4: Wolf Island.
Spider had officially become the new Overlord. He had a tower, minions and a land he ruled over. But this was just the start. He was out to conquer the entire North Blue. To do that he needed the rest of his minions, as well as a great many other things.
The Rifle and Shovel pirates had been imprisoned. In total there were 49 men and 10 women. The men were put into sea prism stone cells. Spider gave them the option of shortening their stay by either joining his forces or winning five times in the arena. After they talked it out amongst themselves, they chose the arena. After all, a force of 49 guys claiming 5 victories should be easy. The Overlord was even kind enough to let them recover from their injuries before making them fight. The women were given the option to either join the men or work in a strip club/ whore house. The only one who didn't chose the whore house was the female captain of the Rifle pirates, Corona.
Many of the locals were survivors of the buster call from ten years ago. After withstanding the force of the buster call, they managed to escape getting slaughtered by putting much of the blame for the death of the celestial dragon on the rich man who sold his ships at inflated prices during the crisis and locked up the unsold ships so no one could use them, and then putting the rest of the blame on Spider. His childhood battle against them was all the proof the marines needed. Luckily for him he never showed his face and all the marines had to go on was a name and a crude drawing. So he managed to get away with it despite getting a giant bounty and a wanted poster. He may have wanted revenge for their betrayal, but slaughtering the marines and conquering the island put him in a good mood. So many of their lives were spared, but the rest were all enslaved and brown minions occupied the towns.
The tower now held the Brown minion hive, the Spellstones, the Tower Heart, the finest smelter on the island, and some loot. It wasn't much but it was a start. By exploring the island, he found blood and mana runes, command upgrades, some treasure and two new spellstones. He could now use the Lightning Strike, which was a bolt of lightning fired from the gauntlet, and the Minion Frenzy, which could make his minions go wild and smash everything they could find.
He wanted to craft new weapons and armour, but without the red minions to power the forge it would take a very long time to make anything of decent quality. So finding the Reds was a must.
Veronica tried to become co-ruler of his kingdom as payment for making the tower, but when he threatened to stop having sex with her, she realised that she had no hold on him and he wouldn't tolerate her shenanigans. The best she could do was try to improve on what they had agreed upon, which was sex, treasure, and letting her fellow mamono move into his kingdom.
"Yukari, remind me what minion types there are."
"There used to be only four, but a previous Overlord created four more minion hives. There's the Browns, who are the warriors. Their strategy's to smash first, jump up and down on the carcass later. There's the Reds, who are the archers. They can throw balls of fire to attack their foes at a distance, and they can also be used to power the forge and stuff like that. Then there's the Greens, who are the assassins. They can clear away things that spew poison, and turn invisible so they can catch their foes by surprise. But they smell terrible. And finally there's the Blues. They're the healers. They can revive fallen minions, swim and attack with weak magic. But they're can only be used in combat against things like ghosts.
As for the newer groups, there's the Oranges, who are the shield minions. They're very tough and will defend you and the other minions, but they don't attack much. There's the Blacks, who can fly. They're a lot like birds of prey and can easily get to places that others can't. Then there's the Yellows, the lightning minions. They can power machines, absorb electricity, shoot bolts of lightning, and electrify things. And last but not least, the Purples. These physic minions can mess with the minds of others to cause all sorts of trouble. They're great for disrupting enemy forces and are also skilled at climbing and jumping."
"Think they're on any of these islands?"
"That one's volcanic, so the Reds would love it. This one's got a forest, mountains, cliffs, and I've heard rumours of people going crazy. So it might have the Blacks, the Purples, or maybe even the Greens if they couldn't find a jungle."
"I heard those rumours too. This island's closest, so we'll start there."
A short while later they were on their way. The ship he used was the same one he escaped on as a kid. It was of similar size to the Going Merry, but it was longer. He decided to keep it because it was one of the fastest ships he'd ever seen. But he immediately had it repainted and redecorated, turning it from an ultra girly ship to a nightmarishly creepy ship. They managed to land on that island in half the time it would've taken on a normal ship.
The place was called Blind Island. It was a place with vast amounts of resources and would've made a fine place to settle if it weren't for all the wolves, but no one who wanted to settle there could get enough people to join them. So they called it Blind Island because everyone turned a blind eye to an obviously great thing that was ripe for the taking. By the time enough people banded together to start colonising the island, another group had swooped in and took it for themselves. They lived there but they never did anything. The island could've been mined out and they would've gotten rich, but instead they chose to just live in peace, turning a blind eye to their own wealth.
The island didn't have a dock, but Spider did find a naturally formed spot that worked just as well. Once it was docked he headed straight into the nearby forest.
The island had plenty of animals, so he was quickly able to stock up on much needed life force. It didn't take long to find a pack of wolves, but rather than letting the minions ride them, they attacked. The Overlord slaughtered them all and put their life force to good use.
But the fact that his minions couldn't control the wolves didn't bode well. As far as he knew, the only time they couldn't control their mounts was when there's something else controlling them. And he couldn't use them until said something was destroyed. It was likely the wolves now had a powerful queen they followed. And if that was the case, he'd have to take her down. His minions could use those wolves.
After traveling a bit further, a portal popped up out of the ground, along with some minion gates. With it he'd be able to teleport back to his tower or summon more minions. And just by moving near it his mana was replenished and all damage was healed.
Moving along, he found something that really peeked his interest. There was a field loaded with rabbits. Rabbits far larger than normal. Big enough for each of them to have usable life force, and there were hundreds of them in that area alone. He'd be able to get an army of minions from this area alone.
His minions herded the rabbits into one spot they couldn't escape from. Then they slaughtered them all.
"What are you doing?! Cease this barbaric slaughter at once!"
Spider didn't think the whiny voice that suddenly appeared was worth acknowledging, so he completely ignored it and continued without stopping.
"Brothers! Come! We must stop him at once!"
It wasn't until they started charging at him that he even bothered to turn his head. It was a small group of elven males, dressed like hippies and carrying wooden sticks. They pranced in to attack, and were all promptly cut down. The rabbits had not only lasted longer than them, but also provided more of a challenge. He didn't even use his minions.
"That was pathetic."
Spider had always hated elven men. They lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years and did nothing with all that time. They never tried to learn anything, never tried to accomplish anything, never tried to improve themselves or their lives, they never even stayed in shape. All they ever did was hang out in forests, singing and dancing, and whine like babies whenever something they didn't like happened. You'd think that after living for thousands of years, they'd grow up. But no, they're like that permanently. And if that wasn't enough, elves had always been an extremely racist race.
The elven women on the other hand, were usually almost as lame, but they had a few redeeming qualities. They were usually beautiful with fine bodies, they often learned how to use a bow and arrow, some of them even learned how to fight and weren't the whiny cry-babies the rest were. That said, the number of them that have a sufficient amount of redeeming qualities were few and far between, and they were always hated by their extremely racist villages. Normally the best thing about elves was their value on the slave market.
The Overlord pressed on and explored the island. He questioned the other elves he came across, but they claimed there weren't any minions on the island. That said, they clearly just wanted to get rid of him and would've said anything to make him leave. And even if there weren't any in the forest, the island still had mountains and cliffs. And even if his minions weren't there, the island was a goldmine of resources and it seemed foolish to give it up.
Venturing towards the mountain, he entered the darkest part of the forest. Here he felt more at home, even though the number of attacking wolves had dramatically increased. While fighting several of them off, he unleashed his skull fireballs to blow them up and set them ablaze. The flaming wolves panicked and ran wild, setting everything on fire. Spider was forced to take his minions and flee into a nearby cave.
The cave was deep and huge with a high roof. As they continued inward, they saw signs that this was a wolf den. When they went in deeper they found a cavern big enough to put a large house in. In it were objects he wanted, but they were guarded by a pack of wolves. Among those wolves was a giant wolf, who while standing on all fours was at least as tall as the Overlord.
"That must be the queen," said Spider.
"You shouldn't have come here. And you really shouldn't have destroyed my wolves!" the wolf queen growled.
"Wolfy talks?"
"Destroy him!"
The battle began. The queen unleashed a small pack of wolves that were guarding her against the Overlord and his minions. But the conqueror's haki made short work of them. Once they fell she charged in and attacked. Spider dealt serious damage to her with attacks that could've easily killed monsters twenty times her size, then she retreated to higher ground and called more wolves.
While they handled those wolves, the queen paced, looking for a chance to strike. Whenever she saw one she took it. She'd jump in, attack the minions or the Overlord, then retreat to safety. He tried using his skull fireballs, but there was always a stalagmite or something in the way. And if he put too much power into them, the whole place could come down on him. During the fight he noticed the wolves had gathered many things. Including explosives.
He grabbed a barrel and threw it at the queen. It exploded and sent her flying. She landed stunned where the Overlord could easily get at her. He dealt her serious blows before she escaped and the process started again. Each time she summoned more wolves and fought more fiercely, but it wasn't enough to save her.
Her death should've been enough to gain control of the rest of the wolves, but they were still hostile. Luckily they stopped coming in.
He looted the cave, grabbing everything of value his minions could carry. Once he made his way out, a new portal appeared and he started sending everything back to the tower. His loot included a treasure-trove of valuable objects, a blood pillar, a mana pillar, some scrap metal, and his new hunting trophy; the wolf queen.
Meanwhile, Yukari had been ranting and raving because the device that let her see what he could see and communicate with him had long since been destroyed, so she couldn't talk to him and give him advice like she was supposed to. Making a new one was long overdue, but they needed the Reds for that. So while she could watch via his daughter, she could do nothing to help. It was infuriating. Seeing him fight the wolf queen without her help was almost too much to handle.
Once he finished looting the cave, Spider took a path up the mountain. A while later he spotted a house up there. It wasn't an elf's house, as those were always poorly made and either consisted of sticks and mud, or were carved into large trees while causing minimal damage to those trees. This one had brick walls and looked like a lighthouse. It seemed suspicious enough to check out.
As he got closer to it, the minions started acting crazier. Then he started to feel it. Something was messing with his mind. His helmet was able to block much of it and he was tough enough to shake off the rest and press on forward. But it got more intense the closer he got. His mind was slipping, but he was still able to realise that something in that house was causing this, and likely it was also responsible for the behaviour of the wolves. And that meant he needed to destroy it.
Once he got there he wasted no time breaking the door down. Then he was struck by a weapon that sent him flying back. He had blocked it with his axe, but the force behind it was impressive, and it caught him almost completely off guard. He rolled a couple times before landing on his feet and charging back in.
A woman stepped out. She had a helmet on that left her long brown hair visible behind her and she wore shorts with a bikini top that showed off her massive G-cup breasts and sexy, well toned body, and she carried what looked like a sword in an oversized sheath.
"You know, I don't like visitors coming here. Especially unannounced. I'm going to have to kill you now," she said with a smile.
The minions rushed towards their master he charged in. She swung her sword and unleashed a shining arc that headed straight for him. He swung his axe and deflected her strike, then her weapon was in full view. It consisted of a series of blades bolted together to form a long, deadly chain.
When Erza and Yukari saw that they couldn't help but comment.
"Isn't that sword from Inuyasha?"
"Yeah, that's the one used by that Band of Seven guy."
"I've never been able to figure out that guy's gender."
"Me neither. Cool weapon though."
The woman had been nimbly jumping around to keep her distance while delivering one strike after another. Spider was too slow to catch her, but he was able to deflect her sword each time. Using the minions proved useless as in their present state they couldn't figure out what to attack.
"This won't last forever. As soon as you started banging on my door, I called the wolves. They'll be here within moments, lead by their unstoppable queen!"
"I already killed the queen."
"Impossible!"
The minions had been used to block the path for when the wolves showed up, and the Overlord struggled to think of a way to defeat her. But with that thing messing with his mind, it was difficult to think at all. After he finally managed to get some thoughts into his head, he remembered that he had spells.
He used the lightning strike spell and scored a hit. It only took one to leave her on the ground, smoking and stunned. He walked over, picked her up and carried her to the cliff. She regained her senses in time to start screaming before she was thrown over.
With the effects getting worse, he stumbled his way to the house and looked inside. In the middle there was a large machine. He could tell that it was the cause of his mental suffering. So he started smashing it.
It took a lot of smashing to break that thing and clear his mind, but it worked. There was even an explosion that sent him skidding across the ground.
After that a portal popped up out of the ground. After exploring the house, he found plenty of treasure and the machine was powered by a spell stone. It was the Lightning Whip spell. A powerful weapon and a lucky find.
He was about to continue up the mountain when people started coming through the portal. It was Yukari along with the Spider pirates.
"Hey Spider. We thought we could help."
"Perfect. We can cover more ground and accomplish a lot more that way. Me and the minions will head down and take over the villages. You guys search the island and take whatever you can find. If you see signs of any new minions, let me know."
Then they were off. They slaughtered and enslaved one village after another until the only elves left free were the individuals that were cast out by their extremely racist villages.
With them under his control, he made them hand over everything of value. Then he put them to work, forcing them to start mining and gathering resources. Going from lazy, racist hippies to a hard working community was not a change they liked, but they didn't get a say in the matter.
Blind Island was now occupied by the Overlord's forces and he renamed it Wolf Island. The island was overflowing with animals to slaughter for food and life force, and the island itself was packed with valuable metals and crystals. If it wasn't for all the wolves, the entire island would've been completely mined out hundreds of years ago. But now it was all his and the elves would give him everything worth taking.
Searching the island, the pirates found plenty of useful things that they brought back. But there were no signs of the minions.
Once they were all finished and the island was looted and running smoothly, they prepared to leave. Along with a few elven slave girls they took as prizes. The Overlord was about to leave on his ship when he spotted someone else on it. It was a long haired busty brunette wearing nothing but sexy, undersized panties, leaving virtually nothing to the imagination. With her was a group of six elf girls, all of which were nude, tied up with rope and ball-gagged. He recognised her as the same woman he fought and threw over a cliff. He had no idea how she escaped that fall without even any visible injuries, but the sight of her naked body prevented him from caring.
"Glad to see you again, my mega hunk dark lord. We weren't properly introduced. My name's Etna and I've decided to join you. There's some things we need to discuss."