Hello and welcome back, I want to say thank you to everyone who has read this story and I hope you continue to enjoy it.
I do not own Overlord.
Once the light disappeared and I stepped off of the portal I heard Gnarl out of nowhere, "Hello?! Hello?! Testing, testing, is this thing on? Ah Master there you are." "Gnarl is there a damn good reason, why you are yelling into my ear? If not then shut the hell up." I sneered out not enjoying hearing the elder minion shouting directly into my ear. "Apologies Master, the Tower Heart allows me to watch and speak to you from the Tower, I was making sure it still worked." Gnarl replied, with a slight smug tone of voice.
Deciding to let it pass for now I just replied, "Just don't go shouting at me with it all the time or I will shove my foot up your ass when I get back." "Duly noted Sire, now I think you should start at the local village of Spree, uh horrible name." Gnarl said, I just rolled my eyes and called for fifteen browns, leaving five back to start clearing up the Tower. I took the shortcut that was made not too long ago and made the minions move a pillar out of the way.
After they finished I began to wonder why there was random pillars just laying around in the country side it made no sense. Pushing the thought aside for now, we came upon the village which had erected a palisade around itself.
"Wake up Halflings are getting near the wall." I looked up at the wall to see two idiots gawking at me and the minions. "What, I'm up! Wait a second those things don't look like Halflings, look at the big one in armor." "Well it could be two Halflings standing on each other." Having enough of their prattling I shouted at them, "I am not a damn Halfling, you morons. Now shut up and let me in before I tear down this wall and kill both of you and everyone in there!"
Having gotten the idiots attention and thoroughly scaring the shit out of them I figured they would listen but apparently they had some phantom form of a backbone. "S-s-sorry Lord b-but we can't let you in right now." "And why the hell can't you?" I snarled back not enjoying having to deal with these people already. The first man managed to reply, "Well you see Lord most of our men have been captured and we need to get them back before we let anyone in."
With a deep sigh I already knew where this was going "And if I got your men?" "We would gladly let you enter Lord." The second one said, obviously glad I was "volunteering" and not him. "Fine but tell your leader that we will figure out a... fee for freeing your men because I am not doing this for free am I understood?" I said with a glare at the two "guards", not looking forward to being portrayed as the "hero". 'At least to start with' I thought with a smirk as I lead the minions in the general direction the guards pointed in when they spoke of their captured men.
"Master look Halflings in the wheat field! I believe this would be a good time to tell you about the workings of magic." Gnarl randomly yelled into my ear when I came upon a group of Halflings trying, and failing I might add, to hide in the wheat field up ahead. "Gnarl what did I say about shouting into my ear?" "Sorry Master as I said I thought this would be the perfect time to explain how you can use your magic." I growled at the Gnarl since I could clearly tell he was in no way, shape, or form sorry but I pushed it aside for now, deciding to punish him someway later, and responded, "Fine and how exactly do I do it, is it similar to how I control the minions?" "Similar Master you use it with a mental command the same way for the minions, except you must focus on the spell you are using and channel the magic through your gauntlet."
After hearing Gnarls explanation, I thought of a ball of fire forming in my hand so I could throw it at the fat bastards ahead. I suddenly felt power coursing through the gauntlet to form the fire ball I had just thought of. With an evil smirk on my face, I lined up my left hand with the Halflings and felt the small fire ball shoot straight out towards the nearest one igniting him and the rest of them that were in the field on fire.
As they ran around burning to death and trying in vain to put themselves out the minions and myself just laughed at them. After the last burning Halfling fell a few more came out of hiding, like the rodents they are, and attacked me and the minions. It was pitiful the minions swarmed over them when I gave the command and I dealt with the three that stayed back that were throwing rocks. They lasted about as long as there brothers did against the minions, the first I killed by slicing its head off with my axe, the second one managed to lob a rock at me making me step to the side to avoid it. I then went up to it and sunk my axe into its skull and left it there as I advanced onto the last one. It tried to run but I caught it before it could get more than two feet away. I picked it up by the neck with my right hand, it struggled for a second, even tried to bite my hand to make me let go but had no luck. I summoned another fireball into my left hand I shoved it into the Halflings face killing it almost instantly letting it burn for a few moments.
After I retrieved my axe, I glanced over at the minions and saw them scavenging weapons and armor from the dead Halflings. Some of the minions had wounds but they were starting to close up, I raised an eyebrow at this but didn't question it. Looking at them now I see that all of them have some sort of weapon whether it was a dagger, a short sword, or any other sharp object that may have been around.
I called them back to me and continued on the path towards the Halfling camp. We met some more resistance at the gate and a nearby hill but in all it was nothing significant just more Halflings racing towards their death. However I did gain a decent amount of lifeforce from them, if I counted right I should have about fifteen more minions when I return to the Tower. Once the minions finished picking over the dead bodies I ordered them to use a wheel to open the gate leading towards the camp.
Once we entered the work camp we walked through a short pathway, and I must admit I was somewhat impressed. They had several peasants chained up to tree stumps and they looked sore, tired, bloody, from chopping down trees for whatever reason. Best of all they all looked like they had no will to live let alone try to free themselves. They all begged for freedom once they saw me and the minions walk close to them, I was tempted to give them a type of freedom, but decided to ignore them and deal with the other peasants first.
We entered into a area that had several raised levels and there were a handful of Halfling guard groups. Before the fat bastards could react I sent a mental order to the minions to slaughter them, which they did with glee. I will give the midgets some credit, they were able to react to the minions charging at them. Some were able to lob rocks at the minions, while some even managed to grab their swords before being overwhelmed. After the last was cut down I looked over the dead bodies and noticed that two of the weaker minions had been killed, not a bad exchange for roughly twenty dead Halflings and thirteen lifeforce orbs.
The minions came back to me proud of their kills, while a few where making fun of their dead brethren. It didn't really matter to me they had served their purpose and fought for me but a dead minion is a useless minion. Walking over all the corpses I saw another minion pit rise from a small hill that overlooked where the peasants were being held. I walked to it and called for two minions to replace the ones that died feeling that fifteen would be enough to finish any resistance left over.
Once done with that I heard yelling coming from the cages in front of me. I looked to the circular clearing between them and saw a group of men had broke free from their cage. Too bad for them their freedom didn't last long as a troll walked into the clearing. It was roughly nine feet tall, had an orange skin tone, was wearing two clothing items, a basic loin cloth, and metal shackles on his wrists. It was apparently a slave of the Halflings that they used as an attack dog. The peasants tried to fight it but lasted a whole five seconds against the thing. I was slightly impressed they lasted four more seconds than I thought they would.
Shaking my head in humor I glanced around the area and saw two different groups of Halflings one on each side of the troll. With a mental command I sent one half of the minions to attack the left group and the other half to attack the right. As they rushed off to do my bidding I walked straight to the troll.
To get its attention I did a high pitch whistle, and once its attention was centered on me I began to slowly walk towards it, calmly looking over my armor and axe as it rushed, and I use the term loosely, towards myself. When it was close enough it swung at me with its left arm, I slid under it to avoid the blow and at the same time I grabbed my axe with both hands, and with an upward swing I buried the blade into its armpit almost cutting its arm off. Pulling the axe with me I slid another foot or two and turned to face the troll.
It looked at its arm for a moment before turning around to face me, practically ignoring that its arm was barely attached even though it saw it. I don't know if that is from trolls being very tough and thick skinned or just being that stupid. It swung at me with the right arm this time, I side stepped it and with another two handed swing managed to sever its hand at the wrist. The troll took a step back after that and looked at the stump on its right arm and then back to its left arm, apparently figuring out that both were useless now.
So it did the only thing it could do it rushed me, again using the term loosely, jumped and tried to flatten me by falling on top of me. Slightly surprised that it would try to do something like this I jumped back slightly to avoid the troll and watched it lay in the dirt trying to use its useless arms to push itself back to its feet.
By now the minions have finished off the Halflings I glanced at them and saw that they were all there and covered in blood. I ordered them to get on the trolls back to keep it from moving. Once it was stilled by the minions I walked up to it and forced its head up. I summoned another fireball and shoved it into the trolls face then proceeded to cut its throat to insure it died.
Leaving the corpses where they were I walked over to another wheel that controlled a gate that led to a raised area over the cages. Once the minions had it opened I walked through with the minions behind me to see two men with a crane. The one on the right said "Thank you Lord for freeing us and killing that troll it has killed many of the men that tried to escape. As thanks you can have this crane we sure won't be needing it anymore." "Yeah once the rest of the boys are free well head back to Spree." said the second man.
With a sigh I sent five minions to grab the crane so we could take it back to the Tower so the reconstruction could begin and sent four to use a wheel to open the cages that held the rest of the men. I turned to the two in front of me and said, "You two will organize the rest of the prisoners and get them ready to leave, I will lead you back to your village since there is a debt it owes me." After they ran off to do as I ordered, a small Tower Portal appeared out of the ground, the minions holding the crane walked over to it and set it down and it disappeared in a flash of light. "Ah Master with this crane we can begin to repair the Tower." I heard Gnarl say. " Where have you been? I figured you would have butted in by now Gnarl." I asked not really caring where he was, as long as he wasn't shouting into my ears. "Well Master I was giving the jester a quick beating. Ah here is the crane I will get the minions started right away, will you be returning now Master?" "No Gnarl I have to take these pathetic peasants back to their village so I can get what they owe me." I said back to him. "Very well Lord I shall await your return then." Gnarl finished cutting the link.
I just shook my head not looking forward to dealing with whoever ran the village, especially if they were anything like their peasants. Looking back into the clearing I saw that the peasants had gotten together into a manageable mob I turned to them and said, "You will follow me back to your pathetic village anyone that somehow becomes lost or is killed by any leftover Halflings, you are not my concern understand?" I asked wanting to have this done with as quick as possible, they all looked up at me slightly afraid but nodding. "Good now come." I said as I led them and the minions back through the camp. There were a few left over Halfling that were quickly dealt with, and we soon exited the camp.
Shortly after leaving the camp we arrived in front of the gates were the two idiots from before were staring at me with their jaws on the ground. I glared up at them and said, "Well are you going to open the gates or do I have to tear them down like I said I would earlier?" They ran to open the gates after that and once they had got them opened I led my minions and the prisoners into Spree.
I stopped at what could be considered as the village square shortly after entering and saw that the only notable building was a tavern which didn't exactly surprise me. I looked at the villagers gathering around to see their loved ones returned to them and the "hero" that saved them. Not seeing anyone coming towards me that looked like they were in charge I decided to get all of their attention, "Villagers of Spree I have gotten your men back from the Halflings work camp as you all can see." I paused as a few of the villagers began to try and thank me. I held up a hand and leveled all of them with a glare before continuing, "Yet I did not do this out of kindness I expect to be paid for the effort, so I will say this only once. Bring me your leader so he can pay for the debt that your village now owes me."
Hey everyone, I would like to start off by apologizing for taking so long to post this chapter, I had a minor case of writers block but a major case of just getting distracted with other things. I will do my best to keep chapters coming up more consistently instead of a month gap between them, but I will be starting college soon so my writing will possibly take a hit.
Also I would like to thank everyone that has favorite and followed my story so far. I greatly appreciate it.
I would really appreciate any feedback y'all have to offer. Thanks, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you next time with another chapter of The Dark One Rises. S.M.