"We're going to take each Gargan corpse back one by one," Lucius replied, with a tired smile.
Using Elmando, he created different partitions within the cart for each Gargan corpse, before separating them completely. At best, he could pull two at a time without attracting too much attention, so he would have to leave the other two unguarded.
Of course, if he had someone more reliable around he could've left them to guard the remaining corpses. However no such person was here right now, and it wasn't worth the risk of leaving the warriors behind when nearly every creature in the forest could pose a fatal threat to them.
So, he reluctantly pulled two of the carts back to the den, with Zhayen following close behind him.
"Are we really leaving all that food behind?" Zhayen asked, still not completely understanding Lucius's thinking. Even after he had explained it to the child several times.
Wherever Zhayen's talents lay, they surely weren't in his thinking capacity.
*
The first trip went without any interruptions. Once Lucius helped the warriors get the two Gargan corpses into the den, he ordered that they move all the carts to the area that Avankor had allocated for him.
And though Zhayen insisted that he go back as well, Lucius had the warriors take him to the room as well. -As he wasn't certain whether Avankor had allocated a room for Zhayen yet.
When he finally started his second trip, it was beginning to get dark, meaning that things were going to get a little more dangerous.
So he decided to move even slower than usual, hoping that the lowered sound would attract less undead.
Sadly, that didn't seem to be the case, as several undead seemed to have heard his movement. Though at least a horde hadn't appeared - something he had ensured earlier by killing every small group of undead in proximity-.
Of course, this did not mean that things were easy. Initially, he had been able to move some distance without having to fight them directly through the use of his poison's fourth form. However, he still had to stop to crush the undead remains and bury them.
Later on, he had to engage in actual battle, which proved to be more of a chore, as the undead had a habit of trying to rip apart anything that didn't have the necromancer's energy inside it. That included the mushroom cart and its contents.
And as dense as he had tried to make the carts, they were still made from mushroom material, and a few of the stronger undead managed to claw their way into one of the carts.
Perhaps the fights would've lasted shorter periods of time if he just blasted them with solar beams, however, the light from the solar crux and its spells would no doubt alert the undead in the far distance so it was not worth the risk.
By the time he had made it back to the Zeldrave den, one of the Gargan corpses had been tainted with decay, and as such could not be used as food. Though Lucius was certain he would be able to find another use for it anyway.
*
"Havon, it seems your hunt has gone well," Avankor greeted as Lucius walked down the Zeldrave den's main corridor.
"Indeed, it has. Speaking of which, I was just about to look for you," Lucius said, gesturing for Avankor to follow him.
It seemed that the Zeldraves were still curious about Lucius as many of them tried tailing the two, though Avankor gave a stern warning for them not to interfere with Lucius's operations.
The two of them had agreed that it was for the best that he wasn't introduced to the den just yet. Regardless of how well Avankor was respected here, there were bound to be those like Shavril around, so until Lucius finished creating the magical weapons for Grenovarish, nobody would be told anything solid about him.
For now, he was just a 'merchant' from the Immaculate Forest, offering the den food in exchange for manpower.
"So what is it you wanted to ask me?" Avankor asked as the two of them walked briskly down the corridors. Avankor noted how close Lucius was to reaching his height, and even though he clearly wanted to ask about the sudden growth, he kept things professional.
"I wanted to ask if your people know anything about magical beasts. Perhaps one of your past kings fought one or something?" Lucius asked.
"Hmm... Maybe when we first settled here. But there hasn't been a magical beast past the nightmare forest for many winters," Avankor replied after some thought.
This is exactly what Lucius had feared. It was either the magical beasts were all in the nightmare forest, or they were deep in the Behemoth Mountains. Because ever since he had gotten here, he hadn't encountered or seen anything remotely similar to magical beasts.
Except of course for the shimmering foxes, though he doubted camouflage in this world required magic to perform.
~Sigh, so I'll have to prepare to go to the nightmare forest,~ Lucius thought to himself. It wasn't that he was scared, he could just imagine how vile the forest floor felt there. And with his newly enhanced earth sense, it was going to be even worse.
"Was that all?" Avankor asked after a moment of silence had passed. At this point, they were already turning into Lucius's new living area.
It was quite a large space, at least two times bigger than the space he had been given in the Chames's den. Lucius wasn't sure whether Avankor was just generous or whether he was trying to get on Lucius's good side, either way, he was grateful for the extra room.
Avankor's expression changed to one of shock once he saw all the carts inside Lucius's room. Apparently, he had just heard whispers of how much stuff Lucius had brought into the den and hadn't actually checked it himself.
"These two are yours," Lucius said, gesturing towards two of the containers in the room.
