The lone beastman ran towards the creature with his ax held high. The ax once belonged to an ax wielder but Colet had no objection to arming the beastmen. Ax wielders used standard axes that were easy to make and the centaurs had an abundance of them. If the beastmen were better equipped, they could aid the centaurs in the battles to come. He kept the weapons from the shieldbreakers which were of better quality and distributed them to the surviving centaurs. Most of those weapons were to be given to future shieldbreakers once they got to the centaur capital. The last two days had done wonders for the centaurs as they went from nearly broken to being in high morale. The centaurs believed they could reach their destination.
The beastman had a confident stride in his run. The hunting for small prey for food had clearly bored the beastmen. Therefore, the appearance of a bigger prey was a nice change of pace for them. With no intention of sneaking up on the creature, the beastman did his battle cry and picked up speed as he closed the distance. As soon as the beastman got into melee range, he was sent flying from a single swipe of the creature.
“How?” muttered Zulgar.
Even Colet, who had seen bears before, knew that bears weren’t so strong they could send a beastman flying, especially when the beastman wasn’t injured or fatigued. The strength needed to do so was beyond what bears were capable of. His instincts were once again on point as the creature was anything but a bear. All the spectators watched as the creature leaped towards the beastman to deliver a blow before the beastman could get back up. From where he stood, the centaur chieftain knew the beastman was dead. Following the death, nearby beastmen all roared in excitement. Colet looked at Zulgar who merely shrugged.
“It’s not everyday they find a prey worth hunting,” said the beastman leader.
A dozen beastmen raced out to fight the creature. Their battle cries shattered the silence and got the attention of the creature. When the beastmen were a few meters from the creature, the beastman corpse rose up with the ax in its hand. The dozen beastmen stopped when they realized what was happening. Following a short standoff, the dead beastman charged at the group of beastmen. The beastmen scrambled to compose themselves and engaged their former companion. While they hacked at the dead beastman, the creature sneaked up on the group and sent a second beastman flying. Two more beastmen were slain by the creature before a second beastman corpse stood up like the first one. One needn’t be an expert to see the tide turning quickly in favor of the creature.
“Are these the undead you spoke of?” asked Zulgar, his tone serious for once.
Colet and Zulgar watched from afar at a battle heavily favoring the creature. The dozen beastmen lost half their numbers within a minute while they faced off against three undead beastmen. As a fourth one stood up to face the beastmen, the outcome was already decided.
“I fear so,” replied Colet.
Both Colet and Zulgar quickly rallied their subordinates and ordered them to flee at once. Neither wanted to find out how many losses they would have to suffer to take the creature down. Nor did they want to wait around for more undead to show up. The creature could very well be a scout sent to locate their position. Now that their position was known to their enemies, it was a matter of time before the undead would march towards them. Upon receiving the orders, the beastmen and centaurs put out the fires and packed all of their provisions. They then traveled under the moonlight with Colet and Zulgar leading the way.
Creature fled! Not chasing!
Ilumin was disturbed from her sleep by the flurry of activities below her. Grouchy at first, the Cloud Hawk then noticed the creature finishing off the remaining beastmen. She came down and Colet asked her to keep an eye on the creature from a distance. When she reported the creature fleeing in a different direction, the information puzzled the centaur chieftain. He had expected the creature to stay on their tail until undead reinforcements arrived. It has proven that it could easily handle whatever they could throw at it. For hunters, a prey fleeing from it was a prey to be hunted down. Hoping for a mistake of losing track of them by their enemies, Colet and Zulgar decided it wasn’t a terrible idea for them to cover some ground when the beastmen and centaurs were well rested and fed. They had to reach Orisa before they could plan out their next steps. To be caught out by the undead on the plains would spell their doom, much like when the centaurs were caught out by the beastmen.
“I smell something,” stated Zulgar.
Colet never doubted the sense of smell of the beastmen. Their noses were far more superior to those of centaurs. He also knew Zulgar wouldn’t bring up what he smelled unless the smell was out of place or even threatening. He wondered if the beastman leader was already familiar with the undead smell.
“What does the smell remind you of?” asked Colet.
“The abomination we defeated.”
Neither of them stopped to investigate the smell but the implications were terrifying. The giant beastman was sent into the void but no one could confirm if it was dead or alive. Even with the assumption the giant was dead, another abomination was worrying, especially if it could be sensed by Zulgar.
“Let’s keep moving! Maybe the undead has an abomination amidst their rank. A new abomination might be born when the old one died. We cannot stay here for long.”
The beastman leader agreed with Colet’s assessment. They knew too little about the abomination to know what was possible. The centaur chieftain then ordered the support spellcasters to cast a speed boosting spell on everyone. They couldn’t afford to be caught by the enemy and, when faced against undead who couldn’t ever tire, they needed to cover more ground. Their last two days saw them going at a comfortable pace but the threat had forced them to pick up their pace.
