The streets were nice and calm. Not a single soul roamed the area, which seemed to be rather worrying to a certain extent. That being said, the Conquistador had such a fantastic night of rest that he was ready for whatever tried to attack them out in the open. That, and having a squadron of several monster soldiers at his back for any ambushes helped.
The only problem that he had was Mandeline, who seemed to be quivering as she walked with them. Not surprising, considering the fact that she didn’t have any weapons or armor to protect her, nor was she a warrior. Thus, the sheer act of bringing her alongside him to a potential battle may seem foolhardy, but it was a necessity. She was his assistant, and she needed to be with him to take down any notes and information necessary for further progress.
Also, she had some idea of how this town was set up. While she only knew one place, that was far more than enough, necessary to get the key information to figure out where they were on the map. Thus, the goal was to explore the entire town until they found out where exactly where the temporary base was on the map.
They walked in a straight line from the base down the street, looking all around them to ensure that there were no ambushes. Though, with how dead these streets were, he had his doubts of any kind of monsters remaining. Which was a bit of a shame, as he could have used more manpower for the further conquests.
As soon as he thought that, the sounds of movement erupted from a nearby building. The squadron moved fast, re-orientating themselves to guard both the Conquistador and his assistant. She started to whimper as she slunk back, desperate to stay away from the possibly incoming monsters. As for him? He stood tall, ready to levy his divine blessing on whatever dared to come out to assault the group.
For a good while, there was nothing. No monsters, nothing. There were no birds or any dangers in this place at all, making him wonder if there was truly anything in this place.
He turned towards Mandeline with a raised eyebrow.
“Say, you said that this was supposed to be a settlement that used to house soldiers, correct?”
“Eh? Ah, yes!” She nodded, “Carver’s Rest was one of the biggest stopping points for the army, mainly because this place was somewhat far away from other military bases, which allowed them to get away from doing their duties. That ended up allowing this place to start being built up as its own place for others to live and get their trade up. That way–”
“I see.” He cut her off before she could go off on some random tangent, “Then that means there should have been plenty of soldiers that could have possibly cleared this place before we came, yes?”
“Well, that was before the war. I don’t know what happened after the war. Maybe… Well, maybe the Usurper didn’t get a good hold on this place?” She scratched her head as she looked around, “That may be why this place isn’t as crowded as some of the other places I’ve heard of.”
“Hrm. If that is the case, then there is only one question.”
“Uh, y-yes?”
“If this place is truly safe, where is everyone?” He gestured towards the empty streets, “Where are the happy little citizens going around, doing their duty? Where are all the soldiers, keeping guard and making sure none of the monsters infiltrate the place? Why is it that this settlement seems absolutely dead, without a single semblance of life?”
“Well, um.” She seemed to struggle to find an answer to his question, but thankfully, someone else did so.
The building next to them shook and quivered. The sound of rapid movement began to erupt as the group started to re-orient themselves, prepared to fight whatever was going to come out. Mandeline yelped as she cowered away, getting behind the massed group of soldiers in fear of whatever was coming.
However, the Conquistador did not do any of that. He stood there, strong and proud, his divine blessing ready to deal with the horde that would arrive.
The door to this building shook and trembled. Then, cracks began to form throughout the wooden surface, before the entire thing exploded. Shards of wood scattered all across the air, with the remnants of the door flying out of the hinges before slamming into the other side of the street. That was when the malcontents began to flood out in huge swarms.
These monsters didn’t seem human at all. Rather, they were something of true beasts in their shape and form. They had a large amount of bulk with giant feathers all over their back, along with giant claws that seemed so long that they might as well be knife blades. Their necks were excessively long, all of which ended at their head: a combination of a bird of prey and a lizard. There were gills where their ears should be, with scales that covered their entire face. Their mouth was nothing more than a short beak that seemed to have rows and rows of strange curved teeth that went all the way down the throat. Last but not least were their eyes, something that was completely white with small pinpricks of pure black.
There were a lot of them, far more than he anticipated. In total, there were twelve of those things facing them, but he was not too worried. There were sixteen of his soldiers with him, and he counted as twenty men. Well, his assistant was minus four men, but that did not matter at all. What was important was that he had some potential new recruits, all of which would help to expand his forces.
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“Go. Stall them.”
With that, his soldiers all howled and lifted their weapons eagerly, before charging. To his surprise, the bird monsters all seem surprised by the incoming attack, at least until some of them got slammed with the blunt end of the blades. At which point, they snapped out of whatever surprise they had and rushed into battle.
All of which was quite grand, giving him the chance to breathe in and focus his divine blessing on one of these monsters. The full weight of his soul slammed right into the beast. He felt pure surprise when he felt resistance for the first time.
Impossible. This thing was able to defend against his power? The only time this had happened was when he had to fight off those foreign women! Did– did this mean these monsters had the same blessing as them?!
It turned out that no, that was not the case at all. Rather than continue resisting, the spirit of the beast fell to his overwhelming might. The soul of the monster began to warp and change to his fitting. Its eyes bulged out of its skull, the body shaking and quivering, before relaxing and blinking. That was when it turned towards one of its fellow monsters with a glare of hate.
The Conquistador couldn’t help but sigh in relief. Good, that was worrying there. Though, that bit of resistance did make him a little exhausted. Just a bit though, nothing too worrying. However, if that was the caliber of monsters that lurked in this settlement, then he’d have to be far more picky on who he converted to his cause.
Either way, he might as well indulge here and now. One by one, each of the monsters began to fall under his influence. With each one falling under his control, the more exhausted he got until he couldn’t continue onwards.
By this point, there were only two of those bird monsters remaining. The ones that he had changed were standing still, continuously giving a dark glare at the others that still fought his soldiers. As he expected, none of his soldiers had perished in the following confrontation, their weapons being useful to defend against the swipes and strikes that the opposing monsters attempted to launch at them.
It probably helped that he had been lowering the enemy numbers with his divine blessing, but that was beside the point. What was good was the fact that he had occurred zero losses from this fight, though there was one thing he noticed that made him a little worried.
None of the weapons had done any damage to the beasts. Not a single one of them had any scratches, bruises, or even dirt marks on their feathers or skin. They all seemed perfectly fine, as though they hadn’t been spending all that time fighting at all.
Was his army not going to be able to scale up at all? No, that couldn’t be the case, they had to be useful in some shape or form even with their capabilities. He’d need to do some investigation for this, of course, but the end result should have them be just as good as these beasts.
Well, in any case, he had ten of them. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have the energy to claim the last two. By this point, the remaining ones seemed to have realized that something was off, seeing as how they stopped fighting and stared at the ones he had converted with confusion.
Ah, well. As much as he hated wasting perfectly good help like this, he didn’t have any choice in the matter at this point. With a heavy sigh, he waved for the go ahead to go in for the kill.
Every single one of his troops rushed in. The monsters with the weapons began slashing and hacking at the monsters with zero result, while the other ten rushed in forward with their claws ready and their mouths open in pure rage.
To call the ensuing result a battle would be too generous. No, what came further was nothing more than a full range massacre. Those claws were far sharper than he expected as they proceeded to rip and tear the remaining enemy monsters to shreds and pieces. Their flesh splattered all across the streets as they were torn apart, leaving almost nothing behind before dissolving into dust and bone.
He couldn’t help but whistle at the sight. These monsters were a definite upgrade above what he had now. Yes, the cost to convert them was far more than he expected, but they weren’t resisting his orders. Besides, now that he had gotten them to be under his control, they will stay that way forever. In any case, there was no reason to not continue forward with the plan.
With that, he started moving to keep going forward, before stopping. Wait. Why was he bothering to continue onwards with his own two feet when he had something that could act as a potential mount now? He snapped his fingers at one of the bird monsters, before gesturing towards his feet.
The beast understood his intentions. With that, it walked forward, before bowing down and offering its arm. He went ahead and sat on the offered limb, before he was lifted by the monster. With this, he could continue commanding them to move onwards, all while recovering the energy he had spent to convert them.
Thank God that they had no scent at all. Else, he’d have to figure something else to do, which would have really put a damper in his mood.
“Alright. Let us continue onwards.”
“W-wait! We’re still going on?”
“Why of course!” He looked back at Mandeline with a wide grin, “Why wouldn’t we? We have more troops now! We’re far more secure than before, don’t you see?”
“W-well, yes, but–” She looked down at her feet, before lifting her head with a grimace. “Isn’t it best for us to head back and rest up?”
“Why, nonsense. I have a perfectly good mount here.” With that, he patted the head of his mount, which resulted in a delighted squawk. “You see? We can move fine.”
“I–I understand, but–”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be safe. Now, onwards!”
At his word, the entire horde started to walk down the streets once more in formation. Mandeline seemed to stammer as they began to walk away, before taking a step back. Then, she swallowed, before following right behind them with a regretful look on her face.