“Ah… This is the most cushy gig I’ve ever done!”
“Yeah with the stat boosts that ca with being undead, none of these little losers can even lift a finger against us!”
“How much longer will we need to do this for?”
“I think the boss said another week, then we start converting people. Apparently, there's so kinda big eting in a month or so that he wants votes for, but that’s above my paygrade!” the man said, giving a hearty chuckle beneath his hooded robes.
“Ain't that the truth!” the other guffawed.
“Oh, would you look at this fellas? We got so fresh at at the center!”
The trio of n pushed passed the weary crowd of adventurers, spotting a man with long red hair wearing nothing but a frown, a grey hoodie, and so raggy-looking pants.
“Where did you roll in from friend?” one of the n asked, wrapping his arm around the newcor’s shoulder.
“Oliver Queen, huh? Level 11! On the higher side of the adventurer pool aren’t we? But don’t get a big head about it man! Haha, so of the monsters out there are even in their 20s now! But you know…” the man said leaning in, “For a fee… We can make sure nothing bad happens.”
“And don’t forget to use this center there’s also a service fee!” bellowed another with a laugh.
“Don’t forget the city tax as well!” chuckled the other.
The bystanders looked on with disgust in their eyes but none of them were strong enough or willing enough to stick their neck out for this stranger.
“Hey! Say sothing. Are you deaf, dumb, and stupid or sothing?”
“Maybe we ca across Hellen Keller?” sneered one of the n, bringing down his hood to look the man in the eyes.
“So you are as pale as him. Are you ghouls or full-fledged idiots?” the man finally asked.
“What the fuck did you say..?”
The man who pulled down his hood growled, baring four elongated fangs and dull crimson eyes, his skin a pale unhealthy gray.
“Is this all of you?” the man in the hoodie asked, ignoring the other man’s outburst.
“You think we need more than just us to take care of so fucking level 11?”
The three n surrounded the man in the hoodie, cracking their knuckles and necks looking at him balefully as their weapons manifested in their hands.
“I think you’re going to need far more than anything you have in this city, you walking pile of maggot-infested garbage.”
“I’ve heard enough of this sick dog’s barking! We don’t need a disobedient animal! Kill him!”
The three n rushed forward with their weapons curving in vicious arcs towards the hooded man.
The red-haired man suddenly shimred with power, his hair shifting and cascading to a gentle green as he weaved through their blows casually.
“I’ll ask three questions. A chance for each of you to answer,” he said.
“Screw you lowbie! We ain't got shit to say to you!”
Swing after swing, blow after blow passed the man harmlessly.
“T-this guy can’t be level 11… I’m specced for Dexterity and a higher level! Sothing ain’t right here!”
“Question one,” the man said coldly, “How many of you are in this city.”
“I ain’t tellin' you shit, at!” one of the three yelled, swinging down a two-handed battle ax.
The green-haired man didn’t miss a beat, letting the head of the ax pass him as he stepped to the side, raising his foot just as the haft hit the ground cracking it open.
The green-haired man stomped his raised foot down into the ax shattering it into countless pieces at the dismay of the man who looked on in horror.
“Question two. Have you t a woman nad Maria Wallen?”
The three continued to swing their weapons and now fists at the green-haired man. Their responses delayed as they helplessly brought down their weapons on empty air, ti and ti again in the fight.
Several seconds of silent attempts to strike the green-haired man went by, sweat and frustration beginning to form on their faces. Their grunts began to be overtaken by the cheers of the crowd of adventurers surrounding them.
“Yeah, keep it up!”
“Get them!”
“Teach them a fucking lesson!”
“Don’t let them keep abusing us!”
One of the trio turned, scowling deeply at the crowd letting out his aura to silence them.
“You little bastards are getting a big head just cause so new piece of at is-” but his words were cut short as his vision shifted, spinning as it ca closer to the ground. The sight of the snow-covered asphalt filling his vision before it went black.
“I’m not done asking questions, so don’t turn your back to . It’s rude,” humd the man with green hair, the remnants of a blue magic circle dissipating at the tip of his two outstretched fingers.
“W-what the fuck! Y-you killed Kenny! Y-you killed him! Y-you! You bastard!” one of the remaining two roared as he rushed forward.
But he was instantly stopped in his tracks, the snow on the ground coalescing around his legs as it began to creep up them slowly, the excruciating chilling pain encapsulating his whole body, every thought, every breath. So much so he could barely hear the man’s next question over the deafening experience.
“Third and final question. Where is Adam?”
The question was said almost like a statent, as if he knew the man he was looking for wasn’t here, or that the remaining two n had no idea where this Adam was.
The last remaining man of the trio had fallen on his rear, seeing his compatriots beheaded and frozen into a icy statue one after the other forced him into a state of disbelief.
“I-i don’t know an Adam!” he pleaded.
“Then who do you answer to?” the man asked, bending down to get eye level.
“I… I don’t know! Ahhh!!!”
The man with green hair pressed his hand on the shoulder of the remaining of the trio, his hair turning the sa color as the pristine white snow. But his hand was a fiery orange, bubbling with searing heat as it lted away the flecks of snow falling in the hair, turning the area into a steam-covered blanket.
The last of the trio wretched and scread as the other man’s hand slowly inched down from his shoulder filling the air with the sll of burnt charred flesh. The bystanders no longer cheered as they looked on with horror. So covered their mouths and those with a weaker stomach balked, spilling their lunches on the asphalt below from the sll.
“I’m asking my fifth question now. You must talk to soone. Soone has to give you orders of so kind, you don’t expect to believe you turned into a vampire by happenstance and are planning to take over this city just because? After our little fight, I can’t take you three for intellectuals smart enough to co up with that on your own. Now, is it Adam or soone else?”
“I-i swear. I swear! I don’t know who it is! We go t-to a designated area that changes with every letter and a different person ets us each ti with the n-next destination! Please! I promise!! I’m just a grunt, we all were! I-I don’t know!” the man pleaded, gripping at his mutilated arm as it slowly began to heal, just like Adam’s had, “I just took this deal because of the stats!”
“You threw away your humanity… for stats…?” the man growled, standing up.
The last of the trio looked at him with abject fear, his hand summoning tens of earthy brown magic circles without casting, jet-black spikes slowly erging from each.
“For re stats, you tortured people. Oppressed them. Threw them to the wolves to do your… ADAM’S dirty work?!”
“D-don’t do this!” the man cried, his eyes dripping tears not of regret for what he had done, but tears of being caught and being punished for it, “If you kill the rest will just co! You can’t imagine how many there are! They have an army! You’re just one person against an undead army! It’s why we switched sides too! Stats, strength, being on the winning side! Right? Doesn’t that sound good?!”
“An army?” the man said, pausing.
The man on the ground took that as an opportunity to further push his point, thinking the pause ant the other man was considering his offer.
“Y-yeah! If you co with to the next eting I can put in a good word f-for you! You can co to the winning side!”
“Winning side?” the man scoffed, “I’ve always been one for being the underdog.”
The smile the man with white hair gave to the man on the ground silenced any confusion he may have had of him joining the undead legion. It was a primal one of anticipation and excited trepidation.
“Let them bring an army. I’ve been dying for a good fight,” then the man raised his hand, giving the other a thumbs down, the spikes of jet black flying forward and skewering him to the floor.
His hair changing for the umpteenth ti to black, he looked at the crowd, “Gather everyone in the city. You no longer have to stay here, you can co with if you want, or wait to see if what this loser said is true.”
—----
Drake heaved a heavy sigh, looking back down at the body of the vampires.
I couldn’t get anything useful out of them. At least they haven’t run into my mom it looks like. But an army… I’ll have to move the schedule forward. Drake thought, clenching his fists.
“Once they all get back here we'll go pick up Sarah and head to ReUnite. I wanted to let the kids be kids a little longer but…” Drake sighed once more, “It looks like war is already here.”
While Drake was busy fighting his own moral dilemma in his head a brave adventurer moved to talk to him.
“M-most of the city is here now. W-where are you taking us?”
Breaking from his thoughts, Drake raised a brow, putting on a half smirk, but instead of diffusing the situation after what he just displayed it terrified the people present.
“Ah. My bad,” Drake coughed, “I am going back to my town, ReUnite. You are all free to co if you wish. There is shelter, food, and work to be had. There are also many benefits for any adventurer who cos and quests there, I guarantee it.”
“Who says we won’t be turned away like the other cities?” soone shouted.
Drake removed his disguising necklace, “You can’t be turned away by the owner,” he smiled, “Now, who’s coming?”
—--------------
“Valor…” the woman growled, staring up at the man from the bottom of the steps, “Will you truly not heed the call of your Queen?”
The man scoffed at the word, “Queen? Lady Aralleen… You may have been the late King and Queen’s daughter but that line is no more in this new world. What you suggest would lead us to war.”
“You would forsake my sister?! The countless elves that have been taken by those vile savages! We must save them, we must go at once while they are still alive, while we are still strong enough to do so!” Aralleen shouted back.
“You may have convinced the loyalists to follow you in your foolish attempt to seize control from , but that is all your childish ga amounts to. You hold no real power, the small faction you’ve gathered pales in comparison to the human army that would co should we attack that town. Even if we are in the right, the humans will not stand such a thing,” Valor sighed, “You must see that it is not in the best interest of the Dark Elves or our race as a whole. See reason.”
Araleen let her aura leak, filling the room with a deathly chill, her next words dripping with venom it threatened to lt the very air it was spoken with.
“Since when did condemning your own people to a life of slavery and tornt beco the better option?! If we do not have the numbers now I will find more! The dwarves, beastn, anyone!”
“And what exactly do you intend on offering them? Your body? Your,” he scoffed, “Kingdom? Perhaps the God Sapling? I have humored you long enough. I have not the ti nor the patience to entertain a spoiled child any longer,” Valor said, waving to the guards to remove Aralleen.
“Valor! Do not do this! If not each other, what do we have now that we have been ripped from our ho!?” she pleaded.
“That is just it. We have been scattered to the wind, battered, and bruised. You, Would-be Queen. Should we follow you, would have the rest of our race die for your lofty ideals and pride.”
“At least we would die fighting! At least we would have our own choice! We could make the choice to live! And not die on the ground like filthy dogs should we bend the knee and continue to be disgraced, hollowed out like a rotting tree!”
“Enough! You are no longer in charge and neither are the King and Queen. Guards! Take her away!”
Valor turned sitting down on the throne made of branches watching as the guards escorted the Princess, Aralleen Silverwood out of the building.
He smiled as the doors closed behind her.
“Now, it is only a matter of ti until I rule over the rest of the elves. All I have to do is sell off a few of the rabble, sacrifice a few to that man and all will fall into place as I bide my ti until I reach E-Rank.”
Opening his status, he grinned wider a slow maniacal laughter until it filled the room.
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