Will had just walked into Barthew’s tent when he smelled strong drugs and the effects of extensive passion inside. The source being the man he came to see. With a hose in one hand, a glass of wine in the other and the head of a young female elf between his legs; Will barely kept a neutral look on him.
“ I have encountered a few oddities with your business.”
The caravan leader took a toke from the pipe before coughly the smoke then taking a drink of the wine.
“ My oddities are none of your business beastkin.”
Will had the thought of beheading the man for a brief moment, but held back for several reasons, all of which stood at either side of the man swimming in indulgence.
“ We at Deep Hollow are happy to trade and welcome all those that embrace our rights to free wills. So it comes to my surprise when many of our citizens have been put under magical snares.”
This caused Barthew to pause.
“ I see, so here we are, what are you going to do about it kobold spawn.”
Will tightened his jaw hearing him insult his mother by the tone alone. He might have been born one evolution higher, but he was proud of his roots.
“ Naturally, while you have performed no direct actions to harm my home. After I am done here I will send a notice to my people informing them from partaking in your business. In three days I expect all traces of you out of the lands of the dungeon.”
Silence was formed between then for a long minute. It was however broken as the elf pulled back from Barthew and started coughing up the man’s seed. He sets down the wine glass and looks to his dwarven guard.
“ Very well, we shall depart as instructed. Our haul was not as large as we wished, but we still profited.”
Will kept his eyes on those in front of him as he backed out of the tent.
———-
To keep the peace, to avoid conflict when able, to stand firm when needed. Principles he began to adapt as Will began performing his guard duty. This was not enough he knew, but he was only one individual guarding a town of over a hundred. Even with his sister volunteering, many of the others just desired to live their day to day lives, uninvolved with the duty. Yet, it should be remembered many of their citizens are former adventurer’s wanting a peaceful life. Even among those that are not, the lowest strength of any adult that had lived in the village was rank C. Most small cities did not have that many mid rank individuals in it. This would make anyone hungry for souls a tempting but dangerous target.
The night the caravan left Will slept uneasy. Something was bothering him, some sense was warning him. Hearing a floorboard beside his bed creak, Will performed an area scan while pretending to still be asleep. He almost reacted too late as a blade came down toward his chest and he rolled toward his assailant. His surprise on the attacker was short lived as the wolfkin took his claw and attacked Will with it. Will responded in kind with his own. The wolfkin and he were the same rank, but the wolfkin was armored in leather, yet this was Will’s home. Using his tail he grabs a nearby chamberpot and throws its contents in the wolfkin’s face. This was all he needed to overpower the wolfkin as he tackled him and used his position to drive his claws deep into the other’s neck. Will looked down at the life he just took before raising up and rushed to get ready. Realizing if he was attacked, then who else might have been as well.
The first place Will went was to Lora’s store. Being the place with the most valuable items, outside of the dungeon’s mines or temple areas, naturally it had the highest security. Not only was the lock on the door but the windows were reinforced with bars. As with their father, Lora kept the place locked up at night. When he finally roused her from her sleep she was glad to see the infant twins with her as well. Marleen wanted an extra night for herself before taking over her motherly duties again.
Knowing his sister and nephews were well, Will moved on to the next building, the tavern. At this late hour only the late night staff was preparing for the next day’s meals. Fortunately, they were all ex-adventurers who got frustrated at their old parties and decided to retire to pursue their real passions. The three D rank assailants were no match for the cooking staff. As those in the tavern were lucky, Will found many were not. Some homes were bloodbaths. Entire families slaughtered, others with a single body remaining as the women and children were gone, or all claimed without a trace. Julie soon found him organizing the survivors. Apparently she was awakened by a warning from Loyee and started immediately treating the injury brought to her. Yet that is not why she was looking for him.
“ Marleen and the twins are gone!”
Will went wide eyed slightly but kept his head.
“ Lora has the twins.”
Julia released a sigh of relief before realizing he did not mention their sister.
“ You mean…”
Will grabs her by the shoulders.
“ I am going to need your best blessings.”
———-
It was a little over a dozen miles away before Will caught up to the kidnappers. Unlike before, the stench of undead and demons scorched his nose. It took little effort for him to cut through the weak fodder before he got to the large central tent, where he was being pulled by the connection with his sister. What he encountered was the missing being surrounded by a dozen undead armored knights. The C rank individuals all but helpless against the armored and armed opponents. Outside of them were three women who were dragged away to be toyed with by demons. The one that concerned him the most was being defiled by a demon. Worse her eyes were lifeless and her neck turned at an odd angle.
“Marleen!”
With that he charged into the demon with his sword drawn and executed the other two who were on the other women in his next move. Not even one of the armored undead lasted more than a minute against his blade. Just as the undead collapsed onto itself, clapping came from behind Will.
“ Well done, very well done. I must say when I laid eyes on you I had hoped to add you to my collection.”
Will turned to find Barthew with his guard dwarf looking pleased, as if this was some kind of show.
“ Do you have any idea what you have done?”
Barthew smiled pleased with himself.
“ Of course, I attacked an unaffiliated dungeon. The adventurer guild can not aid you here.”
It was Will’s turn to smile this time.
“Yes, we are not under the guild’s thumb, but we are not restricted by them either.”
Then Will saw them, greater demons.
“ Amusing, you think you stand a chance?”
Barthew then signaled the attack.
“ Threat rank A, permission granted for Legacy, Limit Break!”
As the greater demons charged Will’s aura exploded in rank from C to B and then A. With each increase waves of pressure washed over the area. The greater demons took a slower stride with the wave from the B rank increase, but were stopped in their tracks by the A rank increase. Will took this as hesitation and began his attack. He began by striking the unaware greater demon on the right in the neck. It’s skin felt as if it were iron, but what Will’s sword is made of was magic steel. It offered only enough resistance to cause his attack to slow into the second greater demon, which blocked his followthru attack with its arm. The blade dug right into the greater demon’s bone before stopping. This loss of momentum caused Will to lose grip on his sword or risk being caught up in the greater demon’s backswing. This did not matter as Will took out his dagger as he dropped under the arm and propelled himself upwards right as he landed. Before the greater demon could finish it’s grab for him his dagger found it’s heart. As the body dropped Will could not help but back away and start panting as clapping started up again.
“ Well done indeed. It seems that I need to interfere myself.”
The dwarf turned toward Barthew worried, but had no time to do anything else as Barthew grabbed him by the neck and snapped it. Will was unsure what Barthew just did but the dungeon did.
“ Rank S-SS detected. Count level (165) demon.”
Will frowned at that.
“ I guess I have no choice.”
Will took an honor guard stance.
“ To the three I beseech thee. I Will of the Dungeon Hollow ask for your guidance, your strength and your wisdom. Amongst us is one that seeks to taint this peaceful dungeon. I paladin Will in thy names stand against this.”
Barthew smirked as he watched this, Will’s limit break had already faded and he looked amused wondering what he is trying to do now.
“ For the crime of my sister’s life. I sentence you to death. AVATAR OF THE DUNGEON!”
Suddenly the area around them becomes a black void surrounded by purple mist in the distance. Only Barthew and Will were there.
“ What is this? A pocket dimension? I must say I am impressed by a C rank dungeon.”
That is when Barthew noticed the three copper statues behind Will, one of an old man reading a book. To his side is a lesser dragonkin woman who the book belonged to. To the other a woman in an upscale dress. She appeared to be stroking the heads of some beastkin. Then he noticed many of them were his beastkin slaves. The last statue in the center worried him the most. First being the most life-like, but also the crystal shards it held in it’s lap. The black shards exude both power and age.
“ Do what you must, my child. He has already taken one I love dearly. He shall not have another.”
This is when Will’s rank spiked up again. Well past the limits of his physical body. Well past what mere ranks of mortals list. Well past the point Barthew realized he made a grave mistake.
