Chapter 171

  In the Belly of the Beast

  Now that Erin and her companions had all put on their proper equipment, they were ready to move towards their target, Golorath. Due to the panic that the Overlord’s feast was causing, a lot of the people in the palace were too busy just running around in a panic to notice a group of intruders. This gave Erin and the others cover in their activities, as the people around them were so high-strung that causing a very simple distraction was often more than enough to pull their attention in the right direction, allowing the assassins to move past.

  However, while they were working with such an advantage, this didn’t mean that their job was easy at all. Far from it, as the palace was crawling with guards and other staff, and had a lot of security measures installed that made the infiltration an absolute nightmare. Luckily, Arkay could often disable any electronics that got in their way, with Lexton and the others providing assistance when the cat boy’s technomancer abilities weren’t enough.

  The most troubling fact that they had to contend with was that so far they had been dealing with just the regular guards. There were still the elite guards that they hadn’t seen at all so far, as they were guarding the floors that were much closer to Golorath himself. This meant that the worst of their challenges was still ahead of them.

  “This feels like it’s going on forever!” Ryle complained as they ran down and empty corridor, while Arkay used his abilities to temporarily disable the security cameras. “How long is it going to take until we get to the big boss himself!?”

  “You gotta stay calm, Ryle,” Erin said. “We are getting through this place at a fast pace, but it’s still a very large palace. It will take some time until we reach the top. Remember that patience-”

  “Yeah, yeah! Patience is a virtue!” the blonde said angrily. “I’ve heard that crap more times than I can count, so I don’t need to hear it yet again!”

  “That’s not a high number, is it?” Lexton asked sarcastically, earning chuckles from some of the others.

  “SHUT UP!” Ryle shouted angrily at the kobold, before turning her attention back to Erin. “Anyways, I get that it’s a big, but can’t we just take a damn elevator!? It would make this job a lot more tolerable!”

  “If we did that, we would be easily discovered,” the redhead explained. “We would have to do something about the camera in the elevator, which could alert the guards to come and check things out. Not only that, but we would risk getting discovered by other people trying to use it.”

  “To make things worse, once they realized we were there, they could just stop the elevator and trap us, if not drop the damn thing altogether,” Durge added. “They could even set up guards at the exit to take us by surprise, so using it would just make us an easier target. It’s much safer for us to move around like this. It might be slower, but the risks are smaller.”

  “Well, isn’t that nice… What about the risk of us dying from exhaustion?” Ryle kept grumbling. “Isn’t that a valid concern?”

  “Oh, quit whining already!” Erin said angrily, having grown sick of her friend’s complaining. “If you didn’t sit around playing video games so much, then maybe you-!”

  The redhead cut herself off all of a sudden and came to stop, bringing the whole group to a halt. She stood still and seemed to be looking around for something.

  “Erin?” Arkay called out. “Is something wrong?”

  “More than just wrong, kid,” Zeldana said. “We got company.”

  The group quickly hid inside one of the nearby rooms, where they were lucky that there was no one else in already. They kept the door slightly ajar in order to see what was happening on the other side. It didn’t take long until they heard steadily approaching footsteps, which was followed by the sounds of people talking to one another.

  “Is this the place they needed us to check?” one of the two guards asked. “It doesn’t look like anything is wrong around here. Maybe it was a false alarm.”

  “I’d hope so, because I sure as hell don’t want to risk ruining the boss’ big meal today. The last guy who did that apparently ended up as a side dish,” another guy replied with a shudder, thinking about the rumor he had heard. “However, the cameras were having issues around here, so we need to make sure it isn’t anything out of the ordinary.”

  “I still think that whole thing about Lord Golorath is nothing more than a big fat lie. I mean, the guy is cruel for sure, but eating people? That just doesn’t make sense, considering how he has gourmet food prepared for himself on a daily basis,” the first guard said as he went to inspect the security cameras. “The cameras seem to be okay, though. Maybe there was some sort of problem with the system itself?”

  “They already checked and it was fine. Something had to happen with the cameras themselves in order for anything to go wrong,” the second guard said. “Whatever that is, we better find it quick or else we might find our asses in big trouble.”

  As the guards were inspecting the area, Erin and her friends realized that it wouldn’t take long for them to come around to their hiding place and find them out. The room they were hiding in seemed to be a plain office and didn’t provide enough places for all of them to properly hide.

  “Shit! This isn’t good!” Erin whispered. “We are probably going to need to do something about those two!”

  “I’ve got an idea!” Zeldana whispered excitedly. “Let’s dress up Durge as a woman again and send him out there! While those two are busy asking him out, we’ll come from the behind and take them out!”

  “Oh, for the love of… That wouldn’t-” the redhead started, only to see the orc preparing to undress himself with a depressed look on his face. “And what the hell are YOU doing!?”

  “I mean, I though that was the plan, so I was just-” Durge started to explain.

  “We are not going through with it! Are you crazy!?” Erin said. “Seriously, how many people were asking you out while you were disguised!? It couldn’t have been that many!”

  “You don’t want to know,” the orc said in a sad tone.

  “...Okay, I’m just going to ignore that for my own sake,” the redhead said awkwardly. “But we still need to figure out a way to avoid those guards and quick! If nothing else, we’ll just have to-”

  “I have an idea!” Arkay suddenly said, getting the attention of the others. “Everybody gather around me!”

  While Erin and her companions were having their conversation, the two guards had finally come over to the room they were hiding in. Immediately, they noticed that something was wrong.

  “Hey… The door isn’t closed,” one of the guards pointed. “Do you think it could mean…?”

  “Only one way to find out,” the other guard said as he took out his gun. “Let’s check it out.”

  With their guns at the ready, the two guards walked up to the door. They then quickly kicked it open and pointed their weapons, ready to shoot any intruders that they might see.

  However, instead of spies or any other infiltrators, all they saw was an empty office.

  “...Guess someone just forgot to close the door after they left,” one of the guards said as he put away his gun. “Let’s get going. No need to waste time around here.”

  Almost as soon as the door closed and the sound of footsteps moving away could be heard, Erin and her friends appeared all of a sudden out of thin air.

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  “That was quite the trick you just pulled, Arnie. Good work,” Erin praised the cat boy with a smile. “When did you learn to do that?”

  “I’ve been practicing my invisibility spell in order to increase the range, so that I could turn others invisible as well,” Arkay explained. “However, the problem is that the spell only really works by creating an area around the one casting it, so all I could do was increase the range of that area. It’s not practical for most situations, but it should be enough for times like these.”

  “So that’s why we had to bundle up tightly, like we were getting ready for a group hug,” Lexton said. “While not the most comfortable thing in the world, I can’t deny that it was useful. It certainly saved our asses right now. Even if I had to cling to a certain someone…”

  “Yeah, I didn’t exactly enjoy having you sticking to my leg either, Lex! Don’t act like you’re the only victim here!” Ryle said angrily, before looking at Arkay with a smile. “Although, some people I’m more than happy to get close and personal with…”

  “Okay, enough of that. We need to focus on the job at hand, got it?” Erin quickly said as she gently pushed the blonde away from Arkay. “Think we can use this invisibility spell to move around unnoticed? It would make things easier.”

  “I-It could work in theory, but I don’t think we should do that,” the cat boy replied. “Like I said, we would need to stick close to each other in order for it to be effective, so we would either have to move very slowly or somehow find a way to move at the exact same pace. That’s why I didn’t bring it up until now, because it was easier for us to move along while I just disabled the cameras with my technomancer skills.”

  “Guess we’ve got no other choice then… Well, it can’t be helped,” the redhead said with a shrug. “Things have worked out just fine so far, so I doubt they’ll get worse from here on anyways.”

  The group continued towards the uppermost floor, where Golorath was, by having Arkay and Lexton disable the security cameras and locks that got in their way. Despite the numerous obstacles, they were making their way upwards at a good pace, until they got into one of the uppermost floors, which was just crawling with guards.

  “Holy… That’s a lot of people,” Zeldana said with wide eyes. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not feeling too confident about taking on so many at the same time.”

  “I don’t think anybody here feels like that,” Erin said. “But how are we supposed to get through this? I don’t see any way for us to simply sneak past them all.”

  “...I can distract them,” Durge suddenly suggested as he prepared his weapon. “I’ll go at them with everything I’ve got and even use my berserker state. I should be able to take down plenty of them and draw all the attention to myself, before I go down.”

  “You mean a suicide attack!? Absolutely not!” the redhead said as she stood in front of the orc, preventing him from going. “I am not about to let any of you go and just throw your lives away like that, okay!? We are doing this together or not at all!”

  “What other choice do we have?” Durge asked. “We need to get through this, but we can’t have all of us fight those guys. Not only would we all get overwhelmed, but we still need at least some of us to go after Golorath. There’s no other option other than someone being a distraction and the best one for that is me.”

  “Still… I don’t-” Erin tried to argue, but couldn’t find anything to refute the points the orc was making. The truth was that they needed something to get through the blockade of guards before them and the only thing they had was themselves.

  Just as it was starting to look like they would have to send out one of their own as a sacrifice, something happened that answered their prayers.

  A large explosion could be heard from the outside of the palace that shook the entire structure. Right away the guards began to rush towards where the sound came from, leaving only a very small amount to guard the area.

  “...Okay, what the hell was that?” Ryle asked with wide eyes. “I know we were all hoping for something, but that seemed way too convenient.”

  “It’s probably the rebels,” Lexton replied calmly, acting like he hadn’t been disturbed by anything that had happened just now. “Remember that we learned how they were planning an attack around the same time we would be moving in to take down Golorath? I’m sure Rayleen included them in her overall plans, as they are right now providing us a nice distraction that will keep the guards occupied for the time being.”

  “Do you think they can win?” Arkay asked. “If they manage to break through the guards, they might be able to help us defeat Golorath himself.”

  “I wouldn’t get my hopes up about those guys. I doubt they’ll last all that long,” the kobold answered. “Even if they are very motivated to the point they’ll die for their cause, they are essentially a bunch of whipped dogs that are poorly fed and have barely any weaponry. My guess is that the whole conflict that’s going outside will only last a couple of hours at best.”

  “Then we better make the best of those hours,” Erin said as she grabbed her sword. “Let’s get rid of these guys and move towards Golorath himself.”

  As the redhead’s group got ready for a fight, she couldn’t help but think about the warlord that had set this all up. Last they had heard, she had left the city with her troops with the official reason being that there was a rebel group spotted nearby that they were going to handle. However, they knew the truth of her actions and that Rayleen was actually heading towards Dungard, the other remaining warlord.

  They could only hope that the blue-haired demon’s battle against her fellow warlord was going well. Otherwise, they would be in far more trouble than they could ever handle.

  Meanwhile, in a place not too far from High Rock Peak, warlord Dungard was overseeing a large mining operation. Despite his protests over having received such an assignment, claiming that he was much better fitting for an actual battlefield instead of overseeing such a task, the warlord had been told to simply do as he was told or face the consequences for disobedience. Upon hearing that, Dungard had swallowed his complaints and did as he was told, no matter how much he hated it.

  As a massive troll, Dungard had built a physique that was certainly fit for warfare and violence. When in the heat of battle, he would get so excited from the sheer thrill of spilling blood that he would even become a threat to his own subordinates and allies. Under normal circumstances, such a creature would have faced a swift execution for his actions, but Golorath saw more use in keeping such a powerful warrior alive and use it against his enemies. Dungard was an engine of destruction on the level of a natural disaster, so there were plenty of opportunities to utilize such a being in conquering the world.

  However, now that all the lands had been conquered and most of the rebellious factions were either destroyed or powerless, there was no actual need for such a being anymore. Unlike his fellow warlords, Rayleen and Gotzmeyer, Dungard didn’t possess any organizational skills that allowed him to do more than simply unleash violence upon his enemies. Because of this, he had been handed the task of overseeing the massive mining operation that Golorath had suddenly announced. The warlord wasn’t there because he had knowledge and skills suited for the job, but because his presence would scare away those who might want to stop what was happening there.

  Even though Dungard fully understood why he had been given such a task and was receiving a handsome paycheck for it, he saw it as nothing more than torment. He was a warrior through and through, and doing such a task was beneath him. He yearned for battle, to raise his ax and go to war against whoever was foolish enough to challenge him. At this point, he didn’t care who it was, as long as it released him from the boredom that was agonizing him.

  Little did the warlord know that he would soon see his wish fulfilled.

  When Dungard received word that his fellow warlord Rayleen was approaching his base with her personal troops, the troll had immediately gotten curious as to what it could be. Not only had he not been informed that Rayleen was going to visit him, but the fact that she had her troops with her also raised questions. Dungard couldn’t help but grin, as he suspected that something which might finally break the agonizing boredom he had been stuck with had possibly arrived.

  Grabbing his ax, the warlord went to meet his colleague, hoping that his hunch was correct. He soon found himself sitting at a table across from Rayleen with their closest aides next to them.

  “So… Little traitor Ray. What brings you here?” Dungard asked, referring to how the other warlord had betrayed High Rock Peak back in the day. “I’m afraid that there are no friendly backs here for you to stab. Only miners doing their work with me overlooking them.”

  The troll had hoped that mentioning Rayleen’s past, which was a sensitive subject to her, might push her over the edge and go for the attack. However, while her two aides, Izra and Wargas, were obviously offended by the slander directed at their master, Rayleen herself didn’t seem too bothered by it. In fact, she was simply grinning as she calmly sat at the table.

  “Dungie, dear, no need to be go for such low blows right away!” Rayleen said with a smile. “After all, we are both fellow colleagues and friends, aren’t we? Why should we be at each other’s throats like that? Let’s talk like civilized beings for once!”

  “Hmph! I’ve never thought of you in such a manner and you know it! You and that worthless imp, Gotzmeyer, only get to do the more fun work, because you’re supposed to be smarter than me!” Dungar said, no longer even trying to hide the disgust and hate he felt towards his fellow warlord. “What could be more important to being a warlord than strength!? I’m the one who has crushed most of the enemies that challenged Lord Golorath! Not you! Not Gotzmeyer! ME! It should have been one of you two looking over this dump and not me! And now you try to act like you’re all buddy buddy with me!? Don’t make me throw up!”

  The grin on Rayleen’s face only got wider, despite the accusations thrown at her way.

  “It’s honestly a shame you feel that way, but I can surprisingly relate to that,” the demon said. “I’ve always been curious as to what you were digging up here. It must be important, seeing as how you of all people got sent here. Tell me something. Do you have any idea what is it exactly that you’re trying to dig up here? I’m sure you can tell a fellow warlord that much.”

  “Bah! I was only told to have the people here dig until they actually found something! I was never told what it actually was that we needed to find!” Dungard said angrily. “However, even if I knew what it was, I would never tell you about it!”

  “Oh my… You hurt my feelings,” Rayleen said in a mock hurt tone. “Why must you have such animosity towards me? Do you really hate me that much just because I’m smarter than you?”

  “You goddamn right I do! You’re just like that damn Gotzmeyer, only able to cling to your position because you have a few tricks up your sleeve! In actual combat, you’re both nothing but weaklings, aren’t you!?” the troll said in an accusing tone. “Besides, it’s not like you feel all that better towards me, do you? Why else would you come here with your troops? How about we quit this useless yapping and get down to what we really want to do?”

  Dungard stood up and held his massive ax at the ready. Both his and Rayleen’s aides got ready for a fight, but the demon herself sat still, not bothered by what was happening at all. Instead, she simply let out a sigh and shook her head.

  “Seriously, Dungie? You couldn’t even bother to try and keep up the pleasantries just a bit longer?” Rayleen asked sarcastically. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised… You were always nothing more than a brute looking for a fight. And to think I was actually considering offering you a job…”

  The demon warlord raised her hand and snapped her fingers. All of a sudden, explosions could be heard booming from outside the room the two warlords were in. While Dungard and his people were taken by surprise, Rayleen and her people had been expecting the wave of destruction that was currently being unleashed outside.

  “You… What the hell did you do!?” Dungard asked while pointing his weapon at Rayleen in accusatory manner. “I made sure that my troops kept yours out of here! You and those two should be the only ones here that don’t answer to me!”

  “Dungie… Isn’t it obvious what I did? You yourself said that I wasn’t one for combat and only had a few tricks up my sleeve,” the demon warlord explained with a grin on her face. “This is just me using those tricks to their full potential, such as having my people contact some of your… less than satisfied employees. You should really learn proper management skills, because there were a lot of unhappy people working for you. It didn’t take much to convince them to switch sides. What you’re hearing now are those same people now doing MY bidding.”

  At this point, Dungard was starting to sweat nervously. He could tell by the sounds outside that those who were still loyal to him were starting to lose. The troll warlord might have been strong, but even he had his limits.

  “So to put it short, I’ve just demonstrated my skills at managing people and making actual strategies to catch my enemies off-guard. Both of which are things you fail to grasp, since all you can think of is hitting whatever is in front of you as hard as you can,” Rayleen explained in a smug tone, enjoying how she had completely humiliated her opponent. “Am I missing something? Oh, that’s right! I almost forgot the most important thing!”

  The demon warlord stood up from her seat with an intimidating aura now surrounding her. Dungard and his aides were taken aback by the sheer power the could feel from it.

  “Just because you have the most kills doesn’t mean you’re necessarily the strongest. All you did was pick battles that you knew you’d win, which is known not by just me, but by Golorath and even Gotzmeyer,” Rayleen said as she glared at the other warlord. “I’m going to show you that there’s nothing great about only crushing those who are weaker than you.”