Dezen started observing ants, wanting them to show him where is their nest.
When Dezen found it, he killed all (who he could see) ants outside the nest, using Fire Fog, revived them and ordered to drag the queen with eggs out of it.
It took his ants some time, during which he regretted that he hasn't made a spell, which would let him watch their battle, and prepared a place for the queen in dead tree.
Doing it, Dezen realised that he has forgotten that she will need other ants to function properly, so he added to his orders to catch as many Royal ants as possible.
After imprisoning queen of Royal ants, Dezen started wondering whether he should go back.
He found a magical being, as he wanted, but didn't find any wolves.
As for now, they aren't necessary, but in the future, their battle strength will be needed. This is because soon the Church of Alen, the only church which is in his village, should send someone to try to recruit him, or at least learn necromancy, unless they try to create it by themselves.
In the best case, they will be just annoying, in the worst, they will try to force him to join church or to teach them necromancy. In both cases, high battle strength will grant him peace.
For some time.
Sooner or later, church will send someone stronger, and Dezen can't blame them, because if he were them, he would do the same thing.
New magics are just too precious, they can give advantages at wars, if enemy doesn't know about them, or make new things possible.
Luckily they can obtain results similar to using necromancy, like creating golems, so Church of Alen won't value him highly, and so other organisations.
Finding Royal ants was the last extraordinary thing, that happened that day. Only the next night, he found traces of wolves.
It's not like Dezen was travelling in a straight line, he was moving in different directions on an area where wolves are known to hunt.
At this point, he started to lose hope to find them. Besides not being able to find them, last time they were spotted was 6 years ago, and in the previous years, people were encountering them once in 1, or 2 years. Also, people were mentioning different races of wolves, what made the situation a little strange.
Dezen even took into account the possibility that there were 2 wolf packs, who were hunting on the same area, one day they fought, stronger race killed weaker, but their remnants couldn't survive.
The trace he found was clotted blood. Unfortunately, it was the only thing left by wolves which he found, so Dezen had no idea where to search for them. In that case, he decided, that he will make wolves look for him.
First, he ordered his undead tree to bury itself, and took from meat of deer, that he hunted while travelling and left as a lure. Then Dezen used Sparks Explosion to create noise which they may hear.
Doing it, he also used No Odor and No Warmth, just in case. When he ended, Dezen climbed up on undead the tree and used Changing Color and Better Sight.
Using 4 spells at once and keeping so many undead made his consumption of mana higher than production, but the difference was miniscule, so much that he could even stay in this state for over 2 days.
10 minutes passed, then 20, 30, 1 hour.... Waiting, Dezen checked Royal ants, watched his undead bugs fight and event tried to improve his soul with mana. He heard, that at some point mages can develop in that way, but it requires them to be strong enough.
Dezen didn't obtain that strength yet, so he couldn't do it.
After around 3 hours, wolves finally came. They were tall, maybe for 1.5-1.6m with thick fur.
Looking at them, Dezen used Grey Fog with No Sound, and thought that using Sparks Explosion wasn't the best idea, because wolves looked wary and maybe even reluctant.
At least he assumed their behavior is caused by the sound of that spell, and decided that next time he will just scream.
At first, wolves searched the area, looking for dangers.
When they were sure it's safe, they approached meat, that Dezen left.
Watching them eating, he deactivated hiding spells, used Stone Skin on himself, undead tree and aimed with his finger at the biggest wolf.
Then, at the same time, Dezen cast Grey-Black Spike, and undead tree attacked with its roots. They both focused on the biggest wolf, which possessed the biggest threat. Dezen aimed at its neck, and the undead tree wrapped its roots around his legs.
Thanks to their combined work, that wolf was quickly neutralized, but not killed.
With pain, he stayed in one place, unable to move because of roots around his legs, and waited for death. Next, Dezen cast Fire Fog and used it to shoot many Green Fireballs.
After hitting the ground, they then turned into Fire Fog, which surrounded the wolves, making it impossible for them to escape. However, it wasn't needed, because they didn't even try. Instead, wolves started to attack the undead tree, mostly with their teeth.
Seeing that they can't harm his servant, he started moving Fire Fog closer to them. Besides this, he was also watching wolves trying to fight.
Roots couldn't break through their skin, so they wrapped around them, wanting to break their bones, and strangle them.
When the first wolf was about to get devoured by Fire Fog, they finally decided to flee. To do this, wolves tried to jump over the Fog, and failed, because he specially made it high.
Only one wolf almost did this, but seeing it, Dezen shoot Green Fire Ball at him. He died quickly and was immediately revived as the others.
Only the biggest wolf remained, so Dezen dispelled Fire Fog. He then approached it and looked at Gray-Black Spike, stuck in his neck.
- That it didn't kill him, who would though. Looks like I missed every important part. - Dezen was about to end the suffering of that wolf with Sparks Explosion, but it turned its head, and bit his wrist, before he could take it back. - AAA! You fu- Dezen screamed, feeling his bones being broken and his muscles pierced. With rage, he used Sparks Explosion and Green Fire Ball, while his undead tried to help him. It wasn't needed, because Sparks Explosion cast inside his mouth was enough to end him.
Dezen slumped on the corpse and started healing himself. " I... Underestimated that wolf and paid a price. I think I learned my lesson. I have to be more careful in the future. " Dezen sat on the ground, leaning with his back on the dead wolf. After a minute, he stood up and revived it.
Before, he didn't pay attention to how he looks, but now Dezen finally noticed details about him. Wolf was around 1.7m high, most of his body is covered with grey fur, except part under his head, stomach and inner side of his legs, where it is white. Eyes have beautiful blue colour. Fur is thick and soft, what little surprised Dezen.
Looking at him, Dezen wondered whether he should use him as mount. Surely it will be faster than walking, and he will save mana, which he would spend on activating spells. The only downside is that traveling without a saddle will be uncomfortable, but it doesn't matter for Dezen, as for now.
He looked at the rest of the wolves.
He can leave the biggest wolf as he is, but at first he planned to change their shapes to humanoid.
Thanks to this, he will not only get more servants, who can work on the farm, but their battle strength will rise, what is equal to him getting stronger.
He will obtain bigger battle strength, by developing by developing their claws. Normally, wolves use them to fight rather rarely, and they are not so strong compared to teeth. However, if he makes them bigger, sharper and their arms stronger, results should be satisfying. Also, they are part of their bodies, so he won't have to provide them weapons.
Unluckily, the spell used to change shapes of bodies is still too weak, so he will have to wait with realisation of this plan.
Besides this, there is also another benefit. If someone see these wolves, and how they act, that person will think that his undead are idiots.
In fact, they are, but it is upside, since thanks to this, people will value them less than golems, which have intelligence comparable to humans.
This should make other mages less interested in necromancy. At least Dezen hopes for it.