Clive hated his life, and he hated duke Drake even more. He had never met him, nor he had even seen him before, but he hated him. He hated the whole Drake dukedom and his neighbor Troy. Fortunately, a white mist had poured inside Troy a few days ago, and he had lost his mind. People in the fortress threw him in a dungeon, since he become aggressive. Clive knew some people sheltered diseased people, hoping to cure them back. Fortunately, that stupid Troy had been unlucky.

Unfortunately, Clive wasn’t now in the Drake’s fortress, but in the forest. He was going to die.

A few weeks ago, the disease had spread, and many people had died. Frontier sections fell, Clive’s family tried to escape to the Drake’s stronghold, but they didn’t manage to. Clive’s parents died to roaming sick people, while only Clive and his sister Lucy got there. They didn’t find a safe haven. The fortress was packed full with people. At first, they were given food, but it soon changed. His sister was taken by the Drake family.

Everybody knew about Drakes. They pursued generalist classes, they often were a dozen of meters tall, and some of them were even bigger. Males in the family often had many mistresses, impregnating them in a hope of siring an offspring with their class. Luck was pretty, and they had taken her. She should get food, but beside that, her life wasn’t going to be fun. Clive had never felt so helpless before.

Soon after, there was no more food, while disease reached inside the fortress. Some people ate sick people, and most of them also fell sick. It was a nightmare. Then, a few days ago, someone from the Drake family had told them there was no more food, though Clive suspected there was no more food for them. Drakes could probably swim in food.

Clive and many others had been sent out of the fortress, being told to hunt their own meal. Clive was 13, and was lv. 6 Field Worker. The people with him had had similar classes, though most had had higher level. Most of them were dead now.

Clive had hoped to grind levels and rescue his sister, to become a great warrior, to have a full stomach. A gaggle of geese had destroyed all his dreams, massacring people with him. They had thought it would be an easy target, but there were two 3rd tier birds. He had escaped with a bunch of others, but a weasel killed a girl, and the group had separated, everyone had escaped in a different direction.

Now, Clive was limping and marked by a rat. Clive hated himself. He thought it may be better to die. The rat was too small and weak to kill Clive in one swoop, nibbling on his legs from time to time. Clive tried to hit it with a branch in his hands, but the rat was too fast, or maybe he was just too unskilled with weapons. He had never fought before.

‘It’s coming,’ Clive spotted his enemy with a corner of his eye. He pretended he didn’t see it, and prepared to strike. ‘Now.’ He swung his branch, and luckily hit the rat. The rat squeaked, its leg hurt. Clive didn’t stop, he poured all his frustration in strikes. The rat tried to escape, but its bones were broken, and the rat soon became crushed into an unsightly paste of blood, dirt, internal organs and fur.

Ding… You have killed lv. 6 Rat

Clive fell on the ground. He would be hungry still. He just wanted to die. Tears streamed down his face. He heard a sound, and looked up.

A pretty big boar was strolling in his direction. ‘It’s over,’ he thought. Clive was surprised he was unwilling to die. Now, just as his death was around the corner, he wanted to live. He mustered his strength, and tried to stand up and escape, but the boar dashed at him. Clive felt pain from his legs, and the world turned upside down.

The boar hit him again with its tusks, this time aiming at Clive’s torso. He tried to block with his hands, and they broke. Clive was unwilling. It was always the same, he felt so helpless. “Fuck the Drakes.” The boar hit him again, breaking his ribs. Clive just wept in the pain and helplessness.

A flash of red. The boar fell to the ground. “Hey. Are you still alive?” A young man asked him. Clive tried to respond to the fur clad warrior, but only blood gushed from his lips.

“Let me see.” The man crouched before him and placed an arm on Clive’s chest. He felt an itching in his chest, and his body felt even weaker. He lost consciousness.

Clive woke up. He expected to be dying, but nothing hurt him. He just felt a bit weak. The first he saw, was that he was surrounded by people. They weren’t farmers.

“Are you awake?” A girl a year or two older than him asked. He immediately felt self-conscious, and a bit ashamed of his pitiful state.

“Yeah. Where I am?” Clive asked. This place was some sort of a camp, but they were in the forest. How could someone live in the exterior?

“Don’t worry. You are safe now. You were badly hurt when Hugo brought you here, but Wayne, our best mage, healed you up. I’m Linzi, by the way.”

“My name is Clive.” He responded, still a bit dazed.

“Warriors and mages, hear me!” Someone shouted loudly. Too loudly. Clive suspected magic. He looked over and spotted a very old man, dressed richly.

“Humanity needs us NOW! We might have made mistakes in the past, but this is the time to unite against a common threat!” The old man continued.

Linzi frowned. “That old idiot. He should just shut up.” The man continued. “Do you want to live as cowards?! This is an opportunity for all of you!”

“How is he?” A young man came over, he was in his twenties. Clive recognized him as Hugo, the man who had saved him.

“Fine. Wayne healed him, so there are no problems.” Linzi replied.

Hugo frowned while looking at the preaching old man. “This old geezer is so irritating.” He thought for a second, and said with a smile. “Linzi, watch me now.” He said and winked at her. She blushed.

Hugo went to the old man.

“That idiot. Always behaving like that, even though he is too old for me…” Linzi complained. Clive instantly raised from an abyss to the clouds.

“Are you just going to stay here?” The old man continued.

“What would we have out of it?” Someone asked. Clive noticed most of the people here were males. Actually, there was a group of females in a corner of the camp, but they looked dirty and miserable. They didn’t seem the part of the main group.

“Rewards! Glory! Nobility! Pardon! For heroes, everything is possible.” The old man was speaking enthusiastically.

“I agree!” Hugo shouted. “I want to join you in your quest! I want the be a hero, and live in a castle or a city. Please, let me join you. I will help you convince the rest!” Hugo also shouted loudly, so everyone could hear him.

Linzi rolled her eyes, listening to Hugo’s speech. “Who is that old man?” Clive asked.

“Him? It’s an old Count. He is the strongest in our group.” Linzi explained.

‘Count? A noble?’ Clive only knew about the Drakes, but he instantly disliked that old man.

Hugo stopped behind the old count and shouted. “People! Do you want to live like now forever?”

Many frowned. “No, but what?”

“It’s the time for a change! This man is right! We can’t be just a cannon fodder any longer!” Hugo took his spear and raised it to the sky. Most people didn’t care about count’s speech, but they listened now. The Count looked pleased with the change.

“Hugo is kind of our leader.” Linzi commented. “He had united most of us and created stability within the group.”

“Is the Count from the Drakes?” Clive asked curious.

“No. His surname is Greene.” Linzi answered. Hugo continued.

“Now in the time for change! Black Guard, join me!” Hugo shouted and threw his spear before him. The Greene count was completely surprised , and tried to dodge, but he was too slow. The spear priced his neck.

“Shit! He is going to sacrifice!” Someone shouted and a dozen of spears flew at Greene count. Hugo jerked the spear back, and attacked again. “You old shit! Did you really think we are going to be altruistic heroes? We are here for the reasons!” He pierced the old Count a few more times. Spells flew at the old man.

“Villains to the end!” The old count shouted through his healed throat. “Die!” Fire exploded from the count body, swallowing everyone nearby.

“Shit!” Linzi shouted and threw herself at Clive, pushing them both to the ground.

Ding… You have participated in killing of lv. 145 Arch mage of Fire and Air

Ding… LEVEL UP! You have reached lv. 7

The fire ceased to be, leaving a bit scorched Hugo above the count’s body. His spear was in count’s head.

“You fucking idiot! He had 5th tier class!” Someone shouted at Hugo.

“And we finally got rid of the idiot, leaving everyone with a level!” Hugo argued.

“Whatever. We can at least pound those girls without worry now.” A middle aged man went to the place with miserable girls, grabbed one and threw her on the ground, while she screamed. The man ripped her clothes apart and fucked her violently. Nobody interfered.

“This…” Clive was taken aback. He liked it when Linzi lay on him for a while, but he was afraid now. Normal people weren’t doing things like that.

Linzi frowned. “I also don’t approve, if you want to know. Have you ever heard about the Black Guard?” Linzi asked.

Clive shook his head.

“We are a bunch of criminals. I had been stealing. I even have a specialized class.” She said with a bit of pride in her voice. “Unfortunately, they caught me one day. I was sent here after that. Hugo saved me from dying to a random monster.” She said. “I had never seen a monster before at that time.” She quickly clarified.

The man raping the girl finished, and left the weeping girl behind. “Those girls are actually lucky. Most of the countryside around the Drake’s fortress is deserted. We are giving them food and safety.” She sighed. “I don’t approve, but we are on our own, and we also need people like that guy.” She pointed in the rapist’s direction. “Most people here aren’t like that.” She continued. Clive knew subconsciously that Linzi was spewing excuses.

“We don’t care much about others. We are selfish, but we are sticking together. Mostly. Because of Hugo. Our motto is to take whatever we need, though some people take it to the extreme. I mean, they could make a deal with these girls. Safety for sex. Most would have agreed. That would be better, I think.” Clive could see she was troubled, and looked for excuses.

“So, what do you think? What do join us?” She asked out of the blue.

Hugo, Wayne and Beatrix, the three 4th tiers of the group sat together.

“Why did you save that boy?” Wayne asked. “He is worthless.”

“I will explain in a while. ” Hugo said with a smile. “What do you two think we should do now?”

Beatrix shrugged. “I don’t know. Since we have completely disregarded the imperial court, they will kill us on sight. We should enjoy our lives in the meantime. I propose to add boys to our slaves, and maybe more drugs.”

Wayne frowned. “This is exactly like you.”

“Actually, I’m planning to abolish that system. Linzi proposed forced prostitution for those women. It should be better. An illusion of choose is better than being forced.” Hugo said. “Actually, we need to decide something. We are the strongest in the group, and I think we all are reasonable.” Hugo said. Some previous members of the Black Guard weren’t.

“Reasonable? You know why she is here.” Wayne pointed at Beatrix. Hugo naturally knew. She was an alchemist, but she hadn’t produced potions useful in a fight, but pills and potions clouding the mind and bringing ecstasy to the body. This wasn’t the reason she had been sent here, though. One day, Beatrix had set her eyes on a handsome noble boy. Apparently, he had had a big cock and had been very energetic.

At first. After four hours, the boy hadn’t been able to continue anymore. Beatrix had used life magic and she had controlled his blood to forcibly make him erect.

“Come on! I told you multiple times already that I wasn’t a good mage at that time. It was an accident!” She defended herself. “I just… lost control for a second.” She said playfully.

“His dick literally exploded.” Hugo said. After she had told the group her story, most members had joked about it for weeks. The story was a bit ridiculous. Apparently, she was drugged at that time, and didn’t notice, misjudging man’s screams for moans. The boy barely survived, and his family started an investigation, as they had to spent a fortune for them to repair his instrument. The investigation revealed her products, which was the reason she had been sent here.

“Accident. Don’t remind me anymore!” She pouted. “Aren’t you also here because of an accident?” She jabbed Wayne. Wayne had beaten up one guy, who had offended him. He had been too eager, though. The guy had died.

“Anyway, the present situation.” Hugo redirected the conversation.

“We could use the current chaos to raid counts’ fortresses.” Wayne proposed. “We will need a good plan. All those artifacts and magic tools should be worth it, though.” Wayne didn’t think about attacking cities, or dukes. Those placed were prepared and enchanted to resist an 8th tier monster.

They didn’t think about the humanity, or rather, they were sure humanity would survive no matter what. Humans had survived the dark era and cold times. Most people in the Black Guard thought that it was the best to take care of themselves. Humanity would manage. This was the reason they were here in the first place.

Hugo took out a map.

Wayne frowned. “Beside landscape and borders, this map had only places with 8th tier defenses. Capital and two biggest cities beneath the Kenar Mountains, six fortresses belonging to dukes and the old fortress of the Breaker family.” Wayne counted.

“That’s right.” Hugo said with a smile.

“Join you?” Clive didn’t know what to think. He wanted to belong, but he had rather mixed feelings about the Black Guard.

“That’s right. We could be friends!” Linzi said with a smile.

“I…” He wanted to agree, but… “I have to save my sister.”

“Can you explain?” She asked.

“She is in the Drake’s fortress. Someone from Drakes wanted her for breeding.” He said with anger.

She smiled. “We will help her. Actually, if you join us, you will both have food, and you can become a powerful warrior, maybe a noble.” Clive didn’t know what to think. Was it really possible just like that? “Really?” He asked.

She nodded with a smile. “You just have to help us a bit.” She added.

“Do you know why Drakes’ fortress is in a such awkward place?” Hugo asked.

“I know.” Wayne said. “They didn’t want to abandon their fortress the last time frontier moved.”

“Right. That’s because their fortress is too big. Some of them are dozens of meters tall, so they need big rooms, big corridors and so on. As the result, they didn’t have resources to rebuild a similar fortress in a different place. Also, their fortress is the biggest of the kind. Only Capital, Heston and Chiston are bigger. Some cities are of similar size, but they don’t have as strong defenses.

Wayne sighed. “So what?”

“Let’s take Drakes’ fortress.” Hugo said boldly.

“Are you stupid? Do you control an 8th tier?” Wayne joked. “It’s impossible for us.”

“Yes. It’s impossible to take it forcefully.”

“Infiltration?” Clive asked.

“That’s right. We want to get rid of the Drake family and take the fortress.” Linzi boldly admitted. “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to get inside. They know our faces.”

“The one who controls the main spell, control fortress. I know a few things about their core room. It’s very defensible. The boy would need to assassinate 4th tier controlling the fortress’ enchantments, and hold for a minute or two, until we reach the control room. After that, the fortress is ours.” Hugo said.

“How do you expect the boy to kill a 4th tier?” Wayne asked about the biggest problem.

“It’s not a problem to power him up to the 3rd tier, and make him learn some magic to control spell formations. Just give me a month.” Hugo said. They all knew it wasn’t impossible to assassinate someone stronger, relying on trust or surprise. Hugo had killed a count a few moments ago.

“A count could be there. Drakes have two counts.” Wayne pointed out.

“I doubt that a count would be sitting and maintaining the control room.”

“Do we really should take the fortress?” Beatrix said. She was staying silent until that moment. “You should all know why they expelled all those people recently. They are lacking food.”

“Drakes are gigantic, so they also need to eat a lot. They should have big reserves, enough for the transition period. Anyway, I want it to be a long term solution for us. Colonels recently retreaded to the line between Northern Lakes and the Green Lake. They have the frontier line imperial court erected ten years ago. You know, they thought Drakes would give up. Colonels retreated at the first sign of trouble.”

“What about people in the fortress?” Beatrix asked.

“A purge. We need to kill all giants. We can leave Drakes with normal bodies. As for the rest, we can recruit, but most of the farmers have to die. We can maintain a small town, and rebuild rooms by adding partition walls, but.” He stopped for a moment. “We will be only able to rely on hunting. Most of people in the fortress have to be hunters. Also, we need to purge ourselves as well.” Hugo said something that startled both his associates.

“We need everyone for the assault, but guys like Stan, who only want to rape women, have to go.”

Suddenly, everyone straightened up as an unpleasant sound spread through the camp.

Clive was lost. It was too much for him. The alarm stopped his thoughts. Linzi grabbed his hand and dragged him. “Quick, the elementals!” She said with a serious face. Clive immediately sobered up. Everyone jumped into a large circle, which had lines and symbols everywhere. Clive understood it was some kind of a spell. Hugo with two others ran out from one of the crudely erected earthen houses, and joined the rest in the circle.

Even poor women came here. They shivered and were visibly afraid of people here, but sick people slowly walking out of the forest were probably more scary.

Someone send a projectile, and blown up a sick person’s head. White mist raised up and flew to possess someone in the circle. Someone cast a fire elemental barrier. Clive didn’t know what exactly was happening, but they were surrounded by fire.

“We are killing them all. Someone has to. This circle is a powerful life ward, while fire barrier should destroy their physical bodies.” Hugo explained. Someone was sending stones with magic through the fire barrier, probably to destroy bodies of the infected.

“One down. I got the notification.” Wayne boasted.

“Why didn’t I get one?” Clive murmured to himself. He got one from the Greene count.

“Life elementals have too few levels. You need two conditions to get the notification of participation. First, you need a hostile relation. The Count probably thought you a part of our group. Second, there’s a need to be enough of the essence. The count had so much essence it was enough for everyone.” Linzi answered without a request.

Clive got his answers now, and it wasn’t only about the rules of the world. People in the fortress wanted him dead. Here, he felt he belonged a bit. People were helpful, or at least Linzi was. He wanted to help them in return. Maybe he just wanted to help her, though.

“I will do it. I will help you.” Clive said decisively. “I also hate Drakes.”

Linzi smiled, and Hugo nodded. ‘I wouldn’t have rescued you otherwise,’ he thought.