Caspus stood at the head of the largest ship in the fleet, which took a central position in the overall formation with ships completely surrounding it on all sides.
A smile beamed across his face, which was covered by his helmet, as he imagined the ships docking and the soldiers rushing onto the land, attacking the village and slaughtering any who stood in their paths.
It was not that he had a desire for killing. Simply that as a general, he was indifferent to the act, and only desired for victory.
If one combined that with the fact that his opponents were monsters which needed no mercy, and the ones to be killed off fighting them were mercenaries who were a little bit too eager to usurp the generous offer of the Emperor, then this is how Caspus arrived at his own satisfaction given the scenario.
Caspus had struck a deal with Brutus.
Brutus would work his way towards becoming the Emperor after Percius, by claiming that his son was unfit to succeed the throne. If Brutus was backed by Caspus along with a number of other political figures who he had under wraps, they would essentially be unstoppable, and the young Emperor, who was widely hated and would have been attacked by any factions if they remained, would have no power to stop this.
There was no way for Caspus nor Brutus to know or predict that Percius was currently dead. This was merely a long term plot for the future, as they had no intention to betray Percius IV while he lived- for even these men had great respect for the Wise Emperor, as he was called. Caspus went on this campaign with the assumptions that his ambitions would not bear fruit until much later.
Brutus had to be very careful not to establish an official faction, and to keep his supporters out of sight to not come into the eye of Percius as an enemy.
Percius was a great ruler, but as a result of that, anyone who he considered to be his opposition had absolutely no power to say anything against him, which was why Brutus and Caspus had formed this pact in secret.
This campaign would bring Caspus closer to the claim that he should be the high commander of the entire military. The Legion Commander who controlled not one, but all 5 legions of the Empire.
Of course, the five legions were separate entities, and currently there was no single leader in the military of the Empire, yet Caspus desired to become that leader. Brutus had offered him this position if he became the Emperor- in exchange for political and military support.
The waves of the sea crashed against the sturdy wood of the galleons, and the boat swayed sickeningly.
'Just as a campaign is fought one battle at a time, a career is formed one step at a time. For now, I need to win this battle while taking minimal casualties and paying out minimal fees to the hired mercenaries. That is all.'
----
Garett sat in the cabin during the trip, with a gemstone from his inventory in hand.
'Enchanting... the ability to infuse traits and skills into equipment, through the channeling of magic into gemstones...'
While the antiheroes themselves were overwhelmingly powerful, this didn't mean they were allowed to ignore a method to become even stronger. They didn't know how truly strong the monster kings or the heroes would be, much less the Indeterminant- and it was their goal to defeat them.
Even if it would only make him a small bit stronger, Garett began to fiddle with the enchantment system. He had already enchanted many pieces of equipment from the people in the dictatorship, so he had a feel for the general improvements that could be applied.
First, he tried to enchant the steel thread armor he was wearing.
Before enchanting, the analysis yielded the following:
[Steel Thread Armor]
[Negates 400 Damage, and reduces remaining damage by 70%]
Based on the strength of the inhabitants of this world, this armor would prevent any damage from even the strongest mercenary they had met- a man of the 7th tier who they didn't actually come into contact with, but Trevor had perceived his presence and used this man as a template for standard soldiers when running his simulations.
However, Garett didn't believe that this would be enough.
He had to be completely certain.
He couldn't leave his own life up to an incorrect assumption.
As much as Garett enjoyed the thrill of the gamble, he wanted to reduce the probability of his own demise.
He wanted to be 99% sure of his victory, so that if he lost, he could just shake his head and laugh while saying "It seems I simply got unlucky."
Garett infused the gem into the armor, and it glowed before a message flashed before him.
[Enchantment successful. Lvl 5 Enchantment]
On analysis for the steel thread armor, this is what it said:
[Steel Thread Armor]
[Negates 400 Damage, and reduces remaining damage by 70%]
[Enchantment 1/3, Increases health by 75%(Lvl 5 Enchantment)]
Garett smiled as he felt his own vitality increase slightly when the enchantment occurred.
'We are strong... we have abilities that boggle the mind, and that allow us to do just about anything... manipulating memories.... raising the dead.... reading minds.... controlling minds.... changing the very properties of substances... speed of light travel... absolute magical dominance... but it is not enough. It is not enough to guarantee that we won't ever be killed. We have made many allies, but also many enemies. The path we chose is one where many will hate us, and perhaps they are right in doing so...'
Garett clenched his fist.
'But even so, I don't want to give this new life up. I want to see just how far I can take this gamble. I want to keep on pressing my luck, until the inevitable moment where I lose everything.'
----
When the fleet had reached a point where they were around 20 minutes away from the harbor of the fishmen village, Trevor stood up.
With a beckoning motion of the hand, Trevor called his companions forward.
"Let's go."
The others stood up, and Trevor converted the four into beams of energy, allowing them to travel at the speed of light. They left through the window, and sped ahead to the fishmen village, which they arrived at in but a second.
The entire trip, and this segment included, Trevor had been meticulously mapping out the area and storing information in the database. Perhaps those birdmen would be able to analyze this data and put their time to better use, but Trevor didn't expect them to do anything that was actually productive. Even so, he hoped that they would learn from their mistakes and properly perform the roles they had been assigned.
The three arrived on the shore of a beach, where a few fishmen seemed to be pacing back and forth.
There were a number of huts around the area, but they were all workers huts, and none of them were residential.
The fishmen seemed to be working hard, as if there was nothing going on. Some were transporting goods, others focusing on their craft, and only a few guards seemed to be patrolling the beach.
Samantha waved her hand and undid her illusion spell, revealing their true forms to those around them.
Some nearby fishmen who seemed to be patrolling approached the four suspiciously.
"Oi! Who are you? What are you all doing here?", a buff man who had the head and tail of a seahorse exclaimed. He wore armor that was composed of coral, and held a trident in his hand. It seemed that this was the typical equipment for the people of this village.
Three guards approached the antiheroes. The seahorse, a jellyfishman, and a tuna fish.
Trevor pressed up his glasses and spoke.
"Was our arrival not announced? I suppose it wasn't officially. Do you recall the Determined? She should have visited this village a few days ago. We are here on her behalf, to offer another chance at salvation for your village. The Determined is excessively merciful, almost angelic if you ask me. She doesn't want your entire village to perish at the hands of one fool, and so we have come to speak to said fool."
"Do- do you mean you are representatives of that demonic vampire princess!?!", the Jellyfish stated in shock.
'Demonic vampire princess? What on earth could they be talking about?', Trevor wondered.
The tuna fishman then spoke.
"Our leader has forbidden any interactions with the subordinates of that woman... he has declared her as an entity of evil, who will only serve to corrupt our village. I don't know where you came from, however I will ask you four to leave this village. If not, we will have to fight you."
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Ashley let out a 'Pfft! Subordinates!', and couldn't control herself from laughing.
Trevor seemed to be dragging his hand down his face, as he sighed disappointingly.
When his hand came off his face, he had a completely serious and businesslike expression.
"You will allow us to speak with your leader, or we will allow this entire village to be destroyed without a second thought to it. Which will you choose?"
Trevor now applied the pressure of a businessman to the three guards,
'Those eyes... why do I feel like they are piercing into my soul...'
'What is this... why do I feel compelled to listen to him...'
'I feel like if I reject him that there will be dire consequences...'
'This man is completely serious about the village being destroyed... but I can't just disobey an order from the chief! I have to say something! Say it! Tell him no! Why won't the words come out!?! Why can't I speak?! Is this... is this fear? Fear of the consequences? Fear of this man? Fear of telling him no?!? I.... I've never met anyone like this before.... and who are those demons beside him? We don't have the strength to say no to demons! What was Kota thinking, going against that woman!?! Did he really think that we would be able to simply tell demons like this 'no', and we would be able to somehow figure things out from there?!? Even making it away with our lives would be considered a victory!!!'
The three seemed to be struggling in their own thoughts on what to do, and Samantha smirked as she walked right past them.
"There is no need to pay any more attention to these three. They won't stop us anymore."
The antiheroes simply strolled past the defeated fishmen, and entered into the town, where many fishmen had stopped what they were doing to stare.
'Who are those demons.... first that vampire princess, and now this group!? What is happening!?!'
'Is this because Chief Kota sent that woman away on a bad note? Has she sent a retaliation force?'
'Don't make eye contact with them... this has nothing to do with me... this is something that our chief will deal with... it doesn't matter if demons are walking right through the town! The chief will certainly find a way to deal with them!'
'He said it himself! He would stand up even against a demon for our sake!'
'If they are looking for Kota, then he will teach them a lesson for coming into our village and acting so arrogant like this!'
Samantha rolled her eyes at the thoughts of the commoners she passed.
They certainly seemed to have a lot of trust in their leader.
'Will their leader come to their senses and beg us for our assistance, or will he remain a fool to the end, pretending like he can do anything with enough willpower and guts?'
----
On reaching the underwater cave, and after passing many guards who seemed too submissive to take a stand against the demons in their midst, Trevor turned to his comrades.
"It is likely that the leader of the fishmen will insult us. It is even more likely that he will reject our generous offer. However, I ask you- Ally- you in particular- to remain calm, and not pull anything while we are in there."
"Ehh... why?"
"These fishmen don't seem to be aware of our power yet. While they have some suspicions, and are easily manipulated, they do not fear us as much as they would if they had seen our power. I want to keep things that way.... for now."
"Why?"
"Simple. I want to see their true colors when they believe they have a chance. If we go around dominating them, then they will submit easily and without any issue, but will that be their true answer? Of course not. I do not wish to forcefully obtain subjects who will harbor hatred towards us. I wish to acquire subjects who will never even consider the thought of betrayal, whether it be through absolute loyalty such as Coran and Berith, or through absolute dominance leading to complete resignation such as those birdmen... but you all saw well what dominance did for us. It merely created subordinates who are doing things out of fear, and while they are working hard... they are not productive. They are blinded by their own fear which leads them to make mistakes in the name of obeying us in order to quell any anger we have, whereas Coran and Berith succeed out of a high motivation caused by their respect for us. For now, we need to try to establish ourselves as reasonable. We will edit this tone depending on how this meeting goes."
"Alright..."
Ashley nodded and the four entered the underwater cave.
Ashley released her magical aura within a certain radius so that the water was pushed back from them, as if they were traversing in a bubble.
The group submerged into the water, and traveled towards the inner city of the fishmen, however before they reached the end of the underwater tunnel, a sharkman who was inside the underwater cave swam up to them.
Trevor could sense the vibrations of the water and the words he was saying based on the movements of his mouth, and Ashley could sense it by amplifying her mana in the area to hear the sounds. Samantha could hear the thoughts of the shark, which matched his words, and Garett allowed a spider microphone to enter the water so he could hear as well.
"Excuse me! Are you all.... could it be that you are the antiheroes?!?"
The shark man had two scars with stitches across his chest, and they seemed to be from a recent wound. He spoke with urgency and had a glint of hope in his eyes, despite the fact that he was staring at demons.
"What is that to you?", Ashley stated in a beaming voice that traveled across the water so that the fishman could hear her.
"I am Ploritan, the former chief of the fishmen village. I met with the Determined before, and she told me that she would speak to you all regarding an unofficial pact with me. I understand that it is shameful for one who is not the leader of the village... and particularly someone in my current state to be asking such things... however the current leader is a fool! If you do not help us, then our village is doomed because of him!"
"Oh, trust me. We know that he's a fool.", Ashley said condescendingly. "Which is why were going to see just how much of a fool he is. Is he just a typical idiot, or is he a one in a million idiot who will ignore every sense of reason, and shred away any logical decision for the sake of his own delusions?"
"Then, you are going to meet with him?"
"That sums it up."
"I see... is that how it is. Antiheroes... I beg of you.... if Kota offends you, please do not take it out on the entire fishmen village... most of our people are kindhearted, and only a few support Kota and his foolish ideals. Whatever happens... will you at least do me the courtesy to spare the good people from the attacks of the Empire?"
"And why should we do that? Is there any benefit to us? We can simply eliminate both sides if they pose an issue to us.", Trevor said. Ashley relayed this message to Ploritan.
Ploritan looked defeated, and was at a complete loss.
"Ah... so you all won't do it simply to help us... well, I suppose that much is obvious. You all are not heroes or saints, after all... helping others for nothing in return isn't something so easily done, after all. forgive me for asking you such an unreasonable request."
"Exactly so. We are not heroes. We will only help others if we see benefit in doing so. Now then.... we are quite busy, so if you will excuse us...", Trevor said while turning away from Ploritan. Samantha portrayed the words to him, as she recently found out through experimentation that a hidden effect of the mind reading ability was an active skill where she was able to speak into the minds of the other people- essentially, she was able to allow others to temporarily read her own mind. This didn't just go for herself though. She could portray any message from one person to another, as she did for Trevor just now.
Ploritan bowed in reverence and returned to his small sector which he had been surviving in.
The antiheroes continued to swim through the underwater tunnel, until they reached the exit, where they floated out.
The bubble which they were inside of slowly emerged from the water, ceasing to exist as the antiheroes floated up and appeared as if they were walking on the water itself.
'Eh? Is there something going on with the water at the entrance? It seems odd...', one of the fishman stationed as a guard thought as he watched the top of the bubble come into contact with the water's surface.
'EH!?! Are those... people!?! No! Demons, a spirit, and an elf!?! What on earth...'
The man stood at arms, and his partner as well took up his weapon.
"Who are you!?", he shouted.
However, this didn't last long.
"We are the antiheroes, and we are here to speak with your leader. If you don't let us through, we are going to have trouble.", Trevor stated while walking towards the gate. The two placed their tridents to the gate, blocking him from continuing.
"We cannot let you through!"
"Oh, really? Are you so sure about that?"
Trevor continued walking, with his comrades behind him, and the two fishmen's faces filled with anger.
"Don't underestimate us!"
They both stabbed their tridents at Trevor, however when they did so...
The group disappeared from sight, as if they were nothing more than air to begin with.
"Looking for someone?"
Trevor and the group of antiheroes were now inside the gate, which had been closed the entire time. Not once had it been opened, and yet unbelievably, the four stood now on the other side of it.
Trevor had converted his group into light waves, and traveled through the opening in the matter of an instant.
"How did you!?"
"Open the gate! After them!"
One guard grabbed the lever which could be used to open the gate and turned it, while the other ran inside after the antiheroes who seemed to be leisurely walking forward with their backs turned to the guards.
"I won't allow you to disrespect the fishmen like this!", he shouted, while rushing towards Trevor.
He thrusted his spear at the elf, however Trevor dodged with little effort after confirming that the trident's trajectory was not in the path of his comrades. His tie fluttered in the wind, and the bandages of the armor he wore underneath his suit seemed to gracefully float about, as if testifying to the graceful movements Trevor showed.
"I'll take you two to Kota himself as prisoners!"
"Oh! That doesn't sound like a bad idea!", Samantha said. "What do you all think?"
Garett smiled devilishly, and Trevor put a hand to his chin, while continuously dodging the thrusts of the fishman, who was furiously stabbing at him.
"Hm... an interesting idea for sure. What do you think, Ally?"
"Hehehe... my intuition says its a good idea.."
After dancing around the thrusts of the fishman for a few more jabs, the other fishman came rushing in the gate as well.
The two fishmen lined up on either side of Trevor, ignoring the other three, and started attacking him.
One aimed for the face, and the other for the legs. Trevor continued to consider the possibilities, almost ignoring completely the two fishmen who were attacking him, as he crouched to avoid the blow to his face, and kicked his legs up to dodge the swipe at his feet, simultaneously.
It looked as if he was performing a Russian dance, while lost in thought.
The fishman who had swiped at his legs was unable to quickly retrieve his trident, as it was a large sweeping motion, however the one who aimed at his face once more took aim, this time near Trevor's stomach.
Trevor grabbed the trident by the base with both hands before it was able to hit his stomach, and the other man had now regained his balance.
"You idiot! Grabbing my partner's weapon has only locked you in place with both hands caught up!"
The fishman brought his trident up in order to thrust it down on Trevor, who was crouching with the other trident in his hands.
However, as he did this, Trevor let go of the trident with one of his hands, keeping it firm in the other, and kicked back from the crouched position. As he did this, he pulled the trident in his right hand, causing the fishmen wielding this one to fall to the ground, and the other one stabbed into the earth where Trevor was previously sitting.
In this motion, Trevor did a back flip, and kicked the face of the fishman who now had his trident stuck in the ground. bringing him all the way down with the pure strength of his foot.
The fishman slammed into the ground, lying next to the other, and Trevor let go of the trident to flip once more back onto his feet.
"Ugh!"
"Oof!"
Trevor then put his hands up.
"Alright. We surrender. However, only under the condition that you present us to your chief, as criminals of course."
The two men looked up from the ground- one with a shoe-print on his face, and the other who could barely breathe from the impact of being thrown to the ground. He had lost his wind as a result of the violent throw.
The four in front of them were all holding their hands up, as if they were submitting, but they all held the smiles of an easy victory on their faces.
'They... they're mocking us... instead of simply defeating us, they want to drag this out further... they want to pretend like we've defeated them, however just look at us! We're the ones all beat up, and they don't have a scratch on them! We couldn't even take on one, much less all four!'
The fishman who had lost his wind caught it again, and stood up, breathing raggedly.
"Sigh... puff... alright... whatever you say..."
He took out a few pairs of handcuffs made from shells, and looked to the four.
"Will you all put these on?"
'Will they even do anything to stop these monsters?'
Trevor held out his hands, and the other three did so as well. A bystander might think that the four had been locked up as criminals, however if one were to look at their expressions, one might not be so sure.
The demonic expressions on the faces of these monsters almost shouted out as they watched the cuffs being put on them.
'These little things couldn't ever hold our power at bay. At any time, we could break free and go berserk.'