Edited by Solyom and Cultivator

You have slain [Mountain Tribe Ogre Level 24].You have obtained [411 exp].

I pulled my claws from the creature’s stomach. I surely took my sweet time here. Hey, I didn’t do that cuz I am some kind of sadistic psycho! I was interrogating him! Or was I? Never mind. Time to return to the rest of the squad.

Before leaving the place, I quickly destroyed the pile of rocks, pushing them in all directions. Now, even if someone would come here to throw a small avalanche at the heads of the dwarfs, he would need at least an hour or so to once again create a nice pile. As soon as I was done I started jumping near the edge, in the direction of Gisele’s team.

I came just in time to witness the dwarfs butchering a small group of hobgoblins sitting in a bunker-like formation on the side of the valley. Nothing really threatening, if they would take the main forces by surprise they could kill or wound a few soldiers marching in the first line. Still, they weren’t here to kill, but to slow us down. I cursed quietly.

-          “Look who finally came!” Giselle said after her axe made a certain greenskin a bit shorter. “Enjoyed yourself, did ya?”

-          “What do you mean? I am a proud hunter, I kill if I have to, but I have no joy for causing excessive pain and I think that such acts are simply savage.”

-          “We heard that ogre being skinned alive even here.”

-          “Because I was interrogating him, Gisele. I am sure that you also picked a few lesser goblins to ask them a question or two, right? It would be the best thing to do, could save us a lot of trouble finding other ambushes. Right, Gisele? Right?”

-          “Uh… I mean… Makrov! Is there any enemy left alive?”

A dwarf, one that was grabbing an axe with one hand and a goblin in the other, quickly looked at us, then back on goblin, raised his axe and quickly killed it.

-          “Not anymore, commander!” and then he added “No survivors, just as you ordered!”

-          “No survivors, you say?” I asked putting my palm all over my face.

-          “A…anyway! Any luck with your ogre?”

-          “The way you are trying to change the subject is just as cute as awkward, Gis. And no. It looks like our enemy is smarter than I want to admit. It’s just a single case, but the ogre had no idea about the other camps. But he could be lying. It’s hard to break someone in a couple of minutes, this is why I hoped to ask the goblins. They look like they are easier to scare.”

-          “He,he… sorry?”

-          “Just keep moving. Send someone back to inform them that we cleared the area up to this place. We are moving onward.”

The dragoness quickly yelled the order, and a dwarf on the back of the formation turned around and left the group, heading to the main army.

-          “We need to speed up. I don’t like the idea of playing as our enemy wants us to.”

Greenskin camp

-          “Report, sir!” a troll literally jumped into tent, kneeling before the Oni.

-          “Speak.”

-          “The enemies sent a small group of riders to scout the area ahead of the main army. They are clearing every garrison and every trap.”

The oni stayed calm. At least for the next second or two. Then he quickly raised from his throne and hit the table with his fist. It broke in half.

-          “Front guard! How could I miss such an obvious tactic! HOW FOOLISH OF ME!”

-          “S...sir?” The shaman, that has always been by his master’s side, tried to calm him down.

-          “I sent our people because I hoped that this way we could slow them down! Forcing an army into a set of small battle makes it almost completely paralyzed! To start marching just to stop after few hundred meters!... but now… I sent my people to die. For no reason at all.”

-          “There is something more, sir!” still kneeling, the troll raised his head.

-          “Continue.” The oni sat back on the throne, yet his anger did not leave him. His razor sharp teeth were bared as he was panting quietly.

-          “They are being lead by some kind of monster. I have never seen anything like that. I couldn’t get close, as it seems that its senses are quite superior. Every few hundred meter, it stops to sniff the area. And he always finds our squads.”

-          “How does it look?”

-          “At first I thought it some kind of werewolf, or something similar, but its ears are too big, his legs are too thick and there is something on his back. Maybe wings? After seeing that I checked twice if, by accident, I didn’t take vodka instead of water with me.”

The oni’s nails started rumbling at his throne.

-          “Gobraw, have you ever heard of something like that?”

-          “No sir. I am proud for knowing every monster, beast and bug that have ever crawled through these mountains. It’s not from around here.”

-          “You!” The oni pointed at the troll “How long before they would arrive here?”

-          “They don’t know the secret passages that we are using, they are traveling through the main valleys. In the best case scenario, by dusk, in worst… in a few hours.”

-          “Do everything to force them to come by dusk! They would be forced to wait until morning with the attack then. Also, use those passages to bring a few troops of the Night Clan behind those riders back. I want that beast dead.”

-          “As you command!”

Another bottleneck, another group of butchered greenskins. Yet that group was prepared for our visit. They were looking at mountains all the time, and after we were spotted, a volley of arrows was  sent in our direction. Was that a coincidence? Did one of those goblins simply had more reasoning than the rest? I would love to believe it, yet, to be honest, I started suspecting that they could have scouts of their own, that simply informed the rest of garrisons about the new attackers.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Not that it would make much difference, the garrisons were made out of only a few dozen to a hundred greenskin, ogres were rare. With our mobility, butchering those took up to a few dozen minutes as they were lacking any form of protection from an attack from above.

Yes, when you were shooting at an army of footmen, you simply aimed and shot. Soldiers have nowhere to run away. Even if they would move to the side, the arrow would hit those behind them. But goat riders on mountains? We could move up and down, left and right, barely any arrow scratched us. Indeed, there were a few less dangerous wounds, but when I suggested to one dwarf that maybe he should retreat and let the medics patch him us, he simply laughed at my face, pulled the arrow from his arm and quickly covered it with a piece of leather. Then he made a few moves with that arm, showing me that he still can fight.

Another few arrows flew over my head, but I paid no attention to them as I was charging down. With powerful leap, I flew over the primitive fence, made out of sharpened logs, landing between two goblins, having their jaws hanging low in awe. My claws ripped through the throat of the one on my left, picked up the one on my right from the ground and used him as a meat shield, impaling him on the spear of the hobgoblin that was charging at me.

I kept their attention on myself, letting the rest of the group to safely shorten the distance.

And then, everything rolled as all of the previous encounters. Goblins can have some chances against dwarfs, were they outnumbering them at least ten to one. Actually, goblins rarely stand a chance against anything without the advantage of the numbers. That’s how they were designed by nature. Weak breeding machines.

-          “Report.” I said to a dwarf at my side as his comrades were finishing a bunch of greenskin.

-          “Nothing extraordinary. They were meant to shoot a few times at the main forces, then make a crowd at the bottleneck pushing us away with spears. We should be done in a couple of mi…”

I silenced him by raising my hand. I thought I heard something. A whistling-vibrating sound, barely audible, almost like…

You took [32] piercing damage.You are now poisoned with [Potent Damage Poison].

[Potent Damage Poison]Duration: 05h59m54sEffectDeal [3] damage every 10 seconds.

SON OF A…!

I turned my gaze at the direction from which the arrow came. It wasn’t friendly fire. One – dwarfs weren’t using bows but crossbows, and I was hit with an arrow, not a bolt. If it was a bolt from dwarven crossbow it would left my body from the other side! Dwarfs aren’t using poisons either. Why bothering with poison that takes hours to finish the target, if you can simply split someone’s skull with one blow?

Yet I saw nothing. There was literally nothing around. I sniffed nothing, I saw nothing… There was no magic being used…

I heard another whistling sound, and I jumped to the side. After that, the second an arrow hit the ground where I stood.

I activated the Echo of the Earth. Life forms, about a dozen of them. They were standing quite far from each other. Stupid mountains, because of the high differences in the terrain I couldn’t tell exactly where are they.

I may not know precise location, but it doesn’t matter as I can BLOW THE WHOLE FUCKING MOUTAIN AWAY!

A ball of fire started dancing between my palms, pulsating and rotating faster and faster. All this time, my eyes were scouting across the mountain, looking for my enemies. None of them moved. They were patient, they waited till I would look away before firing an arrow.

I throw the explosive bolt, it danced nicely on the sky before it fell, shaking the ground. The explosion was as big as one caused by a grenade, not very big, but just enough to send a few rocks flying. And big enough to make one of the attackers move.

I saw the bastard before. A troll, same as the one that attacked our carriage when we were traveling with Fional. But these bastards covered their bodies with mud. They were the same color as the ground around them and their smell was completely nullified.

But now I knew what I was looking for.

-          “Would you be so kind?” I asked the dwarf pointing my back at him. That’s where the arrow hit and unfortunately, in my current form, I couldn’t reach it with my own arms.

My response was a sharp pain when the piece of wood was forcibly pulled from between my wings, and another notification of damage taken.

You casted [Viper's blood] on yourself.Effect of the poison has been reduced.

Duration of the poison has been reduced.

You casted [Metabolism up] on yourself.Duration of the poison has been reduced.

You are using [Regeneration] on yourself.Mp consumption1/10 seconds.Effects[Hp regen] up

You are using [Detoxification] on yourself.Mp consumption2/10 seconds.EffectsPoison effect has been reduced.

Poison duration has been reduced.

The Hydra’s Regeneration’s effects are great, pretty close to a miracle, but it costs a lot of mana. After a few calculations, I reached the conclusion that if my life is not at danger, using healing magic is simply better when it comes to mana consumption.

-          “Giselle!” I called without averting my eyes “Keep moving.”

-          “And you?”

-          “I will catch up with you.”

-          “I shouldn’t ask, but I will do it anyway: are you sure?”

-          “Yeah, sorry, but when it comes to a fight between assassins, having more friends on your side is disadvantage.”

-          “… Fair enough. Have fun! COMPANY! MOVE OUT!”

-          “Oh, I will.”

I threw an angry gaze in the direction of the cliff before I started shifting again.

Facility of Runner

Alexander Runner returned to his facility. The letter that came this morning told him that Jason caught some thieves and got some information about spies. That was fast!

He had to admit, he didn’t think that this man was able to do that. On the other hand, he knew Jericho, and Jericho was always sending people that were capable of finishing their jobs. He quickly moved past a few corridors. He saw few a knocked down bottles and here and there, melted ground. He didn’t mind it thought. The destroyed whiskey belonged to his cheapest sort and he would have the wooden floor removed by the end of the day.

He entered the vault. It was supposed to be empty, as Jason suggested removing the treasures, turning it into the greatest trap-room in the facility. Yet, as soon as his leg crossed the doorstep his heart jumped to his throat.

-          “For the sake of all devils, what did you do?”

Four shady-looking men were tied to the chairs, their gaze was dull as they were constantly shivering. The terror was much greater, as on the table in the room various… sharp objects were lined.

-          “As you asked, mister Alexander. Nothing. Oh, if you are concerned about the tools, rest assured. These were not used. They may have some broken bones, but the damage was done while capturing them. Nothing more was done.”

-          “Then why…”

-          “Why did I even bother bringing these little beauties here?” he asked, picking up a very sharp, very thin knife. “Cuz I needed to ask some questions. And from my experiences, I know that people are far more talkative when their conversation partner is a fanatic with a sharp tool in his hand. Anyway. Here is the list with the names of the people working with them. Unfortunately, they have no idea who hired them, it is very likely they were using some kind of broker.”

The owner of one of the greatest alcohol brands on the continent quickly picked the piece of paper and started reading it.

-          “Unfortunately, I know none of these names… on the other hand I can’t know every worker personally. The only thing that makes me happy is that none of my closest business partners are involved in that… I will check the those names… Mister Jason?”

-          “Yes?”

-          “I am sorry. And thank you.”

The old man only tilted his head to the side, asking a never spoken question.

-          “Thank you for doing your job. You did great. And I am sorry for…”

-          “Treating me as a homeless vagabond? Don’t thank me. I did that mostly for the money… and maybe some whiskey. And if you would see right through me, I would start doubting my skills! I spent the last eight years in the custody of the inquisitors, but before that, I was hiding from them for another two years. And I tell you, it’s something. Especially if you have the greatest priority on their list.”

-          “About your rewards… of course, there will be no problem with that!” he quickly added, after seeing the gaze of the magician change a little. “… but, as bonus, maybe you would be interested in taking part in tomorrow’s degustation of…”

-          “IWillBeMoreThanGratefull!” he bowed quickly.

Ha! To be one of the first to taste a new brand of whiskey! His life is complete.

-          “There would be only one thing I would like to ask you…” Alexander surely looked troubled by something.

-          “Ah, fear not. I will shave. And bath. I am not a savage, you know.”

At least not until you would drink too much, Jason…