Reborn with a Necromancer System-Chapter 218: The Little Ones

Kai's mouth hung slightly open as he returned the stare from the carnivorous bird.

"Is it going to..." Kai stumbled over his words.

Without magic, dealing with an enemy like that seemed impossible.

"No, you don't need to worry. We're not much of a meal, or even worth toying with, for many of the bigger predators here," Orlin said beside him, not looking at the scene. "You just have to worry about the little ones. Will strip the flesh from your bones in minutes, some of them."

"Okay…" Kai muttered, a bit pale.

The bird picked at the flesh of the wolf, devouring it fur, hide, and all.

They moved on.

The terrain shifted. What was once luminous trees gave way to gnarled stumps and toppled remnants of structures swallowed by time. Wooden beams, now black with rot, leaned in on themselves like corpses in collapse. What looked like roofs, had caved in centuries ago, and what might have once been homes were now sunken pits filled with wet mulch and skeletal vines.

Orlin slowed his pace.

"This place…" he murmured. "Was once a settlement. Small. Peaceful. I knew some of the people from here. Used to raise plenty of forest creatures. Probably long-dead by now. Centuries ago. If anything survived, it wasn't human."

Kai glanced at the shadowed corners of the ruins.

Then came the sound.

A faint, high-pitched clicking. Dozens of tiny claws tapping on stone and wet wood. The kind of sound that didn't belong in a forest like this.

Orlin raised a hand sharply. "Do not move."

Kai and Vepice froze.

The clicking grew louder. And then they emerged.

Small, rodent-sized creatures, no more than half a foot long, with twitching fur, glowing green eyes, and teeth that looked like metal shards jammed into bleeding gums. There were dozens.

'No... there are hundreds.'

Kai's stomach tightened.

They moved not toward the group, but toward the clearing behind them.

Toward the bird they saw before.

The bird raced by them, covered in the creatures. Only a few at first, but they were attached to its legs. Once it's legs gave way, it screeched once, and then the horde was on it.

The screech turned to a strangled rasp as the creatures blanketed it like a living carpet.

In seconds, the giant bird was nothing but bones and tendons.

Not even blood remained.

Vepice grabbed Kai's arm, tight. Her face was pale. "Are they coming for us?"

"No," Orlin whispered. "They only attack what bleeds. If they don't smell blood or weakness, they'll leave us alone. For now."

Kai watched as the creatures dispersed into the forest again, vanishing as quickly as they'd come.

'I can't believe Orlin grew up in a place like this. Even the forest of arcane beasts that Vepice grew up in is like a walk in the park compared to this...'

Vepice exhaled slowly, her hand still resting on her twin blades, knuckles white. Just in case the creatures

"Remind me," she muttered, not taking her eyes off the brush. "Why are we here again?"

Kai adjusted the strap of his satchel, then turned his gaze back toward the path ahead. "To escape from the Godspoken long enough to gain the strength to kill The Devourer," he said simply. "And then the gods. And because this hellscape is still safer than what's coming."

Orlin tilted his head slightly, bone creaking. "You're really going to do that?"

"Kill the gods? Not for you, if that's what you're thinking." Kai's tone sharpened. "They think they can do whatever they want. Their high and mighty attitude pisses me off."

"Just like… my old master…" Vepice mumbled. Her voice was soft. Bitter.

Kai reached over and gently patted her on the head. Her tense posture eased, if only a little. He smiled.

"He's probably long-gone now. With Ylthara turned to ash, you don't need to worry."

"Yeah…" She wiped away a tear quickly with the back of her hand, trying to act like it wasn't there in the first place.

A breeze rustled the trees, and the forest seemed to shift, listening.

Kai turned to Orlin. "Orlin, how does one use Chronomancy? Vepice is a chronomancer, but she's never used time magic before."

"I highly doubt that," Orlin said, glancing at Vepice with a curious tilt of his jawbone.

Kai frowned.

"Oh no. Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean I doubt she is a chronomancer. She feels similar to a variant I once knew. I just meant…" Orlin scratched at the side of his skull, making a soft scraping sound, "...that she would have used it before, even if she didn't know it."

"You think so?" Kai asked, "I haven't seen anything like that."

Orlin turned to Vepice. "Have you ever faced an enemy and found that they grew weaker or slower all of a sudden?"

"I don't think so," she said hesitantly.

"Actually…" Kai looked thoughtful, brows furrowed. "What about those elementals in Ebonbrand's dungeon? At one point, they all started moving much slower. It felt like their magic moved slower too. And you were quite tired afterward."

Vepice blinked. "You really think so? You think I slowed everything with my magic? But… we were affected too."

"That's the beauty of Chronomancy, my dear," Orlin said with a soft rasp of admiration. "Some people might think you manipulate all of time, all at once, but it's much more flexible than that. You can slow, rewind, or speed up time in an area… or on certain objects… or even yourself."

"That's pretty useful," Kai said, glancing over at Vepice with a flicker of pride in his eyes.

"Wonderful magic, by all accounts," Orlin said wistfully. "I could never use it myself. Just like Necromancy, you have to be born with it. That always upset Ebonbrand. He wanted to live forever… without giving up his humanity."

Silence fell again, heavier than before. Ebonbrand felt like a touchy subject.

Even with Orlin being under his control, he knew that his master would want to open up long when comfortable.

They kept walking.

In silence.