"So, you're fine with staying?" Alcott stood with a grin.
"As long as they don't destroy my head, spine, and heart at the same time, I won't die," Arad replied, cracking his neck.
CRACK! Merlin's prismatic dome cracked, and Arad walked out, "I'm fine. What happened to the sniper?"
"Sorry, he escaped," Nina pointed at the pile of flesh.
"No, you managed to get him?" He stared at her.
"There is a reason why people fear her," Alcott said, sheathing his blade, "We need to keep going,"
"Before we do, Can Arad fight in this?" Merlin stared at Arad.
"I won't fall again," He said, glaring back at the terrified villagers, "I'm no human. Did you think blasting my head was enough to kill me?"
Alcott looked back at the villagers, "We're going to see what's causing this. You can either hole up here or move to another village for refuge. I don't think any of them is any safer,"
An old man of the villagers walked out. He was their chieftain, "We don't have anyone to protect us on the way," He nodded.
Staying in the village exposes them to more infected attacks, and going out to the wilderness is the same, but with monsters to worry about.
"You won't happen to be able to protect us?" He asked.
"I can, but I won't." Alcott replied, "Stopping the root cause of this infection takes priority to save the most lives."
"We will remain here then," The chieftain replied, "Please, end this as fast as possible."
Heading into the mountain range, Arad stopped at the forest entrance, smelling the blood and fire. "Monsters love mountains as they are hard to traverse for humans," Nina said.
Arad lifted his head, "There are no infected in this mountain, but I smell Merida's blood around it. At the peak, look,"
Merlin pulled a crystal orb from her storage and looked at it [Scrying]
At the peak, a ruined mansion rested in its own ashes. "Looks like a storm hit it," Merlin sighed, "If I remember correctly, this is the Cuchilla dojo. A noble family of swordsmen in the service of Riverside's lord." She pulled a map and confirmed the information, "Yes, it's them,"
FLAP! Arad flapped his wings and flew directly to the top, landing in the dojo's courtyard.
"I don't sense any thoughts," He looked around. This place was abandoned.
Merlin jumped down from Arad's back, [Detect Life]
"I sense bugs and animals but no humanoid life," She said, shifting her staff and reversing her magic. [Reversed Detect Life: detect dead]
"Right there," She pointed at the crumbling left wall of the dojo. There is a cliff, a corpse is down there skewered on a branch.
Arad walked and looked down, seeing the straight rocky wall of the cliff. In the middle, a tiny tree grew with a corpse impaled on one of its branches.
"Get down," Arad said, and everyone walked down his wing. "Keep guard. No need to waste magic here," He said, extending his claw and latching to the cliff.
Dragons are expert climbers thanks to their long claws and muscular builds. They are known to rival even spiders when the comes to moving on vertical, or even upside surfaces.
Arad walked down the cliff, his head facing down as if it were nothing until he reached the branch. "Rotting, but still new," He said, snatching the corpse with his jaw and walking back to the dojo.
Thud! Arad dropped the corpse on the ground, "It's new,"
"Four or five days I say," Ginger looked at the corpse, pinching her nose, "The stench though,"
"Merely five days and his body is rotting," Alcott snorted, "He looks like a fighter, but such a fragile body is a disgrace." He touched the corpse's arms, "I say he never surpassed his limit or even reached level twenty."
"Is that so?" Arad asked.
"We fighters hone our bodies beyond their limit." Alcott replied, "Some fighter corpses never rotted for years after their death. That's how sturdy and well cultivated their bodies became."
"How long will your body remain? Is it even useful? You would be already dead."
"I would be proud if my body lasted a century after my death," Alcott smiled, "Look at this handsome face. It's waste to have it rot,"
Ginger looked at them, "It makes resurrecting them easier," She looked at Alcott, "I doubt you would die,"
Alcott waved his hand, "It's the same reason why the stronger you get, the longer your life span becomes. Mana layers under your skin, weave into your muscles and bones, and become a part of your very own being."
"It's the same process that transforms animals into monsters when exposed to extreme mana concentrations. Albeit for us, it's controlled." Nina explained, and Arad stared at her.
"You can explain that?"
"A clan tradition. The stronger our bodies become, the closer we reach our mother, the primordial mother of earth."
"What's that? Another god-like Katal or something?"
"No, she's a living being, a mortal like us. Legends say she's asleep at the core of Earth even now. We call her Tarrasque, the primordial mother of earth."
"Can you be quiet for a bit?" Merlin stared at them, waving her hands over the corpse, "I'm trying to focus. I'm not that good with this spell,"
Her eyes and hands burned with green flames, and threads of magic escaped her fingers and burrowed deep into the corpse.
[Speak with the dead] A spell that stirs the rotting brains of corpses, using what little energy still remains in their muscles and bones to transmit information. The magic to force corpses to speak.
CRACK! The corpse levitated beneath Merlin's hands as waves of necrotic magic flew from her. "It's already too rotten, a few questions is all I can get,"
"Who killed you?" Merlin growled.
"Merida, our last master of the dance of blade art..." The corpse replied, its voice cracking and gargling.
Arad glared at the corpse, "She was here. Four days ago," Depending on Alcott's estimate for when the corpse died.