Oscar lands on the island. He lowers his iron slabs as he walks over to Talia, tied up against the abandoned boat. She struggles with her bindings as he notices the broken pieces of metal scattered across the deck. He shakes his head and lowers himself, staring at her with a smile.

“Oh, my Talia. You appear to be in quite the bind.”

She smirks, baring her teeth out at him. “Come closer and I’ll tear out your throat with my teeth!”

“Maybe later. For now, we have orders to go back. It seems the hounds are being sent out to hunt down the sacrifices.”

“Oh. That’s a shame. I wanted my revenge.”

“How did they catch you?”

“I was surprised by that, Lordling. He destroyed my barrier and his knight took advantage of the opening.”

Oscar nods. “I see. Sebastian’s theory may be correct. That one has been touched by the Overlord.”

“What!?” Talia shakes as something inside of her wiggles about. “I want to taste it. I want a….”

“Sorry, but these orders come from above. Only the Great One will have a taste of their essence. The Great One is the only one of us with a chance of rising to become a new Overlord, after all.”

She sighs. “Fine. I can only hope there are some scraps left behind. But I’ll leave it to the hounds for now. But do you think they can do it?”

“Should it come to that? Sebastian says he will personally hunt them down and capture the sacrifices.”

Oscar uses a metal slab and smashes the remains of the ship’s mast, freeing Talia. She leaps up and takes a breath, screaming at the top of her lungs. Everything shakes around her before she stops slumping over.

“Done?”

“Yes. And now I’m ready. Let’s go. I want to watch and see those fools be hunted down.”

“Did they piss you off that much?”

She laughs. “Oh, so much. I can’t wait to see them devoured and racked with despair! Such a sight will bring me oh so much joy!”

“Indeed. But don’t forget. We still have a feast of our own that we’ve been preparing for oh so long. And soon, it’ll be time for us to eat,” Oscar says, drooling.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep in the woods, Glyn looks over the teleportation stone as everyone gathers around him. Mila channels her mana into the stone as everyone watches cautiously. After a moment, the glow dims and everyone shakes their heads.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Damn it,” Glyn says.

“So, what’s happening now?” Tisha asks. “How come we can’t go to the other teleport points?”

“Well, because the ship was designed for going into enemy territory, this stone is only set to work on returning to the basement, which is a secure location. However, now with the receiver in the basement destroyed. We’re stuck.”

“But we have a way to get out, right?” Mila asks.

“In theory, we can overpower the lock, and if we use the right amount of power, we can access our teleport network and get to one of the surrounding islands.”

Zanrit nods. “But if we overpower it too much, then we could be sent off in random directions, right?”

“Right. Which makes this a very careful, very delicate process. Too low and it's still locked, too much and we go flying in random directions. If we had time, I could play around with it more and we could escape safely.”

A group of men in cloaks march through the forest surrounding the group and they stare ahead blankly.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time like that,” Tisha says, readying her bow.

She fires off her bow into the crowd as they refuse to move. She hits several of them as vines grow from the arrow, trapping them. The others charge in as a response, weapons springing from their cloaks as they draw close.

“Zanrit, Tisha, you two keep them off us. Mila focuses on this teleporter. Pepper makes a barrier.”

Everyone nods, and Zanrit and Tisha charge ahead. Mila stares at the stone, pouring her mana into it as Glyn watches over her. The stone glows for a moment before it dims. She pours more of her mana into the stone to keep it shining until Glyn stops her.

“What?”

“We’re getting there. We have to make sure we hit the right point or else we’ll be thrown all over the place.”

As they work on the stone, Tisha and Zanrit fight. Zanrit swings his club, smashing into the crowd as Tisha fires off her arrows. Plants and vines grow, trapping some cloaks as Zanrit sends the others flying. Several in the back of the crowd fire off magic attacks at the pair, with Pepper flying in to block their attacks in her shrunken form.

Two cloaks charge ahead, moving past Zanrit and Tisha as they make their way to Glyn and Mila. Tisha rushes in, knocking them down as they toss out a black liquid at the barrier. The liquid eats away at the barrier as Mila and Glyn turn to the ongoing battle as Mila stands.

“Glyn…” Stands as her body shakes and flames come from her fingertips. “I have to….”

“I’d rather focus on the teleporter. But I don’t think you’re going to focus until we get rid of these guys.”

“No work on that stone!” Tisha yells. “We’ll keep them off you. That’s the plan. Don’t deviate from it!”

“But…”

Zanrit throws one cloak into a crowd of others. “You’re our best chance to escape. So please leave the fight to us.”

“Mila!” Glyn yells, pulling her back down.

“But….”

“Mila, we’re all counting on you.” He says.

She pauses for a moment, then nods. “Right.”

As she reaches down for the stone, Tisha cries out. Everyone turns to see Sebastian stepping forward, wrapping his wires around Tisha and pinning her to a tree. Zanrit attacks him, swinging his club only for Sebastian to take the attack. He sits unaffected as he grabs Zanrit’s club and lifts him into the air.

“I’m sorry, but I need you out of the way. I need to focus on these two. They're who I need right now.” He throws Zanrit and steps forward.

Glyn and Mila stand staring at him as he opens his arms and takes in a deep breath. “I can practically taste it on you.”

“This guy is….”

Sebastian smiles, pointing at Glyn. “You're coated in the Overlord.” He then points to Mila. “And you’re a tasty morsel. Both of you are needed to welcome the new Overlord into this world!”

“I knew it.” Glyn glares at Sebastian as pulls out his book. “This guy. No, maybe all of them. They’re all possessed by Demons.”

“What?” Mila asks.

“Oh, you can tell?”