Chapter 29 - I’m Not The Hero. I’m The Monster.

“So? Why aren’t you answering?” Lando asked, taking a step closer.

Someone walked out from behind him. Someone fat, short, and wearing a stained singlet. Darren. My daughter was still in his hand.

‘Papa, I’m sorry.’ She said meekly in my head. ‘I failed the quest.’

‘Cherry?’ Thank god. She was still alive. ‘That doesn’t matter. Are you ok?’

‘For… now. They put something in me and said they’d blow it up if I tried to run away.

Those fucking bastards.

Using runestones like that was dirty.

‘What do you want?’ I asked Lando.

“What do I want? I think the question here is what do you want?” A wicked smile stretched across his face. “Tell you what. I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll give you a choice.”

I was barely listening, and running through several other options in my head.

I couldn’t fight. Potato body was on cooldown. Mutation was on cooldown. Hull was on cooldown. I was both mentally and physically exhausted to the point where I couldn’t even withstand the mental strain of using ‘Potato God’s Hand’, much less use it to defeat them. If Cherry, with her super strong telekinesis had wound up in that state, it probably wouldn’t be easy for me to take them down. I’d already fought one of the three, and barely managed to come out of it alive.

“Hey. Are you listening? You’ve got a very important decision to make.”

The wooden lock, which I was still trying to fit the key through, cracked before turning solid. The key snapped in two.

All Lando had done was snap his fingers.

“It’s quite rude to be fiddling around when someone’s talking to you, don’t you think?”

‘What… do you want?’ I asked again, defeated. I was having trouble staying awake.

“Like I said, I’m in a good mood and you’ve proven yourself worthy by killing Elric that I’m willing to give you a choice.”

‘Which is?’

“You can choose to save one of them. Those friends of your over there, including the ones in the other cell, or this cute pink potato.”

‘W-what?’ Out of all the things I was expecting him to say, this was not one of them.

“I told you. Choose one to save. I’ll send them out of here without a scratch.” He snapped his fingers again, and the bars of the cell slid away. “It’s your choice. Your friends, or your daughter.”

‘But why would you do that? What do you get out of it?’ This had to be some kind of trick. ‘What’s the catch?’

“I told you. You pleased me today. Since you were strong enough to defeat Elric, you deserve a reward. There is no catch. Except the other party- and you- have to stay with me. Whether or not I kill you and them is another question. Now choose, kid, before I change my mind.”

I gritted my teeth and looked away. Even though I was ready to pass out, I forced myself to think. What should I do? No one other than Cherry had instant death awaiting for them. If I chose to save her, I’d somehow break the others out and-

No. Who was I kidding? I was much, much stronger than when I started this journey, but still not strong enough to save them all. If I chose that route, there would definitely be casualties.

Lando had already demonstrated his powers just now. Like Elric, he had full control of his element. And right now, his element surrounded us on every side.

The logical choice was to save the Haven guild. But Cherry… she surely wouldn’t survive the explosion, even being able to regenerate.

‘Don’t worry about me, papa.’ Cherry whispered weakly. ‘I’ll be fine.’

I wanted to reassure her that she would, but just couldn’t bring myself to promise her that.

After cursing a few more times, I turned back to Lando. ‘Let my friends go.’

He seemed mildly surprised. “I thought a father would do anything for his daughter. But oh well, it’s up to you.”

He gestured for them to leave.

Tentatively, Fern stepped out of the cell and into the hallway.

[You have completed the quest {Free The Haven Guild}.]

[You have ranked up!]

[Your new title is The Hero (Stage 1)]

[You have unlocked the skill O.C.C.]

[Your skills have all been removed from cooldown.]

I instantly felt more alert than ever. My fatigue had dissipated along with the cooldown reset. Damn, the debuff was strong.

‘Wait.’ I said, just before Raul, carrying Edith on his back, disappeared down the corridor.

“What now?” Lando yawned and tapped his foot irritably. “Didn’t I tell you that you and the other potato can’t go with them?”

‘Yes. I just want to see them out.’ I replied confidently. ‘Who knows if you’ll keep your promise?’

He squinted at me and frowned. “Boy, don’t push your luck. I gave you the choice. I could take it away at any time.” Regardless, he still gave in. “Whatever. Just so you know, if you try to run away, there’ll be consequences. Consequences that go boom.”

‘I won’t run away.’

I wasn’t lying.

I’d already made up my mind that I wouldn’t be leaving this place until everyone was dead.

By the time we left the tunnel, the sun had set completely. It was now well and truly night. Lando had brought us to the centre of the camp, where we met up with Kearan, Winter, Mox, Verity and Rarq. Kearan, thankfully, had a little more colour in his cheeks. He was still sweating profusely and coughing, but at the very least, his condition had improved. Not one spoke a word to me. Half of them were so weak that they could barely stand on their own feet.

This was not the Haven guild I knew.

But it was still the Haven guild that had taken me in.

“So? You guys just going to stand around like a bunch of idiots?” Lando barked and signalled to the guards. “Take them to the edge of the camp and free them.”

Winter gave me a worried look and mouthed; ‘What’s going on?’

‘They’re letting you guys go.’ I said shortly. I didn’t trust myself to say anymore. For the first time, I was glad I didn’t have facial expressions so I couldn’t cry.

As Mox came close to me, I whispered in his head; ‘Go east. It's where the clearing from before is.’

Just before the guard shoved him along, he gave the slightest of nods and whispered back. “Thank you, my lord, Winston June, Baron of Agridia.”

Before I could ask how he knew who I was, he was already out of reach.

“What a sad, sad goodbye.” Darren mocked, speaking for the first time. “But now I have two pets to play with!”

Lando nodded, then shook his head. “Well, if you want him, you’re going to have to claim him for your own.” He bent down and whispered in Darren’s ear, just loud enough for me to overhear. “I don’t think he’s going to become yours without a fight.”

Well, well, well. It looked like Lando also wanted a fight.

He looked down at me and smiled again. “Don’t worry, I won’t get in your way. Your daughter won’t die either. Yet.” With that, he tossed me a good few metres opposite Darren, into the dirt.

Darren took out a brown bag and held it under his nose for a moment. When he looked back up, the bloodshot eyes told me everything I needed to know.

That this fucker was a-ok to kill.

I wouldn’t drag this out like with Elric.

‘Potato body. Hull. Mutation.’

Splurch. Crack. Squish.

Instead of my potato body mutating, this time, it was my human form. The root armour transformed along with it too.

This was my ultimate combination of skills.

Claws began to grow from my fingertips, as long and sharp as a bear’s. My teeth had begun to grow as well. They were sharper, longer, and would easily be able to tear off human flesh. My muscles bulged to the point you may even call disfigured. They were all suited best for speed and power. A short, furry tail had sprouted behind me and a pair of cat-like ears on my head. The root armour that covered my body melded with a hard, scale larke material, increasing protection while maintaining maneuverability. Two new skills became available to me.

[You have mutated.]

[Temporary skills have been unlocked. {Hunting Instinct} and {Bloodlust}.]

[Time left until {Mutation} concludes: 20:00.]

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Hunting Instinct

Lvl: N/A

Category: Temporary

Type: Passive

A skill that allows your body to move on its own. Its actions will be fueled by your desire to kill something or someone, or when you are in danger.

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Bloodlust

Lvl: N/A

Category: Temporary

Type: Passive

Debuff: Mental strain

When your desire to kill surpasses a certain level, your physical strength and xera capacity will greatly increase with your desire. However, your sanity will decrease proportionately. This can cause painful headaches. Since this skill is paired to {Hunting Instinct}, you may lose complete control over your body if your bloodlust is too high.

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As soon as the notifications appeared, my body flew into action. Feet dug deep into the ground, I bounded forward on all fours, clearing the measly few metres Lando had put between us in a fraction of a second before delivering a devastating punch straight into Darren’s face.

He didn’t stand a chance against my animal instincts.

His body flew like a ragdoll, crashing through two huts before coming to a stop in a bloody disfigured red mess. There was no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t dead. That made him the second person I’d killed today. But it wouldn’t be the last.

I turned my gaze onto Lando, who had formed a wooden armchair and was now casually lounging in it.

When he noticed me watching him, he waved and pointed to something behind me. “Darren left behind a present for you!”

I spun around, only to come face to face with a purple rat. A raggle.

As easy as swatting away a fly, I wrenched it off my face and crushed it in my hand. A dozen more lay ahead of me, accompanied by an extremely large one behind them, close to fiftuple their size.

“That’s Darren’s special skill!” Lando called cheerfully from where he sat. I didn’t know where it came from, but he sipped a cup of… was that tea?

Now even more infuriated, I slashed and crushed a couple more of the monsters. I’d killed ten in the span of ten seconds, whereas earlier today I’d struggled just to complete my quota of fifteen.

But when I looked back, more had already taken their place.

Once again, I tore the creatures apart with my bare hands, claws and teeth without a break, flinging their shredded body parts all over the place.

Yet they never stopped spawning

Wave after wave after wave after wave after wave.

They spawned and spawned and spawned.

Soon enough, even my hardened root and scale armour melted a little due to the blood and acid that covered my body. I couldn’t keep this up.

The longer this went on, the more ‘Hunting Instinct’ took over my mind. It was filled with rage, rage and even more rage.

“Hey! Potato! What’s your name?” Lando asked.

“Why?” I growled, stomping on a raggle.

“If you tell me, I’ll give a little hint.” He smiled and sipped his tea once more.

I didn’t want to tell him. I really didn’t want to give him what he wanted. But this never ending wave was not something I could keep on fighting.

“June. My name is June.”

He smiled wickedly and put down the cup. “Very good. Looks like you’re more obedient than you thought you were, eh?”

‘Don’t push me.’ I thought to myself, desperately trying to keep my hunting instincts in check.

“Kill the queen to stop the summoning.”

That was all I needed to hear.

With a roar, I bounded over the wave of raggles, crushing them. It was a shame another quest hadn’t appeared. I’d probably killed close to a hundred of those creatures by now. I reached the queen raggle in a matter of seconds. She was similar to a normal raggle, except for a black stretch of fur around her neck.

She turned around, looked me dead in the eye, opened her mouth, and screamed.

A piercing sound filled the air, so loud and powerful that it literally pushed me back. I clutched my ears in pain, but it didn’t seem to help.

“God’s… hand.” I whispered, and slammed a fist onto her back.

Splat.

The sound stopped. But a ringing still echoed in my head. I felt tired. Dizzy. Angry. The swirl of emotions and feelings made it hard for me to think.

“Cherry…” I whispered slowly as the world began to spin. “I need to save Cherry.”

Splash!

Icy cold water covered my face, snapping me out of my broken state immediately.

“Hey, hey. Don’t go dying on me yet. I still need you.”

A splitting headache still remained, pounding rhythmically like a heartbeat. It made it incredibly hard for me to think, so I latched on to just one thing and one thing only. Cherry.

I bolted upright and slashed at Lando’s sneering face.

He moved backwards, but didn’t manage to completely evade the attack. Five claw wounds opened on his forearm, which he had used to block the slash. Blood dribbled slowly down from them, staining the dirt pathway. A distasteful expression covered his face, accompanied by a hint of anger.

He snapped his fingers.

The nearest two huts creaked and quite literally broke down, reforming into an elastic wooden beam. They shot out and snagged my limbs, suspending me in the air like they’d done to Winter. Even with my incredible strength, I couldn’t break out of them.

“I think I’ve been lenient enough with you.” Lando’s eyes narrowed and he curled his hand into a fist.

The wood tightened around my arms and legs and pulled even further.

“You feel pain, right? ‘Cause this is going to hurt.”

As I felt the ligaments that held my joints together tear, I watched a thin section of wood wind around Darren’s limp body. At first, I thought he was going to bury him, but no. The wood brought the body to Lando, who simply unclasped Darren’s hand to take out Cherry.

“Hey! What are you-” I tried to speak, but a piece of wood clamped around my mouth.

He dangled Cherry in front of my face and blew me a raspberry.

“Oh, you want her?” Suddenly, his eyes widened in delight as he cocked his head sideways.

“Well too bad. You pissed off the wrong guy.”

‘Papa, what’s happening? Save me, papa. Please! I don’t want to die-’

With a flick of his arm, Cherry went flying backwards.

Flying, flying, flying…

Boom.