"I do not know of this Warlord, but if he and your dullahan share the same power, then he must be a strong warrior," The tengu said.

"Yeah, well I kinda beaten him once. It was a cheap shot though," Dave said in a chuckle.

"All is fair in war, a victory is a victory no matter the means. Honor is worthless to the dead, well…not us," The tengu said and stood up from his seated position.

"Alright lets keep going, I think there are some monsters a few miles away from here," Dave pointed toward the forest of the wilds.

"As you command." Replied the tengu and the whole group followed after Dave.

Dave began playing with Onixya in his arms then he heard Spark asking the tengu a question.

"Lord Tengu," Spark spoke up.

"Yes, fire mage," the tengu replied.

"How did you share your memory with commander Kis'Shtiengbrah? I have never seen such magic." The undead pyromancer asked in curiosity.

"That is not magic, that is the Binding of the Spirit. I can use Spirit to delve into my mind and share it with others."

"I see. Then can you delve into other's mind and seek the locked memories within it?" Spark asked with sparkly eyes.

"If the other party is willing, then I can, but why are you asking such a question?" the tengu asked.

"I feel that Dog has a strange past this could help commander Kis'Shtiengbrah uncover his past and know his true identity. Perhaps knowing who Dog was before he died will help commander know him more and use his power better," Spark said giving a good argument.

"I am proficient in Spirit, and I see that you are telling half the truth. What is the reason behind these questions, fire mage?" the tengu asked.

Spark smiled and said, "Since the day I gained my sentience, I have been seeing visions of an old past. It was a mix of fire and destruction. And I was the one wielding such power."

"So you wish to know your past."

"Yes. I will allow you to seek the mysteries and secrets in my mind lord tengu, willingly if you could dig what is hidden behind the shackles caused by my death."

"You should probably leave your past alone," Dave said. He was carrying Onixya high up and swinging her left and right. The small dragon was happily flapping its little undeveloped wings. She thought she was flying.

"No good ever came from looking into the past, Spark," Dave said.

"You are right. Then I will not look into it," Spark said, there was a bit of disappointment in his voice.

Dave sighed and brought the dragon back into his arms. He turned to Spark and said, "You don't understand spark. I'm not ordering you not to look into your past. It is but advice. Take it or leave it, that remains your own choice."

"Right."

Dave was sure that Spark didn't understand, so he tried explaining again, "I'm not here to oppress you, if you have a conviction, then go through it. If you know you will reach a goal or that what you believe in is right, then you can seek it even if it means crossing me. Your thoughts are your own, you are of the legion, but you are still free."

"Very well commander, then I still wish to know my past," Spark said.

"Welp, that's good and all, wish you the best. But you're not supposed to ask that from me," Dave pointed Onixya toward the tengu and said, "You ask him. He is the voodoo guy!" Dave turned and kept walking into the wilds.

"Very well, I can help you, but you must wait for a while. The energy required to do this ritual is sacred, and I can only do it once every fortnight," the tengu said.

"It's alright. I don't mind. Time is an estranged concept to us undead," Spark said.

"Guys, if you had enough fun, I suppose you should get ready. There's a monster coming here," Dave shouted.

Singund, Tengu, and Spark drew their weapons, (and staff) readying up for the fight.

Onixya hopped on top of Dave's head and began growling.

"Hey, if things get dangerous you'll have to hide okay?"

The small dragon tilted her head at Dave, not understanding what he meant.

Dave shook his head and said, "It's alright. Just hold on tight to my helmet."

This part, the dragon seemed to understand as she braced herself on Dave's helmet.

The foliage on one side of the forest parted, and the narrow snout of a creature emerged, followed by a pudgy rounded form covered in spines. It looked like a black hedgehog, but it was easily twice Grumpy's size. It looked at them in mild confusion and curiosity, wondering why anything would get in the way of its daily peregrinations.

"Ah shit, it's this guy again," Dave remembered the hedgehog with the weird name. He inspected it again just to make sure it was the same guy from last time.

Atelerix spinalapis giganticus (giant stone-spined hedgehog, mutated)

Level: 550

Base damage: 205,000-300,000

HP: 5,500,000

DN: 130,000

MA: 150,000

Skills:

[Roller Derby of Death] curls into a ball and power spins forward doing 200% base damage and inflicting a 20 second Bleed effect for 1% of the target's maximum HP per second.

[Make it Rain] blasts a circular area around itself with quills in a 10 meter radius, each quill does 5% of Base damage.

Bestiary

A harmless creature of the wilds that was mutated into this abhorrent form by the maleficent magic saturating the Wilds. While these giant spines covered monsters do not hunt prey or seek out conflict, they are temperamental and easily annoyed.

***

"Yep, that's him alright. Guys, ready up!" Dave pulled his shield forward and held it in front of him.

He had already bought a Doom Knight's Tower Shield and a Doom Knight's Bastard Sword. These weapons were a notch above the Death Knight's flamberge and Tower Shield. He had yet to inspect them though and wanted to test them out first.

The bastard Sword was mighty and large. It was wide at the base and grew thinner the closer it got to the tip of the sword. It was weighty and sharp.

The tower shield was rectangular with spikes at the bottom. Most likely to gain poise when it is dug into the ground.

The hedgehog rolled onto itself and began power-rolling, creating a rooster tail of dust behind it. Then it burst from its position, smashing down trees, bushes, and boulders. Anything that stood between the hedgehog and Dave's party was turned to a skewered mush.

Dave raised his tower shield and smashed it down into the dirt. The spikes dug easily into the wild's ground and made the shield firm and sturdy as a stone and brick wall.

Dave had activated [Block] and shouted, "Onixya, stay low!"

The small black dragon climbed down from Dave's helmet and hid behind his leg.

Dave used his shoulder to reinforce the shield and clenched his teeth, waiting for impact.

The rolling hedgehog spun until he reached Dave and crashed into him, creating a loud explosive sound. But Dave's firm footing didn't even move. While the hedgehog kept spinning against the tower shield creating sparks that flared into the Wilds.

The hedgehog soon stopped power-rolling, then it stood up looking at Dave.

"What?" Dave said to the confused hedgehog. He then tapped on his shield, saying, "This thing is supa strong, you gonna have to spin way more than that if you wanna move it."

The hedgehog became annoyed. It readied up to spin another time, but it failed to see the broad smile on Dave's face.

All of this talk was actually just Dave taunting the hedgehog for the Tengu to prepare his ultimate move.

"ZAN!"

The word was uttered, and the wilds began splitting in two. The hedgehog was directly in the line of fire, but something wasn't right, the hedgehog seemed completely fine.

The two cut dimensions returned to their former state. But the hedgehog remained standing, uncut in two.

"What's wrong, tengu?"

"It seems that becoming an Undead has severely limited my power."

"So it didn't work? You couldn't cut him down?"

"No, he was cut actually," the tengu said. "Just not completely." Just as the tengu finished his words

The hedgehog's back gushed out a fountain of blood. An enormous ghastly wound began shaping across his spiky back.

The hedgehog began screaming in pain. Then it curled on itself. Its spines grew larger. Then the hedgehog began spinning around itself sideways picking up a lot of dust in the process. The spikes on it began shooting all over the area like a Gatling gun going high wire.

Dave grabbed Onixya and ducked next to a boulder, while the tengu, sliced and slashed at the incoming spikes.

Spark created a barrier of flames around him that ate through the spikes while Singund… Well, Singund was skewered with several of the spikes. It didn't prove a hindrance to the orc in any way. He began regenerating his HP in seconds.

Dave stood back up. Thankfully he was quick in thinking. The rock he hid next to was impaled with a dozen spikes at least.

Dave's block was on cooldown, and he didn't have any skill to protect both himself and Onixya. The boulder proved a good assistance in this matter.

The dust cleared up, revealing the entirety of the area they fought in covered in spikes. But the assailant was nowhere to be found.

"It had left the moment it attacked; it must have sensed danger. What a smart creature," the tengu said.

"Ah, damn, it would have gotten me a good chunk of EXP. Alright, let's look for another," Dave had to give up. By the speed the hedgehog moved at when power-rolling, not even Spike could catch up to it if the hedgehog decides to run away.

But Onixya had something else in mind, it bit on Dave's beard and began tugging on it.

"Yes, what's the matter?"

The small dragon squealed in a low tone and sniffed at the air. Then began squeaking while pointing with its nose in a certain direction.

"I think your dragon can smell the prey even if it's far away." The tengu said.

"Yeah, but the hedgehog is fast, it can just run away when we meet it again."

"Let's hunt it down. I dislike being attacked without attacking back!" Singund said in a roar.

"The orc is right. We should hunt it down. I had heavily wounded it. It should exhaust itself soon and look for a place to hide and recover," the tengu said.

"Whatever you say," Dave shrugged and added, "let's keep going then."

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