Part One Hundred and Ten

My initial impression of the forest after the Archmage’s spell had hit it was destroyed. But that one, simple word couldn’t really adequately explain just what those Meteor impacts had done. All of the trees had been uprooted and demolished. The ground was now completely uneven, with deep rivets running between giant mounds of dirt. And then there was the now solidified lava, still hot enough to burn you. We quickly made the choice to circumnavigate the damaged area, since it would be easy for us to be spotted, but we still ran into stiff resistance just as quickly.

“BRAAAAAGH!”

“OOOINK”

It wasn’t much of a surprise since we’d already been warned that some of the monsters would’ve survived the meteors, but dozens of them emerged from the woodwork as soon as we got close enough. The NPCs in the lead took charge of fighting them, allowing the rest of us to continue on. But as we went further and further into the devastated area, we bled more and more people. Both literally and figuratively.

This culminated when we ran into a large group of Baculth, forcing us into an all-out battle. The three of us had ended up right smack-dab in the middle of the fight.

“BRrraaaaaaaaaaagghggggghhhh!”

“Ugh, your breath reeks.”

I stabbed a sword through the eye of the Baculth Brute that had been screaming in my face, before ducking under a flame-clad punch thrown at me by a different monster. An arrow found its way into that one's eye, giving me a moment to pull back and catch my breath. As I rested, Cameron filled the space I’d occupied, cleaving a sheep in half with one swing of his axe.

I scanned up and down the line, watching as the mercenaries fought the Baculth back. We were winning the fight, but it was taking longer than I wanted it to. More monsters were showing up to reinforce the enemy, dragging the battle out.

*Fwoooosh, FWOOOOOM!*

It was at that moment that several bolts of fire flew in from behind us and struck the Baculth, setting their wool alight and turning them into living torches. The fire spread quickly amongst the monsters, and resulted in the perfect distraction for us to push into their ranks. The entire group was dead within three minutes.

Looking back, I saw a group of NPCs approaching, the obvious source of the firebolts. It was hard to tell if they were the NPCs that had been with us before, or if they were one of the groups that had split off earlier. Either way, getting almost a hundred reinforcements, and more importantly, a dozen mages, would go a long way towards getting us to the Boss.

Braddock and Sampson, who were both basically our de facto leaders at this point, went over to the NPCs to convene with them. I snuck closer so that I could listen in.

“Have you located the Boss? This area has basically become a maze since that spell hit it.”

“No, we haven’t seen it. We believe the Progenitor has retreated deeper into the forest along with a large contingent of its guards. The others are attempting to outmaneuver them in order to corral them back towards us.

“Heh, cowards. Come on, we’ll run ‘em down like the dogs they are.”

Sampson headed back to his men and pulled them into a discussion, but Braddock stayed behind to continue his conversation with the NPCs. He seemed to be trying to decide what to do with them, whether or not bringing them along would be a good idea. But he didn’t have long to decide.

“BRAAAAAGH!!!”

“More Baculth! Fuck, where’d they all come from!?”

The first group we’d fought had been about as large as ours. This one though, was much, much larger, completely dwarfing the size of ours. Not to mention that there wasn’t a single normal Baculth among the horde. Every one of them was an enhanced specimen.

The NPCs were first to react. The soldiers braced their shields to form a protective wall for the mages, who almost immediately began firing off more firebolts. However, these sheep were smarter than the others. They spread out more so the flames couldn’t claim more sheep torches.

Still, at least thirty sheep went up in flames before the monsters reached us. Half of the group split off to deal with the NPCs, while the rest tucked their heads down and charged straight at us. Someone, I don’t know who, screamed for us to get into formation. If not for that, the Baculth would’ve plowed through us. Those who stepped up to block the monsters were pushed back immediately, forcing myself and others to step in and fight back the tide.

I slipped past a defender who was reeling from an attack strong enough to nearly bend his shield in half, and blocked the Baculth Ram's follow-up attack. This was a new variant I had yet to see, but its physique already rivaled that of Minotaurs. Its arms were thicker than my head, and the force of one punch was nearly enough to knock me on my ass. I tilted my head to dodge its next attack, then slashed at its unprotected armpit, one of the few spots that didn’t have wool. My blade bit deep, much deeper than I’d suspected it would. That limb would now be nearly useless.

Mn, so the Archmage’s advice was right. Their flesh and muscle isn’t quite as tough as you’d expect it to be. I wouldn’t want to try severing a limb, but cutting into their weak spots really hurts them.

Since we knew what we were going to be up against, the Archmage had given us a rundown on the race's strengths and weaknesses. All of the sheep-like Demi-Humans had only a handful of places not protected by their wool. The first was obviously their face, but they knew that and took great strides to protect it. The other, more easily reachable spots were their underarms and underlegs, along with their hands and feet. Cut into these soft spots, and you could cripple the normally formidable monsters.

He’d also told us that the larger Baculth, like the one I fought, usually didn’t use magic attacks, but instead relied solely on their physique for battle. This meant that I could slash away without worrying about it using some strange magic to counter me.

Anyway, with one of its arms disabled, it was a lot easier fro me to stab a sword through its eye, killing it. I usually preferred cutting monsters' throats instead of their eyes so my swords wouldn’t get stuck in their orbital sockets, but the thick wool around a Baculth’s neck forced me to change tactics. Thankfully my swords slipped free of its head, allowing me to target a different monster.

Hm, good. Looks like we held off their initial charge, now all we have to do is push through them. If we can regroup with more NPCs, we should be able to push right through any other groups we encounter, so long as the Boss isn’t with them. We just need to-. Whoa!

I’d gotten too distracted, allowing a monster to get close and swing at me with the icicle attached to its fist. I stabbed at it, but it blocked by conjuring a block of stone with its other hand. I barely had a second before it tried to use that very same block to crush my skull. I crossed my swords over my head and caught the blow, only for the damn thing to kick me in the crotch. If I hadn’t had Beast of the Nightmare activated, the follow-up icicle stab would’ve gone eight through my heart. As it was, I barely managed to twist out of the way, turning a death blow into a grazing one.

“Michael! Get away from him!”

Cameron must’ve seen what happened, because he charged in right after, forcing the Baculth to block the attack at the cost of its right arm. With it now distracted, I used the hilt of my sword to break the icicle still impaling me, before falling back behind the other defenders.

Fucking monster! What kind of bastard uses a low blow in this kind of fight!? I mean, I know it was effective, but it’s just so goddamn painful! And now there’s a fucking icicle in my arm! Damn it!

Temporarily sticking a sword into the ground, I grabbed ahold of the ice in me, and yanked it out, then activated Rapid Recovery. The wound stopped bleeding almost immediately, and I could actually see it healing, like I was watching a video speed way up. It took thirty seconds, but soon the wound was completely healed, with only a small scar left behind. Even better, I no longer felt like fainting from extreme pain.

Wow, guess it isn’t called Rapid Recovery for nothing. I know that wound wasn’t particularly deep or anything, but it’s completely gone now! Hahaha, heck, I feel like I just took a nap too! Ah, though it also seems to have used as much mana as Beast of the Nightmare. I should probably use this one sparingly, at least for now.

Still, despite the mana consumption, it had only taken about thirty seconds to heal me. It wasn’t anywhere as efficient as Healing Magic, but would work in a pinch, or if I was alone.

“Lad, are you okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. Right as rain actually. Heck, I kind of want to see if monsters will react to being castrated.”

“….Your vindictive side is showing again.”

“It kicked me. In. The. Balls! Of course I’m angry! Ima gonna slaughter them. All of them.”

***

[Alicia’s POV]

Alicia was currently nested in a nearby tree, far away from all the annoying sheep monsters. Much like Michael had days before, she’d discovered that some branches were big enough for a person to stand on, especially if you weren’t weighed down with heavy armor or weapons.

She also wasn’t the only one up there. All of the other archers had climbed up when they saw the size of the enemy group, each one picking different trees. They now rained down death on all the Baculth, which was the reason they hadn’t managed to encircle the mercenaries on the ground.

Well, technically it was actually Alicia and Jansen who were mainly responsible, but the other dozen archers were helping. But they simply couldn’t compare to either of them.

Alicia was being as much of a human turret as ever, though her firing speed was a little slower since she had to actually aim here, while Jansen was launching what were essentially burning missiles. Alicia wasn’t sure if that fire was a result of his weapon or a Skill, but considering that it was always fatal, she didn’t want to see it turned against her.

That bow of his is definitely different than what he had before. That one was a marbled green, right? ….do you think he’d give that one to me if I asked?

“braaaaaa…..”

A roar off in the distance caught her attention. Whatever it had been was loud, and very, very angry. However, she couldn’t see what it was since there were too many trees between here and there, but she could take a guess. The fact that she could see signs of the trees in that direction having been disturbed was just the icing on the cake.

***

“Haaaa….haaaah, woo, may have gone a bit overboard there.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to put my castration plan into effect, mostly due to the fact that I couldn’t find anything to castrate. Not that I’d looked too hard, mind you. I wasn’t going to go that far.

Hrm, I know I’ve seen things on monsters before, things I wish I could unsee. Maybe it’s because we’re in a Dungeon? I mean, I haven’t seen any pregnant monsters here, so….. I’m not sure where I’m going with that. The only answer I can think of is that it’s a measure to keep the monsters from overpopulating Dungeons. Uh, should I check this once we’re out of here? Do I want to do that? You know what, there’s probably some crazy scientist guy who's doing that already. I really don’t want to be known as the guy who checks out monsters' junk. So yeah, I’ll just forget I ever had this train of thought.

“Haaah, satisfied?”

“Yes. Hmhmhm, most definitely yes.”

Despite my nonexistent plan's failure, I had managed to kill a dozen more Baculths before more NPCs showed up to mop up the rest of them. We now had about five hundred fighters here, give-or-take a couple dozen.

“What now? We’ve got no clue where the Boss is, or how many monsters are still out here. We could just wander around mopping them up, but then there’s the chance that they regroup and mop up us.”

Cameron pointed behind me, towards a smallish gathering of mercenaries and NPCs. They were arguing about something, but I couldn’t make out what from where I was at. And before I could say or do anything, Alicia popped up from out of nowhere.

“Hey, who’s making decisions around here? Cause I think I know where the Boss is.”

***

[Braddock’s POV]

“We will not leave any of our compatriots behind! To even suggest such a thing is completely disgraceful!”

“And? If we keep this up, we’ll just be bogged down by repeated battles. We have the perfect opportunity to retreat back to the fort, so why won’t you take it?”

“Because we were entrusted with a duty by the Commander and Archmage! We cannot, and will not, neglect that duty!”

Braddock sighed to himself at the stubbornness of the NPCs. He’d only decided that retreating back to the fort was the better plan because he felt that a significant number of the Baculths had died from the Archmage’s spell, and because he didn’t want to further endanger the other mercenaries. A few had already died, and he was determined to clear the Dungeon with as few casualties as possible.

However, the NPCs were being incredibly inflexible, which should’ve been obvious. They weren’t called NPCs for nothing. None of them had any true sense of self, and they all valued their mission above their own lives. They were the same as NPCs in a game.

We can’t retreat, we can’t finish the mission. I honestly can’t see a way out of this. Without the NPCs for aid, the Baculth will just overwhelm us with numbers. An attack like the last one would kill close to half of us without their support. It was lucky enough that so many managed to catch up to us in the first place. I won’t hinge our survival on luck.

It was at that moment when an unexpected voice cut into his thoughts.

“Uh, I don’t want to step on any toes, but I think I know where the Boss is.”

Alicia’s sudden declaration surprised everyone. Up to now, not even the NPCs had a concrete idea of where the Boss could be. So why did Alicia know?

“Miss, are you sure?”

“I’m fairly positive. There’s something big and mad fighting over in that direction. I didn’t see what it was, but it’s better than just standing here and bickering about it.”

Alicia had pointed deeper into the forest, which would indeed be where they suspected the Boss to have gone. But if she were wrong, they’d just end up even deeper in enemy territory. Though her mention of fighting at least hinted at reinforcements.

Haah, can I actually stop them? Despite what I’ve said, I don’t actually have enough influence to direct the others now. Sure, they’ll let me command them in battle, but not in the moments that count. Maybe I should just see what happens, come hell or high water.

***

“Hehehehe, if the Boss really is nearby, why would we let it go? I say we go crush it, once and for all!”

Sampson’s declaration seemed to catch with the others, as nearly every mercenary began to advocate for advancing. And since the NPCs had already wanted to keep going, we were soon heading deeper into the forest.

By sheer happenstance, I ended up walking next to Kalia, who looked rather worried. She kept glancing over at Braddock so much that she nearly tripped on a piece of wood I assume must’ve been thrown here by the meteors. I had to catch her to keep her from face-planting.

“Ah! Oh, uh, thanks Michael.”

“Anytime. Try to watch your step though. There’s more debris here than I thought there’d be.”

She made a non-committal response, before returning to her previous behavior. Honestly, I wanted to just ignore her since we were so close to the end, but I knew we’d need our healer to be focused for the fight to come. So I made a selfish-unselfish decision to talk to her. But I’d need to really grab her attention.

“Hey airhead. Watch where you’re going, or you’ll end up tripping again.”

“Ha!? Ah, sorry. My head’s just in the clou-. Wait a minute! You called me an airhead again!”

“I sure did, airhead.”

“Wha? Grrrrrrrr!”

Pfft, hahahaha! Wha-what’s with that face she’s making!? I didn’t know a person could make themselves look like a pouting squirrel!

The sight was hilarious. Too hilarious. I nearly forgot my original goal because of it. Honestly, I nearly laughed out loud, something I’m sure would’ve made Kalia even more upset. Which probably would’ve made her expression become funnier. Which would’ve led to me laughing harder. Wow, what a vicious cycle.

“Cough, cough, eherm. Uh, alright then. Well, at least you’re not so distracted now.”

“Ah…. Um, I’m sorry for worrying you. It’s just that…”

“Braddock, right? You’re not the only one who noticed. Something’s changed with him, but I not sure what.”

“Yeah. He ordinarily would’ve argued more back there. I, I think he’s given up, and I’m afraid of what he might do.”

“Hm, that could be a problem. He’s one of the biggest reasons we’ve made it this far. I’d like to see him survive to enjoy the benefits of his hard work. Don’t worry, if the Boss really is just ahead, then we’ll end this before anything else can happen.”

Though my words were said with confidence, I couldn't help but feel a shiver go down my spine.