched into a fist and shaking.

“Never,” spat Emaldine. “That thing has killed Pa!” She pointed with one spear at Matteo and immediately went back on the attack.

Matteo watched the attacking Emaldine as if he was an outside observer. He did not make the slightest attempt to dodge and just smiled bitterly. When the spear tip was mere inches away from his head, he closed his eyes and waited for the impact.

***