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The Netherborne: Harbinger of Destruction [An OP Isekai LitRPG]

XKARNATION

43. The Shadow Man

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Arcane machinery built to birth an army instead gives form to a singular paragon of violence - a creature of pure instinct is born and steps foot into a world at war.

Egotistical. Violent. Righteous to a fault.

Bringer of change, destroyer of tyrants.

Awaken, Conquering One, the Wanderer Unchained.

Retribution Engine [Martial Arts Progression Fantasy]

"I am never doing that again," Victor murmured as he checked his stats. Unfortunately, to defend the town, the zombie merchants had borrowed a sliver of his power through their link, which had cost Victor dearly. 'This is a severe problem. I will die if I have to waste a million stat points every time some dumbass turns up and causes trouble in the town. I had already cleared out all the monsters in that part of the forest, but I should have left them more guards or high levelled zombies... hold on, what happened to those monsters I made?'

Although out of bordem, Victor had turned many monster corpses into ice statues, he had turned a few of them into zombies. Unfortunately, his stat points had been miserably low back then, so he only converted a few, but they should still be on the surface. "Toby," Victor asked over the black ocean. "What happened to the zombie monsters?"

***

Back on the surface, Toby halted in his tracks. Eve and Andrew were a few houses behind him, and he was near the town's gate. A shiver went down his spine as he heard that ancient voice crawl its way into his skull. "Master." Toby bowed but then felt silly. Could the master even see him? Deciding it was best to be safe, he stayed in his respectful pose and was glad there was nobody around to see him. "The zombies, my lord? I do not know of them."

Green sweat dripped from Toby's furrowed brows. He desperately tried to remember if he had been given control over any zombies... "Unless my lord is referring to the goblins? They were put to use in the mines and forests. We are also constructing toll roads to connect Eshnar and the Empire..." Toby gulped, "B-but that's not all! We also have them practising with weapons, but progress is slow."

The link remained silent, and Toby almost couldn't control his breathing due to stress. They had handled the situation poorly, and as the self-proclaimed chief of security, the fact half the town was now destroyed was technically on his shoulders, even though that gem golem and Andrew did more damage than the vampires. Speaking of that gem golem, it had learned cooking from Bob surprisingly fast. Its food tasted awful as it lacked the finesse required to create the more refined meals, but it could make a great pumpkin soup.

Toby had silently begged and even requested the gem golem on multiple occasions to help with defence, but it wasn't until its cooking was ruined by the vampires did it help at all.

***

Meanwhile, in the dungeon's depth, Victor scoured his black ocean for any sign of his zombies. It was incredibly hard since the area was blindingly bright, with thousands of goblins moving around like fireflies. The monsters he turned into zombies ranged in strength and were hard to nitpick from the clumps of goblins. He scratched his head as he tried to remember the last order he gave them, if any. His hand paused, and a sudden realization hit him. 'I told them to explore the north, especially around the large mountains in the distance and bring back any prey they found.' At the time, Victor hadn't run out of prey to slaughter in the southern half of the cursed forest. But since the monsters were getting stronger the further north he went, Victor sent the undead zombies he made that he didn't care about ahead for safety reasons as scouts. 'No wonder the dragons came searching for me... they must have run into my scouts.'

Victor didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If he had run into the dragons a month ago, there was a chance of death. But, on the other hand, the mismanagement of his undead had led to his downfall. 'Well... I would hardly consider this a downfall.' Victor looked at his stats and smiled. Sure there had been some close calls recently, but the end result was well worth it. He was so wealthy in life force that the system had stopped showing him the exact amount and simply showed him in millions. Victor said a silent prayer for the poor zombies he sent to die a second and likely more gruesome death. 'Whoops, I should reply to Toby.' Victor thought, but he had nothing to say, so he stopped wasting points and cut the connection.

***

Toby stopped bowing at the air and stared wide-eyed at the wooden wall. He unleashed a flurry of curses and barely stopped himself from smashing the wall. He released his fist and rested his palm on the wall as he caught his breath. "We disappointed an eldritch being..." the words flowed from his mouth as horror masked his face. Toby feared for his own existence, but he also feared for the whole of humanity. He still had a family somewhere out there, likely back in Eshnar, and the last thing he wanted was that void creature going on a rage-fueled rampage.

With a deep breath, Toby calmed. "The hackers will deal with it," he reassured himself. He had never seen a hacker in person, but their legends were widespread throughout the land.

Despite the rampant necrotic corruption plaguing the continent, especially in the southern Mystical Realm, the hackers guild quickly dealt with it.

Toby thought back to one of the more questionable merchant adventures he did back in his youth that took him far north, near the Frostlands territory, where he saw an area of corruption. Dense necrotic mana coated the land and mutated everything it touched. A ghost village he narrowly passed was festering with skinwalkers and ghouls, and wildlife had been twisted and corrupted into abominations; not even the trees were spared.

Yet after reporting the issue to the guild, on his return trip a mere week later, the area was completely cleared with no sign of the village or corrupted mana. "Wait... aren't I a corrupted now?" Toby looked down at himself. Besides the green gunk dyeing his tattered clothes and the hole in his chest, he didn't feel corrupted. Toby shuddered. Would he survive if a hacker saw him right now? "Who knew unlife could be more terrifying than when I was alive..." Toby shook his head and wandered down the dirt road out of the town. He needed to clear his head.

***

With the connection cut, Victor surveyed the endless arctic landscape while debating his next move. Luckily this floor and the next ten should be nothing but freezing wastelands. He could unconsciously hover along at insane speeds and was unbothered by the freezing winds or lack of warm food. Genus was worse for wear, but unsurprisingly, a dragon's body could deal with a lot. Alice also seemed unfazed, her new mana body proving perfect for coping with harsh conditions.

"Do you need to drink, eat or even sleep anymore?" Victor questioned the girl as she sat on the floating platform with her legs dangling off the side as she watched the world go by with a distant expression. "Huh? Me?" Alice looked around and pinpointed his location, despite his stealth. "No, I don't, but I can still do them all if I wish. I imagine staying up for days after being used to sleeping every night will drive me mad. Especially since it will be months before we reach the last floor. Might as well sleep away... Actually, I am going to go do that now." With a yawn, Alice pushed herself up and floated over to the tiny house. Before entering, she shouted, "Wake me if you need anything! Anything at all!" Then with a laugh, she closed the door. Genus briefly opened his eye and saw the dragon corpse Victor had left for him, but he also fell asleep.

"And this is when being undead sucks," Victor muttered. "Everyone can pass the time with sleep, and I'm left alone with nothing to do." But, of course, he couldn't sleep even if he wanted to, a true curse, especially after living a life as a human. "Hmm, that reminds me. I still need to go and see what the world has to offer. Since I still have no idea about this world's technology level. Only seen goblin settlements so far and a dragon prison."

As Victor fell deep into thought, Andrew's voice sounded in his head.

"Master, I am currently speaking with an Adamantite Delver named Eve. She came here a few weeks ago, and I sold her group two ice sculptures."

"So?" Victor replied. "Sell her more if you wish."

"No, that's not the problem... she came with a letter straight from the guild master, apparently."

Victor debated waking Alice up, she would know more about guild activities, but he decided to ask for curiosity's sake. Maybe it wasn't that serious.

Andrew paused. He looked at the eagerly awaiting Eve, who shifted nervously on her feet. Andrew had told her he would ask his master and decided to put his hand up to his ear for added effect.

"Continue."

Andrew shuddered as the voice echoed in his head, but he quickly recovered. Gripping the parchment in his hand, he carefully read, "The letter says the merchants guild is interested in our planned activities here and wishes to discuss a potential partnership. However, the guild master also demands you attend in person."

Victor looked over the bland frozen land. If he had to look at the scenery for the next few days or even weeks without the sweet embrace of sleep to numb the bordem, he might as well do something fun. 'It will cost a lot, but it should be fine for a few days, right?' Victor decided life was too short... well in his case, he was immortal, but that was beside the point. 'It's for research purposes... I have no choice in the matter.' Victor nodded to himself.

Using Andrew as a proxy to reduce the burden. Otherwise, it would likely cost him a million points a second; he used his shadow magic to conjure up his beloved avatar.

Red mana coated Eve instantly as she stared at the space beside Andrew. The zombie merchant followed her gaze and saw a crack in space. It looked impossible, just a black line with no shadow or depth. From within, a shadow of a man crawled out.

He was tall and had a nobleman attire, including a comically large top hat but other than that, his face was entirely featureless, just a blank slate. Then, finally, it turned to Eve, and she cautiously stepped back.

"Greetings." The shadow man said in a cryptic voice that sounded like ten things talking at once. "I heard you wished to speak with me?"

A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

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44. Monster of Gluttony

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

A Summoner Awakens [A Card-Based GameLit Progression Fantasy]

A tower climbing regressor story where the MC sees the end of the world but reawakens back on the first floor of the tower at 18 years of age.

Eve stumbled backward with her fists raised defensively to her chest. Blood-red mana surged around her body as her heart beat loudly in her chest. All her trained senses screamed absolute danger when she laid eyes on the shadowy man. It was both material and a total illusion, but the amount of raw power behind its manifestation was beyond anything she had ever seen.

The shadow man gave his greetings and stood there, motionless. Waiting for her reply. 'Yes, the guild master wanted to see a necromancer, not some shadow man that crawled out of some other dimension!' Eve screamed in her mind while her mouth remained motionless. This creature could obliterate her with a simple thought. Maybe it didn't even need to think! She would die simply being in its mere presence.

But then the crack in space closed. The man remained, but the intense pressure that weighed on her like a god's wrathful gaze disappeared. Eve gasped as she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

Only with the immediate threat gone did she take a moment to realise how pathetic her state had become. Eve went to speak, but her mouth felt dry, and the words died in her throat.

"Lady." The thing spoke, and its voice rippled through the air. The noise was artificial and terrifying, like a chorus of the dead uttering straight into her mind. "My time is short. I was told by my subordinate here..." The shadow man gestured to Andrew, and the pot-bellied fellow froze. "That your guild master wishes to speak with me? Lead the way."

Eve had no idea of what to do. On the one hand, she had a contractual obligation to lead the shadow man to the guild master, but she was also terrified. 'What if I bring the thing past the city's defences just for that pressure to return and for the real creature to emerge from that crack in reality? What if I went down in history as the foolish Delver that brought an end to humanity?' Eve thought as she debated her options.

Finally gathering the courage, Eve stopped trembling, and she bowed slightly. She realised what she had done as she was midway through the action. It felt so natural as if she was paying respects to a higher being. Then, quickly raising her head, Eve decided to ask the one burning question in her mind. "What are you? Are you even real?"

The shadowy man stared at her with its featureless face. With every second, Eve felt closer to death than she had ever felt before. Eventually, the shadow man raised his hand to his chin and stroked it while looking around. "Real?" It asked. Suddenly the shadowy man multiplied a hundredfold and surrounded her, Eve spun around, but she was encircled. The shadow men all spoke in unison, grating on her brain, "What even is reality?" They all took off their top hats, held them in their hands and then made them vanish. Only for them to reappear on their heads. "Reality is what you make of it. It's all about perspective."

Eve heard one of the voices right next to her ear and suppressed a scream. One of the shadow men, likely the original, had broken formation and was only a few centimetres away from her. Two blue eyes formed on its blank face but were slightly curved upwards like teardrops. "I have seen things you can only imagine, you may consider me an illusion, but this world is entirely fake to me. Merely a playground for self-proclaimed gods."

With a snap of its finger, Eve saw all the other shadow men vanish from existence as if they had never existed. She struggled to stand on her wobbling knees. Luckily the shadowy man seemed to change targets and focused on Andrew.

"This human seems overloaded; let's give the squishy mortal time to recover." The shadow man walked past Andrew and gestured for him to follow, "Come with me. We need to get you and... what was his name?"

"Er Toby?" Andrew hesitantly replied as he fell into stride behind his master.

"Ah yes, Toby." The shadow paused briefly, looked towards the gates and then carried on. "He will meet us at the ice statues. It's about time I powered you two up."

Andrew almost missed a step as his brain froze. 'We aren't getting punished?' To Andrew and Toby, they had been dreaming of the day they could merge with their chosen monsters. But after today's disaster, they assumed everything was lost.

"Don't look so down, Andrew." His master said without looking back. "Rome was not built in a day. Accidents happen, but it wasn't entirely your fault. I forced my powers upon you without warning or any training. The fact half the town is still standing is a win in my book."

Andrew had no idea what this Rome place was, but he liked the idea that none of this was his fault. He felt the power of that purple lightning and had a general idea of the destruction it could cause, but he just couldn't help it. "T-thank you. I will continue to strive forward and please you." Andrew managed to stutter out as he quickly caught back up.

The pair went through a newly created hole in the town's wooden walls and, within a minute, were at the site of the ice statues. Hundreds of goblins armed with crude spears created a border around the area while other goblins dragged logs and were in the process of constructing a ten-meter-high wall.

Andrew decided to fill Victor in on the situation when he noticed the shadows' attention on the wall. "After completing the town, we realised that the ice statues were our most important asset at the moment, so we have begun efforts to protect them. Luckily nobody has come by recently... well, until today." Andrew was going to continue his explanation, but Toby and Eve caught up with them. They both looked haunted, but Toby seemed less angry.

Victor's avatar nodded, "Very good. Have you picked your monsters?" The shadow looked between Andrew and Toby, and they both nodded. Toby, however, couldn't mask his shock. "Master, have we really earned this?"

The shadow raised its hand. "It's not about earning it anymore. It's a necessity. You two are currently the only ones managing this place, so I need to give you bodies that suit your needs. Now come! Let us get this over with." Victor's avatar led the small group through the ice sculptures. Hundreds were haphazardly placed like a labyrinth, but they all had wooden signs with their names on them. Victor read a few as he passed, committing them to memory.

"So? Have you picked?" The shadow turned to Andrew.

"Yep. It was an easy choice for me..." Andrew walked off to the left, down two rows and then turned right. He then halted before a massive ice sculpture as if he had found his long-lost lover.

Everyone else paused behind him with confused expressions.

Toby squinted at the sign and muttered. "King Slime."

"Yep!" Andrew laughed happily and slapped his gut. "I read about these bastards when I was young and always wished I could grow in strength through eating. If I could become a King Slime... I could eat anything and everything!"

Victor had to applaud the man's simple but sound logic. "Bravo! A King Slime is a fine choice, indeed. But are you sure you want to become a slime? Plenty of other monsters can eat a lot, like war pigs, for example."

"Blah. War pigs only get fat from eating, not stronger."

Victor ignored Eve and Toby's aghast expressions and walked forward. 'The man has made his mind up... why do I feel like the Goddess right now? I gave them the same choice she gave me, although it's on a much smaller scale.' Victor pondered as he placed his avatar's hand on the ice. He then elongated his other arm and put a shadowy hand on Andrew's shoulder.

A familiar blue screen appeared in his vision.

[Undead System User Detected]

[King Slime (A grade) and Zombie Human Found]

[Merge?]

Victor didn't waste any time and accepted the system prompt. A crack in space formed between Andrew and the frozen King Slime, and Victor felt tendrils of his body seep through the fracture. The ice shattered as a tendril of pure darkness wrapped around the frozen King Slime and the startled Andrew. It then ruthlessly smashed them together as if it was conducting nuclear fusion.

Then everything went calm. As if it had all been one dreadful nightmare.

[New undead created!]

[Name: Andrew]

[Race: King Ooze (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

[Level: 7]

[STR: 300, DEX, 7, CON: 570, INT: 5, WIS: 6]

[Description: A King Slime corrupted with necrotic mana. It grows in size and strength with everything it devours.]

With the dust settled. Everyone stared at Andrew with blatant disgust on their faces. Andrew was a grey slime in the shape of a walrus with a wide deformed human head, a jaw so vast it could swallow a person whole and two stubby arms with three fingers on each hand below his mouth. Luckily despite his horrendous appearance, he smelt of nothing and didn't spill out any pus or other nefarious substances.

"Hahaha." Andrew laughed, and his new massive body wobbled in excitement like jelly. He tried to turn, but it was painfully slow, like watching a beached whale roll around. His head mainly stayed the same with a tuff of brown hair on top, but the fact it was so wide made it creepy as Andrew grinned. He finally completed his turn and looked down at Toby. Like a massive land slug, he was over a head taller than Toby, who was already a colossal man himself.

"What do you think, mate?" Andrew asked his friend.

Toby reeled in his disgust and pondered it for a while. They were zombies already, and he knew better than anyone how miserable being one was; he would spend half his days just performing maintenance on his body to try and keep it in one piece. Was Andrew ugly... yes. But was he falling apart? No. Did he smell of rotting flesh? No. And most important of all, was he intimidating? Heck yes. There was no way in hell anyone would stand up to him and not feel afraid, and that's exactly what Andrew had lacked before, and the fear factor would be essential going forward.

"I think it suits you very well." Toby decided to be positive. Who knows, maybe the monster he becomes might be even more hideous so it would be rude to judge Andrew for now.

Andrew's smile was ear-splitting, and he chuckled again. "I see you also have good taste! Now I am even more excited to see what you picked out."

"Oh, don't you worry." Toby rubbed his hands together with an evil grin. "I found the perfect monster..."

A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Happy Halloween!

The group followed Toby towards his chosen monster but encountered a problem. Andrew was incredibly slow and was lagging far behind.

"Guys... wait up!" Andrew called, and everyone paused to watch the struggling slime. Andrew honestly reminded Victor of Jabba the Hutt with his body proportions, but if Jabba was a necrotic jelly. 'I wondered why I never saw any island-sized King Slimes since they grow through eating, but now I understand. Even a rock could somehow outrun a King Slime.' As Andrew lurched forward, his underbelly sucked in loose foliage like fallen leaves, and Victor could see the juices that made up his body digesting them.

Victor thought for a while and decided Andrew would need help moving around. 'I could waste more points on reviving some of these ice statues, but the cost is far too high to justify it... maybe the goblins could help?' Victor imagined how emperors were carried around in wooden boxes back in ancient times by slaves. Although Andrew weighed as much as an elephant, Victor's maxed-out [Raise Undead] skill empowered anything he raised, so even simple goblins could lift Andrew if they worked together like ants.

Luckily, Victor had all he needed nearby. With a simple thought, goblins that were hauling logs under the orders of Andrew rerouted towards the King Ooze. Andrew glared at them, assuming they were defying his orders, but Victor calmed him down. "In ancient times, obese emperors gave up on the peasantry's act of walking and instead were carried around by their servants. You should do the same, although your circumstances are slightly different."

Andrew retracted his glare and seemed pleasantly surprised by the idea. He brought up his stubby little arm and caressed the tuffs of brown hair that flowed down from his chin like a goatee. "I could allow that." He said as the goblins surrounded him, some carrying large wooden logs. With Andrew's approval, Victor commanded the goblins to lay the tree trunks before Andrew in a line to form a platform.

"Anyone got anything to use as rope?" Victor's avatar asked the group. Of course, he could freeze the platform as he did for the flying platform in the dungeon with [Freezing Cone], but he assumed King Slimes struggled with magical ice since Andrew is primarily liquid.

Surprisingly Eve stepped forward. One of her spatial rings flashed with mana, and a climbing rope materialized in her hand. It was nothing fancy, but it could get the job done.

"Here, take it." Eve offered. "It's the least I can do for Andrew's previous kindness."

Victor highly doubted that was the real reason for the show of generosity, but he was never one to turn down free stuff, so he commanded a goblin to take the rope. The little goblin skeleton approached her, and Eve shuddered as the goblin's skeletal hand brushed past hers to grasp the rope.

It only took a few minutes to construct the platform, and Victor ensured all the logs were secured together with rope before telling Andrew to climb aboard. It was no exaggeration to say it took Andrew a full ten minutes to move his body forward around two meters. His body was so large it couldn't fully fit on the platform, so his tail was dangling off the back, but that was fine.

Everyone, especially Eve, watched in awe as the small goblins managed to lift the platform and balance it on their shoulders.

"Hahaha!" Andrew laughed as he was raised a meter into the air. With the added height from the platform, Andrew could look down on everyone while stroking his goatee. "Now I feel very important. All I need is a snack and some guards..." From his higher point of view, Andrew spotted some zombie ogres waiting around with their clubs resting on their shoulders. "Can I borrow them?" Andrew asked Toby, and the zombie merchant nodded. There were over a hundred of them, so lending a few to Andrew was no big deal.

Victor had long set up a hierarchy within his undead network. His minions would obey any orders given by Victor without question. But if he provided no orders, the stronger undead could command the weaker undead without his input.

Without saying anything, Andrew mentally commanded the zombie ogres to stand beside him over the black ocean. They complied and carefully manoeuvred their way through the ice statues. They were both giant green-skinned humanoids with bulging muscles. They were completely naked but lacked any reproductive organs. Meaning they were monsters entirely born from the dungeon's mana rather than mana-corrupted animals.

Andrew pointed his tiny arm at the left one. "You go get me food, and you always stand beside me. These will be your roles from now on." He could have commanded them mentally, but something about ordering them around in front of an audience made Andrew happy. The ogres obeyed their new roles, with one sprinting off to find its master something to eat.

"Can we go now?" Toby said while tapping his foot. "The slug can move."

"Forward!" Andrew declared while pointing his stubby arm towards the group, and the goblins moved in perfect harmony, balancing the enormous weight over their heads.

Despite the rapid stat loss for maintaining his avatar, Victor had to admit this was rather fun and a perfect way to spend the time it would take to reach the lower floors. However, he was confident the floors past the frozen lands would pose more of a challenge and require more of his attention.

But with Alice being so powerful and Genus hopefully making a recovery, they should be able to handle themselves for the most part. 'Also, Alice needs to level up more. I was using my undead and [Annihilating Aura] to clear the floors quickly, but I should let her kill them instead and leave my [Consume] skill passively running to replenish my falling stats.' Happy with his new plan of action, Victor turned his avatar to Toby and gestured for him to take the lead. Victor was also interested in what monster the merchant would pick.

***

Toby stood proudly next to a colossal monster with a signpost reading: The One-Eyed Titan.

Victor remembered killing this monster since it was one of the few he failed to eliminate in a single move. Not only was it resistant to [Annihilating Aura], but stabbing it in the heart only made it angry. Its regeneration was godlike, and that single large eye in its skull could shoot a concentrated light beam that did a surprising amount of damage to Victor and could easily decapitate trees.

Andrew clapped his hands, but it sounded like two wet towels slapping together. "Perfect choice! It suits you, Toby."

Victor had to agree. There were many monsters he could have chosen from, but this one matched him the best. As Toby was a large muscular guy with the role of security, if combined with the One-Eyed Titan, which was just a magical cyclops, he could reach his full potential.

"Ready?" Victor asked Toby and the man nodded with absolute certainty.

Victor repeated the ceremony.

[Undead System User Detected]

[One-Eyed Titan (S grade) and Zombie Human Found]

[Merge?]

Victor agreed, and his body forced its way through space to complete the spell. His life force burned at an astonishing rate. The process didn't finish until ten million stat points had evaporated. 'Is the difference between an A rank and an S grade monster that much?' Victor contemplated. King Slimes were A-grade monsters, and merging Andrew had cost him five million, but for Toby, the cost had doubled to ten. 'Hopefully, it's worth it.' Victor could have saved the points by doing this later, but he wasn't too worried. Even after this, he still had around fifty million left and would gain more as he descended the floors.

Victor's main body's tendrils smashed the two together in an explosion of mana, and a new monster was born.

[New undead created!]

[Name: Toby]

[Race: One-Eyed Demon King (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

[Level: 30]

[STR: 706, DEX, 276, CON: 847, INT: 500, WIS: 320]

[Description: An already talented and powerful zombie was merged with a Royal blooded One Eye Titan, creating a one-of-a-kind existence of pure destruction.]

Everyone saw a silhouette of a knelt humanoid through a cloud of dust.

With a waft of its hand, the creature dispersed the dust and stood tall. "Oh, my-" Toby paused his speech. His voice had become incredibly deep and held a similar weight to Victor's, although a lot less. He stood at around Andrew's height when Andrew was resting on his platform, roughly four meters. His skin was a pale grey, and his nails had extended into black claws. The single curved horn on his forehead was black and contrasted with his single glowing golden eye.

Victor gave Toby's stats a once over in shock and then appraised his new subordinate. 'I would pay double the price for this. A Royal bloodline? I guess if dragons can have royal blood, why can't monsters?'

Victor now felt the surface was in safe hands. With Andrew and especially Toby around, he doubted any wandering threats from the Mystical Realm could destroy his town again.

But Victor was on a timer, so his avatar spoke to Eve, "Shall we go to the Empire now?"

Eve shook her head. "You will come, but those things?" She pointed and Andrew and then hesitantly at Toby, "They stay here." She crossed her arms and stood her ground.

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46. Rise of Necron

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"You three are far too dangerous to let into the heart of our city."

Eve's argument was reasonable. Victor had never laid eyes on the Empire's capital city, but he doubted the inside defenses could handle them without some loss of civilian life. Victor was somewhat limited in what he could accomplish if he wished to keep his stat point expenditure down, but Toby could wreak complete havoc on the scale of a senior dragon.

Toby approached Eve and loomed over her. She strained her neck to look at his face as he cast a shadow over her. "Is this your personal decision? Or by the will of the guild." Toby leaned in closer and snarled, "Because we all know how defying the guilds goes." He brought up his clawed finger and tugged gently on the chain from which Eve's adamantite plate hung. "Defy orders and lose everything."

Eve stepped back, clearly distraught and didn't know what to do. She brought out the parchment from her spatial ring one more time and gave it a once over. "The guild told me to bring the necromancer to the capital, and technically none of you are the necromancer." She declared as the parchment vanished again.

Victor's avatar pointed at himself, but Eve shook her head.

"That is an illusion, a spell. Not the real you. Which raises some issues..."

"What kind of issues?" Victor asked, with his artificial voice that sounded like a chorus of many slightly different-sounding people.

Eve let out a deep sigh. "Many, too many to count. The guild has no idea what they are asking for, and if I honored their request, it would go against almost every law of the Empire and infuriate the hackers guild." Eve raised her finger, "Which is exactly the last thing anyone in the Empire wants; not even the Emperor can fully control them."

"Look." Eve said after catching her breath, "Even if I brought any of you to the capital's gates and shouted to the clouds above that this was on the guild orders, they would not listen, and we would be blasted to the land of the dead... well I guess you guys might survive but I certainly won't."

Although logical, this threw a wrench into Victor's plans. He wanted to venture to the capital and explore what this world's humanity had to offer, but alas, Eve's words shot down his dreams. But there was one thing bugging Victor. Why was Eve so casual with them? Sure she was strong, at least by human standards, but she stood against at least two S+ level threats and engaged in casual conversation. So Victor communicated his question to Andrew and had him ask.

"Eve." Andrew looked down at the bikini warrior. "Toby and I were once humans and worked for the merchants guild. Although I have never met an Adamantite Delver or spoken to one, I have to ask why you act so casually around us?"

The warrior let out a weary laugh, "Well, I might be able to outrun you after your... evolution? Change?" She waved it off, "Anyway, I have absolute confidence in my ability to get away if needed, and I feel having a civil conversation with the undead of this forest will lead me to many great things."

"What kind of great things?" Toby cynically asked. "We already sold you two ice statues at a great price."

Eve waved her hands across her chest, "No, no, by great things, I mean improving my reputation and guild credits. Because this area has gained a lot of interest from the higher-ups, you guys should know as former merchants. What was always the worst part of your job?"

Andrew spoke up, "By far, the travel time... Oh, I see. We were constructing a toll road for that very purpose. But Eve, do they know about our toll road?"

"No, but... the toll road is great and all. However, we can build one ourselves, you know? Now that the monsters are gone." Eve smiled at Andrew, whose hand had paused mid-stroke of his goatee. "After my group returned, we reported a lack of monsters in the forest. The guild immediately sent official investigators to verify our claims. You should have seen the shock on the guild master's face when investigators reported that there was not a single monster for miles in the forest, but there was a problem."

Eve gestured around, "You and all this. Your town, Necron, is slap-bang in the middle of Eshnar and the Empire. But that's not the only issue. If not for Sam, a member of my team, pleading with his master not to eradicate you, none of this would still be here." Eve dropped her arms, "It's been a stressful few weeks."

"Well, thank your friend for us," Andrew said from his platform. "And you raise some very valid points for concern... the monsters that previously made this land inaccessible to most people are now gone. But, once word gets out, there will be chaos and fear of war."

Eve agreed. "I believe all this is outside my authority, so I will return to the capital now and report my findings to the guild master." Then, before anyone could stop her, she summoned a stone from her spatial storage and crushed it. "See you soon!" Mana shot up her arm, and then she was gone in a flash of blue light.

***

An enormous necrotic slime, demon king, and shadow man gathered around a wooden table in a half-destroyed room. None of them spoke for a while as they formulated their ideas.

Victor wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter, but he had some of his own. "Before you two say anything, here is my proposal. The southern area, and eventually the entire cursed forest, will become our land, and I will rule over it with an iron fist. Thoughts?"

Toby glared at the table with his one golden eye. He seemed deep in thought. "It all depends on you, master." He eventually said in his deep voice. "And by that, I mean on your power. We will follow your plan, but any method requires your strength."

"Toby is right." Andrew chipped in. "Hackers will try to kill us no matter what; alliances, laws, agreements, and contacts will only hold them back for so long. There are also the dragons to the north, who may attack here for fun, revenge, or to take something from us. And finally..."

Andrew paused as his ogre servant ducked its ugly green face around the broken wall. Then, after getting a nod from Andrew, it dragged a decapitated deer corpse into the room and dumped it before him. Then, in a shocking show of strength, Andrew leaned forward, grabbed the deer's leg with his stubby arm, and tossed it into his enormous mouth. The corpse stopped at the back of his throat and slowly sunk into his body. Then, like a fizzy drink, the deer bubbled as it dissolved. "Ahhh." Andrew burped. "That hit the spot...."

"Never eat in public again." Toby glared at him. "That was disgusting."

Andrew waved him off, "Anyway, as I was saying, the final thing we need to be careful of is human greed. These lands have remained a legend where only the strong could venture for centuries. But now, apart from the odd dragon flying over, it's like any woodland."

"Unless we want to change that?" Toby crossed his colossal arms and scowled at them with his eye. "We could repopulate the forest with the undead, or is there a way to bring back the monsters?" He eyed Victor's shadowy avatar since he would be the source of the answer.

The shadowy man shrugged. "Both are possible in the long run but not right now. Populating such a vast land with the few corpses I still have lying around is impossible; it's just not feasible unless we go and fetch fresh corpses from somewhere else, let's say, the Mystical Realm. And on the topic of monsters, I am still making my way through the dungeon, and if I ever discover a way to bring them back to the surface, I will let you two know. But for now, the forest will sadly remain monster free."

"So what? We sit back and let them do whatever the fuck they want in our territory?" Andrew spat some slime onto the floor that dissolved the floorboard. "Because you know it's only a matter of time until people start showing up."

"Hold up. I never suggested that." Victor interjected, "Hopefully, in a few months, I will have discovered a way to cement our position as the region's powerhouse, but for now, we need to capitalize on what we have."

With a sigh, Toby leaned back onto his outstretched arms, "And what do we have? A half-destroyed town, a few mines, and a load of undead minions."

"Don't forget the road," Andrew added with some hope returning to his eyes. "It's almost complete. Although the humans could build their own road or take ours..."

Victor's avatar laughed, "Remember, I said I didn't have enough monster corpses to cover the entire cursed forest in undead. But to protect a road and destroy other attempts at building one? Not a problem. But we have some time until the road is complete and humans start being a nuisance, so let's focus on getting this town up and running."

Victor hated the idea of spending more life force on raising hundreds of undead, but the road needed to be protected. At all costs. 'Time for Necron to take the first step of asserting its dominance on the world stage.' Victor thought as he left for the ice sculptures a final time. Things were about to get busy around here.

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47. Lost Pirate

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Tension in the Empire's capital was running high. Garry, an ex-pirate turned mediocre merchant, could tell that much. There was a lockdown on the shocking information. But those in the know-how were itching to get out there and profit.

The monsters were gone, and nobody knew why.

Garry stroked his straggly beard as he walked down the sidewalk of the capital's famous shopping street. His funds, a few coppers, jingled in his pockets as he window-shopped for travel supplies. The smell of succulent meat wafted past his ruddy nose, but he ignored it as he needed to purchase the bad stuff.

Spotting an alleyway he knew across the street, he prepared to cross the grey cobbled road. Garry tapped his foot as he impatiently waited for a gap in the traffic on the surprisingly clean beige sidewalk. Wooden carts of diverse sizes pulled by horses rolled by, loaded with various produce en route to the market square. Garry's stomach rumbled, and he cursed the day he ditched the sea for a life on land.

As Garry thought there was an opening in traffic and stepped forward, a magitech car sped past him, almost smashing his outstretched leg. "Fuckin Nobles," Garry hollered as he retracted his leg and tried to calm down. Eshnar, his home city, was corrupt, but the Empire was in a different league. The nobles could do anything they wished, and the only ones they had to fear were themselves.

Garry put his grubby hands deep in his overcoat's pockets and fumbled with the few coppers he had left. "Darn, food prices pullin me leg." He muttered under his breath as he felt his stomach rumble again.

Then, there was a break in traffic, and Garry quickly made his way across the street alongside a few other residents. Some wore suits of high quality, while others wore more casual clothes. Gary didn't pay the well-off citizens of the Empire any of his attention and trudged down the alley. After window browsing for a bit, he discovered a store with dried meats hanging in the glass window on metal skewers. He pushed open the door with a ding and walked inside.

"I need two weeks of travel rations." He declared as he eyed the butcher lazily waiting behind the countertop. The burley butcher raised a brow at the scruffy man that walked into his shop. "Two weeks? Where the hell are you going that only takes two weeks?"

Garry waved him off. "Don't cha worry about it, lad. Here." He dumped all the coins he had and waited expectantly. The butcher peered at his meager offering and sneered, "Old man, that will buy you a week at most if you only eat one meal a day."

"Whatcha say?!" Garry couldn't believe it, "Last time I came here, it was only a copper, a jerky!"

The butcher shrugged, "Food shortage has gotten really bad, and the nobles are hoarding food. It's three copper a jerky now. Take it or leave it; this store ain't a charity for the homeless."

Garry ignored the rude remark and grumbled for a while as he tried to find a way to survive in his head. He had enough copper for a week of food, including today. But it wasn't even good food. It was borderline rotting meat that he had dried out. Garry's stomach gurgled a third time, and he couldn't take it anymore. "Fine. I will buy it, yer bastard."

With a grin, the butcher grabbed and pocketed the coins before dumping a skewer with seven jerkies into a bag. He then removed the skewer and chucked it into a metal sink filled with other skewers. "There you go." The butcher handed the bag to Garry's waiting hands, "Now off with ya. You are stinking out the place with your filth."

Garry ignored the man and chewed ravenously on a jerky as he vacated the shop with a bell ding. He was exhausted, but his supply didn't allow dallying in one place too long. He needed to leave tonight.

***

Garry passed by many weary travelers as he left the city gates. The hustle and bustle always made leaving the city a drag, and the need to show paperwork to the guards made the whole process a dreadful experience all around.

But as the setting sun bathed the world in a warm orange glow, Garry was finally on the dirt path and out of the city. After arriving at the Empire from Eshnar, he sold his donkey and cart alongside everything he owned. Now all he had was a small wooden cart he could drag behind him, a backpack of questionable quality, the clothes he wore and the ones in his cart, and finally, six pieces of dried meat.

Garry may be uneducated and spent a life at sea, but he was no fool, and he knew this trip may be his last. The sun dipped, and night's cold bite clawed at his exposed skin. He had no money for food, let alone torches. As he walked, time passed slowly as the moon climbed high in the sky. Luckily, due to his rough life at sea, Garry had invested a lot of points in his CON stat so he could walk further than most peasants. But the race against his empty stomach and old bones worried him.

After a few hours, the well-trodden dirt road disappeared, and Garry found himself surrounded by trees. "Did I make a wrong turn?" He wondered as he looked around. Then in the distance, he heard the sound of shovels.

Totally lost, Garry decided to get a little closer. As he approached the noise, he noticed a row of blue lights stretching into the darkness. Gathering courage, the old pirate pushed forward and stumbled upon an odd scene. Hundreds of small, hunched-over men were slaving away to clear the forest and build a road.

After a while, he decided to speak up. "Excuse me..." he said, his gruff voice surprising even him; he hadn't drunk water in hours, and his throat was dry.

"One copper to use the toll road, human." One of the small men said. The darkness made it hard to see their features, but they sounded odd.

'Since when was there a road out here?' Garry thought as he tried to fish out a copper, only for his hand to pause when he realized he didn't have any left. He smacked his head. 'Idiot! How did ya plan to pay the darn entry tax when ya arrived at Eshnar, yer daft cunt.' The small man looked up at him as the pirate continued berating himself.

"Human, it is fine. You can sell stuff for the fee, right?"

"Yes!" A glimmer of hope ignited in Garry's eyes, "I can sell yer a splendid outfit... but why are yer calling me human?" Gary calmed down. Something wasn't right. He had definitely wandered into the cursed forest at some point, yet there was a dirt road here?

"No worries then. Head down the road for a few days, and you'll eventually reach Necron. Sell your wares there. Good luck!" The small man returned to his work and ignored any further questions.

"Hey! Hey! Are yer listening to meh? What the bleeding hell is a Necron? Where am I?" Garry shouted right next to the man, but he was ignored. Finally, in frustration, he gripped the man's hood and pulled it down.

The shovel paused.

Garry stared at the white skull that gleamed under the moonlight staring at him with hollow eyes. Garry's body went into shock; he stumbled back and screamed. He had seen many horrors on the ocean, but a talking skeleton trumped anything he had ever experienced.

"Noisy." The skeletal goblin raised its shovel and smacked the screaming human on the head

Garry's world went dark.

***

"Ughhh." Garry groaned as he nursed his head. He felt nauseous, way worse than his most drunken hangovers while out on the rough seas. Blinking several times, Garry tried to stop the world from spinning. Then, fumbling around, he found his waterskin and took a swig. After a few minutes, he felt somewhat better and managed to stand. "Where in the three realms is this?" He slurred as he looked up at a very tall wooden wall.

The words on the sign were blurry, and he was terrible at reading, but he slowly spelled them out. "N...E...C...R...O...N. Huh? Necron? What-" Garry suddenly felt fully awake as he backpedaled. That name rang a bell and all of last night's antics came rushing back. "AH! A talking skeleton! Where?" He desperately looked around, and all he could see was an empty dirt road except his cart.

"Huh?"

He was alone. Night had turned into day, and he was hungry. He looked left and right. One way led him into an ominously named ghost village. The other was a long road to goddess knows where.

"Hello." A voice boomed behind him, and Garry spun around on his heel. A green giant emerged from behind the town's high wooden wall. Its face was ugly, covered in rotting warts, and it had a wooden club on its shoulder. "Welcome to Necron. Enjoy your stay!" The giant monster said joyfully as it took up its post at the gate.

Garry reached for his trusty dagger but paused as he remembered he had sold it for a loaf of bread three days ago. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. So Garry just stood there for a while, having a staring contest with the ogre.

Eventually, a wonderful smell wafted through the gate. Garry peered past the monster and saw a wooden building. Divine-smelling steam bellowed out of an open window and lazily floated through the air toward him. Garry's stomach furiously growled at him, and he clutched it in pain.

Garry spent a while longer debating his options but eventually, his hunger and desire to sleep won out. With a sigh, Garry walked back, hauled his cart behind him, and entered Necron village under the watchful gaze of a towering giant monster.

Nercon's first visitor had arrived.

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48. Tales of Coral Beard

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Shoutout!

During his Destiny Reveal, Sam gets handed the designation of Tank — a death sentence for an Elf.

He has four years to level 300 — a feat almost never achieved by Elven Tanks. If he doesn't succeed, then he will die when he's summoned to complete his Destiny Test.

Fortunately, the Goddess who handed him that death sentence gave him a special chance to succeed. The only problem — it was a real kick in the nuts.

Tanking Hits [I Level When I Get Hit in the Balls]

Weeks passed, and progress in rebuilding the town had been slow, but Andrew, alongside his goblins, repaired everything destroyed in the fight and added some things.

"Master, someone has arrived at the town."

Victor looked across the black ocean and confirmed that Andrew, the King Ooze, was contacting him. He had given Andrew complete authority over the town on the surface as he was diligent and good at his job. Obviously, Victor checked on him now and then, but his work had been satisfactory so far.

Victor responded to the message as he had nothing better to do while watching the world go by. He had been expecting someone to either deliberately show up to the town or stumble upon it by now. Actually, the fact it took this long baffled him. 'Are they locking down the information about the lack of monsters in the forest?' That was his current theory.

"Who had arrived at the town? The merchants guild, perhaps?" Victor responded to Andrew and awaited a response.

"A pirate."

Victor paused. 'A pirate? Out of all the people to stumble upon my town in the middle of the continent. As far away from any ocean as possible is a pirate?' Victor was utterly confused. 'I expected guild staff, perhaps a messenger demanding a meeting but a lost pirate?'

"Is he dangerous?" Victor asked, "Maybe he is here to cause trouble?"

"No, master. He appears to be a merchant, a very poor one. Right after arriving, he headed straight for Bob's Inn. I believe the smell of Bob's cooking drew him in as the ogre guards told me he was hesitant to enter at first."

"Wait. We are using ogres to guard the gate." Victor mentally sighed. Of course, a merchant would be terrified to enter a town guarded by zombie ogres. They were B-grade monsters with immense strength. Nobody would approach one, no matter how inviting it appeared. In fact, Victor was baffled at the pirate's courage to enter anyways. Either he was desperate or had balls of steel cultivated from a life at sea... "Andrew, how do you know the man is a pirate?" Pirates had a distinct look, but one could never be too sure.

"Well..." Andrew began, "He is currently talking to Bob and is rambling about his life at sea. Also, his appearance matches that of a pirate, straggly black beard, sun-kissed skin, and that limp they all have."

Well, Victor was convinced. The man was undoubtedly a pirate. A real pirate in the flesh. Somehow the fact a pirate showed up made it feel more like a fantasy world than magic... although pirates did technically exist back on Earth, Victor much preferred the ones in the movies.

Victor hovered over to the flying platform and anchored his body to it. 'I still have about a week until I clear the 60th floor. So a little entertainment would be perfect now as Alice has gone back to sleep, and Genus is busy eating the dragon's corpse.' Victor didn't need to summon his avatar and waste an obscene amount of life force. Instead, he peered through the eyes of Bob.

***

Garry felt extremely conflicted. In front of him was the most divine broth he had ever smelt, served in a generously big wooden bowl. The inviting broth was a murky brown filled with floating bits of meat and vegetables. Even a boiled egg was nestled in one of the edges, surrounded by leafy greens. The vapor from the broth warmed his heart, the smell blessed his nose, and the comfortable chair relaxed his muscles. Was he in heaven... or was he in hell?

The soup was like the devil's temptation as a corrupted one, a perfectly pristine skeleton the size of a child came to bring him a plate of well-sliced wholegrain bread to go with his meal. Everything about this town was wrong, but even if the kid was dead, child labor went against his morals.

"Hey, kid. 'ow old be ye?" Garry asked as politely as possible... the skeleton carried a knife in his other hand for whatever reason.

"Kid? My name is Bob." Bob said in a voice so deep and gruff. Garry thought a grandpa dwarf was hiding under the table, and this was all an elaborate prank. Luckily he hadn't had any soup in his mouth. Otherwise, he would have spat it out in shock.

"Whoa there! That ye, matey? Quite the voice ye 'ave!" Garry quickly apologized to the skeleton. 'Another blabberin' skeleton, I 'eard all me life they be mindless creatures that they seek only the destruction o' 'umanity, yet 'ere be one blabberin' to me an' givin' me some jolly grub!'

When Garry got stressed, he forgot the manners he learned on land and reverted to his natural ways. His kind was treated coldly by the land dwellers, so he watched his accent the best he could, but in all fifty years of his life, this was the most bizarre situation he had been in, hands down.

The skeleton self-proclaimed as Bob. Stared at him with his empty eye sockets. As if expecting the conversation to continue.

Garry gulped and decided to be bold and ask the question on the tip of his tongue. "If ye aren't a kid, what be ye? Was ye always a skeleton?"

Bob strode over, his skelly feet clacking on the wooden floor. He sat opposite Garry and leaned his skull on his propped-up hand. "I am no kid, nor have I always been a skelly." Bob lowered his voice as if saying a dark secret, "Actually, I used to have a magnificent beard, I tell ya. It went all the way to me knees, and the ladies worshiped it, I tell ya."

Garry raised a brow. He was beyond skeptical that the skeleton had such an impressive beard. It's like when an old man with one eye and leg by the docks tells tales of how they fought sharks to death in their youth. It may be a true tale, but the image of a disabled old man sitting before him made imagining the scene... somewhat tricky. "So ye be a dwarf? Not some little kid?"

Bob nodded sadly and then stared at the bowl of soup. "My sisters loved my cooking. Shame I can never taste again."

Garry felt awful. He was a man with a hearty appetite for good food. Garry tried to think of something to offer the skeleton... He was no pirate king with a vast wealth stored away on a desert island, nor did he have magic to fix the skeleton, but he did have one idea. "Say, Bob, do ye know o' coral reefs?"

Bob groaned in response. He'd given up on holding his head up. And now his face was mashed against the surface of the wooden table.

Garry took Bob's groan as a no, so Garry continued. "Well, I met this here fascinatin' dentist on the 'igh seas one rough winter. The crew's teeth 'ad fallen out because the grub been too 'ard." Garry watched Bob slowly raise his head, clearly more interested in the conversation. "You see, this here dentist said the coral reefs below the sea were made from the same thin' our teeth were. So 'e retrieved some an' made teeth from them."

Garry chuckled at the memory and ignored his raging stomach. "We all 'ad jolly colored teeth fer months. Became a fashion trend amongst us, an' when we landed on shore, we got called the coral gentlemen o' fortune. It got so bad; our Cap'n 'ad a beard o' the stuff!"

Despite the lack of eyes, Garry saw a flame of hope ignite.

Garry decided to finish his tale with the funniest part of all. "They started callin' 'im coral beard!"

Bob slammed the table and said in his gruff voice. "Where is this coral you speak of."

Garry grinned. Showing his colorful teeth hidden by his scruffy beard. "Go to the shore, lad. The sea calls yer name."

Bob ran his fingers along his chin as he fell into contemplation. "My beard... I can get an even better one. A beard of coral, even grander than your captains!"

Garry closed his eyes and nodded sagely. "Aye. Jolly luck to ye, an' thank ye lad fer listenin' to this here old man's tale."

Hearing no response, he opened his eye and saw the opposite seat vacated. As if the skeleton was never there. Only the still-warm broth and plate of bread evidence of his presence. Garry shrugged, glanced around the dead silent inn, and decided to finally tuck into his meal. But right as the spoon entered his mouth, he wondered. 'How can I pay fer this here if the cook be gone?'

With another shrug, he dug into the most glorious meal he had ever had.

***

Victor watched through Bob's eyes as the skeleton walked out of his inn, looked both ways, and, seemingly picking a random direction, began walking.

"Where are you going," Victor asked inside Bob's head. The skeleton didn't even falter in his stride as he resolutely answered. "To reclaim what I lost."

Victor mulled over Bob's words. A part of him wanted Bob to stay in Necron under his thumb. Bob was a great cook and would be a good source of income once the town opened up. But another part of him felt... bad. Bob didn't deserve what happened to him. He didn't ask for any of this. Victor was the one who killed him, brought him back to life, stripped him of his identity, and reduced him to a depressed cook in a customerless inn.

Victor watched as Bob left the gates, took a right, and began heading southwest. He had no plans to stop the determined skeleton. In fact, maybe this would be a chance for Victor to see more of the outside world through the eyes of Bob.

"Call me if you need anything." Were Victor's final words as he cut the connection. He needed to hire a new chef and knew just the pirate for the job.

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49. Meeting the Mayor

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A NOTE FROM XKARNATION

Thank you moredread for the review!

Garry leaned back, let out a monstrous burp, and relished in the warmth that spread throughout his body. "That been the best broth I 'ave e'er 'ad!" Garry paused and then smacked himself. "Talk proper! Like the land folk. Ahem..." Garry coughed awkwardly and looked around the empty inn. It was rather large but lacked that dirt and grime needed to give a tavern that certain feel. Instead, everything was too new and clean that it was somewhat stifling.

"Well, that will soon change! Once the people learn about this soup, they will come running from across the continent!" Garry nodded to himself as he reverted back to the proper accent. None of that pirate jargon he was so used to spouting on the high seas. After another burp, Garry wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stood up. "Now what?"

Garry froze as he realized he had no idea what to do. 'I am in the cursed forest... in a town nobody has ever heard of, where there are talking undead.' Garry sighed and picked up the empty bowl. He might as well clean up after himself.

"Mister Pirate?"

Garry turned to the voice and saw another short person. 'Ah geez, another one. What's with this place and child labor or dwarfs?' But Garry had learned his lesson and kept his mouth shut about that. "Names Garry." Rule one of being a pirate on land, let nobody know you are a pirate. Keep it lowkey. Otherwise, the land dwellers hurl obscenities.

"Mister Garry." The short man, which looked oddly similar to the one that smacked him with a shovel, repeated and bowed slightly. "Please follow me. The mayor wishes to speak with you."

That was music to Garry's ears. Surely the mayor would be somewhat normal and be able to help him out. "Excellent. Take me to your mayor."

Garry gathered himself and followed after the helpful person. Just for good measure, he also brought his cart filled with clothes. 'Even though nobody's around, you can never be too careful...'

The man led him down a gravel path through the center of the town... or is it a village. It was hard to tell. Garry examined the architecture. Most buildings here were log cabins with signs suggesting they were inns or taverns. The architecture was nothing impressive and gave Garry the idea that this town was aiming to be a rest stop for weary travelers rather than a place to live. At least for now.

After a few minutes, Garry turned a corner and saw a massive clearing. In the center of the town was a large palace constructed of white stone. It was relatively simple and wouldn't be that impressive back in the Empire or even Eshnar, but the fact it was the only stone building surrounded by many wooden buildings made it stand out a lot more.

Even the pathway from the edge of the clearing to the building's entrance was cobbled stone rather than gravel. Garry marveled at how his cartwheels glided across the smooth surface as he walked past a basic but well-kept garden.

"Welcome to the mayor's residence. He awaits you inside." The man gestured to the forboding doors and added, "Good luck." As the man walked away, Garry caught a glimpse of the man's skull face hidden under the hood he was wearing.

Garry scowled at the undeads back as it walked off. He would get revenge for the massive bruise on his forehead some other time. For now, Garry needed to focus on his meeting with the mayor. He cooled his nerves, making sure to keep his accent in check. "You got this... just like talking to the captain."

Pushing on the doors, Garry held his breath as the surprisingly heavy wooden door swung open with a creek. Inside was dark, with the only lighting from the sun behind him and a few well-placed dim lights lining the walls. Gripping the handles of his cart till his old fingers went white, Garry strode forward with fake confidence.

Garry winced as every step he took echoed through the dark room. A good few steps away, on the far side of the room, was another door guarded by an ogre. This one held an actual mace in its muscular arm rather than a piece of tree. Garry got cold feet under the ogres questioning glare. Its head moved ever so slightly with every step he took forward as if waiting for him to get in range so it could smack him down.

To Garry's surprise, the ogre did not smash him into meat paste and instead kindly opened the door for him and gave him an ugly but reassuring smile.

Passing through the smaller door that was inlaid with some gold and other metals that appeared haphazardly attached to the door, as if an amateur had been given far more wealth than they needed and had no idea what to do with it. Garry ignored the blatant attempt to flaunt wealth and pushed forward.

Passing the door revealed a marble-floored room with nothing but a vast throne. Garry's entire body seized up as something massive moved on the darkened throne. The dim lighting made it hard to see, but Garry was certain a large mass of something was relaxing on the throne.

A wet, squelching sound accompanied the thing as it rolled over to face him. Garry was met with two grey eyes and a mouth far too wide it was ear-splitting.

"Welcome man named Garry to Necron. We require a chef as our chef quit due to your blabbering."

The thing spoke, and Garry was terrified. Was this some horror show? Was this all some fucked up twisted dream? The creature upon the throne was so far from human, yet so eerily close, his brain struggled to categorize it. Was it a man or a monster?

"So." Its frog-like face grinned at him with no teeth, and Garry's blood ran cold. "You will be the new chef from now on. Good luck."

Garry was baffled. He had been the chef onboard his ship and had a hearty appetite, but he was no professional land chef. Nobody would want to be served by a pirate. "But I 'ave ne'er cooked proper restaurant meals before!" Garry was feeling stressed, so he let his pirate ways slip out. "Pardon me speech... I just speak like this here when I be nervous-"

The creature raised a stubby hand that had an odd look to it as if it was slightly translucent yet also ended in claws. "I have decided, and therefore it shall be so. You will be the new chef." The thing reached over and grabbed something from a bowl, it squealed in the mayor's hand, but the mayor simply opened his enormous mouth like a whale and chucked it in. "Ahem, as I was saying. The Rock will teach you how to cook. The meals don't have to be that high quality anyway. We will hire more people soon enough."

Garry felt more relieved knowing someone would teach him and there would be more people coming. But Garry had to ask, "Do I have a choice?" Although he was a terrible merchant, he still enjoyed traveling, so being tied down to this bizarre town seemed like it would age him faster than anything else.

There was a stifling silence, and Garry wondered if he had said something wrong. Then, finally, after Garry was getting worried, the creature rolled off the throne with a sickening squelch and began its way over to him. Garry slowly backed away one step at a time as the thing rose to its full height. Even in the darkness, the mere outline of the thing nearly reached the ceiling.

The thing was slow, like lard moving at a glacier's pace, and Garry could outrun it by crawling, but that was not the problem. Instead, the hardwood pressing against his back made the old pirate curse his life.

The door was closed, and it refused to budge.

With nowhere to run, Garry tried to plead with the creature as it slowly approached. With every lurch forward, Garry felt his life coming closer to an end. Finally, the beast was so close he could see every detail, including the small rodent dissolving inside the slimy monster's stomach. Black bubbles rose through the grey slime as the rodent's flesh was devoured.

The creature was at least four times his height, and its head alone was the size of him. As it leaned in, Garry almost felt his legs give out, and in a last-ditch attempt, he blurted out. "I would be 'onored to become yer esteemed chef, me lord! please give me the job!" Garry avoided spitting in disgust. Never in his life had he felt so pathetic.

"Goooood." The creature smiled and licked its lips. It then reached out with its stubby hand and reached into his pocket. Garry froze as the claws gripped the paper bag filled with jerky. Then, to his horror, the creature ate all his travel rations, bag included, in one gulp. "Off with you then." The creature grumbled as it began its long journey back to its throne. "The goblins will lead you back."

"T-the goblins?" Garry asked in confusion as he felt the door behind him suddenly open. He stumbled backward, and the door slammed in his face. He turned on his heel, and sure enough, the little bastard wearing the hood was waiting for him. Seeing the smug skeleton, Garry decided to unleash his built-up frustration, "You fucker-"

***

"This is Rock. He will be teaching you from now on."

Garry listened to the goblin's words with a terrible frown and a rapidly darkening second bruise on his head. But the sight of a golem, covered in enough gems to fund a kingdom lording over a cauldron behind Bob's inn, was a sight to behold.

"That sparkling rock is going to teach me to cook?" Garry asked skeptically. The thing looked big enough to smash through a castle wall, let alone manage a stove.

The goblin shrugged and walked off. "No idea. Good luck."

"Good luck." Garry spat. Every time he heard that phrase today, he had the opposite of anything good or lucky. "Soooo," Garry said as he strolled towards the cauldron. "What are you cooking?"

"BROTH." The golem thundered, and Garry covered his ears as his world shook.

"What the 'ell, ye big oaf?" Garry shouted. "Speak quietly, or ye will make me deaf!" He had had enough of being shitted on today, and it was time for him to take charge. He was a pirate, for Pete's sake.

The golem visibly sagged. "SORRY." It attempted to whisper.

Garry sighed. It had been the most hectic and long day of his life, and it wasn't even dinner time! But he had to admit whatever was being cooked in the pot smelled darn good. Looking over, he felt the broth looked familiar... "Wait. You made my lunch?"

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XKARNATION

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12.11.2022, 02:47

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Tree Demon

https://www.patreon.com/xkarnation

Bio: I like reincarnation stories a little too much

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