[The Gargantuan Overlord Chapter 3]
XXX
The Witch King sat on his frozen throne and watched as the events played out before him. Earlier he had been informed that some of his citizens from the town of Nordberg had a gift for him. Curious, he had agreed to the meeting. Now, ten strong men were carrying a large metal container towards his throne.
They were still all under his spell, of that he was sure. Their eyes glowed a strange blue color every now and then, and they showed no signs of aggression. In fact all they showed were peaceful happy smiles to the man who had conquered them, enslaved them, and forced them to work for his own ends.
Still, his mistress had been weary of letting them in. She expressed her concern that there may be a spy or an assassin mixed among their numbers. It was unknown if the slaves would be able to spot such a person, or how they would react to said person. Of course they would defend their Witch King, but that was only if they knew that person was a threat to the Witch King.
The other villages, such as Nordhaven, had been showing signs of aggression. Of course it was expected. He had been conquering town after town after town. They knew that their time was short and were probably getting ready to fight. Still, they were not much of a threat. A number of Empire soldiers were stationed there, so getting past them would take some maneuvering, but he didn't think that it would be difficult at all. He also wanted the ships that Nordhaven had. It would be a start to a dark navy he had envisioned.
"My Lord?"
The Witch King gaze flickered towards the peasant who was smiling like an idiot at him. He realized that he had been day dreaming while in front of guests, his own soldiers, and his mistress. He growled lowly at the embarrassment he had brought upon himself.
"Why have you come here today" asked the Witch King, though his tone was grave.
Kelda could tell that the Witch King was itching for someone to take his wrath out on. He had been in a bad mood ever since he had been forced to waste his time dealing with resistance fighters coming from the forest and near by towns. The towns were quickly conquered as well, and the resistance fighters swiftly executed, but it wasn't the battle the Overlord was looking for it seemed.
"We have come here to deliver a gift for our wondrous Witch King" spoke the man with great excitement. "We have spent many a hard and long hours preparing this for you, so that when you strike, you strike with both power and fear!"
The Overlord was curious, and when the peasant opened up the large metal case his eyes widened a fraction. Behind his hood he could see a large set of armor that looked custom forged just for him. The armor featured a full body suit of armor revealing nothing, except his face, which would be obscured by the interesting helmet.
The armor was thick, easily three inches of solid metal. The metal was a dull gray color, with designs on it made of metal. On the knee caps were the depiction of skulls, the chest plate looked like it was layered, and the arms and fingers had protrusions coming off of them that made it look even fiercer. The helmet was all encompassing, except for a small portion of his face, with two spikes coming off the top like horns, and jagged pieces as well.
All in all it was a pretty fierce looking set of armor. It was even pressed in velvet, though were they got that was anyone's guess, and encased in solid steel as to protect it from any and all damage before being presented to the Witch King himself.
The Witch King stood up, pleased by this offering his servants had brought to him. With a snap of his fingers his guards took the armor and followed their lord out of his throne room. Five minutes later they came back, and twenty minutes after that the Witch King himself came back out.
Kelda had to admit he was looking fierce. His eyes were glowing behind that gray mask giving him a truly dark look, and his large build encased in what could only be the armor of a dark conquer sent shivers up her spine. He was menacing, he was foreboding, he was the pinnacle of what a dark lord should be!
The effect was apparent to the rest of the room. Even the hardened soldiers who had fought along the savage warrior they revered looked fearful of the man he now was. It wasn't surprising really. A man no shorter than eight feet tall encased in such evil looking armor with muscles, though proportioned to his body, the sizes the Witch King had was enough to scare anyone.
The Witch King was liking the new look, and was also enjoying the weighted feeling the armor was giving him. He didn't mind the extra weight. He was plenty strong enough to wear it indefinitely without any visible short comings to his abilities, and it offered so much in the way of protection.
The Witch King looked at the peasants who brought him this gift. Even under the power of the Evil Presence Spell, they seemed to instinctively fear him. Good, that is how it was supposed to be. After getting situated in his throne he looked back down upon them.
"This tribute you have brought to me has pleased me greatly." The peasants all smiled nodding and smiling towards one another. "As a reward for your services, you and your people shall be allowed to rest more often, and are also allowed more food than was previously agreed upon."
"Oh thank you your dark Witch King sir" spoke the red head as he got down on one knee and killed the ice in which the Witch King current residence resided. "The people only live to serve, but this is truly a wonderful gift."
"Enough!" The Witch King made a dismissing motion with his hand. "You hold back other meetings I must see too with your blubbering! Leave now, before I change my mind!"
The Nordbergians quickly got the message as they jumped up and hit the full throttle out of the Witch King's presence. Soon, a rather large man waddled in and prostrated himself before the Dark Lord's Dark Aura as he called it, though with his gut in the way, it was rather difficult.
"You have come to tell me of some great piece of information that the people have discovered" spoke the Witch King in a slow drawn out tone. "What is it and make it quick. I have many important things to do, and I prefer not to waste my time like this."
"Of course my lord" replied the fat man as he cleared his double chinned throat. "I have learned from a very reliable source that the people of Nordhaven are planning on attacking the village of Nordberg to stop the production of weapons for your army sir. I have come here at great risk to my own life to bring you this news."
"This isn't good sire" announced Kelda as she thought about what it would mean to them to lose Nordberg. It was one of the cities that the Witch King had personally gone to and used his enslavement spell on the entire population. That meant it was completely loyal to the Dark Regime, and the tools they made were invaluable to the cause. To lose it would be a major blow. "We must prevent them from taking Nordberg. A counter strike would probably be best."
"Of course" spoke the fat man like he had had the same idea. "Now about my reward." Either he ignored it or was to stupid to notice the dark look the Witch King was sending him. "As I put my life on the line to bring you this information I believe I am entitled to some compensation. A night with the lovely Lady Kelda would suffice, don't you think?"
The Witch King made a motion with his hand as Kelda's face turned a light shade of green. She looked like she was about ready to hurl at just the thought of what this man was implying. The captain of the Witch King's personal guard came of and leaned in to hear what the Witch King had to say.
"Take him to Jed" whispered the Witch King, ignoring the pale look the man had on his face. The Captain nodded his head and quickly grabbed the fat squealing man and dragged him out of the throne room. His screams could be heard echoing down the hall until finally he was to far to be heard.
"Nobody may lay a hand on my woman." The cold tone he had made the ice castle feel hot.
The next person who was brought in was a woman. She was of average size, probably from one of the smaller villages, though her eyes were not glowing, she seemed somewhat happy to be there, if her obvious fear of the Witch King would abate a bit.
"Speak, for you stand in the presence of his greatness, the Witch King!" Kelda had taken to being his speaker for the most part. She was very helpful in running a dark empire.
The woman took a knee before she began to speak. "My Lord, while we were searching through the caverns we came across a strange place. It was guarded by some kind of tree person who spoke and said that we were not welcomed in the sanctuary."
"Was this sanctuary only for dryads, or was it for other creatures as well?"
"The plant person said that it was a sanctuary for magical creatures, something about the Empire hunting them down and exterminating them" spoke the woman, her tension slowly abating. "I also saw some fat little women flying around on wings that seemed to small to carry them, and odd glowing purple crystals."
"It must be the magical sanctuary's that the prisoners were talking about." Kelda was talking more to herself than anyone else. "Now I remember, they said that they were sent out to search for them because they had gone into hiding. The Empire is an entirely human civilization who hate and fear magic. The creatures from that land must of went into hiding and this is one of their hiding spots."
"Are they a threat to the people of the dark lord's regime?" Namely, were they safe to sleep at night knowing that vengeful magical creatures lived so close by.
"This magical community intrigues me" announced the Witch King as he stood up and lifted his mace up then placed it on his shoulder. "I am interested in seeing what it is like, and to make them see who the lord of these lands are. This sanctuary is in my lands, which means they are mine to command."
"But what about the empire troops who are going to attack the village of Nordberg?"
"You can handle that." The Witch King walked towards the exit. "We have a massive army with plenty of generals. If you can't even repel some foot soldiers who were sent as guards of a village, then I see no point in keeping you all around." The Witch King stopped and then whipped his head around to stare into Kelda's eyes. "Do not fail me."
"Yes my lord" spoke Kelda in a dreamy voice.
The Witch King nodded his head before leaving the Throne Room and heading towards this sanctuary thing.
XXX
The Witch King and fifty of his Hunter Soldiers marched through a large cave system looking for the sanctuary the peasant spoke of. So far it looked like any other cave that had once held water and had been formed into a vein for the liquid to pass through. That being said the ground was abnormally flat for a cave formation with earth paving the way and grass growing on top. Grass should not grow so abundantly where sunlight never touches after all.
He had run into a few stragglers of Empire Soldiers who had escaped death during various battles and skirmishes they had been in lately. They were easy pickings. Without a commander the foot soldiers were easy to kill, and with the fact they were scattered and spaced out it was just sad in the end.
On a positive side not he had found a tunnel that lead to another land. From what he could see it was lush farm lands with a peasant village not to far in the distance. He would have to remember how to get there so that he and his men could conquer it later. Reentering the caves the Overlord walked past dead bodies, broken weapons and barricades, as well as loot that his men picked up and carried for him. After all a poor Witch King didn't stay in power long, though a greedy one didn't either, but that was for wimps.
After long he ran across a strange stone on the ground. It was stuck in there good and radiated a cold dark power. He also made another mental note to come back and check that out. Right now he wanted to find that sanctuary so that he could find some new servants.
XXX
Deep in the bowels of the earth, the Minion Master was adorning a helmet to the Newest Overlord. He had survived despite his own opinions, and his power was already pretty good given his past. Though Gnarl hadn't said anything about it, he was glad that the Overlord didn't retain any of the memories of his past Hero self!
It made him grin evilly. To turn a hero who had helped kill the last Overlord, into the newest Overlord was a feet even he found uniquely evil! Still, the man would have to prove his worth by stepping out and conquering the known world, slaying heroes, and looting everything in sight.
He had proven himself somewhat though. Down in the training arena he had proved he was capable of taking on several skull stags on his own, without any minion help. While that wasn't very impressive for a Overlord, or for someone who was involved in the death of a powerful Overlord, it was a start that he was sure would grow into something interesting.
"Master" shouted the brown minions as the Overlord walked into the room wearing his minion armor and his standard war ax still dripping with the blood of his enemies. He was quite imposing, let's just hope that factored into his fighting skills as well.
"Master" spoke Gnarl with a grin, "It is about time you reentered the world and started your conquest of all living beings!" It seemed the master was a mute or something because he never spoke. No matter, he didn't have to. He just had to be evil, that was plenty bad enough... hahahaha.
"To get used to commanding the minions, as well to build up your forces, head to the farms that surround the village of Spree. They will surely have many barn animals you can unleash your minions on and to make new minions with their life force."
The Overlord nodded his head and walked into the mana pool. They had to use the Overlord's power to teleport him at the moment. They didn't have a significantly powerful enough object to do it, so the magical power of the Overlord would have to due for now.
Still, Gnarl could not help but wonder what ever became of the previous Overlord's child. He had so much potential, being born with high magical reserves, his eyes shown with true inner evil, and of course the potion that he should have been feed by the green before the fall of the previous overlord.
Though he and the rest of the minions had searched far and wide for him, they had never been successful finding him. They had even traveled distant lands, some filled with nothing but ice and snow, while others were nothing but a sun worn land of heat and sand. Still, no signs of the babylord were found.
In the end they could not wait any longer. The forces of good could not be given time to recuperate their loses and build up their strength. The darkness needed to be spread once again, so a new Overlord was needed. This ex-hero would do very nicely. His corrupt goodness now darkness would serve as an excellent base for the Overlord.
XXX
The peasant had been right. A dryad was found blocking the entrance to a tunnel that no doubt lead to this sanctuary for magical creatures. So far she had been stubborn and refused his commands, but now she was going to suffer for her refusal.
The Witch King raised up his mace and then swung at the roots that blocked his way with all of his might. In an instant he had turned the roots into nothing but tooth picks and was about to turn his mace on the dryad when new roots grew in the place of the old ones, blocking his path one again.
The Dryad was actually quite attractive in its own way. She had a slender build that extenuated her nice round hips and perky C cup breasts. Her hair looked a bit darker than the rest of her body and was also probably made of vines, but it was still done up in a sexy way.
She had two massive leaf like wings, though he doubted she could fly using them, and her base seemed more plant than human. Still, she was attractive, and her eyes glowing a yellow color like his did a red color made him feel even more attracted to her.
"Foolish creature of darkness, did you truly believe it would be that easy to enter the sanctuary? If that had been the case the ones calling themselves soldiers of the Empire would have broken in long ago."
The Dryad was a bit too lippy for her own good. The Witch King reared back and attacked the roots again, but no matter how fast he destroyed them, or how fast he moved, the roots would grow back before he could get across. It was truly frustrating.
"Turn around child of darkness" spoke the Dryad with a grin on her face. "This is not a place for your kind. Here creatures of magic can live harmoniously with one another. A bringer of death and destruction would find no place here."
Ok the Witch King had heard plenty from this pesky plant person. Calling upon one of the spells he learned from the witches the Witch King conjured a massive ball of orange fire over his head before launching it at the Dryad. Her screams were music to his ears, but then she pulled herself into some kind of flower she was sitting on and stayed there.
Thinking this was his chance, the Witch King smashed the roots aside, but like last time they just quickly grew back. It was frustrating, but when the Dryad emerged from the flower base of it's his frustrating grew exponentially more.
"Dark creature, to use such wicked magic against me for only trying to protect my kind shows what kind of heartless beast you truly are."
The soldiers were not happy with this creature insulting their lord, but so far nothing their lord had one had worked, so it was quite obvious that nothing they were capable of was going to be useful here.
"Then you leave me no other choice." The Witch King's tone was as cold as ice as he positioned his palm towards the Dryad. "That will not work on me. I will simply heal again. Unless you destroy my heart I am all but invincible!"
Those words died in her mouth as an ark of evil lightning left the Overlord's hand and smashed into her chest. She felt her own magic being drained, and then being replaced by something else. She could feel it, the evil magic he was pouring into her was corrupting her. She tried to fight it but he was to strong. It was to late when she realized her mistake.
The evil energy ran though her body, changing things here and there, but she barely noticed that. The more the power took over her, the more she enjoyed it. The darkness was comforting and powerful. It felt like everything she could ever want was possibly, if she would only surrender to it, to him.
It took longer than he had anticipated, but that was to be expected when dealing with creatures of magic, to turn her to his side. There were two ways to use the Evil Presence Spell. The first was to just override the victims mind and turn them into loyal slaves using his dark magic. The second was to absorb all of their magic and then replace it with his own. This made them dark creatures, wishing to serve him and to further his goals, but they were not mindless slaves. They were cunning warriors and witches whose mind had been enhanced by the will of darkness.
When the Dryad stood up it was on her own two feet. She was much more humanoid now. Her overall shape was that of a human, though she retained the thin vine like hair and the glowing yellow eyes. Her bust had jumped from a C to a D cup, and her hips had widened and her butt had grown slightly larger.
What was interesting was her outfit. Instead of being covered by leaves or her plant bottom half she had when she was not changed by his dark presence, she was now covered by hundreds of light green vines that wrapped around her chest, stomach, thighs, privates, and butt leaving little to the imagination.
After she stood back up she grinned in satisfaction. The massive roots that had been blocking his way were removed, and they were given access to enter the sanctuary by the dryad turned traitor to the Overlord.
"What is your name" demanded the Witch King.
"I do not have a name, Sire" spoke the Dryad with a voice that sounded like leaves fluttering through the breeze. "Now that I am more than what I was, I shall take on a name. Is there any name that my lord finds fitting for me?" She gave him a coy smile which he ignored.
"Dry" was all the Witch King said as he and his men started to march on into the Sanctuary.
"Of course my lord, from now on I am Dry" spoke Dry with a grin. "I shall by your tour guide while you look through your new lands."
"Then lead on." The Witch King watched as Dry walk in front of him, swinging her big butt as she walked on by and looking back at him giving him naughty looks as she did so.
XXX
The elves had not been happy that Dry had let him in. A few of their soldiers had tried to stop him. They were strong and fast, with a great jump, and swift movements, but they were few in number and highly unorganized.
The Witch King saw all creatures as his servants. The sentient creatures even more so, and believed that they serving him was better then him just turning them into bloody messes. Soon, his army of fifty had turned into an army of a hundred and fifty.
That was just soldiers. Every elf he ran across was turned into his loyal servant. Along the way he ran into a few more Dryads, but they were either killed, or put into what Dry called forced hibernation, were they would remain inactive to recoup their injuries.
Still, the place was pretty cool, for a tree house all natural life style he supposed. The elves did tend to enjoy nature to the extremes. He hoped that the elves in other lands were not so... hippie like. Their beanies along with the way they spoke just really got on the Witch King's nerves.
Thankfully while they were under the Evil Presence Spell they talked more normal, even in a respectable tone. They also made great scouts and foot soldiers as well. They got get to places the hunters could not, and their speed was truly remarkable.
"Hey Dry, who is that?"
Dry, who had been following the Overlord and doing her best to appease him, looked up and grunted with distaste. It was a statue of Queen Fay, the leader of the magical creatures trying to escape the Empire and the beacon for... good, blahh! For someone so good and light, she sure was vain. Having the creatures here create this massive statue of her just to hold up her massive magical crystal which protected the sanctuary from the Empire when a simple alter would have done just as good of a job.
"That is Queen Fay, the leader of the Sanctuaries, and a powerful fairy whose powerful magic and skill has protected many of the magical creatures looking to escape the Empire's rule." The tone she had spoke of contempt though. "She has though, not been able to completely stop the Empire. It is well known that the Empire is capable of detecting magic, so hiding is very difficult, and once found they attack until the sanctuary falls."
"And who is that?"
Dry looked down from the balcony she was standing on to see the bottom of Queen Fay's statue. Standing there was a large man, not as big as the Overlord, but still a good head and a half taller than the average man, who was carrying a large war ax and surrounded by strange brown gremlin creatures.
The man took an ax to the statue and beat it until it finally fell. The little brown creatures quickly picked up the magical stone and made a hasty retreat as the one and only Queen Fay arrived and attacked him. She unleashed a powerful magic that shook the place, though she didn't attack him directly.
"Damn" spoke Dry as her face contorted into rage. "She removed the spell that is keeping the Empire out of here!" Her hands gripped and her eyes narrowed. "She must have done it as a punishment for that creature's defilement of her shrine, but she is damning her subjects to his fate as well! When I get my hands on her, she will wish she had been captured by the Empire!"
That man was filled with powerful dark magic, spoke Kelda through their telepathy magic. And those creatures were as well. Whoever he is and whatever his purpose is, it is not good. He may be trying to muscle in on your action sire!
Let him try, replied the Overlord as he watched the man disappear through a strange stone alter with his creatures and the magic stone. He will learn that there is only one man capable of conquering the world and that man is ME!.
"Men" shouted the Overlord as he looked back at his large army. It was now three hundred strong, and add an additional fifty for the human hunters he brought along, and they were a powerful fighting force. "We will kill these Empire scum and make the sanctuary a place of my dominance!"
The men shouted and yelled with joy as they jumped and charged at all of the Empire troops trying to break in all at once. "Aim for the commanders first, use fire if you have any! Archers try and break up the foot soldier's formation! You worthless floating faeries drop poison pods on their heads!"
They all obeyed beautifully. The poison pods were very useful in the offense especially when breaking up the formations. The Commanders were easily caught on fire and cut down by the elven soldiers. With their speed, they made quick work of the foot soldiers, and before long, all in the sanctuary were under one rule, the Witch King's!
In the after math of the battle soldiers and civilians alike were working overtime to put the place back together. At the moment the Witch King was not sure what kinds of benefits he would obtain from having this place under his rule, but he was sure that with time he would find something truly useful for them.
He was already organizing half of the elf soldiers into guards for the sanctuary, which he had noticed sucked when he broke in, as well as other defenses. He was sending the other half to the main army were they would be put to work were their skills would be the most useful.
He also sent some of the Faeries that way as well. Creatures that could fly were quite useful. He knew that their ability to fight first hand sucked, but they could relay message across battlefields quite skillfully, so there was at least some use for them.
"My Lord congratulations" spoke Dry as she came up on his side and lightly placed a hand on his arm. "You are now the Lord of he Sanctuary, a place of entirely magic."
The Witch King nodded his head. He had to deal with the surviving soldiers who would not make it or were too weak to be of any use. He would also have to interrogate the enemies soldiers for useful information that they may have.
"It is but a small step on my path to conquest" announced the Witch King with disinterest. "But, I cannot rule all the time. I need loyal people who can do that for me, at least to a minor degree."
"I do not understand my Lord."
"I am making you the Governor of this sanctuary" answered the Witch King, "And if there is anything you need, feel free to ask, but that doesn't mean you will get it!"
Dry smiled coyly. "Well, what if I asked for you?"
"Then you would be upset, because I already have a mistress."
"I don't mind being your second mistress, after all, I am strong."
The Witch King looked her over for a moment and thought about the pros and cons of this idea, before nodding his head. He needed someone to look after the sanctuary, she was loyal, exotic, beautiful, and strong. She would be useful, and Kelda would just have to get used to it.
"Thank you my lord. I will make sure you do not regret this" spoke Dry as she stood up on her toes and kissed the Witch King on his mouth before standing back flat footed. She took her place beside him, grinning with evil intentions.