Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 14 - Height of ambition - Part Two {Rewrite}

“Are you alright?” Hana asked a little awkwardly after catching up to me.

I shrugged and shook my head with a soft snort, “I honestly don’t know,” I admitted, “I know they are heading into danger, but a part of me is disappointed at being left behind.”

Hana nodded but said nothing.

“I guess I am just worried about them. The swamp is no joke and I honestly doubt the river and just about anywhere on this floor of Labyrinth is much better.” I felt like things were spiralling out of control, which was crazy considering how I had been just about ready to give the go ahead on some insane monster cull competition less than an hour ago. “I guess I am just worried that something will happen to them,” I explained dourly.

Hana nodded again but was giving me a strange look, “Why don’t you hate them?” she asked bluntly. “They Enslaved you and made you serve them against your will. So, why?”

I was quiet for a while as I remembered the events before and after my arrival in the Labyrinth. “I have had some time to think about it, and honestly, the more I learn about the Labyrinth, the more convinced I am that they saved my life. They weren’t exaggerating when they pointed out my hang-ups involving violence. If a pack of Orcs had found me first, I would have been dead or gone crazy.”

Glancing at me dubiously, Hana elected to stay silent.

“You don’t believe me?” I guessed.

“Well...” Hana shrugged apologetically and determinedly kept her eyes fixed ahead of us. “Mother...She told us once, that when she first arrived in the Labyrinth, a group of humans attacked her. She tried begging them to just let her go, but they refused, even laughed at her.” Hana’s eyes lowered slightly and she shrugged, “So Mother killed them and that was the end of it.”

“I couldn’t do something like that,” I shook my head and tried to ignore the minor slip I had made.

Judging by the look in Hana’s eyes, I could tell she had noticed, “Couldn’t, not can’t?”

I let out a deep sigh and stopped walking, “I have people I want to protect. People who depend on me, Even though I don’t want to...I would kill to keep them safe from those who mean them harm.” It was a testament to the Labyrinth’s conditioning. Death was everywhere and I couldn’t just shift the responsibility to others anymore.

I was a civilised man living in uncivilised lands. But worse than that, there was precious little I could do about it. The best I could do was establish a sanctuary and hope that I would be strong enough to hold it together.

No.

I was going to have to work for it. No more sitting back and waiting. If I just kept reacting, then I was doomed to failure. I had to be more proactive. I needed to become stronger so I could support my ideals with strength and conviction, not just words and sentiment. If I wanted to keep the people I cared for safe, I was going to have to get my hands bloody.

As if on cue, a crimson Status Alert popped up in front of my eyes.

[Conditions for identifying {Key of Awakening (???)} have been met.]

[{Key of Awakening (???)} Quest Available. Accept? (Y/N).]

“Accept,” I barely hesitated. It was time to begin taking control of my life.

[Mandatory Quest: Conquest! {Active}]

[Conquest! {Stage 1}: Kill 1000 monsters within 10 Days. {Success} will earn a reward appropriate to your effort and unlock the next stage of the quest. {Failure} will terminate the quest and destroy {Key of Awakening (???). Good luck!]

A thousand monsters seemed like a lot, but it hadn’t required that I kill them all myself either. It also hadn’t required a baseline of strength for the monsters.

“What is going on?” Hana asked warily.

“I just accepted a quest,” I explained while forming the plan in my mind. Effort could mean a number of things. The difficulty of the monsters, how much I contributed personally, or even how quickly the quest was completed. There would be other interpretations as well, so I decided that getting to the next step of the quest sooner was an acceptable idea anyway, since the reward was unspecified.

“Issue limited quest. Kill one-thousand wild monsters. Exp reward goes to the top five contributors.” I didn’t exactly know why, but I felt like this was the way the quest was meant to be done.

It only took a few minutes for the others to find me and begin asking questions. So I explained the situation to them as best I could. Within the hour, the competition was back on and I could see solid progress being made on both the quest I had issued and the quest I had accepted. However, I still felt like it would be a good idea to make sure I earned at least some of the kills myself, so after adding Hana, since the expeditionary group was gunning for the reward collectively, I left the Settlement and headed into the swamp.

Even though there were only about twenty to thirty participants, Asra and Toofy’s strategy had turned the surrounding swampland into a warzone. There were seven different copies of Gric barrelling around the area and recklessly throwing themselves into brutal confrontations with wild monsters. Even though they were certainly weaker than the original, Gric’s copies were ruthless and supported by a veritable swarm of the still child-sized Daemonlings.

Watching Asra throw manastones and use them to summon copies of the Daemons from the Settlement, I was reminded of a show I had watched as a kid and wondered if perhaps I had chosen the wrong Class...

Each time a Daemon was killed, which was already proving rare, they would return bigger and stronger than before. Almost all of the Daemons had modelled themselves largely upon the three body types of Gric, Qreet and Dar, favouring natural weapons, powerful muscles, and quick reflexes to see them through a fight.

Clarice’s students were getting stuck in as well, although they each seemed to have very different ideas on how to rack up their kill count the fastest. Some of them were fishing, while others were lingering at the periphery of the Daemon killing fields, swatting Scourges that were drawn in by the smell of blood.

The expeditionary group themselves were in direct competition with Asra and Toofy’s horde of summoned Daemons and didn’t seem to be making much progress. I wasn’t having much better luck either. Just about every predator in the region was being drawn towards the Daemons. So the best I could manage was attempting to intercept them, which was having middling levels of success.

*Shunk*

I drove my spear into the side of the croc and retreated before it had the chance to whip its head around and take a chomp in retaliation. Bleeding freely, it would quickly weaken if I drew the fight out. However, I was already struggling to find opponents as is and drawing the fight out would probably make it worse. Besides, manoeuvring around on this terrain was dangerous, better to just end it quickly.

Attempting a feint to my right, the croc was not fooled for a moment and barrelled straight for my legs. With no real alternatives, I stepped back and very nearly tripped as my left foot suddenly sank shin-deep into the mud. Thrown off-balance, I barely managed to stab the croc’s left foreleg and stall its advance.

Experimentally trying to just tug my foot free, I quickly realised that it was going to take considerably more effort and both my arms to provide the necessary leverage. Stabbing at the croc to buy some more time to think, I was less fortunate this time and only managed to score some of its scales as it rushed me again.

Out of sheer desperation, I threw myself sideways.

*Clomp*

The croc’s jaws popped shut around where my leg had been trapped a moment earlier. However, just because it missed didn’t mean it would just stop the attack.

*Crack*

Kicking the croc in the head with my heel as I tried to scramble away, I felt a section of bone give way and the croc’s head snapped sideways painfully.

Still alive the croc groggily followed after me to try and take another bite.

Trying with the spear again, I caught the croc in the side again, only this time, I decided to just try and hold it there rather than retracting the spear.

With little thought for self-preservation, the croc kept trying to push forward towards me, but it only managed to bury the head of the spear deeper into its internal organs.

Eventually, the Swamp Lurker died from internal bleeding. It was only my third kill, so the sorry state it left me in was kind of pathetic. Gingerly testing my ankle to make sure I hadn’t sprained it, I was relieved to find that I had only pinched a nerve.

The retrieval teams were a decent distance away, so I decided to bring the body in myself. Given how terrifyingly filthy I was already, I committed to carrying it back over my shoulder. At the very least, it would seem more impressive than just dragging it back. It may also confuse the reason for my being so filthy in the first place.

After this quest is completed, I am going to spend some serious time practising how to fight. However, with Clarice gone, I would need to be creative.

Dropping off the carcass, I decided against washing up just yet, I was likely to get dirty again, so there wouldn’t be much point. Heading back out into the swamp, I was surprised to see Emelia racing back and heading straight for me. In order to find more monsters, the expeditionary group had pushed deeper into the swamp, so Emelia’s sudden return did not bode well.

“We found more refugees!” Emelia called out and motioned back in the direction she had come from, “There are too many monsters and we can’t break through!”

Rushing over to meet Emelia halfway, I needed more information, “How far away are they? And how many monsters are there?”

Emelia looked quite pale and more than a little scared. “Not too far, Nadine thinks that they were trying to make it to the Settlement like Ushu’s people, but they don’t seem to have a Shaman and there aren’t many of them left. There are just so many monsters...” She was shaking so hard her teeth were nearly chattering.

It was time to be decisive. “Issue quest. Rescue the refugees. Reward priority based on distribution.” That should give some early warning and let everyone generally know what was going on. “Emelia, go let the porters and Surgeons know that we will be heading out and to meet me at the gate.”

Emelia nodded and hurried away.

“EVERYONE! LISTEN UP!” I roared, “THE COMPETITION IS CANCELLED! RETURN TO THE GATE!”

Of course, it wasn’t nearly so simple in practice. While Asra and Toofy were both able to rather quickly retreat to the gate, the horde of Daemons was in the middle of a pitched engagement of their own and couldn’t just suddenly cut and run. Clarice’s students had it much easier and were able to end their own activities in short order.

Gric, the original, had made his own way to the gate, despite appearing somewhat lethargic. “I-will-fight, Lord,” he insisted stubbornly.

Seeing this a positive step in his development, I nodded. Gric’s Daemon Lord Class would be an important asset, assuming he had taken the Class.

Hana was standing by the gate as well, but it didn’t seem like she planned on joining us. “I can’t,” she said regretfully, “But I will do what I can to make the return trip easier,” Hana insisted, promptly cloaking herself in emerald mana walking towards the edge of the barrier. In a similar fashion to how she terraformed the Settlement, Hana began transforming the nearby swampland. The nearby bogs began to empty one by one.

Gric took control over Asra and Toofy’s party and quickly formed a retinue from half of Clarice’s students, inviting all but two of them into the party itself.

Following his lead, I invited the remaining pair into my party and quickly assigned them to protective duties with the Surgeons and Porters for our travel through open swampland.

With what remained of Asra’s force of Daemons to serve as Vanguard, we hurried off into the swamp.

As I had somewhat expected, we met minimal resistance and quickly saw the reason as to why.

In stark contrast to when we had found the Bleak-fang encampment, the refugees were in the grips of a desperate battle for survival. Unlike the Bleak-Fang, they appeared to have actual warriors and equipment, but the fighting was brutal. Like Emelia had said, there couldn’t be more than fifty refugees, and they were being assaulted on all sides by a ragged tide of monsters.

“**** **!!!” A tall broad-shouldered woman in primitive plate armour raised a bloodied battle-axe high and roared something unintelligible. Judging by the effect it had on the surrounding warriors, it had to be a call to battle of some kind. Maybe an attempt to raise faltering morale.

I could see Clarice, Nadine, Tobi and Ushu desperately trying to hold their own up ahead of us. If it weren't for the lack of monsters coming from our direction and the feckless loyalty of the carnivorous fish in the water, their stand would have been impossible.

“Fighters stick close to your charges! Porters and Surgeons prepare to receive the wounded!” I called out and began rushing forwards along the winding path, the column of our motley band following close behind.

Gric’s copies readily overtook me, roaring in challenge as they barrelled headfirst into the closest monsters assaulting the expeditionary force’s position.

Rushing past them and towards the refugees, I gored a giant toad with my spear and flung the wounded monster off and into a nearby body of water. “CHARGE!!!” I bellowed and to my surprise felt a sudden flood of energy coursing through my veins.

A large Swamp Lurker launched itself from the water to my left, but I wasn’t the least concerned.

*Crunch*

[You have slain {Swamp Lurker: 5 } +1500 Exp]

My left fist collided with the side of its head and sent the Swamp Lurker flying back into the water. I barely even felt the impact and was even more surprised to see the death notification filter through my lower peripheral vision. A quick glance at the group status showed me why.

[Tim - HP: 20/20 - Fearless, Indomitable, Battlelust, ]

It suddenly clicked, I must have used my new Class Ability, War Cry.

However, I hadn’t used it intentionally...Was the ability just meant to activate on its own? Or was it because of something I did?

I didn’t really have time to think about it though, there were plenty more wild monsters ahead of me before I would make it to the refugees’ defensive line.

For their part, the refugees had very likely been aware of our expeditionary force but now seemed to be fighting with renewed vigour as they saw us fighting to clear a path for them to escape. They were already in the process of reforming their lines, the large warrior woman throwing herself into the fray and contrasting just how much taller she was than the other warriors, easily head and shoulders taller than the next tallest warrior.

“FIGHT!” Gric growled, “FIGHT!!”

The swarm of Daemons worked themselves into a frenzy and began launching themselves at every monster in sight. Many of them were no larger than children, but they seemed near impervious to harm. I even saw one ‘unlucky’ Daemon get swallowed whole by a giant toad, only to rip itself free from the toad’s belly a few seconds later. Interestingly enough, Gric’s copies seemed to be similarly affected and were leading the charge.

Charging through the throngs of Daemons, I was soon on the front line again, only there were no more monsters between myself and the refugees. Quickly moving over to their lines, I was grateful when they allowed me to pass through. Heading straight for the amazon warrior that I assumed would be the one in charge, I tried to picture gathering mana into my right hand like I had seen Ushu, Gric and Hana do when recruiting people to the Settlement.

A vibrant violet light glimmered into being around my hand.

The amazon warrior promptly disengaged from her own melee and rushed towards me. Unable to see her face because of her helmet, I could still tell that she was incredibly worried but meant me no harm. For now.

I offered my hand as if I were offering her a handshake.

The amazon warrior was already carrying her axe in her left hand, so she reached forward and clasped my forearm. She nearly let go and gripped my arm tighter as she stiffened in surprise. “**** ** ****?” The amazon warrior asked, her gruff words nothing more than unintelligible gibberish.

Resting my spear against my shoulder, I then motioned to my mouth and ears with my hand, “So we can communicate,” I repeated the motions and then finished it by pointing to our clasped arms.

The amazon warrior nodded in understanding, “******.”

[Settlement Alert {Tim’s Settlement}: {Lash - Deep Orc} was recruited by {Lord Tim} as a minion.]

Deep Orc? I was a little thankful for the helmet now. It probably wouldn’t have made a great first impression if recoiled in disgust. Then again, she hadn’t recoiled either, so props to her self control.

“You are here to save us?” Lash asked intensely, gripping my arm even tighter.

I nodded, forcing those other thoughts to back, where they belonged. “Yes. My Settlement is only a little farther back the way I have come. You will be safe from wild monster attacks there.

Lash nodded and released my forearm, “WARRIORS! HEAR ME!” She bellowed like an army sergeant, “ALLIES JOIN US!!”

There was a ragged cheer from the ragged band of refugees in spite of the fighting.

“RETREAT EGGS AND WOUNDED! FIGHT HARD! SURVIVE!” Lash roared, brandishing her axe and directing it towards the furious pitched melee of the Daemons desperately holding back the wild monsters. The sled with porters and Surgeons had broken through and was shepherded through the front rank of warriors.

“Patch jobs only!” I called out to the Surgeons, “We can worry about being pretty when everyone is in the safety of the Settlement!”

The surgeons nodded in acknowledgement and were pulling out bandages, clumps of moss and lengths of cord.

“Healers?!” Lash exclaimed incredulously as she witnessed the first flash of golden light healing one of her warriors.

“I do,” I agreed, “You mentioned eggs?” I pressed. I was aware of how important they were and was already rather worried by the absence of children in their group.

Lash nodded vigorously and motioned to four burly warriors almost as large as she was. They were pushing and dragging a metal banded sled of their own. They were flanked by six more warriors in heavy armour. “Clan’s future,” she commented, her voice quavering slightly.

How much devastation was that psycho responsible for?

“Then we need to make sure it makes it back safely,” I insisted. I pointed over the heads of the warriors and towards Nadine and the others, “My minions over there. They are my elite and will make sure the egg cache makes it back in one piece. Just tell them I said so.” It was technically true. With the exception of Gric, I suppose, but he was needed here.

Lash dipped her helmet roughly and ran off towards the sled.

“I have mana for ssixs more!” One of the surgeons called out loudly.

“Eight!” Called back another.

“Two!” Called back yet another, “Heading out with the sled!”

Hearing them communicating with one another despite the chaos, I was genuinely impressed by how well they were holding up under the pressure. If I could award medals for this sort of thing, I totally would.

The Deep Orc warrior lines were rapidly tightening up and readying to pull out entirely. It was amazing how disciplined they were. Even though they didn’t have shields, the warriors would bodily block errant monsters like American linebackers to stop them from breaking through the lines and running amok.

“PREPARE RETREAT!” Lash roared.

“OOH!” The warriors roared back as one, battered but still unbroken.

That reminded me that I should be helping more to make sure as many people make it out of this as possible. “SANCTUARY AWAITS!” I bellowed, feeling the familiar rush crashing through my system.

Judging by the sudden spike in their performance, the Deep Orc warriors clearly recognised me as an ally, much to my relief.

“Time to get stuck in!” I grunted and made my way over to the slowly withdrawing backline. The warriors made room for me and seemed startled to see me, likely having expected someone quite different.

Well, compared to them I looked very strange I suppose.

Pushing those thoughts from my mind, I began stabbing and bashing at the monsters attacking the rear defensive line. To my immense relief, my skin proved too tough for the venomous water snakes to pierce. It was a good thing too because I was focusing most of my violent attentions on the large crocs and giant toads. The mud dolls were barely a threat and I had yet to see one manage to successfully hit anyone with enough force to inflict an injury.

“FIGHT!” Gric bellowed, and a few seconds later a trio of his doppelgangers joined the rear guard and then began pushing through into the enemy lines. Shortly after that, a small swarm of adult-sized Daemons rushed to join them. “Lord!” Gric called from nearby.

Looking back, I could see it was just Gric, myself and what remained of the rearguard, which was only a small handful of warriors. Everyone else has left. “Got it!” I called back, “RETREAT!” I roared, spending another point of MP to give the warriors a buff.

We hurriedly disengaged, turned and ran. Having fought through seemingly endless waves of monsters like this during the mandatory quest, I knew that the Daemon doppelgangers wouldn’t hold for long on their own. We had already been fighting for a half hour or more, and without fresh reinforcements, they would be worn down by attrition tactics. All the more so since the Daemons used natural weapons, such as their claws and teeth.

True to her word, Hana, with the help of her Druid’s had made rather drastic changes to the Settlement’s approach, making it much easier to move at a higher speed the closer you came to the Settlement itself.

Much to my relief, it looked like everyone else had managed to make it back. Better yet, the porters and a couple of the Surgeons were assessing latecomers and directing them to the mostly renovated hospital. Serpent-Kin were distributing food and clean water, helping those in relatively healthy condition towards the fountain or the cooking fires. Most of the warriors were leaning heavily on one another or on their accommodating guides. They seemed just about dead on their feet.

Spotting Lash amidst the bustling throng, I began making my way over. While I knew I wouldn't like what I would hear, I needed answers. Seeing her remove her helmet, I slowed somewhat to make sure I wouldn’t freak out and cause an incident.

Huh?

Lash looked pretty much nothing like the Orcs I had seen on the first floor. She had incredibly pale green skin and short shock-white hair. Lash also had what was a mostly flat nose, exposing her nostrils, but she had pointed ears like Toofy, only larger. Yet the most striking thing was her eyes. Lash’s iris’s were a bright amethyst and shimmered like jewels in the last of the evening light filtering over the briar wall.

With my mouth and throat suddenly feeling quite dry, I became quite flustered. Realising Lash had seen me staring and was now making her way over, I started to panic. Trying to dry my sweaty palms against my pants, I nearly freaked out as my hands came away muddy and bloody. and I remembered how filthy my clothes were.

Lash stopped a few paces away and I noticed that she was also at least a few inches taller than I was. Lash held out her right hand expectantly.

Unable to think clearly, I reached out and shook her hand.

FUCK!

Lash looked surprised but didn’t seem to mind. “Gratitude,” She bowed her head.

“D-HRM,” my voice came out pitchy, so I quickly cleared my throat, “Don’t worry about it,” I let go of her hand and tried to wave it off nonchalantly.

Lash gave me a curious look but nodded slightly, “Will repay debt.” She bowed roughly and began making her way back over to the egg cache.

“Ah! I mean, ah, I have some questions, if you don’t mind?” I asked awkwardly, trying to ignore the fact that my back was now sweating like crazy.

Lash walked back over again, “Questions?”

I gulped hard and was confused as to why my mouth was now practically overflowing with drool, even though my mouth had been bone dry moments earlier. “Ah, where did you come from? Why were you coming here?”

Lash slowly exhaled and avoided eye contact for a few moments before clenching her statuesque jaw and staring me in the eye again, “Below ground. World of stone,” Lash pointed to the ground, “Exiled from Clan. Bright Lord demand Clan serve, Lash refuse. Hekara, Shaman, sensed mana-well, promised new home...” Her expression turned dour, “Dark spirit ambushed Hekara, killed many. We escaped, no Shaman to confuse soulless.”

“Dark spirit?” I asked, “Long spindly arms and claws, pitch-black eyes?”

Lash stiffened before getting a grip on herself and nodding with a concerned look on her face, “Yes. Dark spirit stalks the swamp?” She asked worriedly.

“Not anymore,” I pointed over at Ushu, who was making the rounds inviting Lash’s warriors to the Settlement, “Ushu Banished it. We have contained its vessel and Warded it in a prison to stop the dark spirit from coming back.”

Lash seemed conflicted. Visibly relieved, she also seemed burdened by grief and anger. Understandable, we had only imprisoned the vessel, the dark spirit was still running around out there somewhere.

“I...I didn’t see any children amongst the survivors...did...did the spirit?...” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, the thought was so repugnant that my mouth refused to form the words.

“No,” Lash shook her head and looked somewhat relieved, “Brought no children, only eggs.”

That was a relief. Small miracles and all that.

There was something else Lash had mentioned that bothered me. “Who or what is the Bright Lord?” I asked curiously.

Lash frowned and wrinkled her brow in anger, “Another dark spirit!” She spat on the ground, “Cruel, evil, harm all who disobey. Others, slaves, worse,” Lash spat on the ground again.

“So your old clan serves the Bright Lord?” I did not like the sound of this latest development. Especially since the Bright Lord may very well be The Destroyer operating under a different alias.

Lash nodded, “Hekara take us into exile. We leave while others sleep. Collapsed tunnels to escape.”

Well, at least that's something.

Even though that pretty much guaranteed that we had another enemy out there somewhere, at least they didn’t know where Lash and her people were. Sort of. While the mana-well effect created by the Grove was useful as a beacon for refugees, it was doubtless functioning the same for anyone else with darker motives too.

Maybe Ushu could think of something to help with that?

“Need rest,” Lash stated, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Oh, sorry! Don’t let me keep you,” I replied awkwardly.

Letting Lash go, I fought the impulse to check out her ass.

The hell is wrong with me today?!

The heavy hide and plated metal armour left almost everything to the imagination anyway, so what the hell?

Shaking my head, I saw the quest completion status alert hovering in my peripheral vision. It had not taken long to unlock it at all. I had gained two levels as well, earning another point of Strength and Toughness.

There was a small chance the next phase of the quest would be time-sensitive, so I decided to wait until tomorrow morning to complete the first stage and collect the reward.

That did remind me of an idea I had during the rescue mission. The Settlement needed a real name, and I think I had come up with something pretty appropriate.

Sanctuary.

It was perhaps a little on the nose, but weren't most town and city names from Earth?

They were either named after someone, the things the town was known for, or a combination of both.

“Change Settlement name to Sanctuary.” I declared firmly. Like most of the Settlement functions, it was ninety percent intent.

[Tim’s Settlement has been renamed Sanctuary by order of Lord Tim. ]

Suddenly everyone grew quiet and began looking in my direction.

Right...I should have figured that would have an announcement.

Silently making my way through the crowds, I headed for the Grove so I could wash myself and my clothes.

Stripped down to my boxers and just about to hop into the water, I was interrupted by someone stepping out from the shadows.

“Sanctuary huh?” Hana asked goodnaturedly, “I like it.”

“Me too,” I agreed, “It might be a bit on the nose, but I think it sends the right message, you know?”

Hana nodded with a small smile, “I do Tim. But I’ll leave you to your bath, things to do, Barrows to grow. Busy busy busy.”

“Bye Hana,” I called out after her as I slipped into the water. It was pretty damn cold, but at least it was clean. Tearing off some of the dawnmoss growing on the outside of the fountain, I used it to both scrub off the filth as well as lather up my skin by squeezing out some of the sap.

Draping my tunic and pants over the tree to air dry, I trudged upstairs and all but collapsed on my bed and pretty much fell asleep immediately.

Waking up relatively late for once, the sun was actually out when I started walking downstairs. Retrieving my pants and tunic from the fountain tree, they were still a little damp, but they shouldn’t take too long to dry out from my body heat, so I pulled them on and began meandering over to the cooking fires.

Hana had been incredibly busy indeed. There were MANY more barrows than there had been yesterday. Which I suppose made sense. With pretty much all of the Daemons now adult-sized, and fifty or so Deep Orc refugees in need of housing, there actually may not be enough barrows even now.

Unsurprisingly, Toofy, Asra and Ril were sitting near one of the cookfires and chatting animatedly. Well, Toofy and Asra were talking, Ril was just eating and staring at whoever happened to be talking.

“-got sso many levelss! Underlord Gric even ssayss I unlocked another Ability!” Asra declared excitedly, “We make ssuch a good team!”

Toofy grinned and nodded, “Toofy tell Asra,” she flashed Asra a wider smile.

Asra blushed but nodded, “You did," he agreed somewhat quietly.

“You both did really well,” I agreed, smirking a little as Asra very nearly leapt out of his skin. They had been so involved in their conversation that they hadn’t seen me walking up behind them.

“Tim!” Toofy leapt up and jumped at me for a hug.

Effortlessly catching her, I gave Toofy a very light squeeze, remembering that she no longer had my synergies. Feeling a tug on my pant leg, I looked down and saw Ril reaching up with both arms expectantly.

“Ril...Up!” Ril smiled broadly, revealing her teeth.

Unsure whether that was intended to be cute or threatening, I decided that it didn’t really matter either way and scooped her up for a hug too.

Ril grinned, “Hehehe,” she looked happily at Toofy and then looked around the area from her new vantage point.

Ril had done some growing and would probably be close to Toofy’s own height soon. It was a little surprising that she wasn’t as large as the other Daemons. She was obviously eating enough, but perhaps it had something to do with her not ‘adapting’ like the others were.

Ril’s appearance had not changed much since she had hatched, other than looking slightly more like Toofy. Which was a little weird. Somehow, Ril looked more plausibly passable as Toofy’s daughter each time I saw her.

“Toofy?” I asked warily, intending to get to the bottom of this.

“Yeah?” Toofy replied happily.

“I think you have been doing an amazing job looking after Ril,” I let Toofy have her moment of self-indulgent pride before moving on, “What have you been feeding her?”

Toofy grinned and wriggled excitedly, “Toofy feed Ril Meat and Toofy milk.”

“W-what?!” I felt like I nearly had a heart attack.

Toofy gave me a patronising look and shook her head, “Toofy milk,” she repeated raising her right index finger to her mouth, breaking the skin with her teeth and offering her now bleeding finger to Ril.

Ril greedily grabbed Toofy’s hand and latched onto her bleeding finger like a leech.

Apparently seeing nothing wrong with what she was doing, Toofy gave me a very condescending look and shook her head disappointedly.

I had no words...

It wasn’t what I thought it would be, but was also somehow worse and explained everything...

It was only natural That Ril wasn’t growing as large as the other Daemons if she was actively modelling herself after Toofy.

It was also why she looked more like Toofy every time I saw her...

“Toofy...” I couldn’t find the right words to make her stop, my brain was in free fall.

“What?” Toofy demanded suspiciously.

I caved, “It’s blood, not milk...Milk comes out somewhere else. Ask Nadine.”

“Ohhhh,” Toofy nodded sagely and then shrugged. “Just Toofy blood. Why Tim mad?”

“It’s just a little weird,” I admitted and happened to notice Asra slowly slinking away, “Toofy?”

“Yeah?” Toofy asked while combing her free hand through Ril’s hair.

“If Asra tells you to put something of his in your mouth, bite it,” I told her, “Hard!”

“Kay! Toofy do!” Toofy grinned, revealing her razor-sharp teeth.

Asra paled.

*****

Waking up in an unfamiliar place, Lash sprang up and into a crouch, her eyes exposing every nook and cranny of the barrow. Used to functioning with almost no light, Lash was nearly blinded by the light streaming into the barrow from the entrance on the far side.

She had opted to rest in the same place they had stored the egg cache and their most elite warriors. Not only had that meant that she would be protected from treachery while she slept, Lash would also be able to help defend the eggs if need be.

However, judging by the relaxed state of the guards, Lash had to conclude that no such treachery had taken place.

“Underlord Ushu says cooking fires for food if hungry,” Roch, one of the elite warriors on watch commented and pointed to the skewered meat being eaten by another guard.

Lash nodded and began donning her armour. Armour was a Deep Orc’s second skin and those who ventured out of dwellings without it often died shortly after.

Which reminded Lash of the Settlement leader. He had charged into battle without a single scrap of iron and walked away unscathed, not even scratched.

There had been warriors claiming to have seen him kill the soulless with his bare hands!

Donning her helmet, Lash decided to leave her axe behind. It would send the wrong message, besides, she still had knives in her belt anyway.

Suitably shielded from the near blinding light of the surface by her helmet, Lash left the barrow and took a moment to take in her surroundings.

Everything was so strange.

There were plants everywhere, but few of them were edible. Lash understood that the outer wall of strong and sharp plants was for defence. So it made sense to be inedible. The same was true of the roots that formed the barrows.

However, the lichen carpeting the ground was not just inedible, it was toxic! And they had grown it just about everywhere they could!

Then there were the tall plants growing from the roots. Lash had never known that there was more of a plant above the roots until she came to the surface. The plant was so strange, it grew from the roots, thickened into a single larger root, then diverged into many roots again with strange green things growing from those roots in turn. Somehow, they had grown a wall of these plants in the middle of the Settlement and the leader lived there.

Wandering towards the cooking fires Lash was awed by the extravagance of it. While they had no forges, the surface-dwellers had huge fires for cooking food. Lash could see the leaders’ elites intermingling with those of lower status and also actively encouraging her own people to take what they needed from the cooking fires or join in the butchering of the bodies of the soulless to provide meat for the fires. While both sides were somewhat wary of one another, the leader’s people showed no signs of hostile intentions.

Approaching the cooking fires Lash was surprised to see the leader himself was in attendance, carrying what looked like two children. Well, that made sense, a male of his status and strength was bound to have many children. Lash looked around for a sign of his mate or indeed, mates, as would be only fitting.

After searching for a decent length of time, she had to admit defeat, Lash had seen no sign of them.

Perhaps the females in the elite warriors were his mates?

No that didn’t seem right either, none of them looked like the children. If Lash and her people were going to stay on his lands, she needed to know more about the leader.

Taking a moment to adjust her armour, Lash took a deep steadying breath and approached the leader directly. He saw her coming and set his children down to play or continue feasting.

Lash nodded approvingly at the demonstrated appetites of both children. A strong appetite meant a strong child.

“Hrm!” The leader loudly cleared his throat, probably to get her attention, “Ah, is there something I can help you with?” He asked.

Lash had forgotten how tall he was. Their brief meeting during the battle and short conversation afterwards hadn’t really given her time to internalise it. Lash herself was seven and a half hand lengths tall, a full hand length taller than most of her people. It was a sign of her strong bloodline.

However, the leader looked to be less than a finger length shorter than her at most and considerably wider in the shoulders and hips. A powerful bloodline indeed.

“Is something wrong?” He was looking at her expectantly and Lash realised she had not been paying attention.

“Apologies,” Lash dipped her head contritely, she knew she was not making a good impression and was becoming worried. “Was comparing size,” Lash apologised, hoping he would take it as a compliment.

“Oh, uh, okay?” He replied, seeming a little confused.

Lash bit her lip as she realised her mistake. He had probably seen her comparison as an insult or perhaps a threat. After all, Lash was the closest match in terms of height, even if she was still far from being able to match his build.

“I was just saying that we haven’t been properly introduced. My name is Tim,” He held out his hand expectantly.

Seeing a chance to get things back on track, Lash reached out and tried to take hold of his hand in the same way he had done yesterday. It was important that she showed him that both she and her people were willing to learn his customs. Unfortunately, Tim, as he preferred to be known, had intended for a traditional warriors clasp, probably to demonstrate his respect for Lash as a warrior, so they accomplished neither gesture and fumbled their hands awkwardly for a few moments before settling for the warriors clasp.

Lash was sweating bullets now. Things could not go any worse.

“Oh wow! I forgot how tall she is!” The fire-haired female Lash recognised from Tim’s elites had joined them and was sizing her up for a fight.

Lash had seen Fire-hair in action and would not underestimate her. She had demonstrated herself as being far stronger than her small stature should have been capable of. Fire-hair was dangerous, and Lash could tell by the look in her eyes that Fire-hair knew it and knew Lash knew it too.

“I don’t suppose you wanna wrestle?” Fire-hair asked innocently, her eyes like glowing embers.

Lash didn’t know what rest-ling was exactly, but she had little doubt it was some form of fighting.

“Clarice,” Tim glared warningly at Fire-hair and her expression changed almost immediately.

“Aw come on Tim! None of these other guys is a real challenge and you won’t wrestle me anymore. So why not let me and the new chick have a go?” Fire hair, or as Tim called her, Clarice, whined like a child in need of discipline.

“No!” There was iron in Tim’s voice and Lash couldn’t help but shiver. There was no way he did not have a mate. As Tim turned his attention to Lash, she felt weak in the knees. “Sorry about that,” he glared pointedly at Clarice for a moment before returning his attention to Lash, “Clarice is a bit much sometimes.”

“Hey!” Clarice glared back and crossed her arms defiantly.

“You are,” Tim insisted, “And you know it!”

Clarice broke eye contact, “Ya don’t have to be rude about it,” she muttered.

Tim shook his head and took a deep breath before exhaling again, “Sorry about that,” he apologised to Lash, completely disregarding his prestige as a warrior to save Lash’s own. Clearly demonstrating that he had so much prestige that this was of no real consequence.

“She big,” the taller of the two female children Lash assumed was Tim’s daughters complimented.

The smaller one nodded, “Big...”

Lash stood a little straighter to show off her full height.

“Was there something you wanted?” Tim asked, sounding a little wearied by the audience and perhaps signalling Lash that she had taken just about enough of his time.

Lash quickly cleared her throat, “Wanted to give respect. You are leader,” she explained, making sure not to rush and show disrespect, bobbing her head to show subservience and submission. “We serve,” Lash stated simply, making it clear that she accepted Tim was the undisputed leader.

Tim nodded and smiled a little before roughly clearing his throat again and looking over at something that must have caught his attention.

Following his gaze, Lash was surprised to see that a large number of the snake-men were brawling with one another. However, it was not the demonstration of lax discipline she had expected. The males and females had paired off with one another and were brawling like it was some sort of weapons training.

Lash could swear she recognised some of the snake-men from the battle, but it was difficult to tell them apart, so she could be wrong.

“Oh, right. That was something I was going to ask you. Have you or any of your people unlocked any Classes besides Shaman?” Tim asked rather bluntly.

Lash gulped and shook her head, suddenly realising why his people were so much stronger than they should be.

“Do you want to?” Tim asked with a wide smile.