Author's Note: So Internets still down, I'm working off of data right now, writing is going to be... complicated for a few days. So Read, Review, Favorite and Enjoy because I can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to post another one next week.
Chapter 21: The Final Preparations
The Former Wise King of the Forest officially had a proper name now, The Wise King of the Forest was merely a title after all, and Hamster as it came to learn was the name of it's species, now it was known as Hamsuke, a product of Koriander's Naming sense. She wasn't sure how but in addition to her new name Hamsuke had a variety of new abilities added onto her now, even though most of those abilities stemmed from physical augmentation type spells. But the Hamster would be getting more abilities soon, as made evident by the fact that her masters saw fit to employ the use of an instructor to teach her those abilities.
"Who are you?"
The instructor, a small built but muscular man with blue hair and large pointed ears who was sitting on a rock sharpening his Katana, surrounded by Minions.
"I'm Brain, I'm suppose to teach someone named 'Hamsuke' Martial Arts?" The man named Brain stated as he assessed the individual in front of him with a knowing defeated look.
"Tis I Hamsuke!" The Hamster replied putting her paws on her hips and puffing her chest proudly.
"I'm the subordinate of a bench and instructor to a magical talking rat and a pack of goblins. What has my life come to?"
After Shalltear bit Brain she had him transported to Nazarick, while still a undead he was thrown into a pit of liquid magic where his new physiology absorbed the toxic material along side the essence of Dwarfs and Elves transforming him into a Dwelf Dhampire, as it had been explained to him. He was told that as a result of his new found enhancements he was ten times tougher, had limitless stamina, fifteen times stronger, six times faster and had dramatically augmented senses of hearing, vision and smell, in exchange he had to regularly consume blood and was now the unwilling slave of a Vampire who for some reason had been demoted to the status of Bench since his untimely death.
"Either way get ready." Brain looked up to see a demon appear from the balcony above them. "The training's simple, they summon monsters greatly stronger then us, augmentation magic is used on us to enhance our abilities several times over, we fight, then we use accelerated healing Martial Arts to recover and repeat it all over again."
"Ah..." Easier said then done, as Hamsuke immediately froze upon hearing that terrifying series of events. Once the giant Hamster thought herself invincible, then she met two beings in one night stronger then her, one ludicrously strong, with ludicrously strong subordinates. The idea of a monster summon produced by such beings much stronger then her terrified her.
"Once you've gone a couple of rounds we'll begin your Martial Arts training, for now it looks like you've got some magic, I suggest using it."
"Right! Right!" Hamsuke nodded her head rapidly, flexing her arms and hunching over the magic symbols on Hamsuke's body started glowing.
"Physical Boost!" The voice of Koriander sounded as if a seal on one of her spells had been released. "Quick March! Barrier Armor! Reinforce Armor! Rabbit Foot! Minor Demonic Possession! Fly!"
Now Hamsuke was wreathed in a armor of multi-layer augmenting spells and her muscles were bulging with new power, so this is what happens when you take a monster and teach it how to use magic.
"Here. I. Come!" The demonic sounding hamster stated as she growled menacingly.
Likewise the diabolist demon finish with his summoning spell, and produced a huge fat green demon with many wailing faces on it: an Over Eating.
"Fire Weapon!"
Shouting that, a Minion held up one of it's staffs towards the pair, and suddenly Brain's sheathed sword glowed with the magic of fire, at the same time both of Hamsuke's front paws and tail, her weapons, were set aflame. Hamsuke landed a punch to the head of the over eating and dazed it slightly, but the demon countered by lashing out a tongue to pull the hamster down that fat throat. A rapid series of strikes were loosed from Hamsuke's tail at the fat target's weak spots, the numerous faces on it's bloated stomach, while the Hamster continued to punch the demon in it's face with her fiery fists.
"She's totally stealing my thunder..." Was all that Brain could say to the epic battle between a giant fire rat and a huge demon. "Since I'm a counter attack style, unless my enemy attacks first then my new technique can't be tested."
As if he heard his dissatisfied voice, The diabolist summoned a second Over Eating, and this one was right on top of Brain. The light of the summoning magic hadn't even disappeared yet before Brain made his move. Combining two of his three strongest Martial Arts: Field and Four Fold Slash of Light, Brain accurately slashed the ligaments of the Over Eating bringing it to it's knees, before using God Slash to rip out the throat of the demon, causing it to spurt blood and bleed out before disappearing as quickly as it appeared. Then the Diabolist summoned another Over Eating.
"So what? I can create twelve of these per day, did you think you were getting off with one each? In fact..." Two more Over Eating's appeared in the little arena. "And for my next trick." Followed shortly thereafter by two packs of hellhounds. "Don't disappoint your sponsors the supreme ones now. I expect to see you fight with everything you've got: your lives depend on it!"
So what of something of this level? Brain had limitless stamina after all, so long as didn't get injured he could slaughter monsters like this twenty four hours a day.
Two high tier insect type warriors were carrying something that had been bundled in cloth and tied using twine and brought before Koriander in her laboratory.
"Excellent!" Saying that, Koriander opened the back and revealed the body of a lizardman, according to the tag it came from the Red Eye Tribe. "Assess item." In order to turn something into a specific kind of undead, that person or creature had to meet certain requirements. For example, to produce a Skeleton mage, the subject had to have a large amount of mana, for a Death Squire it would need to possess a strong sturdy body. And to Koriander's delight, this one had both. "Excellent, you will be the first test subject of this little beauty!" Koriander held up a spell book, for month's she was compiling information about various kinds of undead, and now she had a chance to conduct her experiments: A arcane warrior type undead. "Hmm. A cannibal too eh? I haven't prepared a spell that includes Wendigo yet, and it's been mummified too, decisions decisions no matter, this shall be a great occasion." Saying that, Koriander decided to put her experiment on hold for now, so that she could prepare a spell that would make the best use of traits from multiple kinds of undead. Then she stopped. "Hm. The more complex the spell, the less likely it will work." On the one hand, this corpse was too valuable to waste on making a low tier undead, but on the other hand it was also too valuable to risk by making stupid mistakes, and on the other other hand it held no value what so ever if they did nothing with it, therefore Koriander needed to first assess the true value of the corpse. "I assume that Cocytus waited until the village that this came from evacuated before he had you bring this to me correct?" A huge Praying Mantis nodded it's head in response. "Good. Bring me the rest, but don't touch any of the living lizard men, we need living specimens to participate in the battle experiment." Nodding it's head, the bug man went back out.
Zaryusu used a messenger bird to send word back to his village that they had secured an alliance with Red Eye, likewise he had also received a message that Small Fang and Razor Tail were in and they were gathering at Green Claw to mount their defense, thus Crusch had also sent her forces back to Green Claw to begin building her sturdy defensive walls while the rest evacuated to the sight that Small Fang had scouted in the west. Now came the hard part, Dragon Tusk. Among those currently living there were the survivors of Sharp Edge, whose chief Zaryusu had slain and claimed Frost pain in the process, obviously they would be holding a grudge, but the plan was to win over the Dragon Tusk members, who valued strength more than anything else, through Martial skill.
"Is that the Dragon Tusk camp?" A plant monster that was riding Rororo and holding Zaryusu from behind asked looking at the approaching camp. This plant creature was Crusch Lulu, Red Eye's acting Chieftan. Due to her Albinoism, she couldn't be exposed to direct sun light less she be severely burned by the light, so instead she cobbled together this bizarre looking outfit.
"Yah, that's there insignia there." Though Zaryusu also noticed the former insignia's of the Yellow Speckle and Sharp edge located just underneath the Dragon Tusk insignia, giving it a very fang like look. "This is as far as you can go friend." Rororo protested Zaryusu leaving it's side but it couldn't be helped, riding a hydra into another tribe's village could ultimately only be interpreted as an act of aggression. The two Lizard men approached the gate and made their piece. "I am Zaryusu Traveler of the Green Claw Tribe!" The lizardman in question shouted prompting angry stares from the other Lizard men.
"I am Crusch Lulu Acting Chief of the Red Eye Tribe!" The plant like lizard woman in question shouted as well.
Someone seemed to take notice of all the shouting, someone who was using a halberd to prod the other lizardmen out of the way.
"And I am Zenberu Gugu, Chief of Dragon Tusk." He said chief, but he wore the mark of a traveler, and that halberd which lizardmen did not have the capacity or resources to make was proof of that, also he wore the marks of a warrior, huge scars that went the length of his massive body, branded by battle. His right arm was disproportionately larger then the other whether it was disease, a mutation or through sheer training was lost on Zaryusu. "I have hoped to meet you for a long time bearer of Frost Pain."
"Were you part of sharp edge in the past?" Zaryusu asked realizing they were very close to botching these negotiations. "Nah. After I lost to that guy I became a traveler to become stronger and when I got back I beat the old chief and then they made me the new one." Zenberu explained simply. "Now I wanna settle my grudge against the guy who use to own that blade." Zenberu pointed to Frost Pain using his halberd. "If you win we'll give you whatever you want." Then he turned his head to address the rest of his tribe. "OI YOU GUYS! IF THIS GUY WINS THEN HE'S THE NEW CHIEF GOT IT!?"
"That simplifies what could otherwise be a complicated mess." Zaryusu stated smirking at his heavily scarred opponent.
The two warriors circled each other, Zenberu had reach with his halberd, but Zaryusu's frost pain had the advantage in power, provided that he could get into close enough range with it. Thus Zaryusu stole the initiative with a leaping stab attack aimed at Zenberu's center mass. Zenberu locked his weapon with the oddly shaped Frost Pain, but then had to face a fight from below as Zaryusu kicked at Zenberu and Zenberu had to dance and counter kick his opponent. Being much smaller then Zenberu Zaryusu was able to maneuver his way underneath the halberd while the two weapons were still locked together and prepared a judo throw to slam Zenberu into the ground. Instead the larger lizard man let go of the Halberd to grab the Traveler from behind and pile drive him into the ground behind them. Zaryusu attempted to use the opportunity to stab Zenberu in his gut but found not soft lizard man flesh but instead hardened armor.
"A Monk Eh?"
Monks were a class of warrior who could augment the hardness of their skin via absorption of excess Ki and relied on unarmed combat, that Halberd was nothing more than a feint all along.
"You're not gonna be able to beat me without relying on that!" Zenberu stated as the two of them separated.
Zaryusu knew that Zenberu was referring to Frost Pain's magic attack Icy Burst, which would freeze their immediate surroundings over, but he could not use that item's power casually. In fact now that Zenberu had dropped his feint and moved into close quarters combat Zaryusu had the clear advantage. The two went at it again, the claws on that oversize fist glowed with Ki as Zenberu slammed that hardened mass of meat against Zaryusu, who in turn blocked with Frost Pain, the two went at it like that for a while, Zaryusu being pushed back to the entrance of the village defending with Frost Pain while Zenberu kept up those aggressive attacks with that oversize right arm. To the untrained eye, it looked like Zaryusu was losing this fight.
"It's my lost."
But a close look revealed that Frost Pain's icy abilities has created a layer of white frost on that big heavy arm, which combined with his brute force approach to this fight created the very real possibility that he would smash it into powdery lizard man flesh. Now that the battle was over the plant monster ran over to the pair of lizard men and poked out the head and arms of a white lizard woman.
"Hold still I'll Heal you." A magic circle appeared from Crusch's hands the green light of healing enveloped Zaryusu's body, even though he won Zaryusu still suffered from a concussion, bruises and numerous gashes from hardened lizard man flesh and the like, healing was definitely warranted.
"Ahem." Zenberu sat expectantly down next to Crusch, who took a moment to clue in to what he was doing.
"Oh sorry I'll do you too!" Now that Zaryusu was healed Crusch turned her attention to Zenberu and quickly healed him of his frost bite.
"Now than, to business."
"Agreed." With that, both lizard men said at almost the exact same time...
"We're here to make an alliance."
"What are your orders chief?"
Both Lizard men looked at each other funny.
"What? When a lizard man beats the chief they become the chief isn't that how it works in your village?" Zenberu asked looking like he'd seen something strange.
"We originally came here to seek a alliance with your tribe." Zaryusu stated deciding to drop the matter. "A large undead summon should have appeared above your village a couple of days ago."
"I was asleep while that was happening." Zenberu acknowledge with a shrug of his shoulders.
"We intend to forge an alliance of the five remaining lizard man tribes to try and starve off the threat, and came to ask for your people's help." Zaryusu stated resisting the urge to shake his head.
"I brought back a bunch of dwarfen swords for the guys from Sharp Edge and I've been training everyone on being a monk, we'll make for good front liners." Zenberu stated bluntly.
"We also need to send a group to evacuate in case of the worst, we're allowing the tribes to send all of their children along with enough adults to care and provide for them." Crusch stated realizing that Zaryusu was getting tired talking to the Dragon tusk chief.
"I'll send the kids and a few monks from our side, most of our guys are frontliners so it's better if we focus on defense instead of survival prepping." Zenberu explained shrugging his shoulders.
"Fair enough." Zaryusu stated exhaling tiredly. "Alright, the three of us will ride ahead to Green Claw while the rest of the tribe moves in on foot." Zaryusu stated nodding his head.
"Before yah, go." Zenberu brought out a cask. "Wanna drink?"
"Lord Cocytus. The Kinsects have reported that the Fourth Lizard man encampment, the Dragon Tusk Tribe, has been evacuated." Hearing that report, Cocytus used a X brand on a section of map depicting the great lakes and the surrounding area, where the name of the Dragon Tusk tribe had been printed.
"Dig. Up. Their. Dead. And. Send. Them. To. Demiurge."
Cocytus had already put a disgraceful performance in front of his master, thankfully he hadn't embarrassed him in front of his siblings. Here he was trying to prove himself a competent commander and he proposes that they simply attack the lizardman fortress with their forces. For his 'home work', Cocytus had been assigned to review the footage from his master's battle with Shalltear and his conclusion? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To stack the odds of victory in his favor it was necessary to review the enemy's strength's, weaknesses, weapons, tactics and abilities and plan around them, arming his troops appropriately. His ultimate conclusion was that they were at a disadvantage: His grunts though well trained lacked real battle experience, and were hampered by thick heavy armor in swamp like conditions, in order to siege a enemy fortress one typically needed three times the number of troops compared to the enemy, but he had a one to one situation. The eight day time limit was not only for the lizardmen's benefit but his as well, he was to spend that one week deadline studying how to become a armchair general. Cocytus's pincers clacked together as he continued to think about how to push these odds in his favor: perhaps if this battle was to be an experiment in both his and his troop's competency, then he could convince his masters to expand their experiment in competency.
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rmarcano321: Good to know. Not yet. Aside from Albedo and Koriander, no one in particular. Yes. Supreme beings is about as close as it gets right now. Kori is about as powerful as Ainz, Kieran is Touch Me and Balloma's as smart as Demiurge. World's biggest lab rat. Koriander is insane, Kieran is a battle Crazed lunatic, and Balloma's not too different from Juno.