“Yeah, but you cheated!” Archie complained for the fifth time now. We’d been arguing in circles. “You used your Curse to bail you out you bloody jackass!”
“If me using [SACRIFICE] to regain [STAMINA] counts as cheating, then you using Lochness counts as cheating, too.” I shrugged. “I simply used the tools available to me. If you’d killed more Wild Men than me, I don’t think you’d be this spirited about me using Fallen Star. Besides, weren’t you the one who told me to ‘Walk my road’ and all that? Well,” I wiggled my left hand, which was temporarily down a pointer finger. “This is me doing that.”
Archie didn’t respond to that. He sucked his teeth, sneered at me, then started to curse under his breath. A lot. Clarissa would’ve been proud.
The two of us had killed a combined 410 Wild Men, though we encountered somewhere close to about 350. After the 300 mark, Archie and I both had approached the limits of our stamina. In response, I’d used Fallen Star to [SACRIFICE] my left pointer finger in exchange for renewed energy. It’d worked, giving me enough of a boost to make up for the head-start on kills Archie had with Lochness at his side, but the boon wasn’t limitless. In the end, I killed 267 Wild Men while Archie killed a less impressive 143.
We had no choice but to switch to Somnia’s intimidation method once we’d both been tapped. Thankfully, since we’d already killed so many Wild Men, the ones that approached us weren’t so eager to challenge us to any fights. Unfortunately, we’d only managed to convert about thirty Wild Men. They’d followed us on the way back to the hideout Shuten Douji led us to, a large multi-room building that was constructed to look somewhat like Onna Castle. The bottom floor was an open room with no front or back walls and wood-paneled floors. On either side wall were sliding doors with stairs that led to hallways and rooms structured like a standard hotel building.
Shuten Douji had Archie and I wait in the open room on the bottom floor where he and a group of some Silent Hand Oni sat and mingled. The makeshift castle was surrounded by a sea of converted Wild Men, though the sheer number of them helped me understand why Shuten Douji didn’t want to lead them to Oni Village. This looked like an ambush waiting to happen!
“Hey!” A familiar voice called. It was Somnia, now dressed in her Galerose uniform and not the robes provided by Shuten Douji. “You guys see the Conversion Percentage?”
Archie and I shared a look. We may have been at odds, but we had an understanding.
“No,” I answered honestly. “We’ve just been focusing on converting Wild Men. Like I said I would.”
“We got thirty…!” Archie said, though it sounded more like a question. It didn’t help that he looked to me for confirmation.
“Yeah. Some of them didn’t wanna listen, though. It’s a shame, really.”
Somnia laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t expecting either of you to take the conversion thing seriously. I know how competitive you two are together.” She smiled wide. “I didn’t need you two anyway. I raised the percentage by 20%!”
“I killed almost 300 of them!” I blurted. Archie’s face fell, but my pride wouldn’t allow me to take that lying down. “Are you telling me that didn’t raise the percentage?”
“It did,” Somnia allowed. “By a percent. A percent. One. There are almost 50,000 Wild Men. The vast majority are in the Wild Men Colony too young to do more than their natural bodily functions.”
“Are you a Wild Man expert now,” Archie asked.
Somnia’s smile widened even more. “No. I learned all that from the Wild Man General I converted.” She pointed behind me to a specific Wild Man in the distance. He was taller than the others, though that wasn’t saying much, and spoke to the Wild Men surrounding him like a prophet in a crowd. Their eyes lit up as they listened to whatever he was saying. It reminded me of the Fallen Star Cult, weirdly enough. More uncomfortably, it reminded me of Ares of all people. There was a point in time when I saw that man like a father. Did I look like those Wild Men? I knew I was like that with my mother, but I never regretted loving her. I’d still be like that if she were here.
Now’s not the time to think about this kind of thing.
“It seems like we have a lot to catch up on,” I noted, my previous pride suddenly gone. Somnia’s wasn’t. “I agree! I got a lot done today.”
To her credit, she did have a productive day. Not only had she converted a big-time Wild Man to their cause, but she’d also had a run-in with Zakaria of all people. She spoke about cutting his head off as though it were the easiest thing, but I couldn’t understand how she’d managed to bridge the gap between her and him so easily. I’d been proud to reach Level 100 during my long battle with the Wild Men, but Somnia was Level 120 now. While that was impressive, Zakaria was almost Level 400. By all logic, there was no way she should’ve been able to damage Zakaria as she was. Judging by Archie’s skeptical face, he felt the same way. Yugo, who’d popped up in the middle of her explanation, didn’t show any sign of surprise, though. So, I decided to ask.
“There’s a reason I hardly use Systems. They just tell you how much of your full power you can use. Look at Archie. He has stats for every single thing he does. If I tell you he’s a Level 999 water drinker, does that immediately mean you can never outdrink him under the right circumstances? The reality is that I’ve spent my entire life training against people who you’d call ‘Level 500’. Once you’ve bathed in lava, some hot water is nothing.”
And that was all she said about it. I appreciated her honesty, though it put me in a tough spot. While I had trained around Horsemen who indeed were at the peak of power, they never went all-out against me like Somnia’s family likely had. Instead, they’d have me go all-out against innocents in unmarked villages and then punish me if I hadn’t performed to their standard. Again, I couldn’t afford to dwell on the past. Instead, I looked to the future.
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“I need stronger targets, then.” I ended up saying.
Yugo smiled. “That’s why I’m here! My job is to get you those tough fights.”
“Wild Men aren’t that tough,” Archie noted.
“Yeah, but physical is just one type of toughness. When was the last time your stamina has been pushed like this?”
“You didn’t plan this,” I noted. “This whole Wild Men thing fell into your lap.”
“I could’ve declined! If this opportunity hadn’t shown up, I would’ve taken us straight to Bukimiburgh to hunt down a big fish. Sometimes you need to take advantage of the opportunities you’re given, Rui. They won’t always be there.”
I rolled my eyes.
***
It’d taken about ten minutes for Shuten Douji to show back up. He was joined by a young man who looked about our age – not including Yugo, of course. He had grayish skin that bordered on sandy brown with horns protruding from his forehead. He had white hair, sharp teeth, and white and gold robes that looked a little too big on him. I scanned him before he could introduce himself, though I could surmise who he was based on the way the Oni in the room knelt to him and Shuten Douji.
NAME: IBARAKI DOUJI
APPROXIMATE LEVEL: 445
CLASSIFICATION: HYBRID
He’s stronger than his brother!
“I AM NOT FOND OF OUR CURRENT STATUS. WE ARE SURROUNDED BY TOO MANY INDIVIDUALS WHO SURPASS US IN POWER.”
If it makes you shut up faster, Somnia said that doesn’t matter in a real battle.
“MAYBE SO, BUT MY FEELINGS ARE UNWAVERING. INCREASE YOUR LEVEL. STAND ATOP MINASHIRE AS YOU WERE BORN TO.”
“Hello,” The scrawny Oni said to us, though his gaze kept darting to Somnia. “My brother told me a lot about you guys. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s ours,” Yugo smiled, extending a hand to the boy.
After exchanging pleasantries with us and the Oni in the room, Shuten Douji had Ibaraki bring the General that Somnia wrangled to join us in the room. I scanned him, too.
NAME: GENERAL DENK
APPROXIMATE LEVEL: 124
CLASSIFICATION: KNOWLEDGE
No wonder he didn’t want to fight Somnia. He’s a Knowledge-Class.
“You will tell us all you know of the Generals, and you will tell us now,” Ibaraki declared. He spoke like a boy trying to sound authoritative.
General Denk smelled blood. “I don’t take orders from you, tike.”
He’s 300 Levels stronger than you, idiot. You should.
“Yes you do, General Denk,” Somnia spoke softly. Her eyes were closed. She didn’t even look at him.
General Denk coughed at the same time as Ibaraki. “Ah, my mistake. Didn’t know he was with you, Lady Somnia!”
“Don’t call me that. Ever.”
“Sorry ma’am!”
“Ma’am? Do I look that old to you?”
“God Queen Somnia! I’m still learning how to communicate with you! You’re gonna have to give me some time to work out the kinks, no?”
Somnia chuckled. “I guess I do. Now, do what Ibaraki told you to do.”
General Denk proceeded to tell us everything about the Wild Men’s combat operation. He told us that Zakaria wasn’t special in his “evolution” – the process through which Wild Men gain intelligence and power – and that there were five other people in the Wild Man Colony similar to him. Counting Denk and Zakaria, there were three other Generals left unaccounted for. The idea was that by killing or converting these Generals, we’d raise the bar by 20%. If we planned this right, we could be done with this whole Wild Man situation by tonight.
“Zakaria’s the strongest and smartest, so the others listen to him,” General Denk had been saying. “Fight one, the rest’ll come. If you wanna get out of this without gettin’ mobbed by all the Wild Men, take the Generals out fast. Between you an’ me, most of the Wild Men hate those snobby assholes.”
Yugo inched closer to Archie and me while General Denk continued to tell us about the Wild Man Colony. The moment he stood over us, he leaned close and whispered, “Remind me to never commit a crime with that guy.”
“We committed genocide about ten minutes ago,” I noted.
“Yeah, and we’re actively planning murder and extortion,” Archie added.
Yugo sneered, the face looking a bit ominous on him. “The Mamoru Clan’ll have to come get me.”
“Thank you for all of your information. It will benefit our efforts greatly. Should you and your men survive, you have my word that I will not target you nor your Wild Men within these forests.” Ibaraki orated, though again he continued to look towards Somnia as if for approval.
“Should I survive?!” General Denk blurted. “You lot’re supposed to protect me!”
“You think we can’t protect you?” Somnia asked.
“O-of course not, God Queen Somnia!” General Denk corrected. “It’s just the wording he used. It scared me! I’m not much of a fighter, you see…”
“You’ll be out of combat, General Denk, though we’ll need you to guide us to the Wild Man Colony to meet with these Generals. Once that’s been done, I would ask Shuten Douji to have his men lead you and your men back here to wait the battle out.”
Shuten Douji nodded. “I would agree.”
“Perfect. And while we’re planning,” She turned to Archie, Yugo and me. “I’ll have Archie and Yugo team up to face one of the Generals while Rui and I face the other.”
“Why can’t Rui and I be on the same team?”
“You two are terrible teammates,” Somnia said bluntly.
Neither of us disagreed.
“And I’ll be fighting with my little brother,” Shuten Douji declared, clapping Ibaraki over the shoulder.
“Then it’s settled,” Somnia clapped. “When do we leave?”
“Whenever you’re ready to depart, Miss Galerose,” Ibaraki answered.