Mark Winters - Level 32 (F)

Class: Necromancer (Uncommon)

Stats: 6 Free Points -> 0

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 11

Vitality: 15

Intelligence: 79 -> 85

Wisdom: 36

"Are you serious?" Andrew looked panicked. "We can't face someone like him!"

Hector squinted at him. "You sure about that? We've been steamrolling everything from here to there."

Leah bit her lip. "Entire swarms of undead have been wiped out by him, alone. Though your larger minions might be able to withstand a little longer, they'll fall like the rest."

"He's killed bosses alone," Andrew screamed. "We should be running, not standing here talking!"

"No. We keep going. Fight if we have to," Samara said.

"I agree with her, boss. There's no way we shouldn't be able to kill another necromancer even if they're a lot stronger. Just think of them as another monster to fight."

"We keep going," Mark repeated. "Avoid dead bodies and his minions if we do come to a conflict."

"Come on, Andrew," Leah said to her cousin. "It will be fine."

"You too? Fine," he said. "But I'm going to focus on keeping you safe. Don't count on my participation in the battle." Andrew glared at Mark in particular when he said this.

"Think the boy's gonna be a problem, boss?" Hector whispered to him while they walked.

"Maybe. Keep a closer eye on him."

An explosion rang in the distance. Necromancer Char was still close by, blowing things up. He sent Samara forwards to find him first. Perhaps the man could be negotiated with.

She soon returned, having tracked the man easily due to the mess left behind. Mark decided to try speaking with him. The deterrence from his level should be enough to make sure they didn't step on each other's toes.

"Necromancer Char, I presume." Mark stepped out to confront the man once he detected a glimpse of a black hood. Fiery motifs decorated the outside of his clothing, denoting the man's specialty.

"Who are you?" The man squinted his eyes. He only had two minions active, a ghoul with a considerably larger body than most, and an Eyeless Wolf. "A new necromancer? Never seen you before."

Mark gave him a slow nod. "Listen, I'm here to do something, just like you. Let's stay out of each other's way, alright?"

But instead of agreeing, Char scowled. "And so you thought to threaten me, did you?" His eyes were looking behind him. Mark frowned deeply.

Necromantic magic flowed from the man's hands and into the nearby corpses. Instead of exploding, they rose and rushed at Mark. Knowing that these were likely explosives, he ran away while arrows peppered the newly risen undead.

Elise's light brought them low, and then Char knew fear. Mark caught a glimpse of his wide eyes before the man turned and ran. His minions pursued him doggedly, even running past the slain minions to make a grab for him.

But those corpses didn't explode. Instead, it was the next batch which did. Immediately, Mark shouted, "Elise, target the bodies with your magic! It stops the explosions!"

Char's movements had slowed while casting, and when he heard this, he had to give up. He only managed to kill two skeleton warriors before the orc mage caught up and shoved his face onto the floor.

"What have you been up to? I would've let you go, but you forced us."

Char cursed and spat on the floor. He wasn't talking. Mark wanted to try interrogating him, but Andrew slipped past his remaining skeleton warrior and buried a knife into the man's chest. He then stirred it around.

Instead of crying out, Char only smiled grimly. "You'll get what's coming to you," he growled. His body fell to the floor. Leah's cousin turned to face the others, but met a fist to his face.

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"Argh!" Andrew's eyes became wide with fear. Mark's orc gripped the man's throat and pinned him against the wall.

"What was that for?" Mark growled. Char was too far gone. They couldn't heal injuries like this, so he willed his skeleton warrior to finish the man off. "Didn't you agree to follow my orders?"

Congratulations! You have reached Level 33! +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +3 Free Stat Points

Leah rushed forwards in a frenzy. "Let go of him!" she shouted. But Mark did not relent.

"Even though he probably wasn't going to say anything, it doesn't give you the right to kill him. I make the decisions here. Maybe you've forgotten that."

Her eyes grew wide. "So what? You can't just kill him. He's my cousin!"

"I don't have a problem with it, boss. Just give the order," Hector said.

"You can't be serious. If you do this, I won't forgive you."

Through the chokehold, Andrew gasped out, "Needed...to die...danger...ous."

Mark closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "One last chance. But he needs to be kept under close watch. We're gonna have to talk more about our share once we get there." He'd like to leave them both here, but he had a vested interest in seeing her quest to the end. After all, magical knowledge of nature was rare and would be helpful for his goals.

With that settled, Hector became his watcher, no longer giving Andrew any personal space. The archer was basically a prisoner, and though he complained at not having the power to defend himself, it wasn't like he was useful anyway.

Intelligence: 87 -> 90

Samara came running back from a scouting trip. Something was chasing her. A huge, ugly monster came lumbering through the cavern. It moved surprisingly quickly for something so large, and with so many legs.

On top of this makeshift abomination was a man dressed in all black. "Necromancer Theurge," Leah whispered.

The second-strongest necromancer inside these mines had just appeared in front of Mark and his team. He snuck a quick glance at the man's level and saw things he didn't like.

Necromancer - Level 36

Undead Abomination - Level 34

That abomination beneath him exuded the unnatural. It was a chimera of stitched parts, a creation of man built to dominate these dungeons and the world above.

Several familiar animals sewed onto the hulking mass of flesh and bone stared back into his eyes. Light swam inside the pupils of bears, monkey skulls encased the monster in a protective shell, and wolf maws hung open as they swung about. It was hideous. It was horrific. But to Mark, it represented his hopes and dreams.

A tingle shot through Mark's spine. Theurge paused for a second before he spoke. "Were you the ones who killed Char? And our other disciple?"

Hector and Samara stood out. They stood steadfast in front of the monster and refused to budge an inch.

But Mark put his hand up. He knew there was no riskless way to win, and although they could run, they would incur losses as well. Nobody wanted such a thing to happen. And so he attempted diplomacy, to try and communicate with a fellow practitioner of the dark arts. Maybe they could exchange knowledge.

Mark tilted his head. "Not Char. I tried to stop it, but I wasn't enough." He bowed. "Please forgive me. As for the other one, I thought he was lying. Would you like his artifact back?"

The necromancer's hood turned to look over the rest of his party. Then it stopped on Andrew in particular. Moments later, a spell struck Andrew's arm and the man could not stop himself from screaming.

"I will take an arm," Necromancer Theurge said. "For the lives you took." The man's hood swiveled around the rest of the room again, pausing when it glanced behind Mark's position. His skeleton mage was there alongside Elise.

"You are merciful," Mark praised. He watched the hideous abomination disappear back into the tunnels.

Mark had expected someone to die. Only when the sounds of the monster's steps faded did he face the rest of the group.

"We got lucky this time," he said over Andrew's pained whimpers. Though Leah had gotten up earlier to help her cousin recover, no one else had moved. It was good they recognized his leadership in such a difficult situation. "Make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Speaking of which, why did he let us off so easily? I think it had something to do with you, boss. Your prowess clearly impressed him." Hector took the chance to flatter him, but Mark felt like he had a point. His deterrence was enough. Probably.

"Help me," a voice whimpered to their side. But all of them saw fit to ignore Andrew's pleading. Though Leah looked worried, even she did not raise a voice to defend her cousin, only holding him tightly in worry. She also had to admit Necromancer Theurge was quite magnanimous not to kill him.

Andrew had lost his use of the left arm entirely. The magic drained away all signs of life from the appendage, and now it hung loose at his side. His shield lay on the floor without anyone to use it.

A lost look was in his eyes as he continued to stare downwards. It took Leah a few attempts to snap him out of it, but the man eventually continued forward with them. However, he became much more despondent than before. He no longer spoke to the rest, other than his cousin, who kept close.

Then they came to a stop. According to Leah's guidance, this was the spot where they could enter a hidden tunnel. There were a few places where she went around and inspected the soil before nodding.

"Here it is," she said. "I need to do something here to open up the tunnel. You won't be able to dig through it."

Mark's undead lizard struck hard stone soon after she said that. It tried to dig around it, but more impassable rocks appeared. He'd have to rely on Leah for this one.

She inserted her staff into a crevice, and they all heard a click. There were many of these scattered in different places similar to what he experienced in the skeleton paladin's mausoleum with Samara and Elise. But Leah already knew where to find them. It made him wonder who designed such a contraption. This probably wasn't a treasure for necromancers.

Perhaps there was a link between Nature Mages and Necromancers here. Mark had to turn away from his distracting thoughts once a grinding noise emerged from the secret tunnel and started to advance. The wall was moving, but so was the darkness behind them.