Beasts of the forest

Thanatos ran as fast as he could towards Lia, hoping the bear could buy enough time for her to run back to the previous spot they were exploring. Please please please please. Only one word on his mind, pleading to the gods or whatever else might be listening for Lia to be safe. He ran past everything until finally he could see her.

Lia was running from a bizarre creature. It was similar to a snake, but with feathers and about ten heads in total. The body was more akin to a reptile, almost a dinosaur you could find in a book. The bear's body was on the ground, bitten and broken by fangs and claws. The hissing of the heads was ready to attack Lia, who was trying to get away as fast as she could.

The heads bit down at a tremendous speed. Thanatos ran and decapitated two of the heads and managed to block the rest with his own body, preventing them from reaching Lia. The creature bit him, and the poison was injected into his bloodstream. One bite would have enough poison to bring down a grown man, but Thanatos could withstand eight times that dose.

He could hear Lia screaming something at him. It didn't matter right now; he needed to protect her. A slash and two more heads went flying, six to go. The creature wasn't going to let this continue. The animal sharpened its claws and was ready to kill its prey.

The poison was too strong. Thanatos underestimated the potency of the beast. He felt his limbs losing strength. He was too slow to protect himself from the attack. "[Strengthening]"

The claws bounced off his abdomen like they were hitting armor. He had to use magic to save himself. Trying to not waste time, he struck once more, this time cutting the arms of the creature.

The beast hissed in pain and backed away, keeping his distance. It was to launch another attack with the remaining six heads. That was his last mistake. Thanatos was in the same spot, but with his hand stretched out. "[Fireball]"

In a second, the ball of flames was launched, and the serpent-like beast was burning in pain. In desperation, the beast managed to reach him with a couple of heads, but Thanatos swiftly cut them down. It was finally dead.

"AH... AH... AH... AH... Lia, are you okay?" He asked, with great difficulty, to breath. The poison was affecting his mouth and breathing.

"Watch out from you right!" Lia screamed at him. Thanatos managed to raise his right arm just in time to feel the impact of something hitting him.

He was sent flying several meters, and his right arm was broken. He was losing consciousness, but he could clearly see it. A giant boar with stone covering his skin? No, the stone was the skin of the creature. The fangs were sharp, ready to crush and devour him.

Another beast attacked just at the worst time. What the hell is happening in this forest?

The boar screamed and launched himself again. With far too much speed for a creature of that size, Thanatos dodged, jumping to his left. The boar crashed, destroying the trees without any semblance of pain or discomfort. Thanatos couldn't take another hit like that; his arm was broken already, and the poison was making him dizzy.

He was almost out of mana and the boar had very high defenses. He tried to come up with the best possible plan. The boar roared once again and started another assault. This time, however, Thanatos wasn't planning to dodge.

Standing his ground, he grabbed the boar snout and managed to direct it to his abdomen, the part that was still under the effects of [Strengthening]. The impact of all the weight hit him like a truck. He was sent flying into some trees while vomiting the contents of his stomach and blood along with them.

"[Retribution]"

The boar felt the immense pain amplified several times in his own stomach. The beast vomited his organs and collapsed in a puddle of his own blood. The fight was over after his final moments of writhing in pain.

Lia ran toward Thanatos. She grabbed him and barely held her tears, seeing the terrible state he was in: A broken right arm, a profound gash on his left arm, multiple bites on all his body, along with poison and crushed organs. Not even after the fight with the assassin, had he ended up this bad. Worts of all she was alone right now.

She tore down part of her clothes to cover some of his wounds, but she didn't have any method to deal with the poison. Thanatos was barely awake, but she tried to comfort him.

"I-IT´S FINE YOU ´RE GOING TO FINE I PROMISE" The tears were already running down her cheeks.

Thanatos couldn't speak; the poison had already spread too much. He wanted to tell her to leave him behind and run back to the mountains, back to the city, safe with everyone else. He couldn't say it, but he was still trying to protect her. With all his soul, he called the remaining boar. Protect Lia and do whatever she orders you to. It was pointless. The boar was still too far away and he couldn't communicate with him unless....

[Level obtained: Necromancer 2]

The boar came back with him, ready to follow his orders. Thanatos's mind was at its limit; he passed out in Lia's arms.

The darkness enveloped him once more. It had been a while since he felt this sensation. I wonder if Zek is still here or has he already disappeared? 100 years I think it was it, maybe the book won´t last that long and this is a permanent dead…

Before long, the light appeared once more, illuminating the world. He woke up looking at the celling, inside a small tent. He was lying on a bed made of straw. The sensation of something grabbing his hand made him look.

Lia was sitting beside him, firmly holding his hand. She was sleeping sitting up. It was an uncomfortable position. Even just looking at her made one feel awkward. He felt at peace looking at her. "You're safe. I'm so glad you're safe."

His words of gratitude were interrupted. "Not just surviving all that Hydra venom, but also waking up a day later. You're a true monster" He looked to the other side. At the entrance, he saw the cat woman who fought him in the forest.

Lia woke up from the words of the woman and immediately noticed Thanatos had opened his eyes. She couldn't hold her tears and started to cry. She hugged him tightly, feeling he would disappear if she let him go.

"Uhh…sob. sob…Dummy, idiot. You told me we were going to run if anything happened, but you went and fought to protect me. All over again, you get hurt trying to save me… sob…" Her crying was more of relief than sadness; she was happy to see him awake.

After a few minutes, Lia calmed down and finally let go of Thanatos. He was very confused, so both girls explained the situation.

Lia was crying, holding the unconscious Thanatos. She didn't know how to save him. She tried to take him back towards the city, but he was too heavy for her to carry all the way back. At that moment, she had an idea. Quickly, she ran towards the bags with the plants and herbs inside. Maybe something could help to slow down the poison. She looked at everything inside and picked up all the herbs Thanatos told her had some healing properties.

She wasn't an expert, but she paid attention when he told her. The undead boar appeared before her.

"Ah please boar please go find someone who can help, anyone that can help quick please" She begged the boar, who started to run towards the south. Lia finally finished looking through the ingredients.

She went back to Thanatos's side with a mix of herbs and plants in her hand. She wasn't sure how to feed him. She began to break them with her hands, and once they were small enough, she used a bit of water. They still had to mix them together to make a drink. OK is ready.

She opened slightly his mouth and was about to pour the drink when…

A hand stopped her. It was a hand covered in fur, belonging to a furry woman. "That is not going to work. You need to boil them for at least one hour before eating them, or you won't get any healing effect. Besides, mixing so many of them together like that is just going to cause him stomach pain"

"Then, do you know how to use them?"

"No, I'm no doctor, I just know the basics."

"But you can take him to one, right? Please tell me" The desperation in her voice was obvious.

"Calm down. Yes, there is a doctor in my tribe. But I'm not taking you with me."

"Why? Please, he needs help. Can't you see how hurt he is"

"I don't care about you slavers. You need to leave the forest and never come back."

"What? We aren't slavers. We come from the Republic of Selus. We come looking for ingredients. We don't have any slaves" Lia tried to express herself to the cat woman.

"I won't believe your lies. You're wasting time." She was about to leave when Lia grabbed her by the waist. "Get off. I'm not going to tell you anything."

"Please. I beg you, I will pay whatever you ask. I don't care about me, but please help me save his life" Lia refused to let her only chance slip through her fingers.

"It won't matter. That much poison is a death sentence. You can consider yourself lucky to survive one bite of a hydra, but so many is impossible. He has no chance of making it, even with a doctor's help.

"Still! I must try; he isn't a normal person. He still has a chance, even if it's only a one percent chance. Believe me, I will do whatever I must for you to believe me."

The cat woman could see Lia's expression. It looked to her like she was telling the truth. She wanted to save this man more than anything else at this moment. But she had been deceived before. All of her tears could be fake. There was only one way to prove her honesty.

"Do you have a knife or something like that?" She asked.

"Yes, I do." Lia took out a small knife for cutting meat or wood. She waited for more instructions.

"Stab yourself. If you do that, I will believe you." For a moment, Lia was stunned. "To your chest If you intended to make me, believe you, it must be a potentially fatal injury" The cat woman demanded with no hesitation.

One isn't ready to take his own life, even for those he loves. She expected some form of resistance or an attempt to make her change the bargain for something less extreme. But then the words of Lia surprised her.

"Ok, I understand. Please take him to the doctor in my place." She pointed the knife at her heart. Not even in the middle or on one of the sides, right on top of her heart. With swift motion, Lia stabbed herself.

She was stopped. The cat woman grabbed her arms and prevented her from taking her own life. She slapped the knife away and took Lia by the shoulders.

"You think after fighting for your life against those beasts, this guy is going to accept your dead!" She yelled at her.

After freeing Lia, she walked toward Thanatos and grabbed him. "Come on. This monster better be as special as you think he is."

After that, both girls took him to the demi human village.