Dungeon Day 57 - Continues
Drax’s questions were valid, and Dena was more than happy to answer them in order to appease the worried knight.
“Well, Sir Drax, I joined them because their master showed power over magic that I had never seen before. As you can see, they have access to powerful creatures whose numbers, I assure you, will only increase. And as you have seen, you are no longer in your old world, nor are we. So, the best way I saw to assure the safety of my family was to join them.” Dena said, answering the knight's first question while pointing toward Dan’s beasts. Then, taking a quick pause and seeing as the knight had nothing else to add, she continued.
“The subject of good and evil can be rather flexible as many things can fall on either side based on situations. However, so far, I have seen their master save the frog folk, who, by the way, have also bent their knee. Their master has also done its best to keep us safe and has already solved your bandit issue. Furthermore, it plans to deal with the bigger issues like the goblins and trolls, which you no doubt are aware of.”
At the latest answer, Drax’s face went very solemn. The knight knew of the goblins, trolls, and ogres. Sure, they had yet to do much, but that could change at any moment. And no matter how strong he was, there were simply too many of them for him to fight alone. It was hard to believe that this master of theirs could deal with such a threat, but based on the beasts before him, it was hard to deny the fact. There were 30 D-rank creatures in front of him, which alone could definitely stand against the mentioned threats. If Drax had to be honest, he was already mostly convinced about bending the knee; it all depended on the final answer. The last thing he wanted was for the villager's life to be turned upside down by whatever was coming. He expected some change, but he would accept only so much. Thankfully, it was a worry that was quickly appeased as Dena continued with her answers.
“Well, to answer your final question, I think there will be little change for the village. You will likely have some more beasts around guarding the place, and speaking from experience, you might be called forth to fight. Otherwise, I don’t think Master has much of a need for a simple farming village.”
Thinking about the druid's answer, the knight thought it over and found it to be true. They were just a simple village, and there wasn’t much they could offer this master. He was more than happy to fight since that was what he was good for.
“Very well, I trust you and your judgment. However, I do feel we are being coerced into this since there isn’t much to do against the clear display of power this master has shown. Still, I don’t see a better way to move forward. How do we proceed?” Drax finally said as he relented to the inevitable.
Hearing the dragonkin, Dena smiled as she motioned for Kinetic to move forward. The cheetah's movement caused the guards to tense up, and Drax gave the beasts a weary eye. The knight had a much sharper sense than Dena, his planet having progressed in magic further than hers. Not to mention, he had received a high level of training in his home world. All of this meant that though all of the beasts in front of him were on the lower end of D-rank, he could still sense the qualitative presence of a clearly superior monster. Even so, he had made his decision and trusted Dena.
The beast approached, looking up at Drax, and spoke.
“Sup bro, you ready?”
The act caught the dragon knight by surprise, and he stepped back while staring at the beast in front of him, whose fur sparkled with lightning. Drax’s actions caused Dena to giggle as she stared at him with amusement. In turn, Drax gave the druid an accusatory look, his voice giving way to his sentiment.
“You knew!?”
“Of course,” Dena answered, a smile still plastered across her face.
As this exchange happened, Dan looked at the so-called guards, only to find they were more curious than anything. They still had some clear trepidation, but after having stood there throughout the whole thing, much of their fear had slowly sipped away.
The knight had taken a deep breath, releasing just the tiniest bit of heat with his exhale as he tried to overcome the shock. Drax knew of monsters, and those with enough intellect to speak were usually the worst. The issue was that this creature in front of him hadn’t shown a single bit of hostility throughout the entire time it had been here. This clearly showed that whoever this master was not only had powerful minions but had enough control over them to stop them from doing as they wished. In a way, this aspect of this so-called master scared Drax as the entity itself then had to possess power beyond its minions. However, at the same time, having such a powerful entity watching the village would be a boon. It was getting harder and harder for Drax to deny the clear benefits of siding with this entity, so seeing the druid and beast had waited for him to deliberate further, Drax continued on.
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“Hello there, beast. May I know your name?”
“Yeah, bro, I am Kinetic. Nice to meet you.”
“A pleasure to meet you too, Kinetic, though a surprising one. To answer your earlier question, I am ready. How do we proceed?”
At his words, the cheetah moved closer and lightly put its paw on Drax’s foot.
Drax felt energy pour into him, and then a will pressed on his own and called for him to submit his lands and all things within them, including himself. The experience was odd and disturbing, causing Drax to lose himself in it. The knight, unsure of the whole thing, hesitated but brought himself back to reality.
Dena saw the fear and worry in the knight's eyes and nodded, encouraging the knight to give in to the feeling she once had felt. Drax, seeing Dena, remembered he had agreed to this and gave way to this foreign will, feeling it spread all across his body. The presence invaded all of him, and Drax lost consciousness for a fraction of a second as it entered his soul. Then, when he came to, he was back in the village, standing right where he had been. Looking around, he saw things that looked the same. However, Drax knew it was far from the truth.
Unlike Dena, Drax's presence was far better, having been honed over years of training. Drax had been one of the elites back in his home world, and he was only in his current situation because he had been traveling.
Drax had stopped at the small village for the night only to find that when he woke up, things had changed. At first, panic had set in, but realizing he was the strongest thing in the village and with all the villagers looking to him for guidance, he had been forced to step up. As days passed, everything seemed to be fine, at least until the bandits arrived, and he had been forced to push them back.
They had been getting braver and braver, thinking they could take him. However, Drax only worried about the villager's safety as he knew the bandits were no match for him. Even so, he eventually learned about the green menace and the danger in the hills. Sadly, there wasn’t much he could do about the situation, so he had turned to training the villagers in the hope that they had even the slightest chance at survival if it ever came to a battle. All of this is to say that even with all the many dangers lurking about, something had always stayed the same. As odd as the place they found themselves in was, it never felt truly off. If it hadn’t been for the fact he had seen the mists himself, he would have never believed they were in some sort of weird space. Sure, there was no sun or moon, but there was still a day and a night. Due to this, the villagers could continue as if nothing much was truly happening.
However, as Drax stood, there was something clearly different. The entire place was awash in a presence. It didn’t feel more powerful than himself, but the sheer fact it covered the entire area, almost like it was coming from everywhere, stunned him. Where before the place had seemed free of any influence, now it was as if some all-powerful entity had placed it under its control. And, of course, Drax only knew of one entity that could be responsible. In fact, when he focused on Dena and the beasts, the presence was stronger there than anywhere else. Drax realized it was because they were giving off the same presence, though slightly changed. Their peculiarities still marked them as different creatures, but their own energies were tinged with this power.
As Drax thought about it, Dena and the beasts served this master, and now he did, too. The thought brought panic as he inspected himself, only to find that he was also tinged with this power.
Dan felt the knight freaking out and decided to intervene. The knight was technically his, but much like Dena, he had yet to take the final step, which would be getting properly remade in Dan’s image. It was problematic as it would mean he didn’t have full access to the guy and couldn't just make him chill. So, Dan decided to change that. Thankfully, the dude was more shocked than anything, so he hadn’t spoken yet, and Dan used that to swoop in. In fact, since Dena was there, it was best to get her as well; otherwise, she would start asking questions.
There wasn’t much thought to the whole thing as Dan wasn’t changing anything, so he quickly paid the 300 mana. Then, in a blink, Dena and Drax disappeared before reappearing again, almost like nothing had happened. The villagers seemed confused, trying to figure out what exactly had happened, but since Drax and Dena didn’t say anything, neither did they. The best part was that now Dena and Drax were officially his.
After that, Dan looked at this notification just to make sure nothing had happened and that there wasn’t a secret second leader in the village or anything.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Congratulations! You have gained control of another faction and thus have claimed their lands.
🔷
Happy the town hadn’t somehow hidden a shard from him, Dan decided to actually take a look at Dena’s and Drax’s stat blocks. The change had been so automatic that he hadn’t actually had to do anything except want it to happen.