'What the hell was that?' Helena was left momentarily in shock when she caught a glimpse of Loimos, checking people's mana signature had become a habit for her, but she wasn't taken aback by the fact that she failed to find a signature, it was because by focusing directly on him, she had in fact felt his mana.
Awfully deep and dark mana, it felt like sensing it for too long would be dangerous and her heart skipped a beat, it didn't stop her from sending him flying purely on reflex though.
She didn't notice the feeling of XP flowing into her and instead, just like Milo hurried to get in touch with her father, the news of the tavern massacre seemed to have already reached the village, everyone was moving around in a panic.
Despite already sensing him once, after letting go of her focus on him, Helena could no longer get a hold of him, normally this would be possible.
The two soon arrived before their home, old man David was standing at the front door, perfectly fine and seeming overjoyed at seeing them all right.
Loimos bursted out of a dark alley and rushed down to someone standing on the main road, a woman that had probably been doing the same thing as David was, waiting for her loved ones to show up.
The undead grasped her by the back of her neck, his murderous hand nearly wrapping all around her frail neck, Loimos was certain that he would be able to shatter it by simply squeezing harder.
He seemed faster too, it was like the rush of the new death force was more potent than it used to be, normally, even after killing so many people, he shouldn't have experienced such an increase in power, even when counting the possible stats upgrade.
Stats were nothing but an accessory to one's physicality and capabilities, the death force Loimos absorbed transformed him into a greater undead every time he took in more.
The skeleton didn't stop to question what was happening to him, he began advancing upon the mage, using his hostage to make sure that she wouldn't be casting any gusts of wind.
Once she was dealt with, the villagers running around like headless chickens would be free game, he would slaughter as many of them as possible and retreat once the guards showed up, or rather, when their captain arrived.
'Crap!' Milo almost spoke aloud, the sad faced man, with his bloodied up mask was charging at them fast, really fast actually, he had wasted no time between when he had showed up again and began his rush down.
They had still been focused on David when he got a hold of the woman, and they weren't that far from one another either.
The farm boy had to react quickly, without thinking.
Helena could only cast a simple spell with the time allotted to her, nothing that would allow her to bypass the meat shield could be put together in so little time, and she wasn't going to be evading Loimos.
'I should have learned more about mana reinforcement!' she cursed herself for not being able to know every single thing about magic, already imagining the blade of that knife being driven into her chest.
Milo stepped in between her and Loimos.
This wasn't within the undead's expectations, he was still but a new undead, he may be a special one, but still had a very much stunted view of his natural enemies, the living were supposed to fear death to their very cores, this was a fact, yet, sometimes, that fear could be pushed back even if only for an instant.
To Loimos, until now, a living taking a hit and putting their precious life on the line was an impossibility, protecting another? Certainly, but this was on a whole different level, once he got a hold of Milo, he would kill him for certain.
The knife sunk into flesh, right through the side of the chest, in between two ribs and piercing a lung.
Loimos's knife was taken for his hands as the body moved away with much force, he had stabbed neither his intended target, nor the one that had just managed to take him by surprise and subvert his expectations.
Old man David had been swift, so very swift.
Neither Helena, his only biological child, nor Milo, the boy from nowhere he had taken under his wing made a sound.
They could only see their father sprawled on the ground, bleeding profusely and unable to breath.
Loimos snapped the neck of his hostage and threw her corpse at Helena, still intent on killing her anyways.
'The living have always paused when confronted with the death of their own before' whenever he had slayed families, friends and such, it had always happened, even if only for a second.
Tonight was a night of learning however, and he wasn't allowed even an inch.
The undead turned as he realised that the farm boy was going to try and attack him, receiving a punch straight to the center of his chest, he tried to back off, feeling himself being pushed back, thrown into the air and against the side of the nearby house.
Hitting the wooden wall with excessive force.
'Incredible striking force' he could only note coldly as the concussive force ignored his mantle of rot, shattering his ribs and almost splitting his upper and lower half again.
That kid, that small young man that appeared scrawny and weak had just hit him harder than he had ever been hit, at least when it came to straight brute force, there was no technique, just pure muscle mass and wish for the undead to be turned to paste.
Loimos pushed off the wall and tried running back toward a dark alley, as he used his right arm to get more momentum when getting away, it was suddenly slashed right at the shoulder by a blade of wind.
That would have cut him in half vertically had he not moved as soon as it was possible, the fact that his mind couldn't be muddled by pain or anything was the only reason he wasn't in pieces right now.
He knew that this wouldn't have destroyed him, but that would have certainly put a stain on his idea of retreating.
That attack was perfect, however, he took off running, and before any of the two could give chase or shoot him down, they were distracted as his severed right arm moved on its own, leaping into the air where they could see.