With every creature in the camp gathered, I start to assign the chores.
I first assign the monster's jobs. "Monkey groups 1 to 5 will go out hunting wolves and frostworms. Remember to bring the frostworm jaws intact. Monkey groups 6, 7, 8 you are on scout duty. Make sure no strong monster gets too close to the hunting groups, and make the retreat as soon as you pick any sign of trouble. Monkey groups 9 and 10 will patrol the area in the direction of the human settlement, to warn if any humans are coming our way. Shraaizar and the rest of the monkeys will stay here to defend the base." Each monkey group has 5 monkeys, all armed with troll nail goblin spears.
"Marcy, Helen, you come with me to gather herbs and do the other subjugation quests." The two of them nod. That awkward aura is still there. Helen hasn't looked me in the eyes today. "Emory and the rat squad will come to help find the herbs." All the rats now have boots. I'd make armor for them too, but I don't have high-quality leather for them. Making armor with normal leather won't improve their chances of survival and will cost them mobility.
The teams depart the camp in several directions, and the tree of us leave heading for the chalice rock. It is a landmark of sorts around this area. A 100ft tall rock oddly shaped like a chalice. The hike from the camp takes less than half an hour. The silence is thick.
"Marcy, do you mind going ahead to scout? We will slow down the pace a bit here." I need some time alone with Helen. I can't let this situation continue.
"Sure! I'll blow this whistle if I find something." She samples the whistle and departs ahead.
Helen stops after a few steps and freezes in place. I move and sit on the ground in front of her.
"Hey. How are you feeling?"
"..."
"Helen, please talk to me. Even if it is to say that you hate me now. That you want to go back to your parent's home and forget I ever existed."
"... no way ..." She mumbles under her breath.
She seems scared. Still avoiding looking at me. "Are you afraid?" She nods. "Do you hate me?" Shakes head. "I had an episode this night. I'm a little more broken than before now."
"I feel powerless. I can't even understand your affliction. I don't know what can I do to help you." She finally lets it out.
"Stand by me. Give me a reason to live. When the time comes, fight with me. Laugh with me. Being alone in this world is scary."
"I know. I spent days locked in a dark damp cell."
I reach out, pick her up and drag her into a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. But I am here now. And I won't let you go anywhere."
"In the end, you picked up the flower." She tells me with her head buried in my shoulder.
"She had already given herself to me when I picked her up." It is hard to hug her without squeezing. "Right?"
"Yes. Grendel, can I..." she makes a long pause like she is trying to find the right the words. "Can I ask you one thing?"
"Yes. You can ask anything, Helen." She is fidgeting with her hands. Nervous.
"Do... do you want me?" She instantly blushes and looks away.
I'm not dense enough to not get what she meant. And delaying the answer will make things worse. This is a landmine, but I'm stepping on it. My leg will grow back.
"Yes! Of course, I want you. There is no way I would not desire a woman as beautiful as Helen."
"Then why?" Her eyes say 'I don't believe you'.
"Sorry? Why what?"
"Why didn't you try something when we were alone in the inn? Or any of these nights?"
I missed something. She is almost throwing herself at me, just like... just like the other girls back in Mirfield during the hero parade. I brushed them off as sluts back then, but there were too many of them, most of them looked like just village girls just like Helen, and there is no way I can classify Helen as a slut. If the problem is not them, the problem is me. More likely, my upbringing in the prudish Earth society. But here, people live in walled settlements fearing the rampaging monsters outside. They are focused on making as many people as possible because so many die for too little.
"Helen, let me ask you one thing. Do people have sex before they are married in this world? Is it considered normal?"
She tilts her head and puts a finger on her chin. "Isn't it that they are married because they want to have sex?"
"Isn't a thing like a wedding party?"
"Of course there is, at the harvest festival. We celebrate the weddings and the anniversaries of everyone together."
"It is different in my world. Young people wait for a while before they get intimate. This is one of the two reasons I haven't tried..."
"Grendel, are you lying to me? I know you wanted me, that night we spent at the inn I could feel you were hard."
I suppose it indeed touched her for a moment underneath the clothes. I was hoping she didn't notice, but it was too naive of me to think so.
"There is one thing I haven't told you yet, and it was because I am not sure it is true. The orc prince I met, he told me that when a hybrid monster is born, the mother dies during delivery."
"And were you avoiding me because you were worried I might die delivering our children? But that means you would never touch me!"
"No. I had a plan 'B' in action." She didn't understand. "Plan 'B' is a plan to enact when the main plan fails. A contingency."
"What is it?"
"Check the herb list. The last entry."
She takes the scroll case from her rucksack, and from it comes the parchment checklist. Slowly she goes through the list and finds the last item.
"Heart Shaped Sylphium." She pauses a while to think. This is the herb Alvus taught me how to process into a contraceptive drug.
"Do you know it?"
"It is a rare herb. Grows in rocky crags. It is used as a perfume and to make a contra..."
"This herb is my plan 'B'. Until we find out the truth about what the orc prince told me."
She loses her tension once the misunderstanding is cleared, and hugs me.
"I am sorry for doubting you and lashing out like that!"
"Don't worry. I should have addressed this earlier. It is my fault." I also owe an apology to Marcy. I thought she was a huge cunt when she dropped by the inn that morning, but it was actually normal to expect a young couple spending the night alone in a bed would have sex.
"Nnnnnnn" She is rubbing her face on my clothes.
"We should be going. Marcy is waiting for us. Here, let me give you a shoulder ride."
With Helen perched on my shoulder, we hurry up and meet Marcy.
"Put me down, Grendel." As requested, I lower her to the ground.
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"Did you talk to him? Was I right?" Marcy rushes in barrages Helen with questions.
"Yes, and it is all exactly like you said." The good old perky Helen is back.
"See? I told you this big guy was way more naive than malicious." Marcy throws me a jab. Know what? Forget the apology.
I need to disarm them before the hazing grows too much. "It is a good opportunity to tell you that I have absolutely no idea what is the common sense in this world. So if you could please fill me in before I make another blunder, I'd be very grateful. I have Shraaizar teach me about monster stuff all the time too."
"Deal. I'll teach you all sorts of things." That villain grin does not put me at ease.
"Common sense only."
While having this lively chat, we reach the chalice rock. It is huge. 100 feet tall at least, and shaped much like a real chalice. Even the engravings and embossing details. The stone is also very smooth, seems polished. The proportions also are too perfect. There is zero chance this thing is a natural formation. The doubt is, is this a sculpture, or a petrified chalice? And more absurd, what kind of creature would need a 100 feet tall chalice? This would be big even for Eva01 to drink from.
"There is a big magical power emanating from this rock," Helen notices.
"We should begin gathering the herbs that only grow around here."
The magical power of this chalice allows some rare and valuable herbs to grow here. The price of the harvesting request grows even more because any trip here is at least a 3-day-2-nights trip. Some odd monsters flock in this region, but they are nowhere to be found. I wonder what scared them away.
It was an uneventful harvest. We used the rats to find the herbs and we would harvest them ourselves. Helen can preserve the herbs using her magic. When we were getting ready to leave the chalice area, some monkeys came running to us. They were severely wounded, and there were only 3 or them.
"Whoa, whoa what is the problem, guys?" I ask the monkeys while they pause to catch their breath.
"Ook. Boss, there are humans coming. Three of them. One with a shiny pointy spear like yours." It seems the search party is early.
"The other two monkeys with you, where are them?"
"Dead, boss. The guy with spear killed them."
"Did they follow you?"
"Ook. Think so."
"Helen, Marcy, please hide. It will be bad if they see you two around here. I'll deal with that. Take the monkeys with you."
They run and hide on a meadow near the shadow of the chalice, on the opposite side. I stomp on their trails and lie down on the chalice's base. Soon after, rustling and three humans appear. I don't know who they are, because I am only sensing them through [Presence Detection].
"Look, Cedric, there is someone on that chalice rock!" Ugh. 'Spear Lord' Cedric. If he is the culprit behind those six guys, they were sent to steal my horn spear. Welp, now they are on my turf.
"Whoa! That thing is huge!" Time to make my appearance. They are shouting in the middle of the monster country, they really should get some monster.
"Silence! You will wake up that thing." And I stand up, yawn with a roar and look at them.
There is Cedric, with the same idiotic jock face and his shiny spear, a guy with robes and a staff, and an archer. A striking similarity.
"Shit, it is a troll." I was about to give the initiative to them, but if they report to town they will send a hunting party after me, and
they killed two monkeys.
"Power Javelin!"
Of course, my opening move is to take out the magician. The spear goes through and through the mage's torso, ripping a gaping hole. While the others gasp, I draw another goblin spear.
"Cedric lets run. We can't fight a troll."
"Prepare your poison arrow, I'll keep it entertained." Cedric steps in bravely. I roar to scare him a little, and we begin to study one another. He has the benefit of reach, but his glaive cannot be thrown.
"Lunge stab." Cedric dashes to close the distance while the archer fumbles with some bottles he took from his pack. I sidestep and block with the shield, making his glaive bounce. He presses the glaive shaft to the shield, locking the equipment together.
I attempt to turn and stab, but he keeps circling me pinning my shield arm under his glaive's shaft. I don't have the reach to stab him even if I hold the goblin spear at full length. The tip begins to whistle.
We do two laps on this dance, Cedric keeps his smirk on full throttle. "Are you done yet, idiot? I don't want to dance with a fucking troll the whole day."
"Yeah, hold him so I can get a clear shot." Why can't I stab Cedric?
"Now, troll, be a good boy and die of poison, please." Suddenly, Cedric twists his glaive so the blade is facing me, and pulls hard on the shaft against the shield. I am confused about why he is trying to accomplish, but the blade lower end digs into my shoulder from behind, locking my entire arm.
Next thing he pulls me around and an arrow sting my buttocks and something breaks. It burns...
"Roowaaaaghh" I yell in pain. My right leg is numb, my butt is burning and some poison entered my system.
"Take that you freaking monster! My alchemical arrow! I'll avenge Yule!"
"Borad, you idiot, why didn't you shoot the head!" It is bad. I need time to recover.
"Full Defense!"
I go all out in defense, to buy time to regenerate this thing. Two more arrows fly, but I do an impossible dodge by the skin of my teeth and they shatter against the chalice behind us.
"Shit this thing is fast, I can't hit it anymore."
Skill Acid Weakness (innate) downgraded to level 0.
Skill Paralysis Resistance level 4 acquired.
Skill Poison Resistance level 7 acquired.
Skill Shield Master level 3 acqured.
Finally, the acid weakness has zero'ed. But what kind of venom is in this alchemical arrow to deal poison, paralysis, and acid at the same time?
I release my arm from Cedric's glaive and keep dodging for the entire duration of [Full Defense]. Four more alchemical arrows broke against the chalice. My mobility returned, and the acid damage was almost entirely healed.
"Time to go on the offensive. Try to keep up, big one! {Justice Stream!}"
He unleashes a flurry of slashes and stabs from his glaive. I block most of them with the shield, and chips of wood begin to fly from it. Some small cuts and bruises, but for a troll this is nothing.
Near the end of his flurry, the shield breaks. Angered, I throw it aside. Cedric is beaming.
"Snipe!" Distracted by Cedric, Borad hits another achemical arrow on the side of my head. My left eye is ruined.
"Sunder Slash!" And then Cedric cuts my left horn off. "Nice! Now I can make one of those for me too." He is trying to bootleg my spear! How infuriating can a guy get?
I might even stand a chance to lose this one if I don't play it right. I have no idea how many alchemical arrows Borad has in stock, and Cedric really deserves his title.
I try to stab Cedric, circling around to keep the chalice at my back and Borad on my right field of sight. He is aiming at me with another glass-tipped alchemical arrow. I'll wait for the moment he shoots, and...
"[Dirty Tricks] {Power Javelin}!"
While his field of view is impaired by the arrow aim, I'll take on of his legs off. The javelin digs into his thigh and is stuck to the bone. He drops over his kit and breaks one alchemical arrow. Borad is splashed by its contents and is screaming his lungs out.
Skill Acid Resistance level 1 awakened.
The burning in the left side of my face stops, and I face Cedric. I think I know why I could not land a decent blow on him yet. He must have some kind of skill to defend against spears.
He comes at me again. "Justice Stream!" His technique of quick blows makes me feel like I am swimming upstream in a river of blades. I retreat and he presses forward. The damage from the small cuts pile up and I feel tired and slow.
I can't die from normal damage, but I have no idea what he will do to me while I am out. Not to mention he might find the girls hiding on the other side of the chalice. I am pushed back until I leaning against the chalice itself.
"Now, monster, it is time to cut you to size! My ultimate technique can cut anything!"
Speaking of ultimate, if I had one sure-hit skill, I could... But Cedric has a skintight defense. Unless I could grapple him.
"Take it! Diamond Cutter!" He begins to make a heavy sideways swing all the way from the back. The edge flies so fast there is a trailing flash behind it.
"Evasion {Counter}!" I step inside Cedric's reach and give him a bearhug, latching my claws to his back. The shaft of the spear hits my flank and then I hear a sound of something very hard hitting something hard.
"GAaaaaaaaaaaa" Cedric screams in pain from having his back flayed by my claws. I dig deeper and deeper.
CRACK
CREEEEEEKKKKK
FLASH
Something behind us breaks and a big grinding noise is heard. Suddenly a flash of blinding light is released from the chalice and a huge shadow looms over us and the broken chalice topples over, announcing we will be buried under tons of stone.
I am still latched to Cedric, and with what little time I have left, there is only one crazy thing that comes into my mind...
BANG! POOF!
CRASHH!
Helen has gained a level! Marcy has gained a level! Beowulf has gained a level! 6 skill points awarded. Helen has gained a level! Marcy has gained a level! Beowulf has gained a level! 1 skill point awarded. Helen has gained a level! Beowulf has gained a level! 1 skill point awarded. Beowulf has gained a level! 2 skill points awarded.
THROOOOOM
RUMBLE
CRASH
You have entered Beelzebub's Hive dungeon domain.
SMASH
SQUISH
Helen has gained a level! Marcy has gained a level! Beowulf has gained a level! 1 skill point awarded.