Chapter 33
Castle Annar
Asher crashed onto his bed as soon as he returned to his tiny little cabin.
His back was doused in sweat, his throat was dry, and he felt rather similar to how he felt after he’d returned from the desert. However, it was two different kinds of battles that he’d led on the occasions--in one, he was desperately clinging to the straw of life, clutching at the vestige of what he could have... and in the other, he was surviving a scorching desert.
Though he didn’t think the strange woman would outright kill him, it was nonetheless still a devil’s game that he played, trying to turn a tiny little shell into a teet that he could suck on for more than a few days.
Sitting back up, he took a deep breath and recollected himself. What was done was done--she’d bought it, even if in willful ignorance. And he had himself a ‘backer’, as it were. Perhaps she couldn’t really adjust his reality here any better than he could, but she was still a netizen of this world and knew far more of it than he could dream. Just that alone was worth it.
He got up and grabbed a jug of water, taking a sip. Just then, a doorway of sorts appeared to his right through which a tiny little goblin walked. A familiar face and a familiar gait--the same one as before.
“Oh,” the goblin said. “You’re alive. Still.”
“... dunno if you sound surprised or disappointed.”
“A bit of both. One less cabin to clean and all.”
“Yeah. Sorry to disappoint you. And surprise you,” Asher smiled as the tiny goblin began to broom and sweep and dust off.
“Hm. You smell strange.” The goblin commented.
“Strange?” Asher arched his brow. “I haven’t taken a shit yet so that can’t be it.”
“No, not that. Hm. You smell... like fire.”
“Oh, that? Yeah, I was just in the smithy. Maybe it’s from there?”
“... in the smithy?” goblin paused for a moment and glanced at him. “Hm. You smell like her, yes. Just like her.”
“Her?”
"The luscious hammerhead that some call a smith," he grinned. "My, my, o' human. I have a newfound respect for you."
“...” Asher choked for a moment, feeling rather odd. “W-wait, do you... do you think I had sex with her?”
“Hm? You didn’t?”
“Hell no! Are you insane?! She would have crushed me between her fingers like a grape!”
“Oh. So, why do you smell like her?”
“She, uh, she... she hugged me and twirled me around for a moment.”
“...”
“...”
“That’s hot.”
“Yeah, I kno--wait, what’s that now?”
“I always wondered what it would be like to be clutched between her calloused hands. Hm. Nice.”
“... what the fu...?” Asher mumbled, feeling divinely strange. The goblin continued to sweep as though nothing strange had occurred, as though his comments were just everyday sayings. “You... you’re a bit nuts, aren’t you?”
“Hm? Why do you say so?”
“’cause, well--of all the shit you just said.”
“Oh, that?”
“Yeah, that!”
“Don’t mind it,” the goblin said. “I simply lust from the side and dream on my own. I am practically harmless.”
“...”
"I do have a favor to ask," the goblin paused sweeping once more, and turned toward Asher. The look in those yellowed-out eyes... Asher got goosebumps all of a sudden, his spine shivering in dread.
“... what, uh, what do you want?” he asked carefully.
“Could you... could you show me your reproductive member?”
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“...”
“...”
“Get the fuck out.”
“Hm?”
“Leave. I’d rather live in a literal shit paradise than--”
“--no, no, don’t get me wrong,” the goblin swiftly interrupted. “I mean you no harm or pleasure. I am simply curious. You see, I wish to write a book--about humans. Even Lords and Ladies are curious, let alone their subjects. So, writing a book about how they reproduce... it would be a very curious thing. If you help me... I’ll help you back.”
“... you’re a slave,” Asher said. “You can’t even help yourself.”
“Perhaps,” the goblin grinned strangely. “But maybe take a leap of faith?”
“And show you my dick?!”
“Oh? That’s what you call it? Interesting--”
“--nope. This isn’t happening. Nope. I’m out.”
“Wait, but--”
"--no!" Asher replied firmly. "This place is fucked up enough, man! Why'd you gotta go and say that shit?! Fuckin' hell, what is wrong with this goddamned hellhole?!" he quickly trailed back into his bedroom and covered himself under the blanket. Though it was odd, he felt somewhat violated.
He could hear the goblin’s movements for a while before they quieted down. He carefully peeked out and saw that he was gone, leaving the cabin seeming pristine. Luckily, he hadn’t walked into the bedroom trying to clean it--it appeared as though he still retained some common sense.
Sighing in relief, he grabbed one of the remaining jugs of wine and took a deep sip. He needed a bit of drunken haze to wash out that memory from his mind. He'd experienced many horrors since having come here, but that, perhaps, was the worst one yet. He thought the goblin was a simple lad, if a bit beat down by his circumstances, but it really was that you never truly knew someone wholly, be they a stranger or brethren.
It reminded him of Shane, in many ways. Naturally, Shane wasn't a demented pervert--not in a sexual sense, at least--but was equally hidden behind a mask. A man who smiled whilst gutting you, and whispered sweet nothings just moments before slashing your throat. When the Captain showed him the photos of what Shane had done... Asher truly felt, for the first time in his life, that humanity had died, and all that was left in the world was eternal sin. There was always evil, that much was evident, but it was counterbalanced with the good--this symposium of dualities that went on for all eternity. But he felt it was broken, shattered.
Of all the memories throughout his life that he could reminisce... he laughed, for a moment, at the bitterness of the human mind.
He hadn’t managed to snap himself out--but the faint flutter of the wings did the job. Looking to the side, he saw Qyne floating there with a gruesome grin on her face.
“What?” he asked.
“... nothing,” she replied. “Just... whispers. That you got locked up with somebody, privately. I muse--whatever you were doing, eh? He he~~”
Just as Asher was about to fire back, his mind reeled and a light bulb lit up.
“You... didn’t see it?” his question seemed to peeve her, proving it true. “Oh, wow. Ha ha ha, that’s... that’s quite something.”
“And it seems you won’t tell me?” she recovered quickly, smiling still.
“Oh, I dunno,” he said. “If you say a few nice things about me, I just might~~”
“You’re getting cocky, agnatic shitster,” she snarled. “Ye’ faithless nimrod, a creature of vile, corpulent ego... you think befriending some fire-scorned whore will become your shield? Hah. Funny. Hilarious. I might yet die of laughter.”
"Wouldn't that be a sight?"
"... yes, yes, a lesson is in order," her lips splayed out into an execrable smile--the corners parted and bled as the mouth turned into a monstrous maw. "You shall be reminded, at last, o' the creature besotted by vanity," her voice distorted, grew deeper, profoundly castrated--there soon was a choir of sinister whims, cords cast by violence. Winds began to blow from the seeming nowhere, horrid and frigid, ripping through his skin like knives. "You are nothing. You are worthless. You are a doll, a puppet swung about by the strings of your masters. You cannot defy us. You cannot free yourself. You cannot. You cannot. You shall forever be a mongrel beset by the fate of a clown--forever part of our circus, forever dancing for our amusement. Or..." The world darkened as Asher, to his terror, found himself flung out into darkness, for ever a moment. Just a second later, he was in a strange land--the high walls of a castle stood above him, manned back and forth with youths, their tender faces plaid in the ungodly rain.
“Or,” Qyne whispered into his ear. “You shall die... and let us be cleansed of your selfhood.”
A screen abruptly appeared as the rain came to a swift halt--Qyne vanished, leaving behind the fading echo of her voice. Shit.
He knew he screwed up--he let a tiny bit of success get into his head, and he broke the unspoken rule of his own mantra: never be seen, never be heard, never let the world know your true worth.
[Emergency Quest! -- Forced Inclusion]
Note: The difficulty of the Stage is halved due to being forced to participate while the rewards for completion are tripled.
...
Castle Hold [Nightmare / Temporal]
Difficulty: 66/100 [Halved to 33/100]
Quest: Endure for 6 hours while surviving the invasion.
Alternate Quest: for maximum rewards, you must defeat all the invaders while ensuring that no more than 12 out of 272 men and women manning the castle perish. For the ultimate reward, ensure that all survive.
Note: You will have 20 minutes to prepare the defenses. The invasion shall begin as soon as it stops raining. It will consist of 2,000 monsters--6 Rare Monsters, 2 Epic Monsters, 2 Legendary Monsters, 1 Boss, and 1,990 ordinary footmen.
Description: Castle Annar lies in the deep east past the Fyae Mountains and bordering the Frosted Wasteland. It had been standing for over a thousand years, shielding the mortal lands westward from the mutated cretins, both Godly and otherwise. But all that stands must fall--fewer and fewer Champions found glory in being forever chained to a Castle, fighting monsters every day of their lives and never getting to enjoy the riches. While the Castle endured a little while longer thanks to the veterans who had been fighting to defend it for decades, with their numbers slowly thinning out, it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. Thus, hundreds ran, deserting their post when the scouts notified them of the massive, encroaching army. Only 272 remained--2 Knights, Havar and Loe, 20 archers who stayed behind while the rest of the Bowmen Legion deserted, and 250 fresh recruits who either believed still in the cause or had nowhere else to go. Long into the night they venture, their cause abandoned, their beliefs left behind. Though they know that reinforcements are coming... they know they shall not be alive to welcome them. Death is self, and death is coming. For all.
Well, Asher mused solemnly as the rain began to pelt the dirt once more, though just for a moment, stopping once again so he could choose a weapon. I am supremely and wonderfully fucked.