The next morning we were in a good mood. The grilled boar had lifted our spirits and we were motivated to hunt again.

“What do you think we can catch today?” Helena asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe we can get one of the snakes? Have you ever eaten a snake?”

“No.” Helena answered.

“Me neither.” Skadi said.

Cassie thought for a bit. “Snake? I don’t think I have ever tried it.”

Before we entered the forest we had some camp duties, like replenishing the fire wood. Afterwards we met with Torben and geared up. He was happy with yesterday's performance, so we did not need to change anything.

With the amount of students hunting, there was nothing left close to the camp. So we had to push a bit further. After a while we spotted a curious bush. It was huge and really dense, with big red berries on its branches.

“Do you think they are edible?” Helena asked.

“I don't know much about plants.” Torben admitted.

Skadi shrugged.

“I only know about some alchemy ingredients. But those berries don’t look familiar.” Cassie said.

“They look really juicy.” I noted.

“Hm. Could be poisonous. Maybe we should take some back to camp and ask the teachers?” Helena suggested.

Nyx stared at the bush. I followed her gaze and noticed something.

“Is that a bone?” I pointed at the object in question. It peeked out of the soil at the bottom of the bush.

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“Could be. Do you think you can use it? Can you animate what died here?” Helena asked.

“This could be good training. Try to raise whatever is buried there from here.” Torben suggested.

I could not see the entire skeleton. I didn't even know if there was more than a single bone. But Torben had a point, it would be good training. Maybe I could just target an area somehow? Try to raise anything in there? Would that be a problem? How many dead tiny things were in an area? Would I raise insects?

“I will try to just cast a spell for tier two skeletons on the area around the bush. Let’s see what happens.” I announced.

How much mana would that need? If the skeleton was incomplete, could more mana help to make it work anyway? What if I just pushed a large amount into it? Maybe half my mana?

I formed the spell in my head and mentally targeted the area. It was weird, like the spell wanted clearer instructions. I had a hard time focusing. As I poured the magic into the spell something happened. My eyes widened as connections formed. There were a lot of skeletons!

“There are a lot of skeletons down there!” I shouted in surprise. Not all of them answered my call. About seven undead rose from the earth. A small fox, four goblins and two squirrels.

But the skeletons were not the only thing that moved. The bush somehow expanded. Vines emerged and grabbed the raising undead. The fox was the first victim. The vines crushed it.

“That bush is alive!” Torben shouted. “There is something beneath us!”

I jumped backwards just in time to dodge a root that shot out from the ground. I heard Cassie scream. When I looked, there was a vine grabbing her foot. It had thorns that pierced her boots. Skadi reacted quickly and hacked it off.

“DIE YOU STUPID BUSH!” Cassie shouted and threw something. The potion hit the plant and exploded. A few leaves burned but the plant seemed oddly resistant to fire.

I took control of my undead and ordered them to kill the bush. The squirrels were not really equipped to do much. The goblins… they were humanoids, about 1 metre tall and could use their hands to tear the plant apart. But their lack of weapons was a problem.

Helena tried to hit any moving vines with her ice to slow them down. Torben fought the vines with his sword, trying to reach the centre of the bush. Skadi defended the wounded Cassie from encroaching vines.

Nyx grew to her full size and jumped into the heart of the plant. Then she exhaled her fog.

“Torben, stay back!” I warned him. Nyx was not just using water, she created a death cloud. I charged into it.

My staff was not going to be useful here, so I dropped it. Instead I drew my dagger. It was mostly to defend myself against vines. The key to victory would be magic. Nyx had the right idea. Plants were living things. They should not react well to death mana.

I could not see very well inside the fog but I could follow Nyx. She seemed to open a way for me to reach the centre of the plant. The vines coming for me were slowed due to the icy mist and the death mana rotting them. I ordered my other skeletons to shield me from attacks.

We managed to pierce the bush and reach the heart of our enemy. It looked like an egg shaped blossom growing from the ground. It was surrounded by countless vines. And they came for me. My undead goblins tried to stop them. Nyx tried to slash them. But there were too many. My dagger was not slicing fast enough and soon some attached themselves to me. They had trouble penetrating my mail but not all of my body was protected. I could feel thorns piercing my legs. And I could feel them draining my blood…

Wait! It wanted to eat me? I flooded my body with mana and I turned it all into death. Silly thing, trying to kill me. I would show it death. When it consumed my blood I fed it my mana. All of it.

The vines shuddered and started to wilt. It was like a wave of death flowing through them towards the centre. It reached the blossom itself. The plant started decaying in front of my eyes. Nyx stopped her fog and I could see my surroundings more clearly. I was standing in a field of death. Every plant in a 50 metre radius around me had died.

My knees grew weak. I was exhausted. I hurt in many places. My legs were bleeding. I collapsed to the ground. But I did not pass out, it was progress.