A Monster Life Ch. 37-39

*Ulric and his girls are barely back on their journey, and the next trouble begins.

*

37 - Deep Tunnel

'A couple of humans, a pig orc, and two bloodwolves.'

Grandell drummed his thick orc fingers on the heavy wooden table in the old farmhouse he and his men occupied, and pondered the price for killing the party that Tarrence requested. 'What's with that strange bunch?' he grunted. 'How are two of those beasts with them?'

'An unfortunate effect of a failed domination spell.' said the canine as he fingered a pouch with coins. 'The beast gained some intelligence. Only that one though, the other is just a young one.'

Grandell took another swig from his mug with bitter ale and leaned on his elbows. 'If it's smarter it'll probably make it even more dangerous.'

Tarrence smirked slightly. 'His weakness are the women.'

The orc stared at him for a moment, then laughed. 'We'll have some fun with that then.' he said and grinned. 'You have a deal.'

Tarrence placed the pouch at the centre of the table. 'Make sure none survive.' he said as he stood up. 'Or escape from you.'

The orc drank again and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. 'The women won't be able to walk after we're done with them, the rest are dead.'

***

'Mmm, Master..' hummed Kaui in her deep kiss with Ulric, while his paws kneaded her firm behind after they had waded in a small stream to freshen up. 'Am I really your wife?'

He nuzzled her snout. 'Yes, you are, my cutie, and there's nothing that can separate you from me.'

She smiled up at him and ran her fingers through the thick fur on the back of his head. 'I don't know if the day you took me for the first time, the day you collared us, or today, is the best day of my life.'

'I feel like every new day together with everyone is the best day of my life.'

Valdys pulled his muzzle towards her and kissed him. 'It certainly felt like you were at your best today.' she said and giggled.

He wrapped one arm around her behind and pulled her close. 'It's so surreal, how it feels like I gain more energy with each of you girls bonding with me.'

Iphigenia leaned against his back and kissed his cheek. 'You say that, but I think that's actually true.' she said. 'I certainly had nothing to complain about the first time, but it feels like everything's more energised, and I'm not just talking about our tallies reaching higher numbers.'

'It's a good thing.' said Elzbieta. 'There's no way we'll be able to avoid facing demon armies while we're searching for the way to get to the demon lord, so we'll have to become stronger than we are now.'

'Yeah, as strong as I feel right now, I'm sure I can't take on a demon lord, never mind whatever army he has.' Ulric said.

'My guts tells me by the time we reach him, you'll have more power than ever.' said Iphigenia.

He chuckled. 'We'll all have to level up as much as we can. Too bad there's no cheat to max out our levels at once.'

'I don't mind if it takes some time.' said Valdys. 'I'm still not used to being able to perform all the magic I learned from books, or what I inherited from Demetrus.'

'We'll just have to see what happens and do whatever we can.' said Ulric. 'For now, I need to cool down before you have to put Susi to sleep again because my appetite is growing.'

The girls felt a throb in their nether regions and blushed. 'We'd better as well, otherwise we're going nowhere any time soon.' said Elzbieta and quickly sat down into the cool water.

***

The party enjoyed their trek through the low grass hills and the last light of day until Ulric picked up the sound of someone in distress. 'Something's going on up ahead.' he said and pointed his ears towards the path leading through the trees. 'I hear cries of fear.'

'Let's run!' Iphigenia said and looked back at Kaui and Valdys. 'Don't come close if you think it's too dangerous for you two!'

Ulric, Iphigenia, Elzbieta, and Susi ran off, and the sound of a woman crying out and a man grunting became clearer. They rounded a shallow bend and at the end found the cause, a cart slanted sideways in a hollow in the ground from which a woman desperately threw small barrels at a couple of grey-green lizards the size of a grown man, but with thick, long necks, while the bearded man tried to fight them off with a short sword and a small shield. Ulric smelled his blood before they even saw his bloodstained clothing. 'He's hurt! Iphi, help him while Elz and I take care of those things!'

The lizards noticed the two approaching from the back, but before they could turn and attack, Elzbieta spun around and sliced the target's powerful neck in two, while Ulric evaded the teeth filled jaws thrust at him, and tore a large piece from his target's throat with his claws. It trashed around violently until it choked on its own blood and fell down, twitching slightly until it finally died.

The man fell back unconsciously against the cart and dropped his sword. 'Zolly!' cried the woman.

Iphigenia knelt next to him, examined the deep cuts on his side and leg, and muttered her healing spell while she held her hands close to the wounds until the worst of the bleeding stopped. She took a deep breath and looked up at the woman. 'It's a little better now but he needs treatment right away.' She looked back to the path to see Kaui and Valdys hurrying towards them. 'He needs bandages and something to close his cuts.' she said over the link.

Kaui was quick to clean the wounds and bandage them after applying a herbal paste to speed up healing. She checked the man's breath after she was done and gave the worrying woman a friendly smile. 'He'll be all right in due time with plenty of rest.'

The woman sighed and slumped back against a barrel inside the cart. 'Thank you, thank you so much.'

***

'My name is Willan.' said the woman in her thirties on the way to the village she and her husband were headed to. She sat with him while he lay asleep in the back of the cart. 'My husband's name is Zolberg but everyone calls him Zolly. We're local merchants and travel around the nearby villages here and deliver all sorts of goods, including spices and fabrics and any letters and packages someone wants to send. There was a rumour about monster activity at the last village but it seemed to be exaggerated, until we found out just how true it was.' She stroked her husband's forehead and his bushy beard. 'I'm so grateful for your arrival, we would've died if it wasn't for you.'

'We're glad we were able to help.' said Iphigenia, who held the reins while Ulric pulled the cart. The horse had bolted in fear of the lizard monsters and Elzbieta was currently searching for it to return it. 'What were the rumours?'

Willan thought back for a moment. 'They said wildlife was on the run from something and they found mutilated carcasses, but no one had seen what kind of beast had actually done it.'

Valdys examined the two corpses tied to the rear of the cart. 'I doubt these two were the sole cause of it. There must be more or even other monsters wandering about.'

'Perhaps they know more in the next village.' Willan said.

***

Elzbieta joined the rest just as they caught sight of the village surrounded by a wooden fence. The horse had calmed down at her soothing words, and followed her meekly. 'You can let the horse pull the cart now, darling.' she said over the link.

'It's all right, we're nearly there and the poor thing can use a bit of rest after that scare.' he said.

She stroked his head and rested her hand in his neck until they reached the edge of the village. Some of the villagers had already seen them coming and were staring in disbelieve at Willan's and Zolly's cart being pulled by a wolf demon. An elderly woman stepped forward. 'Willan! What happened!?'

'We were attacked on our way here but these people saved us.' Willan said. 'Zolly was hurt badly.'

The villagers stared again at the monsters. 'Are those the ones that attacked you?' asked the elderly woman.

'Yes.'

She looked at the unknown saviours, the strange squirrel creature, and the unbelievably tame bloodwolves, and turned to Iphigenia. 'I'm Texia, the mayor of this village. Would you consider listening to my request?'

***

The party joined the mayor at the communal house that served as a local inn and gathering place for all village events, after Elzbieta and Ulric took the horse and cart to the back. Willan was there after putting her husband to bed and so were some of the villagers. Texia sat at the middle of a long table with the party around her, and glanced at Ulric sitting next to Iphigenia in front of her. 'This is the first time I've had an animal sit in on a meeting.'

Iphigenia gave her a reassuring smile. 'Ulric is a full fledged member of our group.' she said and stroked his neck. 'In fact, he's our most beloved member.'

'Don't make me blush in front of strangers, Iphi.' he said over the link.

Iphigenia giggled once. 'It's best if you see him as another person.'

Texia cleared her throat and thought it best to indulge in this idiosyncrasy if that was all to get the adventurers to help. 'The monsters you encountered came from a recently spawned cave and hill.'

Willan leaned closer. 'So the rumours at Liggam were true?'

Texia nodded. 'We sent word to them when one of our villagers returned wounded a couple of days ago. He had left with another group of adventurers to guide them.' She gazed at everyone at the table. 'He was the only survivor.'

'How many were there in the group?' asked Iphigenia.

'Five.'

'Their rank?'

'E-F.'

'That's higher than on our card.' said Ulric over the link. 'But is it normal for caves and hills to spawn out of nowhere?'

'We just don't have a lot of quests registered on ours.' said Elzbieta. 'We're much stronger than that, and things like these don't really spawn out of nowhere, they usually begin as a sort of seed that accumulates surrounding mana. The plant then digs deeper and creates a maze underground and grows ever larger monsters to protect itself.'

Iphigenia clasped her hands and looked at Texia. 'You think we can do better than them?'

'When I saw you, a voice in the back of my head said you'd be the ones who could help us.'

Iphigenia chuckled. 'Hard to argue with those voices. What do you expect us to do?'

'The villages around here are small, the lord of this country doesn't care what happens to us so we can't rely on any help from him, even though we pay taxes. Our only hope is adventurers like you to take a look, and if possible, destroy the source.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'Shall we help them out?' she asked over the link. 'We could use it as an opportunity to train.' The others agreed and she gave Texia a smile. 'We'll do it. If we leave things be it'll only become a huge disaster.'

'Thank you.' Texia said and trembled slightly while her stress dissipated. 'We would've had no other option than to leave our home town and hope to find a suitable and safe place to begin a new life.' She gestured to one of the men at the table. 'Orrac can guide you to the place tomorrow. It'll be too dark soon to venture out and we have guest rooms here for you in the meantime.'

'Good, that'll give us some time to learn what you've found out so far and prepare ourselves.'

***

'The cave is up ahead.' said Orrac and shifted his gaze at the trees left and right.

Iphigenia looked at Ulric and he gave her a nod. 'I don't smell any danger behind us, so it's probably safe for him to return now.' he said over the link. 'It's still eerie though, I smell birds but they're silent, and the only other animals I smell are small rodents. No larger ones at all.'

She turned to Orrac and put her hand on his shoulder. 'There's no need for you to go any further. The way back to the village should be clear if you hurry.'

He looked back at the path behind them, then at the path ahead. 'Are you sure? It's not much further but if you don't need me to guide you any further, I'd rather not go near that place.'

Iphigenia nodded. 'Just go quickly.'

He gave her a nervous smile. 'Be careful, all of you, and good luck. We'd like to see you return in good health.'

'We'll manage.' Iphigenia said and Orrac jogged back down the path, looking back once to give a quick wave.

'What's waiting ahead of us?' Elzbieta asked.

Ulric confirmed his guess with another sniff of the air. 'I smell another one of those lizard things, and something I haven't smelled before but reminds me a bit of orc.'

Susi sniffed the air. 'Daddy's nose is better than Susi's.'

He nuzzled her. 'I was very lucky to gain a really good nose some time ago, along with another great gift.' he said and winked at Kaui, who blushed.

The party caught sight of the rock hill and the cave entrance with a jagged overhang resembling an upper jaw of a predator full of sharp teeth, and the two creatures ripping a bear carcass apart and the meat from its bones with their bare teeth. 'Troll!' said Elzbieta and drew her sword.

'Damn, they really are as ugly as in the movies.' said Ulric as he watched the fat troll with the chin the size of a waste container, including all of its attractiveness. It grunted as it stood up and Ulric wished he could erase the sight of the naked creature forever. The roll picked up a long log with sharp rocks wedged into it on one side, while the lizard growled and fluttered its throat.

'You have trolls in your world, Wolfie?'

'No. Well, yes, but those are a different kind of troll. The ones in the movies hat look like this are make-believe.'

The troll and the lizard bolted towards the party and Iphigenia and Elzbieta stepped forward. 'You really have to tell us more about these movies, darling.'

Before the troll could bring down his club on Iphigenia or the lizard could bite at Elzbieta, the girls ducked and jumped, thrust and slashed at the monster in front of them, then spun around, and stabbed and cut the other one. The lizard shrieked and the troll roared, both tried to attack once more, but the girls stepped back and stabbed and slashed as if they were dancing, until the two creatures fell down in exhaustion on the ground soaked with their blood. Two fierce slashes from Elzbieta separated their heads from their necks, finishing them.

The rest drew near and Ulric fluttered his lips when he forgot he couldn't whistle in awe. 'Maybe the rest of us should just wait out here so as to not get in your way while you clear out all the monsters inside.'

Iphigenia chuckled. 'We can't do it all on our own.'

'It's also good training for you, darling.' said Elzbieta as she wiped her sword. 'You're still not done training without the use of your extra abilities.'

He chuckled and curled his tail against his rear. 'Yeah, there's that too.'

Elzbieta pulled out a knife and cut into the back of the troll's neck underneath his skull, and with a twist pushed out a small, curved stone the size of a thumb. She wiped it and showed it to Iphigenia, who gave a nod. 'Monster seeder.'

'Monster seeder?' asked Ulric and Elzbieta showed the grey-brown stained, smooth stone. 'From this weird pebble?'

Elzbieta stuck her knife below the back of the lizard's head. 'Not quite. The mana stone's proof the troll's not of natural birth. It was grown by a monster seeder, the plant mentioned at the meeting, which defends itself by growing different monsters in pods, usually ones it captured and absorbed before.' She pulled another similar stone from the neck, but with greenish colours. 'One might be coincidence, two is definite proof of the plant's presence in the neighbourhood. Our suspicions were correct.'

They all went over to the cave entrance and Elzbieta looked at Iphigenia. She gave a nod again. 'Something strange is going on.'

Ulric raised his eyebrow. 'A plant giving birth to living creatures already stresses my weirdness gauge, what more is there?'

Iphigenia pointed at the soft green fluorescent light coming from patches of moss on the cave walls and ceiling. 'Unless the plant hasn't burrowed deeper, this much moss, which we call Grasslight, couldn't be already so abundant here in days. It takes longer to grow so much.'

'Could it be that the cave is older than they said?'

Elzbieta shook her head. 'They would've spotted it earlier, and these walls are new, there's too much loose dirt on them.' she said and swiped a part with her hand to show how much of it fell down. 'I haven't heard of one expanding this fast before.'

Iphigenia looked at Kaui and Valdys. 'Not to my knowledge.' said Kaui.

Valdys stared into space for a moment, then shook her head. 'Nothing in my library that explains it.'

Iphigenia peered into the dim green depth of the tunnel. 'We'll just have to proceed very carefully. I'll be rearguard.'

'Darling and I will be vanguard.' Elzbieta said and felt the light weight of her sword in her hand. 'I'm expect this will be one interesting exploration.'

38 - A Plant

'Which way?' asked Ulric at a junction a little deeper into the cave.

'You're our best guess, darling.' said Elzbieta as she peered into each tunnel. 'I can't make a judgement on which one's better.'

He sniffed the air around the split again and stepped into one tunnel. 'If that plant is further underground, my guess would be this tunnel. The air smells a little fresher in the other one, which makes me think it leads back out or doesn't lead very far.'

Elzbieta nodded. 'Then we'll take this one.' she said and went in with Ulric while the others followed closely.

Ulric halted a short while later. 'I smell blood.'

'Fresh?' asked Elzbieta.

He frowned. 'Yes, but old as well.'

'Kaui, keep your grenades ready.' said Elzbieta.

'Already in hand.' she said.

'Don't move too far away from me, I can blast an attacker back.' said Valdys.

Cautiously, the party moved forward until sounds of clothing ripped to pieces mixed with open mouth smacking and low grunts. Moving in total silence around a tight bend in the tunnel, they looked into a chamber with a troll sitting with his back towards them. It's head bobbed and weaved as it tore on something and ate it. With a casual toss, it dropped what it ate aside and the party held their breath.

Kaui looked away at once. 'That's a man's leg!'

'Fuck!' said Ulric when his stomach turned. 'I knew I should expect this eventually here, but to actually witness it right in front of me is a bit much. Crap!'

'I'll take care of it.' said Elzbieta and stepped silently and swiftly towards the troll's back, and hew his neck with one swing. The troll's head rolled to the side and she turned away from the carnage and blood soaked ground in front of the troll' s body. 'From the clothes and the weapons lying near the wall, I'd say this was one of the adventurers.'

Ulric looked up at her pale face. 'You all right, my dear?'

She stroked his neck. 'I'll be when we're farther away from this scene, darling.'

After more junctions and winding tunnels, Ulric halted the group again. 'I have no idea what I'm smelling or hearing, but there are a number of them.'

Elzbieta went to scout ahead and located a large chamber with a flock of birds, half the height of a human, and only feathers covering their backs and the top of their wings. 'Kruks.' she said.

'Something new again?' asked Ulric.

'An ugly, large bird monster that should only be found in demon territory. There's a whole flock of them.'

The others arrived and Ulric took a quick peek into the chamber. 'And I thought vultures were ugly and nasty.' he said and turned to Elzbieta. 'Suggestion?'

'This many is dangerous and hard to handle. They're pretty quick on their feet and if they surround us could overwhelm us in numbers.'

'We could take them on in this tunnel.' said Iphigenia. 'If we lure them here they can only come from one side.'