Chapter 36: Mystery Man
I had made a mistake. Maybe due to the fact that I had not needed to keep an enemy intact until now, but I had not given zombie Tarman a specific enough command. The outcome.... well the Demonic Rabbit was split in two. I had said for him to "kill any Demoinc Rabbits you see" and kill he did. He pounced on the one outside of the cave and ripped it in half, spilling rabbit innards all over the ground. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง?!? ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด!
No, this isn't the Tarman's fault, it's mine. I forgot how stupid and violent the zombies are. Even on the large Snarf they bit and tore as violently as they could. It just so happened Snarf was too large and sturdy to eviscerate or rip in half. I need to remember to be more specific in my commands.
"Stop! Stop! Stop! Ok, from now on follow me and kill any Demonic Rabbits you see, BUT leave the corpse intact and as undamaged as you can. Got it!?"
"....."
What remained of the zombie's one eye seemed to look at me..... I think? It was hard to tell since it was completely black with no pupils anymore. ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด? ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ. ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ?
Right now they were the equivalent of a hammer. I didn't need them to be able to think like when they were alive, but I'd at least like them to be able to reach robot vacuum levels.
"Hahhhh.... I really should of picked a different starting job. Too late now I guess. Anyways, extract that Demonic Rabbit's horn and give it to me."
I should of bought a dagger or something at Rockfort's store, but it didn't even dawn on me that I'd need it. I'd been relying on the zombies and casting magic this whole time after all. That and I had zero weapons training. The thought of trying to wield a weapon in close quarters against Snarf....seems like the worse idea imaginable. However, I guess I should get one for things outside of combat, I'll pick one up when I get back to town.
Tarman came running back and handed me the horn and what looked like the shattered remains of the its skull. There was even a bit of the spine and brain matter still attached. ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ! ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ.... ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ..... ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฉ?
I swallowed back the urge to vomit and took the horn from Tarman.
"...Thanks."
I take back what I said earlier, they are not like hammers, they are sledge hammers.
**********
We had made our way into the cave. Even though it was quite dark in there, for some reason I could still see. Another perk of the ๐๐๐๐ง๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง maybe? It wasn't like it was broad daylight, but it was like having a weakly lit candle nearby. The zombie also seemed to have zero issue with seeing in the dark, pouncing on rabbits the instant they came into view.
It seemed my previous command was enough to stop him from obliterating the corpses, I was able to cast [๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐] on them. I also had found out that my current minion limit was three, I guess it increased after my level ups. Nothing happened when I tried to cast [๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐] on the fourth one. I'd have to have them "Return to the eternal slumber" if I wanted to replace an existing one.
Tarman had killed four rabbits so far, including the one at the entrance. The quest had said there should of been five. We eventually made it to the end of the small cave and found the rabbit. Tarman swooped in and killed it, bringing back the horn.
How did I [๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐] the rabbits if he ripped off their horns like the first rabbit? For the same reason Tarman was romping around while missing two thirds of his head. It seems having a completely intact skull was not a prerequisite for [๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐]. It just made it really, really, REALLY hard to look at them.
"This should be it! Easy money! Huh? What's that?"
I had just noticed a shape near the back of the cave where the rabbit came from. It looked like a person lying face down on the ground. There was no movement. Are they dead? Was the Demonic Rabbit feeding on it?
"O-oy, are you ok?"
The person didn't move or make a sound.
"Hahhhhh....I guess I should check on them....all of you stay vigilant, stay close, protect me."
I put myself and the zombies on high alert just in case this was a trap. In video games, when you interact with something like this, usually a boss encounter starts.
I had gotten close enough to make out the person. Definitely a male, wearing armor that resembled the bandits I fought earlier. I lightly kicked the body, but nothing happened. I ordered Tarman to roll him over. When I got a good look at the face...it looked exactly like what happened to the rabbits in the illusion when I cast [๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐].
"Well... I think we got a mystery on our hands, don't we Tarman?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone