Mystery Man

I had made a mistake. Maybe due to the fact that I had not needed to keep an enemy intact until now, but I had not given zombie Tarman a specific enough command. The outcome.... well the Demonic Rabbit was split in two. I had said for him to "kill any Demoinc Rabbits you see" and kill he did. He pounced on the one outside of the cave and ripped it in half, spilling rabbit innards all over the ground. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘻𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧?!? 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴!

No, this isn't the Tarman's fault, it's mine. I forgot how stupid and violent the zombies are. Even on the large Snarf they bit and tore as violently as they could. It just so happened Snarf was too large and sturdy to eviscerate or rip in half. I need to remember to be more specific in my commands.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Ok, from now on follow me and kill any Demonic Rabbits you see, BUT leave the corpse intact and as undamaged as you can. Got it!?"

"....."

What remained of the zombie's one eye seemed to look at me..... I think? It was hard to tell since it was completely black with no pupils anymore. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘴? 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳?

Right now they were the equivalent of a hammer. I didn't need them to be able to think like when they were alive, but I'd at least like them to be able to reach robot vacuum levels.

"Hahhhh.... I really should of picked a different starting job. Too late now I guess. Anyways, extract that Demonic Rabbit's horn and give it to me."

I should of bought a dagger or something at Rockfort's store, but it didn't even dawn on me that I'd need it. I'd been relying on the zombies and casting magic this whole time after all. That and I had zero weapons training. The thought of trying to wield a weapon in close quarters against Snarf....seems like the worse idea imaginable. However, I guess I should get one for things outside of combat, I'll pick one up when I get back to town.

Tarman came running back and handed me the horn and what looked like the shattered remains of the its skull. There was even a bit of the spine and brain matter still attached. 𝘔𝘮𝘮𝘮 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘊𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳! 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩.... 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩..... 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰, 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘶𝘩?

I swallowed back the urge to vomit and took the horn from Tarman.

"...Thanks."

I take back what I said earlier, they are not like hammers, they are sledge hammers.

**********

We had made our way into the cave. Even though it was quite dark in there, for some reason I could still see. Another perk of the 𝙉𝙚𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧 maybe? It wasn't like it was broad daylight, but it was like having a weakly lit candle nearby. The zombie also seemed to have zero issue with seeing in the dark, pouncing on rabbits the instant they came into view.

It seemed my previous command was enough to stop him from obliterating the corpses, I was able to cast [𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞] on them. I also had found out that my current minion limit was three, I guess it increased after my level ups. Nothing happened when I tried to cast [𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞] on the fourth one. I'd have to have them "Return to the eternal slumber" if I wanted to replace an existing one.

Tarman had killed four rabbits so far, including the one at the entrance. The quest had said there should of been five. We eventually made it to the end of the small cave and found the rabbit. Tarman swooped in and killed it, bringing back the horn.

How did I [𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞] the rabbits if he ripped off their horns like the first rabbit? For the same reason Tarman was romping around while missing two thirds of his head. It seems having a completely intact skull was not a prerequisite for [𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞]. It just made it really, really, REALLY hard to look at them.

"This should be it! Easy money! Huh? What's that?"

I had just noticed a shape near the back of the cave where the rabbit came from. It looked like a person lying face down on the ground. There was no movement. Are they dead? Was the Demonic Rabbit feeding on it?

"O-oy, are you ok?"

The person didn't move or make a sound.

"Hahhhhh....I guess I should check on them....all of you stay vigilant, stay close, protect me."

I put myself and the zombies on high alert just in case this was a trap. In video games, when you interact with something like this, usually a boss encounter starts.

I had gotten close enough to make out the person. Definitely a male, wearing armor that resembled the bandits I fought earlier. I lightly kicked the body, but nothing happened. I ordered Tarman to roll him over. When I got a good look at the face...it looked exactly like what happened to the rabbits in the illusion when I cast [𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞].

"Well... I think we got a mystery on our hands, don't we Tarman?"