Chapter 16:

“I’LL KILL YOU!!” Screamed the voice. Oliver froze, what stood before him was something between horrifying and intoxicating. Her skin was smooth and dark, like polished obsidian. Two golden eyes gleam amidst cascading black hair, crowned by elegant ebony horns. The creature wore no clothes, except for a rag over her breasts and privates. Her beauty was both amazing and terrifying.

Oliver, still frozen, was caught off guard by the creature's beauty and was flung to the wall of the room. The power she exuded in that punch was enough to shatter Oliver’s brand new chest plate. He tried to stand, but the impact was too damaging to Oliver, the chest plate wasn’t the only thing damaged from the creature's hit, his ribs and organs also flamed in pain.

Oliver let out a whale of pain, as he did, the creature approached Oliver. Golden blood dripped from the hole caused by the demon sword. She began to smile as Oliver tried to cast a spell to protect himself, but it failed due to the immense pain clouding Oliver's mind. He was unable to create a mental picture, and was left defenseless.

Once the creature finally reached Oliver, she bent down and picked him up by the throat. Oliver was not hanging in the air. Oliver was confused, he was in pain, and all he could think about was his inevitable end. “How could this happen, and so soon?” He thought, as the creature began to open its mouth and speak.

“Hello Oliver Briege.” Said the creature, her voice was now different, it no longer sounded like one of the girls Oliver had saved, instead her voice was… tantalizing. But the creature's blood lust was present and promptly ended any thoughts Oliver might have had.

“W-who are y-you?” He asked, but as he did, the creature frowned and threw him on McCarthy's desk, the impact, once again, was powerful. When Oliver landed on the desk, it shattered and Oliver fell into its debris.

The creature stepped away and was about to say something. But she stopped and instead she summoned a fireball in her hand. She launched it to the wall and the blast created a large hole. Then, two black wings spread out from the creature's back. They were adorned in black feathers and spanked far out from her sides.

She turned back to Oliver for a moment, and smiled. However, this wasn’t a smile in the true sense. No, it was like she was saying something, a small message. “I’ll be back,” was the message. As if she was cursing him with her return.

Oliver watched as she jumped out the hole and flew into the night. But his eyes failed him and he fell into a deep slumber.

***

He awoke, back in his chair, sitting at the desk that was destroyed by Oliver’s impact. But it wasn’t in pieces. And there was no hole in the wall. His armor wasn’t broken, there was no golden blood on the floor, and there was no presence of that creature.

Oliver got up from his chair, injury-less and without pain, he was far more confused. Was it just a dream, no, it was too realistic to be a dream.

“Kobold!” He said, ordering the presence of the kobold that should have been outside the door. Oliver approached the door, he unlocked it and sure enough the Kobold stood just outside the door. “Good?” He said.

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Oliver left to go downstairs, the kobold followed behind. When he reached the ground floor, he was met with seven sleeping girls, still sitting in the chairs he had left them in. His presence seemed to wake one of the girls, it was the same one who stopped Oliver from drinking the monster's blood. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Oliver walking to the door and outside the central building. The kobold and gnolls followed him.

Outside the building, Oliver and his minions regrouped just in front of the gate. Aurelain, Reinhard, the kobold, and the two gnolls stood in a line before Oliver.

“Good morning master, did you sleep well?” Asked Reinhard, giving a slight bow.

“Yes, I guess. But I had the strangest dream.” Oliver stopped, “Do you know anything about monsters that can invade dreams?”

Reinhard thought for a moment. “No, I’m afraid I don’t have much knowledge on dream monsters, but if you need help with anything else, I’ll do my best.”

“It’s fine I guess, if it keeps happening, I’ll deal with it.”

Aurelian approached Oliver and pushed its bony snout on him.

“What is it?” Oliver asked Aurelian.

Reinhard replied in his stead, “I believe that he wants to show you his bounty.”

“Oh, did you encounter a lot of intruders last night?” Asked Oliver.

“No, not really master, just a few small dogs.” Replied Reinhard.

“Dogs?” He asked in confusion.

Reinhard led Oliver and the minions to a pile of torn up bodies. The corpses of monsters in a big smelly pile wasn’t something Oliver was expecting to see in the morning. In the pile were a few unique monsters he hadn’t seen yet. But most of the bodies came from wolves. These wolves looked quite familiar and Oliver realized they were some of the wolves that attacked him on his first day.

“Separate all the bodies.” Oliver ordered his minions. A few minutes later, the bodies were all separated and Oliver could see the different creatures clearly. Among the beasts, there were the four wolves, a kobold, and perhaps the most interesting creature, were two slim and tall black figures. These black and tall figures emitted death itself. They almost looked like plague doctors.

“I’d be crazy to not summon these guys as my minions.” Oliver said.

“Agreed, I just love their masks.” Said Reinhard.

“I wonder?” Oliver said, “can I imbue them with different affinities?”

Oliver focused his power into each of the creatures' bodies. 950 mana each, that should do it, he thought. He envisioned a fireball entering the corpses and then, Oliver held up his hand and spoke… “Arise!” The two corpses began to shake, their cloaks began to flap and the flesh beneath dissipated revealing white bones turning black. After a few moments of shaking, Oliver's new minions stood up. The two stood in front of Oliver, their black cloaks hid every bit of the body beneath it. The cloak covered everything but the mask, which covered their faces. Two black hats sat upon their heads and they towered Oliver and even Reinhard.

They didn’t greet Oliver with words, instead they bowed just their heads to him.

“Can you speak?” He asked.

They shook their heads.

“What can you do?” Oliver asked the two figures.

The two doctors faced each other for a moment, then they turned away from Oliver and from their cloaks, arose long boney hands. The two minions then fired a volley of fireballs past the gate. When they were done, the two put their long thin arms back beneath the cloaks.

“Impressive.” Oliver said, “You two will act as my body guards, understand?”

The two doctors nodded and stepped behind Oliver.

“Okay then, I don’t have much mana left, so let's take a break. I could use a bath.”