Ogre Tyrant

Diverting from the main force with just our group, we headed over to investigate.

I was able to clear away the larger charred beams with minimal effort, and Toofy had since gotten the scent of treasure and was shamelessly digging through the loose piles of burnt debris. Between the two of us, we soon uncovered the burned and ashen remains of a half preserved adventurer. The splintered shaft of wood wedged through his ribcage, combined with the dark stain on his surrounding clothes, made it obvious what had killed him.

All the same, the bow at his side and the boots on his feet both appeared to be in immaculate condition, albeit covered in a fine layer of ash.

“Shiny…” Toofy’s eyes were wide with hunger, her fingers wiggling eagerly as she inched closer.

Besides retrieving the adventurer’s identification, Drake and Gaile seemed to find the idea of looting the dead distasteful, so I left Toofy to it.

While walking to rejoin the primary group in the middle of town, I found I could sense the presence of the portal in the middle of the plaza without really trying.

Taking a few moments to concentrate, I envisioned a tether forming between myself and the portal. Feeling a remarkably high amount of resistance, I channelled more mana and concentrated harder. All at once, I felt the resistance collapse and was met with a pair of notification panels.

[{Nexus Anchor #H3a} is uncontested.]

[{Nexus Anchor #H3a} is now controlled by {Tim’s Faction}.]

“Is that it?” I muttered hesitantly, unsure of what exactly I had been expecting.

“Was it a success?” Gaile asked, sounding quite surprised herself.

I nodded and turned my attention back to the portal. Just by looking at it, I understood that it served as a heavily subsidized link to both the primary portal located outside of the Labyrinth, as well as the portal from the second floor. I also understood that I could rescind roughly half that subsidy if I wanted to, making the travel from outside the Labyrinth or from the second floor, cost the traveler half the mana cost of traversing the gateways. Gaining control over the Anchor responsible for travel from the second floor to the third would allow me to rescind the subsidized travel entirely and enforce a mandatory teleportation location, which was rather appealing given the possibility of invasion.

The additional security afforded by controlling the Nexus Anchors had basically determined that it would now become a mandatory part of my further explorations. This in turn meant that avoiding the Adventurers Guild would no longer be such a high priority. If anything, I was willing to bet the Asrusian army would take the active role of subjugating the Footholds on my behalf if it meant that they could have ready access to the land afterwards.

After a short discussion with Captain Hughes, Gaile returned to the group, “The Captain wants to know if we will be staying to secure a Settlement or returning to Port Gidian.”

With what I now knew about the Portals, I didn’t want it left alone. “We will stay long enough to secure the Settlement, but I want to head back straight afterwards.”

“About that,” Gaile pressed unabashedly, “We want another gateway. The requisite manastones are in the hold of the Fortitude, so assuming you are willing?” She turned her attention to Toofy and pulled a crumbed, spiced and fried piece of meat from a small leather sack at her waist and wafted it a little to spread its pleasant aroma.

Toofy began drooling almost immediately, her eyes burning with primal hunger. However, just as she was about to snatch the bribe, Toofy stopped herself and stiffly withdrew her hands, tucking them tightly under her armpits as she gave me a questioning pleading look.

“Ril? Will a gateway conflict with the Portal?” I was still new to teleportation, so I was willing to defer to her greater experience and first-hand knowledge on the subject.

Ril remained quiet for a short while, carefully considering the Portal and then the ruined surroundings at large. “Provided they are kept separate, there should be no problem.”

*Crunch*

“Mmmh! Sho mmyummy!” Toofy had struck with the speed of a striking cobra, her teeth biting deep and coming within a hair's breadth of Gaile’s gloved fingers.

“I guess that answers that,” I sighed.

Toofy waved a free hand dismissively, causing an iron gateway to spring into existence next to Gaile and Drake, who both immediately sprang into action to prevent it from crashing against the ground.

With the Settlement conquest quest actively aggroing everything within a gigantic radius, Ril binding a gateway at the same time probably wouldn’t amount to much difference. But it did raise some concerns, “I want a rotating ten-man team protecting Ril at all times,” I demanded.

Understanding Ril’s importance, it wasn’t exactly a hard ask, Gaile and Drake agreed almost immediately, and Captain Hughes made it the highest priority.

Between the three of us, the entire expedition was part of my extended retinue. This was somewhat exciting since I would be funneled Exp from every monster our expedition managed to kill, albeit at a fifty percent penalty rate. With that in mind, while clearing away rubble and helping build up barricades, I was secretly hoping for a truly monumental wave of wild monsters to attack our position.

The biggest upside of conquering the foothold was its existing defenses and chokepoints. With only two gates, monsters incapable of scaling the walls would be funnelled to those two points. With those natural choke points in mind, Captain Hughes assigned ten men to hold each gate and held another ten in reserve to keep watch around the now barricaded plaza outside of the gutted Guild office that was serving as a command HQ. Another ten soldiers were assigned as guards specifically for the far end of the plaza opposite the HQ where Ril would soon begin binding the gateway. All other soldiers would be held in reserve, replacing those on active combat duty as needs arose. Witnessing the sheer amount of prepared food being unloaded from the ship, it was apparent that the Asrusians had been hoping I would stay and provide my accelerated healing synergy, and the others besides.

As expected, moments after Ril began channeling her mana, the port gate came under attack by the crocodiles from the river. Wanting the soldiers to be fresh for when more agile enemies appear, I decided to join in the melee, leaving Ril under Toofy’s watchful care. Easily scaling the plaza’s barricade, I charged down the main road and arrived at the port gate in under a couple of minutes.

The soldiers assigned to holding the gate were a combination of Spearmen, Swordsmen and Archers, and they worked well together under the stern eye of the Lieutenant and Sergeant. All the same, they seemed relieved by my sudden arrival.

With dozens of crocs racing up the banks and scrambling onto the paved ground just outside of the dock gate, it was an understandable sentiment.

Needing room to fight effectively, I wasn’t shy about claiming the forward centre position and waving the soldiers off to either side.

*Crunch*

Dashing my first croc’s brains out and staving in its skull, I began repeating the simple motion of raising and lowering my arm in rapid succession.

*Crunch, Crack, Crack, Crunch, Thump, Crack*

Like a more dangerous and bloody game of whack-a-mole, I brought my club down hard on every croc who drew near. Even though I was prioritizing their heads in order to deliver killing blows, I placed a higher priority in maintaining a sustainable rhythm, content with breaking a spine or crushing a leg if it meant I could keep my momentum going.

Eventually, the tide of River Lurkers slowed to a trickle, so I stepped back to let the Asrusians take care of them on their own.

Returning to the barricaded plaza, I stayed just long enough to make sure Toofy and Ril were alright, before heading for the east gate.

Drake and Gaile were already assisting the soldiers stationed at the gate, and it seemed just as well since they were under attack by enemies with a little more coordination and intelligence. Naked Orcs and Goblins were skirmishing against the soldiers holding the gate, probing the barricades with sudden charges but then disengaging before losing more than a couple of their fighters. All the while, Orcs and Goblins farther back in the open plain would pelt stones, covering their allies' retreat.

However, my appearance at the gate immediately broke the cycle. The Goblins fled immediately, leaving their Orc allies for dead. The Orcs stopped skirmishing and committed to trying to breach the barricade, slamming their bodies into the piled stones and then desperately scrambling against the soldiers' spears as the Asrusian Spearman took overhead grips on their spears and skewered the Orcs from above. All the while, the Archers made the best of their elevated flanking positions and timed their strikes to make the most of their enemies exposed nakedness, catching the Orcs in the ribs and felling them with only a couple of arrows each.

Originally numbering around seventeen, the six Orcs still left standing bolted out into the plains, leaving their wounded for dead. Scaling the barricade, I looked over the dead and dying Orcs for one to interrogate for information. It was a strange experience to have men with bodies like bodybuilders shy away from me in fear. Unfortunately, their heightened state of fear only made them bleed out all the faster and I was unable to get even a single piece of information out of them.

While scaling the barricade again, I spied movement on the north side of town and decided to investigate. Winding my way through the blackened and collapsed buildings, I heard signs of more movement headed south but couldn’t see what was causing it.

“Breach!” A soldier up ahead called out in warning and was soon joined by a chorus of other soldiers.

Rushing ahead, I didn’t realize I was already in the thick of it until I nearly lost my footing.

[You have slain {Webspinner Drone 1} +200 Exp]

Small housecat-sized spiders bearing a striking resemblance to black widows were skittering over the cobblestones and rushing towards the centre of town and Ril’s gateway. Accidentally crushing one of these spiders underfoot was what very nearly caused me to lose my footing.

Unlike during a Settlement Conquest, the spiders did not seem to be single-minded when it came to pursuing their original objective. The moment they realized I was amongst them, half the swarm of spiders turned around and charged right at me instead, releasing aggressive hissing sounds and clacking their mandibles in agitation.

If ever I had been arachnophobic, fighting tank sized spiders on the fourth floor had long since driven that particular fear out of me. Seeing only a carpet of weak fragile sources of Exp headed my way, I stepped out into the open and began sweeping my club back and forth, dashing their chitinous bodies with enough force to dash them apart or at least cripple them.

Taking my lead, the soldiers with spears moved forward and aggressively slashed their spears through the approaching carpet of irate arachnids.

“Contact!” The call came from the portside gate and was joined by the sounds of steel striking stone.

Not even halfway through the veritable tide of spiders, I was forced to begin using my free hand to swat away spiders that had begun jumping at me from the tops of ruined walls and buildings.

“Contact! We have contact!” This time the call came from the eastern gate.

“BEHIND YOU!” One of the Archers defending the plaza pointed in my direction briefly before drawing and firing an arrow that flew a foot above my head.

*Thunk*

Gathering a small amount of mana into my club, I shifted to a two-handed grip and swung high as I sharply pivoted on the spot.

A spider half the size of a Sand Stalker was perched on the building just behind me, an arrow embedded in one of its eyes responsible for temporarily delaying its attempted ambush.

*Crunch BOOM!*

The thunderclap and resulting shockwave tore apart the spider and sent its ichorous viscera and spasming legs flying in all directions as the wall it was standing on collapsed.

[You have slain {Webspinner Matriarch 5} +1500 Exp]

Quickly blinking away the kill notification, I was surprised by the amount of Exp the larger spider had provided compared to its smaller kin.

With the death of their matriarch, the smaller spiders devolved into chaos, scattering every which way and scrambling over one another in their attempts to escape.

I did my best to kill as many as possible, knowing full well that once the Conquest began all of these spiders would return again and make a beeline straight for the Totem. Unfortunately, their ability to traverse the ruined terrain and scale the wall meant that inevitably a few did in fact manage to escape.

With the last of the spiders now thoroughly out of reach, I headed for the portside gate’s barricade where I could still hear sounds of fighting.

The soldiers were in the process of putting down a giant snake with the same size jaws as the River Lurkers. Two other snakes of similar proportions lay dead nearby, their bodies damn near hacked to pieces.

Skirting the melee, I made for the snake's coiling tail and raised my club.

*Whack Crunch*

Feeling the snake's bones shatter from the attack, I immediately stepped back and readied my club to strike again. Sure enough, the snake hissed in anger and lunged towards me, giving the Archers the clear shot they had been waiting for.

*Thwip Thwack*

One arrow smacked into the snake’s right eye, burying itself to the fletching. The other arrow struck the snake in the neck, barely missing the thicker scales on its back and cutting into the softer scales of its belly.

*Crack Splat*

Having lost its momentum from the arrow lodged in its brain, the giant snake was an easy target and I had no problems making sure my club would land true and rupture its skull open.

[You have slain {Shivercoil 3} +900 Exp]

Heading back to the eastern gate, I was just in time to catch the tail end of their fight against what looked like badly made scarecrows. Made entirely of splintered wood and held together by magic, the aptly named Kindling didn’t seem to be particularly difficult to fight and reminded me a great deal of the mud dolls we had fought in the swamp. All the same, the apparent reason for the fight taking so long was the sheer number of Kindlings that had rushed the barricade.

With so much wood lying everywhere, it was impossible to come to an exact count, but I estimated that Drake, Gaile and the ten expedition soldiers assigned to the eastern gate, must have killed something along the lines of fifty or so Kindlings.

Helping the soldiers stack as much of the wood as possible, I was pleased to hear the officers discussing the use the materials to reinforce their barricades with spikes, or even soaking a ball or two in oil so they could make fiery obstructions to better fight off the monsters during the midnight respawn rush. Impressed by their initiative, I made a few suggestions of my own to better fight against the Orcs and Goblins. By requesting another ten soldiers at the minimum and then scouring the immediate area outside of the gate for rocks and stones and bringing them back inside, they would be denying the Orcs and Goblins access to meaningful ammunition to harass them with.

Knowing my presence would serve as an agitant for any Orcs and Goblins in the area, I decided to stay and oversee the stone gathering effort. On more than a few occasions, I caught sight of movement in the distant treeline, but nothing came of it.

Assisting with reinforcing the barricade to compensate for the collapsed structure of the gate itself, the addition of the braced wooden spikes in the barricades, and the hammered stakes leading up to the barricades, meant that crossing over was now far too dangerous to undertake for the sake of it. With nothing else to do, I made my way back to the central plaza while Gaile made her way to the HQ to make a report.

With the first wave of agitated monsters defeated, it was very likely that I would be asked to initiate the Conquest event at any moment.

In my absence, Toofy had removed what looked like a large tent-sized woven basket from her extradimensional space and was quietly chatting away to Kestrel to the accompaniment of quiet splashing sounds. Peeking through the woven doorway, just to make sure everything was alright, I found Ril still sitting in the same place as earlier, only now Toofy was wetting strips of cloth from Ril’s favourite clay pot and loosely wrapping her up like a soggy mummy while Kestrel did her best not to laugh.

Confident that they were both alright, and that the wicker hut would afford them at least some protection, I spent the next half hour carefully stacking broken bricks and stones around the sides of the hut to afford it a little more protection.

“Captain Hughes is ready now,” Gaile reported and pointed to the robust flagpole that had been erected outside of the command HQ.

It had taken a team of soldiers the better part of two hours to dig deep enough and anchor it to their Captain’s exacting standards. This was fair enough, considering the destruction of the flagpole would have dire consequences not just during the event, but in the future as well.

Making my way over to the flagpole, it was a reminder that I had been letting a few things slide that may not be giving the best impression. Tim’s Faction being the name of my Faction was a good example of that. Releasing a deep sigh, I promised myself that I would take naming things a little more seriously.

Going through the motions and activating the Conquest Event, I was a little surprised by the formality of not just the Asrusian officers, but the rank and file soldiers as well. Everyone not on assigned duties had formed ranks before the flagpole and saluted as a Lieutenant pulled the flag of the royal family into position to fly defiantly over the ruined Foothold.

The flag was more detailed than other examples I had seen thus far and depicted a male lion with a pair of bat-like wings sprouting from its back and a chitinous scorpion tail, rearing up on its hind legs and grappling with an unseen adversary. It had a similar art style to feudal european crests, but there was also a general sense of an artist having immortalized a moment in time. That somehow, the monster depicted on the flag had once been a living breathing creature.

As the soldiers returned to their posts, I stopped Gaile and pointed up to the flag, “What’s the significance of the crest?” I asked curiously.

Gaile seemed surprised, “It is Asrus, the legendary protector and companion to the first king of our people.”

Gaile’s answer caught me by surprise.

“In the chaos caused by the arrival of the Labyrinths, the world was slipping inexorably to eternal destruction. Wild and bloodthirsty monsters ravaged the lands and humankind was disappearing like smoke…” Gaile was not the best storyteller, but there was a certain quality to her voice that lent itself well to the dire subject matter, “Asrus, and others, began keeping humans as pets, sheltering them from the devastation and allowing us to rebuild. Asrus waged an unending war to drive the wild monsters back and…and he fell fighting a dragon thrice his own size, but not before delivering as many crippling blows to the dragon in turn!” Gaile’s eyes burned like bonfires, “It is in his memory that we proudly bear his name to continue his legacy!”

Unsure of how much the national origins story could be trusted, It still raised the question as to why Asrus and the other monsters had allegedly taken the humans as pets in the first place. Was it a misunderstood demonstration of dominance? Were the monsters simply preserving the humans on a whim? Or had their motivations been far more…human?...

*****

Finished reading the official messages delivered by the delegations of the Empire and confederation of independent city-states, Francis cast them into the fire. Making no attempts whatsoever to conceal their collusion, both delegations had arrived within moments of one another and expressed their deepest regrets that war could not be avoided any further, and that the Lord Regent would be wise to cede all requested territories if he knew what was best for his people, and his nephew.

It was the parting barb that guaranteed the Empire’s delegation would meet with a most unfortunate accident while returning to their quarters. Francis tolerated no threats against his remaining family, regardless of the form they happened to take, he would always see the instigator chastised.

Leaving his quarters, Francis and his attending guards headed for the war room.

As expected, the war room was a hive of barely organized chaos. Senior officers crowded the central table and argued with one another while placing small wooden figurines that represented enemy and allied forces on an expansive map of the Asrus kingdom and the surrounding territories. The positions of these figurines would quickly change as runners and junior officers arrived with fresh reports and new information. Meanwhile, military aides pored through registries and inventory records to determine precisely how many soldiers, how much equipment and food they had available, and precisely where it was located.

Taking his seat at the head of the table, Francis watched the figurines move this way and that for another ten minutes before they grew quite still. As he had expected, the Empire had amassed a force on the northeastern border that outnumbered Asrus’s total standing army four to one. The southern front was a little better. The Confederacy’s army had gone for close to a full mobilization and outnumbered them three to one. Collectively outnumbered roughly seven to one, Francis knew that they stood little to no chance at winning any meaningful open field engagements. This was one of the reasons why he had been so adamant about securing refuge for the common folk. Abandoning them would have seen desertion en masse from the rank and file, but with their families and extended families safely tucked away, Francis and his generals could at the very least rely on their soldiers to maintain basic discipline in the face of these overwhelming odds.

More or less as Francis and his advisors had anticipated, three cities had been lost through betrayal and internal strife. Count Otto had been murdered and the city of Khal handed over to the Empire. Thankfully, most of the Count’s family had escaped and a rescue team had been deployed to retrieve them. Earl Linus and his traitorous brood had declared secession and joined the Confederacy, and Mournbrent had been lost to a monstrous horde that had already gutted the city.

Knowing the Adventurers Guild was behind the massacre, but lacking proof, Francis now felt fully vindicated in accepting Chieftain Tim’s proposal for annexing the Guild’s Footholds through subterfuge and force. Loyal operatives were already being deployed into the Hurst Labyrinth to better accommodate the transition.

With so many people to see to safety and so little time, it only made sense to expand more aggressively. So it was a profound relief to find Chieftain Tim was so amenable to altering existing agreements without predating on their desperation. That wasn’t to say his counter-demands had not shown token resistance to demonstrate his displeasure or better represent his own preferences for the cooperative relationship, but it was nothing compared to dealing with the Harad merchant republic. Harad negotiators were notoriously ruthless.

All the same, Tim’s continued demonstration of unnaturally high intelligence and ability to extrapolate Francis’s desires through otherwise simple requests was more than a little unnerving. If it weren’t for his repeated and unsolicited demonstrations of benevolence and ready acceptance of Human companions, Francis would have long since considered alternate means of securing what his people needed.

As it stood, Francis understood that he was bargaining away his nephew’s crown in return for their peoples’ safety. So from that particular point of view, his detractors at court had finally been vindicated in their long-standing accusations, although not quite in the way that they insisted. But Francis knew he was making the right choice. He knew that if he could ask his brother Gidian or his wife Brita, they wouldn’t hesitate in trading the crown for so many lives, even to a monster.

If the Empire was not so single-minded on enslaving its own people, or the Confederacy not so transparently riddled with corrupt nobility, then Francis may have considered surrendering the kingdom and the crown to either of them instead.

It was quite depressing when a monster notorious for its cruelty and brutality was the better candidate by such an insurmountable margin. Francis still struggled to believe that Tim was in fact an Ogre at all. Despite all descriptions of his appearance and first-hand confirmations of his Status information, no evidence had been uncovered to resolve the dichotomy of Tim’s appearance and his behaviour. Possessing a genius-level intelligence by Ogre standards was the best anyone had been able to justify it.

“Lord Regent!” One of the messengers hurried to the table and placed a hastily written note on the table before stepping back and standing at attention, “A message from Lieutenant Kestrel.”

Quickly scanning the message, Francis released a deep sigh of relief. Captain Hughes had successfully conquered the Foothold and taken it as a Settlement. Furthermore, the requested gateway to support the Settlement and colonization efforts on the east bank of Hurst Labyrinth’s third floor had been approved and was now active.

“I want our mass mobilization for the third floor of the Hurst Labyrinth to begin at once!” Francis declared, “Have the Scouts issued standardized maps of the east forest, I want every one of those sites colonized within the week!” Francis knew it was an absurdly ambitious ask of his men, but he also knew that they had very little choice if they wanted their people to survive.

“Lord Regent!” Another messenger hurried over to the table and deposited a much shorter message.

Snatching up the second message, it only took Francis a moment to read through the contents.

Another attempt had been made on his nephew's life. Thwarted by his previous removal from the castle and monstrous replacement taking his form, a trio of skilled assassins had been led into an ambush by the shapeshifter wearing his nephew’s face. Unfortunately, the assassins had committed suicide in order to prevent themselves from being caught. However, the identities hidden beneath their masks made it obvious who was responsible for the attempt.

Gritting his teeth, Francis made an effort to remain calm. The Empire's delegation had turned out to be serpents in disguise after all. Assassins to a man. One small piece of good news was that the shapechanger had discovered the name of a conspirator from one of the dying assassins and refused to share who it was outside of a personal meeting and exchange of favours.

With the shapechangers’ child already headed to Sanctuary alongside Francis’s own nephew, he was at a loss as to what the shapechanger might want. All the same, Francis summoned his private guard and headed for the royal apartments. The shapechanger had demonstrated a rather cavalier attitude thus far regarding her own safety, so her sudden change in behaviour was justifiable cause to fuel Francis’s own paranoia.

Clearing the top steps, Francis barely registered the faint whisper of steel leaving a scabbard behind him and immediately dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a strike from his personal guard.

*Clunk*

A crossbow bolt materialized in the guard’s visor and he wobbled uncertainly for a moment before crashing to the ground.

The shapechanger materialized from behind the curtained portrait of Francis’s late parents. “That was close,” she snickered, casually casting aside a crossbow and taking on the appearance of one of the castle’s maids.

“How long?” Francis demanded shakily as he got to his feet, profoundly thankful for the Paranoid Defense Ability afforded by his special Class.

“A few hours at most,” the shapechanger replied glibly, “I know, because I read his mind after lunch.” She took a firm grip on the shaft of the bolt and yanked it out of the dead guard's head with one smooth practiced motion. “Couldn’t read him when he walked past earlier…Or, I could have, but-” The shapechanger paused and pulled off the guard's helmet, revealing a smooth white face remarkably similar to her own, “-he would have sensed it.”

Francis groaned, “Another shapechanger…”

Taking no offence, the female shapechanger removed the imposter’s coif and made sure he could get a clear look at the advanced Slave collar around its neck. “Soulless and following strict commands,” she shrugged and sighed, “Could be a lot worse.”

Francis nodded in understanding. Things would have been far worse with a free agent like her instead of a slave. “What do you want in exchange for this favour?”

The shapechanger smiled demurely and wiped her hands clean on the imposter’s cloak, “Well, now that you mention it…”