Chapter 57: Interrogating Humans

**Hiro**

Looking through the undead eyes of Hector, I gazed out at the expansive scenery of trees, mountains, and purple smog that hung in the sky.

Outside… I was… outside.

Well, not quite. I was still inside the demon lord’s manor, just standing in a gaping hole blown into the side of the rock that exposed the innards of the castle foundation.

“Is this everything you had hoped for my Lord?” A smaller Slimey asked, standing behind me with my rubber body in her hands.

A sense of melancholy took me as I eyed the lands below that had once been barren.

Now they were teeming with life, purple corrupted trees covering the land with blighted smog rising from the forest.

No… I’m… I'm not sure to be honest. I replied back to Slimey.

I crouched low, rubbing my boney hands over the metal grappling hooks on the floor and bundles of stashed supplies.

Mana stones, weapons, rope, food, and other supplies.

Nick nacks mostly perhaps the best thing being the steel swords and sets of broken armor.

Remains from the paladin's comrades perhaps? I didn't know for certain.

Two days had passed with my army on the prowl. My forces spreading rapidly through uncharted parts of the castle capturing, killing, or converting the various denizens within the dungeon.

Ghasts, living armors, carnivore plants, and even blighted direwolves. Those unable to be rationalized with or talked to, were immediately exterminated by Slimey while those who could think.

Well, the choice was simple.

Submit or die.

Sadly, most chose to un-alive themselves, feeding my composters.

It didn't take long to find where the humans had come from. Thanks to the trail of stones on the floor left by the adventurer party, it was easy to trace their steps and avoid getting lost in the winding labyrinth.

Now I stood on the edge. My eyes seeing a battle that wasn't there while my non-existent ears heard screams that tore through my skull.

A hundred years ago this entire forest had been burned to the ground to deny my soldiers camouflage. Now it had regrown… albeit a shade different than I remembered it.

Collect the supplies and seal this hole.

I ordered as my consciousness left Hector and re-entered my shell.

****

“Please… you have to let us go!” Jesse exclaimed, rattling the bone bars of their prison cell with boil covered hands. “Our purifiers are out of mana!”

The goblin guards spun, raising their spears.

“PLEASE!” Jesse screamed, the man ripping off his filter mask and throwing it at one of the guards.

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

“Damn it!” Jesse snarled, his stomach growling and backing away from the cell door as spears poked through.

“Are you ok?” Simone asked, speaking to Lhikan who sat in the corner of the cell silent.

She reached out, cracked hand touching the paladin who, unlike her and Jesse, wasn't exhibiting signs of heavy blight just yet, but his skin was beginning to turn ashen black, the first stage of blight.

Silence. The man not speaking.

Simone sat on the floor beside the man, her head resting on the old knight’s shoulders.

“Is he still not speaking?” Jesse asked, standing over the pair with Simon shaking her head lightly. “Damn it.”

Jesse sat down on the floor, Simone using her mana to heal him and stave off the infection. A stop-gape measure, as her overall energy would diminish the longer she was being effected by blight until she had no mana.

“We’ll be dead in days.” Jesse groaned.

Suddenly, a rattle of the cage, a taller goblin standing in front of the prison cell with a helmet tucked under its arm.

The prison cell opened, the goblin tossing a lump of cooked meat onto the floor.

*You. Eat* The goblin signed, causing Simone and Jesse’s jaws to drop at the sign language.

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“How… how do you know sign language?” Jesse asked, his voice quivering with the goblin cocking his head sideways.

*I don’t. Understand Human.* The goblin replied slowly, almost as if unsure. *Eat. Now.*

*We need water. Purified water. Mana cells for our purifiers.* Simone signed.

*We have a supply stash, we just need to get to it and we’ll come back.* Jesse attempted

The goblin blinked. Taking a moment to respond as if processing.

*You. Two. Eat. Water soon. Mana rock. Soon.*

Jesse slowly reached out, grabbing the cooked meat covered in dirt.

He split the meat, handing the bigger piece to Simone and Lhikan.

“What is it?” Simone asked.

“Better to not ask.” Jesse said, biting into the charred meat.

*I am.* The goblin unsheathed his blade, causing Simone to flinch but settling down as the goblin began writing in the dirt.

“Gobledoo? Gobledee?” Simone read, looking up at the goblin.

*I am. Commander.* The goblin pointed at the word Gobledoo. *You. Killed my friend.*

The goblin pointed at the word Gobledee.

Simone and Jesse shared a look.

*We… we’re just looking for an artifact to save our world.* SImone said, causing the goblin to blink.

*Stupid human. I don’t know your language*. The goblin replied, causing Simone to go slightly red.

*We were just looking for an artifact to save our world.* Simone signed. *We-*

*Me don’t care.* The goblin replied.

*Are you going to kill us?* Jesse asked, eyeing the blade at the goblin’s hip, the same blade the belonged to Marcus.

*I want to. But Lord says no. You are guests.* Gobledoo replied. *But I hate you. We all hate you. You killed my friend.*

Should I make a run for it?

Jesse weighed his options.

“By all means. Go for it.” A sweet voice sounded, causing Lhikan to finally look up.

At the entrance of the prison cell, a woman in Maiden of Light robes stood, soft smile on her face.

“But you won’t get far.” The woman said, calmly strutting into the prison cell with a bowl of water in her hands. “You may leave us Lieutenant.”

The goblin snapped off a salute, marching out in an orderly manner.

“Nat..NAT!” Lhikan stood up, reaching out to the woman. “Natalie!”

“Sir Lhikan.” The woman said, reaching up, her fingers radiating holy energy that washed over Lhikan. Upon contact, the man’s skin began to regain it’s regular complexion, the speed and severity of how fast acting her skill was astonishing Simone and Jesse.

“You… your…” Lhikan put his palm against the top of Natalie’s hand, feeling the touch that had no warmth. “Alive.”

Jesse’s gaze shifted to the paladin, his jaw clenching as he eyed the tears in the man’s eyes.

Ah… crap.

“For now.” The woman named Natalie said before turning to the other two in the cell. “Come, children, let you be cleansed by the light of our lord.”

Jesse and Simone hesitated. They knew this woman was no Maiden of Light despite the power she possessed, but then, what choice did they have?

Reluctantly, Jesse went first, accepting the monster’s touch, his body shaking as the effects of his blight infection was reversed at a visible speed.

“Dear lord…” Jesse muttered as Simone approached and was also healed.

“Th-thank you.” Simone let out before she was handed the bowl of pristine clean water that was sanctified.

“This… this is insane!” Jesse exclaimed, looking at his hands that were cured of the infection that took weeks to months to resolve from expert priests. Yet, this… THIS SLIME!

“Natalie. Will Lord Hiroyuki help us?” Lhikan asked, peering into the eyes that reflected no light.

“Lord Hiro has considered your request,” Natalie replied, making Simone and Jesse go wide-eyed at the confirmation of the Hiro’s name. “The answer remains no. Lord Hiro has no further interests in the affairs of humans.”

“But! He’s human too! He’s the hero! Has he defected to the demons?!” Lhikan asked, resulting in the man being slapped.

“Never lump my Lord with those disgusting….Lhikan.”

Suddenly the tone of the woman changed, her head vibrating violently as her skin turned gray, almost like clay. “L-hi-kin. He. You!”

“Natalie?! Whats wrong?!”

“He is here!” The woman screamed, appearance shifting, almost melting, Natalie, the REAL Natalie struggling. “The Hero! His soul is trapped in the shell of a rubber duck! HE’S THE DUNGEON CORE!”

Lhikin’s jaw dropped.

“I… I don’t have much time!” Natalie cried, the slime solidifying. “Lhikan. Thank you. For…everything. For not giving up on me. Hiro’s not. A bad person. Please. Don’t give up on him. He just. He just wants peace…”

The slime shifted, reforming, the gray color peeling away with the shape of Natalie blinking several times before looking down at the stunned humans.

“You would be wise to mind your tongue when speaking about Lord Hiro or I will cut it out.” Not-Natalie replied as she stepped out of the prison cell, the door open. “Now, come along, your quarters are ready.”

****Hiro***

“Suck. Suck. Suck.”

[Quest Complete!]

[Reward: Supercyst Unlock]

[New Construction Options available!]

Hrrrn. Sitting atop my throne in Slimey 1’s hands, I finally bit the bullet and landscaped new rooms. First, I uprooted my throne, caskets of my fallen, and Mana Heart, ordering my minions to dig out new rooms whilst I was away on scouting.

The first room was a meadow. Why a meadow? Simple. Trees. Plants. Food. Land to grow resources for my soldiers. A garden taking over what was once my throne room.

“Suck. Suck. Suck.”

The second one was a catacomb. The room empowering skeletons within and even buffing Graveyard structures to summon new skeletons if I so chose.

Paying the toll for a graveyard and testing it out, it was a neat function if not for the fact that it ate into my overall minion count.

A descent stop-gate if I was under attack however. So I spent a bit of my stockpile and made a place for Hector and Chloe to hang out, when of COURSE SHE FINISHED EVOLVING! IT’S BEEN NEARLY A DAMN MONTH NOW!

Ehem.

Anyway my dungeon had expanded by at least four rooms. The garden entrance. The catacomb. The reception hall, now designated as my guardian room with Ayaka in it and then finally my mausoleum/throne room.

While I was at it, I had also expanded the doorways and tunnels through the dungeon to allow Ayaka and her Titan to roam freely and exercise. Did I have to? No. But fortunately Landscaping also had a neat function of deleting what the RTS mode designated as tiles using mana and allowing me to expand the rooms easily.

Sadly the mana cost was a hundred per five by five feet. An exorbitant cost when added up, so it was an ongoing project along with, the training hall, dining room, workshop, and miscellaneous rooms for other buildings that the construction teams were working on.

“Suck. Suck. Suck.”

Throw in the three rooms created near the prison for my human guests. Well, this grand design thing was an enormous undertaking that had split my attention the last three days between interrogating the humans, scouting, and building up my defenses.

“Suck. Suck. Suck.”

Still, it was good to be doing something, progress in motion as-

“Suck. Suck. Suck.”

-I worked towards defending against-

“Suck. Suck. Suck.”

….

Ayaka.

“Hm?” The large spider replied, burying it’s head into the floor.

Ayaka… look at me.

“SUCKSUCKSUCKSUCKSUCK!”

DON’T SUCK LOUDER YOU CRETIN! LOOK AT ME!

“YOU CUR! LORD HIRO HAS GIVEN YOU AN ORDER!” Smaller Slimey screamed, firing an electrified shot of slime at the massive arachnid that began electrocuting the bug.

“NO! nOz! NOoOoOoOoOoOooOoOO!”

After much persuasion and physical violence, the spider queen finally turned around, showing me her face and making me wish she hadn’t.