Rupegia

Chapter 44: Extermination – Part 1

"So… I can see Aoi's 'Soul Info' with my [Sense Soul]," I say.

While everyone else looks impressed, Ciel's face just looks blank. "Wolfy, give me [Sense Soul]," she asks softly.

I obey and she spends a long time staring at Aoi. So long, that even Aoi gets uncomfortable.

"What the fuck," she finally says. "I had some idea that this was happening, but still… The skill system is the blessing from the God of Creation, so how did this happen?"

"She converted…?" Roxanne asks tentatively.

"She isn't listed in my 'Followers,'" I say.

"Then she better start praying," Alissa says.

"I will, be good, Gods!" Aoi says.

"Okay, so, in the battle against the Monster King, wouldn't such a thing tip the balance in our favor?" I ask.

"Yes, that's great!" Ciel exclaims, "With a way of turning monsters in our favor we can control them the way the Monster King does! Imagine if we converted a Leader-type!"

"But if we break the balance, won't the God of Destruction come back to try and take control?"

We all go silent, the implication is too heavy.

Ciel starts to say what we don't want to hear, "If you are here, sent by a 'God,' and Aoi is part of your Thread of Fate, then… a war of the Gods could be coming."

"We all knew something would happen," Lina says.

"Yeah, but it was very vague, and now that things are getting more real, the fear is starting to rise," I say.

"Together!" Aoi exclaims.

"Gih."

Heh, fine.

"Alright, enough pep-talk. There's no more room for hesitation and complaints, we can only look forward and fight-on," I say.

"Gih, gah gih!" Gify puffs his chest and nods with determination.

Alissa grabs our hands, and claws, and pulls us all together, "United, day and night," she starts and looks around, urging us to continue.

"In pain and pleasure," Hana adds.

"Success or failure," Roxanne continues.

"Life or death," Ciel goes on with a wide smile.

"Wherever we may be," Lina shyly contributes.

"We will, never aban-don, each other!" Aoi chirps.

I chuckle. "All for one, one for all," I complete.

We squeeze each others' hands and return to normal.

"That was incredibly corny," Ciel says and we chuckle lightly.

"Those are our vows to each other," Alissa says.

"Right, whenever we have to act on our own, remember our vows," I say.

Lina, Hana, and Aoi nod with determination while the others smile softly.

The little golems watch us with curiosity.

"Vows are, rules?" Ted asks.

"Somewhat. They are personal rules that we follow, but not literally. We follow the 'spirit' of the vow, the essence of it," Ciel answers.

"What is a, 'spirit' of, a vow?" Suzy asks.

"If I ask you to make my life 'better' and I get sad one day when someone dies, do you think that you failed the task I gave you?" I ask.

"Sadness is, part of, life," Ted says.

"Exactly. You need to understand the nuances and assumptions that come from a phrase like 'I want to live a happy life,' instead of taking it literally."

"How do we, learn that?" Suzy asks.

"It is called 'common sense,' it's something children learn by observing their parents all their lives," Ciel says.

"And some don't even fully learn it," Lina says and sends a quick glance to Roxanne.

Roxanne blinks blankly for a few moments, then it dawns on her. "Oi-!" She starts.

"We will teach you whenever we can," I interrupt. "You can always ask us questions when you feel confused about something."

The two golems nod in sync.

Then we do a little "bonding" before going to sleep. The golems were watching so intently that we decided to store them in Ciel's [Item Box].

Today is the 10th.

Hana wakes me up and recruits Aoi's help. Hana is learning how to do it in a gentler way so that I don't feel like I'm in the jaws of a monster when I wake up. That and Aoi's stimulating kiss are as good as coffee to help me wake up quickly.

But I really do miss coffee.

My [Summoning Magic] increased by 4 (now 18+22) and my [Blessing Magic] by 1 (now 8+22).

We calmly eat our breakfast with tea. We only leave our tent when everyone else is finishing gathering their belongings.

"Morning!" Klein comes to us and gives us a chipper greeting.

I see that neither Anton nor Laertes are nearby.

"Morning," I say and take her hand, then I kiss it the elven way while pushing my soul slightly out of my lips.

Klein breathes in and smiles shyly, "How high is your 'Charisma,' Wolf?" She asks.

"Not particularly high, you must have a crush on me or something," and I give her a wide smile.

She eyes us all warily, "You are all wolves trying to eat me up, aren't-chyall?"

Ciel and Lina look a little embarrassed; Aoi doesn't think she's being referred to so she just ignores it; and the rest simply nod and smile.

"Gih."

Klein smiles at his compliment.

"You are just really cute," Alissa says in a sultry tone.

"Predators," Klein laughs and walks away.

Nito hands us our horses and as we mount, Osaria comes to give us a greeting and talk to Roxanne. She stands a little closer than what Roxanne is comfortable with. The curvy milf wears an eye-catching white bikini and I catch Ciel staring at her ass with mixed feelings.

When we are all mounted and walking again, Hana approaches Roxanne, "When are you going to reject her?" Hana asks.

"Uh… well…" Roxanne's posture shrinks, she looks conflicted and guilty.

Hana pouts and looks at Roxanne with a little disappointment, "You are too indecisive; it was the same thing with Wolfy," she says and turns away.

Roxanne doesn't answer but her horns go soft in dejection.

Lina approaches Roxanne and pats her head like a mother would to console her child. "There, there," she tries to appease Roxanne.

Roxanne's horns regain their stiffness and she warily eyes Lina. "I feel like you're mocking me," Roxanne says.

Lina gives her an impish smile and smacks the rump of her horse, then she quickly canters away from Roxanne. For a moment, Roxanne's tail threateningly points at Lina.

Ciel makes sure the carriage is out of earshot and asks, "Why don't you reject her?"

"Well… I really do find her hot, it's just that the idea of having sex with her makes me feel 'dirty,'" Roxanne answers.

"Then reject her."

"But I find her really hot," she smiles wryly.

Ciel rolls her eyes, "Slut."

"We all played with Klein, we are all beyond saving," she smirks at Ciel.

"You always speak like we are doing something bad," Alissa interjects, a little miffed. "It's like you secretly dislike what we are doing but don't really want to speak out."

Roxanne's mouth hangs open, speechless, and Ciel looks away, feeling awkward.

"I enjoy the verbal abuse, I thought that's what she was doing," Hana says, frowning in confusion.

"Maybe a little of both?" Alissa shrugs.

"Embrace degeneracy," I say.

"I thought we already did?" Lina questions shyly and Hana shrugs.

"Gih."

"Even you?" Ciel looks at Gify questioningly.

We laugh softly and the conversation dies down, then Aoi perks up her head and innocently asks, "Am I a, degenerate?"

"I don't think so," I say and rub the thick skin beneath her scales. "Did you enjoy when Alissa's finger entered you?"

I feel her shrug through the [Bind], "Yes."

"If Aoi has, sex with, other women, she could be, considered, hedonistic," Suzy says.

"That would just be a sexual preference," Roxanne says.

"Not for a, monster," Ted says.

"Right, I believe the monsters were created for a single purpose. It wouldn't make sense for them to be homosexual since they can't have children that way," I say and Ted nods.

When it's something technical they seem to do OK in understanding my knowledge.

"But Aoi is intelligent, she can choose to have sex just for pleasure," Hana says.

"Hm…" Aoi murmurs and I feel our connection "wiggle" as she thinks deeply.

"Is there a difference between what you feel about Wolf and any of us?" Ciel asks.

"I want Wolfy, inside me, and I really like, the others," she answers.

"Well, we are almost there," Hana says and shrugs.

I lift an eyebrow at Hana. "Do you want to have sex with her?" I ask.

"Ei, 'Dragon Fucker' is an awesome title," and she gives me a fearsome smile.

I chuckle and shake my head.

Now that the caravan is moving properly, I go towards the commoners and give them [Swift Foot] again. They show us lots of appreciation and even Rande seems pleased.

For us, I cast [Wind Armor], [Sharp Blades], [Swift Foot], [Rainbow Shield], [Rainbow Crystal], and [Warrior's Respite].

I use [Redirect Mana] to recharge my MP and notice that the mana coming from the High Forest feels very "odd." It is quite "pure," but it also has an uncomfortable aftertaste.

With a fast march, we quickly approach the gigantic trees of the High Forest. The road splits, and one way turns east, towards the forest, while the other continues north, towards Glorampina. The traffic suddenly drops to zero; nobody is entering or leaving the forest.

Klein and Laertes climb on top of the carriage; up there they unfold thick, wooden chest-high walls that they will use as protection. Then, they pull out some comfy mattresses and lay down, though they still look very alert.

Anton walks along beside the carriage with his poleaxe in hand and awkwardly glances towards Aoi. He's wearing a light blue dragon scale armor that looks very similar to Aoi's scales.

"You look like you want to say something," I guide my horse closer to Anton and speak.

"Is she… okay with my armor?" He asks with a deeper frown than normal.

"My armor is also made of dragon scales, she doesn't care," I say.

"Good, good. Well, I don't think I could stomach seeing someone wear wereape skin as armor."

"Monsters are too different from us, many simply wouldn't even care."

The lights slowly dim as we enter the forest; only faint streaks of light get past the thick canopy of trees. Everyone casts [Spirit Lights] and the road becomes as clear as day due to the number of light sources. The air becomes more damp, causing Lina to show a little displeasure. The tang of moss grows strong, and once in a while I smell a faint citrus or flowery scent.

The grass becomes very thin, narrow, and delicate, almost hair-like. The earth turns soft and almost mushy, a few heavy steps on it are enough to dirty your feet with mud. A few elven children decide to drop down to the road and step out onto the grass. I notice that they don't get dirty, and some of them barely leave a mark on the grass thanks to the softness of their steps.

My Hollys spread out and we quickly find monsters lurking about. Walking dead animals and monsters reanimated by Corpse Stealers are the most common find. The small slime-like monster behaves more like a hive-mind: it's always either searching for more corpses, or attacking any nearby threats.

Not a very dangerous monster, except when they manage to gather into a large group, and there's one such group nearby.

"We have to deal with them," I say.

"Me, Lina, and Ciel will stay on the ground, you all stay on the horses in case we need to run," Hana says and we nod.

"I can, breathe fire!" Aoi chirps.

"Stay on Lina's shoulders," I say.

"Yay!" She glides towards Lina and crawls up onto her shoulder.

"You'd better not eat anything rotting or the Corpse Stealer itself, they will give you a tummy-ache," Lina says and strokes the scales under Aoi's chin.

"O-kaay!"

We warn Rande of the danger nearby.

"If you can't deal with them, aren't you going to attract them to us?" He asks while frowning.

"The 'feelers' are too close, it's a gamble whether they find us or not," I say.

He nods bitterly, "I'll trust you, we will set up near that tree and raise a few [Earth Wall]s."

We gallop north through the forest for a few minutes before we find the horde. Through Holly, I know that there's a hill nearby that we can use to our advantage. I dismiss all but one Holly and summon two earth, two nature, and two fire elementals. The earth elementals will create walls to funnel the Corpses into a narrow area between two huge trees. The nature elementals will slow down the monsters with their vines. The fire elementals are obvious, fire does more damage to slow-moving enemies than any other element.

Hana, Ciel, Lina, and Aoi will stay in the front, at the entrance of the funnel that the two earth elementals are creating. Behind them, the nature elementals will spread their vines, and behind the vine-yard are the rest of us with the horses and the two fire elementals. Through [Animal Tongue], I can keep the horses calm and make them follow me.

The "feeler" Corpse Stealers find us, and immediately the horde changes direction towards us. The "feelers" are Corpse Stealers that have faster and younger corpses, they stay in the outskirts of the horde and warn them of any incoming threat.

After a minute, we hear the growling from multiple types of monsters and animals. The Corpse Stealers move slowly to conserve their energy, but when a target is found, they burst forth with plenty of speed at the expense of the possessed corpse's integrity.

Once a critical mass of Corpses notice us, they all break into a sprint at the same time. Before we can even see them, we can hear the mixture of footsteps rushing towards us.

Alissa starts firing arrows, aiming for the chest, where the Corpse Stealer hides.

"We need flaming arrows," I say.

"Too late for that," Alissa answers and fires another.

"[Lava Jet]!" Roxanne casts the level 30 [Fire Magic] spell. Out of the tip of her staff, red-hot lava shoots off like a jet of water. It flies over the heads of the girls and creates streak after streak of blisteringly bright walking hazards.

The first line of Corpses walk over the lava without any concern, not even making a cry of pain when their feet melt and pieces of skin and flesh are left behind. They eventually start to tumble and get stuck in the lava as more parts of their bodies melt away and fall off.

Easy targets for the elementals to burn.

Two more [Lava Jets], and the entire side of the hill is lit up by Roxanne's spell. I even start to feel the heat coming off the molten rock.

The first few monsters crash against the girls and are easily dispatched.

The monsters that fell onto the lava form a bridge for the ones behind them, so the next wave has less of a problem moving past the lava hazards.

"[Firestorm]!"

Roxanne launches the spell in the middle of the new front line and the monsters behind it crash into each other, trying to stop. A pile of monsters forms as they desperately crawl away to escape the fire at any cost, a prime target for us.

"[Firestorm]!"

The new pile bursts into flame and only charred corpses are left after the spell ends. The smell of burnt meat fills our noses and makes me feel hungry, but also a little disgusted.

More monsters reach the girls.

"Become stronger! Become faster!" I command in [Godly Language].

They easily butcher the monsters while slowly walking backward.

I create a vine javelin with [Vine Weapon] and give myself 4 points in [Throw]. Whenever a particularly large monster appears, I throw a javelin at them. When I manage to hit their core they don't die, but they do become much slower.

Hana's and Lina's [Double Strike] are enough to kill most monsters in one attack. Lina crushes their chests with the first strike and the second comes to finish off the monster, while Hana can nearly bisect the monsters with her two strikes.

Ciel plays conservatively with her mana to save some for healing injuries.

Hana breathes out fire in a wide area and holds the monsters in place for a moment.

"[Firestorm]!"

And then they burn to death.

"You are now level 24."

Our carnage is silent, giving it an eerie feeling. This is because the monsters don't scream, they only use growls in a few specific situations.

The monsters start to get entangled in the vines, making them easier targets for the girls. Some even try to crash against the earth elementals, with little result; or they crawl up them, allowing the elementals to skewer the monsters with fast-growing spikes.

"Retreat!" I yell. Ciel, Lina, and Aoi break off from the line and return to the horses. Hana summons her wings and uses [Wind Shield] to hold the monsters off.

"Hana!" I call her once we are all mounted again, and with a last cleave, she flies towards us and lands on her horse. The animal neighs in protest. "I'm sorry, but you are strong enough to deal with it, right?" I talk to it with [Animal Tongue].

The horse scoffs and we all gallop north to try to lose the horde. The elementals will commit suicide when they get overwhelmed, and I think the fire ones will make quite a nice explosion.

We follow along the contour of the hill and then gallop back to the caravan. Rande had raised a wall and created a funnel very similar to ours. He and Anton wait at the front with most of the average soldiers.

Anton's poleaxe is dirtied with green slime. Pieces of the body of a Giant Centipede are being dragged away by the elven commoners.

"How was it? How many are still alive?" Rande asks once we stop our horses in front of him.

"Around fifty can still move," I say as I dismount. Nito guides the horses away towards the back.

"That's not a lot," Anton says, his permanent frown temporarily on hold.

"We are pretty good at butchering large numbers of small monsters," Hana says with a fearsome smile.

"I wouldn't call Corpse Stealers 'small,' but ok."

We reform the line with Hana in the middle, Rande and Anton flanking her, and the rest of us spread around the other men. While we wait, the girls and I use [Redirect Mana] to recharge. Aoi seems to be trying to copy us.

"Are you managing to redirect mana?" I ask Aoi through our connection.

"I think so, I only know something is happening, hehe!"

"Be careful, you don't have the System to protect you from hurting yourself."

"Not yet," and she mimics the sound of a kiss being blown.

I give her a playful tug on our connection and return to recharging my mana.

After I'm done, I summon the same elementals as last time, but this time I keep the nature elementals in front of us to slow the charge.

A few minutes later, the Corpses start trickling in, too spread out for area spells. But they are much less threatening now that there isn't a mob of them marching towards us.

Alissa, Hana, and Laertes manage to shoot at least one arrow at each of the Corpses before they can even reach our front line. Then the vines slow them down further, and now even the most inexperienced of the mages can manage to hit their marks.

I cut down the arm of a dead Gatun and a soldier pierces it in the chest. The monster retreats to try to save itself and I cast a [Wind Blade] directly at it. The spell opens its chest and I see a black goo twitch within it.

Another spear hits it right in the black goo and the dead Gatun goes limp. The black goo pools under its body and a rancid smell escapes from it.

Soon, the battle ends without another monster attacking me again.

Ciel goes to treat the few bruises and cuts among the average soldiers while I walk towards Rande. I see a man discreetly cut his own palm and then show it to Ciel so she can heal him.

"We will return to the site of the first battle and collect our Proofs of Extermination," I say.

"Sure, the Lord of Ostodos will reward you well for dealing with a horde. How many were there, anyway? I didn't imagine so few were coming after us," he creases his eyebrows in doubt.

"No idea, our area spells are really powerful," I say and smile smugly.

[Rainbow Crystal] is helping us a lot.

I gather the girls and we gallop back to the first site.

"So… you want us to gather the Proofs?" Roxanne asks, her tail completely stiff in wariness.

I summon 9 average goblins. Their small and dexterous hands are perfect for this task.

"Nah, I just used it as an excuse. Let's just wait and watch," I say.

The goblins work tirelessly and even the two little golems try to help with [Telekinesis]. The Corpse Stealers have small bones they use to help sustain their possessed corpse, so they are used as the Proof. You can use the black, rancid goo as Proof, but who in their right mind would?