Chapter 14: The Beast's den.

The night was over as soon as it began, all the lower rung Gary's were assigned night watch duty while the upper Gary’s were allowed an uninterrupted rest, part of the perks of being an older Gary.

Luckily the night was quiet so the patrol Gary's still had a lot of energy for the upcoming battle. After a good night's rest (as much that one could get from the cold ground) the Gary's started to rise, The Chef Gary's made a hearty breakfast with the small rabbits that the patrol managed to catch early in the morning.

“Ah man, this Isekai life is pretty hard, I didn't think I would be some dirt soldier” Gary soldier number 43 mumbled under his breath.

“You can’t say that.” The Gary that sat next to him said while eating his hare soup, not sparing a second to look at him.

“Pfft come on, cut me some slack. I was only [cloned] yesterday, the next thing I knew I’m marching to my death.” Gary 43 continued to complain.

The Soup Gary replied. “We’re all in this together, every Gary even the Original. You’re not alone.”

“Don't spout nonsense, what do you know? We’re all cannon fodder while the “Original Gary” sits on his arse and-”

“WATCH YOUR WORDS SOLDIER” The soup man said firmly and has stopped eating, now looking directly at the rebellious Gary. The rambunctious crowd ceased, everygary was watching the show.

“W-wait you’re The G-General!” The Gary Solder 43 stutterd out.

“Yes I am, I’ll ignore your disrespect towards me, But I won’t tolerate anything about our Leader. I understand that this isn't Earth anymore boy, this isn't what you signed up for.” General Gary breathed in, creating a tension in the air while the pause lingered.

“But this is your life, If you really want to you can get up and walk away from all of this.” General Gary said, Putting more authority into his voice.

The soldier kept his mouth shut and looked at the food in front of him, not daring to meet the General's eyes. The General stood up and gazed around, addressing the whole group that was eating.

“ Good sleep and good food are key ingredients for a battle as momma Gary always used to say. So eat well everyone, we have a battle to win.” Grabbing his crudely made wooden bowl to take it to the staff, leaving the soldiers with their thoughts.

***

The general's words were the hottest gossip as they continued to eat breakfast, General Gary had unknowingly used his [Bolster Morale] skill earlier. The effect reignited the flame that Original Gary had set yesterday.

Once everyone was fed and ready the Gary army was on the move again! The beasts’ lair drew near and their blood thirst increased with each step.

“Wow General, that skill of yours is amazing! The soldiers are eager to fight like common goblins, and what you did to that one Gary earlier..ha ha!”.(Gunter)

“ Thanks Gunter, but it’s nothing compared to the charm of OG’s speech” (General Gary)

“ Indeed! Though I still would love to examine that skill of yours, perhaps it might aid my research in [Mind magic]? ” (Gunter)

“ Oh…I don’t think that’s going to work. My skill only guides them -” (General Gary)

“ No , no! Your skill is not that weak! Do not underestimate it’s potential power for mind control” (Gunter)

“Ahh …I did not think like that. Is my skill… really that dangerous?” (General Gary)

When the chatting was finished, the army had finally reached their destination.

“This is the place. I tracked the beast here. Did not enter the cave, onwards we’re blind” ( Scout 3)

The sight before them was a large cave naturally carved into the side of the mountain, formed from years of erosion or perhaps a stray magic spell,I don't know. The world of OLOP is mysterious in its mysteries.

The mountain itself stretched wide in both directions and the summit cannot be seen from ground level. They Gary's had never seen such a large amount of rock before.

“Okay , scout 1, 2 I want you to follow the mountain's edge and look for other orifices. This might not be the only way in or out for the beast, I don’t want to be pecked in the back later on.” (General Gary)

“ I suggest we send in a ‘volunteer’ to further penetrate the entrance, information is crucial on the battlefield and a Gary or two is a sufficient price to attain it” ( Gunter)

“ Ah but we might lose our surprise advantage!” ( Gorden)

“ I’ll do it , I’ll make a clone that’ll have the skills to hide or at least die without compromising the plan” (Scout 1)

“Pfft I’ll do it, I won't die.” (Scout 2)

“No, I’ll do it.” ( Scout 3)

“ Thanks for the offer everyone. Scout 3 has been leading the army here. Having him create a clone and taking a rest from the battle is the wisest choice. Scout 3, if you don’t mind?” General Gary gestured towards the quiet one of the bunch.

Scout 3 nodded and activated his skill, after five minutes and a poof of smoke there was now a cloned scout 3, who was half as strong as him due to the cost of the skill, but 100% as handsome.

Scout 3 only gave him a cloak to hide his pink flesh easier, as anything more would be a waste on a disposable scout.

Scout 3 nodded to the fresh boy and the clone ran off into the cave to do his job.

20 minutes later scout 3 was struck with the memories of his clone.

“He’s dead?” General Gary questioned after seeing a scout 3 went into a daze.

After a second Scout 3 nodded

“Sigh, another brother lost. We thank him for his sacrifice

…..

Should we send in another one?” (General Gary)

Scout 3 shook his head “ No, he did his job”. Scout 3 looked General Gary in the eye and said.

“ I know the layout inside.”

***

The top army Gary's gathered around a crude portable table inside a tent. A sheet of parchment made from some unknown Gary was flattened out.

Scout 3 was drawing a map of the cave based on the memory of his deceased clone.

“ I see! so there's two side tunnels that curve around that could be used for flanking, and the middle path is straight towards the beast's den. Should we be aware of any environmental hazards? “ General Gary asked Scout 3.

Scout 3 shook his head “ Large empty cave made of solid rock, potential cave ins should be minor” Scout 3 eyed Fire Gary

“What are you looking at me for?!” Fire Gary made an exasperated expression.

General Gary scratched his chin thinking.

“Hmm, we know of three tunnels that the beast could escape from , we will have to split our force unfortunately.”

“No we shouldn't split, did you see what happened last time our people attacked it. If we go in small numbers we won't have enough manpower” (Gorden)

“Don't worry about the side tunnels, My team can handle that” Gunter said with a mischievous smile.

General Gary was suspicious of that smile, but he knew that Gunter was still a Gary and wouldn't compromise the mission.

“Okay, if that's covered then we can figure out the ideal strategy. The shield Gary's need to block the entrance enough to prevent the beast from just running past and escaping. But we also need a sufficient amount of them to protect the fire mages.” (General Gary)

“The fire mages will be dealing damage over time, So Gordon's team will be filling in the role of drawing the attention of the beast off the mages.” (General Gary)

“Are we spreading out the mages to hit all angles or grouping together for maximized impact”? Gordon asked

“All together of course , one shot from us and the beast’s dead!” Fire mage said at a non inside volume.

“ The same applies for you, the beast needs only one shot and all the eggs in the basket are broken” Gordon replied

“I’m the egg in this scenario right?” Fire Gary asked

“ Relying on one shot from one direction is not as reliable as attacks from multiple directions, if they are split the unpredictability will be our advantage” (Gunter)

“ It also helps not having to heard the beast into a timed attack, the less time worrying about the timing, the more time we have to do our jobs” Gordon replied.

“ Okay okay, we will split up the Fire mages. Do we have enough shields for all 6?” asked General Gary.

“Hmm not for all 6 AND to also block the entrance, if we have 5 shields protecting 2 mages each, yes we can spare 15.” Replied The Gary in charge of the Shields.

“Great then here's the plan of attack” General Gary started laying out his plan to the others, the hour came and went and all the Garys exited the tent with smiles. The scouts were not back but General Gary wasn't surprised, the mountain was large after all. It could take days for them or even weeks to fully search the area.

He shook his head of useless thoughts and went to the designated area to wait for his fellow Garys to round up the army.

It was time to pay back the beast.