PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

′′ Do you feel it too? ′′ Sasha asked as she looked at him as he wandered around the area.

′′ Yes, the miasma not only prevents me from absorbing mana from the environment, but it is also costing me mana to suppress corruption; we can’t stay long. ′′ Desmond replied with a serious expression as he approached the entrance of the cave.

′′ Are you planning to go in? ′′ Sasha’s surprised voice stopped Desmond in his place.

′′ get in? Of course not, no matter how you see it, the cave looks suspicious as hell, it practically has trapped, come and die please written at the entrance; I am not going to enter... I have a different idea. ′′ Desmond not only shook his head but also his arms, all his behavior said that he really would not enter that cave even if he is dead.

And who could blame him? Nobody in his holy judgment would go to such a suspicious place unless they had a death wish or believed that his protagonist aura would save their butt, And it so happens that Desmond was neither of those cases.

′′ then what do you want to do? ′′ Sasha asked quite confused at the idea of ??fighting what is inside the cave without entering the cave.

At the question, Desmond took out two barrels that were extremely similar to Sasha, before Sasha even asked what is going on, she saw Desmond use his daggers to pierce the barrels on the side causing the oil in them to leak continuously.

Once both barrels were pierced, Desmond gave both of them a pirate-style kick and rolled the barrels downhill through the cave entrance; in that sense, Desmond was grateful the cave was dug down or this plan would have gone to hell for a pretty stupid reason.

.....

Soon both Sasha and Desmond lost sight of the barrels, but they could still hear them lowered and occasionally hit some rocks in their path, at some point the barrels stopped being heard and Desmond waited at least a second before doing something that stopped Sasha with her mouth open.

′′ You know a great character once said that explosions are an art. I never understood it, but at least I know that sometimes blowing your problems to pieces is quite practical. ′′ Desmond exclaimed with an expression of mischievous amusement when with a snap of his fingers a small flame fell on the puddle of oil that spilled when he opened the barrels.

The fire spread like a snake that slides on the ground leaving behind a burning trail that allowed the couple to look into the cave, seconds passed and when they both thought that something had gone wrong; a powerful reverberant explosion from the depths of the cave expelled a pressurized flame at the exit of it.

Sasha and Desmond who had retreated as soon as they heard the explosion still managed to feel the heat of the flame emitted from the cave, the heat had not yet left the environment when a powerful roar of anger came out of the cave.

′′ WHO DARES? I’m GOING TO RIP YOUR FLESH OUT OF YOUR BONES, DRINK YOUR BLOOD, AND MAKE A CHAIR WITH YOUR HUMAN DAMNED BONES. ′′

′′ Do you think we make someone angry? ′′ Desmond asked Sasha with a certain degree of mocking as if he wasn′t even a little bit disturbed by the previous roar.

Not that Desmond was surprised, he had long ago deduced that the entity in the forest possessed a significant amount of intelligence given the behavior of the corrupt beasts that should be nothing more than mindless puppets but still acted with clear coordination and planning in their movements; Adding to that what little he had learned through the analysis function, Desmond guessed that whatever was at the bottom of the cave was some kind of necromancer or the something like it.

It must be said that Desmond was quite insightful in that regard, even until now the people in the city of Kalmerá still believed that this was a curse of some kind or that the forest had been contaminated by evil or chaotic sources of energy.

Of course, they couldn’t be blamed for this, as there had been some cases in the past where such things happened and they were somehow similar to the situation in the witch’s forest. But since Desmond was unaware that such a thing was possible, his train of thought set off on a totally different path from the beginning.

It was also because Desmond had heard of necromancers in the past, not only did they appear in fantasy novels, but there had even been a case in Desmond’s world where an Esper with the ability to control the dead caused an incident quite tragic in a country in South America.

Ultimately, from the moment Desmond saw the cave, he had decided not to directly fight an entity with such abilities, even with his scant knowledge of video games Desmond knew one thing in particular about necromancers: They are extremely lethal and They specialize in murdering others of their own kind.

That is why Desmond did not hesitate for a moment to release the pyromaniac inside him and turn the cave into a burning hell, it was a pity that the thing inside the cave seemed to survive the flames.

When Desmond and Sasha observed the cave once more, they noticed a strange phenomenon, it was as if tendrils made of that corrupt miasma were wrapped around the flames suffocating them, little by little all the fire in the cave was extinguished; but it was not so easy for the entity in the cave as the miasma had visibly decreased.

Soon grotesque sounds emerged from the cave, it was similar to hearing bones fracture continuously, footsteps could also be heard in the distance, at that point it became a no-brainer that Desmond had angered so much the monster in the cave that it went out to eliminate him with its own hands.

How could Desmond know that at the end of the cave was the bedroom where the necrotic being rested and had been waiting for him with a small army of high-level corrupt beasts; it was a pack of ethereal shadow wolves, a type of beast of significant strength, but small in size that lived in packs.

If Desmond and Sasha had entered the cave they would have been quickly overwhelmed by these fast and deadly necrotic beasts, and it was unknown if they would survive the initial ambush, and even so, they would still have to face beasts from all sides while being attacked by the necrotic entity.

The necrotic entity believed that it had everything under its control and that it would soon turn these two annoyances into its most powerful undead generals; thus his power would increase once more and he would soon turn the entire forest into his territory.

As soon as he had the forest’s resources at his disposal, he would emerge to the world once more leading an invincible army of corrupted beasts and the world would remember the nightmare that was once the great necromancer Araszh.

The millennial necromancer never hoped that Desmond wasn’t like the heroes of yesteryear who faced danger fearlessly going straight into death traps, but again, who can blame Desmond? If there was a heroes watchdog agency in the world. they might say that this reckless attitude was the reason why less than 1% of people who believed themselves to be heroes lived long enough to become one. . . and yet many of their legends ended with them dead in death traps, evil schemes, or poisoning.

Being honest. . . heroes tend to be a bit stupid, it was the few smart heroes throughout history who had kept the world from going to hell; As for Desmond? He didn’t even consider himself a hero in the first place.