All of squad three was unconscious and knocked far away except for one. As Doevm looked at them, he felt a slight disturbance in his heart. He knew what he was feeling, but he didn’t know why the sight of humans could give him such an emotion. ‘They didn’t act normally. Typical humans would’ve left me behind to fend for myself. They were acting as one. I’m sure they would have died for each other. I’m sure they would have died for me.’ His eyes turned as black as the mana rising out of him. With this one action his mind turned from human back to a Lich. ‘I could have left them behind. Instead, I broke my word and here I am doing something risky. I think I understand a little bit of what being human means.’ The icy tip of his spear grew by the second. He glared at the tier one Boar. It stamped its feet.

It charged and squished Doevm into water. Another Doevm appeared to its right. It wiped one of its tentacles and squished the second one as well. Three more Doevms popped up, each doing the exact same thing: pointing to one of the dead Lava Boars. ‘Since I don’t have as much mana anymore, I have to be conservative. With a Lava Boar’s weak eyesight, using reflections is enough to fool it. These low-level flat-water shields are the lowest cost in mana when making a reflective surface. This gives me time for…’

Black mana swirled around a dead Lava Boar. It twitched. The lava veins expanded and contracted once again as it regained its extreme heat. It stood up and looked at its mother, who stared back at it. The battle was forgotten, and the mother faded back to its brownish red color. The child limped to its mother and rested its head against it. Then, Doevm’s now-giant spear flashed, embedding itself in the child.

‘When something extremely cold turns extremely hot, it expands rapidly. I can’t make the Boar cool down, but I can make it heat up my spearhead. And when that spearhead expands, the metal can’t handle the reaction.’

The child bloated up, then exploded in a mess of fiery guts and blood all over the mother. Shrapnel embedded itself all over her side. She roared, regaining her red color. Another burst of hot air shattered all the reflections. Doevm flew back, stopping when he slammed into a tree. She charged, but another Lava Boar stood up and blocked her. ‘Boars are strongest when angry, but that also makes them irrational. I just need it to get so angry that it tires itself out.’

Ten more Doevms appeared. He cooled down another spear as the mother went on a rampage into simple transparent reflections. Another spear was thrown, and the smell of cooked pork and blood wafted in the air. The mother roared and charged at her children’s bodies, knocking them deep into her cave. By now, given how much time she had been moving, accumulated damage, the two explosions of her changing fur, and her expending strength to “save” her children, her stamina should be low.’ He could have sworn the Lava Boar was smiling as it knocked her children away, preventing him from using them.

Doevm laughed and dispersed his reflections. “I am a Lich,” he said. “And where there is a Lich, there are always dead bodies.” A root stretched out from the ground and wrapped around the Boar’s foot. She managed to snap it off quickly, but countless more shot up. “Every tree in the area that you and your children broke is mine. Your children are mine. And now your life, is mine!” The roots were burned away and regenerating at a constant rate. She was out of energy. It seemed that those two explosions, which looked to be her most dangerous ability, took more energy than she had. The trees that had been knocked down shriveled away into thin black ones. They stood up as Undead Treeants and beat her into a bloody pulp. Doevm sat down and resealed his mana. His minions dissolved into nothing. He picked one of the members of squad three and carried him away.

‘I could cut myself up and pretend I fought and killed it, but they wouldn’t believe that. Maybe another monster came and fought while I dragged everyone away? No, I need a better story than that, something that matches the carnage. The trees are manipulated, the Boars are gone, and the mother was beaten to death. The only thing that can match that brutality is the war monks or an ogre, but they wouldn’t be around here.’

As he dragged another member of his squad away, he noticed a little mist coming off himself. He brought out all his life essence and found that the thin mist was now a more solid dark green. ‘I even benefited from that. What a great day.’ He whistled as he dragged everyone away one by one to the entrance of the forest until he got to Wade. The man’s legs had been seriously damaged since he was at the source of the explosion. His toes were a bloody stump, and he was bleeding out fast. Doevm dragged him away with the others, another spear, and dipped it in the Lava Boar’s tentacle until it turned red. He brought it over to Wade and pressed it to his foot. He woke up screaming bloody murder and stared down at his burning flesh. Doevm tried to hold him down, but Wade used his red life essence and threw him back.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Wade screamed. The rest of the squad woke up to his yelling and saw Doevm with a bloody spear.

“Cauterizing the wound. You were hurt pretty bad back there.” Wade looked at the state of his legs and frowned.

“You need to warn someone before you do something like that.” He took off his belt bit down hard on it. “Hur et.” He tried talking through the belt. Doevm didn’t know what he said but understood what he meant. He pressed the spear down. This time, Wade’s scream was a lot quieter.

“I’m going to move to the second foot.” Doevm turned his spear over to a cleaner side.

Wade nodded. The squad all watched as he braved through his treatment. When it was over, he asked, “So what happened after we all passed out?”

“Well, after you guys passed out, I was running from the Boar. Just when I was about to be killed, an Undead appeared. It tried to chase after me as well, but I managed to pin it against the Boar. They fought for a while. The trees jumped up and helped him fight. They beat the Boar into a pulp while I pulled you all to safety.”

‘I really need to learn how to lie. Seriously, who in their right mind would believe that? Now that I say it out loud, maybe it would have sounded more believable if I said I flicked it to death. It’s only a matter of time until they find out what I can do now. Since I’ve always been strong, I never learned the strategies of the weak. I need to learn how to lie and manipulate.’

“Thank you.” Frey and the rest said.

“But what about your spear?” Wade asked. “How did you get it to be hot enough to cauterize a wound?”

‘Shut up and don’t ask any more questions. You can probably already guess what happened!’

“I dipped in in one of dead Lava Boars before I left,” Doevm internally face palmed. “It was risky, but you were bleeding pretty bad. I feared you weren’t going to make it. I think the other Lava Boar died, but I can’t be sure. I was just focused on getting you all out of there. We’re a team, aren’t we?” He smiled like he practiced as a toddler.

“I understand,” Wade said. “Hopi, help me up, we’re returning back to the mansion. We need to inform the lord about the Lich and get some of his mages to take care of it.” The man with slightly pointed ears helped him up and the squad walked away.

On the way back home, Doevm whispered to Hopi, “Are you part elf?”

Hopi had the signature pointed ears and tall and skinny frame. When he walked, his steps were lighter than the rest of the group. While he did have the Elven features, he also had human characteristics such as his 5 O’clock shadow, darker skin, and hairy limbs. Hopi nodded, “I’m an eighth Elven, why do you want to know?” his pace slowed a little and he stared at Doevm, but Wade gave Hopi a look.

“I’ve never met one.” Doevm partially lied. He had met an elf, and a half-elf, but never any further than that. The reason for that was the same reason why Hopi backed away. “I noticed you were the first to react when the tier one showed up, do you have any sensory abilities? I’m glad to have one here.”

“A little,” Hopi shrugged. “I can just hear better, but I’m crap at archery.”

“I heard elves can see spirits, have you ever seen one?” While Doevm didn’t know how to manipulate, he knew how to act innocent, just like he did as a child. That, however, was the extent of his sweet-talking abilities.

Hopi laughed, moving his passenger around. “No, I’ve never seen a spirit. Who told you those bedtime stories?”

‘A high elf you ignorant human.’ “I just heard it from somewhere. I guess it was just a rumor.” Doevm forced another smile and talked with him until they got back to the mansion and explained what happened to a very upset Jameson.

“An Undead you say?” Jameson rubbed his chin. “Can you describe him to me?”

‘I think you’ll know him when you see him. Why didn’t I think of a description ahead of time? I’ve been too caught up in everything else. It seems even a little lie will need to be elaborated on. They aren’t just something said once and forgotten. Humans are curious and will ask about details. Luckily, I know what an Undead looks like.’

“He was just skin and bones, but he waved his hands and the trees came to life. They wrapped their limbs around the Boar and started beating it. It was amazing and terrifying to watch. It was wearing tattered brown rags and its skeleton was cracked along its skull.”

“Understood, I’ll go ask the lord to form a search party, but for now, Wade needs time to recuperate and squad three will need a new leader.” He looked at everyone and smiled. “I can’t think of anyone, so I guess we’ll have to settle this the old fashion way.” All of squad three except for Doevm groaned.

Hopi must have realized Doevm’s confusion because he whispered, “The squad leader is chosen by going through difficult tests and trust exercises. All of us need to go through them, and we aren’t allowed to refuse. Get ready because this next week is going to be tough.”

‘I seemed to have gained an ally,’ Doevm smiled and thanked him.

“Everyone gets to relax,” Jameson said. “You may have gotten your ass kicked, but you all did a good job out there. The mages will confirm that you did your job. You faced a tier one beast and lived. Even though most of you are injured that is an accomplishment. You only got injured, nothing else. You can still fight; you can still be guards. Use this experience to encourage your growth. The other teams are returning so you’ll have a few days to rest. Use them well.”

Everyone saluted at once: “Yes sir.”