Elder Lich

"Haaaa!!! Huffff!!"

Reh suddenly woke up from his long slumber.

"W-water..."

Reh said as he felt the dryness in his throat.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Then he looked to his left only to see running water. As if turning on the switch, he quickly stood up from where he was and began his staggering walk to the running water. When he reached the side, he dipped his head in the water and drank underwater.

Glug Glug

As the water flowed through his throat, he felt the freshness he was never felt before. After a few minutes of dipping his head, Reh finally lifted his head to catch his breath.

When the water eventually calms down from its disruption, Reh finally saw his reflection in the water and was shocked at the sight of himself.

His black hair turned into black-ash grey hair color, his nose become perfectly pointed, his lips though dry, are red like an apple, the most noteworthy on his look right now were his eyes that if previously brown, now it was black.

If there's a word that Reh could describe his looks, it was handsome. He poked the water, and his reflection got disrupted, then he touched his face to confirm this supernatural transformation of him.

"W-what happened..."

Reh mumbled under his breath.

He stood up and looked around him. He was still in the forest, but the place where he was right now was a little bit weird. There's an open house built in the center and on both sides of the house have small farmland. There were also different kinds and colors of flowers.

Not only that, but there's also a table and chairs made from wood that was placed outside, and a little further is the bonfire site. And at the back of it was a somewhat like a bar counter.

Then Reh looked where he came from, there was a big bed that was also made from wood, and it had bedsheets that were made from the fur of an animal. Around the bed, the area had fur floor carpet.

"What in the world..."

Reh is lost in words. Though fuzzy, he still remembers that he was exiled in the Carnage Forest and still in the forest, but the sight of Reh seeing right now feels he was not. A monster couldn't build this kind of structure and design.

"I-is there a human survived and living here?" Reh asked himself.

"Nah... There's no way a human or other race could survive in this diabolical forest."

"Right? Even me had a hard time and suffered here." Reh replied.

"Heh! It's only natural. Not because you look weak but because you are weak, so that outcome is not weird, and anyone could easily predict that type of outcome."

"Geh! Y-you, don't to brush on my face that I'm weak... A-anyway, who build this?" Reh said while still looking at the sight in front of him.

"Well, if you are asking who build that... I build that."

"Hahahaha, you are right. Who else will build this aside from you, right?" Reh said while chuckling a little.

"That's a small thing anyway..."

"I agree--Eh?." Reh stopped when he realized something. Someone were answering him!

"Eh?" Then, Reh slowly turned his head to his right side. There, he saw a floating creature wrapped in cloth.

"Ehhh??" Reh.

"Ehhhh??" The creature.

"Ehhhhh??" Still looking at the floating creature with a disbelief expression.

"Ehhhhhh??" At this time, the creature looks at Reh.

The two stared at each. Though the other has no eyes nor flesh.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!" Reh screamed.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!" The creature screamed, and its jaw literally fell to the ground.

Reh jolted and jumped back away. And in trembling hands, he pointed at the floating creature.

"W-what... What are you?!" He yelled.

"Why are you suddenly screaming, huh? Oh? My jaw fell! Damn! My ears hurt--I forgot, I don't have ears! KUHAHAHAHAHA." The creature replied at Reh while slowly descending to take its jaw on the ground and place it back where it is located as if nothing happened. Then it looks at Reh, who's currently pointing at him.

"Why are you trembling anyway?" The creature added.

"Y-your an s-skeleton!" Reh said, stuttering.

"Well, duh. It's been a hundred years since I died. Don't expect that I still had flesh on my body. It's okay to be a skeleton than a flesh-eating zombie." The skeleton said.

"Y-you can speak?!"

If the skeleton had flesh on his skull, surely, it had a poker expression. "Ahhh... What with this idiot? You've been talking to me the moment you ask me."

'Ask you? But I was only speaking at myself...' Reh internally thought. He was about to speak, but the skeleton talked first.

"Anyway, what are you doing here? This forest is not for strolling nor sightseeing because only high-ranked monsters are the only thing you can see here. I'm sure you knew that. Then, why are you here?"

When Reh heard that, his face became complicated until his expression turned grimmer.

"Hmmm... So... You've been like I, and him, huh? Got betrayed and thrown as if we were trash." The skeleton said in a low tone, but Reh heard it but paid no attention to it as he had more focus on his grim feelings.

"Anyway, who are you? Do you have any name?" Reh asked to change the topic.

But after Reh said that, a roar of a monster was heard.

ROARRRRR!

Reh panicked when he heard the roar.

"That's a Troll." The skeleton said.

"Is it coming to here?" There's a fear in Reh's tone, and the skeleton saw through that.

"Basically, yes. Trolls are one of the Hard rank monsters who have a high sense of smell that reaches up to one kilometer. And one of their favorite food was...."

The skeleton said, then it turned its head towards Reh.

"Me... Humans..." Reh mumbled under his breath.

"But... Stay calm, and rest assured. High-ranked monsters were intelligent creatures but not on a human level. They should know that the area around here is my domain. And this stupid Troll dared to step on my domain. I won't let that go! Come!" Then the skeleton flew forward.

But Reh's feet were nailed to the ground.

"Why are you standing there?! I said, follow me! Gah! This stupid idiot, you are like him!" Then the skeleton flicked its fingers then Reh floated in the air.

"This is much better! Come on!"

***

"Were here..."

A few meters from where the house is located, the two stop.

"This is where the Troll would make its way."

"W-why did you bring me along?!" Reh blurted out.

"Why? Hmm... Yeah, why did I bring you along with me? Maybe because you're weak, trash, and couldn't do anything but remain silent and endure all the things that were thrown to you..."

"W-what--"

"I will show you... What the power could do." Then the skeleton flew forward.

Clomp! Clomp!

A loud sound of footsteps could be heard. At the same time, the trees were falling one by one.

Then...

ROARRRRRRRRRR

A huge Troll emerged from the bushy part of the forest. It was holding a large log in its right hand. Then it looked in the direction where Reh was located.

ROARRRRRRRRRR

It started to run in Reh's direction. But before the Troll even reached Reh, the skeleton obstructed the way.

ROARRRRRRRRRR

Using its right hand, it lifted the log and smashed it into the skeleton. The Troll has a toothy grin on its face as if it were sure that the skeleton was squashed on the ground.

But it was wrong. The log didn't even reach the skeleton as there was a white shield that surrounded the skeleton.

The Troll erupted angrier as he realized that its attack didn't even connect to its target, and it started to hit the white shield of the skeleton with consecutive powerful strikes. Hoping it would break eventually.

But even with its powerful consecutive strikes, the shield didn't even show a sign of crack or breaking at any moment.

ROARRRRRRRRRR

It began to roar even louder as the Troll began to lose patience.

"What a stupid monster. Due to your hunger, you don't even realize who's in front of you and where you are. But none of that matters as you would be gone here on Deimos." The skeleton said.

Then the skeleton extended its right arm, and after a few seconds, a magical circle appeared on the palm of the skeleton. Then, a surge of electricity began to emerge on the right palm of the skeleton.

Crackle! Crackle!

"Become a fried Troll!! Electric shock!!"

Then the skeleton fired at the Troll.

Grrr... Guraaaaarrr... Grrrr...

The body of the Troll shook as it took the powerful and deadly electric shock from the skeleton.

Crackle Thud! Crackle

Then after a few minutes, the Troll finally drops to the ground while still having a few spasms.

"And that's how you do it."

Reh looked at the scene in agape. The attack of the skeleton was powerful enough to defeat this huge Troll--a Hard rank monster.