Birth of a Necromancer 018

Noise and attention. The greatest enemies of people, who preferred solitude and isolation. The trapper, Fang, was currently a victim of both.

Shortly after the small party had returned from their quest to slay the wraith, they had been swarmed by adventurers, wanting to congratulate them, join their party, or tell them that it must have been a "stroke of luck or something".

The four victorious adventurers were sitting at their usual table, near the desk, waiting for the reward they were about to receive.

Robinia, who had been quite badly injured, was patched up by some of the guild's most skilled healers, when the party returned to town. While Lin was a good healer, she couldn't make up for blood-loss like the professional healers could.

Because of that, she was able to sit somewhat comfortably with the rest of the party. This greatly pleased the trapper, who had been worrying about her, a lot, ever since she was hurt by the wraith.

Ash, the one who had technically 'killed' it, was sitting for himself, staring at the air in front of him. Like always, he was completely uninterested in anything around him. Even the praise he was receiving went completely over his head.

"Here you go!" The receptionist said. He had arrived at their table, after having to work his way around the masses of people standing around the party.

The young man was carrying a massive wooden plate, on which money and a confirmation of quest-completion laid. It was standard procedure, when completing a high-level quest. The guild would always make a big fuss, whenever a hard quest was completed. This was done in order to encourage people to follow said party's example. Show them that there was fame and glory to be earned.

The wooden plate was placed on the table, and the entirety of the party, and the adventurers around the table were astounded by the enormous amount of cash, laying on the table.

Robinia started counting immediately, with Lin looking over her shoulder. Being a noble, the mistress was quite well-versed in arithmetic. She could count quite well, and do some simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Therefore, the counting process went quite fast.

"This is..." The elven girl started.

All of the adventurers, surrounding the table, were listening closely. How much had the four of them earned?

"-A thousand gold coins".

Silence. A thousand gold coins was a fortune for an adventurer. If one were to earn such an outrageous amount of money, they wouldn't need to work ever again. With mixed emotions, the adventurers started clapping.

"Drinks on me!" Robinia shouted, ecstatic with her achievement.

Cheers resounded throughout The Nest, as everyone headed off towards the inn, where the small party was staying.

'Not tonight' Fang thought to himself. He wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the entirety of the night drinking with rowdy adventurers, so he headed off to bed instead. Closely followed by Ash.

The two nodded to each other. Their mutual contempt for each other was apparent, seeing as none of them spoke. Staring at each other with hostility in their eyes, was all they could do, as long as the party leader was around.

Ash shrugged and continued up the stairs. Although the trapper wasn't done with him, he let the elf go. He would eventually get his chance to banish that sneaky little bastard.

'I won't let you do anything to us'.

Many hours of drinking later, the sun could be seen through the dusty windows of the inn. Fang was lying on his bed, half awake. His body ached after the struggle from the night before, but he had his duties to attend to.

The trapper shed his blanket, got dressed, and headed down the stairs. Ready to take the day head-on.

"Morning..." Lin said. She was hungover, and sitting at a table for herself.

'Did you even get any sleep?' The trapper wondered. Drinking had never appealed to him, but he did it in order to appear to be a somewhat social creature.

Fang for one, hadn't gotten any sleep at all, except for the few hours before sunrise. He had contemplated ways to remove Ash from the party, but to no avail. The bastard was too vital of a member. In order to remove him from their group, he would have to be made expendable.

"Agh.. Fuck!".

The voice belonged to the groggy male elf, coming down the stairs. He appeared to have stubbed his toe on one of the steps on the wooden staircase. As he walked down the stairs, grumpy and tired as he was, no-one would believe Fang, if he told them his suspicions about the elf.

'Fall. Please...' Fang silently pleaded. Quite morbid, but he was a desperate man.

Lin repeated her not-very-charismatic greeting to the elf. She for one, didn't seem to have noticed any odd behavior with the elf. On second thought, she wasn't that socially capable in the first place, making it rather unsurprising.

Everyone, excluding the drunken party leader, ate breakfast and headed out to hunt or shop. That was, everyone excluding the trapper, who bid his party members farewell, as he headed towards the other side of Elcrada.

While the town of Elcrada was hailed as one of the most peaceful, it wasn't so everywhere. The western part of town was notorious for being infested with criminals of the most vicious kind. Contract killers. Their title might have been adventurers, but they were trained murderers by profession. The worst kind of people, who would kill anyone, if given the right price.

Although, from an outside perspective, it would definitely seem suspicious, it wasn't unusual for Fang to go there. He bought all his toxins from a certain shop, when he was there. But no one could ever say for sure that that was all he did. What happened in the western district, stayed in the western district.

 

                                                                  〈 Ash's Perspective 〉

 

"Aren't you having a good time?" Asked the masked man, who was sitting on a tree branch next to the elf, who was fighting for his life.

The elf had ventured a little too deep into the forest, after leaving the dining hall, and was now fighting a veritable army of goblins, led by a "Goblin Warlord", a fearsome opponent that greatly improved its subjects' stats, as long as it was nearby. Furthermore, it had the ability to draw any and all goblins to it, immediately placing them under its command.

"Fuck you. Help me if you want to talk!" Ash shouted back.

While he could easily slay the amount of goblins he was fighting, if they weren't boosted, he wasn't quite as confident when they were led by the goblin warlord that made each goblin as strong as an Iron Rank adventurer.

Currently, Ash was fighting three goblin bruisers at the same time. They were as tall as the elf, like normal goblins, but they displayed impressive muscles, showing any and all opponents that they were not a laughing matter.

The elf blocked a blow with his arm, which, because of his monstrous strength, didn't break even though it was struck with around five kilos of wooden club. The two other bruisers didn't hesitate to follow up with blows of their own, which in one case, was halted due to Ash stabbing the attacker in the throat, and the other by blocking it with the same arm, he had used to block the previous hit. This time, the arm broke.

"Argh... Evitagen, would you mind?!"

"Anything for a customer, but please remember that everything, I offer, has a price" He said.

Ash didn't care, so he just nodded.

"I'll be removing this unsightly warlord from your presence. That should help, right?"

Evitagen didn't remove himself from the comfortable branch he was sitting on, like last time he had helped Ash. Instead, he held out his hand in front of him, grasping something invisible to the rest of the beings present. Suddenly, he made a movement with the hand, similar to when you ripped a ripe fruit from a tree. Blood spurted out from a lump of meat, which had suddenly appeared in the salesman's hand. It was a heart.

The goblin warlord, who had been busy giving out orders in the strange language of the goblins, suddenly fell to his knees. He was blocking up the stream of dark-red blood, which was pouring out of a newly formed hole in its chest. Strangely, it wasn't dead.

Not noticing that their leader was slowly dying, the army of goblins continued their assault on the lone elf, who kept defending himself.

The figure in the tree crushed the still beating heart, he was holding in his hand. Blood spurted everywhere.

Dead, the goblin warlord fell over. The still-beating heart had apparently kept it alive, even though it was missing from its spot in the warlord's body.

Finally noticing their leader's demise, the horde of goblins stopped attacking for a moment. But even so, moments later, they started attacking again.

Ash blocked an incoming attack, and now very much apparent difference in strength. Now, killing the goblins wouldn't even be a challenge. With his spirit reignited, the elf threw himself into battle, severing multiple heads and limbs.

Realizing their situation, the goblins started fleeing, but Ash wouldn't let them.

"Negative Surge!" He shouted, killing a fleeing bruiser.

Oh how he had missed this feeling. The feeling of absolute control over the lives of other beings. Complete supremacy. It was like a drug to him. Control. Power.

"Negative Surge!" He screamed once more, slaying yet another goblin.

This feeling couldn't be matched by anything else. Even killing the wraith, which had been a challenge, which was a thrill in itself, couldn't possibly compare to the joy of slaughter.

"Negative Surge! Negative Surge! Negative Surge!"

What was this? As he kept killing, the feeling of absolute euphoria started taking control of the murderous elf's body.

"Negative Surge!" He shouted, aiming for an enemy, who had fled to the trees.

"Null-Magic"

A voice reached Ash. He looked up at the enemy, expecting to see it dead. His heart sank in his chest.

His last spell hadn't hit a thing. Instead, where his target had stood, Evitagen sat, holding out his hand as if he had just used a spell.

"My, my... Could you perhaps be trying to kill me?"

"Where did the goblin go? I need to kill it..." The elf said, completely in disbelief of his mistake. He had never lost track of who was who in a battle.

"You killed the last one five minutes ago, dear Ash. You've been firing at their corpses, before you decided that I too, was an enemy".

The elf fell to his knees. Many emotions were swirling around his head, but strangely, regret wasn't one of them. The strongest emotion he was feeling was dissatisfaction. Emptiness. His murdering spree had made him feel more alive than he had in years.

"I... I wasn't done.. There had to be more of them...".

"Dear customer, you appear to have overused your powers a bit. It seems you aren't aware of the scientific name for Negative Energy. My apologies, but I am quite baffled by the fact that you haven't done even the slightest research on your magic..."

Ash was completely uninterested. Still on his knees, unable to comprehend the situation, he was looking around... Searching for more kills.

"Negative Magic is the true name for the magic, which, by humans, is referred to as Dark Magic, and among members of the Church, it is called Taboo Magic. But among          magic-researchers and the like, it is referred to as Corrupting Magic. This is because of the adverse effects it has on the soul. Slowly, the Corrupting Magic will eat away at its user's social skills, resulting in the individual using it, developing psychotic tendencies. In the beginning, it will only come when the magic is used, but if used repeatedly, these effects will become permanent".

The elf was listening at this point. The effects of using his powers had piqued his interest, but now he wished he hadn't listened. It was unfair. His one advantage over normal people was also his greatest weakness? It was unfair.

"How... How are you able to use the energy without becoming psychotic?" Ash asked, not looking forward to the answer.

"The answer will come at a price. One of which you cannot pay, before you grant me my remuneration for the last piece of work, I did for you".

"And what might that price be?" The elf asked.

"Survive the remainder of this week. Consider the debt paid. As a special bonus, I will even grant you the knowledge you seek".

"Wait- why is that my challenge? I killed the wraith, the strongest enemy around. What could possibly hurt me?" Ash asked the masked man, who was merging with the shadows of the forest.

"Survive, dear customer" Was all he said, as he disappeared back from whence he came.

Chapter end