'I never want to feel that weak again.' Zephyr said.
He gazed up at the sky, illuminated by lightning.
'Never again…' He added.
What Zephyr feared was not death. But the weakness and helplessness he felt when he battled the ghoul.
The thought that he was about to lose made him vexed.
He was angry at himself.
'Power is the only thing worth anything in this world. You need power to live. You need power to survive. You need power to protect. You need power to win.'
"I need power."
He lifted his hand to the sky, clasping the air. He was trying to cover the sky with a single palm.
"I will become so powerful that I can do anything I want." He muttered slowly, ignoring the rain pelting him.
"One day for sure." He added before sitting up.
After smashing the head of the ghoul, he had lain on the ground, succumbing to exhaustion.
Now, a few minutes later, he could muster enough strength to sit up.
The thin, pale hands of his pushed the muddy ground, propping his body.
A few meters away, he could see everyone else huddling around two mounds. They were standing together, praying in their mind as they buried the body.
Zephyr had forced them to do it when he found out they were intending to bring the corpse back.
Why did he do that?
Because the body of an undead was infectious. It still had dark elemental mana flowing through it. So, it could, in theory, infect other corpses and turn them into an undead or make the living very ill.
Zephyr didn't want to bring something like that back home.
Therefore, burying them deep underground was the only option.
'If it were sunny, I would have burned the corpses.'
Zephyr thought and stood up.
The pain coming from his left forearm made him falter. The arm was injured by the ghoul when he used it to block.
The skin over it was showing a dark bruise while the muscles swelled.
"Ah…"
Zephyr groaned as he stood up.
Then, with slow and steady steps, he walked to the men standing a few meters away.
"Is it done?" He asked.
The chief and the rest turned around and nodded.
"Then, we should leave. There could be more undeads."
The chief agreed and nodded.
Zephyr relaxed, seeing them return to normalcy.
"Then, let's leave." He added.
"Yes." The chief motioned for the rest to walk.
Jack and the others didn't hesitate anymore. Though death was painful, it was not the first time they had seen their friends die. After all, at sea, many die each year.
They regained their bearing quickly before walking back to the mangrove forest.
Zephyr silently followed them.
The chief, on the other hand, turned back one more time to pray for the dead before joining them.
—
'Ghouls are high-ranked undead. They rarely form in nature. So, an intermediate mage or higher should have created it.'
'As the battle progressed, the ghoul showed heightened intelligence. It must mean its creator is strong.'
'The necromancer is somewhere out there.'
Zephyr pieced together the information he gleaned through the battle to organize his thoughts.
From what he had seen, something big was happening near this tiny fishing village of theirs.
'Necromancers are rare. They never appear in public, spending most of their time on their sinister research.'
'So, why did one of those guys appear here?' He wondered.
'Then, there is the mystery of the island and crab migration. Both of them would have some kind of connection, right?'
'It must have…'
Zephyr didn't know for sure what was happening, but there was enough reason to be suspicious.
'Then there is the fact that I almost lost my arm.'
Zephyr glanced back at his left arm. It was wounded and bruised.
'If Jack hadn't made use of the opportunity I created, I would have lost an arm.'
The ghoul was a high-ranking undead. Though the star rating of it was low, considering that it was only created a few hours ago from the corpse of a peasant, it still had enough power to snap his bones.
If Jack hadn't helped, he would have most likely lost an arm.
Suddenly, Zephyr remembered the lore he read in the game.
'Before Zephyr was caught by the evil organization, he was known to be a one-armed mage.'
'One armed…'
He glanced at his arm once again.
'Do they have something to do with what was happening, the mysterious evil organization?'
Zephyr felt another headache brewing.
'Logically, the original Zephyr and his fellow villagers shouldn't have been able to escape the ghoul. His survival with one arm less implies only two possibilities: either he fled the fight to save himself, or the fishermen sacrificed their lives for him. Any other scenario would have meant capture.'
'Both possibilities are troubling. Regardless, he was likely captured later on.'
'Sh*t.' He silently cursed.
Initially, Zephyr was thinking about taking a few more days to create more cores to enhance his strength before facing the kidnapping situation.
However, it seems like the kidnappers were already there. And from the looks of it, he didn't have much time left.
'If only the game lore went into depth about the kidnapping incident.' He complained.
The game lore was vague about everything. And Zephyr didn't remember much of it. So, he didn't have an exact estimate as to when he would be captured or who would capture him.
'The sequences of unfortunate incidents are piling up. I feel like something big is about to happen.'
'We need to prepare.'
Zephyr glanced at the men walking in front of him. There was one less than when they began their journey.
All of them were drenched in rain, showing obvious signs of exhaustion.
While saving his life was the priority, Zephyr also didn't want to abandon them.
'I need to evacuate the entire village, move everyone away from the beach, and send a messenger to noble houses and the magic tower.' He decided.
With his title as the mage of the Storm Tower, he might be able to call back up.
Viscount Whitewater must have knights under his command who can help.
The Storm Tower would certainly be interested in the anomaly. They will send someone if he could relay the information.
Then there is the information about the necromancer. The clergy were the best to deal with them.
Zephyr plotted in mind as they traversed the mangrove forest.