Somnia defended the Red-Light District with her siblings who’d come to back her up following a message she sent them complaining about how under-defended the area was. There weren’t as many Wild Men pouring into the city as there had been just an hour ago, but there were still enough that’d already been in the town and were actively destroying it that it didn’t make much difference.
As expected, her siblings had been reveling in combat with the Wild Men. While most of them weren’t as battle-hungry as their mother, enough of her blood flowed through them that they all visibly deflated as the Wild Men diminished in number. Somnia watched as her siblings hacked, clawed, and sliced through Wild Men like savages, meanwhile, she’d been flaring her aura and intimidating them into surrender. To her credit, it’d been working – for the most part. There were still some stubborn Wild Men who refused to listen to her; in those instances, she’d have no choice but to kill them. As for the others, they’d shake, scream, then run away – usually into the waiting sword or battleaxe of one of the Galeroses. The ones that managed to avoid them hid in alleyways between trash bags, some even taking refuge inside dumpsters. Despite keeping their distance from Somnia, they all had an odd habit of staring at her. Somnia saw no hostility in their eyes, though. No, there was only one emotion she saw in those gazes.
Fear. They were terrified of Somnia! And for good reason, given her threats to kill them or “make them suffer” and whatnot, but the collection of fearful gazes stuck with Somnia. Was this her ultimate Fate? To be terrifying? Even that lady from earlier said that she’d have no enemies if she leaned into her intimidation factor! What kind of “Pillar of Minashire” would she be if she were terrifying to everyone she encountered?
“Stop just standing there! Get your head in the game!” Her brother Tartys shouted, holding a dead Wild Man in either hand. “Didn’t you call us out here?”
“Sorry!” Somnia shouted, resuming her work. She’d have time to think about her perception after the mission.
***
Archie started to notice something in his battle with the Wild Men. They were certainly still primitive – at least compared to humanity or advanced Myth species like the Oni – but the Wild Men indeed displayed signs of sociality. Following that “evolved” Wild Man Zakaria that Yugo and Hana were beating bloody in the middle of town showed that they could at least take orders, but what Archie saw in them went just a bit deeper than an ability to follow directions.
Specifically, he noticed some Wild Men dressed in rags that were a lighter brown than the others with uniquely styled hair. When he’d been forced to fight a group in front of some artisan knife shop, Archie noticed that the taller Wild Men dressed in darker clothes tended to move themselves in front of the smaller, lighter-dressed Wild Men. More than that, the taller Wild Men were far more destructive; breaking windows, stealing from the shops, and charging at any fighter they saw with reckless abandon while the smaller ones preferred ranged Aura-Based attacks and weren’t as destructive as the taller ones. Of course, as with any society, there were outliers, but something had become clear to Archie.
The Wild Men have genders!
He and Lochness had been protecting most of the small Culinary District on their own, their only assistance being a team of sub Level 40 Honor Guards and some Galeroses who were more focused on protecting the citizens than fighting. As easy as fighting the Wild Men had become, he’d spend most of his stamina fighting the bunches of them that approached him and keeping up with Rui in their little kill race. Somnia had suggested an alternative method of approach regarding the Wild Men, and as his Aura Reserves slowly diminished he knew his options of straight combat were becoming limited.
Thankfully, Archie still had his [SILVER TONGUE] Skill. There was no telling how well it would work against the Wild Men, but it wouldn’t hurt to give Somnia’s plan an attempt. If it failed, he’d just go back to fighting.
Archie analyzed his surroundings. He stood in the middle of an empty street atop a felled cherry blossom tree. Dark blood seeped into the grooves of the brick road beneath his feet as the mangled corpses of Wild Men surrounded him. Lochness’ head peaked over the roof of the knife shop across from him, watching as she lashed her head about with a Wild Men clenched between her jaws like a dog with a chew toy. Below, in front of the knife shop, stood two female Wild Men standing behind one male Wild Man. He’d clearly broken into the store if the two steel knives in his hands were any indication. He shrieked his eagerness to battle as stomped in place like a bull preparing to charge. With another, somewhat rhythmic set of chants from the Wild Man across from him, a new wave of male Wild Men poured out of alleyways and corners that Archie hadn’t even noticed mere moments earlier.
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So he must be the leader of this squad… That works even better.
Without warning, Archie charged for the Wild Man across from him. He grabbed the Level 53 Myth by his collar and dragged him into the farthest alleyway. Predictably, the Wild Men that he’d called followed close behind. When Archie got there, he pinned the man to the wall by his neck and called for the other Wild Men to approach. They did so pensively, drawing spears, swords, and other bladed weapons as they waited for Archie’s next move. Just like he’d hoped – a captive audience.
Now for [SILVER TONGUE] to work its magic.
“You lot are trying to impress those girls, right?” Archie asked, making no effort to hide his Burnish accent.
Confused, the Wild Men he held captive simply shrieked. Then spit on Archie’s cheek to the cheers and jeers of the Wild Men surrounding him. Archie took a deep breath, wiping the putrid-smelling spit with his sleeve. Rather than hide his annoyance, he let it show by throwing the man into the crowd.
“This is what I mean! What girl is gonna spend any time with you lot if this is how you act? A bunch a’ blokes goin’ round actin’ like savages? You think that’s how you get attention, yeah?”
The Wild Men didn’t react. Merely looking at one another as uneasy looks started to fall upon their faces. Archie pounced on the opportunity, kneeling in front of the very Wild Man who led this small group. He poked the man in his chest.
“You smell, look, and act like a Goblin. Girls don’t like Goblins, man.”
The Wild Man gave Archie a challenging look.
“Don’t try and act like you’re hot shit,” Archie said. He snorted. “Those girls didn’t even bother to chase after you when I snatched you up outta there. They didn’t even seem concerned! I bet they were bloody thrilled to be free of your arse!” Archie poked him in the chest again, switching to his unaccented voice. “Girls don’t like Goblins, man. This whole ‘destroy-the-city’ thing isn’t doing you any favors.”
The Wild Man looked down at Archie’s hand, utterly defeated. With a weak chant, he called his soldiers down from the fight. They did so easily, each of them wearing the same defeated look on their faces as their leader.
Is it wrong to feel bad for them?
“Hey, people can change!” Archie called. “This isn’t the end of the–”
LEVEL UP!
Archie’s sympathy vanished immediately.
***
While Archie had relayed Somnia’s message regarding the method of dispatching the Wild Men, I had no interest in following it. Well, not anymore. Archie and I had split up, him guarding the Culinary District and me guarding the perimeter of the city. I’d attempted to follow Somnia’s instructions with the first group of Wild Men I encountered, but it hadn’t worked. I’d threatened to kill them, only for them to scoff at me and literally spit in my face! I’d killed them for the disrespect, of course, going so far as to temporarily [SACRIFICE] my left pinky for some extra stamina since I was running low. Following that, my threats started to hold more weight. Even so, I wasn’t in the mood to “threaten” anymore. “One bad apple” and all that.
Despite my disinterest in following her directions, I made sure to mentally note everything they did in my battle for future reference. Whenever I’d verbally threaten them, the more coherent ones – the ones who planned their attacks – generally seemed to waver whenever I’d speak. The wilder ones, however – the ones who threw themselves at me with no technique – completely ignored my warnings. Interestingly, after I’d killed about forty of them, even the more coherent ones had stopped listening to my warnings. As Fallen Star put it, they’d come to understand that regardless of what I said, they were going to die anyway.
In the end, I killed exactly sixty-six Wild Men outside of the town’s perimeter. I’d only leveled once, taking me to Level 89; and I was fairly certain that Level came from my use of [SACRIFICE] and not my mass killing of the Wild Men. I’d only stopped because I’d received a flurry of messages from Somnia telling me to meet up with her and Archie in the middle of the city. As I ventured deeper into the city, I noticed a procession of Wild Men followed behind me. They didn’t fight, and they didn’t look like they wanted to fight. On the contrary, every time a dumber Wild Man charged at me, some member of the procession would venture out and kill them, only for the group to pounce on the victim and eat them as they died. It was gross, but I didn’t have the time or energy to think about it.