Chapter Thirty-Eight: Intermission
Eric Delrosa pulled his heavy jacket tightly around him. He hated the cold. He had driven a truck up here where the orc woman he had tortured had told him her peoples compound was.
It was a large fortress made of simple dark wood likely scavenged from the surrounding trees that dotted the mountain side. A large gate served as the entrance to the compound. Four massive warrior orcs stood outside the gate.
Eric drove the truck until he was closer to the gate but not so close as to be an immediate threat. He got out of the vehicle and walked until he was ten feet away from the orc's.
He rubbed his hands together, flicking his gaze around the group, noting the weapons they held in their hands. Massive war hammers, giant axes and a huge cudgel. He wrung his hands, averted his eyes every time he appeared to meet theirs.
“Ah, hello friends! I was wondering if I could talk to your glorious leader?”
Eric loved this part.
One of the orcs snorted and shoved a companion near him.
“Look at it! These humans. So pathetically weak. What do you think? Should we take it to Azerin?”
His companion laughed, his tusks gleaming in the light of the sun.
“He'd skin us alive for wasting his time. Let's just kill it.”
Eric ducked his head, wringing his hands faster,
“Sorry! I can just leave? Um…don't want to bother anyone. Please!”
Eric laced his voice with as much fear and anxiousness as he could. One of the orcs stepped forth, pushing his weapon into Eric as if prodding an interesting rodent.
Eric let himself fall to the ground, his glasses going crooked, hanging from his nose. Eric suppressed the crackle of lightning that sparked in his chest.
He sucked in a sniffling breath through his nose and pushed his glasses up with a forefinger. The orc's laughed, pointing and jostling one another.
“Puny! Maybe we put him in the arena? We'd make a killing in SC.”
Eric tapped his [Suggestion] skill.
“All of you kneel.”
As one all four orcs prostrated themselves before Eric. He stood up, lightly brushing himself off as he regarded the green skinned orcs before him.
“That's better. I'm always happiest when I'm in my rightful place, aren't you? Now then, reach up and tear off a tusk.”
All four orcs reached up a massive hand, gripped one of their tusks tightly and with muscles bulging and rippling under their skin, began to tear a tusk from their jaw.
The sound of groaning and cracking tore through the air as the orcs ripped their tusks out of their jaws with all their strength.
Blood gushed from their mouths as they howled, dropping broken, bloody tusks to the ground. Blood ran down their chins, flowing through the rivulets of their chests.
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Eric closed his eyes as the only feeling he ever cared about coursed through him. He bit his lip, shuddering as goosebumps ran down his arm.
“Thank you for that. I'm sorry for the pain you must be feeling. I'm sure it's intense. Get up and open the gate.”
The orcs were shaking, their bodies twitching but they could not disobey him. Not with his [Suggestion] being at the legendary level now. It would be like defying their own nature's. They didn't even want to disobey him. That was how powerful his skill was now.
They opened the gate.
Inside the compound orcs were at work building what could only be a small town for themselves. Buildings in a strange dark style were being laid out, hammers rang in the air, and Eric saw hunters preparing to go out.
A large tent was erected straight down the middle of the compound, it's dark surface decorated with various images. Clan symbol likely.
Eric raised his voice as almost every face in the compound turned towards him.
“All of you. Kneel before me.”
They all did. Every single orc in the place dropped to the ground in supplication before Eric Delrosa. One of the neat upgrades to his skill was that when he used it on a being they became leashed to his intellect. At that point he could use mental commands to order his psychically enslaved minions.
He did so now, giving a little tug on the mental leash of the four orcs he had enslaved just outside the gate. They followed him as he walked amongst the prostrated orcs. He stopped before an orc woman with intricately curved tusks.
“Rip her apart.” Eric ordered.
The four orcs descended on her with no hesitation. By the end of it she was nothing more than a pile of raw meat. Eric savored every moment.
The orcs around him cried out. They begged for him to let her live. He ignored them all. The noise did attract attention.
The tent flap opened.
A massive orc stepped out of it. He was armored in shining green platemale. In his right hand he wielded a massive hammer. His tusks were huge, ivory white and shining in the light. The orc's dark gaze swept over the kneeling orcs, pausing on the pile of shredded, bloody meat that was once an orc woman. His eyes flashed with pain, then filled with rage.
“Who are you, stranger? I would have the name of the one I'm going to kill.” His voice was hard as the mountain stone around them.
This could only be Azerin. Just who Eric wanted to see.
“Hello there! My name is Eric Delrosa. I'm here to enslave your people.”
The orc's eyes glittered. His voice took on a dangerous rumble.
“I give you this one chance, human. Let go of whatever skill you're using on my people.”
Eric looked around as if considering it. Then he held up his hands.
“Sorry. I can't do that. It's truly unfortunate that this is necessary.”
The orc leader bellowed at him before lifting his hammer and charging him.
“Slip.”
Eric told him. He did. As if skating over a banana peel, the orc leader fell in a great heep, his armor clashing with the stone, sending a clanging boom around the compound.
Eric tsked.
“You shouldn't run with sharp things, you know. Terrain out here is very treacherous.”
The orc clammored to his feet, his green skin quivering, the grip on his hammer seemed to tighten
“Throw the hammer at one of your people.”
Eric said, mouth twitching in dark amusement. To his credit, Azerin was able to resist for a few moments. His eyes narrowed, and he shook from the effort of trying to stop his arms from raising.
He didn't succeed.
The hammer whooshed through the air, smashing into the head of a slightly younger orc like it was a pumpkin. There was a smooshing cracking sound as the orcs head burst apart, blood and brain matter splattering against those around him.
Eric licked his lips. He felt the pain and anguish from those around him. It flowed like a sweet river into his core.
“You are mine. You will listen to everything I say, to every order I give. You will enjoy it.”
Eric had said it and it was so. The moment he did, a message unfurled before him.
[You have closed an Incursion. As a reward you have advanced to level 115. Close the other Incursions for further rewards.]
Eric smiled. He had every reason to be happy. After all, it had been a beautifully productive day.