Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 18 - Questionable decision making - Part One {Rewrite}

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know!” The Angel whined fearfully, attempting to recoil away but rendered incapable of doing so by Gric’s iron grip upon his arms.

“What did you do to her!” I snarled, pointing a trembling finger at Lash who was still comatose on the floor.

The Angel gulped hard, “I-I cast Judgement on her...” He stammered as if that answered the question.

“Then UNCAST IT!” I growled, the knuckles in both my fists popping as I fought hard to restrain myself.

The Angel grew deathly pale and tried shrinking back and away from me, but Gric wouldn’t allow it. “I...I can’t...” He whispered fearfully.

A sudden surge of fury drove me forward and I barely managed to regain control of myself in time to avoid wringing the Angel’s neck. With a monumental force of will, I slowly withdrew my hands from around his throat, “Why, not?!” I demanded quietly.

Hyperventilating and obviously terrified, the Angel began to cry. “I-I It-It’s n-not h-h-how I-it w-w-works!”

“Then I have no use for you...” The coldness in my voice would have once disturbed me, but it didn’t stop me from reaching out to take hold of the Angel’s neck.

*Boom*

Looking back towards the gate I was just in time to watch the doors shudder under the force of a second impact, shortly followed by another and then another.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Crack*

A web of fractures began spreading over the rightmost door, growing larger and deepening with each impact.

“It is most likely Dar, my Lord,” Gric explained while still intensely staring at the Angel in his grasp.

I slowly began tightening my grip.

The Angel’s eyes bulged as my grip grew tighter, cutting off the blood flow to his brain. “Pleash....urk...no!...”

Feeling the angel go limp, I let go. And began making my way over to Lash. Gently opening her right eye, I could see that her pupil was heavily dilated and could feel her skin trembling faintly beneath my touch. Whatever the angel had done to her, Lash seemed to be under the effects of a hallucination, suggested by the twitching of her eyes.

“Bind the Angel,” I told Gric numbly, “If it tries to escape, kill it.”

“Of course Lord,” Gric bowed and slowly made his way over towards Toofy to retrieve the necessary rope.

Toofy bared her teeth in anger and contempt as the Angel was brought closer, and to my surprise, Ril began to stir. “Baby?!” Toofy gave Ril a rough shake.

“Nng...” Ril pushed feebly at Toofy in response, groggily opening her eyes with a dazed expression on her face, “Mama?...”

“Baby!” Toofy pulled Ril in tight for another hug, fresh tears running down her cheeks.

Ril’s eyes suddenly snapped into focus, “Mama!” She hugged Toofy back tightly.

After a couple of minutes, the damaged stone door collapsed inwards and scattered broken chunks of stone across the floor.

Unsurprisingly, Dar was the first through the breach, staggering drunkenly and rubbing irritably at his bleeding head. If it weren't for his split and bleeding knuckles, I would have thought Dar had been exclusively battering his thick head against the door in order to breach it, although it was only a small consolation given the numerous bruises on his head.

“Lord!” Qreet was next through the breach, carrying Asra in her arms, who appeared to be more or less okay, albeit a little shaken. “The blood outside is drawing more Blood Hunters! What are your orders?!”

“We are going to kill them,” I replied coldly.

“They-are-many,” Dar rumbled, cocking his head curiously to one side and staring at me with one large crocodilian eye.

“We will kill them all,” I repeated. “Gric,I want you and two others to protect Asra, Lash, Toofy and Ril.”

“As you command my Lord,” Gric replied eagerly.

Nodding in appreciation, I turned back to Qreet and Dar, “Qreet, I want you to pick four other Daemons and hold the door. Dar, you and the rest are with me.”

“By your will Lord,” Qreet bowed and lowered Asra to the ground before hurriedly making her choice of defenders.

“Dar-obey!” Dar rumbled excitedly, a sentiment shared by many of the remaining Daemons.

After retrieving my morning star, I considered leaving without saying anything to Toofy, but thought better of it. Quickly making my way over and kneeling down beside her, I didn’t know what to say. “Stay safe, okay?” I asked uncertainly, the reality of what I was committing to beginning to sink in and aggravate the primitive part of my brain.

Toofy and Ril both nodded, “Keep Lash safe too!” Toofy insisted, “Yeah!” Ril nodded energetically, wincing slightly from the pain in her abdomen.

I gave them both a brief hug before getting back to my feet, “I’m so proud of you.” With great effort, I turned away and headed for the door, donning Lash’s helmet as I went.

As per my instructions, Gric and Qreet had both chosen their subordinates to assist in defending the dungeon, while Dar and the remaining Daemons were waiting outside.

Exiting the dungeon and standing alongside Dar, I was a little surprised to find that he was almost as tall as me and very nearly as wide. If he were to stand upright, Dar would certainly be the taller of the two of us, although the heavily packed muscles on his back made such an event unlikely.

Wraithe was amongst those waiting for me outside, her large batlike ears twitching in excitement. “Lord! They are coming!” She hissed, eliciting a chorus of muted growls from the other Daemons.

“We-crush-them!” Dar snapped with a throaty growl, lumbering forwards to the outermost edge of the pack of Daemons.

Confident Dar would be capable of holding his own, I passed through the Daemons and took up a position on the leftmost side. With Dar more or less holding the right and myself on the left, I hoped that the remaining Daemons would be enough to stop anything from getting through into the dungeon.

After less than half a minute, I could hear the swarm approaching from down the tunnel.

The swarm spilled out of the tunnel and into the cavern. Free of the confinement of the tunnel, the dog-sized rodents spread out across the open ground of the cavern and barrelled towards our position with bloodthirsty abandon. Forking at the lake, a full two thirds or more of the swarm were headed straight for Dar, while the remainder headed for me.

Expecting to feel afraid at the seemingly limitless swarm headed in our direction, all I felt was anger.

“RAAAAAAGH!!! DAR KILL!!!” Dar bellowed in challenge, the concussive force of his outburst causing the frontrunners of the swarm to become disoriented and trampled by their kin.

“LET NONE PASS!!!” I roared, burning a point of MP to activate my Class Ability.

To my surprise, a half-second later, a cry reverberated from within the dungeon. “THE LORD’S WILL BE DONE!!!” Gric cried, his words causing the nearby Daemons to swell in size and ferocity.

*Crunch*

I caught the front runner on my flank and was very nearly bowled over as twenty more Blood Hunters barrelled into me, scratching and biting at every exposed piece of my flesh.

Ignoring the minor flashes of pain, I failed my right arm wildly and felt the spikes of my morningstar cutting and puncturing the seething mass of monsters, despite the reduced momentum. With my left hand, I began grabbing for anything I could get a hold of and squeezed. I didn’t shy away from the feeling of broken bones and rent flesh as I had before.

This violence had a purpose.

Taking a shorter grip on my morningstar, I laid into the swarm with increased vigour. No matter what the rodents tried, they accomplished little more than turning my clothes to rags. Too weak to pierce my skin, their chisel-like teeth were essentially useless and their small claws even more so.

With adrenaline crashing through my veins. I surged through the swarm like they were water, trampling any of the vermin unfortunate enough to be caught underfoot.

The Daemons were holding their ground. Those in the front most position were taking the worst of the onslaught but weren’t backing down, savagely ripping the Blood Hunter’s to pieces and gorging themselves on the fresh meat whenever possible.

Dar was a fortress unto himself, killing the Blood Hunters with sweeping arcs of his powerful claws, dashing them to bloody pieces.

Somewhat following his lead, I balled my left hand into a fist and began bashing at the Blood Hunters rather than wasting time trying to grab and crush something important. Blinded momentarily by a golden flash of light, I didn’t bother taking in the status alert, blinking it away so I could continue fighting unimpeded. Judging by the fact that it had been dismissed so easily, it was probably a level-up notification. So it could definitely wait until later.

Seeing the swarms numbers beginning to thin, I realised that I had completely lost track of time. Almost like sleepwalking, I had been functioning just about entirely on autopilot.

Quickly glancing back towards the Daemons, I was relieved to find that they were continuing to doggedly hold the line. At some point, the rearmost and frontmost ranks had changed places with one another. Both groups were covered in blood and small wounds, although they seemed no less enthusiastic for their injuries. This was likely due to the fact that even as the injuries were mounting on those in front, the wounds were rapidly healing on those standing behind.

Even with the swarm weakening by the moment, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that worse was yet to come. The Blood Hunters, although numerous, had hardly been a real threat. Benefitting from a stack of damage mitigating and damage dealing synergies, the Daemons seemed capable of holding their ground near indefinitely. Knowing this, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something dangerous was headed their way.

Laying into the swarm with greater vigour, I smashed and bashed my way over to the tunnel entrance to the cavern. At first, I saw nothing, but that in and of itself should have been a warning. All luminescent fungi had been obliterated, even those growing higher up on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. All but ignoring the few Blood Hunters that attempted to harass and distract me, I was still very nearly bowled over as the first of the Spinebacks bellowed a challenge and surged into the cavern.

Barely stumbling out of the way in time, I saw three more Spinebacks enter the cavern moments after the first, two scaling the walls and the last effortlessly scuttling across the ceiling.

I quickly realised that I had made a grave tactical error in defending the dungeon entrance instead of the tunnel. But there was still a chance to change that. “QREET! DAR! TO ME!!!” I roared and took a longer grip on my morningstar again.

*Crunch*

I swatted a Spineback off the wall and pushed forward while shoving at the armoured back of another with my free hand.

“RAAAAGH!” Dar bellowed, shaking the ground as he charged towards my position, “DAR KILL!!!”

“WRAITHE!” I jabbed a Spineback in the eye with one of my morningstar’s spikes, “CHOOSE FOUR AND PELT THEM OFF THE WALLS AND CEILING!!” Without slings, I honestly wasn’t expecting much, but the Spinebacks were enlarging the tunnel with every passing second they were delayed. It would only be a matter of time before they were spilling across the ceiling and out of reach.

A few moments later, Dar materialised at my side.

*Thump Crunch*

Dar tackled a Spineback with so much force that it caused the unfortunate creature to vomit out more than half its internal organs. Bleeding from a small puncture wound, Dar savaged the defenceless Spineback, ripping free a chunk of flesh from its exposed neck and leaving it to die. Gulping down his prize, Dar set to attacking the encroaching Spinebacks with reckless abandon, like some sort of enraged reptilian gorilla.

As ordered, Wraithe and her selected Daemons had begun pelting stones at the few Spinebacks that had managed to slip past. Considering they lacked slings, practice and were still being harassed by the remaining Blood Hunters, as near as I could tell, they were doing an admirable job.

Hearing a pitiable screech from the ceiling, I glanced back just in time to see a Spineback topple to the ground.

*Thump*

Although the fall did not kill it, the Spineback seemed close to paralyzed.

Nimbly scuttling along the ceiling, Qreet homed in on her next target.

Unable to look away from the vicious melee for more than a handful of seconds, I very nearly lost a finger when a Spineback scythed its claws against the back of its kin. Missed only by a hair's breadth, I had no doubt that Toofy’s defensive synergy was the only reason I had managed to pull back in time.

*Whump*

I slugged the offending Spineback in the flank to repay it for the effort and slammed my morningstar down on the back of another. Without the natural weaponry of the Daemons, I supposed I was probably doing reasonably well. Unfortunately, unlike Dar, I was not able to find suitable footholds and was left behind a growing wall of bloody corpses.

Seeing that the majority of the Blood Hunters had been dealt with, I made my decision. The Daemons would need to hold the line on their own, short of scrambling over the pile and fighting on the other side, my involvement was no longer viable. “WRAITHE! KILL WHAT REMAINS OF THE SWARM! ONCE THEY ARE DEAD, JOIN DAR IN DEFENDING THE TUNNEL!!”

“I OBEY LORD!” Wraithe shrieked back with excitement, “FOLLOW ME! CULL THE WEAK!!!”

The chorus of eager cries in response was a little disconcerting, but it also served as a reminder of the fact that I was dealing with literal Daemons.

Stepping back from the wall of corpses at the entrance of the tunnel, I began making my way back to the dungeon. Theoretically, so long as Asra was kept alive and manastones were funnelled back for him to use, the Daemon blockade could be maintained indefinitely. Assuming the water in the lake was drinkable, and no one got sick from eating raw meat.

“-have to leave!” The Angel cried, ”The dungeon will soon collapse! What part of that sentence do you not understand?!”

Clearing the doorway, I could see the Angel squaring up against Gric as best as he was able, which wasn’t particularly impressive given he was very nearly cocooned in rope, struggling to remain upright on his knees.

“YOU! Ogre!” Taking note of my arrival, the Angel shifted the entirety of its attention to me. “We have to leave! The dungeon will soon collapse and kill us all!”

“Is this true?” I asked Gric, unwilling to take an enemy at their word.

Gric shrugged, “It is possible Lord,” he admitted sceptically, “More likely the Angel seeks a chance to escape.”

The Angel gave Gric an incredulous look of disdain.

“Angel says Mama’s treasure will let us escape,” Ril added.

“Treasure?” I asked warily, turning my attention to Toofy, I could see she was suspiciously avoiding eye contact.

Ril gave me an apologetic look before giving Toofy a pinch, “Mama, show Tim!” She insisted.

“Ow!” Toofy flinched and wrinkled her face in thought for a moment before letting out a deep sigh, “Fine, Toofy do...” An ornate gold and silver stave appeared in Toofy’s outstretched hand. Easily more than seven feet in length, somehow she was able to hold up the staff as if it weighed less than a pen.

“Just give me the staff and I can get us all out of here!” The angel demanded, earning a none too gentle kick to the back from Gric.

“Why?” I demanded in turn, “What does it do?”

The Angel groaned and tried rising to his knees again, but failed. “It is a Lesser Staff of Planar Travel,” the Angel grunted angrily, “And I am the only one that would be able to use it!”

“Lies!” Gric hissed, snapping a quick kick to the Angel’s stomach before turning his attention to me, “Lord, someone of your immense strength would have no problems dominating such a paltry magical item and binding it to his will.”

“You believe the staff is magical?” I asked warily.

Gric nodded, “Yes Lord. I can feel its power, and even though it is incomplete, it should serve sufficiently well to provide an escape for those you deem important.”

“Incomplete?” I asked curiously, eyeing the staff and noticing that the clawed tip was actually an empty socket. “Is Ril’s jewel meant to slot into the top?”

Moving closer while Toofy materialised the jewel in her other hand, I noticed a faint shimmering distortion emanating from the staff. No more than a quarter of an inch from the surface of the staff, it still gave me the impression of looking through a pane of glass. Warping and bending the light to distort what was visible on the other side. Unable to slot the jewel into the socket, Toofy shrugged apologetically and offered them both to me instead.

Four separate alerts appeared in rapid succession, the first was a resplendent gold, the second a deep bloody crimson, and the last pair a dull and all too familiar grey.

[Staff of {Lesser Planar Travel} has been acquired! ]

[Limited use item: (5/5)]

[Lesser Planar Travel: Expending MP allows the wielder to open a portal to a location well known to them. While open, the portal will continue to drain MP from the wielder. Incapable of opening a portal beyond the current floor of the Labyrinth. {Intelligence} reduces the required MP to maintain the portal.]

[You have acquired a Jewel of Elemental Water.]

[Jewel of Elemental Water: Accelerates MP regeneration of the owner while they are immersed in water. The rate of MP regeneration is dependent upon the owners {Willpower}.]

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

[You have qualified to unlock the {Rift Walker} Basic Class.]

“Bloody hell...” I croaked in relief. The staff was like some sort of town portal item. All we needed was enough mana to operate it and we would be fine. Seeing no racial restrictions or anything absurd like that regarding the staff, there was no way I was going to let the Angel anywhere near it.

Gric, Ril and Asra would be our best bet for sheer volume of MP. Quickly looking through their stats I was only slightly surprised to see that Ril had the highest Intelligence of the three of them with twelve, Gric came second with eleven and Asra in the rear with ten.

Gric’s relatively high Intelligence and high MP made him a logical choice for activating the Staff of Lesser Planar Travel to allow our escape, “Gric-”

Seemingly having come to the same conclusion, Gric shook his head, “No Lord,” he pointed to Ril and Toofy, “Ril would be a better choice. I am just a projection.”

I was far too familiar with Daemon psychology at this point to be blindsided by Gric's seeming benevolence. If he was suggesting this as an alternative, then Gric truly believed it was the optimal solution. Thinking it over for a moment, I had to agree that he was right.

Assuming Ril would be the last to pass through the portal, Gric or perhaps Qreet would be able to serve as an emergency safety to open a second portal in case something went wrong. Furthermore, I didn’t doubt for a moment that Gric fully intended to harvest and bring back as many manastones as possible

“Alright, Ril,” I held out the staff for her to take, “Are you able to activate the staff?” I asked, doing my best to not sound nervous, in spite of the visible panic on the Angel’s face.

Ril eagerly accepted the staff and greedily eyed the Jewel of Elemental Water before hastily nodding in agreement, “I can,” she agreed, still pointedly staring at the jewel in my hand.

Rolling my eyes a little, I sighed and offered Ril the jewel.

Ril snatched it without a second thought, avariciously holding it before her eyes with a near manic obsession. Knowing what it did, I could easily understand why.

Carrying Lash over my shoulder I took a firm hold of the Angel by the back of his neck. Leading the others out of the dungeon, just in case, I was glad to see that the Daemons were holding the tunnel entrance, albeit barely.

As I had feared would happen, the Spinebacks were enlarging the entrance to the tunnel and quite probably the tunnel beyond as well.

Supported by Toofy, Ril gingerly climbed the broken remains of the front door and entered the cavern beside me.

With a telling look from Gric, the Daemons who had been left behind as protection set upon the scattered corpses and began retrieving manastones as well as filling their bellies. Not that I could blame them. The fighting back to Sanctuary’s protective barrier was likely going to be brutal.

Toofy gave the Angel a vicious glare from the corner of her eye, a shiv materializing in her free hand.

Giving Ril a nod, I held my breath and hoped nothing would go wrong..

Rill nodded, closed her eyes and took a deep breath just as I had done. Quickly cloaked in a crimson aura, Ril held out the staff in front of her, “Activate Staff of Lesser Planar Travel!” Ril’s normally quiet voice crashed through the cavern like a thunderclap. Tapping the clawed end of the staff on the cavern floor, the familiar shimmering form of a portal took shape in the air. The carved surface of Sanctuary’s Totem could be seen but was heavily distorted.

Just as I took a step towards the portal, I was temporarily disoriented by a complete absence of sound that lasted less than a second. Noticing the same bewildered expressions on everyone else, it took me a few moments to realise that the dungeon entrance had disappeared, exposing another tunnel and a moving wall of Clay Dolls.

“Through the portal! Now!” With both my arms occupied, I quickly strode through the portal and arrived in a familiar section of swampland. Despite the portal having shown the Totem, the distortion likely represented a variable nature to the magic. Less ideal than I would have preferred, it was still manageable. I was less than five minutes from Sanctuary, so it would not take long to reach safety. However, waiting for more than two minutes in relative silence, I began to worry about the others.

What if they teleported into a pool of water?

My stomach churned with unease. I had to get back to Sanctuary and organise a search party!

“No...” I quickly realised that I didn’t. I could form a search party right here and now damnit!

Issuing the quest to every occupant of Sanctuary, I began hurrying towards the safety of the barrier myself.

By the time the swamp gave way to the cleared expanse and briarwall, I was relieved to see Deep Orc and Serpent-Kin search parties out in force. It was a good thing too because I had no fewer than seven Swamp Lurkers trailing a short distance behind me and had no way of fighting them without setting down Lash or the Angel.

Striking for the closest hunting team, I spent one of my few remaining MP to give them a boost in fighting strength, slowing only long enough to make sure they had the fight well in hand before rushing towards Sanctuary.

Having had to switch to carrying the Angel by the ropes on his back, the near-constant shaking had already caused him to vomit a half dozen times. By the time I set him down by the inner gate, the Angel was barely capable of moaning feebly and looked thoroughly ill.

“I want him watched,” I told the guards still at their posts, “I will be back soon.” Leaving the Angel in their care, I rushed Lash towards the hospital. With any luck, the Hospice Surgeons would be able to rouse her and we would be able to go hunting for the others together.

Just as I reached the hospital, I was very nearly blinded as both Lash and myself erupted with golden light signalling another level up. Blinking away the status alert for later, I groggily trudged across the threshold. “I need a healer!” I called out loudly while striding towards what I hoped was an empty room.

Thankfully the room was empty and I could hear hurried footsteps outside in the entrance hall. “In here!” I called out again while laying Lash down on the bed.

Within a handful of seconds, the room went from being very nearly empty to close to overflowing with surgeons.

“An enemy hit her with some sort of spell,” I explained to no one in particular.

“What do her stats say?” Someone called back from amidst the crowd. It was something I should have checked the moment she went down and the embarrassment very nearly stayed my tongue, especially after I had drilled the importance of the stats information in diagnosing someone quickly.

[Lash - HP: 34/34 - Unconscious, Cursed ]

I read her stats aloud and nervously watched as one of the Hospice Surgeons cast their Class Ability and other surgeons set about removing Lash’s armour to give her a more thorough inspection.

[Ril - HP: 7/20 - Bloodied ]

The Angel had really hurt Ril quite badly, even after healing part of the injury, Ril was still Bloodied and that worried me a great deal. If those Scourges could smell blood, or worse, home in on Bloodied targets, then Ril, Asra and Toofy would be in immense danger.

Removing Lash’s helmet from off my head and depositing it alongside the rest of her armour, I tried to make up my mind on what to do. I couldn’t just leave Lash like this, but the others needed me and I would do far more good out there than in here.

Heading to the hospital fountain to wash myself off, I quickly realised that my pants were beyond saving, literally torn to shreds and nothing more than tattered rags. My boxers had fared a little better, but a few holes in the crotch caused me to shiver as I realised how close I had come to being neutered.

Splashing myself with fresh water and ripping away my useless pants, I began heading back to Lash’s room but stopped as a golden status alert flashed in front of my eyes.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} found by {Sgt. Davis} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {TBD} {Toofy} remains unfound]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {TBD} {Ril} remains unfound]

“Oh shit...What did I do?” I cursed myself for being so stupid and ran towards Sanctuary’s gate as fast as I could manage. There was no way in hell the army was just going to ignore the fact that I could issue quests, and even though Lt. Felix and Cpt. Klive seemed like an alright sort, so had the Guild manager...I needed to get a handle on this situation fast, before someone did something stupid, like trying to take my people hostage in exchange for Exp!

*****

“Fuck!...” Lt. Felix cursed defeatedly as he read the quest’s status alert. Just like all the other soldiers, Lt. Felix had been presented with the quest close to a quarter of an hour or so prior. It had only been by pure chance that he witnessed the arrival of the monster boy on the fringes of the camp and seen first hand as Sgt. Davis spotted the boy and challenged his entry to the camp.

The next couple of minutes had led to near-complete anarchy as Sgt. Davis and every member of his watch detachment proceeded to light up the camp like the blazing sun had crashed down from the sky.

The anarchy was fuelled by the cries of Sgt. Davis’s men as they loudly proclaimed their multiple levels of advancement.

Apparently no one but Lt. Felix and Cpt. Klive realised just how much trouble they were in right now. If the Ogre was the one to issue the quest, and Lt. Felix had no reason to think he hadn’t, then the Ogre also knew who currently had at least one of the three missing children.

Lt. Felix wasn’t an idiot, he had read just about every report on the Hurst Labyrinth during his time at the academy. In every single instance where a child was abducted from a Variant, Settlement or no, it would immediately escalate into brutal warfare. Regardless of species and even generations-old feuds, Variants would set aside their differences and kill every human in sight until the child was returned or the Variants were completely wiped out.

All too often, the army was forced to enact the latter, as whatever irresponsible adventurer or lordling that performed the abduction would have long since fled and become near impossible to find. The fighting, by all accounts, was hellish and responsible for the ongoing instability present on floor thirty-two.

Hansel, the third son of Duke Varik, had Enslaved and run off with a Sylvan girl more than eighty years ago. Every attempt at peace had been violently rebuffed with the same demands made. It mattered little to the Variants that they had collectively lost tens of thousands to the ongoing war, all they wanted was the return of the child.

Lt. Felix had few doubts that the Ogre would prove any different, and the prospect of fighting an enraged Ogre was beyond terrifying. Everything he had read about Ogres agreed upon one thing only, their voracious appetites and preference for feasting on still living flesh.

Suppressing a shiver, Lt. Felix began making his way towards the established meeting location to try and fend off the inevitable. With only Sergeants Barus and Louis for company, in spite of the latter’s sour mood, Lt. Felix felt a sort of relief at the prospect that at least he wouldn’t be facing down the monsters alone, but also felt guilty for similar reasons. If the negotiations went poorly, there was no real reason for all three of them to die.

Seeing the Ogre already heading towards them, and a brutal Orc hatchet in his dominant hand, Lt. Felix waved Sgt. Barus and Sgt. Louis back while continuing ahead alone.

Who knows, maybe the handful of seconds head start would be enough for the both of them to make it back to camp.

“Where is he?!” The Ogre wasted no time and cut straight to the point, veins bulging across his heavily muscled body.

Lt. Felix gulped hard and raised both hands placatingly, “The boy is safe in our camp,” he hurriedly explained, “No harm has come to him-”

The Ogre’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

“-We, uh, were just waiting for the chance to give him back...” Lt. Felix explained hoarsely, his throat had suddenly become quite dry. In truth, Cpt. Klive had not given the necessary orders yet and was still attempting to bring the camp back under control.

“Bring him to me, NOW,” The Ogre demanded, an unspoken, “Or else,” being heavily implied.

Lt. Felix turned to his men and nodded. To his Immense relief, both of them quickly headed back towards the camp.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} found by {Sgt. Davis} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

The sudden appearance of the quest alert took Lt. Felix by surprise, but it seemed like the Ogre had been waiting for it and had immediately begun scanning the swamplands. Blinking away the quest information, Lt. Felix could see that the Ogre’s expression had worsened considerably.

“All of them, NOW!” The Ogre growled, baring his large powerful teeth menacingly and heading towards the army’s camp.

With no express orders to stop the Ogre from entering the camp, Lt. Felix hoped for everyone's sake that the Variants' children were handed over without bloodshed.

*****

Riding a wave of adrenaline, I strode through the human army’s camp like I owned the place. In my old life, I had grown used to looks of disgust and contempt, but it was something else entirely to be surrounded by terrified faces of men and women that looked like they had just stepped out of a historical drama. Despite the fact that they were all armed and armoured, precious few stood their ground as I swept through their camp.

“Where are they?!” I demanded, shoving aside one such soldier who had attempted to hold their ground, sending him bodily tumbling into a nearby tent. Noticing a commotion on the southernmost edge of the camp, I changed course.

A small brawl had broken out amongst the soldiers. The two officers that had been sent by Lt. Felix were engaged in a pitched bare-knuckle brawl against five other soldiers, two of which were already unconscious or groaning painfully on the ground.

Another pair of soldiers held the cowering form of Asra between them. Judging by the pained expression on the boy’s face, the soldiers were not being particularly gentle.

At my approach, the fighting broke up almost immediately, with the unidentified soldiers attempting to scurry back towards the other two holding Asra. The elder of Lt. Felix’s subordinates took the sudden distraction as an opportunity to sweep the legs out from underneath his opponent and then viciously stomp their face, knocking them out cold.

“Why is the Ogre in the camp?!” One of Asra’s captors demanded fearfully, “Monsters shouldn’t be allowed inside the camp!” His voice grew high and pitchy, close to breaking.

Lt. Felix hurried ahead of me, joined his subordinates and drew his sword, “Sergeant Davis! You are ordered to relinquish custody of the Variant child IMMEDIATELY!”

The other soldier let go and hurriedly backed away.

The soldier who had spoken earlier, presumably Sgt. Davis, determinedly clung to Asra’s arm and scowled, “The quest reward is mine! Sir,” he spoke the last with visceral contempt. “Aint no way I am givin it up!”

While Sgt. Davis was distracted, Asra opened his mouth wide and bit down hard on the soldier's exposed hand.

“FUCK!” Sgt. Davis punched Asra hard in the face, sending the poor kid tumbling backwards.

Leaping towards Asra, I glared balefully at the surrounding soldiers.

“Arrest him!” Lt. Felix commanded, pointing his sword at Sgt. Davis.

Most of the soldiers just stared in confusion, but Lt. Felix’s subordinates and a few others quickly mobbed Sgt. Davis and quickly incapacitated him.

A sudden blinding flash of light caught everyone by surprise as a new status alert appeared.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

While everyone was distracted, I lifted Asra up and quickly carried him towards the briarwall. As I had hoped, Hana more or less understood what was going on and opened a small path most of the way through the briars. Lowering Asra down again, I nudged him towards the opening, “Go, I will find the others,” I reassured him.

Asra took a tentative step into the briarwall and stopped, “I don’t want to run away,” he said quietly, his eyes drifting downward in shame.

“I need you to be safe, so I can find them,” I insisted, “Not summoning Gric or any of the other Daemons was very brave, but incredibly stupid. If anything like this ever happens again, you have my permission to summon as many of them as you need to in order to stay safe. Alright?”

Asra timidly nodded and slowly disappeared into the briars.

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} found by {Lt. Uric} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

There was another bright flash of golden light.

“Tim!” Hana hissed from the direction of the briarwall, “Ril and Toofy are a short distance to the southwest, not far from the outskirts of the camp!”

Once the golden light faded, the briarwall had closed and there was no sign of Hana. All the same, I nodded and began running towards the southwest. Uncaring of the attention I was drawing from the soldiers, I ran like the girls' lives depended on it, because it very well might.

Clearing the crude earthworks and palisades of the camp perimeter with ease, I ran off into the swamp. Forced to slow down to keep my footing, I still moved as fast as I felt I could get away with. Within a couple of minutes, I heard soldiers shouting and the voice of one soldier, in particular, that sounded familiar.

“-don’t care! Shoot the bloody things down from the tree!” The familiar voice demanded, “Do it or I’ll have you flogged for insubordination!”

Close enough now that I could make them out through the light fog, there were roughly twenty soldiers gathered roundabout a single tree. Looking up into the topmost branches, I could see Ril and Toofy doing their best to take cover from the four soldiers with bows.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE!!!” I bellowed, stalking along the only viable route.

The soldiers just mutely stared back at me for a handful of seconds before one of the archers pulled back the string of his bow and fired.

*Thwack*

The arrow struck my shoulder and the shaft shattered, releasing a hail of splinters.

*Thwack*

Another archer fired and caught me in the chest, the arrow snapping and flying away much like the first but in larger pieces.

*Clunk*

One of the soldiers beneath the tree fell face-first into the muddy ground, a reddish-grey brick protruding from his helmet.

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

The fallen soldier’s closest companions stared at the brick for a moment, then looked up into the tree with a look of horror.

*Crunch*

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

Another soldier caught a falling ingot with his face and collapsed.

“Somebody do something!” A familiar-looking soldier demanded, his voice close to breaking.

Recognising the soldier as the man who had been attempting to bully the Serpent-Kin hunting party, I gave him my undivided attention. Unless I missed my guess, he was Lt. Uric.

“S-stay back!” One of the archers stammered in a panic, drawing back his bow and aiming up into the tree, “Stay back!” He repeated with more confidence, “Or I’ll shoot!”

*Whump*

A chunk of stone more than two feet in diameter slammed into the ground near the archer, narrowly missing him but crushing the foot of another soldier. In a panic, the archer released his arrow and stumbled backwards.

The soldier with the crushed foot screamed in agony, but otherwise, everyone had gone quiet.

“TOOFY KILL!” Toofy screamed in rage.

All eyes were drawn up into the tree.

Toofy ran vertically down the trunk of the tree and stabbed the archer in the eye with what looked like a Spineback’s spine.

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

Riding the dead archer’s body to the ground, she ran straight for Lt. Uric.

With his subordinates too shocked to react, Lt. Uric scrambled backwards and thrust his spear towards Toofy.

“NO!” Charging through the waist-deep water, to avoid a lengthy detour, I could feel the piranhas nipping at my legs.

Toofy tumbled over the spearhead and swiped at Lt. Uric’s gloved fingers.

*Whap*

Lt. Uric awkwardly backhanded Toofy across the face, momentarily causing her to stagger. However, before he had the chance to try and jab Toofy with his spear again, Toofy rolled to the side, taking cover behind one of Lt. Uric’s men.

“Gah!” The soldier cried out in pain, staggering backwards and falling to the ground clutching his leg.

Deftly clambering over the fallen soldier’s body, Toofy narrowly dodged another thrust from Lt. Uric’s spear.

Surging out of the water, I caught the shaft of the nearest soldier's spear as he levelled it towards my chest. Viciously yanking it from his grasp, I swung the but end of the spear hard at another soldier. The spear cracked from the force of the impact and the unfortunate soldier was sent tumbling into the shallows.

*Thwack* *Thwack* *Thwip*

Two arrows smacked into my chest but failed to penetrate. A third arrow narrowly missed my right eye and grazed along the side of my head.

“Kill this thing! Get it away from me!” Lt. Uric shrieked in panic as Toofy continued hounding him across the islet.

Having overcome their initial surprise, the remaining soldiers hastily clumped together and formed a crude shield wall with their spears all directed towards me. Contrary to their superiors orders, it was obvious that these soldiers saw me as the greater threat.

“LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS THIS INSTANT!” A familiar voice thundered from the direction of the soldiers camp.

Quickly glancing over my shoulder, I could see a ragged column of soldiers hurrying towards the battle. At their head was Cpt. Klive and Lt. Felix.

The soldiers in the defensive formation looked first to Cpt. Klive and then briefly at one another. “Fuck this,” one of the soldiers spat and threw down his spear, “Not gonna die for that gits promotion!”

There were grunts of agreement from the others and more weapons were thrown to the ground.

“Cowards!” Shrieked Lt. Uric, now fully on the run from Toofy, having lost his spear and now clutching at his bloodied glove.

Just like that, the last of the soldiers threw down their weapons and edged away.

Shifting my attention from the soldiers to the tree, I could see Ril limply hanging on to one of the topmost branches, although there was no sign of the staff. Hurrying over to the tree, I was just about to contemplate how I was going to climb it, when Ril slipped from her branch.

“Ril!” Diving backwards, I barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Cold to the touch, my eyes were drawn to the arrow lodged in Ril’s shoulder.

[Ril - HP: -1/20 - Bloodied, Bleeding ] [Tim - HP: 42/44 - Enraged ]

Biting down hard on the flesh of my thumb, I felt the warm coppery taste of blood welling into my mouth. Pushing my injured thumb into Ril’s mouth, I winced as a sudden chill swept up my arm and Ril’s jaw clamped down hard, anchoring her long needle-like teeth into my thumb. Almost immediately, her mouth formed an airtight seal and I felt my blood being forcibly redirected through my circulatory system and towards my thumb.

[Ril - HP: 1/20 - Bloodied, Bleeding ] [Tim - HP: 41/44 - Bleeding, Poisoned ]

I shivered and awkwardly cradled Ril against my chest. I wasn’t particularly surprised when Ril’s arms wrapped around my left arm to anchor herself in place. Still holding the axe in my right hand, I was actually somewhat relieved by the lessening of the strain on my hand, particularly given how numb it currently felt.

“Toofy?!” I called out and staggered slightly as I tried to quickly turn my head to look for her.

Lt. Uric was scrambling backwards in the mud as Toofy stalked after him. “I yield! I yield!!” He cried pitiably to no avail. Toofy was clearly out for blood. “Captain! Save me!”

I shifted my attention to Cpt. Klive to see what he would do, as did many of his gathered soldiers.

Meeting my eyes for a moment, Cpt. Klive closed his eyes, sighed and shook his head,

“Captain?!” Lt. Uric screamed.

Cpt. Klive turned away and faced back towards the direction of their camp.

“Captain?!” Lt. Uric screamed again, even more urgently, “Capt-AAAIIE-URGH!” His cries turned to a wet rasping gurgle as Toofy slammed her shiv into his face and jugular over and over again.

“DIE! DIE! DIE! TOOFY KILL!” Toofy screamed in blackhearted fury, blood splashing against her face and chest as she straddled Lt. Uric’s feebly struggling body and stabbed him over and over again.

Looking back towards the soldiers, I was surprised to see that they had all taken Cpt. Klive’s lead and literally turned their backs on Lt. Uric.

Perhaps he was literally as bad as my first impression of him had been, or maybe Cpt. Klive was far shrewder than I had given him credit for.

After all, there was no way he would have been able to intervene in time to stop Toofy from dealing a fatal injury. Besides, there was more to be gained from his death anyway.

[Toofy has slain {Human: ??? } +0 Exp]

[Quest: Find and Rescue the Children! {Active}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Asra} rescued by {Lt. Felix} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {Success} {Asra} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Toofy} rescued by {Cpt. Klive} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Toofy} returned to Sanctuary]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 1}: {Success} {Ril} rescued by {Cpt. Klive} and {Subordinates}]

[Find and Rescue the Children! {Stage 2}: {TBD} {Ril} returned to Sanctuary]

The golden flash of light accompanying the quest update only served to reinforce that idea as the soldiers began excitedly comparing stat gains from their multiple level-ups.

Now that the cat was out of the bag, I was far more valuable to Cpt. Klive and his military. Doubtless, the experienced officer was already crunching the numbers on how much leeway he would give in regards to all manner of hypothetical scenarios.

“Toofy!” I waved at Toofy to get her attention.

Caked with blood, Toofy glared back at me for a moment, her eyes hard and feral before noticing Ril. “Baby...” Toofy murmured, dropping her shiv and stumbling off of Uric’s corpse. “Baby!” Toofy cried and ran over, hugging Ril’s dangling feet.

Hissing from the sudden emergence of pain, I vaguely felt Ril dislodge her teeth and push my thumb out of her mouth.

“Mama!” Ril croaked, wriggling stiffly as she released my arm and slid into Toofy’s embrace.

Taking care to avoid the arrow still lodged in Ril’s shoulder, Toofy hugged Ril tight and cried.