I do not own Naruto, Overlord (the game), or anything else that may or may not appear within the story. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Have we not long since established that?!
The one called the Overlord
Chapter Six: Cross country encounters
Wilderness, Notre Repos, days later
It is hardly a surprise to say that training in any shape or form was often sparse when on the move. It especially applies to individuals who are often tasked with the need for scouting ahead to ensure the safety of the group of refugees, the occasional night of guard duty and having to perform quite a bit of exploration to find any land markers their maps had made use of as since they elected not to take a proper path to the city of Versailles. While a fair few amongst the refugees grumbled and ached about it they were more than happy to navigate fords, rummage through forests and even climb mountain walls with their bare hands whenever Naruto ever came back with news of a camp consisting of the Renouvelé being here or there. Doubly so since the Renouvelé had made it increasingly clear through observation that they had an aversion towards nature and all its dirt covered, insect hosting, sweat inducing glory as noted from what few ' conversations', i.e. complaining, he had managed to eavesdrop upon. Still, his training wasn't a complete wash given the circumstances..
As Gnarl had predicted, Naruto had came to learn of the Fireball spell... after beating his head against whatever was convenient at the time while trying to make sense of every little theory, nuance and necessity of magic that couldn't be explain with something as simple as "gut instinct." Likewise Helos shared a similar frustration much to the amusement of what Naruto could only assume were his former students or else neighbors back in Chiselle. Yet the Fireball spell wasn't the first spell granted to him by the Tower Heart much to Gnarl's consternation. No, the Fireball had to be learned. What came first, much to Naruto's as well as Helos' more minor surprise was that which was dubbed the Lightning Whip; an arc of mana given physical form of arcing lightning which, as the name suggests, whips its target with such force that an adult humanoid of normal size would be knocked down from the blow. An "instinctual" ability as Helos called it, albeit a more uncommon one according to him: almost every mage or magic user within the history unwittingly started off with an ability lacking 'form' thanks to their lack of training; "force", by far the most common amongst those starting out, lacked a physical form onto itself and yet affected the physical world as if 'someone' was shoving against whatever this spell had struck against. But that was neither here nor there really. All that really matters is that he did it! He can now use mana and had a base understanding of it! With enough effort he could make new spells! Wards to... well, ward of fire! If nothing else then he can use items used to focus mana into specific spells if push came to shove!
And like Gnarl had said, "oh the enemies [he] would slaughter!" It was a little dark for his tastes but he could get behind it! Besides, he had a score to settle with a demon!
To that end he wasn't going to place all his bets on his newfound ability to use mana however. He still had chakra too. Unless he was missing something, and he probably was, the use of spells generally boiled down to trial and error no matter what anyone did. With chakra however there were specific hand signs to not only be aware of but to be used in a precise fashion or else the entire process was rendered useless, a lesson he learned the hard way unfortunately both with his henge, his substitution and even the shadow clones. Then again the same could be said with spells, only with a greater propensity of exploding in someone's face as opposed to chakra's equivalent of running face first into a wall when one failed. That or said failed spell could do something completely unexpected like turning someone into a sheep... Gnarl got a kick out of that one.
At any rate...
Thankfully he had the foresight to bring with him the Forbidden Scroll... He ended up cursing himself for it as well when he had a moment alone with it at the edge of the their current campsite.
It wasn't until he sat down and began to open it that the latent realization that he had crammed That Night into the back of his mind in favor of pursuing the adventure immediately in front of him: to become strong enough to fight an enemy that was chasing him whilst trying to destroy what was left of the lineage belonging to the Overlord before him. Now though, without the immediate glamour and relative safety of a new life afforded by being an Overlord, he was reminded of what forced him into this position in the first place. He was reminded of learning how the odds of ever being accepted in the Leaf Village were stacked against him from the very start, all thanks to the desperate actions of the Fourth Hokage as his mind quietly puzzled out. Of how Iruka was not only willing to fight for him but give him an honest chance in clearing his name. Of how, even in the face of danger, the anbu attempted to assassinate him all because he stole the very scroll in his hands... of how that even if he did return there was no guarantee that things would go back to normal, demon or no. By being reminded of all this he just felt... overwhelmed. Unable to think really as he shut down and blankly stared at the scroll within his clutches. As such he didn't notice a presence which sat next to him and observed him for some time.
"A token from your own home?" Helos asked, startling Naruto from his melancholy with a near strangled gasp. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you."
"It's alright!" Naruto offered with a strained laugh. "I was just... thinking really hard!" he offered the elf, his laugh continuing even as the once headmaster responded with a noncommittal hum.
"Out of curiosity, may I see that?" the dark elf asked as he studiously pointed at the scroll in Naruto's grasp.
"Huh?" Naruto looked to the scroll to confirm that it was indeed what Helos was pointed at and briefly froze once more with indecision. After what seemed like an eternity for the blond of considering what he wanted to do and if he would even do it, he found his will wanting; as much as he wanted to he couldn't see himself opening the scroll in the immediate future. As such he handed the scroll to the elf who, with a thankful hum, carefully edged it open and began to skim the first portion of its contents, humming again in acknowledgement as he did so.
"I don't believe I've ever read this language before," he admitted offhandedly as his eyes continued to skim the symbols, both the written word and the illustrations amongst other things. With each flick of his eyes it was becoming more and more apparent that he was trying to decipher the entirety of it all through sight alone in conjunction with a puzzling mind.
"It's...!" Naruto attempted to offer only to hesitate as he came to the jolting realization that he had never even heard of a casual reference toward his native language. Did it even had a name? Now that he thought about it, did his newfound companions have a name for theirs? After a brief moment of embarrassment induced panic he hesitantly continued, "the language of my home." His jaw clamped shut as he fought against a forced intake of air to help cover up his awkwardness as he narrowly avoided ending the sentence as a question. It didn't make him any less conscious however when the elf looked over to him with a raised brow. Thankfully he drew his gaze away from the young overlord to once more observe the scroll.
"Would you mind humoring a rather invasive question?" he suddenly asked without looking away from the scroll.
"Uh... sure?" Naruto said out of curiosity.
"While I do not object to teaching you since it was part of our... agreement, why is it, pray tell, you wish to fight a demon of all things?" Slowly he shifted at least half of his stern attention toward Naruto who fidgeted under his scrutiny.
A part of the overlord simply wanted to brush him off, laugh him off, do something to not only get out from answering the question but to get out from under his current teacher's gaze altogether. But then again it would be history repeating itself, him running away from a problem much to his begrudging, bile inducing, self reprimanding chagrin. What good would it do to basically flee from someone who was helping him with an art that he was just beginning to scratch the surface of? Hell, he was a heck of a lot more tolerable and even helpful than some of his teachers back in the academy, Mizuki notwithstanding since he deserved his own little place in Hell now that he thought about it. Besides, for all he knew he may very well need all the help he could get even if it meant beating his head against the wall for the sake of his training alone.
"Would you believe me that... a demon is hunting me?" he awkwardly offered with a cringe of a smile. For better or worse the stoic air of the elf turned to that of open confusion and even bewilderment.
"For what reason, may I ask?"
Naruto shrugged as he looked to the ground. "From what Gnarl told me, my... ancestor basically blew up an entire continent to defeat this demon invasion years ago. Like before even my own grandfather was even born I'm guess. Since then the survivors have been hunting down his descendants, and it's my turn now. This... big red demon ended up killing..." He paused as he considered what Iruka was to him after all they went through... Big brother perhaps? Uncle? Best friend? Aside from the Hokage, Teuchi and Ayame from Ichiraku, Iruka was one of the select few to ever give a legitimate damn about him beyond a professional sense. "... someone really important to me while trying to kill me," he solemnly finished.
The elf quietly observed him for a few moments before quietly offering him "my condolences." As he said it he gently placed his hand on his temporary student's shoulder, earning a glance and a small, worn but grateful smile from Naruto which was hidden away by his scarf. Eventually the two of them resumed where they had left off, each lost in their own little world as they waited the day away whilst the entirety of their group rested for what was deemed to be two more days worth of traveling. Sadly though it wasn't an exact science between the rare patrol of Renouvelé soldiers and the natural barriers of the land.
"Excuse me!"
Both heads turned and curiously regarded the elf that approached them in a hurried jog, armed with nothing but a stolen spear from the ransacked fort. One of the elves whom were on guard duty no doubt. Regardless, of the two his attention was upon Naruto in particular.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," he said as he drew close enough, "but we've been hearing some loud roaring in our part of camp. Could you please check it out?"
With a sigh Naruto got up. "Yeah, sure."
XVX
While it wasn't out of cowardice per se, the Dark Elves in general were more than content to stay within their own camp much like their blue skinned counterparts. In fact it was a bit of an effort to even get a few of them to leave to scavenge for even the essentials like berries or certain mushrooms for food whenever they weren't lucky enough to come across any of the wildlife to hunt. Then again, from what he learned, Chiselle was more of an academy than anything else thanks to the mana vent; a learning community hoping to shepherd a new generation of mages of their own. As such there wasn't much in the way of either fighters or even farmers at most when they were largely content on the supplies delivered by the road. Even then there was but a limited supply of arms and armor for the survivors that either hadn't been taken by the other slaves who had already ran off or hadn't been repurposed by Giblet to better arm the minions. In other words aside from some hunting of game, an armored Renouvelé soldier much like the ones Naruto faced in the fort would easily outmatch the refugees even if they had the advantage of numbers for such a fight. Hence Naruto's scouting duties and, at times, being their guardian when a battle was upon them.
Still it wasn't as if he was doing things on his own though. His minions were more than happy to pick up the slack and take the brunt of each of the few skirmishes they were subject to. The only real downside to them however was that, when compared to him when he took to the trees, they were painfully slow. As such he was forced to walk on the ground with them if he thought that he had need of them. At least the jaunty marching tune they whistled out in unison helped ease his frustration in this case.
But that was neither here nor there at the moment, for the most part at least.
While at first he had thought they were simply hearing things, there was indeed a roar of a beast that sounded off somewhere in the forest's depths, prompting him to investigate it with his minions. Since then it was like navigating a maze, relying only on the rage fueled growls of a beast that either grew louder or dimmer during his blind search for the source.
"While I can appreciate your enthusiasm in braving danger, master, haven't you been on this chase long enough? I'm sure you could go back and convince that layabout into teaching you a few more pointers, sire." Gnarl asked seemingly out of nowhere.
With the sudden introduction of the question and the sheer clarity of it, Naruto, in his surprise, half expected to see Gnarl himself to have appeared before him as if he had teleported there. But no, he didn't. No, Naruto had to remind himself of the Tower Heart and its extensive abilities, one of which allowed Gnarl and Quaver to use it to not only see what he was doing but communicate with him and him alone unlike the now discarded gem 'communicator.' Upon being reminded of that he bit back a sigh.
"No, Gnarl. I'm already out here, I may as well find out what's going on." He then sighed. "Besides that... I'm kind of bored really," he added.
"Hm... yes. They are dragging their feet about, aren't they?" Gnarl muttered. "Well, I suppose a good smiting might help lift your spirits. With any luck you might even pillage a few things and find something either useful or fits your fancy."
Naruto rolled his eyes as he head toward a series of man-sized bushes in the direction of the latest bestial bellow. "Uh-huh," he muttered as he forced his way through the brush. Likewise his minions shouldered their way in too, though not with as much success: he was fairly certain he heard a branch loudly smacked a minion in its face, making it cry out in both surprise and pain much to his own amusement. Before long he had muscled his way through most of the brush that impeded his path. Yet upon doing so he ducked back inside at what he saw on the other side: a Renouvelé camp.
Carefully he pulled apart some of the branches of the bushes that obscured him so he could peak out into the camp, a relatively abandoned one at that with but a few guards on duty. A small one at that which sat at the foot of a snow capped mountain. In the distance there was even a natural rampart leading into the mountain proper, but that wasn't what captured his attention as he observed what he had almost walked into: while not as large as some of the camps he had encountered thus far in regards to personal, from what he could guess by counting the small number of tents present in the camp, an entire field had been dominated with what appeared to be holding pens of a magical nature, their boundaries marked by a pole to represent each corner. While a great many were empty for the time being, some of the cells held quite the assortment of prisoners...
The dark elves were easy to recognize, though they were few in number, at the utter most they occupied two cells at the utter most in modest numbers. But they weren't the sole prisoners there. Beasts of numerous kinds, presumably local, stalked their own cells, some of whom looting loose a low roar. Then there were the... others. Humanoid in shape, mostly at least in regards to the majority of the unusual captives, each one was easily thrice his height at minimum, and those were the short ones! Really, save for one prisoner, each of these giants had predominantly green hides composed of thick scales in some sections, giving these creatures a rocky appearance. Only their chests, feet and some of their arms held a lighter tone of green, bordering on the color of more human flesh really. But what truly awed him was the strange... ornamentation that adorned their bodies, if it could be called that. Steel, metal, bronze, metals of varying kinds looked to have been crafted into the bodies of these creatures to form various symbols and what looked to be tools which were often fused with one arm or both. There were even some who bore undeniable weapons as opposed to a tool, though unlike the colossal hammers and other such craft they looked to have been deliberately broken, not that those with the hammers for arms or other more unusual in comparison tools fared much better. Even so, it was not weapons or tools they solely bore. Aside from what looked to be religious symbols of their own making, some had undeniable plate seared into their skin to act like armor in its varying forms, though such an act seemed more typical amongst their weapon bearing brethren as oppose to the supposed craftsmen amongst the prisoners.
"Oh my! Now that's a sight I haven't seen in so many years! In fact I thought Augres were extinct! Then again I suppose they simply moved out while no one was looking. Or perhaps it's another clan, not that it matters anyway."
"Huh?" Naruto grunted as he carefully scanned his surroundings once more for the few guards on duty.
"Augres," Gnarl reiterated. "Big, powerful, and very good at crafting things! And of course, smashing things as well!" Gnarl cackled. "Smashing aside, they enjoy metal working so much that they graft themselves with whatever they could get their hands on if they thought it would be useful! Oh they would make excellent allies if you can rally them to your cause sire! Granted they may as well put Giblet and his apprentice out of business but such is life!" Gnarl sighed. "Sadly though the only real downside is that they love to worship one of the dwarvern smithing gods. Granted it's what got them started in the first place, but still..." Gnarl sighed more dully this time. "Well, I suppose you can't have everything. Now get to it sire!" he commanded.
"You do realize you just gave the Overlord orders, don't you?" Quaver offered out of the blue.
"I view it more as a motivational kick in the pants really. You won't believe how lazy some of our masters can be!"
"Uh-huh..."
Naruto barely paid them any mind as he carefully snuck as close as he can to one of the cages without abandoning his cover. Once he was close enough to one of the empty cages lining the perimeter he decided to experiment: at first he picked up a rock and tossed it at the apparent wall of transparent pink energy that made up its perimeter. Not only was it repelled but he heard a distinct 'zap' as well. Upon closer inspection of the rock from his spot he found it charred from the experience. In fact he could almost swear it was twitching as well, but he ignored it in the name of further testing. He quickly turned his attention to one of the four rods, or rather one of the two closest to him and tossed another rock at it. Like before the rock bounced off yet there was a clear 'ding' of the rock smacking into the apparent metal. There was another sound too as well, perhaps crackling, yet he wasn't sure. As such in yet another test, after making sure no one was looking, he sent a brown to attack the pillar.
"Gaaah!"
Sadly it met the same fate as the rock in less than a second after taking a swing at it. Thankfully it was stunned rather than killed.
"Hmm... It was a good try my lord, but it appears we may have to seek out the power source for those cages. While it isn't exactly imaginative nor particularly... ideal, I would wager whatever they're using is in the very middle of that cell block. It's a power constraint thing sadly; the farther something is for some magical force field to protect, the greater the strain on anyone or anything projecting it in the first place. If not there then perhaps they're using something with a bit more 'oomph!' compared to most others. Then again I suppose it might be best if you head into the camp first to eliminate the guards first if nothing else. Either way works however."
Groaning, Naruto considered his options: the cells, though colored by magic, were transparent. One stray glance at the right time by a guard whilst he was running about and the alarm would be raised for the entire camp. He wasn't entirely out in the open though. He could hide behind the bodies present, especially the augres and thus operate with some secrecy. On the other hand though if he did go directly to the camp, small though it may be, he had no idea as to exactly how many were in it. Sure there were some guards out in the open, but like with the prison before him it took but one passing glance from a passing or even resting soldier within the camp and he would be made. Worse yet he would be surrounded...
He squinted his eyes shut as he realized he had a third option available: do both!
Poof!
With a triumphant smirk he was about to order his clone to inspect the camp when Gnarl cried out in alarm, his voice crackling like static. "Master, I don't know what you did but the Tower Heart doesn't seem to agree with it!"
"It's starting to rumble as if it were an earthquake sire!"
"Qu-(Krk!)... Clone(Krrkrle!)"
Poof!
With baited breath he waited for Gnarl or Quaver to speak up once again. With each moment they were silent his dread only increased in leaps and bounds as the possibility of something irreparable had happened to both them and the Tower Heart became much more of a very real possibility.
"—caused all that?" Quaver suddenly spoke up as the sound of flesh rubbing on glass whilst polishing it became predominant in his mind.
"I have never seen it react like that! I mean it's not like we just shot it out of a catapult again!" Gnarl groused.
"Master!" Gnarl barked. "While I have no idea as to what happened, the Tower Heart started to react... strangely the moment that... other you popped into existence. As your trusted advisor, I would highly recommend you not do that again in the near future. I'd rather not enlighten you as to how much of a pain this was piecing it back together the first and second time around!"
"Ugh... you'd think Reds of all things could withstand lava!" Quaver groaned.
"Hm. The master certainly wasn't happy upon learning he had to harvest more Red Lifeforce when we tried that stunt..."
"Then again it did prompt him to get rid of that gnome infestation had been plaguing the netherworld after constructing the Battle Rock."
As the two continued to converse with one another in their increasingly anecdotal musings, Naruto not only rolled his eyes but deigned to take what he had deemed to be the safer of the two choices before him. Unfortunately however it took him awhile to find an entrance into the prison that didn't run through the camp, and when he did, it was guarded by a pair of guards maintaining watch over a literal gap in the wall offered by the magical cells. It was only with luck that he got through; from the shadows a thrown knife managed to catch one of the two off guard and surprise the other long enough for his minions to trounce him. Once his opening was secure as it could be, and after stashing the ravaged bodies in the forest, he snuck into the prison with his minions in tow. Sadly however it became rather apparent that the prison was built more like a maze, one which wasn't easily defined as the same problem he had in finding the entrance repeated itself before him. It was only with trial and error that he was able to make any progress. For a brief time he even left some minions behind in certain spots so he could attempt to navigate the maze, like breadcrumbs, yet with only ten minions under his command this idea was barely feasible at best. Thankfully for better or worse the bloodied and battered prisoners barely paid him any mind beyond curious or even awed staring. At the utter most was a snarl or two from the various beast at most was the worse he received, thankfully they weren't loud enough to draw any unwanted attention as he traveled what he hoped was the path to the center.
As it turned out it did.
While his first clue were the three strange stone pillars roughly his height standing in the middle of the 'room,' on a raised dais no less, he at first didn't realize he hadn't realized that he had, for all intents and purposes, stepped into a large 'room' which lacked the tight geometric pattern provided the very poles that both lined the 'hallway' and the prison itself. In fact he had to blink and squint to make sure there weren't any polls, much less blinding pink walls, and even then he didn't dare to do anything more than carefully shuffle his way forward lest he smack into another wall by accident, again. As such it wasn't until he was halfway to the stone pillars that, upon closer inspecting, bore intricate yet obviously ancient designs that either glowed blue, red or yellow from within each marking.
"Could those be...? They are! Oh those pointy eared... It wasn't enough for them to steal the Tower Heart but to steal the Tower Objects as well? Gah!"
"Huh?"
Whilst Gnarl was muttering to himself, mostly along the lines of "come on" or "you can do it," Quaver answered in his place. "Much like the Tower Heart, the Tower Objects are also relics belonging to the Overlords, sire! Those objects specifically can increase your store of mana to smite your foes! To make you hardier against those whom would try to be your doom! To allow you to command more minions to carry forth your will! The classic trifecta! Oh you are well on your way toward writing your own chapter in the legacy of your ancestors sire! Haha!"
"Sweet!" Naruto exclaimed as he pumped his arm. Then he blinked as a sudden thought occurred to him. "Uh... does this mean I have to drag this back to the hideout?!" he groaned as he slumped in place. Even without the refugees and the minions, it was almost a week back to the Lair! And that was assuming he didn't get lost either.
"No! Hold on! Come on," Gnarl crooned. "I know you got more than enough power too... Ah ha! There! Look, master!"
Indeed before him, emerging from the soil as if it were tunneling straight from beneath it, was the very same platform that transported him to the abandoned township of Chiselle. It wasn't alone either as two mounds of dirt and stone pushed their way to the surface and cracked themselves open to reveal tunnels. From the tunnels came a light brown light as well as a distinct red aura which occupied their own tunnel. "And here I thought we would have been needing to find another pit of power like the Netherworld to do this again," Gnarl pleasantly sighed.
"Behold! The Waypoint Gate and the Minion Gates! As you may have learned, the waypoints act as a magical means to transport your magnificent presence to and from certain locations. Likewise, minions can and will drop off items of interest to them so they can be safely stored within your Lair! As for the Minion Gates, well, only minions can transport themselves through them. While minions do get along well with one another, they do prefer their own little passageways rather than sharing the same tunnel."
"It's to prevent jamming issues really," Quaver offered.
"Hm, yes. Tragically we lost quite a few masters when the minions crammed themselves inside those tunnels while trying to get to them."
Once again Naruto rolled his eyes as he sent his minions forth, and eagerly they obeyed. Soon enough they almost effortlessly lifted the stolen pillars and dutifully transported them to the Waypoint Gate. One by one they were placed onto the pad with one being placed onto it at a time. Even so it was barely a second before the Tower Objects swiftly disappeared in a flash of light. It was barely a moment longer after that when he felt a rather startling but not unpleasant set of changes shocking his body with newfound life. In his awe he looked to his hands and for a split moment he could almost swear he could tell the difference of what his limited pool have mana had been as well as a sense of certainty towards his supposedly increased vitality. On a whim he turned his attention to the gates belonging to the minions, waiting to supplement his ten minions with reinforcements to replace the fallen. With a hand curled upward and lifted, he called forth three more browns and two reds to join his entourage.
"Oh!" Gnarl cooed. "We're shaping up to be quite the warband now!"
The sound of something big and heavy rushing by drew his attention toward what looked to have been a large wolf bounding past him at a safe distance. Likewise a number of other animals began to rumble their way through the prison labyrinth... or rather the forest of spires now that there was certainly as lot less pink in plain sight between the rods. It was also a fact the prisoners themselves were beginning to notice in earnest as they themselves either wandered through the now missing walls to ensure the validity of their situation or else were already running away much like the now freed beasts. As for the others, the augres being a prime example, they began to advance on the camp with a more than obvious malicious intent in their stride. A stride that broke into an enraged run once a flare shot up from the camp itself.
As they charged with ferocious yells, the flare itself exploded like an enlarged firework. Yet unlike its comparative counterpart the colorful sparks didn't disintegrate within the span of a few seconds. Rather they lurched forth in arching directions to form a hollow circle. Once the ring was complete a series of arching lines descended into the hollow inside. In a matter of moments, one by one these arching lines met the bottom half of the circle, forming an arching collection of Vs from top to bottom. Even so, whilst the last of the Vs was being formed a flash of light erupted before Naruto and from it emerged what appeared to be a Renouvelé mage wearing an open robe of gold and silver over his cloth suit. As opposed to having a canister of mana attached to his back, it looked have if his headpiece was modified to have a smaller variant fitted over his mouth like a respirator.
"This had better be important!" he roared at no one in particular, his back turned to Naruto as if he hadn't noticed his nor his minions' presence. In fact it seemed he was so blinded by rage he hadn't noticed the rampaging augres laying siege to the camp nor the ones lumbering towards him when his screaming caught their attention. In fact he seemed rather content with screaming at some nonexistent figure he must've assumed would've been standing right where he was facing when the blue elf first appeared. "Catching these self mutilating beasts is FAR FROM EASY! WE'RE LOSING MEN ASSAULTING THEIR STRONGHOLD AS WE SPEAK SO AGAIN, THIS HAD BETTER BE—..." It was then the reality of his situation had dawned upon him. With a start the elf snapped his head in the direction of the approaching giants whose eyes were aflame with murderous thoughts. "No... No!"
In newfound panic he stumbled back as he began to murmur what sounded like a half formulated spell, a necessity for some spells in order to encourage concentration on a caster's part amongst other things. Whatever he was trying to cast, an escape or a desperate counter attack, Naruto saw to it that he wouldn't succeed despite the growing bile in his throat. As such the browns tackled the elf and began to pelt him with their weapons and claws whilst the reds eagerly set him ablaze. As this was happening the closest of the augres reared back a fist of molded iron as it readied for a doubtlessly powerful strike. As it came closer Naruto called the minions back. Once they were cleared from the elf the strike came.
... The blow from the augre was powerful enough to leave a plume of dirt and dust in its wake. Once it was clear it was evident that all that was left of the elf's limbs that which was sprouting from the newly made crater like macabre weeds...
Naruto stared in quite awe until movement from one of the augres drew his attention it. Like with the elf the giant was approaching him. Unlike with the elf its stride was nowhere as aggressive. Once it was close enough the augre halted itself and simply stared at the overlord, observing him. Then, as if coming to a conclusion, knelt down and bowed much to Naruto's confusion.
"Uh, Gnarl?"
"Ah," Gnarl cooed, "how it warms my little black heart to see the augres remembering their old place again!"
"Huh?"
"Let's just hope there's no power crazed emperors this time around..."
"What are you talking about?"
A/N: For what it's worth I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Happy Holidays everyone!
Gnarl's Overlord Lessons! #1
(Soon to be ex) Lair(!)
While he was more than happy to not only attribute the concept of dancing toward those effeminate elves and lousy so called do-gooders, but there were times he was but a few steps from outright dancing himself! Oh it was as if the Overlords were returning to their glory days when they had kingdoms, armies, and dead enemies as far as the eye could see! Perhaps there was hope yet into molding the current overlord into a more ideal one! But he wasn't holding his breath about it. Then again he was fairly young. Opportunities to give him a proper... push in the 'right' direction were bound to happen! Until then he would simply have to wait and see...
That and educate him as well regardless of what the minion master hoped for or was suspicious of, in a good sense of course. Good for him more specifically.
With that in mind he spent perhaps a good hour or two searching his old hoard for his notes and his books while the young overlord attended to his own interests before being recalled back to the lair. From there, after being fed by that wuss of a minion, Gnarl managed to shepherd the young master into his quarters before having him sit down at a table with a few open books upon it and dragging the chalkboard up once again. Like before its surface was scribbled upon with little notes and crude depictions of both the Overlord insignia, the Three Pointed Crown, and of the augres as well as a few other non-minion creatures. There was even a diagram of a room, a maze rather, too.
"While you as the Overlord have every right to say you want to live in a giant tower to scare people off, a grand castle to ward off entire armies, or even a tomb because you happen to like the smell of moss, allow me to introduce you to the concept of a dungeon!"
"By definition such a structure would typically be an underground cell block much like the fort you raided, usually found underneath a castle or, well, a fort. But royalty aren't the ones who have a monopoly on the idea. And though it would be... conceited to think so, I would still dare say they all got the idea from Lord Momonga! " Gnarl then snapped a stick he was using as a pointer against a skeletal visage underneath the crown.
"Who?"
"Basically one of your ancestors, sire," Gnarl readily replied. "Practically the authority of dungeon building and management back in the day. A god even in comparison! Ah but that was then." The stick moved away so it could rest within his grasp.
"As you may have noticed the Augres have readily accepted you as their new lord, sire! This is in fact because they, like a number of other races, have had dealings of one kind or another with the vast majority of your predecessors. In fact a grand number of them used to work under your ancestors, including the augres for quite some time! But sadly like with minions they too tend to... migrate elsewhere when someone around to tell them what to do. Unlike minions though a number of these ingrates don't exactly comb back when their found! Their loss I'm afraid. Especially if you have to remind them who's better in a fight!"
"Anyway. As I've said before, and as you had witnessed, augres possess great strength! Perfect for combat! Great for metal working! But best of all they can help carve out a dungeon for you underneath the ground and pretty it up for you if you so wish! A fortress of stone that wouldn't be easily accessed by those pesky hero types and assassins, and the occasional annoying adventurer looking for gold hoards I'm afraid. In fact they'd probably prefer it if you did as they aren't all that fond of forging out in the open if they could help it. It's a blacksmithing thing I'm afraid."
"Why would I want a dungeon though?" Naruto asked with a frown. In response Gnarl shrugged rather nonchalantly.
"I'm merely letting you know that it's a possibility, master. If I may continue though..."
"Regardless of where you choose to call your home or make your own, think of dungeon making as an... experiment toward how you would like your things arrayed. Where to place the guard rooms, the barracks, the kitchen and so on. If you want you could essentially make it an underground vault to stash all your ill gotten gains, or, oh ho, the more original definition of a dungeon for your more troublesome prisoners! Oh you could build traps to keep people out! Or keep them IN!" He began to sqwee as he practically hopped in place whilst thinking of the boundless possibilities at hand.
"It doesn't even have to be one level sire! You could build your dungeon as deep as you can! The grounds the limit sire!"
Naruto could only blankly stare at the minion master as he turned around and began to scribble what could very well be his fantasy dungeon on the blackboard. As Gnarl began to ramble to him, Naruto got up and head out the door to get back to the camp.
"—and the giant crossbows would all the trained in one single spot in case the prisoner somehow got out! Oh! And explosives on the stalactites just in case he got past them!"