Chapter 19: Genocide

"Let's go!" (Rize)

"Go where?" (Doraig)

"Down there, we need to hunt that beast and retrieve that gem!" (Rize)

"...Are you for real?" (Doraig)

I look at Rob, hoping to see him against the idea— I don't really want to be the fisherman that reaps the rewards when the oyster and the snipe fight.

"I think we should get it too. I'm sorry for them but this discovery will have great effects on everyone in the continent" (Robin)

"...Fine, let's go" (Doraig)

Ha-ah...

We fly, maintaining our height until we are directly above the Hellhounds, at which point we stop and look bellow.

The Hellhounds are still standing there with four of them admiring their leader while at the same time their now Lord is testing his flames, by aiming at a rock, lowering his head after which the flames on his shoulders snake out and hit the rock, engulfing it in dark flames which disintegrate the boulder after just a few seconds.

The Lord then proceeds to test out his speed, by running in zigzag in between the Leaders at a speed that is almost blurry to the naked eye. The other dogs are yelping and jumping whenever the Lord moves in between them, and at the same time, they try to follow their Lord with their gaze.

the Lord stops, and then stands still for a few seconds looking at a distant boulder, before yelping in excitement, it seems like he had a new idea.

He jumps and makes a parabola in mid-air, and when he reaches the apex of his jump, he strikes out with his claws which are covered in fire. the fire on his claws form fireballs which shoot out in the general direction of the boulder, but both of them miss the rock as the control over them doesn't seem to be as great as the control over the fire 'snake'. 

the Beast looks at where his fireballs struck and gives a low growl, before jumping and trying once again. This time, instead of striking out twice, he arcs himself inward when he's at the apex of his jump, putting both of his claws together and shooting a single bigger fireball, which hits the ground directly in front of the boulder. When the Hellhound lands he stomps on the ground angrily, with so much strength that it leaves a crack on the ground.

The other Hellhounds approach him and begin to yelp and growl to him, apparently trying to communicate with him, to which the Lord responds by also yelping and growling. After interacting for a few minutes he nods to them before turning around to face the boulder again. He once again jumps, and like the last time, he curves his body inwards, but this time releases the flames much sooner while arcing his body much more slowly.

this makes the fireball move slower than before, so much so that instead of shooting it feels like throwing. the fireballs make an arc in the air before landing accurately on top of the boulder. the boulder cannot handle the brunt of the hit and explodes, throwing debris all around the place.

"Are we really going to do this? this... doesn't feel right" (Kelsi)

"..." (Rob & Rize)

It's not that I like dogs or something, but... we saw how they staked everything to get that single Hellhound to become a Lord.

"I'm sorry for not looking at the bigger picture... but I can't bring myself to do this, sorry" (Doraig)

Robin looks at me and Kelsi... he probably is thinking about a lot of things as well.

"The human race is not in a bad spot right now, is it? can't you... let them be?" (Doraig)

After staring at us for what looks like an eternity, he sighs before saying

"Forget it. Let's drop the matter here and leave them be Rize" (Rob) 

"...Fine, I'll still inform my father when we go back, but I won't pursue these Hellhounds. I won't talk about any other Lord we find, though" (Rize) 

"I'm okay with that, I'll support you if we find another one" (Doraig)

Both of them stay silent and the atmosphere turns a bit awkward, so I say

"Let's look for something else, just because we don't get these it doesn't mean we've become activists for the monster's rights" (Doraig)

"Okay" (Rize)

"Let's go" (Rob)

We fly away and ignore the Hellhounds who are still testing out the new skills their Lord has invented.

The Lava zone is an extremely big area, comprised of many ponds of molten rock, dark, lifeless looking zones which somehow sprouted life. all of the creatures here extract energy from the heat exuded by the lava, and this serves to both quench their thirst and to satiate their hunger. As proven by the previous fight, the monsters in this Area are not a very united group, instead, they fight over territory for who knows what reason, and overall are very minding of their own races. 

Hellhounds are apparently similar to a pack of wolves, having an alpha dog who is the strongest member and also their leader. the only difference would be that the Alpha, while being an acting leader, doesn't trample on his partners to make them serve him, instead choosing to cooperate as a unit with him being the head and the rest of the hounds the limbs.

we haven't really examined how the larva and their evolution, the butterflies work but as demonstrated by the amount of them we found together, it is safe to assume that they also have a sense of cohesion, banding together against a common enemy.

It shouldn't be soon for any of these races to reset, but who knows, nobody expected the slimes to reset either...

Hmm? Rob has stopped flying, what is he looking at?

"Let's hit that group over there and call it a day" (Rob)

Rob signals toward a distant ocean of lava that on a closer look, is filled with larvae. A rough estimate would be 80 of them, is this a nest?

"That's quite a lot of them, how do you want to go about this?" (Doraig)

"Can't you carpet bomb them? they don't seem to have their guard up" (Rob)

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Let's do that, Rob and I will clean up whatever is left alive after" (Rize)

"Uh, okay. let's do it at the count of 3" (Doraig)

"3"

"2"

"1"

'Minor Breath of Destruction' - Rize begins to cast Rain of arrows

'Minor Breath of Destruction' - 'Rain of arrows'

'Minor Breath of Destruction' - 'Rain of arrows'

'Minor Breath of Destruction' - 'Rain of arrows'

'Minor Breath of Destruction' - 'Rain of arrows'

'Minor Breath of Destruction' - 'Rain of arrows'

'...'

You have run out of mana, you can't cast this skill

"I can't cast anymore" (Doraig)

I look at Rize who continues to cast Rain of arrows 5 more times before stopping, he has now ran out of mana as well.

I didn't pay much attention to the windows that kept popping on my screen to tell me about the experience points I received, but I managed to level up twice with that, so now I am level 17.

The ground below is a mess, with debris visible on every part that isn't covered by the sand and smoke that flew up in response to our indiscriminate attacks.

We wait... and then wait some more. Until finally, the area begins to clear up.

The area down below is filled with corpses of dead larva, and there are only about 15 of them left alive, who are not in great shape either, with missing chunks of flesh or looking like porcupines with arrow shafts instead of spikes.

My gaze grows a bit colder, but I soon throw the thought to the back of my head. Rob looks behind me, probably at Rize, before nodding and going below. I descend as well and when I'm 10 meters from the ground, my back feels lighter, as Rize jumps down.

they begin to finish off the larvae that are left alive. Rize hits them on the back of their head with the scythe to end them, while Rob instead raises his sword before cleaving them to get their suffering over with.

While they're doing that, neither I or Kelsi say anything, we just float 10 meters above-air while both of them finish doing their job.

What changed? I didn't feel like this when we fought against the flock of butterflies. no, I didn't feel like this even earlier on, when I fought against the Bunnies.

Whatever— now is not the time to think about this.

At the same time as I push the thought back again, Rob and Rize finish the last of them, so I descend with Kelsi and we form a triangle of people.

"So, we'll call it a day now? we shouldn't over exert ourselves since we are going to do this every day for the next few weeks" (Doraig)

Rize seems unfazed of everything, while Rob is frowning the tiniest bit, almost to the point where it is unperceivable.

"Yeah, let's go. It's about dinner time now, so we should go and eat something" (Rize)

He jumps on my back and Robin takes off, I follow behind him and we move towards the resting zone, right outside this area.

----------------------------------------

"What do you guys want to eat?" (Rize)

"How about some fish with rice?" (Rob)

"Alright, I'll cook that. bring me to the river to catch some fish Doraig" (Rize)

...

"Doraig?" (Rize)

"Uh? the river? Oh, okay" (Doraig)

Kelsi gets off of my head to begin preparing things for Rize to cook along with Rob, while I take off,

I start to ascend while the air on my feet gets pushed out by the action of my wings, and once I am 15 meters above the ground I stop ascending.

"Let's go to that river, over there" (Rize)

I listen to Rize, and we begin flying in the general direction he tells me to. we spend the next 5 minutes in silence before we hear the sound of running water, and we can see the river nearing.

I descend and land on the ground, after which Rize gets off my back and fiddles with his fingers, after which he takes out a rod and throws the bait into the water, before sitting down to fish while resting.

I walk closer to him and lay down next to him while watching the river and the water move.

"Will you tell me what happened to you now? you didn't mind hunting like this before" (Doraig)

If only I knew why I can't find any joy in what we're doing...

"I don't really know— when we are fighting like this, in particular when the fights are so easy I just have this sour feeling, and it's like I have something stuck in my throat. It wasn't like this when we fought the Flock of butterflies, though" (Doraig)

Plop, Rize pulls the rod and out comes the first fish. He takes out an adorned bucket that looks expensive out of his inventory and puts the fish inside. 

"When you leveled up the first time, did you feel like this? I'm asking before we met" (Rize)

"I didn't, when I first started leveling up I felt somewhat excited, fighting for my life, winning fights and getting stronger. When I got my first drops I felt like I was in heaven, and was rewarded for my efforts" (Doraig)

Plop, another fish goes into the bucket, before Rize puts the rod back inside once more. He doesn't immediately say something, and instead, we stay in silence for a few minutes.

"I think you just don't like engaging in genocide, but isn't that okay? I mean, I'd rather not be with a madman next to me either way. I think once Kelsi evolved you stopped seeing the beasts as just 'beasts' and instead started to see them as potential equals" (Rize)

Potential equals? I wonder what Kelsi thought of when she saw us stepping on them like wilted grass...

"Do you think we can give them at least a chance to fight back? at least that way I won't feel like shit when we kill them— I know this is a stupid suggestion and it puts us in some more danger but... they're not really responsible for what the demons did to the elves, nor are they really bothering anyone in here, no race would want to live in this place and they aren't going to leave, either" (Doraig)

Plop, the third Fish is in the bucket, and Rize throws the rod into the water— he doesn't wait too long to answer, this time. he shrugs his shoulder before saying—

"In all honesty, it doesn't really matter to me. as long as you promise me to not hold anything back when the King appears, I will agree with your desire. the process of this is not that important to me, but I don't want to risk anything when and if that person shows up. I think you understand that my mother's health is more important than a bunch of insects, dogs, and a demon" (Rize)

I feel like a stone has been removed from my chest, so my mood brightens up almost immediately.

"Thank you, bro! I will do my best when it comes to the king, I can't forgive the demons for trying to turn this continent upside down either way" (Doraig)

Plop, a fourth Fish goes out of the water and into the bucket. Rize stands up and stores the rod, before walking to me with the bucket in hand.

"Good, now let's go and eat. I still have to prepare the fish and the rice, as none of you seem to be able to even boil a pot of water" (Rize)

"Hehehe. let's go, bro. I can't wait to taste your new dish!" (Doraig)

Rize gets on my back and we take off, flying in the direction of the camping area. After a short period of time we get there and see Robin and Kelsi have already finished setting up the tents, have made a big bonfire along with a smaller one to cook the fish in, and also have gathered a lot more wood to have as a reserve.

I obviously don't fit inside the tent, so I and Kelsi stay outside next to the lit bonfire.

In any case, now that the fire is ready, Rize first takes the fishes out of the bucket and begins prepping them, removing the scaled, removing the innards, fileting the fish, removing the bones with some pincers and then using some seasonings for the fish to taste better. before starting to cook the fish he grabs the rice and prepares a pot to cook it in. he fills it with water, he starts to boil it and when it is boiling he puts rice on a fry-pan, fries the rice for a few seconds with olive oil before transferring into a pot, after which he transfers the water into the pot that has the rice. then he moves the pot further away from the heat source so the water doesn't boil too hard for a few minutes until all the water is consumed... etc.

When the rice is finished he uses the pan, wipes it with a cloth and then adds new oil, before beginning to cook the fish, making sure to have the optimal temperature. he does some stuff then flips the fish and lets it cook for a little longer until it is perfectly cooked.

When the fish is cooked he leaves it to rest while he preps a salad, sing lettuce, some tomatoes and a bit of raw onion. he adds a touch of lemon juice and oil and the salad is done. 

When the dishes are done Kelsi, Rob and I help move them to the table and then we sit down to enjoy our dinner.

"Thanks for the food!" (Kelsi, Doraig & Rob)

I didn't stop to see before, but it looks like Kelsi is also feeling a lot better now. I think she just noticed my mood was foul and in turn so did hers. I really like this girl, I hope we'll stay together for a longer time!

Kelsi, Robin, and Rize are sitting on small stools, while I'm sitting on the floor as my body is way too big for this. We continue to eat and so in the end, the three of them finish a fish and a half, while I eat the other two and a half fishes. It makes sense, Because I have a massive body and need more energy, right? it's not because I'm a fatass dragon!

"Ahem, It has gotten a little late now. what do you guys want to do?" (Doraig)

I look at the three of them waiting to hear their plans for tonight. We don't always stick together as one, as both Rize and Rob have their own hobbies and things they enjoy doing. Kelsi though usually stays with me and lazes around not doing much, or we just play around, she likes to use her racial skill to become a slime-dragon and we can just snuggle next to a fire.

"I was thinking of taking a bath and then reading a book before the sky goes dark and then jumping to bed" (Rize)

"I was going to practice with my sword for a while before taking a bath and then into bed to sleep" (Rob)

"Do you want to sit by the bonfire to rest, chat for a bit, and then take a bath before going to sleep?" (Kelsi)

"Sure, we'll do as you say" (Doraig)

And so Rize and Robin go do their things, while I stay next to the fire sitting cozily next to Kelsi.