Elwen the Conquered

Varian pressed the respawn button, returning to the world in a field near the town where he set his respawn point, just outside of the Deadwoods. He respawned with most of his equipment intact, his reward for leveling up so much. As long as his equipment’s level was lower than his, he had a chance to spawn with it, a chance that increased as the gap grew larger. It was a little different with unique equipment, where the equipment would only go with him if it was soul-bound, and it would always stay behind if it wasn’t.

‘Well, I guess I’ll head into town. I’ll need better weapons if I’m going to kill that monster, and maybe a bestiary that has information on it.’

He needed more information to kill that thing. He guessed it was highly poisonous, or venomous, on account of the snake head and the scorpion tail, but he needed to know if it had any more tricks up its sleeve and if it had any weak points. It was way stronger than he was, at least for now, but he had to get through it. Whatever it was guarding… he wanted it. He wanted all the secrets of that hidden ruin.

It was a short trek to the nearby town, only a half-hour. He made a visit to the local blacksmith, picking up a spear. It was a long spear, a little taller than he was. It would be a bother to carry, but hopefully, it would help keep the monster at bay. The town did have a small library, but he was unable to find the monster in any of the bestiaries. The closest he found was Lionake Chimera, a monster with the body of a lion, but a mane of snakes, like a gorgon. It didn’t have the same petrification abilities as a gorgon, but it could apparently spit poison. The bestiary didn’t specify whether it could only spit out of the lion’s head or the many snakeheads, but he hoped it was only the lion’s head. It would be a nightmare trying to fight something like that if all of the heads could spit poison.

Unsuccessful in his search for more detailed information, he decided to just assume that it had poison-related abilities. He went to the local apothecary, buying several antidotes as well as a couple of potions that would increase his resistance to poisons. He also went back to the blacksmith and bought a mail shirt that would go on top of his current armor. It would provide additional protection against the monster’s stinger and fangs. A short stop at the general store, and he restocked his supplies.

With his equipment gathered, he returned to the Deadwoods, now heading straight to the ruins. He was able to get there much quicker, now that he knew where he was going, arriving in the vicinity in just three days. Then, he began hunting the Scorakion.

He encountered the beast only a few hours after sunset. It seemed to him that it was a night-hunter. Quickly, he drank one of his poison-resistance potions. He then readied his spear, preparing to stab it in the throat as soon as it lunged at him.

The beast stared him down and started to slowly circle him, emitting a constant, low growl. It eventually did lung at him, meeting his spear. When that failed, its stinger flew forward, hitting his shoulder once again. The tip managed to penetrate his armor, but his chain mail prevented it from plunging any farther. He could feel the stinger’s venom pouring into him, and he quickly stabbed at the lion’s head, forcing it to withdraw. He drank an antidote, hoping that the two potions would be enough to stop the poison.

Now, he pressed forward, stabbing at the monster’s side. He successfully hit it, digging deeply into its thigh, before it swiped at the shaft of his spear with its front paw, snapping it in half. Then, another swipe ripped the front of this chainmail apart. And without his mail, the monster’s stinger had no trouble plunging into his heart.

And then he was met with black again.

After that, he decided to try killing it from afar. He had an archery skill; he might as well use it. He picked up some large, barbed arrows, hoping that they would be enough to hinder the monster once they dug into its musculature.

He left again, heading for the mountaintop ruins once again. He camped earlier on the second day, delaying his arrival, hoping to catch the beast off guard at dusk.

That plan failed when the beast spotted him far too early, charging at him before he could get off his first shot. He still managed to hit it a couple of times before it got to him, but it wasn’t enough to stop the beast.

His third plan was fire. If he couldn’t stab it to death, he’d burn it to death. The alchemist was suspicious when he asked for that potion, but a few extra few coins and a promise not to use it in town shut him up.

Unfortunately, that plan didn’t work out either. Apparently, poison plus fire equals poison gas. Who knew?

At this point, Varian was more than a little annoyed. ‘Why won’t it just die?’ It almost seemed impossible to kill the monster, but still, he couldn’t give up. This time, he decided to plan things out perfectly. He had to win; he couldn’t afford to take any more death penalties.

He had noticed just before he threw the fire potion that the monster was still injured from his previous attacks. This was good, this meant that it was weakening. He couldn’t see if the fire had hurt the monster much, on account of him choking to death, but he hoped that it at least injured it. He felt like it wasn’t enough to kill it, but the more injured it was, the easier it would be to kill.

He needed a new mail shirt, his was far too damaged to be useful now. He also decided to add in a pair of pauldrons, including a gorget that would protect his upper chest. The stinger was powerful, and this would prevent the monster’s favorite attack using it. Another, shorter, spear and a shield were his, hopefully last, purchase from the smith.

Next, he went back to the alchemist, now picking up a different potion. Fire didn’t work, but if the creature was nocturnal, it would probably be blinded by intense light, so he grabbed a flash potion and a camouflage potion He really wanted some explosives, but the alchemist wouldn’t sell him any, no matter how much he tried to bribe him.

Finally, he picked up a goat from a local farmer. If he could hunt the monster, maybe he could ambush it while it was conducting its own hunt. The goat would be the perfect bait. He still didn’t know how the monster was finding him, but the goat was louder and smellier than him, and the camouflage would deal with the rest. With any luck, the Scorakion would go after it instead of him, allowing him to lure it right into his sights.

Once he gathered everything he needed, he ventured once more into the Deadwoods, now practiced in how to get to the ruins as quickly as possible. But, he wasn’t heading directly to the ruins. Instead, he went a little higher, into rockier, more treacherous terrain. The goat was actually doing better than he was, so much so that he decided to let it carry some of his gear for him.

‘Hah! That’s what you get for kicking me!’ His face still hurt from that. Luckily, he was able to get his sweet revenge.

Eventually, he found what he was looking for, a small canyon between two larger slopes. He led the goat inside, staking it to the ground using a stake from his tent. Then, he slowly lined up boulders along the edges of the canyon, and some large ones on one of the exits, blocking it off.

He waited for nightfall, hiding himself behind the rocks he placed along the edge of the canyon. Once it was dark, he drank his camouflage potion and the last of his poison resistance potions. Then, he waited.

Eventually, the monster came. But this time, he wasn’t the target. He watched as the lion-beast slowly approached the goat, unaware he, too, was prey. Once the Scorakion was just below him, he hurled the largest boulder he could lift at the monster, hoping to catch it by surprise. It worked, the monster letting out a terrible help of pain as the rock crashed into its side, throwing the beast against the narrow canyon’s wall. Then, he threw down the flash potion before the monster could recover. It exploded in a burst of light, blinding the monster, delaying its response further, and robbing it of its perfectly adapted night vision. At the same time, Varian moved to push as many boulders as he could over the ledge, trapping the beast inside.

Then, he ducked behind one of the remaining boulders, pulling out his bow. It spat globs of poison in his general direction, still blinded and unable to see him. He started peppering the beast with arrows, hiding behind the boulders whenever the monster was ready to spit another glob at him. His arrows lodged deeply into its body, slowly chipping away at its strength. The monster was unable to remove the arrows from its wounds, causing them to grow deeper as it tried to dodge his arrows. When he finally ran out of arrows, he returned to throwing boulders down at it, hoping to weaken it as much as possible before he got any closer.

When he did finally jump down, he pulled out his spear and shield as he did, ready to stab the beast before it could lung at him. Despite the end result, it still was rather effective at keeping the beast away. And he wasn’t taking any chances, even if the beast was nearly at death’s door.

It was clearly struggling now, shrinking back as he slowly approached, both spear and shield braced for its inevitable attack. Blood leaked out of its wounds, and it seemed to be having trouble standing. Still, he was unsure if that was the truth, or if it was a clever deception of the beast. Being in such a narrow area, he didn’t have to worry about the beast outmaneuvering him anymore. All attacks would come from the front, where his shield would block, and his spear would return the favor. He inched forward, pushing the beast further and further back, until it was backed into the corner, with nowhere to run. Only then did it attack, realizing that was its only option.

It managed to push his spear out of the way as it did so, headbutting his shield. It was a forceful hit, but he was braced for it, only being pushed back a little, and maintaining his posture. He was ready when the monster’s stinger came flying at him, using [Quick Step] to evade it. He thrust his spear forward, stabbing at the lion-head. The monster was just barely fast enough to move his head out of the way, his spear instead scrapping the monster’s shoulder. Another thrust forced the beast back, and he took a step forward, not letting up his assault.

After scoring a few hits against the monster, it decided to lung at him once more, its last-ditch effort to escape. His spear plunged deep into the beast’s throat. He tried to pull it out, but it was stuck far too deep for him to easily recover it. Varian barely had enough time to raise his shield as the monster’s stinger came hurtling towards him once again, slamming against his shield. The monster followed this up by swiping at the side of the shield with his claw, beating it to the side. The monster bit at his arm, Varian barely managing to remove it before the lion’s jaws shut. It tried to bite him again, but he managed to move his shield to block. To Varian’s surprise, the monster bit his shield, his fangs puncturing through the metal, his eyes staring down at him over the top of the shield.

He saw the snake crawl out of the lion’s mouth, hissing at him as it stood up. As it flung itself forward, biting at him, he drew his sword, using [Quick Slash] to sever the snake’s head. The monster reeled back, abandoning its attack. Varian pressed his advantage, opening up massive gashes in the belly of the beast.

The beast slammed back to the ground, his paws mauling him. Its claw scrapped against the metal plates of his armor, leaving deep scratches in the metal plates. Still, they did not penetrate through the mail beneath, and he was left unharmed.

As the beast lunged at him once more, Varian raised his sword, plunging deep into its mouth. The monster froze as his sword pierced straight through it. They stood there for a moment  before the beast finally fell.

Beside it, Varian, too, fell, exhausted from the fight. He absentmindedly watched as a series of screens popped up in front of him. He was far too tired to read them, the incessant chiming bluing together as he closed his eyes.

When he finally woke up, the haze of exhaustion no longer clouding his eyes, the screens were still waiting for him.

He could only grin as he read the same message over and over again.

‘Level Up!’

The past two weeks had been hard for Elwen and her new-found friends. The men in black uniforms had them doing things all day, mostly physical tasks like moving heavy things around or posing in certain ways. They also had them run a lot, which Elwen did not enjoy. And every time they didn’t do something exactly like they wanted, they hit them with these thin sticks that they carried around. What made it hard was that they never really told them what they were looking for, leaving them to figure it out. This led to them getting hit a lot at first, but as they learned what the men were looking for it got better.

Elwen managed to avoid the worst of it, either being adaptive enough to satisfy the men or being glossed over while they were searching for errors. Even still, there were a few days she had to sleep face-down because her butt still stinging when they returned to the barracks.

“Shit!” Skye yelled as she jumped onto her bed, “Ah! It fucking hurts!”

“Hah! That’s what you get for running your mouth all the time!” Yusha responded, her schadenfreude apparent on her face.

“It was only one joke! Why’d they have to hit so hard!” Skye complained, caressing her rear.

“They were probably just getting annoyed with all your attempts to seduce them.” Yusha giggled as she flipped over to her stomach.

“I have not been trying to seduce anyone!” Skye objected, momentarily flipping over to sit up and face her, before quickly changing her mind.

“Then why do you keep shaking your ass at them?” Yusha teasingly asked.

“I’m not!”

“Oh? Then why is it that every time you have to bend over, there’s always an enforcer behind you?”

“Wha? I’m not—shut up!” Skye threw her pillow at Yusha, who happily laughed as she caught it.

Just then, the door swung open, and the man in charge of their room stepped in. “What’s all this noise?! These rooms are for sleeping, not chatting! Get to sleep or I’ll throw you in the pens!” He was a supervisor, a sort of upper-level person in the fort’s hierarchy.

At the top was the Overseer, the man who gave them the speech when they arrived, who was in charge of the entire fort. Below him were the Supervisors, who were generally in charge of a certain area or function. For instance, a supervisor at the gates was in charge of managing the gates and the guards there. Similarly, a supervisor of medicine was responsible for all of the medical staff across the entire fort. Under the supervisors were the Enforcers, Specialists, and other staff. The Enforcers were the guards inside the fort, who were generally in charge of keeping everyone in line and carrying out the supervisors' orders. The Specialists were the staff who were specialized in one thing, like the slave trainers or the medical staff. They could give orders to the enforcers if it was a part of their specialty. For instance, the slave trainers regularly gave orders to the enforcers as part of training.

The supervisor’s threat shut everyone up, as no one wanted to end up in the pens. They were a fenced-in area outside where the supervisors would send unruly or disobedient slaves. There, dedicated trainers would ‘correct’ them. Once someone was sent there, they didn’t leave until the supervisors were happy. They hadn’t seen anyone be sent there yet, but they had heard a lot from the other slaves, enough that they were fearful of being sent there.

Elwen turned over in her bed, pulling the sheets up past her shoulders. She didn’t want to be punished, and the best way to avoid that was to avoid the attention of the supervisors. And the best way to do that was to do what they said and hide when she couldn’t. Very rarely could she accomplish both at the same time, but hiding under the sheets while trying to fall asleep was one way.