Season 3: Chapter 77: The One Called Hiro.
“March faster! We’re nearly there to our new camp!” Danse, in heavy white armor, barked, ordering his convoy of mercenaries and supplies down the narrow cave as he held Berus’s map aloft while his butler held a torch for him to read.
“Sir!” A sand-covered footman called out, snapping a salute at the Paladin as he passed before walking in step with the man.
“Report.” Danse ordered, momentarily distracted by yet another statue of a duck.
“After disarming a series of traps, team White Axe found a large room ahead. An arena of sorts as described.” The scout said as Danse shoved past two men standing idle to walk into the massive underground chamber below the castle proper.
“Incredible…” One mercenary let out, Danse’s hired hands fanning out into the massive demonic architecture that laid buried beneath the castle, weathering the test of time and unseen to mankind’s eyes for centuries.
At least, Danse believed so as he stepped into the large chamber filled with sands, bones, and craters from battles of yore, his mercenaries already setting up torches.
A malicious smile plagued Danse's face, visions of treasures and loot filling his mind with each step he took alongside the sixty men he had brought with.
“Spread out! Watch for buried traps! I want teams delving further immediately!” Danse barked, eyeing the crater-filled stadium and massive bones of creatures past littering the arena once used for blood sport.
This was it, the area labeled for them as a potential spot for a new base camp deep within the demon lord’s castle by Berus. She had even gone so far as to light up torches around the arena for his men to see.
“Bring in the supplies!” Danse turned, nodding to the nearby team of artificers to set up the area detoxifiers for the camp.
Suddenly, movement, Danse's eyes tracking what appeared to be an abnormally large blue slime oozing out from the center of the largest crater within the sandpit.
A slime? What's so special about these blue ones. Danse thought, recalling something Berus had said about special variants but forgetting it.
He'd never seen a blue one before, but it appeared just like an ordinary slime.
But why did he feel so uneasy?
Danse side-eyed a minion. “Ehem.”
A nearby man jolted.
“Right! We'll take care of this boss.” One of his mercenaries said, catching the hint and taking off, some bronze rank ruffian that was hired through a broker. “Let me show you lads how it’s done!”
The man walked forward, snickering, brandishing a spear toward the low-level monster whose bright red core sat visibly within its gelatinous blob.
While his mercenaries went to work, Danse eyed the stands, imagining them filled with cheering crowds and bloodthirsty spectators watching the magnificent beasts fighting in the arena.
Danse smiled, gaze focused on the raised balcony box where no doubt the Demon Emperor once stood, watching as his minions fought for his approval and entertainment. Maybe he could have something like that one day. A thousand eyes turning to him as he decided the fate of the defeated below?
Maybe once I get back with the treasure the bishops wi-
“WHAT?!”
“WATCH OUT!!”
“GET BACK!”
Suddenly the paladin’s daydreaming was shattered, the cries of surprise causing Danse to spin, eyes wide, his gaze locked on the headless corpse of the mercenary that had just spoken to him moments prior.
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Standing amidst the crowd of men and women with weapons raised, was an unfamiliar figure, a green-haired naked woman wearing nothing but an expressionless face and holding the fallen man’s spear.
In her other hand, she held the head of the recently deceased, the mercenary’s face locked in an expression of shock.
Danse furrowed his brow, an uncanny sense of divinity flowing from the stranger. A justicar? No. A fallen one? No. Danse tried to make sense of what his senses were telling him. In front of him was a being who screamed danger yet oozed divinity, something that should only be for those in service of the church.
But why was she attacking his men? And where was the slime?
Six mercenaries surrounded the woman, Danse’s own hand subconsciously on his blade.
“Good evening humans.” The Stranger said with a velvety voice, the head dripping with blood within her palm held out casually as if offering it to some divinity. She spun the cranium around, drinking the blood from its gaping neck wound, something that appalled and shocked all those present.
“Mimic!”
“Take it down!”
“NO WAIT!”
To their credit, the bronze classes immediately charged forward, much to the horror of a nearby silver plate who reached out to stop them.
It happened in a flash.
The woman smirked, revealing rows of serrated teeth. In an instant six standing men had been turned into six standing corpses, the stranger’s body releasing tendrils that penetrated the cheap armor of her assailants and impaled them, killing the bronzes instantly.
Her tentacles retracted, taking with them the bodies, the corpses evaporating into puffs of smoke as the collided with the now giggling figure.
“Mhm. Delicious.”
“I call upon the flames that burn within the heart of mankind!” A mage invoked, summoning a fireball. The woman simply sidestepped with a smile, the flaming ball of mana exploding the sand behind her, painting a visage of a hungry predator that stilled the hearts of those present.
The human-shaped slime however didn’t attack, instead, she did something unexpected.
She curtsied.
“Welcome to the domain of Lord Hiro, I am Slimey. Champion of the Great Yellow One.”
At her introduction, a chorus of uniform marching could be heard, drawing Danse and his men’s eyes to the surrounding empty stands and gates now illuminated by a ring of flames.
“Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean.” A voice of hundreds echoed out, matching the rhythm of the marching.
Something was coming. Many somethings, the symphony of an army in motion echoing through the empty chamber.
“FORM RANKS! Spellcasters in center! Shielders up front! Protect our supplies!” Danse barked, jolting the mercenaries from their stupor to organize into monster-culling formations.
Danse turned back to the woman, the one known as Slimey gone as a giggle bounced from the walls of the coliseum.
“As our honored guests, I do hope you enjoy the entertainment we have prepared for you this evening.”
“CLEAN! CLEAN! CLEAN!”
The marching escalated, until finally, at the crescendo of its symphony, Danse could make out, goblins in armor marching from the various gates and entrances that dotted the coliseum.
A hundred? Two? No. Three! Alarm bells rang in Danse’s mind, the stands of the arena now filled with chanting, stomping goblins wearing shiny suits of heavy armor.
Immediately a trio mercenaries make a break for the gate, fleeing the way they entered.
However, they didn’t get far. As they neared the opening in the coliseum, a torrent of blue ooze dripped out of the gate, solidifying and blocking the cowards' escape.
“A few rules of the game.” The voice spoke, drawing every set of eyes to the stadium balcony where a woman wearing the vestments of a Maiden stood with a yellow item in her hands.
“One. No fleeing. Anyone caught out of bounds or attempting to flee…” The woman raised a hand, pointing at a mercenary hacking at a blocked gate with his sword. ‘Dies.”
Suddenly the gate produced a spike, impaling the man, dragging him into the wall of blue where he seemed to immediately evaporate along with his screams.
“Two. No attacking the spectators. Three. You will pick your champion. The one among you that will represent your army and fight for your souls.” The woman said, her words irking Danse. “However, anyone that wishes to be spared, throw away your weapons and enter the gate to your right.”
Suddenly light from the other side of the arena, goblins marching out holding torches in hand and approaching the band of humans.
The goblin at the forefront, a mutated variant of some kind, stood before Danse's gathered army, helmet beneath his arm, standing with a glare.
“What is this?! Who are you?!” Danse called out, pointing at the woman who looked down at him indifferently.
Despite wearing the garb of a Maiden, she was none that he was aware of.
Was it a demon? A former general left behind to guard the treasures that lie below? But why didn’t he detect it? And why was he feeling the presence of such a divine aura?!
“Who I am is of no concern of yours mongrel.” The woman replied, an air of regal authority surrounding her as she spoke and held a familiar yellow object in her hand.
The treasure!
Danse immediately recognized the yellow duck, the item seen in his magic mirror that showed him what he was seeking for.
“All forces! Do not listen to the trickery of the demoness!” Danse barked, “She holds in her hand our objective! The first to bring me that yellow duck, shall be gifted a lord’s title and ONE HUNDRED GOLDs!”