Zephyr stepped out of the tower gate into the Golden Hills, feeling like the god his cult believed him to be. His new fully upgraded Arcainium armor shined in the light. His blood-red shoulder cloth connected to a new cape with the overlord symbol. His shoulder spikes gave another level of intimidation. And most extraordinary of all, his new ax. The Dominator, practically eradiated with all the bower imbued into it, both from minion sacrifices and hell magic infused into it by his succubi. Decked out in the ultimate gear, Zephyr summoned his horde and made his way to the construction site. On the way, he found an elf, half-dead and quickly fading.
"The mother goddess statue... Stolen... They make us work... Build a new temple..." The elf then killed over dead. As Zephyr stepped over the elf's broken body and marched his merry band of minions forward, Gnarl decided to be useful.
"I must confess, master. I've been hatching somewhat of, oh let's call it a cunning plane."
"Finally using your brain, I see, well let hear it then."
"I won't bore you with details just yet, but it involves gaining access to that statue."
"And just like that, I don't care anymore." Zephyr continued on his way, it took half an hour, but he finally came across the construction site. Looking down at it, he could see the statue, as well as a fire giant. As usual, Gnarl felt the need to point out the obvious.
"Ah, there's the statue! And judging from that walking cliff-face down there, the dwarves are expecting trouble. Don't disappoint them, master."
"I never do." Zephyr moved deeper into the construction zone when he came across some dwarves running away from a bolder beast. It mowed them down, to his minion's amusement, before he decapitated it with one swing of Dominator. Finding another one lumbering around in a pit, Gnarl felt his commentary was needed.
"Those beasts only seem deadly when you get in their way... So don't!"
"Aw, but weres the fun in that?" Zephyr ordered his minions to stay back while he handled the beast. As it charged at him, he activated his infernal shield spell. It knocked the monster onto its back, and Zephyr then used the slow spell to keep it grounded long enough for him to stomp its neck with his boot.
"Well, that was rather brutal." Rose said, in a rather amusing way.
"Do you like seeing me being rough, dear?"
"Maybe I do~." Zephyr then moved on, getting just a little hard from Rose's comment. He then got turned off when he had to deal with not one, not even two, but four bolder beasts in four different trenches. By the time he got to a guard post, he didn't even bother being creative and used the anger spell and had his minions slaughter their way through. He then found a cage full of elves, all complaining about their situation while Zephyr killed the bolder beasts guarding them.
"We are to build a temple to our stolen statue! This is the greatest indignity!"
"They can destroy our numbers, enslave us, but we will never believe the mother goddess is dwarven!"
"Please release us from this shame!"
"Don't fucking tempt me!" Zephyr yelled as he killed the last of the boulder beasts. He then willed his minions to turn the wheel to let the elves out; he half expected the wheel to be missing spokes by this point. To their credit, the elves tried to be cordial about being freed.
"Thanks and farewell, friend."
"There is still hope for our kind!''
"I must return to Evernight."
"Your welcome, now be on your way." Zephyr said before he and his happy horde continued on their way. Blasting open the Durium doors with on-hand explosives and fighting his way through two bolder beasts and a camp of dwarves. He finally made it to where the statue was being kept, seeing an overseer trying to claim it, only to be smacked down by the fire giant.
"Ha, as I suspected, it's that creature from the elf temple. Jewel, that thriving female is still after the statue!"
"Now to find a way to kill that walking mountain. As mighty as my ax is, I don't think it's going to cut it..." Zephyr then looked over at the caged bolder beasts. They did not seem to like the giant. Zephyr tested that, letting one go, and sure enough, it ignored him and ran straight at the giant, killing itself on impact. He then willed his minions to break open all the other cages and blow after blow; the fire giant soon fell dead. Collecting the ass tone of lifeforce, Zephyr moved over to the statue. Some of his minions got all teary-eyed seeing it.
"Ooh, Mama!" One of them even cried out to it. Zephyr was rather shocked that there were mother goddess worshipers among his minions but quickly shook it off.
"Masterful work, sire! Now, we come to the critical phase in my cunning plan. Sweep brown minions onto the statue, and see what happens." He did as Gnarl suggested, seeing that one of his minions found a way inside the statue.
"Hello?" The little guy said as he began to tap on the inside.
"Ah-ha! So the old rumors were true, the statue is hollow! More minions, sire, more!" Zephyr swept more minions into the statue, finding that it could only hold five browns at a time.
"Good! I'm sure that Jewel will be back once she sees the coast is clear. I doubt she knows the secrets of the statue. When they arrive in her domain, your minions will creep out and start looking for a gate. Let us leave this place, give her a chance to do her dirty work in peace!"
"Have to admit, that is a cunning plan. Might just keep you, after all, Gnarl." Zephyr then claimed the minion object that was also in the worksite. The moment he found a way back to where he started from, the overseer came back and teleported the statue to who knows where.
"There they go! The minions will contact me when they have activated a gate for you. Then you may spread your evil domain even further, sire. Won't that be nice?"
"Indeed it will be. Do we have the measurements and weapon preferences of the elves yet?"
"Sadly yes, sire. I still protest this on principle."
"Noted, have a minion gather all the elven warriors, as well as any black dragon knights and priests that can be spared, and all the succubi. I want everything I can muster for this assault. I will be harvesting lifeforce in the dungeon. Inform me when the attack force is ready to go."
"Yes, sire." Zephyr then moved into the lowest level of his tower. He spent hours killing bugs. He was so powerful now that it was no longer even a chore to harvest lifeforce. Now he did it to relax. After about three hours, he heard Gnarl's voice in his head.
"Everything is prepared, master. Also, the statue has arrived in Jewel's domain, sire. Your minions have escaped and are searching for a suitable tower gate."
"Excellent news all around, I'll be right up." Zephyr then left the dungeon, hoping that what comes next will be worth all the preparation.
