Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

Reaching with his hand in his shadow, Zaroth got a bottle of water and a handful of salt and sugar. Then he mixed them and forced himself to drink the cocktail he had created.

Why had he bothered to do such a thing? Even if Lily had helped him immensely by using Shifter to recover most of his mana, his body was exhausted, not to mention he had given Midnight a portion of his blood. The combination he had just drunk helped stabilize his condition a little. It was by no means healing potion or anything of the sort, but it was going to do the trick.

And as for why Zaroth pretty much never used any potions was because he had been taught in the academy that pretty much all of them had very significant drawbacks for using them, so he never relied on them.

"Get up. You should be getting accustomed to flying high in the air," Zaroth turned to Eldros as he finished the last of his bitter cocktail. The man was still laying on his back, his eyes looked unfocused like he had been dazed.

"Easy for you to say. One doesn't just get accustomed to flying so quickly," Eldros complained, managing to stand up on his feet.

"It's not that hard, just don't look down," Zaroth advised with a chuckle.

Naturally, Eldros did just that, leading for the blood in his face to drain even more.

"Did I not tell you to specifically avoid doing that?!" Zaroth roared, irritated.

Sitting on his bottom, Eldros waved his hand dismissively. Deciding it was better to occupy himself with something, he turned his back to Zaroth, his gaze focusing on the magma serpent.

"I will be watching our backs. You get the front," the man said.

With a scoff, Zaroth surveyed the surroundings. He was pretty much sure that they had entered the Graveborn territory, yet there hadn't yet been any kind of resistance.

'This is bad,' Luna transmitted, 'Usually there would be at least common soldiers or undead creatures considering their forces, yet not a single thing in sight.'

"There is no doubt that there is somebody keeping a close watch on us," Zaroth nodded in agreement, his eyes never stopping at a single place.

"But I don't sense anything," he furrowed his eyebrows. The memory of him fighting against Ragnar was still fresh in his mind. He and his brother had managed to attack David's hometown without making their position known. In other words, they were true masters of stealth, so even if they were following them, nobody would sense them until it was too late.

A tense silence followed, broken only by the flapping of Luna's wings and the tremors below caused by the massive beast slithering after them.

"How much longer?" Eldros finally asked. His voice sounded strained—it was clear he was worried.

Zaroth threw a quick look at the map.

"There is still a long way to go," he sighed, massaging his tired eyes.

He needed rest—but didn't dare take it. What if they were attacked the moment he let his guard down?

'Sleep,' Luna advised.

"But—"

'No buts,' she cut him off, 'battle is ahead and you have to be in top condition.'

Zaroth gritted his teeth, scanning the vastness once again. They had passed over several mountains and cities by now, yet he had yet to see anybody trying to hunt them.

'Why?' he struggled to comprehend. He had entered the enemy territory! Yet there was nothing! Something was absolutely wrong. He would have preferred it if they had been attacked by now. At least this way he would know what he was up against, yet now all he could do was guess.

"I know something is waiting for us," he shook his head, "I am not taking the risk."

More time passed in eerie silence, leading for Zaroth to become more worried. The feeling of being watched hadn't gone away—no, it had grown worse. It was suffocating now.

It felt like maggots crawling under his skin. Like an assassin was right behind him, dagger inches from his neck—and yet, he couldn't sense a thing.

Not only was this aspect terrifying in its own right, but the worst part was that he was on his dragon's back soaring through the air with dazing speed! Whatever was waiting for them was able to keep up with them no problem.

"Do you sense anything?" Zaroth asked, turning to Eldros.

"No," the man answered, uneasily gritting his teeth. Whatever pressure Zaroth was feeling, Eldros felt it as well—no doubt about that.

Finally, Zaroth couldn't take it anymore. "Higher," he commanded and Luna complied.

Increasing their altitude wasn't going to make them escape from the serpent's wrath, but had the potential to show if they were really being watched.

"Higher!" he commanded again. The pressure intensified. His heart began to struggle, barely able to pump blood through his limbs.

Eventually, Luna soared above the clouds. The magma serpent was still hot on their tail. But what was important was that the pressure vanished.

"Finally…" Zaroth exhaled. Relief flooded his body for the first time in hours. He hadn't realized just how heavy his chest and shoulders had felt until that crushing weight was gone.

A light tap on his shoulder made him turn.

"Eldros, yeah, I know it's go—" He stopped mid-sentence.

It wasn't Eldros.

A towering figure loomed before him, clad in ancient armor that seemed older than time itself.

It had no head.

And worst of all—it had no presence. Zaroth could see it, but couldn't sense it.

"ENEMY!" Still in a form of shock, he roared, unleashing the full power of his odachi. Whatever that monstrosity was, Zaroth knew it had to be killed. If there was no head to behead, then he would break the armor!

CLANG

Zaroth's eyes widened. The headless figure had caught his sword with one hand effortlessly.

"Wha—"

Before he could react, the creature hurled the blade aside with monstrous strength. Zaroth's iron grip dragged him with it—flinging him off Luna's back.

"Zaroth!" Eldros heard the shout and spun around just in time to see his friend get launched into the distance.

By instinct, he unsheathed his two great swords, summoned the Judgemental Gaze above him, and attacked with all his might.

The Dullahan, seemingly content with the idea, unsheathed the sword it kept on its back and prepared to defend. Or it was going to until Luna changed her course drastically, leading them to be thrown off her back.

At that moment, she had a single thought in her mind.

'Zaroth!'

It wasn't his first time freefalling from a great height, but that didn't mean he would feel unafraid. The opposite, in fact!

Something so immensely powerful had sneaked up on Luna's back and nobody had realized it!

"How the fuck did this happen?!" he cursed, trying to calm down his mind.

Before he could, however, the world lost color for a fraction of a second.

Instantly knowing what that meant, Zaroth turned odachi raised in defensive stance just in time to block Ragnar's full-force slash.

"So this is how the infamous Ghost looks, huh?" For the first time, Ragnar saw Zaroth without his demonic mask.

The mad prince scoffed coldly. "Shame. I thought your face was busted like mine—but I guess we don't have that much in common after all!" He swung again, this time with even more force.

"Fucking lunatic!" Zaroth cursed, knocked back by the sheer impact of the blow.

He wasn't worried about fighting Ragnar—what tormented him was the fact that he was falling through the air. In other words: he was stationary, vulnerable.

He cast a quick glance at the magma serpent that had been relentlessly pursuing them all this time—it didn't look so distant anymore.

This battle had to end—and fast.