Despite their victory, they weren’t given enough time to celebrate. Right now, their focus was on cleaning up the mess that had transpired post battle. All the armor pieces had to be collected to be melted down for future forging, the weapons gathered for later use. The wagon had to be hefted up for inspection and all the monsters needed to get back into position to get out of this area and back to base.
With that all done, the Conquistador surveyed the damage done to the transport vehicle. Just as he suspected, there was quite a decent amount of harm done, but nothing too awful. The wagon was still usable and could be moved around. All that needed to be done was some repairs to fix the front and maybe a few of the wheels before it was back to being at full strength.
He nodded, before gesturing to his soldiers. Several of the remaining troops went out and hefted up the wagons, prepared to head on back. However, before they all started walking back, there was one last thing he needed to do.
The bastard that had nearly wiped them all out. The one that had been one of their limbs removed, kneeling there and bleeding out.
Well, this was a conundrum. The jerk was fully converted, he could tell. His soul had warped the enemy to become his loyal troop, yes, but there was a hint of resistance still within. That was something quite surprising, but that struggle hadn’t made any ground. There was no way for it to progress any further, thus giving him a safe and strong position to bargain.
Well, there was the whole issue with the bastard bleeding out, which made him have to wonder: was it worth saving them? True, they were strong and true, they had a divine blessing that would certainly make any future battles far easier to deal with. Though, there was an issue: the missing arm. Certainly, he could bandage the open wound and make sure they didn’t die, but that would mean they wouldn’t be a good means of force at all. That smoke was connected to a bottle, something that they didn’t have anymore on them. Not to mention that they could either use the club or the smoke, and the fact that there was still a bead of resistance within them.
Yeah, keeping them around wasn’t worth it at all. At this current state, this person was nothing more than a disaster in the making. If he lost control or didn’t pay attention, then they could easily recover and wreak havoc upon his little kingdom. That was something he could not allow, not under any circumstances.
Thus, the only way they would be useful in this current state was with one thing: getting answers. Interrogating them to get every last drop of information to be well-prepared for the upcoming problems was the only thing he could do now. He needed to know as much as he could before the Usurper’s forces came marching in.
He stepped forward, getting so close to this whelp that he could hear their ragged breath. They were definitely struggling to stay conscious, the wounds they had sustained throughout the fight weighing them down tremendously. At this point, there wasn’t much time for him to get any useful information, but that was fine.
He didn’t have that many questions.
“You. Tell me the size of the Usurper’s forces that remain in this settlement.”
“There… There are many.” The bastard managed to spit out, “I do not know… myself. Far… Far too many to count.”
That was useless. Though, perhaps he should have been far more clear.
“Then how many of them are in your organized forces?”
“Eigh… Eighty.”
With that, the Conquistador couldn’t help but wince. Eighty strong and smart soldiers, each of them with their own abilities? Yeah, he could only hope that certainly wasn’t the case.
“Are they similar to strength with you?”
“No… Only…” The bastard growled, desperately trying to fight off his control. But, such a thing was a losing battle, and he was back to being loyal once more. “Only… Twelve of them.”
So twelve strong soldiers? That wasn’t too bad. After all, he should have the numbers to overwhelm them. Though, just to be sure, he should probably go around and convert every single last monster he could encounter within the town. Hrm, perhaps he should focus on creating some cages as well to secure some of the monsters so that he could convert them later? Keep them in reserve for later.
Though, that would probably cost some of his soldier’s lives to commit, so he went ahead and put that idea in storage. For now, he’ll keep doing what he did now.
Though, twelve strong soldiers… The best case would be to get all of them under his control. That way, he’d be able to make use of all of them completely. Though, to be successful, he’d most likely need to take them out one by one. Otherwise, he’d be set up for failure. Though perhaps–
He was snapped out of his thoughts when a loud growl came from the captive in front of him. Ah, yes, he did need to focus. He shook his head, before looking down at the bastard once more.
“Alright, now tell me where your base is.”
“Our… base… It’s…”
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The Conquistador’s eyes widened as he witnessed the resistance getting stronger. That was certainly not good, that was definitely the worst case scenario. In any case, he absolutely could not allow the bastard to break free from the conversion. With that, he focused all of his divine blessing to beat them down to submission once more.
“Tell me, now!” He roared as he continued his focus, “Give me the answer!”
“We’re stationed… In… The Main Citadel of this settlement…” The truth finally burst free, though that was to be expected from the heavy amount of power weighing down on them. With that, he lifted a good bit of his divine blessing, but he kept an eye on them. After all, he wasn’t certain if he was able to keep them under control for much longer.
True to his expectations, the resistance started to grow, but not enough to break free yet. He squinted at that. He didn’t have much time left, which certainly wasn’t good. There were still so many questions to ask, but if this was the case, he’d have to focus on the most important one.
“How many of you were sent to take down the base led by the Old God’s forces?”
“Se–seven…” They groaned, “Seven. Five of them were the weaker ones, while two of them were meant to be strong.”
So that meant six of their troops were coming right now to stomp him out? Heh. Doable. Certainly so. It’d be a tough battle, for sure, but it didn’t matter. He’d be the one to come out on top, perhaps with even more benefits in the end.
The resistance was getting stronger. He sighed, realizing that he probably only had enough control to ask a single question. With that, he forced his divine blessing down once more, this time forcing them to stick their head out in a kneeling position.
He hefted his halberd, ready to swing down. With all of that prepared, he asked the last question necessary.
“What are all the abilities of those coming to attack the group?”
“The five… They are able to jump long strides as well as being able to summon fireballs.” The bastard gasped, “My brother in arms, he has many. He… He can create metal spikes from the ground. He was blessed with a strong body, making most attacks do nothing… He… He…”
This was bad. He was losing control. The bastard was going to break free, no matter how much divine pressure he put on them. There was only one choice left: taking them out. However, he needed to know what this other fool had, this was a necessity! The bastard’s ally had more abilities than him, which meant that he was hiding more information!
“He? He can do what else?” The Conquistador growled, “Tell me, now!”
“He… He… He’ll kill every single last one of you bastards!” The captive roared, finally breaking free from his control, before moving to try to attack. “Just like how I’ll wring out the last bit of life from your neck with my bare ha–”
That was the last words the fool was able to get before his head was lopped off cleanly and elegantly. His halberd whistled through the air before making impact with the bastard’s neck, avoiding every last bit of armor. The flesh and bone that held up their head proved to be worthless in the face of a sharp metal blade, all of which gave way and sent the head soaring through the air.
The bastard didn’t even have time to react, their mouth still moving, though no noise came out. That was when the realization that they had died finally hit them as shock exploded all over their eyes before they began to fade away into dust and bone.
The skull landed right next to the Conquistador, who proceeded to crush it with his boot. Shards of bone scattered all across the ground, before being ground to a fine dust. He couldn’t help but spit on the remaining dust pile in frustration.
The sheer brazen act of disallowing him the key knowledge was one of blatant disrespect. How could that fool sit there, allowing themselves to be enslaved by the Usurper, never understanding that what they were doing was pure idiocy? They had to understand that the bastard wasn’t doing anything to help this world at all, only making a mockery of what life should be.
He shook his head. No, perhaps he was being far too disrespectful to the recently dead. After all, it was quite rude to insult the mentally handicapped. Perhaps he should give some credit where it was due. The bastard was a somewhat competent warrior, one that could have certainly proven to deliver such righteous justice upon all of these fools. Unfortunately, they had chosen to be a complete idiot, forcing him to end their life justly.
He sighed. What a waste. Though, just before he could walk away…
A black orb began to float up from the remains. One that began to hover, bobbing up and down from time to time. Such a reaction intrigued him quite a bit, though he was rather worried.
What the hell was that thing? Was that supposed to be the divine blessing that all had spoken about. But if that was the case, why was it black? Should it not be pure white to demonstrate the holy power of the heavens?
Though, perhaps that was the color because of the malicious nature of the Usurper. Intriguing. That, or this was some last ditch effort to kill him with some strange ability that could possibly rip him asunder, like how the black smoke had melted anything that came into contact.
He couldn’t risk it, not when he was at this point. So, he whistled and called upon one of his soldiers to go ahead and touch the orb for him.
One of the monsters, the ranged one, came forward and put a hand onto the black orb. With that, the item disappeared completely. The monster keeled over, groaning as they began to twist and turn. Then, something insane happen.
Flesh and bone broke through every single part of its body as they seemed to transform. Those crooked arms began to fold back into the torso, before coming out the other end to form into some makeshift wings. The shell that covered their body began to fall off in droves, before coming back in the form of steep scales. Two giant horns began to burst through their forehead as their gaping mouth began to crack and close forcefully. New arms, new legs, and in an instant, the monster had changed.
The soldier was far greater than before. A circle of black cloud began to form above their head, accentuating their purple and black horns. Their face had flattened, though now they weren’t too disgusting to look at. Two giant wings covered their whole body, with some brand new regular arms on their side. Their legs had been transformed to be similar to that of an eagle, ready to rip and tear.
Though, that wasn’t the best part. No, that had to be the fact that this thing was still completely under his control. Best of all, there was a connection, one that allowed him to do something he never expected.
He had access to every single ability his soldier had. With that, he couldn’t help but grin. After all, this changed things more than ever.
Time to go hunting.