Red frowned as he looked at the woman. His hesitation, however, lasted for only a few seconds before he turned around and ran towards the only corridor connected to the cave which he assume was where the exit would be. Sure enough, as he sprinted forward, he saw the light of the sun shining from an opening.

The sounds of battle became clearer. Though, to be more accurate, all he heard was the sound of crackling, followed by an explosion that shook the earth beneath his feet. The youth reached the opening and stepped outside, taking in his surroundings.

This was still the dead forest. Yet, in some way or the other, it seemed that Red found himself in a different place from the blocked entrance to the underground. He could still hear the rushing river, which meant he probably didn’t travel too far, but he couldn’t help but wonder what happened after he lost consciousness.

Such worries could wait for later, though.

He turned around in a hurry and looked to the area where he felt Domeron and the other individual’s fluctuations. Their figures could be seen moving amidst the dead trees a few hundred meters away. His one-armed companion was there, moving with extreme speed as he sought to dodge beams of dark green lights shot his way, which travelled as fast as an arrow. The explosions and crackling noises the youth heard earlier came from these beams, as they caused trees and earth to be blown apart wherever they crashed.

The one shooting the beams was, of course, the Lesser Ring Realm cultivator. A man, wearing a black robe that covered most of his body. His hood was pulled back, however, revealing the sallow expression of the individual beneath. His skin was pulled taut against his cheek bones and his eyes were sunken in, while what remained of his hair and eyebrows were completely grey, all combined to make for a sickly and thin appearance, not much different from a skeleton’s.

Yet, despite appearances, he was alive. This Red could feel through his crimson sense.

‘The necromancer.’

It didn’t take much for him to guess as to the identity of this cultivator.

The man was in the process of shooting beams of dark green energy out of his index finger, releasing an unrelenting barrage at Domeron. However, it seemed these beams were unsuccessful in hitting the swordsman as he continued to dodge and weave through the trees for cover with swift and practiced moves.

The youth was surprised at this, but then again, maybe he shouldn’t have been. This was the man that taught him everything he knew about footwork, after all.

Still, even if he looked fine for now, there was no telling how long this was going to last. This was a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator he was dealing with, after all, and Domeron had yet to even draw his sword from his sheath.

So it was that Red decided to intervene. He took out a talisman from his pouch, a fireball, and prepared to use it against the necromancer. There were still two hundred meters between them, though, so he would need to get closer if he wanted any hopes of hitting his target.

This was a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator, so sneaking close enough without getting noticed was very unlikely. Instead, he decided to close the distance as fast as he could and act before his opponent could react.

He took a deep breath and started to sprint towards the necromancer while chanting the preparations for activating the talisman. The special acupoints in his leg activated, giving him a temporary boost in speed that made him approach his target even faster. Red tried to approach him from a blind spot, but as soon as he was within a hundred meters of the necromancer, the man turned around to look at him in surprise.

His opponent pointed his finger at him, intent on shooting an energy beam, but by that point, the youth had already completed his talisman’s incantation. He waved the talisman forward, and a fireball no bigger than a fist flew towards the man.

The necromancer was alarmed and redirect his finger towards the incoming fireball. He shot out a beam, and it clashed against the flame midair. A hellish explosion ensued, consuming the trees within ten meters, and even as the man avoided direct impact, he was still within the blast radius and the flames enveloped his being.

Red couldn’t see the aftermath through the dust and flames, but he felt the cultivator was still alive through his crimson sense. In fact, he was retreating from the explosion area.

The youth was disappointed.

‘Not enough.’

He didn’t linger on his failure to kill his opponent in a single blow. Instead, he took the opportunity to regroup with Domeron, who had already spotted him and was also heading in his direction.

“You distract him! I’ll try to approach him for a fatal blow!” The swordsman didn’t waste time before diving straight into strategy.

Red frowned. “What about the talismans?”

Domeron shook his head. “He’ll see it coming. I’ve tested the range of his attacks and he can-”

A shriek interrupted their conversation.

They both looked in the direction of the sound. Through the settling dust, they saw the figure of the necromancer, sporting no discernible wounds and staring at them with a hateful gaze. What caught their attention, though, were the threads of green energy emanating from his body. These wisps were quickly converging on the air in front of him, forming the translucent shape of a large, green, lizard-like skull.

Red had a bad premonition.

Domeron stared at him with alarm. “The shielding talisman, quick!”

The youth was quick to follow his instructions. He took out the talisman and started to activate it, but even then, it would take some seconds for the process to complete, during which they started to retreat.

The necromancer, however, wouldn’t watch this in silence. He dashed in their direction, the floating lizard skull following right in front of him. The conjured imaged opened its maw, and from what was once the emptiness of its cranium, a gout of dark purple, dense gas spewed forth.

It shot out in a wide cone in front of the skull, consuming everything in front of it and spreading faster than the duo could run. The trees this gas touched didn’t seem to be affected by it, standing there as if nothing happened. However, Red would be foolish to think the danger of this attack lay in the brute force of the gas, so he continued to run side by side with Domeron while activating the talisman.

Thankfully, a few seconds before the gas could reach them, the shielding finally took effect. An omnidirectional translucent barrier formed around the duo, protecting them from harm.

Mere moments later, the gas reached them, crashing against the shield. The barrier stood firm, barring the purple smoke from passing through, but it didn’t take more than a few seconds for small cracks to start showing on its surface.

In the meantime, the necromancer continued to chase them, gaining ground every passing second, all while the skull in front of it kept spewing this gas at the duo.

Red frowned. “The shield won’t last!”

Domeron gritted his teeth as he looked over his shoulder. He fished something from his pouch before handing it to the youth.

Another shielding talisman.

“Use mine!” the swordsman said.

Red shook his head. “It won’t solve the problem!”

“We just need to buy more time! Either he spends everything keeping this attack up and we get an opportunity, or I will be forced to do something reckless!”

The youth hesitated. Still, he knew he had no other choice, so he got ready to activate the other shielding talisman as soon as the current barrier showed signs of collapse.

The gas had completely enveloped their shield by now, clouding their way forwards and slowing them even further as they were forced to dodge obstacles they couldn’t see until they were right in front of them. The necromancer took this opportunity to shorten the distance between them even further.

At this rate, they would be caught in his grasp before their shield was even used up.

Red warned Domeron. “He’s almost caught up with us!”

“Damn it all!” The swordsman's hand reached for the sword at his waist. “Tell me when he’s in melee reach! I’ll attack through the shield, and you activate the other talisman and run away!”

The youth frowned and was about to protest against this reckless strategy, when he felt a very faint fluctuation suddenly appear within his crimson sense. It wasn’t further than fifty meters from them, and it was approaching the necromancer from the rear at an incredible speed.

A sense of recognition crossed his mind.

Suddenly, this fluctuation charged forward at the necromancer, clashing with him. The man stopped moving in his crimson sense, and immediately the gas surrounding them started to wane.

Domeron looked at the youth in confusion. “What happened?”

“The necromancer is not moving.” Red said.

They both slowed down upon this realization and looked back at where they were just running from. As the gas dissipated, the scene in front of them was revealed.

The necromancer was there, standing still as a corpse, with the conjured skull having long since dissipated. Wrapped around his head, though, was an elongated creature, its colors as grey as the surrounding forest, with six glowing eyes. A serpent.

Domeron looked stupefied. “Is that… your pet?”

Red didn’t know how to respond. Upon closer examination, he noticed that the snake’s fangs were digging into the necromancer’s neck, its jaw dislocated to find purchase in his flesh. From his fluctuation, the youth could feel that the man was not dead, and yet as he stared at him, his body showed no movement at all.

“He is paralyzed.” the youth said.

Domeron stared at him, still baffled. “How did it find you here?”

Red shrugged. “… It probably has a good sense of smell.”

Right as he said that, the snake retracted its fangs from the necromancer’s neck and uncoiled from his head and crawled along its body to the ground. The man remained standing there, his face and body completely paralyzed. The serpent didn’t pay him any mind, though, creeping its way to Red with what he could only assume was eagerness to be reunited.

Its path was cut short, though, as it hit the translucent barrier head first with a bump. As soon as it saw this, the frustrated creature didn’t hesitate to open its mouth and try to dig its fangs into the cracked shield. It only managed to slather its venom and saliva all over the barrier, though.

Domeron sighed as he saw this. “… You were right to untie its mouth.”

Red was compelled to agree.