Chapter 113
Volcanic Run
Erin and most of her group stared at Gotzmeyer in shock. They had made the mistake of underestimating him due to his pathetic appearance, completely neglecting the fact that they were dealing with a coldblooded killer. Whatever he had just done was certainly not for their best, which was evident from the grin on the imp’s face.
The only one who wasn’t surprised at all by this turn of events was Zeldana, as she had been fully expecting Gotzmeyer to try and stab them in the back the moment he got his chance.
“You little bastard! And after we decided to show you mercy!?” Erin yelled angrily. “What the hell did you just do!?”
“What do you think I did? I made sure that no one here is getting out alive! With the exception of me, of course,” Gotzmeyer replied smugly. “Did you really think that I was just going to let you all go after humiliating me in such a manner? I’ve always known that there was a chance that my secret would be discovered! That’s why I built a backup plan to make sure that no one would live to tell it!”
Before anyone could ask the imp to explain, the whole base began to tremble, as the sound of rumbling echoed everywhere. Erin’s face turned pale upon realizing what was happening.
“You maniac… You’re actually going to bury this whole place in magma!?” the redhead asked. “You’ll kill yourself as well!”
“Did you really think I would be so stupid as to make plans like this without considering my own escape?” Gotzmeyer asked with a smirk as he gathered dark red magical energy on his right hand for a spell. This opened a portal right underneath his chair that allowed him to fall through. “So long, suckers!”
Erin and Ryle rushed to the warlord’s portal, but the entrance to it closed too fast. They were unable to follow after Gotzmeyer.
“Dammit! The little shit got away!” Ryle cursed as she hit the spot where the portal had just been. “Now what do we do!?”
“Only two options. We either go to the bridge or the emergency escape at the back of the base,” Erin said as she thought about the map they had seen when they first infiltrated. “Which one do you think is the better option?”
“The bridge is out! We saw Gotzmeyer’s puppets destroy the controls to it!” Arkay replied. “That leaves the emergency escape at the back! It should still be operable, as we only saw him use his puppets to guard it and not damage it!”
“The that’s where we’ll be going,” the redhead said, before remembering the last member of their group. “Shit! I almost forgot about Durge! How do we get him out of here!? He might still be in his berserker state!”
“No need to worry about that! I’ve got just the right thing for him!” Lexton said as he pulled out a new vial of liquid. “After what happened back at the Laughing Ogre’s arena, I feared that he might go out of control for one reason or another! That’s why I prepared this in advance!”
“What is it?” Arkay asked.
“It’s a very powerful anesthetic that I made!” the kobold answered. “I designed it to be able to knock out even a giant! I figured that anything less wouldn’t do much on Durge when he’s in that state!”
“...You’re surprisingly terrifying, you know?” Ryle asked.
“Hey, I just aim to make things that are as effective as possible! Can you blame me!?” Lexton said.
“Ummm… Guys!?” Zeldana called out to the others, getting their attention. “I get that we have a lot going on right now and that whatever Lex has made is certainly interesting, but can it wait until we have ESCAPE THE MILITARY BASE THAT’S ABOUT TO BE BURIED IN MAGMA!?”
The elf had been right to put the group’s focus back on their current predicament, as the rumbling was getting louder and the shaking more violent. It was clear to anyone that they were quickly running out of time, before the inevitable end came.
Realizing that they didn’t have much time, the group immediately switched their focus on escaping. However, they first needed to find their missing comrade, who was still in the middle of a rage-infused rampage somewhere in the building and take him with them. Luckily he wasn’t all that hard to find, as all they needed to do was follow the trail of destruction he had left behind. Not only that, but his roaring the sounds of him wrecking everything in his path were also very telling of where he was.
It wasn’t long until Erin and the others found Durge. Much like they had suspected, the orc was still in his berserker form, tearing down walls and breaking furniture as he roared in anger. It was a terrifying sight to behold.
“O-Okay, Lex, do your thing!” Erin said, scared of the raging beast that they were now faced with. “It’s time for you to show us your skills as an alchemist and put Durge to sleep! You said you could do that right!?”
“Well… Yes! Of course I can do it!” Lexton replied, trying to hide the obvious fear in his voice. “Though… It’s actually going to be a bit… difficult.”
“...Why?” the redhead asked, already dreading the answer she would get.
“You see, unlike most of my stuff that can just be thrown at the target, this has a different way of working,” the kobold explained. “This one needs to go inside the body. Through the mouth.”
For a moment, only the sounds of the rumbling and Durge’s rampage could be heard, as everyone in the group stared at Lexton with wide eyes.
“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?” Ryle yelled angrily. “Are you seriously telling us that we need to go up to THAT and somehow convince him to drink your goddamn juice bottle!? ARE YOU INSANE!?”
“Well, you don’t actually need to convince him. You just need to get him to swallow it somehow…” the kobold said awkwardly.
“Oh! That just makes it so much better now doesn’t it!?” the blonde continued ranting. “Seriously, what the hell, Lex!? Did you ever take into consideration just how hard it would be to get Durge to drink that!? Why didn’t you try making something that didn’t need to go through the mouth!?”
“It wouldn’t have been as effective!” Lexton argued. “I always aim to make my products as effective as possible, so that’s what I did! Are you telling me that I should make subpar products!?”
“That’s rich coming from a freaking scammer!” Ryle shouted. “And no! I don’t want you to make anything subpar! I want you to make things that are actually useful! Preferably so that they don’t get us killed as well! Is that too hard for you!?”
“At least I’ve got something that can be of use!” the kobold shot back angrily. “What do you provide!? Oh, that’s right! Absolutely nothing! Like usual!”
“Alright, that’s enough out of both of you!” Erin shouted at her arguing companions, who immediately stopped yelling at each other. “No matter how terrible it is, we are just going to have to work with the tools that we have! I’m not leaving here without Durge and that vial is the only thing that is going to allow us to get him out of here! Now let’s focus on using that and stop everything else, okay!?”
“Okay…” both Ryle and Lexton replied, like a couple of kids who had just been scolded by their parents.
“Good. Now we’re all on the right track,” the redhead said. “Do you have the vial, Lex? I’ll try to sneak closer and see if I can somehow get it in his mouth.”
“Yeah, I’ve got it right- ….here?” Lexton replied, noticing that the anesthetic he had prepared was nowhere to be seen. “What the hell? Where is it!?”
“Did you freaking drop it!?” Erin asked angrily. “The only thing that can help us! And you drop it!?”
“I didn’t drop it! I just put it in my pocket, but it’s no longer there!” the kobold said. “There isn’t even a hole there! I don’t understand where it could have gone!”
“Don’t tell me that we are going to have to go and comb through this whole place for it!” Ryle whined. “It will take us forever and we don’t have the time!”
“You don’t need to do that. The vial is in safe hands,” Zeldana suddenly said, getting the attention of the others. “Arnie’s got it.”
“Wait… Arnie has it!?” Erin asked as she looked around for said cat boy, only to not see him anywhere. “But where is he!?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“You can’t see him, because he is invisible,” the elf explained. “While you guys were too busy bickering, he turned himself invisible, snatched the vial from Lex’s pocket and headed to where Durge is. My guess is that he’s going to try and get him to swallow the sleeping potion.”
Silence once again fell over the group as Zeldana had become the center of attention now, as everybody else was staring at her with wide eyes. Outside of the rumbling and the sounds of Durge’s rampage, nothing else could be heard.
“...WHAT!?” Ryle screamed in shock and horror, breaking the silence. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything, you asshole!? We need to go and stop him, before-!”
“Before what!? He gets something done!?” Zeldana said in an angry and stern voice, shocking the others. “Do I have to remind you people just how much of a failure this whole thing has been so far!? Not only did we get followed by two assassins, but we also failed in our objective, which was to kill Gotzmeyer! The way I see it, that boy has taken action in order to get something done right for once this whole damn day, so just let him do it!”
“But… It’s too dangerous!” Erin tried to argue. “We can’t just let him go there alone! We need to have a better plan in order to do this!”
“Are you saying that Durge’s life isn’t worth the risk? Or are you giving Arnie special treatment, even though he should be a member of this group?” the elf asked. “We set out to challenge one of the three warlords of the Western Continent, fully knowing that it could very well get us killed. Did you ever see him hesitate? Or complain? Or change his mind? The way I see it, you’re just mocking his resolve, so let him do as he wants. He can handle himself just fine.”
Erin, Ryle and Lexton all wanted to argue, but knew better. The fact was that Arkay had come along willingly, despite knowing the risks he would be taking. To treat him differently from anybody else in their group would not only be hypocritical, but also insulting to the cat boy. Whether they liked it or not, they would have to put their faith in him for now. It didn’t mean they wouldn’t worry, though.
“Don’t be too worried,” Zeldana said, noticing the inner plight of the others. “I’ll be keeping an eye on how he’s handling himself and make sure he gets through this. There’s no way I’m going to let him die.”
Meanwhile with Arkay, the cat boy was sneaking behind the still rampaging Durge. Using his invisibility and his sneaking skills that he had developed from his time as a thief, he was able to approach the rampaging orc without getting detected very easily. The only threat so far had been some of the stuff that Durge would occasionally throw around, ranging from furniture to pieces of concrete. Luckily, Arkay had been able to avoid such things, even if a few came very close to crushing him.
The cat boy was able to make his way to a pillar that was very close to Durge. He could use this not just to hide himself further, but to also shield himself from whatever else the orc might throw at him. With his target so close, all Arkay needed to do was figure out how to get him to swallow the sleeping potion Lexton had made.
Knowing that he didn’t have much time until the base would be destroyed by magma, the cat boy decided on a simple and straightforward approach, which was to simply climb on Durge’s back and pour the potion into his mouth. Steeling his resolve, he dashed towards his companion in the hopes of saving him.
However, just as he was getting closer to the transformed orc, Durge suddenly turned around. Arkay immediately stopped in his tracks, hoping that his presence hadn’t been made known by the orc. This seemed to be the case, as Durge simply looked around, almost as if he was searching for something. But just as the cat boy was about to let out a sigh of relief, the orc’s eyes focused on him, burning with a primal fury that could terrify even a devil. Seeing that his presence had been discovered, Arkay lost control of his invisibility spell from fear. Now completely visible, all he could do was stare at the massive beast his friend had become as he waited for the inevitable death to come.
Just as he was ready to give in to his fate, something flew at Durge, striking him specific parts of his body. Once the cat boy had been shaken out of his fear, he realized that they were long needles, like one would use for acupuncture. These sharp objects had struck the orc in various parts of his body, which included his neck, arms and legs, and were somehow able to bring the giant berserker down to his knees.
“NOW, ARNIE!” Zeldana yelled, breaking Arkay out of his shock. “GIVE HIM THE DRUG!”
Having finally snapped back to reality, the cat boy immediately went to action. In one swift move, he took off the cork on the vial and dumped the glass containers contents into Durge’s mouth.
At first, the orc seemed to just bark and growl in disgust over the strange liquid that was given to him, but he soon began to show other effects. His eyes went wide and started to swirl irrationally, like he was unable to focus on anything. This was followed by his body swaying from side to side, before he finally closed his eyes and fell on his face.
Arkay had managed to get out of the falling orc’s way, avoiding getting crushed underneath his weight. He then stood next to the unconscious warrior, whose body began to shrink back into its normal size. Once he had regained his regular look, the sound of snoring could be heard coming from him.
“It worked! He’s asleep!” Arkay happily told his other friends, who all felt relief wash over them.
“Of course he is. What did you expect?” Lexton asked with a small smirk. “After all, I’m the one who made that drug.”
“You just had to, didn’t you?” Ryle asked as she stared down at the kobold.
“I’m just happy that we managed to get through this,” Erin said with a smile. “For a moment, I was afraid that Durge would end up killing Arnie. Thank God Zeldana was able to intervene. Nice work with those needles, by the way.”
“Meh… It’s just a little handy trick I picked up back in my college days. You’re still welcome, though,” the elf said nonchalantly. “Although, we should probably be focusing on something a bit more important right now.”
“What’s that?” the redhead asked.
As if to answer her question, a violent tremor hit the building, causing parts of the ceiling and walls to break off. And while they were inside, the group was able to see from one of the nearby windows how a long stream of magma suddenly shot upwards from nearby.
“...Never mind,” Erin said as her face turned pale upon realizing the danger they were still in. “Ryle, do you think you can help me carry Durge out of here?”
“Sure,” the blonde replied.
“THEN LET’S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!” the redhead yelled, as the group started to hurry in getting out of the base before it was completely destroyed.
With the combined effort of both Erin and Ryle, they were somehow able to carry Durge’s sleeping body with them. This wasn’t an easy task, as he was much heavier than either of them and thus slowed them down considerably. Still, neither Erin or Ryle was willing to abandon one of their friends and were determined to struggle until the end.
Despite being weighed down by an unconscious member of the team, the group was able to get to the emergency escape path located at the back of the base. At this point, the place was easily on its last legs, as the bursting magma had started to cover some of the buildings, which in turn caused fires that spread over wildly. If they wanted to get out alive, they would need to get the metal door before them open and fast.
Skipping over two motionless armors used as Gozmeyer’s puppets, Arkay ran to the control panel located next to the door, figuring that it would be used to open the door. Much to his horror, the panel had been smashed, making it unusable.
“The controls are destroyed!” the cat boy told his companions. “I can’t use my abilities to manipulate them!”
“Dammit! Guess we have no choice but to-!” Erin said as she tried to turn around, only to see that behind them was a sea of flames. “Oh no… We’re trapped!”
“Shit! You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Ryle cursed. “Are you telling me I’m going to lose my life here because of some rat-looking imp!? That’s bullshit!”
“What the hell are we going to do!?” Lexton asked as he was beginning to panic. “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!?”
As the others were starting to panic, Arkay was deep in thought. The controls for the door might have been destroyed, but the door itself was still fully functional. In a way, the controls were there just to help him or anybody else to use the machine they were connected to. If he used his technomancer abilities, he might be able to still open the door.
Knowing that this was their only way out, Arkay decided to try and open the door even without the control panel. He knew that he would need to pour out far more magical energy than normal in order to accomplish this, but he didn’t care. There were no other options for them.
Placing his hands close to where the broken control panel was, the cat boy began to pour his magical energy into it, activating his technomancer ability. Much like he had predicted, using his abilities to control the door without the control panel was proving to be much more difficult and required a lot more energy out of him. But the more magic he used, the deeper his connection became. He could feel all the individual parts used to move the door and saw how they were all connected to build the mechanism itself. Eventually, he was able to find the place that he needed to open the door and began to focus on it.
By now, the others had realized that their young companion was doing something. Just as Erin was about to ask, Arkay managed to find the place he needed and the door began to open.
“Great work, Arnie!” the redhead said excitedly, as she saw their escape route was no longer blocked. “But how did you do that? I thought the controls were-”
Erin was cut off, as Arkay suddenly fell to his knees. He was breathing heavily and there was sweat running down his face. The others immediately rushed to his side, worried that something was wrong with him.
“Arnie, are you okay!?” Erin asked in a worried tone as she and Ryle rushed over to the cat boy while still dragging Durge along. “Are you hurt or something!?”
“I-I’m fine… Just… a bit exhausted,” Arkay replied as he took deep breaths. “Since the controls were gone, it took a bit more out of me to manipulate the door. I should be fine after some rest.”
The cat boy tried to get back up, but was suddenly picked up by Zeldana, who carried him in her arms. Arkay’s face turned deep red from this, which happened with Ryle as well but for a different reason.
“You can rest easy now. I’ll carry you to safety,” Zeldana said with a smile. “Besides, I think it’s only fair to reward the one who saved all of our lives.”
“Uhh… Sure,” Arkay said awkwardly. “Thank you.”
The elf soon ran through the now open door while carrying the cat boy with her, leaving the others behind. Erin gave Ryle an awkward glance, as she knew the blonde would be extremely angry.
“Oh, this is some bullshit!” Ryle yelled angrily. “You mean to tell me that I get to carry Durge of all people, while she gets to have the best part all for herself!? What the hell kind of unfair crap is this!?”
“Let it go for now. It’s not such a big deal,” Erin said with a sigh. “I’m sure you’ll get your chance sooner or later.”
image [https://i.ibb.co/jDnhhGV/Ch-113-Pic-1.jpg]
“Hey, do you guys know what else is unfair!?” Lexton suddenly called out to the two of them. “YOU WASTING TIME WITH THIS POINTLESS WHINING! You do realize that Durge’s life is in YOUR hands!? Mind dragging the poor guy out of the LITERAL FIRE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!?”
Realizing that they were still in danger, Erin and Ryle followed after the kobold in a hurry, dragging Durge along with them. They were able to safely escape the destruction of the military base, as the place burned to the ground.
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Meanwhile, at a location near the base but far enough to avoid the destruction going there, a hole opened up in the wall of one of the caves. Gotzmeyer climbed out of that hole, as this was the place his secret escape passage had led to. The looked at his burning base with a slight frown, as he watched everything he had built for himself his entire life go up in flames.
However, while he hated to see everything he owned get destroyed, he was confident that he could still build it all back for himself. After all, Gotzmeyer had built connections and had some very useful abilities. No matter what, he knew that there was a way for him to rise back to the top. All he needed was time to build himself back up.
“Well, if it isn’t the little turd fly himself,” a voice familiar to Gotzmeyer called out to him from behind. “What happened to the unbeatable Gotzmeyer? The mighty warlord who has never bled in any battle? I’d cry, if this wasn’t so funny.”
The imp turned around and his eyes went wide from fear. Before him stood a massive female demon with large black wings on her back. She had a long blue hair in a ponytail. She was clad in red robes that were covered with pitch black armor on her upper body and shoulders and she was also wearing large armored shoes. A wide toothy grin was spread across her face as her dark eyes stared down at Gotzmeyer in amusement.
This was Rayleen, one of the three warlords of the Western Continent under the direct service of Overlord Golorath.
image [https://i.ibb.co/y55c1qr/Ch-113-Pic-2.jpg]
“R-Rayleen!? What are you doing here!?” Gotzmeyer squeaked out of shock. “When did you even get here!?”
“I’ve been here long enough to know what happened here,” the warlord answered. “You see, I had a couple of assassins sent to look after a group of rebels that have been causing a bit of a stir lately. They stopped reporting not too long ago. I can only guess that they ended up dead.”
“...In that case, it looks like we have the same enemy!” the imp said excitedly. “If we join forces, I’m sure we can-!”
“What good would that do? You’re nothing more than a joke, propped up by thin lies that were bound to be uncovered. And after this? I honestly doubt you’ll ever be worth a damn ever again,” Rayleen said. “Besides, you’ve misunderstood me completely. I only sent the assassins to test those guys. I am far more interested in them alive.”
“What the-!? You’re clearly defying the orders from Lord Golorath!” Gotzmeyer yelled as he unfolded his tiny wings and began to fly. “I’m telling him about your betrayal, you-!”
The imp’s threats were cut off, as he was seized by the throat by Rayleen, who had a tight grip on him. All Gotzmeyer could do was struggle helplessly in vain.
“Now, we can’t have you do that, can we? I’m afraid I’m going to have to shut you up for good,” the warlord explained with a grin on her face. “However, I will let you go down with your base. After all, a captain should go down with his ship.”
Rayleen grabbed Gotzmeyer’s wings and swiftly ripped them off, causing the imp to scream in pain. She didn’t let him suffer in agony for too long, as she then simply dropped him down to the magma swirling below them.
With her business at the now former warlord’s base done, Rayleen landed back on the ground and began to head back the way she had come. She had much work to do and plans to set in motion. Plans that involved Erin and her friends.