Jay could hear deep thumping noises and see flashes of light somewhere deep in the forest.

He almost stopped running and looked in wonder as a mage hunter flew into the sky before crashing down somewhere in another part of the forest.

Suddenly he heard Lara’s voice again – she sounded desperate and stressed.

“Don’t come to the stink-rat marsh. Flee Losla. We’ll find you… I promise.”

“What?” Jay said, without pulling out his crystal, “What the fuck is happening!?”

Hopelessness gripped him again. The forest suddenly went quiet.

He stopped running, pulling out the crystal to say something, but he had no words. All he could do was hopelessly grasp at the crystal in his hands.

He didn’t even get a chance to reply anyway. They simply just left him.

“Fuck…”

Humans had abandoned him again, leaving only a promise behind.

He quickly thought about his options.

Going back to Losla was not possible, as he would be identified soon enough.

The stink-rat marsh would be swarming with mage hunters now, and Lara told him not to come, and to flee Losla instead.

Before he was contacted by Lara, he planned to flee Losla anyway, so he went with that plan.

He turned around and gave Losla one last look. He was tempted to go back, if only for a few supplies, but after making a ‘quick stop’ at the butchery he cast those thoughts aside.

If the mage hunters surrounded the town and he got trapped there again then it would probably be over for him.

The stink-rat marsh was in the south-west, so Jay ran towards the south-east.

He quickly left the dirt road before anyone would see him. Thankfully there were not many adventurers around as they had been forced to wait in Losla.

He assumed the mage hunters knew he was a necromancer – why else would they be looking for him?

Of course, he didn’t know that he was merely wanted as a petty thief; a lie weaved by Viladore to trap him.

As Jay ran deeper into the forest, he sensed the marks he had put on the soldiers, and it seemed they had reached the marsh and were spreading out now.

At their speed, it seemed like they may even find him.

“A search party?” he wondered.

The forest was blooming with life as it came into the spring season; the bushes and foliage had both pros and cons: It slowed him down, but also hid him from sight.

With all of this running through Jay’s mind, he realised he had to take action: the marks were getting closer – their heavy suits of armour ignored the vegetation as they smashed through it, so he decided it was now a necessity to throw them off his trail.

Jay re-summoned his level 1 skeletons for protection from forest critters and then found a large tree to lean against.

The forest floor was still cold from winter, but he ignored it as he leant himself against its roots and began his plan, picturing Red in his mind as he used the [Host] skill.

Back in Losla, the skeletons were still lying still under a trash pile. They were perfectly still as their bodies had no biological functions. Completely dormant.

Suddenly, one of them began to move from under the pile, and shortly after the other skeletons all jumped off of each other and scrambled out of the trash pile, responding to their master’s mental orders.

They all lined up – but this time, they lined up in front of Red.

*clack clack clack*

Red’s jaw jiggled and snapped, though no noise came out; however, it seemed that its orders were heeded as the skeletons all began to slowly move to the end of the alleyway.

A person walked by and then quickly ran off as they saw five skeletons all staring at them silently; their dark-green hungry eyes almost beckoning them to step closer to the alley.

“No turning back now.” Jay thought, peering at people through the eyes of Red.

Instantly the skeletons all sprinted out of the alleyway and dashed through the streets. They were weaving between buildings as onlookers scratched their heads in confusion.

It really didn’t make sense – there were skeletons here but they weren’t attacking anyone?

Some of the villagers ran or froze in horror as they fell victim to the passive [Fear] effect of the skeletons, while others looked on with laughter, assuming it was some kind of prank.

The skeletons were roughly heading west, towards the farmland where they would continue to charge blindly into the western forests.

These were Jay’s orders after all, and they would keep going until they either died or were resummoned.

Jay chose the west direction to run in, as he was running south-east and the mage hunters were searching south-west.

So far, no one had attacked them, and operation ‘Don-Don’ began without a hitch.

The skeletons made it to the very edge of Losla, and to Jay’s surprise, there were no mage hunters on guard.

It seemed that they left to investigate the stink-rat marsh, but if rumours spread of skeletons running west, it would reach their ears shortly, and would be enough to throw them off his tracks. Hopefully.

As he ran through the western farmland his plan was working perfectly. People were pointing and laughing and filling the whole town with gossip at this strange display.

Perhaps this was a naive adventurer’s stunt to protest against the guards locking Losla down?

They made it halfway through the farmland, but suddenly, the parade of undead was abruptly cut short.

[Your skeleton has died]

[Your skeleton has died]

[Your skeleton has died]

[Your skeleton has died]

“What the fuck…” Jay thought as he kept running in Red’s body for a moment.

For some reason, the skeleton he was hosting wasn’t dying, even though it was clear that he could be executed at any moment.

Why hadn’t his skeleton been destroyed?

He turned around, curious even as an undead.

A mage hunter was standing there, crushing the bones of the other skeletons as they watched Jay through their black helmet.

Waves of unbearable killing intent suddenly washed over Jay’s mind. While skeletons had no fear, he certainly did; he froze in shock as the threat was unbearable. Thankfully, his bone-body didn’t rattle or shiver – that would probably cause too much suspicion.

The mage hunter simply stood there, curious as they watched him.

Was he expecting the skeleton to lead him to the necromancer? Probably.

However, the mage hunters helmet slightly moved to the side. It was like he was confused that the skeleton turned back and watched him – though Jay couldn’t see his face so he couldn’t be sure.

Simultaneously, both Jay and the mage hunter each realised something wasn’t right – the enemy was acting odd.

Jay’s body was frozen from fear, but conversely, his mind was running fast. He quickly used [Mark] before the mage hunter could do anything.

[Your skeleton has died]

Blackness – then Jay found himself back in his own body.

*huff huff huff*

Jay woke up leaning against the tree with a cold sweat and rapid breathing.

The killing intent was one thing, but he just died in the body of a skeleton, and he felt like his chest was caving inwards; this was definitely not something he wished to experience again.

“Something was wrong with that skeleton…” the mage hunter officer thought.

“Something was wrong with that guard…” Jay thought, gritting his teeth as he tried to get his breath under control.

Meanwhile a red strand began to leave his body. He was relieved that at least his mark skill activated before he died in his skeleton’s body.

“I didn’t even see him move… It was just instant death” he shook his head.

“I need to keep running. Much, much further away…”

Jay slowly stood up, fighting a feeling of nausea.

Before moving he checked to see if he dropped anything from his pockets but there was nothing but a small imprint on the decaying damp leaves.

Next, he checked the marks he placed on the mage hunters.

It seemed that his distraction idea worked as the mage hunters he had marked suddenly formed a line and all moved towards the west.

“Successful operation.” he nodded, “now let’s head south-east” he said to his little skeletons.

His undead crusade moved west through Losla before being destroyed, but Jay didn’t move in the exact opposite direction (east) – due to his growing paranoid nature, he thought that would simply be too obvious:

Wouldn’t it be smart to send your undead towards the west while you run east? Of course.

But wouldn’t the mage hunters assume that too? Probably.

He guessed that the east would probably be searched next, if not at the same time.

He decided not to summon the other skeletons just yet, as the less vegetation that was disturbed, the better. He didn’t want to be tracked by hunters or a mage hunter equivalent to a hunter.

The level one skeletons were lighter and smaller so they would be fine – though one of them was covered with thick armour which made it slow and heavy.

Jay regretfully decided to unsummon it and add its bones back to his gauntlet, only keeping the one he was training into a zweihander.

At this moment, Jay decided to name them: Handy, and Heavy – though he realised that he wouldn’t be able to keep naming skeletons as he would not be able to remember all of them. Seven was already a lot to remember.

Of course, he would never forget Blue, Red and Lamp.

Sweeper? Meh.

Dark was a special case.

Perhaps these two would be the last ones to be named.

Sure, he could name others but he felt that it would make his already-named one less special.

As he looked in the distance he plotted his course.

To the south was the tip of a long mountain range. It was like a natural barrier of sorts, travelling further south-west, and he knew he had to get around it as anything between the natural barrier and Losla would definitely be searched thoroughly. It was a wall trapping everything in, though also keeping many dangerous out of this region.

Jay decided he would go towards it as quickly as he could, and eventually travel around the tip of the mountain range before continuing south. He could only hope that he would be fast enough.

The skeleton was much faster so he gave it his sword and had it run ahead, clearing a path through the plants and trees – of course, he made sure to tell it to only cut away vegetation when absolutely necessary. The less signs of someone moving through here, the better.