But not all were thinking the same. Some put together the courage to attack Null like last time. Distance attacks and hit and run tactics worked on them when they were only two, now they are an even slower and easier to hit Army. This was the perfect time for some hotheads to show their prowess and smarts.
While attacks were done with spears and different kinds of slings and bows they were not for long and stopped after only minutes. Later the scouts of different tribes found the remains of the attack groups. What remained of them was a true nightmare. They were disemboweled, some limbs removed by brute force and bones were broken everywhere. Claw and teeth marks showed how they were not only attacked with weapons. Some parts were chewed thoroughly and some organs were almost gone. This time the Steppe realized how dangerous the Unbeing really was and the dreams of their Shamans were not exaggerated.
Seeing the mutilated corpses being brought back to their respective Tribes, the cries of agony were heard from the families. Their Chiefs seeing the bloodbath and how they were burned remembered the Visions and Dreams. Corpses torn apart, an Ocean of Fire and horrible cries of agony. These were the dreams they had and finally they understood, if they messed with the Unbeing like that alliance luring it to the place of sacrifice, they might all be ceremonially burned, if there were even some left, which would be able to cremate them.
While some argued for vengeance, many understood the problem in that. How should they retaliate? They attacked first and got slaughtered, now they want to do that again? The only thing was to suppress the people who want revenge to save as many lives as possible. The discontent was huge, fights between brethren were happening, which were usually rare and now rather common. The Shamans and Chiefs just thought of how much better it would have been if they heeded the advice from the Feline and Bull Tribes.
Prior they thought them insane and the ones who just fled away if the Unbeing was near as cowards, now they had their answer. Not always is battle the right thing to do. This Unbeing fought differently than the other Tribes they honed their skills on over generations. And with this realization another came for them to ponder.
‘If the Unbeing fought differently, how might the angry metal from the West fight? Maybe we really need the help of outsiders to win, but why did the Bovine choose the Unbeing as a possible Ally? This is just insane!’
—
Day changed to night and while resting some attacks were fought off by some daring tribes. Unlike the day raids this time the happenings were more horrifying. The Creatures in the Castle were sustained by Miasma, reproduction needed meat but without meat they could live normally. The crux is, this does only apply to the castle where the right kind of Miasma gets filtered into their domiciles. In the Steppe where the Miasma is thin, they needed another kind of source of Energy to sustain themselves. While the Fishmen collected materials and ate the things unusable for their kind of crafting the Brutes were less picky and ate almost all of it hair and bone inclusive. Berserker, the black, frothing and chained brute did not care about cooking, he ate everything raw, especially if it still cried out. Dagon, the gigantic Fishman meditated to reduce his calorie intake but still needed to eat one of the smaller fishmen. While the other fishmen ate the attackers, he himself had a more cannibalistic tendency, which even his smaller brethren happily applied for being the living snack being eaten.
Baphomet himself took their Miasma from the castle by a small rift to sustain himself, otherwise they ate only Vegetables or cooked lower intelligent meat. From the giants Baphomet was the most reserved and had the most kind of sanity. The claws ate also meat unlike their other sisters, which were more tea loving and kept to low calorie meals, except sweets, which vanished if ever some were made by the orphan kids before they even fully cooled down.
“The Moons are crossing next night. A bad omen, as it is called the devil’s Pupil by many people, Null”
Holding a wine glass in her hand a leisurely woman relaxed on the Carriage looking at the stars.
“Was there something that made Monsters more wild, Esther?”
Null was closing his eyes and controlled an Insect flying in the direction where the supposed meeting point is. It was a fast Insect but spreading his consciousness on two bodies made him feel horrible pain in his mind. Right now he does not care as he needed Information and the more detailed, the better.
“Not at all. While it does incentivize Monsters it is more because of the Magic and Miasma more active. The timing is quite curious, don’t you think?”
“So their trap has to do something with higher Miasma or Mana in the surroundings. Maybe they want to use a doomsday device, hidden inside these sacrificial hills?”
“Who knows, there are many secrets in those ruins. No one had time to explore many of them, as the Grasslands or Steppe like you and the Beastmen this place call is being guarded by people who somehow always know when an excursion is started or someone tries to invade.”
“That is normal! Those guys can see the future in their dreams or something like that.”
Snow interjected between bites in her Cockatrice drumstick, which is bigger than herself sitting down.
“Clairvoyance and Future sight, huh? This could be a great theory of why they- Ah, the Claws ran into the grass again.”
*Eagh!*
“Another ambush troop. Guess the Brutes and Fishies can eat their fill tonight. How long until we are there?”
“Three days. Two if we hurry. I was once there when I was a child, but except for large rock floors there is not much.”
Hoof interjected, depressed. He knew they were already hurrying, but wished they had wings and would fly there instead.
“Could be the rocks they try to use.”
“What do you mean Null?”
“Remember Snow, we ambushed them with the Lindwurm the last time. Maybe they want to use reinforced floors to stop this from happening again.”
“Ah, I see!”
“While I do not think highly of those Beastmen, no offense Hoof, and Grasselves, they are quite crafty in all the books I have read. They fight and flee in special tactics either exhausting the attackers or overwhelming them right away with an ambush. There must be more to it.”
“If it is somewhat about Magic, I hope for your cooperation Esther.”
“If it has something to do with runes, I will do my best.”
“Father, if there is some danger, let me use all my powers. I am ready to be a sacrifice for your glory.”
“Prime, you will not kill yourself! I gave you powers to protect everyone including yourself. If you die I will drag you back from the remnants, repair you and put you under house arrest for a Month.”
“Father, I am always in the Laboratories either in the Castle or Realm, this would not be a punishment for me.”
“This includes no sweets for a whole month being shared with you.”
“Spare me, Father!”
“...better. Now, you better try to stay alive, if not for your self perseverance but for the cookies the Kids bake.”
“For cookies…”
“AND for us all! Dang it I would hate losing any one of you, can you not understand that?”
“But Null?”
While they were talking about Life and Cookies, Snow threw a question mark in.
“What is it Snow?”
“What about them?”
Pointing to the Fishmen and Brutes Null sighed a bit.
“First they were just experiments, like the cockatrice and bladehopper. I already talked to the ones I have connected to by taking a part of the spirit to be careful, but their brethren are a bit different. They live and die inside the Battlegrounds way too much for me to not go numb. It is already an honor for them to die for a cause or trying to become a higher warrior, it is too late to change that.”
“And they are cannibals, which would eat their enemies after the fight like Monsters.”
Esther interjected with a slight disgust.
“Yeah, this is also a small demerit they are showing.”
“Small?!”
Finishing the meal everyone rested a bit. While the night shifts were small it was enough to silently kill two more attempts on small raids. The next day Oros stretched himself and howled with both heads before the whole convoy started to move again.
—
‘Runic Circles inside those hardened Obsidian rocks. This place has some secrets, Esther I create a mental image of the forms I can make out.’
‘Leave it to me. … Ugh! Runesource, how vile, but it is not the complex kind of that metallic Golem you made Simov and me study. I can at least understand part of it but need a bit of time to understand what is written.’
‘Take your time. The bug is being ignored for a while. They do not notice my existence.’
‘Null! What about Spot! Is she there? I am worried…’
‘Me too Snow, but I can not see her. She must be in one of the guarded posts they had made in a semi circle. We need to know what they want to do before it can be dangerous for us all.’
‘I understand, please hurry…’
‘Stick for now to the plan. You and Baphomet are the two best chances to get her out. I will play the bait and hope to get them to show her to me.’
Twenty kilometers from the Point where they were to meet the caravan is slowly going to the mentioned place of Meeting.
Multiple different Camps were made for the tribes waiting for the target. Everyone was there to fight against their nightmares and evacuated the non combatants to somewhere else. Leaders were the Grass Elves of the Steppe, keeping the patchwork alliance together.
In the tent of the Elven leader other War leaders were sitting on the ground in a circle, trying to look brave but still worrying in the inside.
“Are you sure this will work?”
The bear Tribesman asked the Elven Ambassador.
“I am sure. Once the Sacrificial rings are activated nothing can escape. We studied the Runes and are aware of the powers this place holds. This place is a sacrificial ground eliminating everything inside. The Mana we accumulated will work once, so we better bring him inside somehow.”
“And who will do that?”
The weasel Tribesman looked around to the other people. Who indeed would sacrifice himself to eliminate this abomination? The method was to activate it while negotiating, which means people of their side must be inside too.
“We will do it.”
The elves already knew the others would not want to go inside certain death and made up their own minds.
“But do not forget all of you. We elves sacrificed our lives for the peace of the Steppe. Never treat us disrespectfully and listen to our guidance to keep the Steppe a safe place for us all.”
Silence was following after this exclamation. The Elves sacrifice their own people for peace and want to be treated even higher still for it. It was a rather large bargain, but to be honest sacrificing people like that should be honored.
“...Fine, we Weaselfolk will abide by this rule.”
“We Bearfolk will do the same.”
“We Wolffolk have no objection.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“If the Unbeing dies, we Rabbitfolk do what you have told us.”
“No complaints from us Goatfolk.”
“We…”
One after the other the Clans accepted the compromise. At the end no one stayed silent. Everyone just wants this thing to vanish. Even if the War leaders were not the Chiefs, they can accept such a small gesture without much complaint from the true Chief.
Time was close as the scouts already heard the war cries of things they had never seen before. Readying their respective armies they waited for the trap to snap shut. The elves were nervous the most, as they knew this would mean sacrifices of their own bodies, but they saw it as a positive to get higher standing under the Beastmen. Finally they can ask more directly to destroy those dangerous and vile creations still existing in those ruins. Eradication of all pollutions from the former Kingdom was their main goal. If nothing remains the Planet might finally heal fully and maybe somewhere their Ancestors might plant the seed of Yggdrasil. But for now they need to destroy the most vile thing, the being that is not a being, the invader of this realm, the so-called Unbeing.
“Null, just die and let this World prosper again.”
Mumbling to himself the Elven leader watched different sized creatures coming closer and closer through the tall grass.
—
“So this is the spot, huh? No grass, nothing to hide and hidden under the black stones are runic circles being readied to be started to do whatever they do.”
“Well I know the gist of the external ones already. It is a force field stopping anything from being taken in or out. Even Space Magic might not be able to go through that. It is more sophisticated than the Crater, but the crater works on Miasma and not Mana.”
“And the Inside, Esther?”
“Strange rotating energies creating velocity and decomposing. I have no Idea or better I do not want to believe someone would create something so destructive just for an execution ground.”
“Rotation, decomposing… A blender with the ability to turn things into their base materials. This is no Sacrificial place, this is a dump.”
“What do you mean Null?”
“This sounds like a recycler, Snow. Put what you do not want inside it gets chopped up and broken down. The rest might be some kind of retrieval. No wonder the Runes are not decoded, it is just here to reform their trash into useful resources.”
“While I have not fully understood all functions, I can not guarantee the full accuracy of the Runesource I identified.”
“No worries Esther, I just wanted you here to find normal traps. Who knew they would restart a trash burner? No one is going inside this place. Find routes around it, if the battle starts, do you hear me?”
“Understood, Father.”
“Be careful, Null!”
“I keep a safe distance even if you did not tell me to.”
“Baphomet, you and Snow have your roles to play, but can I ask if you can afterwards transfer one creature from the Crater to here?”
“We have the possibility, but who shall we call?”
“You will see, I have an Idea of how I can snap this trap and find Spot at the same time. Snow I need something from you…”
Standing between the Armies was a black place. No one moved and the Tribesmen were getting worried. After a long time something happened that they did not expect.
[YOU BASTARDS, I AM HERE. WHERE IS SPOT?]
The whole place was echoing the voice of Null. They were originally shocked but had high hopes in the plan of the Elves and waited to see what they might do.
“
[DO YOU THINK I AM STUPID? IF YOU DO NOT SHOW HER TO ME I WILL BELIEVE HER TO BE ALREADY DEAD AND ATTACK WITHOUT REMORSE!]
“Is that so? Then do your worst, we will defend ourselves with all our might!”
The Tribesmen were a bit shocked by the cunningness of the Elves. If they charged now, they would be inside the Circle and did not need to sacrifice even one person. This was not their original agreement, but would still seal it as fulfilled. They felt tricked!
[THEN BE PREPARED!]
The Elves had a smirk on their face until they noticed the army not moving at all. Not knowing what they were up to they saw a silver haired white dressed girl climbing onto the Carriage on the front. Still not understanding what they might do, they just waited and observed what they were up to.
Suddenly the area around the Girl went white and a massive amount of Mana converged in front of her.
“Are they trying to hit us that far away? That is over two kilometers!”
“Must be a bluff, how can they cast Magic over such a long distance?”
Believing in themselves they were feeling secure and did not take it too seriously until they noticed the convergence of Mana not stopping but increasing more and more.
“Is this a human? Must be a Monster too! She might be able to really hit us!”
The panic starts to set in until a gigantic Mana spear slowly appears in front of the girl. It was loaded with so much mana even non magical adept people would see it glowing brightly like the sun.
“
[SHE IS ALREADY DEAD! YOU JUST WANT US TO RECKLESSLY CHARGE TO PINCER US ON THIS OPEN FIELD! WE ARE NOT IDIOTS!]
Cursing under his breath the Elven Leader started to calculate.
“Hurry bring the Captive! And you stop the charge of your creature there! We will show her to you, you better come and verify it in a small retinue, otherwise we will cut her throat!”
[PRIME STOP CHARGING, BUT BE PREPARED TO RESTART THE CHANT ANY SECOND IF THEY TRY TO BLUFF HER BEING ALIVE!]
Seeing the white light fading many let out a breath they did not even know they held. This was a dangerous Magic, even Novices in Magic could see that.
“What kind of Magic was that?”
One of the Leaders asked the Elves.
“Mana Lance. An extension of the classic Mana Bolt, Normally it does not do much except an extra power of explosion after throwing, but this one was way too big. The range and explosion must be enormous. This is a Spell Mages learn before tampering with elements and should be a basic one. How much Mana did she channel into that one?!”
“Elven Leader, the prisoner.”
Bringing the heavily chained Bovine Girl to the front she had bloody scars and bruises all over. Her clothes were ripped from her body to give more skin for whippings, beatings and hot irons to be used on her. Not only was she heavily injured she could be barely recognized as the Girl named Spot.
“Shall we wrap her up and put a bag over her head?”
“No, leave her like that. The more enraged he is, the less he will see the true aim.”
Taking the Chain which was wrapped around her neck and dragging her forward the Elven Leader called out again.
“
[VERY WELL! WE WILL NEGOTIATE HER RELEASE AT THE MIDDLE OF THE STONE FORMATION!]
The Elven Leader had a bitter smile. While he was ready to sacrifice his life, he thought himself clever enough to just lure the stupid creature into the trap without being afflicted. Now he had no other choice anymore.
‘At least I go down in History as the one who felled an invader of this World. My Name will be forever known.’
“When he attacks or I give the signal, activate the Sacrificial Altar.”
Dragging Spot forward she was trying to refuse but was too weak and could only slightly struggle. If she wanted to fall down they dragged her by the chain, when she wanted to escape the chain they kicked her back, she was helpless to know what might come.
On the other end Null walked into the Stone Circle with four attendants on his side. Two brutes and two Fishmen flanked him left and right. Getting closer Null noticed more and more the bad shape Spot was in and got more and more enraged.
Seeing his facial expression the Elven Leader smirked and his two elven attendants worked hard to make her move while kicking her fiercely if she disobeyed to incense Null even more.
‘Come on, rage. If you attack they start the Circle and you have no time to escape. Well he is already inside and I could start the Sacrifice already, but what kind of Hero would I be without some words against the ultimate Evil?’
Meeting in the Middle around twenty meters away they looked each other in the eyes.
“So, you are the Famous Null? The creature that crawled out from another Realm like a maggot out of rotting flesh? I greet you, my Name is-”
“I do not care about your name, lowlife. Why did you do this to Spot?”
“...p…”
“Rude! She is tainted by the belief you were some kind of nice creature. Not only did she defend you, even after so much she did not tell us much about your secrets, or maybe she really did not know anything.”
“Tr…p…”
“Just because she is friends with someone you do not like, you torture innocent people? Your kind is really garbage. You not only got below my bottom line, you trampled it and made me so angry I am calm again.”
“Trap… it’s… a trap!”
Hearing Spot speak the smirk on the Elven leader's face got wider. He wanted to see how this Creature would react by hearing he is already doomed.
“Spot dear, keep your energy. I know it is a trap and a sloppy one at best. I am here to save you, please trust in me.”
Hearing these words the Elves were shocked. Realizing what Null said she finally had hope after so long, even if she feels it is only an Illusion. A smile came on her split lips.
“Okay… trust… thank you…”
“Well if that is the case then better be quick about it!”
Saying those words in a hurry the Leader raised his left arm and suddenly the place surges with Energy. But for this split second where the Energy started to activate the circles Spot fell into a rift and vanished.
“What?!”
“Did you not know I have multiple people with teleportation abilities? So sad you thought of me alone and not my Family. While we talked, shadow rats moved from my shadow into hers and made it easy for Snow and Baphomet together to drag her out before the place fully activated. You thought the activation would be in an instant?”
Being angry and confused, the Leader composed himself again.
“Doesn’t matter! YOU are still inside and the Sacrificial shield is up! You will be ripped apart in every way until NOTHING is left!”
“First of all this is a Recycler, not some kind of Sacrifice place. What kind of highly advanced Kingdom would sacrifice someone or something and for what? Second, did you ever think to ask why people call me the Unbeing?”
“Are you ranting before your death? Nothing but because you are a being from another World! A thing that should not exist here!”
“I have no Body.”
“You are insane. Whatever you want to brabble, let me laugh a bit.”
“When I came here I was a broken Soul of a former Hero. Later I found a way to take over bodies. Even Later I could make my own bodies. If one dies like in this place, I just make a new one.”
“And you think I believe you?”
“You don’t need to. The second phase should start soon I think.”
With the sentence the wind inside the bubble started to swirl and it had a really sharp intent inside.
“How do you… Are you serious?!”
“I just want to ask, what do you think about what would happen after I am gone? An army is waiting outside to slaughter every single Elf and Beastman on the other side of this dome.”
“You are commanding them of course! Without you they would disperse and be weak like a fly without a head!”
“They are my friends and my family. They know what to do even without me but whatever. Boys, your last meal is those two, the one here is mine.”
Without a second delay the four retainers of Null attacked the two Elves. Screams of agony were heard but before the Leader could react Null charged forth and grabbed him by the throat.
“Now to make things worse for you Elves, I will take my revenge on your Tribes.”
“You… will never find them!”
“Of course I will. You will tell me where they are.”
“Never!”
“As if you have a choice.”
Feeling like he drowned in sludge under the heat of a black sun the will of the Leader started to corrode slowly. Null took his time as he noticed the Recycler starting at the outside first and slowly intensified towards the middle. He had a few more seconds before Nemo was minced meat.
“I see your thoughts. Your passion. Your Pride. Eliana is your wife? Oh, two children do you have?”
“St…op!”
“No no. We are not done yet. Where are they? Do not struggle, you die before I can say what I will do to them otherwise. Ah! There they are. The hardened deep chambers? Ah, a former bunker of the Old Kingdom. Did you know the Kingdom was named Tilean? No?”
“They… are safe! You will never break… the… Doors! They are sealed… impossible… to… break!”
“Alas, you are right. I would need years to break through them. They were made to withstand most doomsday scenarios. Tilean was so surprised, they could not even evacuate inside huh? The God of Fate must really have been angry at that time.”
“Futile… I… win!”
“If you see it that way, sure! I just seal the doors extra from the outside.”
“!”
“I can not enter the bunker, but this does not mean I can seal it even more. Those doors will never open again. I wonder what will happen to Elves being trapped under the earth for Millenia, would they be mutating into dwarfs?”
“N… NO!”
“And the Families of the other tribesmen are all also there! You really made it easy for me to be thorough. South east from here? Thank you for your help, but time is up. Better reduce the rest of your consciousness to rubble before I become Filet myself.”
The storm was now close to the center of the circle. While talking the Brutes, Fishmen and rest of the corpses were eradicated in a tornado of wind blades before filtered and sorted into their elements.
With the last seconds ticking Null transformed Nemo in its true form. A massive Centaur like creature. Four human feet with human skin and bony tail. The chin broke apart and a row of teeth were going vertical down the body like a horrifying zipper made out of shark teeth opening the vertical maw. Null threw the now unresponsive body inside and started to chew. After the third crunch of the bones being broken Nemo was unable to keep standing and was dragged into the annihilating Storm.
‘Maiden please bring clean clothes into the body shop in my realm. I need to make an entrance in a few minutes on the battlefield.’
While his Head Maid was sorting new clothes, Null was looking for the next Body to use.
‘Huh, might be a bit pompous, but if I do not wear it now, when will I ever use this body? Fine! I choose you, Overlord.’
The nourishing fluid inside the tank was drawn out and Null moved into his new body. Within a few Minutes of flexing the body shrunk and became a human looking rather similar to the former Body, which was similar looking to his first human Body named Ava. While he could change his face to resemble him more before he was thrown out into the Void he could not even remember his own hair color anymore, which made him depressed.
“Your clothes Lord Null.”
“Thank you Maiden. What would I do without you?”
“Create a different head Maid?”
“Never! You are unique like all the others which I connected to my Realm. Never think of you as replaceable!”
“Understood Lord… and thank you.”
“Time to go back and make those bastards pay.” ‘Baphomet, are you there? I need transport.’
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