Chapter Fourteen

The Sewers II

A crowd gathered around Ogre as he tore through a Great Three-Shore’s Candied Duck. The meat was so soft that it melted on the dog’s capacious tongue as he filled himself beyond full, beyond engorged, and beyond bursting. The brown sauce was a perfect blend of sweet and savory, with a spicy kick on the front end that gave way to a flavor that changed the spice to a deep satisfying umami flavor, then a bitter kick at end that cleansed his palate and allowed him to never tire of eating more. He barely sipped his fruit water, preferring to pair the duck meat with a brine rice, that was simmered in apple vinegar and with a side of thinly sliced cucumbers, carrots, and greens grilled over an open fire.

The beasts made bets as he ate, jules passing paws as he swallowed hundred weight milestones in his eating. He stopped when he more than doubled his weight, then waited for the fatigue to hit. To his surprise it was not as intense as the last time he overate, though he felt fatigued, it was well within his power to ignore it. Perhaps the fact that I stayed up as watch allowed me to increase my ability to withstand fatigue or increase my fatigue bar? He thought. Ogre considered that experience and the plan to get to a certain weight before doing it again. That was the right way to do it. It worked better than before. Eating so much food after the fight with the Gremlin nearly slew him. Ogre understood that this was a risk that most beasts did not have to worry about as, they would vomit if they ate too much. The dog would die if he overwhelmed his gluttonous belly.

After eating, to the surprise of everyone including his party, Ogre stood belly spilling over his knees and waddled out of the Dining Hall and into the courtyard behind it just before the smithy. After quietly speaking with the smiths there, they allowed him to use full plate and the heaviest Great weapons that he could lift. The armour alone was more than twenty times his equip burden, with the gigantic mace added, it was five times again that sum. Ogre placed the great weapon on his back and then began to walk. The armour was stonemetal, plainly carved but well molded, thick, resembling unpolished marble; it was a slate gray with a patina of blue-green fanning out from the center of each plate. The mace was flanged with thick blades fitted in its hulking head, the metal, Druegorn. Druegorn was naturally a dark but lustrous gunmetal silver, with wavy lines decorating it through and through like rock strata.

The dog started sweating before he donned the armaments it took only a few steps for his vigor to deplete to zero. Ogre paused waiting for it to refill, seeing that the vigor went back to full at a speed that was a fraction of a fraction of how quickly it normally returned. Ogre panted and grew hot after less than a minute. His eyes watered as sweat stung them, his body trembled and his muscles began to burn. He relented after five minutes and fell to his hindquarters on the flagstones with a loud clangor, that caused the armoursmith to look up sharply from his work. Ogre lifted a placating paw and the Elephantine went back to his pounding. After more rest, Ogre laid flat on his back and did sit-ups, until his belly clenched and a sickening feeling in his bowels threatened to ruin his borrowed platemail. Then the dog rolled over and did push-ups. After that he did squats and lunges. It only got a bit easier with the bodyweight training as opposed to the walking, and considering that his strength and power was a lot greater than his endurance which delt with cardiovascular movement under load it made sense to the dog. The crowds of beasts gathered at the door to the smithing area, they swigged their tankards, sipped their wine, or hard spirits and chatted amongst themselves. Not all of the conversations were about him, but most were, and the ones that were seemed to split nearly fifty and fifty as derogatory or complimentary.

Ogre had to send Aida and even Vedana away when they tried to defend his outrageous actions in the dining hall and with the exercising. He told the rest of the party to get some sleep, for the next morning they would go back to the Sewers to explore it’s depths. The otters left regretfully. Ogre continue to exercise until the crowds started the bleed away, bored at the abrupt turn of events. A few more adventurers bet on him but hours later only a few watched as he labored.

Inwardly, Ogre fumed. Where is the benefit? The banners told me that exercising would unleash the full ability and power of the eating skills. Where are they? Ogre rested, panting so loudly that his throat hurt from the frantic rasp of air to deplete the buildup of lactic acid and sooth his aching body. He felt wrung out, and mentally drained in ways that even staying away for a full week could not duplicate. I did not fight then, I did not even have to use skills, I just led the party, ate conservatively, and stayed awake. The difference was clearer than imaginary glass. Ogre’s vigor bar no longer went to the full sum of vigor that he had, in fact it barely reached five percent now. He was slower, debuffs of high fatigue, which rose higher in the first few minutes of exercise than it did in the days camping, piled high. His stats fell and his body protested. Ogre collapsed six more times on the flagstones, cracking them and throwing small chips of rock up and away from the point of impact. The dog could barely hold the mace in both gauntlets for a second before it fell to the ground, he had to use his entire body just to that. Even his massive head could only hold it, body straining to the maximum, in his jaws. Ogre had no hope of wielding such a weapon. But for the dog it was hard not to try. The size of it was amazing, the feel of the density, the way it pulled at every inch of his body when he struggled to lift it was intoxicating. He was in love with the gigantic weapon almost before he knew it. It was not the mace itself, but the size of the monstrosity. It fit him.

Eventually as evening faded to night, and a nearly full moon rose to mock the fading light of the sun, Ogre gave in. He stripped off the armour, and gave it back to Balanthe, who glowered at him like a tree bending down to inspect an uppity bush. Ogre handed over fifty silver to pay for the cleaning of the armour of his sweat and humbly thanked the Elephantine, before asking him a question.

“Can you make me a weapon, an axe that is double the weight of the mace? How much would it cost me, to have that in iron.”

Balanthe did not hesitate, “If I was to make it in iron, you wouldn’t be able to properly wield it, as it would be the size of a small cottage. Druegorn Iron is the cheapest material that I can use to make it, I think. The best I’ve done is 500 tons but that would still be too large for you to use. A Elephantine could do it. You warriors grow as you level, perhaps you will reach a sufficient size, but as you are now, even the most dense metal, unless it is worked with soulweight would not work for you.”

“The cost?” Asked Ogre

“Nearly five bloodstar jules or 48,000,000 gold for the material alone and an additional one hundred fifty percent of the value of the ore for the work.” Balanthe said, “But if you get me the material, I can waive much of the costs, associated with processing the metal from ore, though not all. You will need 2 kilotons of ore, one kiloton of coke, and five hundred tons of limestone. Since we can use the Heroic Exchange which spans many billions of worlds, such amounts can be trivial if you buy it, but carrying it from a mining site will be the true challenge. It’ll take some time to make it. If you use lower class ore you will need at least a kiloton of soulweight to compress the material.”

The silver wolverine grunted, as he sipped a tankard of ale near his cooling forge but said nothing. Balanthe looked at him curiously, before turning back to Ogre, “Perhaps the esteemed lord of this forge has something in mind, that I do not know. I can ask him. In the meantime I will need that material and you will need to get stronger. Oh, and one million gold would be enough for me. And with that it’s a steal of high order.”

Ogre grinned, to keep his head from swimming at the absurd sums.

“You want to make it, Ironmonger Balanthe I can tell. We’re doing each other favors with this endeavor!”

Balanthe trumpeted and shooed the dog away with his massive snake-like nose. Before he left the smithy square, the old carcajou called out to him, “It would seem that you will be mining ore, and chopping wood to make coal then coke. I recommend getting some extra material and saving it. It will come in handy when you practice yourself.”

Ogre nodded, turned, and made his way back into the Guild building. Orda managed to purchase the room they used the first night they were in Cerulean for ten copper jules per day. When Ogre entered, the otters were all fast asleep. The space was plain with six sets of straw stuffed, linen wrapped bunkbeds, a large round table in the center of the rectangular room and chests with keys set in the locks at the foot of each bunk. The female otters, Aida, on the bottom and Vedana on top, took the bunks on one wall, whereas Orda and Xendaranan took the bunks opposite them. Ogre had a bunk all to himself at the far end of the room. No other beasts where given leave to enter, as they were now paying for the space. Ogre fell into the straw, feeling as if it was a feather bed, and was asleep almost before his body touched the divan.

Ogre was the first to wake. The dog sat up flexing a body that felt remarkably different than how it felt just the day before. The wood framed, straw mattress bed, shrunk during his sleeping causing him to spill over the sides. Ogre sat up stood, bumping his head against the bunk above him, and brushing his shoulders against the bedframes of the bunk beds on either side of his body. He recalled having ample space before. The room was serviceable, but the window was shuttered and small, keeping the space in a near deep darkness that Ogre was sure, before his obscene perception stat increase, would have made him blind in the space. As it happens with leveling, and stat increases, he could see perfectly well and yet he still bumped into the table and chair sending them flying across the room. The otters woke soon after, asking who was attacking.

“Peace,” Ogre said.

The dog recalled a time when some Froglets tried to attack their camp in the night, but upon seeing Ogre they retreated quickly, and without a fight. However, Aida, enraged at having her sleep interrupted, chased them all down and slew them to a monster.

Ogre smiled at the thought, speaking. “I’m a little clumsy this morning. Go back to sleep, I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”

Aida growled at him and slumped down into her straw. Vedana and Xendaranan also went back to their beds though with less fanfare, but Orda sat up, blinking. Ogre spoke quietly to the tank, “If are fully awake, you can join me.”

After that, Ogre left the room, quickly shutting out the stream of golden light, from lanterns in the Great Dining Hall. He considered his new passive skill, as he waited for his second in command. Brutal Physicality is another way I can increase my stats without leveling up. My ability grows so quickly, and yet I still cannot get over the fact that so many beasts have died because I was not strong enough. Oh, Glaeddra, why couldn’t you hold on for just a minute longer? No! How was that fair! The blame lies with me! Ogre thought. Can I continue to do this? I know Jeda was right to leave, those goblins and that gremlin is definitely tied to me somehow, and to this Dreameater title. Can I protect them if that happens again? Can? No, I will do it. I have to. I’m nearly a thousand times more powerful than I was before! If I can’t protect them, then what’s the point of growing stronger?

What if it’s useless? Another part of him thought. What if you cannot grow fast enough to meet the challenges that you will face?

Then I will die contently, knowing I did everything I could to make them safe. The thoughts made Ogre’s muzzle twist into a grimace.

Liar! You’d die screaming and raving. Mad that you allowed it to happen again. Angry that you allowed monsters to slay your friends.

Ogre felt his chest grow tight at the thought, his breathing became shallow and fast, as he clenched his jaw hard.

And worst yet…you’d likely survive! You have abilities that will keep you kicking, well after your minions are hacked apart like meat.

Shut up! Ogre growled to himself before his nose grew hot. I’m talking to myself. I’m getting myself worked up! To distract himself and still his heart, he pulled up his Status Archaia.

I’m not as weak as I was before. Ogre said, before smiling to himself, feeling the anxiety bleed from him. I was considered strong from the beginning, it was the circumstances of the red fog creatures that made me feel powerless. I slew hundreds of Troglodyte monsters. Ogre shuddered at the memory of what came before that slaughter. No, perhaps I never considered myself truly strong. Abruptly, he could feel the ropes cutting into his wrists and ankles, he could smell the bloodlust of the hoards of lizard-like monsters calling for his dismemberment. He recalled that all-encompassing fear, his bowels loosening and the mad fight. The dog’s fur rose along his arms and hackles, the memory of burning alive and the resistance of hacking through scale and bone was so fresh.

“Captain, are you okay?” Asked Orda.

Ogre blinked, “Yes. Yes I am, I’m just thinking about the trip to Cerulean.”

The shorter otter’s face was still as he spoke, “Yes, we had some difficulties on the way here. It is unfortunate that Captain Jeda, could not get over them.”

The dog swallowed hard then cleared his throat. “Will you retrieve our armour from the smithy? Judging from the light outside we have some time before daybreak. I think I’ll help out in the kitchens for a bit. Get the armour but wait to wake the others until First Meal is being served. You can get more camping provisions while you wait if you wish, otherwise, I’ll purchase them at Reception on the way out.”

Orda nodded, looking up at the dog. “You have grown considerably since yesterday, captain. In mass and height. If we are going in the sewers, it might be best if you can find a way to slow down, as some of the tunnels might get too cramped for you.”

Ogre could have sworn that he saw a small smile on the muzzle of the otter as he gave their room an innocent backwards glance. The dog felt his nose grow hot once more and he growled at his second in command before stalking off. The Chef Hamlet simply had Ogre wash his paws up to his shoulders, and showed him how to chop or dice up peppers, onions, mushrooms, leeks, chives, and other vegetables and condiments for the hour and a half that the dog was there. He did speak about various seasonings, how to appropriately apply them and field glazes, apple vinegar marinading, and sous vide cooking when outside a kitchen. However, much of the talk seemed as if the pig was simply talking to the dog, not truly teaching. He said, quite innocently ‘I don’t expect anybeast to learn sous vide’ from a simple conversation. The chef did send Ogre off with a complement of ten spices when the dog left to eat First Meal with his party. Many of the adventurers from the night before, allowed their drinking to proceed well into the night as Ogre and his party could attest to for their first time in the Guild dining hall. However, some parties were up and about, likely to complete quests and earn jules.

The dog ate a conservative meal that was barely twice the sum that the otters consumed, despite weighing far more than all of them combined. He towered over everybeast in his party now, with only Aida at shoulder height and the others a third shorter than he. He moved powerfully, his steps sure and briming with might and ease of movement that belied his abrupt change in size. Dependable Orda already retrieved their armour and replenished the oil for lanterns, replacing flint that went missing during one of the nights out, and stocking up on enough vittles for a week, even with Ogre’s increased size. The dog noted that Orda had a good eye for the tasks. I will have to delegate such duties a bit more. The members of my party are reliable, and Orda is an excellent Second in Command.

Ogre stood, “Let’s go, today we will enter the Sewer Proper and exterminate real vermin.”

As the dog walked, he retrieved parchment from his inventory and passed copies to the otters.

“These will be our main objectives, while we are down in the sewers. The mapping will take the longest by far, but we should be able to slay a lot more vermin than the practice runs we most recently completed at the different sewer sites. There are also some gathering quests that I have memorized, and we’ll complete them as we seem them, I’ll let you all know as we approached the areas that are known to have the material. It’s mushrooms mainly.”

The otters nodded.

“As for the armour, wear only the pieces that you are able to, without being slowed, breastplates and helmets take priority.”

Missing Tags

Type: Errand +Combat?

Rank: Inept

Difficulty: D

Action: Investigate Disappearance of the New Adventurer Parties in the Sewers

Location: Cerulean’s Greater Sewers

Time Limit: n/a

Issuer: Adventurer Guild

Info: The Thorn Party among others were tasked with Vermin Extermination in Cerulean’s Greater Sewers.

Reward: 100 silver per member if any are found alive 25 copper per tag if not

The party passed reception. Ogre saw that Orstrong was speaking to Bahbrah. He stood tall seeing Ogre, then did a double take, likely noticing his recent growth, but simply nodded to the group as they passed saying nothing. The Ram squinted just above Ogre’s head, then blinked in surprise. My status is no longer an open book to you, is it? Thought the dog, allowing himself a small grin. As he turned back to the Great Double Doors of the Guild Main Building, his eyes met with Jeda. The otter froze, eyes going to slits as he looked Ogre up and down. Seven others crowded behind him, three otters, who were shield and spear bearing tanks, two wolverines, one a greatsword, the other dual-wielder, a fox who was a ranger and a weasel with a crossbow, knives, and a brace of flint-lock pistols. None of them were below level 145, but Jeda as a High Arts user topped the party at level 151.

“You’re larger than Glaeddra now,” Jeda said, voice flat. “Was it your party that completed the vast majority of the Sewer Sites?”

“We…juled in the monster gems from our time on the Road of Beginnings. I thought that we should leave a portion for you and Lam, but I was told that you already have your parts.” Said Ogre ignoring his jabs. “You’ve leveled up and found a strong party. I am glad. I wish you well.”

Jeda’s face darkened, “Yes…it was you and the otters that you misled into following your nihilistic ways. When will you leave them to fend for themselves, oh Dreameater, as you did Glaeddra, as you caused the deaths of so many of our pack? Will you do it in the sewers?”

Ogre scowled at him feeling anger bubbled from within. “You were there too, we all fought to slay that…monster! We all failed…”-

-“Until you did not. You killed it with a single blow! We all saw that your strength was comparable to it. But you did not value the lives of the otters as much as you valued your life. In the tower, you slew dozens of battle-fought weasels with ease, but you failed against a level 1 Gremlin?” Argued Jeda, “Do you expect me to believe that? I saw that you used a skill to sway the minds of the otters, Ogre-filth! You did not give them a choice in following you.”

He’s…he’s right in that. I did use Silvertongue on them. Thought Ogre, he looked back at his party and could not hide the flush of guilt that warmed his nose.

Orda stepped up but it was Aida who spoke first. “I respected Glaeddra, and I am aware that she did not like…uh Captain Ogre. But I came to follow him because he is strong, he is as smart as you are Jeda, and he was the one that finally managed to slay that gremlin. We would all be dead if he had not.”

Jeda snorted, “You are bamboozled, I cannot fault you for taking up his defense, Glaeddra’s death hit you harder than the others. You were ripe for manipulation. But I did expect better from you Orda. You have leadership qualities, and mental stats that can make that compliment tread water. Why are you with him?”

“He leads as well as you did. But he has a…dedication to getting stronger that I cannot truly measure. And it works. He is strong. But he is disciplined. Look at our stats, Captain Jeda.”

Xendaranan rubbed his chin with a gauntlet. “Yeah, well they said it all, but I don’t care as much as all of that. Under you I got strong, but it was his S-Class weapons that allowed us to survive and his tactics that allowed us to raise our levels by over 100 in just one week. For me it’s not a hard choice.”

“He cried when Glaeddra died, and insisted on a memorial, even when we were using leveling as a way to cope with so many of us dying so quickly.” Vedana quietly said, “We are now stronger than even you Jeda, when you were so far above us just a short while ago.”

Jeda’s face grew darker with each retort from the former party members, he tore his eyes from them and glared at Ogre. “Fools…No, that is too harsh, you are tricked by a persistent and powerful skill. I will not blame you, I will not give this dog the satisfaction. But, he will get you all killed. He may cry about it, he may pretend that it was not his fault or maybe he’ll own up to it. It matters not, you all will still die. When you see it happened…please wise up and join my new bevy. I’ll welcome you all with outstretched paws.”

With that warning, Jeda swept past, and wisely gave Ogre a wide berth, his party members glared at the dog and the other otters but said nothing as they passed. Toadies, no…Froglets, that will better describe them. What sort of beasts would allow another to sway them about a beast they don’t even know? Ogre immediately recalled Lam’s warning about the weasels and carcajou in the tower and growled at the instant refutation to his internal argument. I wish I would stop doing that! Poking holes in my personal arguments is worse than annoying.

Ogre and his party continued. He led them to the location of the first site, where a battle with monsters occurred near Cerulean. The day was bright and cheery, pale blue and cloud free, and helped a little to lift the dog spirits as he journeyed through the buildings of the outskirts. It was warmer today with the open sky, but the heat was wet and stifling. The short walk made them sweat long before they reached the large Sewer grate. A small but steady stream of grayish water flowed from the center of the overflow tunnel, splashing between the iron bars of the gate. Ogre pulled it open easily. He winced at the piercing screech of the rusted metal hinges. Inside the tunnel, they all lit their lanterns and hooked them on wide belts at their waist, casting a shared luminescence on the stone walls, floor, and the canal of water down the sewer tunnel as they traveled in one line on the right paw platform facing the sewer. As their party did when they completed sewer site raids, Ogre directed the otters to adjoining tunnels near the entrance, making sure no Gecko-men or Froglets were left forgotten. Ogre was not surprised when three frog monsters attacked just as he entered. They moved slowly to his Visionary skill, as if the air itself congealed around them. His eyes easily made out their forms the color and texture of their skin, their trembling hands and bulbous red-filmed eyes. They were mostly pastel green, with darker splotches of jade or dusky blue on various parts of bodies with ramshackle armour. Their horizontal pupils did not even dilate until after Ogre struck with his black iron cleaver, cutting through pig and scrap iron plate or chainmail, raised arms, heads, necks, and torsos in a single effortless blow.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Ogre noted the new skills feeling a thrill of excitement run through him. So easy. Perhaps I should have slew my share of vermin with the others, just to see if I could garner skills? The otters spilled into the chamber from behind him taking out the squat frog monsters that took up a defensive perimeter around their nest. Even from where Ogre stood in the doorway to the room, he could easily pick out brass and bronze adventure tags among the wet straw and rubbish behind the monsters. Orda directed the gathering up of tags and the disposal of the froglet eggs. However, this time when the otter raised his shield to smash them they vanished.

“They went into my inventory.” Said Orda, sounding confused.

“Let’s go, we’ll finish clearing out any chambers in this sewer as we go.”

The light from the day behind them vanished as they went deeper into the tunnel, sabatons squelching or scrapping on slick and slimy stretches of stone walk, the dank darkness pressing in about the ring of lantern light as a pall of earthy and sickly sweet refuse burned in their olfactory organs. With his heightened sense of smell Ogre could distinguish between countless scents, including the same scent from a single beast that shifted and changed by an hour’s time or various actions from different days a century ago. His mind recreated the complexity of actions that his sense of smell could pick up as a visual representation spawned by the skill Visionary, allowing him to see through walls, stone and dark murky water rushing by. Ogre closed his eyes and allowed his nose to pick their course through the sewers. He grew so in-tune with the skill that time no longer mattered as it should, as past centuries in the space were as opened to him as occurrences seconds ago. Still, the sheer power of his perception was overwhelming. It was too much input for his mind to parse through, he could smell a weasel worker, as he stepped carefully in fear, as the pads of his footpaws transferred the smell of his adrenaline differently when the claws hit first, the toe pads second and the center pad last, creating a gradient. That was multiplied exponentially as thousands upon thousands of Froglets and Gecko-men that trampled those paw prints into oblivion, then a hoard of adventurers, the scent of hobnailed boots, thick-soled shoes, or sabatons trampled those even further. This was followed by the seasonal wash of flood water, the death and growth of vegetation that sought purchase on the walk interspersed throughout. Ogre’s head pounded as he tried to pick out just one timeline, the one closest to his sense-transported body, finding it only after failing for what sensed liked years and decades.

A gasp of pain and relief shook Ogre from the clutches and power of his perception, allowing him to come to, in the middle of a battle. Waves of beast-shapes assaulted them with incredible violence. His armour plate rung with the shock of blows that ogre could feel in his teeth, blows that shook his body but, somehow did not send him flying. Ogre felt the power in those blows and was in awe that his body even as his mind was taken with his skill, braced, and kept to his sabatons despite the onslaught. Under the clamor, Ogre heard gurgling moans and curses, and he immediately activated Visionary. The dog found himself in an unfamiliar bowl-shaped center chamber with many different sprawling sewer tunnels leading into it. They stood on a sort of isle, as brackish water rushed about them from multiple sources forming a circular current about them. The reek of the foul water was overpowering, making his eyes water under his closed lids. Dark familiar looking shapes clustered in their hundreds beyond the rush of water, but dozens assailed Ogre’s armoured form. A single beast entered the glow of lanternlight, that was cast behind the dog, as it rag-dolled Aida by latching huge jaws over her black iron greatsword and shaking it’s monstrous head, gelatinous limbs, shaped in mimicry of full black iron armour, gripped Xendaranan and Vedana by the throat lifting them bodily, as Orda repeatedly slammed his black iron shield into it’s front to no avail.

The raw gleam of panic burned in Orda’s eyes as he saw that nothing he did worked. His shortsword bounced off the monster’s simulated armour, the pavis shield did nothing to budge it as he summoned all he had to shield bash it. Ogre’s cleaver was in his gauntlet in a flash, tearing through slime doppelganger, and destroying it’s core in a single blow. Aida, Xendaranan, and Vedana dropped to the sewer ground in a heap, hacking and struggling to fill their crushed throats with air. Orda and Aida immediately went to heal Xendaranan and Vedana respectively, as Ogre destroyed the dozens of slime doppelgangers that followed his wild dash to save his party, and had began once more to rain blows upon him.

Abruptly, a wall of golden light rose up from the slimy stone and became a dome around them. Is this Xendaranan’s Aegis? Ogre wondered as he glared at the dark masses of slime doppelgangers out beyond the makeshift moat and gleaming light. I thought it was supposed to invisible? Almost in response waves of the slimes risked the rushing water to attack the dome of light. Ogre could see that the ones that made it through the rush of water slammed uncomprehendingly into the wall, first, ten probed at it as if they truly could not see it.

“Ah.” Ogre said, before turning to regard his party, “I’m sorry, I was caught up in a skill, I did not realize what was occurring.”

Orda stood up from where he knelt beside Xendaranan, “We would not have you think that we are useless, the cleric abilities paid off. We slew ten of them, all four of us together, in what felt like a day as you stood there becoming a living boulder.”

Aida stared hard at Ogre, then grinned maniacally, “The cleric abilities were very useful, though those slimes are absurdly powerful, Orda had to direct the way we fought. It worked until one of them got past you.”

“We were worried, that Jeda’s words got to you when Orda and I tried to speak to you hours in after we cleared a chamber of monsters as you simply walked away down the tunnel. You did not respond for so long, and we could not realistically stop you. You’re heavier than all of us combined, and your strength is unreal. We followed as best as we could, but we did not reach this area until what felt like days passed.”

“Slaying the froglets, Gecko-men, middling slimes on the way was the easy bit, though it was challenging when so many of them tried to pull us under the mirky water. Vedana and I did fall in, but we are otters. We are born to the water. Without full black iron plate weighing us down only the filth of the water made us wary of the tunnel streams.”

Days? Ogre wanted to scream. He left them to fend for themselves for days? The dog peered at their stats. “I’m so sorry…I don’t know what to say. I was…It is unacceptable.”

The luminous barrier around them flickered then slowly faded, causing the first ring of slimes to fall forward in what looked like surprise. Ogre wasted no more time, “I’ll slay as many as I can, guard yourselves well.”

Ogre darted forward so quickly that his lantern went dark, he dispatched the slime dopplegangers before they had a chance to rise. Slaying slimes could be tricky for those who were novice to slaying them. They regenerated quickly, were resistant to almost all types of physical damage, and could only be destroyed by damaging the physical core, a fist sized spherical or cubic organ that they could move around their gelatinous bodies at will. If you wanted to destroy a slime you had to smash its entire body to paste or pierce the core too quickly for the monster to react. Despite the slime doppleganger’s abilities to copy the physical form of an adventurer they died just the same. Ogre also noticed that their stats, which, since the incredible increase to his perception stat, was an open codex to his eyes, was exactly ten percent of his stats. No wonder they had such trouble with the slimes. Ogre tore through them with abandon, splashing dark thick jelly in clumps about him. In a few breathes he cleared the stone isle of slime doppelgangers where the party stood their ground.

“Can you hold your ground?” Ogre asked Orda.

Aida answered before the tank could respond, “Yes!”

Ogre nodded to her than the rest of the party then leapt over the rushing water and waded into the masses of slimes that copied his form. His strength was comparable to his foes as when he went paw to claw with the Troglodytes. However, the troglodyte’s use of stone, hide, and bone for arms and Aegis was more than overwhelmed by the pig iron he once used. With the slimes they could harden portions of their form to a level commensurate to his plate, but he saw that durability was the same as it was with his stats. They rained iron hard blows upon his plate as he tore among them, making him grunt from the sheer volume of the attacks that struck him. They fell by the dozen, but his hp dipped as their blows delivered shock to his body, numbing his limbs, and making him stagger. He recalled the old carcajou explaining the importance of armour and how it related to health and hp. Health was essentially how close a beast was to death, by showing the combined durability of life giving organs. HP was a lesser form of health that related to blood flow and shock. In armour it mostly represented shock, and would only lead to unconsciousness when it reached zero. Outside of armour, when hp reached zero it was likely due to blood loss and thus a corresponding decrease in health would result in a beast’s death. Good armour would ensure that damage was translated to a lesser form of shock that would only incapacitate a beast instead of outright killing them.

In what felt like half an hour over a hundred of the creatures were pudding squelched underneath his sabatons or dark stains on the walls of the sprawling sewer. Five slimes struck him at once making him stagger to the side. Horizontal blow made their goo rain about him, but he sucked in foul breathes, and his chest burned. That skill, creating that skill Universal Vision: Olfactory Spacetime, used up more vigor than I could afford. With my lesser vigor I fought for a day and a half without feeling as tired as I do now!

His heart dropped as he spied his party. Vedana and Xendaranan was down and bleeding, but Orda and Aida had their paws full holding back three of the Ogre Dog Slimes. Ogre spun, cleaver out in a dazzling series of six full circles before calling out his healing skills and directing them towards the downed Otters. He knew that a new skill was born the moment he slipped out of the pirouettes, however, another thought occupied his mind. Can a cleric do distant Healing?

Ogre immediately leveled up after that, instantly resetting his hp and returning his vp back to full. He realized his mistake almost immediately. His refusal to repeat his mistake with the gremlin, not leveling up when he was among foes that could end his companions, was swallowed up in the obfuscating bliss, making him forget where he was, and what he was doing. After a while, minutes or days? A dim understanding of his party’s predicament came to him as if viewed by another beast. Waves of the dog shaped slimes slammed into him bowling him over and digging at his flesh under plate, mail, and reinforced linen and leather, from every angle. Ogre laughed in pure delight, buffered by a mad clamor of violence but cocooned by the sweet warm joy of the truest freedom he had ever known. He attacked because laying there while the monsters tried to tear him apart was not as fun as swinging his cleaver. They fell to puddles of mush by the score. He slew them so well because he was twice as strong, as fast, as agile, and even as dexterous as he was before. Movement became so easy, as if the world slowed so that he could enjoy the cacophony of life and death intermingled. He no longer cared as much about surviving as he had before, not with this euphoria pulling him bodily through sensations that made him shudder and howl. Ogre used his vigor recklessly. He called Blade Whirlwind then Dismembering Hew, half a dozen times in a row barely taking half a second to breathe as he whooped in savage joy. He was a storm, the force of his new strength sent the monsters flying before his blade touched their cores, and even as the blades passed through their bodies, with the skills, the new strength and speed, the cleaver did not even have to touch the cores to destroy them.

Happiness has given a 5x multiplier to Insight Gain

Great Happiness has Increased Gain

+Ascension Points

Soulweight à Spiritweight

The glow from leveling still rested upon Ogre when he stopped panting, his chest like a bellows, his smile beaming. It took longer still for him to care about the fact that he was still drowning in the sweetness but eventually he wrestled his consciousness away from the bliss and took back his control. He trembled as he walked back to the edge of the circular platform where rushing water separated him and the otters. The barrier had gone up once more, but Aida, Vedana, each finished off five more of the slime doppelgangers in quick succession as Orda and Xendaranan slew the last with a startling ease. It happened in the flick of an ear as they were all safely within the barrier. Was it an hour ago that one of those monsters was more than all of them could handle? Ogre was shocked at the piles of dead slimes that littered the ground at their boots and sabatons. It was so many. They are capable…almost too capable too soon, but I failed them once more. Ogre snorted as guilt punctuated each beat of his heart. I should be able to share the insight I got from slaying so many of the slimes.

Ogre called to them, “How is everyone?”

Orda opened his mouth to speak but Aida interrupted him once more, beaming nearly as brightly as Ogre’s leveling grin. “I just gained two hundred levels!”

Ogre blinked. He looked again at the piles of dead slimes. Did they really slay so many of the slimes? How many would they have to slay to get to level 400? He looked at the other otters. “So soon? It took a week for you to increase your levels to over 200. After an hour you’ve doubled it? And what about the rest of you?”

“An hour?” Aida asked confused, “It’s been at least a day or two, Captain.”

Orda scowled at Aida, opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted once more by affirmations from Vedana and Xendaranan. He then growled loudly and spoke up himself, “Yes I too gained about two hundred levels, it’s hard to believe, the strength. However, it was hard won. I believe that being near you is the reason why. The environment is more dangerous, yes, but the reward is sweeter.”

Yes it is. Ogre thought. Two days? How can time slip away from me so easily? First the skill and now the bliss! I need to be more careful! The dog tried to calm himself as he looked at his companions. Still, this time they more than survived, they are so much stronger now. I wonder. Can they catch up to me? The dog pulled up his stats, then compared their new strength with his.

Ogre promptly put all of his extra stat points into dexterity. The dog did not feel insecure about how they abruptly blew past him, not really. His strength was still far superior than even Aida. But how did they get so Godlion forsaken strong? Do stats jump like that at higher levels?

“Your stats they’re amazing,” The dog said, It’s no wonder they managed to slay so many of the slime doppelgangers! “Wait, how did you level up so many times without losing yourself to the bliss?”

“We leveled up in shifts.” Said Orda simply, “As soon as we were able, Xendaranan would make a shield and those of us that could level safely would do so. When it was time for Xendaranan to do so, we were strong enough to hold, especially with weapon and shield buffs. And of course we grew stronger as we did.”

“We have been leveling up longer and more often than you have, Captain.” Said Aida, “Don’t blame yourself for losing to it every now and again.”

“Plus…” Vedana paused, quickly glanced at Orda before continuing. “I think leveling hits you harder. Maybe it has something to do with how much insight you require to leveling as compared to the rest of us.”

Ogre growled, the quieted himself, How did they get as strong as me? Even Orstrong who is a level 999 don’t have a tenth of their stats. By the dog in the sky, Aida is fifty times stronger than the ram with half the levels! Wait. Ogre did some quick calculations. My stat ascensions points are lower than what I had plus what I received by slaying the slimes in that…state. Is there a connection? The sewer tunnel walls, and floors were covered in the dark gelatin. The air stank of filth and the ripe smell of the dead slimes, aged wet stone. The scents were distracting. His mind kept noting strange details about his surroundings. It was as if he was still trying to get used to the abrupt jump in his senses. Does it matter? The dog looked at each of them smiling hugely.

“You all have gotten so strong!” Ogre said, feeling a sense of unadulterated pride for his teammates war with the shame of his recent failings. “Have you all eaten?”

The food was cold and with his sense of smell made the dried and salted meat, hardtack taste of the sewer. The dog did not use any of the seasonings that he acquired from the Guild kitchens, assuming the smell of the sewer would just wash it out. Even Ogre’s monstrous appetite struggled with that. After eating and drinking enough to stave off a hunger and thirst that built over days of traversing the sewers, and days more of fighting. They continued. Ogre did not even consider leveling up again. He was not sure that he could withstand another level, and fully losing himself could easily result in him and his party dying. A chill went through him as he acutely recalled how easy it would have been to leap over the rushing water and fight the otters. When he considered it in that state, all he could think of was that it wouldn’t be as fun, as they were not as strong or as numerous as the slimes. That was it. He didn’t care that they were his friends. Ogre didn’t mind that they were beasts who looked up to him. The thought of that different, vile Ogre made the dog feel sick.

The dog knew that eventually he would need to expend the insight and grow stronger. Leaving one level as an emergency full status restore was tactful but leaving twenty plus levels felt wasteful to him. Also, Ogre saw little point in not using nearly all his insight. If he was going to do it, might as well do it right. He would need a protected place if he was going to fully level up, and time to recover. He felt sweat trickly down his body and a guilty but pleasurable thrill make his pulse race as he considered what it would feel like level up that many times back-to-back. I’d lose my mind. Ogre thought, before quickly bringing his thoughts back to the present. Ogre chose the largest of the tunnels and lead the party down it. The platforms on either side of the sewer tunnel they entered was not present in this tunnel and so they had to wade knee deep for the otters and mid sabatons for Ogre. The skill Eidetic was a passive skill so he did not have to active it, to mentally map the parts of the sewers that they been in. However, he noticed that when he was using Universal Vison: Olfactory Spacetime, he was able to experience the sewers far beyond even his formidable perceptions. And with his perceptions, his sense of smell, his vision, his hearing, sense of touch and many others allowed him to reason out the layout of chambers, tunnels and spaces that they did not traverse.

Ogre absentmindedly avoided a chunk of debris, swaddled with thick glistening strands of web, considering how best he could make the skill work for them. He knew with a certainty where they were going for at least a few leagues, and knew that they would interact with giant roaches in just a pawful of minutes. He also knew that they were enemies that would not present much of a problem to his party, especially now. I could use that skill and use it to map the sewers extremely quickly, however, what if I can’t control it and the same thing happens as it did before? We could be down here for weeks, as I walk around drowning in stimuli of half a dozen ages of countless beasts, and monsters. Beast, if I can control it, one of our quests would basically be complete! Ogre knew that the otters no longer needed him to provide extra Aegis. The Universal Vision skilled worked by providing impossible detail up to a hundred paces all around the dog. It faded as it grew out to a league, and then again at twice that distance.

The tunnel opened to a spacious area that looked to be a natural cavern. The flagstones gave way to unbroken earth and rock that gave way to a darkness that the lanterns could only hint at. Ogre put up his cleaver and took out the mace he got from the High Priest. The otters did the same, save for Aida who tossed her mace to Vedana so that she could dual wield, then flipped her blade so that the flat of the greatsword was facing forward. They can sense the bugs too. Ogre realized. He assumed the nearly stiff way that they held their shoulders as they trudged forward was because the sewer had an oppressive and dank darkness that closed tight about the light of their lanterns. You fool, Ogre, their perception stat has also increased with their levels, with a ridiculous boost just like the rest of their stats.

“Ready yourselves. I’m sure you sensed them, they are numerous, and blunt weapons will work best with them.”

The otters nodded but said nothing. Ogre found that curious, he expected Aida at least to make some comment, she always seemed to be ready with a quip, or opinion. The darkness moved like a wave and the roaches came in their thousands. It was not like the battle with the slimes. The giant roaches were a pace to three paces long standing half as tall as their lengths and attacked with serrated segmented limbs and sharp mouth parts. They were weak creatures fit to perish by the paws of beast at level 10 and lower, they usually overwhelmed their prey with the mass of numbers. But no amount of the creatures could overcome sheer damage, ticked off in the millions of hit points from each of the party members. Orda struck with shield and mace abandoning defense in favor of clearing the chamber of as much of the vermin as possible. Vedana mimicked Ogre’s spinning attack and made a whirlwind of flying insect bodies that slammed them against the walls, floor and ceiling of the room with such force that they blew part like rock striking rock. The lanterns were shattered quickly, but Ogre glimpsed Aida slamming the flat of her greatsword down so powerfully that dozens where crushed and scores more were sent flying into the darkness before them. Ogre ignored the banners that signified that sum of insight that he absorbed after seeing the amount that one of the insects gave, it was less than a quarter of one. Even if he were to slay a millions of the giant roaches it would not equal the insight that he received from the slime doppelgangers. A deep night pressed in around their bodies. And Ogre saw that there were Inept and novice tags in the bellies of the insects.

With Visionary Ogre could see without the aid of lanterns and so he focused on directing the otters away from one another as they fought. Finally, he put them in set positions and told them not to move from their spots. Slowly, the dog began to notice that many of the roaches were trying to avoid them, but the otters made a wall that few of the creatures could break through past them into the tunnel. Ogre felt hunger creep up from his belly, but he did not cease from his swinging. Eventually the stream of giant roaches began to trickle, slowly their numbers fell to a few dawdling insects. They finished off the rest of the bugs, quickly, not bothering to chase the monsters that got away.

Ogre’s limbs were not burning just yet. The mace was a lot lighter than the cleaver, and the cleaver was lighter still than the greatsword he used before when he was a thousand times weaker than he was now. The swing of the weapon, the teeth-grinding rasp of carapace over stone, armour and earth, and the chittering and keening of dying and enraged bug wore on his mind. He was grateful for the reprieve but knew that they only had a short time. The party welcomed the break.

Despite the raw stench of the monster insects shattered bodies among other unpleasant scents, and the deep gloom of the sewers; Ogre had them eat their fill. He flavored the meat in their provisions with salt and lemon pepper. The hardtack was dipped in sweet rose and iced fruit water that made the chunks they broke off swell and become lesser forms of sweetbread. When they finished, they tried to get their lanterns working again to no avail. Most of the lanterns were shattered beyond repair by the press of the legions of insect bodies, and the ones that were not had their wicks and candles knocked free. The extras were used up in Ogre’s mad tramp through the sewers earlier when he was taken by his skill, as the otters struggled to keep him in their sights.

“I thought the monsters would be here by now.” Ogre said, right before the chitter and squeals started.

“Positions!” Orda called, before sheepishly apologizing to Ogre for taking command.

The dog smiled to himself and ignored the confession, pulling out his cleaver once more. He kept the mace in his off paw.

“Switch back to your black iron weapons.” He commanded.

The Giant rats came in a wave that was only five monsters wide, climbing over one another, getting pushed and trampled by the press of rodent bodies behind them. They were as tall as Ogre on all fours and weighed just as much as the dog. Visionary showed them as diseased things, with boils and sores growing in patches on their forms. Their massive bodies were blue gray furred with deep black or milky eyes, and long shear-like teeth and dagger-like claws. The new strength of the otters, now days old, held as the beasts braced themselves. The swing of blades became rote, and even the call of skill names a familiar litany as Ogre pressed into the mass of ugly vermin and came out drenched in blood and the slime from burst pustules. The raw filth of the monsters oozed under his armour plate, mixing with the ichor from the roaches, and the slime from the doppelgangers. Bone chips, foul meat with chunks of fur still attached, and ropes of rubbish-fat innards rained upon them.

Ogre slowly got his party moving as they slew the giant rodents. After wading through violence and butchering still living monsters for leagues that felt like it took them a week, the numbers of the rats like the roaches eventually dwindled then stopped. The party walked free of the corpses of the rat monsters. The otters swung their weapons for an few more arcs before their minds accepted what their senses told them about their dead enemies. The dog bore the gruesome images of torn and mutilated rats, shown in detail with his Visionary skill, stoically. Ogre barely noticed web-wrapped rodent shapes as they proceeded. When they finally reached the end of the Giant Rats, the entire natural cavern was clad in sticky webbing as thick as a beast’s claw.

Ogre felt his skin crawl. Universal Vision allowed him to experience beyond the cavern and precipitous three hundred pace drop from their elevation to deeper chamber underground, but not as detailed as the sewers before. And he had not seen what made the webbing, but it was not hard for the dog to guess. Abruptly, the chamber was cast in golden light that became a half sphere around the party. Ogre swiveled his head towards Xendaranan, though with Visionary it was unnecessary.

“I just thought of it.” The spearbeast said, guiltily. “It will provide Aegis and light for this place.

The stone and earth were slick and wet with underground water and clusters of strange looking mushrooms grew in enormous clusters along walls and cavern floor. All about them stalagmites and stalactites were wrapped in glistening white strands, connecting floor to wet points and ceiling to thick stony bases in curtains of webbing. The shaft before them was massive, its radius an eight of the height that rose above its drop, which extended another hundred paces above them. Ogre stopped them at the precipice. He sensed a presence there. A massive section of the ceiling above him, shift silently.

“We should fight it here. I don’t want it attacking us while we try to descend.”