Chapter 243: New Horned Additions

Darion walked to the first Horned Yuimon body.

The archers watched him.

They had seen him summon undeads before, had watched him call forth Yuimons and wolves and knights from thin air.

But they hadn’t exactly seen him revive a corpse before. This was their first time.

Only Seren had witnessed the process, had stood beside him in the forest as he placed his hand on fallen creatures and spoke the word that brought them back.

The others had only heard stories, and had only imagined what it might look like.

So watching their Baron crouch beside the massive body and put his hand on its chest was its own kind of strange.

The creature was enormous, its body still warm, its blood still pooling on the forest floor. And Darion was touching it like it was nothing, like it was just another task, another step in the process.

He placed his hand on the creature’s chest, his fingers pressing against the thick, armored hide. He focused his energy, felt the familiar pull in his chest, and spoke the word.

"Arise."

Green light spread from his palm, washing over the massive body like liquid fire. It seeped into the wounds, filled the hollow spaces, and wrapped around the bones.

The creature’s body twitched once, twice, and then its eyes opened, glowing green.

It rose slowly, its massive frame unfolding from the ground, its movements stiff at first, then smoother as the binding settled.

The archers watched in silence, their eyes wide, their breaths held.

Darion moved to the next one.

"Arise."

Again, the green light. Again, the twitching, the rising, the glowing eyes.

The third.

"Arise."

And the fourth.

"Arise."

And the fifth.

"Arise."

One by one, the Horned Yuimons rose from the dead, their green eyes burning in the dim light, their bodies still and waiting.

They rose differently from the regular Yuimons. Slower and heavier, the weight of them apparent even in how they stood.

Their movements were more heavier, as if they were still adjusting to the massive forms they now inhabited.

The horns caught the filtered forest light, their tips gleaming with an almost metallic sheen.

The green eyes opened in skulls that were significantly larger than standard Yuimon skulls, their gaze fixed on Darion with a cold, patient attention.

Five of them stood in the forest around Darion while the archers held very still

The creatures were immense, their bodies blocking out the light, their presence filling the space around them.

The archers had seen the ordinary Horned Yuimons, had watched them fight.

But now standing and facing the undead Version of the creature, they noticed that these were different.

These were seemingly more deadly and more imposing. They looked like they could tear through a wall with a single charge.

Darion stared at them, proud. Just proud of what he had done.

He had faced five Horned Yuimons, creatures that the system had rated as Very High threat, and he had defeated them.

He had fought them(through his undeas), killed them, and now he had added them to his inventory. They would serve him. They would fight for him. They would be his!

They looked so magnificent yet terrifying. Their bodies were covered in thick, armored plates, their muscles rippling beneath the surface.

The horns were sharp and deadly, curving forward like spears. Their eyes glowed with the cold light of undeath, watching everything and nothing at the same time.

They were beautiful in the way that a storm was beautiful: powerful, dangerous, and completely unstoppable.

Most of the archers couldn’t even look at them for long without feeling unsettled.

It was the unnatural stillness, the way they stood without moving, without breathing and without any of the small twitches that living things made.

For something so scary, it was kinda terrifying to look at.

But Darion didn’t feel that. He felt only satisfaction. He had built something here, had created something from nothing.

The Horned Yuimons were his now, and they would help him protect Percvale and help him build the future he had imagined.

Darion added them to inventory. The slots were there now.

The five Horned Yuimons dissolved in flashes of green light, their massive forms disappearing into the space between worlds.

One moment they were standing in the forest, their green eyes glowing, their bodies still and waiting. The next moment, they were gone, leaving only disturbed earth and the memory of their presence.

One of the archers said something to the one beside them that Darion didn’t catch. It was low, muttered under their breath, probably meant to be private.

Seren heard it and didn’t respond, which meant it wasn’t worth responding to. Probably just someone commenting on how the Horned Yuimons disappearing was just magic.

Or maybe something about how strange it was to watch a Baron raise the dead like it was the most natural thing in the world. Either way, it didn’t matter. They would get used to it.

Darion stood and looked at the forest ahead. They came here to find birds. They had spent the better part of the morning dealing with things that weren’t birds — Bogoarts, wolves, Horned Yuimons.

It had been productive in its own way, had added new creatures to his inventory and expanded his capabilities. But it wasn’t what they had come for.

He thought about the problem practically.

The forest had a distribution of animals that wasn’t random.

It followed terrain and food sources and the presence or absence of apex predators. The areas where birds concentrated were probably areas where the larger creatures didn’t.

Quieter terrain, probably toward better light. Birds needed open space to fly, needed sunlight to see, needed clear paths to navigate. The deep forest was too dark, too dense, too full of predators. The birds would be where the forest opened up.

He asked the system silently, in his mind. He still hadn’t explained the system to the archers and didn’t intend to, ever.

The system told him: left, then right, following a specific bearing. Less wildlife. More birds. The light would be better.

He looked at Seren. "I know where to find birds. Follow me."

She looked at him. "How?"

"I know," he said, and left it there.

She accepted this in the way she accepted most things he didn’t explain, because Darion always found a way to make things work.

He had proven himself time and time again, had led them through danger and brought them out the other side. She didn’t need to know the details. She just needed to trust him.

And she did.

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Darion turned and walked into the forest, following the bearing the system had given him. The archers fell in behind him, their steps quiet, their eyes scanning the trees.