“Yes. Yay, it worked! Now let's go.”
“Ok, ok, jeez.”
Zelhaut turned away from Tessera and began to sprint for the exit. Tessera followed soon after, inspecting her new body as she ran.
The tunnel shook, and crystals began to fall from the ceiling. Zelhaut managed to dodge them all and soon arrived at the entrance, Tessera not far behind.
{There’s someone here. They aren't aggressive, but they are strong.}
“Tessera, we are going up. Also, just as a reminder, when we are around other people, you can just shut it, got it.”
“Are you just angry all the time or what?”
“I’ll take that as an ok. Now give me a boost up to that rope.”
Tessera boosted Zelhaut up and then jumped up behind him. He quickly climbed the rope and soon arrived above ground.
Zelhaut stepped onto the sand and looked at the man standing nearby. The man wore the normal desert armor with all the thick cloth and metal, but unlike the guards in the nearby city, this man had a bright red feather sticking out of his helmet.
“I assumed you to be high level, what with this juiced golem you have up here, but to think you can support so many active golems at once. Impressive.”
The man spoke and Zelhaut narrowed his eyes.
“What do you want?”
The man put a hand on the pommel of his saber.
“I had heard a tale of someone strong hanging around here, came to see if it was true. And I now see it was. I’d like to recruit you.”
“For what?”
“Ever heard of the rebel worms?”
“No.”
“Well, let's just say we want to overthrow the territory.”
“Not the whole empire?”
The man spit on the ground.
“The empire can go suck a lemon, those fucks.”
Zelhaut nodded his head.
“Couldn't agree more. Fuckheads.”
The man smiled and nodded as well.
“Exactly. We want our territory to be a free country once more. That is our group's goal.”
Zelhaut smiled at the man.
“What's your name? Mine is Vlude.”
“My name is General Creiv. So, are you onboard?”
“For war? Hehe! Yes please!”
“Good. Seems that you are no stranger to death, a good quality to have in a soldier. Welcome aboard Vlude!”
“So, where are we headed?”
“Ah, don't worry about it. My subordinate will give us a ride.”
The general gave a high-pitched whistle. The ground began to shake, the sand vibrating. In the distance, a huge creature slithered its way forwards, covering ground at a frightening pace.
“What the fuck is that?!”
The general raised an eyebrow.
“There's a reason they call us rebel worms and not just rebels.”
“You’re trying to tell me that that thing is a worm?”
Soon his guess was proven correct as the giant worm came into view. It was half-buried in the sand, but what he could already see painted a horrifying picture. The beast was at least two hundred meters long and its yawning mouth was five meters in diameter completed with jagged teeth sticking out in a circular pattern.
“You done.”
A voice came from atop the beast and a helmeted head bearing a smaller red feather looked down at him from above.
“Yes, Norten. We are all done. We will be giving our new friend here a lift back to the base.”
“Ugh! Fine. Hop on I guess.”
Norten threw a rope ladder over the side of the beast. The general clambered up and waved for Zelhaut to join him. Zelhaut looked at his golems behind him and then ascended the ladder, a long line of golems following after him.
The worm's skin was rough, hard, and thick. When Zelhaut stood on the worm there was no squishiness, as if he was standing on solid ground. A rope ran the top length of the worm, attached to the worm through a series of large metal ring piercings.
When the last golem had climbed the ladder, two other rebels pulled the ladder up and secured it against the side of the worm. Then the worm began to move. Zelhaut lurched to the side and quickly grabbed onto the rope for balance. He commanded his golems to do the same, but unfortunately, two of them fell off.
“Oh dang! Want to stop and go get them?”
The general turned to Zelhaut.
Zelhaut waved his hand.
“It's fine. I’ll just make them destroy their circles. It’s just wood.”
“Well, alright then.”
The general faced forwards again.
Zelhaut sat down and schemed.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his new core, Tessera, open her mouth, about to bite one of the soldier's necks. Zelhauts eyes widened and he rushed to form a thought to stop her. Before he could though, a discreet metal hand shot out and wrapped around her throat. The crystal golem froze, then closed her mouth.
{But you said I was a predator!}
{This core is difficult.}
Zelhaut brought his hand to his temples, disappointed in the new addition.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Is something the matter Vlude?”
Zelhaut looked up to see the general staring down at him with a knowing glint in his eyes.
“No. Just some forgotten orders.”
The general nodded, then looked forwards again.
Zelhaut let out a sigh of relief.
The worm continued to travel a full day and night until the group arrived at their destination. The surroundings were just plain desert the one moment, and then the next there were tents everywhere. Zelhaut's eyes widened at the startling abruptness of the sight.
“What was that?”
The general turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s just a simple ward, nothing really that special.”
The expanse of grey tents was vast, covering the desert sands for as far as the eye could see. The sight of grey was interspersed with the light of yellow fires burning. People crowded around these fires, taking comfort in the warmth, keeping the desert night chill away.
The crunch of rock pulled him from his thoughts. He looked towards the sound to see another giant sandworm. It was eating some kind of white rock fed to it by a soldier in armor.
“Like what you see?”
Zelhaut nodded his head.
“Yes.”
“Good. Let's get you situated then. Norten here will show you around.”
The general jumped off the worm and disappeared into the sea of grey tents. Zelhaut looked to the beast tamer, who in return just stared back at him with an annoyed expression.
“Let's just get this over with.”
“Agreed.”
Zelhaut nods his head again, agreeing with Norten’s no-nonsense attitude.
They both jump off the worm, landing on the sand with a crunch beneath their feet. Then he follows Norten on a winding path leading through the grey tents.
While looking around, he notices that many of the people in the camp wear standard desert armor with red-feathered helmets. But, there are pockets of people who are dressed randomly, much like himself. This makes him wonder.
This begs the question.
Zelhauts face darkens.
“Here we are. This will be your tent.”
Zelhaut stops and looks at the tent in front of him. It is just as plain as every other tent, except for the multiple standing humanoid statues made of different materials standing around.
“Golems?”
“Yes. This is a golemnist tent. Meals are at sunrise and sunset, just follow the smell of food and you’ll find it. Your tent mates will explain the rest.
With that, Norten walked away without a backward glance.
Zelhaut walked up to one of the golems, one made of stone. The golem seemed… Dead? But golems are technically not alive, so dead is not the right word. He gave the golem a push and it toppled over.
“What?”
He leaned down and pushed the golem back up into a standing position. He took a closer look at the golem, poking and prodding it.
It was an easy mistake to make. He had never had the opportunity to closely inspect other golems before, and his own golems had mana pumping into them all the time.
He had mistaken his golems for the norm.
Zelhaut opened the tent flap and walked in. Inside sat four other people on bedrolls. They all looked up at him as he walked in.
“Are you a golemnist?”
“Yes.”
They all groaned.
“Another one?!”
“It is getting seriously crowded in here.”
“Why can’t they just set up another tent?”
“Because their assholes, that's why.”
Zelhaut just kept silent and watched these other people. There were two males and two females. He was mildly surprised they wouldn't separate the genders but just shrugged his shoulders in the end.
One of the women pointed to an empty spot.
“You can sleep over there. Also, don't even think about starting anything. Got it?”
Zelhaut simply nodded his head and sat down on the spot. Then Krindle walked through the tent flap, moving to sit near Zelhaut.
“Hey hey! No golems in the tent.”
Zelhaut simply ignored the man who was shouting about the stupid golem rule and closed his eyes. But then, he heard the thunk of a palm on metal.
Cracking open his eyelids, he saw the man trying to push the golem out, but to no avail. Krindle simply ignored the man and kept walking forwards. Then a hand went towards Krindles face. The smooth face cracked into the metallic vicious grin of Krindle’s.
“Ah! What the fuck!”
The man stumbled back and Krindle sat down next to Zelhaut.
“Hey, you! Why would you make a golem with a mouth?”
“Because I wanted to. Now shut up!”
The tent fell silent. Zelhaut could see fear in the other's eyes.
“Good.”
His eyes closed once more.
{I call that man's soul.}
Zelhaut nodded at Krindle.
A nosey thought flew in from outside the tent.
{Can I get some souls?}
Zelhaut sighed through his nose.
He leaned back and brought his hat forwards to cover his face as he pretended to fall asleep. He waited. Waited for the moment the others turned that fear into anger. The best way to put true fear into someone is to brutally beat down their attempts at revenge.
Two hours later, late into the night, he finally heard the rustle of the tent flap as four bodies left. The tent flap opened again to reveal four golems sneaking their way towards him. Sneaking badly, because golems are not the silent type.
“Restrain them. Silently.”
All of his motionless golems outside the tent began to move, making sure to be silent. Krindle rose next to him, walking towards the four golems in the tent.
Soon, Zelhaut heard the crunch of sand and a few muffled screams alongside the rubbing of wood against stone, metal, and other wood. He lifted his hat and looked over at Krindle.
Krindle had two golems restrained using his tail, and the other two were held to the ground under his feet. The golems struggled, but Krindle, a growing dungeon core, was more than enough to hold them down.
Zelhaut stood and exited the tent. What he found were the four other golemnists with their mouth held shut by wooden arms wrapped around their necks. The other golems had been restrained by his own, and some of them had stopped moving entirely, no doubt due to lack of mana.
“Let's talk.”
His golems dragged the people into the tent, away from prying eyes. They all looked at Zelhaut with anger in their eyes, no doubt feeling secure that he can't kill them in the middle of an army encampment. And indeed, he couldn't. But he had other methods.
Once they all entered the tents, he noted the surprise on their faces when they saw Krindle. It was probably unheard of for one golem to beat out four others in strength, even though the golemnist is in the one-hundreds level.
He was sure the four in front of him were no slouches either, probably close to jumping the gap into the one-hundreds themselves.
“Now, let’s begin.”
The people lined up with their hands tightly held to their backs. His golems kicked the back of their knees, making them all kneel. One of the people had the bad luck of being held by Tessera, who was extra savage when she kicked.
Zelhaut heard a snap and frowned. He looked at Tessera with thinly veiled anger.
{What? How am I supposed to know bones are so fragile?}
{... Ah. You got me there.}
The woman cried out in pain, her leg broken. Thankfully her voice was still muffled, coming out as nothing more than a loud hum.
“Now unless the rest of you want the same treatment, I suggest you shut it.”
The tent became silent.
“Good.”
Zelhaut reached to the first man on the line. He grabbed the man's fingernail and pulled it off.
The other three looked at Zelhaut as if he had betrayed them.
“I said the same treatment. This is a different treatment.”
The man whose fingernail just got pulled off screamed into the wooden arm, tears gathering at the edges of his eyes.
Zelhaut continued down the line, pulling one fingernail off. When all was done, he rummaged in his bag and brought out eight fist-sized diamonds.
“Now. I am going to give each of you two of these diamonds. Take them and leave this army, NOW!”
The four people stopped crying and looked at the diamonds, their eyes filled with greed. The wooden golems and Tessera let the people go. The four of them accepted the diamonds shakily. Then all four bolted out of the canvas tent flap, the one woman limping.
Krindle let up their golems. The other’s golems soon fled with the four, leaving the area surrounding the tent free of all but his own golems.
Tessera turned her head away from the fleeing forms of the people to look at Zelhaut.
{What the fuck. You just give them money and let them run away.}
Zelhaut shook his head.
{But I want to kill them! Do you not!?}
{... That seems overly complicated for just some kills.}
{What does that mean!?}