Dark clouds hung over the town of Segres, creating a gloomy atmosphere. Children hid in their homes watching as their relatives were chained together by black armored men and led toward the edge of town in long lines.
On the outskirts of town, black armored men were whipping chained peasants as they carried logs and other materials. As the peasants screamed in pain the black armored men laughed and said. " Come on you lazy maggots, pick up the pace. The master wants this wall built as fast as possible! If I see you slacking off then its whip for you! "
Little by little the new, basic 3-meter high wooden wall was getting constructed, though Marino would have wanted it to be made of stone but right now he did not have enough resources for such a project. It had only been a week since he arrived from the new world and so far things had progressed quite fast in his eyes.
The wall though not complete was starting to look quite good. All the surrounding dry landscape had been burned, turning the surroundings of Segres into an ash-covered wasteland. The stretched out far covering the entire town and the buildings on its outskirts like Lara's former farmhouse. The wall also had a rampart stretching all throughout it with a few archer towers in between.
All though the Marino did have one big problem when it came to the wall and that was manpower. Though he had managed to turn all the citizens in the town of Segres into his slaves they did all the hard labor, free of charge. But he really lacked manpower at this point and so he was not left with much of a choice.
Standing at the ash fields Marino watched as a few familiar-looking men were being whipped for dropping a log. There were 5 of them and they all looked quite tough and well-built for peasants. They were also taking the whipping quite well not letting out even a single sound of pain as the whip slashed their skin, tearing it open.
Seeing this Marino smiled and asked Worm who stood next to him. " Worm, who are those 5 men? They look quite strong. "
Looking to where his master's gaze was pointing Worm immediately recognized the 5 men. Though he was not from Segres himself he was from a farm close by enough to have had to deal with the 5 men before.
Worm sneered in disgust at the sight of the men as he said. " Yes Master, I know them. I believe you know them also, though there is nothing all that special to remember about them. The two bearded fatmen are the Freeman brothers and the 3 teens are the Freeman juniors. They are quite known for their woodworking and blacksmithing skills, but their also known to be quite perverse and lustful men. I remember my grandma telling me once that she got her butt groped by one of the little shits over there. I will never forgive them for that. "
Nodding his head, Marino said. " Indeed now I remember them, especially that Fransisco. Well then Worm, let us sacrifice these people for the gods. I think their sacrifice should be enough for you to ascend also to the next level of power. "
Hearing this Worm was shocked as he asked. " For me Master. You would really let me get the benefits? But they are strong, their sacrifice should surely benefit you. "
Smiling at this Marino patted Worm on his hooded head and said. " Don't worry worm, they are all yours. I will find some other ones and besides I prefer my sacrifices a bit younger. The younger the better, their innocence gives their sacrifice more meaning and makes me much stronger. "
Worm stood there in awe. To him, all this was new information. Quickly he made a note in his head to remember who he should focus on sacrificing in the future. To him Marino's words made sense. bathing in the blood of the young would obviously make him more energetic and youthful, he had heard stories of people keeping their youth if they drank the blood of the young but he had always thought it to be just a myth.
Looking at his pondering minion Marino smiled and said. " Go, stop wasting time. " Then as Worm ran off to draw the ritual circle and sacrifice the family of 5, Marino turned his attention to a group of teens.
The group of teens mostly consisted of girls, just like Marino liked his sacrifices. Licking his lips he picked out 20 people, some of them looked familiar to him. Maybe he had even once played with them a few years back, he couldn't be bothered to remember.
As he went to order his men to separate the 20 sacrifices from the other people they started to cry and beg for their lives. They watched Marino in fear as his demonic red eyes watched them in wonder. Am I really that scary to them, he thought in wonder.
To test this out he walked in front of them back and forth. Each time whoever he passed would quickly make themselves small and look down as they trembled in fear. Seeing this made him feel like an alfa, like a total badass. Now his mere presence was enough to strike fear into the hearts of men. I am like a superstar, he thought to himself.
Then right then and there he drew the symbols in the ash-covered ground. Then a few cultists came and led the group of 20 to stand in a circle around Marino. There they stood trembling and pissing themselves as they sobbed.
Watching from afar the other slaves were horrified and angered by the scene, but powerless to do anything about it. Feeling all the despair, anger and pure hatred towards him made Marino smile. Yes, I can feel your anger and hatred, ohh it feels so good, it feeds me, it makes me stronger. This will be a most splendid sacrifice. Marino thought of this as he reveled in this feeling of darkness.
Then as the ash plains stood in silence in anticipation of what was to come, suddenly loud cries of pain could be heard further away in town. Then came a crazed sound of laughter afterward. Seems like Worm has already started thought Marino to himself.
Then without further hesitation, Marino dug his black claws into a girl's breast and ripped out her heart. Blood sprayed everywhere and people screamed in horror and anger. Some tried to run but as they were all bound to each other in a circle found it to be impossible.
As Marino started to consume the first heart the girl's body fell limply to the ground. Her friends watched this in horror as the cultists tried to calm the group down by whipping them profusely into silence.
Like this for minutes without end, Marino kept on killing and eating their hearts, until all lay dead in circular formation. Then as blood flowed throughout the circle filling the lines that Marino had drawn everything started to suddenly glow red as he said some words too quiet for anyone to hear.
Then a crack formed on Marinos arm and a piece of black stone flew off. Turning to look at his arm Marini was surprised as he said. " It actually works, oh my god! " Now after a long time, he could finally see white human skin underneath.
This was all the proof that Marino needed for him to know that he was on the right path to power. But even so 20 people wasnt enough and he had other concerning matters to take care of.
Then instead of using the 20 life forces to power himself up, he used them to summon more demon bats. Like sand the corpses melted into the ground and out from them came 20 new demons.
They came out from the ground laughing and snickering like the evil little creatures they were. They hopped and jumped around Marino as if celebrating something. seeing this 30 more demon bats that were still alive joined in on this.
Marino watched his little airforce of 50 bats proudly as they just kept on hopping around happily. Quite satisfied by this Marino commanded bring me more sacrifices. Immediately the cultists went to work as did the demon bats.
Seeing this the crowd erupted into a crazed panic. In desperation, people tried to flee but once again were stopped by their bindings and the cultists. Chains around their hands restricted their hand movement and chains around the feet kept them from running too far. And around their waist, there was another chain connecting them all together there.
The town still held a bit over 400 people in it and the wall was almost complete so Marino saw no reason to keep the rebellious people around. The world was a big place and the loss of these people would hardly matter, especially since in return I would obtain a loyal demon army he thought.
Then as he waited for the sacrifices to arrive he heard unfamiliar footsteps approaching from behind. Turning to look he could see Worm but now he was at least 175 centimeters tall, which was 5 centimeters more than he had before. Then he saw him pull his hood down revealing a hideous-looking orange-faced bold head with pointy ears. Its eyes were also different they looked pale and had straight black pupils going from top to bottom.
The creature worm no longer resembled a human in Marinos eyes.
He was now just like him a humanoid, a mutant. Then Worm bowed in respect to him and Marino spoke. " It seems you had quite the change. Now you look more like an orange-skinned Ork than a human, or at least I'd imagine that orks look something like you. So tell me what's different? "
Thinking about his question for a moment Worm then lifted his head and said. " Well, I do feel a bit lighter. My hands seem to have grown and so too has their strength. My vision seems sharper but the sun seems to have grown in intensity also blinding me if it shines on me. And I cannot help but feel an increased need to breed and make offspring. "
As Worm tried to figure out what else had changed in him Marino spoke up.
" Well, why don't you test out those new changes then? Grab as many women as you wish from here, or you could go to town and use the elven women there too. Maybe you will be able to spawn us some new useful minions. "
Delighted at these words Worm immediately accepted. " Ohh thank you, beautiful and generous master. I will make sure not to disappoint you. I will breed an army worthy of your name for you. "
Seeing the now hideous Worm so excited and eager about breeding made Marino feel a bit disgusted. Nonetheless, he said. " Well go on then, make me proud. "
Watching Worm run off and grab a group of 10 women with him as he led them to the city, Marino felt a little bad. But at least they would survive unlike, the people he was about to make use of. Thinking of this he wondered, was what he was about to do worse than what Worm was going to do, he wasn't sure.
For the next few days blood would be spilled in Segres and strange new creatures would be made as Marino built up his forces for his future conquests.