Chapter 11

The Simulacrum was currently in the form of a Draugr only, instead of being the roughly 6 feet in height that most Draugr are, this one was roughly 7' feet. For people who haven't seen this in person a 7 feet tall person can be pretty intimidating; when their body grows with it. Most people who are overly tall are extremely skinny, while this was like a buff tall undead human. Its eyes were glowing with a bright blue light, unlike the Draugr with their red eyes. It wielded a large broadsword made of glowing ice, that looked as if it could chop down a tree with a single slice.

"Freyja, circle the Simulacrum and wait for an opening to attack," I quickly instructed Freyja.

"Bagheera, keep the Simulacrum focused on you and use your vines to shield any critical attacks the Simulacrum throws at you," Phoebe quickly added her own command.

Both Freyja and Bagheera jumped over the water towards the small island, where the White Willow was. They began following there instructions with precision, demonstrating the fighting knowledge they had learned during the journey. It seemed to be a one sided fight that the Simulacrum was losing. It was slowly being backed further and further from the tree with the pond at its back. Then suddenly the tides changed with one quick motion.

The Simulacrum had very intelligently, tricked the jaguar Bagheera into setting its back near the tree, leaving no easy way out. It kept forward with great speed as it swung its sword slicing Bagheera's head off. Then it turned towards Freyja, raised its hand, and released a wave of ice spears. Freyja did her best to dodge most of them but, in the end was pierced multiple times, slowly bleeding out on the ground.

It then turned towards Phoebe and I, as it jumped clear over the pond. Then it did something then made both of us even more amazed. "Puny insects should know their place. Don't worry I'll make your deaths quick," The Simulacrum spoke!

It drew its sword back again and with a single swipe, a long blade of ice flew at us horizontally. It cut Phoebe and I in half taking my second life and Phoebes first. As we were dying I looked at Freyja who was slowly standing up still pierced by the ice; Bagheera had appeared at some point as well and was charging at the Simulacrum

{Host Alaric has died, would you like to revive?}

"Yes!"

{Host Alaric is being revived, final life; if you die again you will be returned to the store}

I slowly opened my eyes returning to the field I had just died on. Freyja was doing her best to fight through the pain of the wounds she had suffered, while attacking the Simulacrum with all she had. The blue streaks from her claws were getting brighter and brighter the more she fought. The Simulacrum was visibly annoyed as it swung its sword down into the ground causing ice spikes to shoot from the ground killing both Bagheera and Freyja instantly.

{Freyja has died, would you like her to revive?}

"Yes!" I quickly yelled as the Simulacrum looks at us again.

As it started walking towards us, Freyja appeared where she had last died as she howled loudly. Upon doing so a blue light surrounded her, as she created 2 clones of herself making three wolfs in total. The Simulacrum looked back wearily as it noticed the change. All three of the wolfs charged forward and began attacking the Simulacrum.

"Phoebe go with Bagheera and add the tree and Mana Drop Flowers into your inventory just in case we can't win this fight. At least that way we still get the Plants we need," I quickly told Phoebe because as they say a person who wields one dagger should expect to lose. Simply put, I was putting my eggs in separate baskets.

The Simulacrum seemed to notice my plan as it grew angry. It shifted from its original appearance of a Draugr to a Tree similar to the Blessed White Willow, with a combination of a Tree Ent. It pierced its icy roots into the ground and shot an ice root into each of Freyja's clones as well as me. As I was drawing my last breath I got to see the White Willow disappear. With a mocking smile on my face I stared at the Simulacrum who twisted its vines through my chest, killing me instantly in response.

{Last life spent; teleporting host back to the shop}

I appeared in the shop excitedly as I waited for Phoebe to appear.

A few minutes passed and Phoebe had yet to appear. 'Well Phoebe did have one more life than me, and there's always the chance that she ran away," I decided to try some of the shop options.

I opened my inventory to look at the loot gained from our journey, which unfortunately contained none of the plants. So while I couldn't use the greenhouse functions quite yet… I still had the dead bodies to inspect.

As I attempted to remove one of the Draugr dead bodies from my inventory, a new prompt popped up.

{Would host like to display usable parts for sale in shop?}

"Yes," I answered simply, curious of what might happen. And as I waited, other than the Draugr being removed from my inventory, nothing seemed to happen. I thought about what might have happened, or what I may have done wrong, when I clutched my head in stupidity. I walked through the door leading towards the entrance of the store and on the shelfs were all the different parts of the Draugr.