The situation was way too intense for me. Only moments passed since the Dark Magician took the crystal skull from his robe, but it felt like hours. Neither Lex nor Lux tried to move forward towards Lucius. On the other hand, I stepped backward and was ready to bolt out of there at any moment.

“We can’t let you go.”

Lux spoke and stepped forward, raising her staff. On top of the staff, a bright light started to flow. Lex, too gripped his sword and took a stance. Lucius seeing this, let out a laugh and dropped the crystal skull on the ground.

Without waiting anymore, I turned and ran. At least I tried as hands gripped my ankles from the ground, and I fell.

Before I could regain my balance, another hand rose through the ground and tried to grab me. With the burning stone sword, I managed to break it, and with a kick, I freed myself of the clutches of the first hand.

I starting to hate that I can’t just run away from my fights. Like the whole world is against me running away.

‘Son, be careful of the giant.’

“What giant?”

Before the Saint could answer me, I saw a big shadow cast on me. Turning to it, I saw a giant. Its head was that of the crystal skull the Dark Magician dropped. It wore black armor, so black that I could see the light being absorbed by it. Its hands clasped a giant black sword. It stood at least seven meters tall.

“What the hell?”

“Hahaha, have fun taking it down. Now I should go, shouldn’t I?”

The dark magician replied to my exclamation and then cast some spell and created a smokescreen. Before I could regain my sight, he was gone. All I could see was the giant and the ghouls surrounding the area. This is fine, yes, totally fine.

“Don’t just stand around, boy.”

“What do you want me to do? You just had to show up with your sister and get me into this mess.”

I complained and plunged my burning stone sword at one of the ghouls. After I freed my sword, I had to swing to bat away another one. Lex and Lux decided to leave me to the small fries while they took on the giant. The ghouls were hit by me and fell to the ground, burning one after another.

This was absurd. What else could I think when I had pierced a ghoul with the burning stone sword and held another’s head with my other hand, using spark to burn it? The most baffling thing was that I was too calm in this out-of-control situation.

I knew that twins were taking care of the giant by cutting its legs and arms. I knew that Guts was running around and biting the ankles of the ghouls to slow them down. Most importantly, I knew where my enemies were and from where they were attacking me. So even when I was overrun, I still managed to defend myself and take down the undead.

“What the hell is happening to me?”

‘Don’t worry about it, son. Remember, we are connected. You can partly sense what I and the Heavenly Demon are sensing.’

“Sensing, not seeing?”

‘How can we see when the sword doesn’t have eyes. Can’t you think for a moment, you fool?’

I didn’t have time to reply to the Heavenly asshole as another ghoul thought of jumping straight on my sword. The cemetery was filled with burning corpses, but the undead just didn’t stop coming. At this point, all I could do was to defend myself and back away. I couldn’t feel my arms, and my legs were giving up on me.

I felt despair when I couldn’t block one of the ghouls, which brought me to the ground. My mail shirt and hardened leather jacket didn’t last long as the ghoul’s claws dug in me. Another two ghouls jumped on me too and bit my shoulder and leg.

With no way out, I did something stupid. I gathered air in my palm and ignited it with sparks from my fingers, creating an explosion.

The explosion knocked down the ghouls of me. But my left hand was mangled and unusable. Roling to the side, I quickly got on my feet and, with my right hand, held the stone sword as a shield. Blocking the attacks from the undead was all I could do, and it didn’t help that I was bleeding from my shoulder and leg.

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A bright light illuminated the area around me as I was prepared to fall to my knees. The light disintegrated all ghouls to the dust. Feeling relieved, I succumbed to exhaustion and lay down on the burned weed. Lux came to me to help, but I already was losing consciousness by then.

…

The smell of cooking meat woke me up. It was dark, and only the light from the campfire could be seen. As I tried to stand up, I felt pain in my shoulder and leg. Weakness made me lay down again.

“You lost a lot of blood, I healed the wounds on you and prevented the infection, but you still should feel pain for a while. Your left hand was mangled too bad for me to fully heal. I would recommend for you to go to the church.”

Lux informed me. Her beautiful silver and silky hair reflected the light from the fire. She gave me a bottle of water, and I gulped it down. Feeling somewhat refreshed and my strength coming back, I sat. Guts whimpered next to me.

“Iron wolf pup as a pet? That not something I see every day.” Lex came and gave me a wooden bowl full of rabbit stew and some bones to Guts. “A stone greatsword for a weapon too, an interesting guy you are.”

I didn’t reply to him and just ate in silence. I heard Lex clicking his tongue in annoyance and Lux letting out a light chuckle. The stew was nice, too many potatoes and carrots for my taste, but it was more than I could possibly get in the wilderness.

“What happened to that Black Magician?”

“Oh, so the boy still can talk.” Lex cracked a joke, but I didn’t respond. “Tch, he escaped.”

“So, if you had let him go from the beginning, I wouldn’t have to be injured?”

“We couldn’t just let him go.” It was Lux who replied.

“And why not? I understand of the pride of the hunters, but you won noting by not letting him go.”

“We did. We took one of Lucius’ artifacts.”

“Artifact? You mean that crystal skull?” I wanted to know what the hell it was.

“Yes, it was the rare artifact that summoned the undead black knight. If Lucius activated it in a town, you should know how many people would die.”

I didn’t talk anymore because I knew Lux was right. The whole town would be in chaos. Many would die before the undead knight was stopped. I wanted to complain how I almost died, again because of some undead, but I kept quiet.

Hundreds join the association, and hundreds die each year. As a hunter, I know the dangers of each job. Or, I should, but the information I was given was false. There weren’t any necromancers.

“Who is that guy anyway?”

“He’s a very powerful magician. Even the Emperor is wary of him and offered a rank of nobility or a million orens for one who brought his head to his Majesty.”

“Then why I took the job for ten thousand to hunt him down?” After Lux’s explanation, I wondered.

“It could be a simple mistake,” Lex replied to me.

“Or someone is deliberately tried to hide Lucius and gave false information.”

I was more inclined to Lux’s answer. Mistakes rarely happen in the association. As a simple mistake can and will cost someone’s life, all information has to be triple-checked before a post of a job appears.

“So there might be a traitor among the association.”

Either of them denied my statement. Lex didn’t like it, if I could guess from his frown. Lux had a contemplating look and nodded.

“Is it somehow related to the increase of the undead?”

“We believe so. Many necromancers were spotted not far away from Iron town. Someone is leading them.”

“You should realize by now that if the necromancers are gathering, it means they are preparing an undead army.”

An army of the undead? Thinking of the Lich that almost killed, and now that Lucius guy showing up. I didn’t like where this was going.

‘Shit, brat, if I were in your shoes, I would get out of Iron town before it is too late.’

I would do just that, but where would I go. I have a couple of thousand orens hidden back home, but not nearly enough to start life in another town. Not speaking of Markus, I still own him fifty thousand, and if I ran away, he would hunt me down.

“I would like to ask you not to reveal any of the information you learned from us.”

“Then why the hell did you tell me all of that?”

At Lux’s request, I was confused. I thought that this information is or will be common to at least hunters. But if it isn’t, then why tell me all of this.

“I believed you should know. Now that Lucius saw you with us, he will think you are a member of our party. If you encounter him next time, he will try to capture for information regarding us.”

“I understand. If I get even a whiff of the Dark Magician, I will run.”

There was no need for them to tell me to do so. Still, it was nice that the twins thought of my well-being. Not many would do so. Most Gold rank hunters look down on Iron and Bronze rankers, and they definitely wouldn’t care for our safety.

…

Home sweet home. After that disastrous job, I finally can rest for some time. I returned just before it started to get dark. Of course, I knew it wouldn’t be for long, especially when I got nothing for my last job. Only wrecking my left hand.

Speaking of the hand, I needed to go to the church to heal it. I could already feel as my last money was going down to those greedy priests. I knew I should have bought a self-healing skill and learned it. Well, what is done is done.

I will have to take another job after my hand is healed. No undead or necromancers anymore for me. I will stick with beast hunting. That was the only kind of job that didn’t have some surprises ready for me.

For tonight I rest. I will think of the future tomorrow. That sounded like a great plan. I fed Guts for the night and prepared some soup for myself. When I finished my dinner, I went to bed. No training for me, at least until my hand is healed.

Still, I took a book to read. As of late, it was the only thing I had to let me relax. Most of the time, I laugh at the idea of heroes in these novels. What kind of a fool would fight a dragon. I never heard of any noble knight marrying a princess. Even a commoner like me knows what political marriage is.

Those authors are trying to romanticize the noble heart of men way too much. Still, I understand why people like it. It was something that could put your mind at ease. To me, who has almost died two times by now, it lets me imagine a better future, that all the hardships I endured won’t be for nothing.