Day 19
After two failed attempts to express their power and deal with the chimera rabbits the battle chicken rooster population had been dealt a fatal blow. Villages had tall walls, chicks following mothers, and young hens Veronica's age gossiping around wells. The dungeon had chosen a theme by how blacksmiths worked tirelessly in massive smithies to build the perfect weapons. A single enchantment was needed to turn the saw, and the rest was metallurgy and engineering. Those few roosters making weapons and possibly village rulers were the only ones exempt from mounting up and riding into battle. In the town squares, roosters fought each other, sometimes to the death in ritualistic combat, and hens watched before leaving with the winner.
In a tree with Fu at my side, I studied the hamlet of battle chickens intently. Far in the distance, there was a castle similar to the one overlooking the blood lake. That was most likely where the leadership lived and an uncommon skill shard drop. I was fortunate that my Mapping skills marked it for later.
I wasn't sure if the drops were stable, but there was a chance hitting the battle chicken fortress would drop new varieties of uncommon skill shards. Themes were a stabilizing force, and medieval war over what made a good chainsword orchestrated by a secret cabal of Maneater spiders was the plot, not the theme. From what I could tell, the theme was don't let third parties force me into costly wars. Joining either side resulted in a loss from the start.
Once I had a proper forge ready, I planned to steal a blacksmith, metallurgist, and engineer at the first opportunity. From what I could tell, all I needed was a massive number of hens, and the roosters would love what I had to offer.
The sun was high overhead, so there was little chance of just invading the settlements and taking what I wanted. I spotted several sentries with crossbows, trebuchets on the walls, and plenty of bells to sound the alarm when an attack came.
"I doubt they will let you in covered in chicken grease," Fu said.
I patted my stomach before rubbing her side.
"I'm not the only one who ate well," I said.
"Rude, I only had a little. You left only bones." Fu said.
I smirked before focusing back on the problem at hand. Running in like a psycho with my chainswords revved would probably get me killed. A wind storm would do the job probably, but that had a lot of wind up, and I was saving my stamina for the boss battle later.
Pulling my hands together, I gently summoned a cyclone between my hands, keeping it stable and in tight control. This wasn't the same as a true cyclone. Those I could only keep away from myself as they rampaged. At most, I could put them on the path and hope they hit something. There was almost nothing between the edge of the forest and the town walls for 900ft.
I knew what I was going to have to do but didn't like it. The answer was as simple as it was stupid. My task was to slaughter the roosters and take the entire hen population out of the dungeon. A tall order, but I could probably narrow down my choices once I finished off the last rooster.
Crossing 900ft and killing the guards on the wall was going to be extremely difficult. The closer I got to the wall, the less reaction time I would have to dodge the arrows.
"What do you have plan?" Fu asked.
She looked so excited her little thorax had dipped, and she looked to be in her ready position. Tying up the last rabbit chimera had been fun for her.
"I'm going to run up to the gate and kill them all," I said.
Really, that's all there was to it.
Fu's red lips parsed as if she had bitten a lemon. Really, it sounded like the worst plan ever. Battle Chickens had some excellent reaction time, and my physical attributes weren't that great. Lingering Will was my best bet. It took my flimsy physical attributes and gave them a serious boost. It helped with my speed, but it wasn't my only reliance. First Strike and Final Blow would come into effect since I mentally considered this all to be a single attack. I wouldn't think about it, only destroy.
Marching a population of hens out of this town was a little much, but it would be a learning experience. After this, I would fight Fu's mother and find out if my new friend would abandon me. I wouldn't blame her if she defended her mother or warned her. Even as estranged as I was from my own mother, a part of me still loved her.
Betrayal wasn't enough to burn that bridge, which just showed how pathetic I was. I still wanted to hear my mother's voice for her to call and tell me there was really no other way. That she was proud of me for making this sacrifice even if I didn't agree to it.
I held my head, and Fu bumped my elbow with her head.
"You don't have to do this. I know you're strong, but this might be too much. Only my mother would dare something like this. You need to save your strength if you want to beat her." Fu said.
I nodded, still tensing my muscles for an intense use of skills and attributes, a move that would take my body to its absolute limits. It was the sort of action that would force my attributes to improve through training. That was what tipped the scales for me.
For revenge, the anger of Berserk wrapped me snuggly in a familiar blanket of comfort. My blood pulsed with satisfaction. This was what I wanted, the feeling of knowing why I was fighting. There was no mistaking it; I wasn't a good person by any stretch of the imagination. I was about to kill and upend lives to produce eggs on my farm.
This was all to climb out of debt, poverty, and the lowest class. I wanted it more than any tamer, I wanted it more than Tony Graves, and I wanted it more than the roosters on the wall. Hot blood pounded in my veins as a cruel wind picked up, and the power given by Lingering Will ignited.
More strength than I ever felt pushed me forward as skills synergized and activated together even cosmic Tempo powered up to help push me in the right direction. My heart hammered in my chest as I stepped out of the tree and shot forward.
I kicked off the face of a tree and shot out of the forest before dashing as my feet touched the ground. The dry ground cracked as a visible dust cloud appeared behind me. No sound came yet from the defenders as I ate a third of the distance in what felt like an instant, with all the skills thrumming to life in my mind. It felt like after images were bunched up behind me as I picked up more speed, finding the sweet spot where my skills gave me the perfect amount of lightness and heaviness. Wind blasted around me, kicking up more dust, and the bells still hadn't rang. My ears perked up, but all I could hear was the wind passing me by, and my sheathes slamming against my thighs.
I jumped, crossing out of the dust storm, gaining air until I saw well over the gate. A gust of wind carried me further than it should have as I landed, and a bolt the size of me slammed into an afterimage. Back hidden by the dust storm, I heard the bells ring when I was less than a third the distance away and eating the distance rapidly. I pulled my chainswords free and revved them on my second jump.
Why was this all considered a single and last attack? I figured because I wouldn't stop moving. The second my feet touched the ground of the guard tower, heads flew off of shoulders. My body moved, and I barely noticed the enemy as I crossed the span of the wall. The people of the town panicked as the bell rang until I silenced the rooster responsible. My chainswords continued to move with every step, either deflecting bolts, cutting through weak spots in armor, or ripping into bodies.
Roosters mustered, and I dove into them, turning half-armored defenders into broken dolls of flesh and bone on the ground. My blades moved quickly, and I opened the town and ripped out its guts like a chainsword. Viscera covered my wake as I killed without stopping until the roosters broke and fled too late. I chased them down and butchered them in the streets. The hens fled in panic but couldn't leave with the gate shut.
I made my way to the smithy to find it empty. There was plenty of oil for me to take care of my weapons. Once they were clean of blood and sparkling under the sun, I returned them to their sheaths.
One of the hens appeared in my sight before fleeing. I caught her and grabbed her arm. She nearly ripped off her own arm to get away before noticing my weapons were sheathed. Her leg shot at my neck with blinding speed, but I caught it before her talons could slice open my throat.
"Murderer, unhand me." The hen said.
"Collect the other hens for an inspection. Those I like will come with me, and the rest can remain here. I want only the healthiest hens in town. I will inspect them in the town square; don't be late." I didn't let go when she tried to get away. "Cheat me, and I will break you," I said.
She shivered before crowing as she ran in a way unlike the roosters. When she was out of sight, I found a wall and slid my back against it. I sucked in a breath, but no matter how much air I sucked in, there wasn't enough. That assault had taken me to the limits of my body.
When I felt in control, I made my way to the town square, where nearly 400 hens waited for my inspection. I searched for those around Veronica's age and picked them out. Of the 400 hens around Veronica's age, only 249 made the cut. In roughly an hour, I felt them up searching for growths of all kinds and found that the small population was surprisingly healthy. Marching them out of the dungeon wouldn't be difficult. They had been cowed by my might rather handily.
"You will come with me out of this land to the world outside this dungeon. Follow my servant Fu to the dungeon entrance; anyone who tries to flee will be killed."
If even 100 made it through, I would have all the eggs I could sell, and Veronica would have all the hens she could gossip with. Everyone wins, especially my bank account. This was the kind of farming that normally required multiple tamers on a single farm that took 50% off the profit. If I played my cards right, I would soon be out of debt and on my way to a life where I could travel whenever and wherever I wanted.
"I'm a servant now?" Fu asked.
"Get them there while I fight the boss then we're done here."
She gave me a serious look.
"Don't give me that I've seen the boss before I'm not impressed," I said.
"My mother uses us to keep other monsters from rising to her position. Failures are eaten, and their positions are given to new maneaters. We are only loyal because she protects us from the mid-bosses. If you can kill her, then I won't have to fear for my life anymore." Fu said.
"What, aren't you still scared of me?" I asked.
Fu snorted, and I rubbed her head. It was a good feeling having someone that wasn't terrified of me. "I'll use my sisters to keep them going in the right direction. We might even pick up a few stragglers along the way. When my mother dies well, I was always popular." Fu said.
She was such a little opportunist; I loved it. The way her lips smirked up into a chilling red grin on her cute face was to die for. When I spread my arms wide, she jumped, and I hugged the maneater, letting her get close enough to kill me if she was able. She didn't, and it felt good to have my trust rewarded.
Oh, she was using me, but we were using each other in this, and I wanted to believe that deep down, we were becoming friends. It was the last part of me that still dreamed of being a tamer. I had an advantage that Tamers starting out didn't have; I owned property. The land was often at a premium, and my little 300-acre lot was valuable for housing lots of monsters. With a little work, it would be easy to make a monster farm or, better yet, a community. Who said I needed to make a town for weak humans when I could surround myself with powerful monsters.
I wasn't coping because soon, my attributes would make me superhuman and unable to relate with normal humans. Who wouldn't want to live with alien beings who looked uncannily like humans at higher tiers unless they went a more monstrous route?
The battle chickens and Fu were staring at me while I hugged the struggling spider.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought. Lead them well I need to take care of the boss. It's a good thing I still know where she is." I said.
"You're going to fight Rong Da." A hen asked.
I nodded.
"We should stay here then; many of our strongest have tried to bring her down, and none prevailed." The hen crossed her arms and looked down her beak at me.
"If you wanted to be an example so badly, then all you had to do was ask," I said.
A Blitz Kick took the wind out of her sails and blasted her over the heads of other hens into a nearby building. She stared into space, unmoving after my blow. I pulled her out of the rubble and poured a healing potion down her throat. The hen coughed and spluttered but soon I could hear her bones cracking back into place.
I gave Fu's satchel to the hen I took down. "You are in charge of leading your fellows to my farm, where you will enjoy all the corn and bug monsters you can eat. There will be no war with chimera rabbits waiting for you there." I said.
"You maggot-filled wound." The chicken I kicked said.
"Lead them well; they are your responsibility," I said.
I watched the procession of hens travel away and knew they would be fine; there was strength in numbers, and Fu would be with them. The exit was close to the middle of the floor rather than at an end. It would be easy to find. I pulled two healing potions out of my bag and slid one into a leather loop. I hoped I wouldn't need it, but I kept it ready just in case.