V1 C4 - Establishing a Base of Operations

Mania struck first and tore the guards at the entrance in two.

With a single swipe of her whip, four goblins fell.

“Abaddon, show me what you can do."

“Glady!”

Abaddon ran into the centre of the hive, the cave shaking as he did, and the goblins shrieked at his approach.

Hundreds of goblins trickled out of the smaller passageways armed with only flimsy stone tools.

Abaddon roared, wound back his fist and punched into the centre of a group of goblins, sending them flying into the walls. They smashed hard against the rock and crumpled, lifeless and bloody, onto the ground.

Abaddon chuckled. "This is far too easy."

Ten goblins leapt at him at once, but their attacks bounced off his armour. Abaddon grabbed one goblin’s head in his fist and crushed it into paste, before spinning a kick into the others, knocking their heads from their bodies.

After seeing such a sight, the other goblins froze and trembled before him.

“Come on!"” Abaddon gathered magical energy around his hands.

A moment later, they were encased in fire and Abaddon pulled one of his arms back. “If you won’t come to me, then-!”

“Abaddon!”

The flames dispersed immediately.

“L-lord Emperor?”

“You said yourself that you cannot properly control your fire magic, correct?”

“Y-Yes, I did, Lor-”

“Then why would you use it in a place I specifically ordered you not to?”

“F-Forgive me!”

The goblins were in shock.

A monster capable of wiping them out alone had just bowed to someone else without hesitation.

It was then, in their primitive minds, that they finally understood how dire their situation truly was.

“We’ll discuss this later. Mania, take care of the ones on our left. Abaddon, kill one goblin a time on our right until I say so. Try not to destroy their bodies; we need them for Mania’s Necromancy. I’ll handle the rest.”

Mania smiled. “As you command, Master. I’ll make sure I live up to your expectations.”

Abaddon shot a glare at Mania and punched a hole through a goblin next to him.

Mania cracked her whip at the goblins and sliced through twenty of them at once, severing them in half at the waistline. Then, she began swinging her whip all around her, cutting down more and more goblins. Abaddon, per David’s orders, slowly began picking off his goblins, punching each of them in the chest, destroying their hearts as efficiently as possible.

David waited until half of the goblins remained before he ordered them to withdraw.

Once they had, David stared down a horde of a hundred goblins alone, his body shaking beneath his armour, making it rattle ever so quietly.

I thought I’d already resolved myself to do this. Even though I saw how easily Mania and Abaddon killed the goblins, I’m scared to face them myself.

Though Eris said that she’d given him great strength and power, David wouldn’t know if that was true until he was in a real fight. He’d broken the arms on the throne that Abaddon had made from him, but that didn’t necessarily mean he had enough strength to kill a goblin like his generals. If he wasn’t properly able to use his strength in battle, then there was a chance he could be overwhelmed and die.

Well, now’s a good time to test what I’m capable off.

David bawled his hands into fists and ran at the goblins.

He threw a punch at them and a massive shockwave exploded from his knuckles, cutting through the centre of the horde, obliterating some and sending others flying. The cave shook, bodies crumpled against the walls, and chucks of rocks fell from the ceiling, threatening to collapse it.

With one attack, he had killed fifty goblins and made the mountain shake.

David, confused, looked at what he had just done, then at his own fist in disbelief.

What the hell?! That was me trying to throw a normal punch, like I would back in my old world. How the hell is it that powerful? I guess it’d be best for me to not fight until I can control my strength properly.

So, David switched to using magic.

Like Abaddon had before, David gathered magical energy around his hands, letting them be encased by it, and a black flame with red highlights formed in his palms.

David was taken aback at how quickly he had managed to do something he’d never done before but, in that moment, it had felt like the most natural thing to do in the world.

Muscle memory. Another gift from Eris, I assume.

David pushed his right palm towards the goblins, launching a continuous flame at them, burning the flesh from their bones in seconds.

In less than ten seconds, David had finished off the goblins.

For a moment, David felt his lips curl into a smile, but quickly stopped himself as soon as he did.

What the hell was that? He scrunched up his eyes and resisted the urge to vomit.

For just a moment, he had felt happy about what he’d done; then, he’d realised that doing so would be playing right into Eris’s hands.

“As expected of you, Master! You beautifully killed them and left their bones intact for me to use my Necromancy magic on as well.”

“Your praise is unnecessary. Start summoning your undead whilst I speak with Abaddon.”

“At once, Master.”

Mania got to work and David turned to Abaddon whose head was hung in shame. “Let us talk in private.”

“…At once, your majesty."

***

“You fool!” David yelled; Abaddon hastily dropped onto his knees. “You told me that you couldn’t use your magic properly and I warned you not to make any mistakes, didn’t I?”

“…Yes, your majesty.”

“What’s your excuse for this disgrace, Abaddon?”

“…I have none."

“You won’t even try to lie to me or say that it won’t happen again?”

“…I can’t say that, Dark Lord.”

“Why not?”

“…Because I fear I’ll lose my head again.”

David sighed wearily. This is what I was afraid off.

With Abaddon’s great strength, David had intended to use him as one of his field generals when the time was right to wage war. However, if Abaddon’s excitement got the better of him in an important battle, then he’d be a liability more than an asset.

Hopefully it’s only Abaddon who’s like this.

“Abaddon, let me tell you this, right here and now. If you ever do something like this again without my explicit permission, I will tear off your head and mount it on the wall. Is that understood?”

“…As the Dark Lord commands.”

“Swear it.”

“I swear it. I, Abaddon, General of the Demon Emperor, will not lose control and go wild without the Dark Lord’s explicit orders. If I break this pledge, may he take my head.”

“Good. Do something useful today at least. Conjure a portal and start summoning the Machai. Then, once you’ve done that, start cleaning this place up, make me an office and make bedrooms for all three generals.”

“At once, Lord Emperor.”

Abaddon quickly left to attend to his new duties.

I guess Eris really doesn’t want to make this easy for me.

***

“Your majesty, I have returned.”

Ah, right on time. David smiled. One week to the second.

“Excellent. How did your task go?”

Mímir took out a scroll from his jacket pocket and placed it on David’s desk.

“Whilst I’d like to say I was entirely successful, I was unable to fulfil your desires to the level you sought. I apologise for my lacking abilities.”

“It’s fine. As long as what you’ve brought to me is valuable, this offense can be ignored.”

After all, I never expected you to do everything I asked you to.

“Thank you for your kindness, your majesty. This map.” He broke the seal on the scroll and unrolled it. “Is a rough one that I was able to draw up of the surrounding thirty miles. However, I was unable to create a complete report on the terrain. That said, I was able to learn of a few areas of importance in the immediate area around us.”

David beckoned Mímir to continue.

“First, the mountain range that we are currently in appears to spread many miles to the north, east and west of us. While this is a rough estimate, I believe that it could be more than a hundred miles long in some directions. To test this theory, I sent my Raven to the highest peak of one of these mountains and he confirmed that they stretched even further than what’s on this map.

“Second, within these thirty miles, there is but a single castle and a handful of villages spread across the grassy plains. In total, I found eight villages, all of which were agriculturally based. If we took control of these villages, we would be able to sort out any food issues we might have for the foreseeable future. Further, there was something most peculiar about these villages; there were no guards stationed at any of them.”

“Not even one?”

Mímir nodded. “From what I gathered during my observations, the only protectors of these villages are the villagers themselves, and they only had farming tools. At first, I suspected that this part of the country we are in is simply that peaceful; however, after eavesdropping on the villager’s conversations, it seems that the local lord at this castle. Only sends men down to collect taxes and harvests. Other than that, they never depart from the castle.”

David narrowed his eyes. “You’re certain?”

“I am, your majesty. To verify this, I sent my Raven to the lord’s castle for two days to listen into their conversations. Their statements lined up almost identically to the villagers. The only time the villages came up outside of that was whenever the lord spoke of a lack of funds, despite how wealthy his home was.”

“So, they are being neglected then, not because they don’t need their lord’s protection?”

“Your majesty?”

“If they’re being neglected by the lord this much, then it makes it easier for us to operate in this region. Likewise, if we took control of the castle, no one in the surrounding area would find it strange if we kept to ourselves. However.” David looked into Mímir's eyes. “If it’s because this land is just that peaceful, then an attack on anything might be noticed.”

“…I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t thought that far ahead, your majesty.” Mímir lowered his head a little. “However, you have raised some excellent points that I wish to investigate as soon as possible.”

“That depends on what else you have to report.”

“Of course, your majesty. Third, I learned some basic information about the country we have found ourselves in. We are in the Holy Empire of Themis and it spreads across roughly a quarter of the continent. As for the specifics to its size or the size of the continent itself, I’m afraid that will require much more time to determine accurately.”

“That will be less of an issue if we acquire maps from a cartographer in a city at some point. Speaking off, did you learn of any cities or towns near us?”

“The closest city to us is Stonefall, roughly twenty miles east of the castle.” Mímir pointed at the castle again. “The closest one after that is about sixty miles south-west from this village here. It’s a city called Elvast that borders a forest and a lake.”

That’s irritating. David scowled. It’s too difficult for us to operate out of this cave for the foreseeable future. The castle seems ideal, even too ideal, for us to use, but it’d be harder to hide ourselves there.

We don’t know enough about the local lord, his family or how to disguise ourselves as them so no one’s the wiser. If he has monthly business in a city or something that we don’t know about, that could be a big problem. If he does and he suddenly stops making that monthly trip, people could start asking questions and come looking for him. The longer the trail of bodies, the easier it’ll be for people to uncover our operations.

David’s right hand clenched tightly into a fist. I can’t let that happen, no matter what. I want to remain undetected for a few months at least, preferably longer, but-

“Your majesty, might I add two more thoughts before I conclude my report?”

“You may.”

“Then, I shall speak quickly. Given that this empire is a religious one, it stands to reason that there might be powerful members of its faith that could pose a threat to us, such as Paladins or Priests. If so, they could pose a threat to our undead forces and potentially myself, depending on their power.”

“You’re undead?”

“Technically, yes.” Mímir reached up and pulled down his scarf, revealing a white, spiked scar running around his neck. “However, I believe that only the highest level of holy attacks or spells would be able to wound me, and barely even at that level.”

How reassuring. Knowing Eris, there might be someone capable of that in this world already, or one of the summoned heroes she brings later on might be.

“What was your other thought?”

“More an observation, your majesty. The local lord’s castle, based on my evaluation, seems to be poorly defended, even with around five hundred or so guards.”

“How so?”

“I observed the guards on duty for two nights three days apart to see how they would react, but they all seemed quite relaxed and lazy when it came to performing their duties. If we were to strike during the night, I believe, with your guidance, that we could take control of the castle easily. That concludes my report.”

David leant back in his chair and folded his arms.

Five hundred human guards, plus the lord and whatever family he has, and however many servants there are at the castle. That’s a lot of bodies to pile up in a single day, but that’s nothing compared to how many I’ll have to pile up in the end. Best to get used to it as soon as possible.

It wouldn’t be very fitting for a Demon Emperor to be squeamish about killing people, not that I want to. I just…can’t afford not to.

Eris’s threatened to kill me if I didn’t act like a proper Demon Emperor is still a very real danger.

I just hope that this castle isn’t a trap set by Eris.

Even if it is, I don’t have a choice but to spring it. That said.

David stroked his chin and stared down at the map.

The Holy Empire of Themis is no doubt large, probably because Eris wanted to make it as difficult as possible for me to conquer. However, I can also use that to my advantage.

David smiled, the plan forming in his mind.

“Call Abaddon and Mania. And tell them to gather the Machai.”

“Only the Machai, your majesty?”

David grinned. “We only need them, after all, so let the skeletons keep working.”

Mímir smiled back. “Understood, your majesty.”