Chapter 10: Burn it all down!
Silence filled the hall once again, before eruppting into hysterical laughter. This child claimed to be a Dark Margenko, it was all far to funny for the gathered criminals. Everybody, no matter the social standing, knew the story of the Dark Margenko, terrifying in human beasts that roamed the world many years ago. They killed and slaughtered what ever was in their paths and ruled the normal Margenko through terror and tyranny. To think this little girl actually believed it was such a being was the best joke in the entire universe. Koal had not laughed that hard in his entire live prior.
His laughing fit was suddenly interrupted, as he was hit in the face with a liquid, some of which he accidentally swallowed. A metallic taste made him gag for a moment and with a hand to his face to swipe some of it off his face it was confirmed, it was blood.
He looked for the source of it and his mouth hang open at the sight before him. The men who had let the girl Trio to the hall were dead on the floor, their bodies still slightly twitching on the ground. Standing over them was Hanna, fresh blood dripping from her claws and clothes, she licked her claws and glared towards Koal and his captains, who started to quite down once again.
"You know, it’s rather rude to laugh in someone’s face, after they made you an offering so great, even The King wouldn’t dare decline it. Now I‘m a generous girl, the offer still stands, you get me what I want and I promise to let you live. Do we have a Deal?"
Thoughts raced through Koal’s head at a speed, higher than ever before. Even that one time when a Paladin of the church had started to investigate did he not get as scared as he was now.
The claims of the girl were far to ridiculous for any sane man to accept, but even if those weren’t true it was very clear that this girl was still dangerous and that those claws were not just for show.
Now his captains couldn’t compare to trained professionals, but they could fight adventurers at even gold rank and higher, for her to dispose of them so easily was not a good sign for him if it came to a fight.
A sudden movement next to him freed him from his thoughts, as his right-hand man and arguably the strongest of his captains came forth, his bodyguard Hawke.
"I give you two options now girl. Go away or die. You chose."
Hawke was not a man of many words, but the message was clear and simple and it put Koal’s mind at ease, of course if intimidation failed, brutal shows of might were the answer and what great show of might is Hawke threatening you? Even this delusional girl must realise she has no chance against him.
Much to Koal’s confusion, instead of fear or hesitance there was a glow of glee in the shining red eyes of the girl.
"Ohohoho, I planned to kidnap you secretly to have my fun with you, as you seem rather durable but now your just offering yourself to me on a golden platter? Yes, YES! Come to me, there is so much flesh I can carve from your bones! Don’t you DARE not meeting my expectations!"
Koal visibly gulped, this girl was completely insane, maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all.
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Silence filled the meeting hall of the adventurers Guild the entire room was packed with every adventurer in the entire capital and it’s nearby villages. Over 300 people were inside the room.
On the other end of the room a large podium was located on top of which a man stood, multiple mages were around the man, casting a single spell on the man. [Empower Voice].
“Attention all adventurers! I am sure you all have been informed about the presence of a Dark Margenko in the ruins of the old capital, recorded by the captain of the Winged Legion."
Mumbled words of agreement could be heard from the crowd, the guildmaster nodded and continued once the crowd went quite once more.
"Most must have heard about the tragic passing of the Strand family? As well as the passing of Frank and Shirone? Well today an interesting thing spun the story on its head. As Adeline Strand was confirmed alive. She came into the Guild just a few hours ago."
The crowd erupted in confusion and all kinds of emotions. It took several minutes before the master could continue.
"I know you all want to hear the story, but we don’t want to sit here all day, so I will go quickly through the story, so everyone has an idea. According to Adeline, her family was ambushed by a Dark Margenko." The crowd erupted once again, but the master cut them short.
"They tried to fight the beast off, but at the end they both fell against the beast, but not before gravely injuring it as well. Adeline, however, wasn’t killed, according to her she was forced to be the beast slave for its… desires. She wasn’t alone in this, there was another young girl with the beast, another slave, a beast girl named Hanna."
Disgust and anger for the beast and pity for the girls were words most adventurers muttered after the guildmaster took a short break.
"They slaved for multiple days with the beast before Frank and Shirone stumbled across them. They managed to kill the beast, as it had not recovered from its injuries yet, however they both succumbed to the beasts poison."
Again, murmurs of pity came across the crowd, this time for the two remaining teammates of Frank and Shirone, who were both absent to inform the families of their lost members. An job no one ever wanted, but some just have to do.
"It’s a tragic and heroic tale isn’t it? Almost to heroic."
The guildmaster was met with confused glances and murmurs, some already having guessed what he wants to say next.
"Now I‘m not saying that Adeline is outright lying, but when I heard her tell the story, whenever she mentioned the Margenko, a shine was in her eyes and whenever she mentioned either Frank or Shirone there was a glint in her eye, it resembled hate. Furthermore, she wasn’t alone, she took Hanna with her and let me tell you she barley looks ten years old and yet sheets more mature then some working men in this city.
If anyone where to have been actually made a slave by a Dark Margenko, especially a child, would be terrified, but these girls acted like it was an everyday occurrence."
Silence filled the room once again, the adventurers simply nodding their heads or giving worried glances to each other, before the guildmaster began once again.
"There is something fishy going on here, I don’t know what but there is something and it involves these two girls without a doubt. So I will order the following executive order: Monitor and keep watch over these two girls, find out whatever is going on, but keep it discreet, so they won’t catch on! That is all."
The room exploded in conversation soon after, as the many adventurer teams discussed the meeting with one another, the guildmaster himself was talking to one himself, when he suddenly was interrupted by a single adventurer, he was new, barley old enough to count as an adult. The guildmaster towered over him, and he was visibly nervous, regardless he spoke up to the guildmaster.
"Uhmm… Guildmaster, sir, I think I saw the girls you mentioned earlier…"
The master and the platinum team he was conversing with turned to the young adventurer with raised eyebrows.
"And where did you see them? And how do you know it’s them?"
The young adventurer flinched for a moment, before continuing.
"I-I don’t know if it was them, however I saw three girls today entering Gangster territory a few hours ago, one was an young human girl, one was an elven beggar and the last was a noble looking, young beast girl, so I thought…"
The young man couldn’t finish before the guildmaster gave him a firm nod and a dark look, the Adventurer flinched, but the guildmaster eased his mind.
"Yeah boy, your right, these two are the ones we’re looking for, and they entered gangster territory? Which one?“
"It was the one near the guild, where the sewers can be entered from." The young adventurer replied shakily.
The Guildmaster turned to the platinum team he was conversing with earlier and gave them a firm nod.
"Now you know where to head to, but be careful, these gangsters are of the more ruthless variety, don’t hesitate to call for help if needed."
With a nod the team of six adventurers went outside the guild and towards the nearby alleyway, from which one could access the sewers. But as they reached the entrance and went into the sewers, they smelled something unexpected.
It was fire
Rushing into the sewers, they followed the smell of ashes and fire, finding a hallway build into the stonewall of the sewer and they soon found themselves in a cave system with many single caves, it didn’t take a genius to find out just what this place was, what they didn’t expect to find however, was the giant cage, which was burning in a bright blaze, inside the cage only ashes could be found and next to the cage were multiple dead bodies, with most having lost limbs.
With far more caution then before the team of adventures made their way through the caves, when hey suddenly heard a loud scream of pain, without hesitation they started to run towards it, the cave system started to have multiple turns and twists, with each second the screams both increased in volume and quantity, so they knew they were on the right track at least.
On their way found many more corpses on the ground, they were as mutilated as the ones before, soon they rounded a corner and came across a giant room which was lit brightly, the adventurers raised their weapons and carefully entered the hall, to whiteness the effects of a rampaging Dark Margeko.
Corpses and blood littered the floor, flames burned all around, feasting on all the different bodies inside of them. In the middle, in a giant puddle of blood a mountain of organs and body parts was located.
At the far end of the hall a young girl was standing, she wore a black skirt and a simple red shirt, she was drenched from head to toe in blood and it didn’t take a genius to understand that this wasn’t her own blood. She had a thin, pointy tail and large fox like ears. Long and sharp claws were on each of her fingers and her teeth, visible through her grin, were sharper then most knives and her ruby red eyes shined a dangerous glow.
In front of her, a man was kneeling, he was missing an arm and although the adventurers couldn’t see it, he was also missing an eye.
"I-I got you what you wanted, you promised you would leave me alone!" The man spoke in a weak and frail voice, it was raspy and held no hope in it what so ever.
The monster in front of him simply laughed.
"Oh my sweet innocent morsel, I thought I just have shown you how much I love breaking things. That includes promises you know? Since you didn’t learn from my previous example I will mercifully give you another, so you may learn after all."
The monster kicked the man to the ground, with a thud an a painful moan the man landed and in response the monster towered over him, with her foot raised high.
"You know it’s kinda poetic, in this exact way I have killed one of your first men I encountered. The way I entered I leave the same way. Thanks again for stuff by the way, as a reward I will make this quick for you. Good bye!"
The man closed his eyes in anticipation of insane amounts of pain, but it never came, instead the monster screamed, followed by an explosion, confused he looked up, to see the monsters slammed into a wall, rubble falling down all around it.
"Your rampage ends here Monster!“
A loud voice announced and as Koal turned around, it was the first time in his entire life he was happy to see adventurers.
A growl was heard from the monster as it stood up once again, the team of adventures consisted of two mages, a ranger two swordsmen and one Scout, they all held their weapons high and the mages both prepared another spell attack, to everyone’s surprise however, rather then mindlessly charging at them, the monster laughed.
"Hahah. Oh how I would love to rip you all from limb to limb, but sadly I know when I‘m outclassed so that will have to wait a bit. I have got what I wanted, so I guess it’s time for me to leave, I had my fill already anyway. Here‘s a small tip by the way. Better hold your breath."
The monster inhaled deeply before releasing a green gas from its mouth in great quantities, they all realised it was poison and held their breaths, while the mages readied protective shields.
Soon The poisonous gas filled the entire room and they could only watched as the monster casually walked through the hall and towards the exit, giving them a smirk and a wave before disappearing into the cave system.
"You two have you finished yet gathering everything up? Or do I have to ge…"
The voice faded as the monster slowly left through the winding halls of the tunnels. The adventurers could only wait in frustration for the poisonous gas to disappear. While Koal was laying on the ground next to them, shivering. For the first time since becoming a criminal, he was truly and utterly scared.