Turning to look at the source of the ominous howling, he saw two sleek furred creatures perched at the top of a nearby hill. While looking at them he once more he felt the mental urge to trigger the thing in the back of his head.

Hell Hound: Tier 1 Demon Beast

It turned out that taking the time to do that was a mistake as both of the creatures flew towards him. In a slight panic, he mentally urged his zombie to defend him with a wave of his hand. Red burst forward in a loping run that half used his arms to propel himself. Knuckles pounding into the rocky earth with more power then the curseling could ever use.

Red charged between both of the Hell Hounds, arms outstretched to grab both at the same time. The one on the left twisted to slide under the outstretched limb while the other jumped over it displaying impressive agility on both sides. As Red turned to attack again the one on the right landed and bit onto the baboon zombies ankle. A fiery glow lit up the gaps between its teeth and embers spilled between its fangs. Giving a strong tug with a whip of its head, the Hell Hound growled and destabilized Red's balance slightly. The Zombie however was too strong. While not agile, the corded muscles that didn't yet have time to rot tightened. Red's fist whipped forward to slam into the Hell Hounds ribs with an ominous cracking sound and a smoke filled yelp of pain.

Of course, he wasn't around to see any of this.

The Curseling had started to run for his life the moment the other Hell Hound kept going for him.

He ran with all his limbs, wiry muscles burning with the effort. Fear bubbled in his throat while he climbed up a craggy cliff side like a reptile to try and gain a little more distance between him and the burning predator. It didn't help much. The Hell Hound simply opened its mouth and shot a ball of fire directly at him. Feeling the heat approaching he managed to swing by one arm onto a small protrusion nearby dodging most of the heat. The impact, however, destabilized the cliffside. Combined with the impact of his body hitting the ledge a crack ran through its connection to the cliff wall.

On instinct, and with a little spiteful fear, the demon pulled on another source of mana in his body. This one oily and malevolent. Not in an evil way in his opinion. More simply... in defiance. Activating another one of his skills, the Weakening curse took effect. The blue flames in the center of his skull like face burning brighter.

The Hellhound, about to unleash another fireball, seemingly winced and coughed. Smoke pouring out of its nostrils. It seemed to almost glare at the Demon in anger before the glow lit up the back of its throat once more as it opened its mouth.

"Curse! Curse! Curse! Curse!" The demon shouted over and over. The ledge it sat on cracking and tilting down slightly. Every time he used his ability more of the oily mana escaped him. and every time the dog cringed in a bit more pain. For a moment he really thought he would be able to just sit up on this ledge and curse it to death.

Unfortunately, it was then the ledge decided to give out. The rocks tilted once more. Falling down some fifteen feet to deposit the demon at the bottom of the cliff in a sprawled mess. He didn't have time to recover before he felt the pain. A burning ring of fire latched around his leg. He had never experienced pain before, and it turned out it was quire awful. He screamed out as the Hell Hound dragged him back from the cliff face and potential safety. Flames licked at his ankle.

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He tried desperately to grab something nearby as a weapon. A loose rock. A bone. Anything. Nothing was in reach however as the damned dog dragged him away from the crumbled remains of his previous haven.

He could feel himself weakening as black liquid spilled from the burnt and torn flesh of his ankle. This only grew more pronounced when the Hell Hound released him only to clamp down on his neck with a crunch.

It was going to kill him.

Desperately, trying to keep the blackness away that grew at the edge of his vision, he cast regeneration. It wasn't enough though. The damage of the Hell Hounds fiery maw was damaging faster then the mana could regenerate. He felt his mind go foggy. Barely born and already going to die.

A hand grabbed the Hell Hounds neck and ripped it away from him. It left him gasping for breath as air escaped the torn sections of his throat. Black blood spraying all over his chest and the rock around him. It was Red. He appeared to have won his other fight and come back to defend his animator. Having managed to sneak up and grab the beast it only took a bit of force to grab the other half and twist. The Hell Hounds spine cracked in half as its chest tore open with the body being forcefully twisted around. Red blood that steamed spilled everywhere.

He was stabilizing thankfully. As regeneration slowed, he cast again. He could feel not only his throat and ankle closing, but also the blood refilling his veins. With a gasp of breath, and once he could hold it, he rolled onto his side and gagged. He lay there shivering on the floor as the zombie stood motionless having completed its objective. He was wracked with fear. Horrible, mind numbing, existential fear. He was nearly gone. Just because he had bad luck to run into two beasts. They weren't even particularly strong looking. Two simple black dogs had nearly killed him.

He needed to wake up. Fuck figuring out who he was. Fuck finding other people. He had to survive. The blue flames in his eye sockets flickered as he came to that realization. His gaze flickered to the two dead demon beasts. With a nudge of will, another prompt appeared.

Hell Hound reanimated: 20 Mana Reclaimed

The pieces of the animal straightened and snapped back into place. The mana reinforcing and taking the place of broken bones and flesh. With a grunt he sat up onto his knees and cast his gaze to the other corpse Red left behind. Its neck had been broken.

Hell Hound reanimated: 20 Mana Reclaimed

He looked at his status.

Necromantic Affinity 3% | 81/81 Mana (70 Reclaimed) | 50.6 Mana per 1% Affinity

So he could animate about four more bodies at about hell hound level or two baboons and a hell hound. Maybe just one big body.

Looking at his new guard squad he felt a bit better. With three bodies under his control it was less likely enemies could just go around and target him like the Hell Hound had. He still was scared of more powerful creatures. He had seen way scarier near the piles of corpses.

He rose to his feet and took a deep breath before letting it out. Looking out across the plains, he could see what he didn't before. Shadows beneath rocky outcroppings. Blurry shapes in the foggy sky. Wandering black dots in the distance.

This wasn't a safe land at all. He'd have to be cautious. Play it careful. If he did, he may make it long enough to question things.

For now he decided to have the two Hell Hounds as scouts. He named the one with the broken neck Crack and the one with the broken spine Twist. He'd have Twist in the front about 20 feet ahead and Crack in the back the same distance. Red would stay by his side. If he could he'd like to have two more bodies to cover his left and right. If he found any more corpses, he'd take them.

Now a bit more prepared, he turned and once again started his journey of survival. His first taste of death had not been pleasant.