My life as a reborn monster-Chapter 60 - The Unexpected
--------Sondar POV------- 𝒇𝔯e𝚎𝘄𝑒𝑏𝙣𝑜𝚟𝗲𝑙.c𝘰𝚖
I just stared at Howy for a few minutes as he nodded his head with wide eyes. Liosa then appeared from the shadows shortly afterwards with even more frightening news.
"Guys, we have huge trouble. There are Royal guards stationed in front of a huge tunnel, I can feel a terrifying aura coming from that direction. I think that's where Vexsus is but I don't see any way for us to get past those guards without getting into a fight."
"I figured as much, but we have another issue. Sondar said that he has felt the connection between him and Vexsus growing weaker. So whatever we need to do to get to Vexsus as quickly as possible, it needs to be done now. I don't want to think of what could happen if we get there to late."
Sylvania then went into a quick battle strategy where Liosa and Howy would go around and setup the quick growing flower seeds that Shorunt was able to produce using some new druidic power he had been working on. It looked kind of like a stone, well I guess that fits the theme of our surroundings, but after showering it with a little magic it would quickly take root into the floor and start to grow a very sturdy stone like flower that grew a crystal orb in the center. He called it the Orb flower, but what was amazing was that if he concentrated enough and with the help of others, he could actually make the orbs produce a specific effect, like for example, my impromptu smoke bombs, or bombs in general, It was mind blowing.
After a few nail biting moments where the scouts were almost caught on a few occasions by the ants and goblins, we finally finished laying the traps, we had smoke bombs set up along with a few ice bombs that more or less just sent out a condensed wave of cold that would either freeze or at the very least slow down the enemies. Shorunt wasn't able to make Orb Flowers that could handle the fire and electricity elements but that was fine.
We all sneaked along until we came up to a few goblins who were talking in some weird language, Shorunt had to translate for us.
"They are wondering why the trading team from home hasn't arrived yet. They are afraid that if they don't show up soon with the tributes to the ant king that they might decide to kill and eat them." Shorunt says almost in real time before he utters a low gasp and goes wide eyed.
"They....They are now speaking about how the king is supposedly a giant lizard who with the aid of a crazy person that is always covered in a cloak, was able to successfully create dragon ants of various mutations. How could this be? Does this mean that Vexsus had started working with Digger and decided to betray us? Could Master really drop all care that he has show for us?"
Shorunt was visibly spiraling down the drain so I had to snap him out of it.
'BLAM' I uppercut him and sent him flying into the air for a few seconds. I will admit that it was a bad move considering we were trying to be sneaky but for him to doubt Vexsus so quickly just because of a few goblins talking, I couldn't bear to hear anymore. That was when I said screw it and charged out from our hiding place.
"AHHHH, GIVE VEXSUS BACK TO MEEEEE!!!" I roared as I brandished a one handed axe that I created in the moment. It was light enough to swing but held enough weight that I could easily break bones and destroy bodies with a single swing. Especially if it was these weak little goblins.
I swung horizontally and it almost looked like a farmer harvesting wheat with his scythe, as all 3 of the goblins were smacked and then carried with the momentum to go sailing through the air and smack with a sickening splat against the cave wall. I turned around and stared at Shorunt who was still on the ground and was staring at me while holding his chin.
"You swore to always be loyal to your master, but here you are, doubting him and losing your faith after hearing a few measly words. How dare you call yourself his second in command. I don't care what he says after we get him back. You have lost all respect from me." I said with a angered voice before leaving him behind and running after my next victim.
The others had finally revealed themselves and after helping up Shorunt, they ran after me and joined the fight. Konna joined me in the lead as we both laid waste to worker ants and goblins alike. The ones that we currently were slaying were the same as the ones a year ago, they had the same shell and color as back then. Nothing had changed with the ants. The red goblins looked similar but their weaponry had improved into semi metal weapons. It seems that someone had supplied a limited amount of iron or some kind of metal to the red goblin tribe, but in the end it didn't matter as they all fell beneath my axe swings.
I was to entranced with releasing my anger to even notice what the others were doing but from time to time I could feel a coldness wash over me, along with intermittent shocks that surrounded me and pushed my muscles to work even faster, and heat waves that burned away the blood splattered on me and cauterized any wounds the pathetic enemies before me were lucky enough to open on me.
It wasn't until near the end as I was finishing caving in the skull of a slightly bigger than normal warrior ant that I had realized that the Royal Guards had not moved from their position. I tried to keep an eye on them throughout the fight but after a certain point I partially blacked out as the anger drove me.
I looked over to see that there between 4 additional Royal guards there was a cloaked figure that looked semi humanoid. I got ready to attack again but as I took a step forward the hooded figure quickly raised a blue, segmented arm that ended in a hand with 3 fingers.
"WAIT!! I do not pose any harm, I came because I could feel the pain of my children dying and I had to come and see, but to think that after all this time, it would be you again." The hooded figure raised its arms and pulled off the hood.
There unveiled was a humanoid ant, it had the face that resembled a woman but with sections of blue armor like pieces around its shoulders and neck, it had 2 small mandibles on the sides of its mouth. It took off the cloak to reveal the rest of its body, It had leather patchwork covering the woman areas of its body but inbetween was a full view of the similar looking armor like pieces that surrounded its body. It stood up on 2 legs but it also had other arm like appendages sprouting from its body. But they were cut off at the elbow area, Finally it spoke again after a few seconds.
"I am The queen Antasia, I was named so after I had gained a sense of independence from that disgusting mole man and his pet lizard, who he forced me to mate with after I acquired this humanoid body." She dropped to her knees and bowed to us before lifting her head with tears flowing down her face.
"Please, Kill me, I can't take this anymore. That horrendous bastard makes my children go through such torturous pain every day just so he can experiment and find a way to get the perfect body, while he pits them against his pet only to have them killed and eaten, no matter how many he has sent into the pit they all die and become food for that feral beast."
We were all shocked after hearing what she said. Mostly because she kept referring to Vexsus as a lizard, which I could feel laser beams of hatred coming from a few of the girls behind me but that was understandable. But to think that she was forced to mate with him.
I was a bit concerned at what exactly had been happening all this time with Vexsus but I didn't think that he had fallen to such a level that he was considered Digger's pet. I had to see what was going on.
"I won't kill you, but I can promise you that if you join us and fight against Digger, we can make sure that you can go back to the way things should be. You can make children and survive just like your ancestors used to."
I couldn't kill a valuable source of info just because she wanted to die. It's harsh I know but for the sake of finding out what the hell happened during the past year, we needed her alive and willing to help.
"By the way we have in our possession a queen egg, but it hasn't hatched in all this time. Can you see what's the matter with the little egg and find out what we need to do?" I said hoping that maybe if I could distract her train of thought we might be able to coerce her.
As the twins brought forward the egg of a queen and showed it to Antasia she gasped before rushing and trying to grab the egg, but Konna and Liosa jumped in front of her before she could get any closer, which that made the Royal Guards take action and rush to her aid before standing at her side imposingly.
"That egg belongs to my colony. If that is the egg from my queen than that is my sister. Give her back to me this instant." Antasia said before stepping forward again, this time they guards stepped forwards aswell.
"Ho, now just wait one second. We got this as a loot drop from the previous queen who tried to kill us. We have done all we could to provide for this egg this whole time. If you had any connection whatsoever with it then you would have already tried to come and take it back, but since you haven't then you have no right to try and demand of us."
At this point I was a little ticked off, but not to the point I still didn't see her value.
"Please Antasia just relax and let's talk, I'm sure we can come up with some kind of agreement that will benefit the both of us. All we want to know is what happened in the past year? How did you gain a humanoid form? Why did you say that Vexsus had become feral? Things like that."
Sylvania had calmed down enough to join the conversation and try and be diplomatic. Antasia was silent for a bit while she pondered on what she could get out of this.
"Hmmmm. Fine, I can see that if we were to fight for the egg it would just end poorly for me and my guards. All I ask in return is that you kill Diggers pet lizard. You do that and I will not only tell you everything I know, I will also join your group and travel with you."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, We can't just kill Vexsus. The whole reason we are here is to rescue him. There has to be something else that you want. What about what I said before, what about getting rid of Digger so that you can go back to the way you and your colony were before Digger came along?"
"Digger has been around for multiple queens. His experiments started before even my mother was born. How do you think she was so powerful? She was in constant pain but that pain brought her power that no other queen before her had ever dreamt of. I was born through experimentation with humanoid DNA, ontop of whatever was introduced into my body from my mother. I was never destined to live like a normal queen ant."
She said with a downward gaze, she shed a few more tears before looking back up.
"All I want is for that ruthless bastards pet to die horribly. Because of him I was forced to lay countless eggs that were mutated and barely resembled ants at all. They all had taken the forms based off of Vexsus as you call it. They had scales alongside their shells. but because the 2 intertwined, they grew out at weird angles and caused more pain and weak points that were easily taken advantage of. They had no underlying strength to support the DNA of such a powerful creature, 90% of the hatchlings had died hours after hatching. The other 10% had grown so powerful that the second they were able to walk they gave me no respect as their mother. They followed his words alone, I had no place to command them."
At that time Howy came over and whispered. "Hey man we gotta go, me and Liosa started to feel that crazy strong and terrifying aura start to get closer to our position. We gotta go if we don't wanna fight whatever is coming."
"OK" I turn to Antasia. "We are leaving now. My friends sense a strong presence approaching so we are going to retreat for now. You can either come with us or stay it's your choice. Everyone we leave now." I said before we all left the cave, after a few minutes I could feel the presence of a couple Royal guards aswell as the queen following us.
"If they are coming to then they are working, it's as simple as that. We don't have a whole lot of food to give to somebody who isn't working for it."
"I promise you that these 2 are my most loyal of guards. These are a couple of the last remaining generation before all the crazy experiments from Digger. The may not be as powerful as the latest, but they will do anything to keep me safe."
"Sure whatever, let's just go." I said not really caring.
It took us a bit longer than usual to get back as we had encountered a group of goblins outfitted with carriers and different packs. It seemed as if these were the trader groups that the first goblins spoke of. We ofcourse massacred them and took their meat and whatever provisions they had, we looted them and found a few well maintained pieces of armor aswell as a strange book. I had the boys pack it all up and not worry about it for now.
We arrived back at camp and after eating a quick meal of stewed goblin meat we figured out the new sleeping arrangements and I quickly passed out, ofcourse after setting up the nights guard duties.
[Incoming Message from: The Sin of Gluttony]
[Dear Sondar, I know we have not spoken before but it would seem that a very pressing issue has befallen our friend Vexsus, I feel the power I have given him as been overflowing as of late. I need to know the reason why that is, I would as others but given the case of me not having the power to bless other mortals with my power, I have decided that since you have traces of my power running throughout your body. It would be easier and more Divine Energy efficient to fork over the remaining energy to make you the second mortal in this world to receive the Sin of Gluttony.]
The next second I felt a wave of power flow through me but seconds later I was forced awake by tremendous pain. It seemed that deep within my soul 2 forms of power were at war trying to take its place as the brand on it. I could feel that on one side was a pure light that I felt fueled my desire to always strive and to always persevere in what I set my mind to. On the other side is a green and forever voracious energy that was trying its best to devour the pure light.
It felt like hours had gone by but in the blink of an eye the pain had vanished and a new pop up had made me go slack-jawed.
[User: Sondar has gained the skills: Devour, Assimilate, Chimera.]
[User: Sondar has gained the Sin of Gluttony.... Errrrooooorrrr....]
[SOul BRandInG InCOMplete. Soul already branded.]
[GLuttony Now Attempting to devour previous brand.]
[.....Success..... Brand will now be assimilated.....Complete]
[The mark of GLuttony has devoured the Mark of Perseverance]
[User: Sondar has acquired the Merged brand: Gluttonous Tainted Perseverance.]
[User: Sondar's skills have mutated: Devour ->
[Fuel the Fire] - User consumes nutrients and stockpiles in order to power other Gluttonous Tainted Perseverance Abilites.
Assimilate -> [Body Strengthening] - User can burn stockpiled nutrients in order to provide permanent stat enhancement.
Chimera -> [Limit Breaker] - Through Sheer willpower User will be able to break past all limits and infuse large amounts of nutrients for a tremendous boost in strength. Caution: will consume double the nutrients upon deactivation.. Time limit: 30 Minutes.
