The Dragon Spine Mountains

Abaddon was on his first assignment for the Demon Emperor.

He was to subjugate or kill the giants living in the Dragon Spine Mountains.

The request from the adventurer’s guild said that giants had been descending the snowy peaks to raid the villages around the town of North Pass. The town’s militia and Holy Legion garrison had engaged and killed several giants, but sustained heavy causalities.

They were, as a result, stretched thin and thus had to put in a request for adventurers to head into the mountains and subjugate as many giants as possible.

No one knew the exact location of the giant’s village, so Abaddon would have to discover it himself and handle them per the Demon Emperor’s specific orders.

“Either convince them to join us diplomatically, or through intimidation, or kill half of them and leave it to the adventurer’s guild. If they all suddenly disappeared and their raids came to an end, it would draw attention and potentially lead to them uncovering our operations.”

“No thread, no matter how small, must remain.” Abaddon repeated the Lord Emperor’s words to himself.

“Do not fail me again, Abaddon.”

Upon remembering the Lord Emperor’s threat, Abaddon hastened his pace through the mountain valleys, climbing through the snow and crushing sharp rocks beneath his boots.

It slowed him down, but that wasn’t the only thing obstructing his mission.

A strong snow storm was blowing over the mountains, reducing his field of vision significantly.

Whilst Abaddon was confident in his strength, he didn’t like being ambushed or being taken by surprise.

To him, fighting was about facing your enemies in direct combat, not hiding in the shadows and attacking in stealth from the shadows.

That, however, was not the Dark Lord’s style.

“Why do I have to sneak about like a rat in the sewers?” Abaddon mumbled, his boots crushing the rocks he stepped on. “Why is it that the Lord Emperor hasn’t given me anything to do since we took the castle? Why do Mania and Mímir get to do everything and I have to sit back at the castle doing nothing?”

Abaddon roared and threw his fist into a nearby mountain, leaving a massive crater in the side of it. He began taking quick, sharp breaths as the anger that had pent up inside of him was unleashed, but, before he was fully consumed by it, he remembered the warnings he’d been given by the Demon Emperor.

Right now, he was the one who had failed him the most.

He had failed in the goblin cave.

He had failed when they took Castle Kelsey.

And he had almost failed him again by acting rashly when it came to handling the giants.

Angrily, he shook his head from side to side, trying to cool his temper, but it was difficult for him to do so. By nature, he was the Destroyer and destruction was what he excelled in.

If he denied that part of himself, it would be the same as denying his worth as a demon.

Just as he had been before.

I can’t disappoint the Lord Emperor again! I have to show him that I am more than just the Destroyer. I have to show him I can be useful to him in other ways.

Abaddon had once served a God loyally for a thousand years, acting as the Destroyer as he’d been told to, and brought utter destruction to his enemies. However, once that role was no longer needed, he was tasked with other tasks and told to change his ways. Eventually, Abaddon was abandoned and left to die by that God when he wasn’t able to do anything else than be the Destroyer.

Now he had been given a second chance to serve a master again, and he wasn’t going to waste it and be abandoned once more.

Abaddon exhaled and continued his long trek through the mountains, searching for signs of the giants.

Any footprints would have been lost in the storm and he had no other means of tracking his targets.

He couldn’t sense their presence, so he hoped he would find a giant and be able to follow it back to their village, if they did indeed have one.

Mímir said they must have a place to live, so he just called it a village but, for all I know, the giants might live in big caves with hidden entrances. I just hope that isn’t the case.