Chapter 175 - Monke Massacre

45 EXP gained!

Dropping the dead man on the floor, I lunged at the nearest soldier who was trying to escape from the killbox I had created with my Earth Manipulation. To be honest, it was not my best decision in terms of cost, but it was effective in trapping the soldiers from escaping.

MP: 1,337 / 2,592

The erection of the walls alone cost me close to half of my mana, and that wasn't all. Maintaining my Flamegod mode is slightly taxing on my mana, but not enough to warrant a problem with these cannon fodders.

I can hand the bosses to Drake. Knowing him, he's probably creating a bloodbath right this very moment.

Grabbing the fleeing soldier at the head, I threw him down on the ground causing him to cough up blood and saliva. I then placed my foot on top of him, trapping him under my weight. His eyes, regaining clarity, looked up to me filled with fear. I chuckled at his expression, and leaned down, his eyes reflecting the mask I wore, one of the eye sockets glowing red.

'Huh, neat look.' I complemented myself in my head as the soldier beneath me struggled fiercely to get out of my clutches.

"Ah, ah, ah… No need to be in such a rush. I just have a few questions to ask, then you can go." The soldier beneath me nodded desperately. "Tell me something about those in charge of your religion. You know, the big cheese."

"I-I-I don't know anything about them! I swear!" The soldier frantically waved his hands as he searched for his weapon, one I already burnt to molten iron with my flames. "I'm just a c-common foot soldier! They don't tell us important things!"

"Huh, a valid point." I hummed as I looked around me; the rest of the soldiers were still trying to claw their way out of the killbox I had made. "However, not enough to satisfy me."

I lifted Bloodweep up into the air and brought it down, the soldier clenching his eyes shut as he waited for his death, only to open them as they looked to his right, the hammer striking the ground beside him.

"One last chance, you answer me right, you get to live." I raised Bloodweep and hefted it back to my shoulder. "What do they tell you common foot soldiers about your leaders?"

"They only told us about how we should follow their commands to create a brighter future, otherwise, we risk our families! That's all I know, please! Spare me!" The soldier then made a release, his pants getting stained by the piss coming from his crotch.

I looked back at him, and sighed.

"Well, as promised, you get to live." I lifted my foot up and the soldier began to make a run, only for my hand to grab him and knock him out cold. "Although, I only promised to let you live, not to take you prisoner. Zurug, take this human and tie him up. Do the same for the rest of the humans here. Those who struggle too much, you have my permission to kill them."

The ogres roared and leaped into the fray, the panicking soldiers now even more terrified due to the behemoths lunging at them with bloodthirsty smiles.

I cracked my neck as I prepared to leave the killbox to go look for Drake, but Xek interrupted my take-off.

"Chieftain, are you sure you want us to capture these humans?" Xek pointed at the remaining humans with his staff, an eerie, black glow emanating from the tip.

"Yes. Even if they are of no use to me as of now, they are useful in generating income for my Dungeon, as well as providing a free workforce. The more residents I have, the faster my Dungeon grows. It would be best if I was able to procure residents, either willingly or forcefully." I explained this to the green-skinned ogre, who nodded in understanding as he raised his staff once more.

"If you command, Chieftain, then I shall follow. Attaeutra Auxlium Temaiutum." The staff glowed gray, before some kind of mist flowed out of the tup of the staff. The mist spread far and wide around the killbox, where the ogres and trolls were having fun either killing or knocking out the humans who were trying to escape.

Once the mist reached those remaining humans, no matter what they did, they all collapsed on the ground as they all lost consciousness.

"A sleep curse?" Xek nodded and I chuckled, impressed at the variety of spells this green-skinned ogre had under his belt. "Impressive. I'll have to ask you to show me your list of spells in the future. For now, I want all of you to haul all surviving humans back to town and ask Catalina to heal them. Afterwards, tie them up, bring them near the portals and guard them until I and Drake return."

"Understood, Chieftain." Relaying my orders to their leader, I decided it was time to leave and find Drake. Taking a running start towards one of the walls, I charged forward, my shoulder breaking the wall of dirt with no effort as the wall crumbled behind me.

"Now, where the hell is that guy?" I asked myself and heard an explosion go out in the distance. "There's my answer."

Running once again, I zoomed through the forest, various corpses of both felines and humans littering the ground I traversed. Blood stained my feet as I continued on running as the explosions in the distance continued to grow louder and louder.

Soon enough, I arrived at my destination, and saw Drake going HAM on the soldiers, either by knocking them out violently with his gauntlets, or killing them with his gauntlets.

Chuckling at the scene, I ran past the trees and zeroed in on a soldier who was trembling. Lifting Bloodweep, I swung it horizontally, sending the trembling soldier and three more around him flying into the air, their broken bodies landing on a heap just a few meters away.

180 EXP gained!

Noticing my presence, the rest of the soldiers grew panicked at the sight of another monster crashing their party, and judging by the looks of things, I was probably more terrifying than Drake, seeing that I was covered in flames and was hefting a giant hammer that dripped with blood.

"Jionni! Didn't think you would make it!" Drake laughed as he crushed the skull of one soldier who tried to attack him, the soldier's body crashing to the ground, lifeless. "You're late!"

"Eh, had to capture some of the humans for questioning. You know how it is." I smashed a soldier's sword with my fist, magic coated around it. The soldier, now without a weapon, screeched and made a run for it, only for her to experience Bloodweep come crashing down on her body, turning her into red paste.

45 EXP gained!

"Ha! Right you are on that!" Drake dodged another sword swing and punched through the offending soldier's gut, his gauntlet emerging out the other side of the solider, his screams causing the rest of the soldiers to flinch. "Anyway, mind lending a hand here? I don't want to take too long."

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I let Bloodweep get coated in fire as the already intimidating sight of the hammer turned even more intimidating. "Anyway, less talking, more killing, but spare the higher-ups."

"… Yeah, about that…" Drake laughed sheepishly as he blocked another attack and killed the offender. "I already killed their leader… So… Yeah…"

"Drake… You… You know what, nevermind… Just kill them all…" I sighed and continued to commit war crimes against humanity, their blood, organs, and guts scattering around the area as they exploded with every swing of my hammer.

I also noticed that my hammer replenishes my HP whenever it absorbs blood, but since my HP almost always stays full, it never got the chance to do so. The only time id did so was when I was stabbed in the stomach by a soldier lucky enough to dodge my swing. Naturally, he became red paste later, and that was when I found out the sweet mechanic.

Drake, however, was going nuts against the soldiers. Dodging, blocking, taunting, you name it. He did everything, and nobody could touch him.

A few minutes of war crimes later, the soldiers finally decided that fighting wasn't worth it and ran for the hills. I'm surprised they stayed long enough for their numbers to dwindle to tens from their hundreds, but I'll chalk that up to fanaticism, at least until their dysfunctional survival instincts kicked in.

Drake wanted to go after them, but I stopped him.

"Let them go. They'll relay that the Dungeon is dangerous enough that their numbers weren't able to move past the first room." I explained. "There are two outcomes to that. They either: leave the Dungeon alone, or come back stronger, and there's a higher chance they former option happens if there are people to let them know how dangerous the Dungeon is."

"… What about them learning valuable information about the Dungeon?"

"Then what use are the Hunters?" I replied, and he shut up.

"… Touche."

I snickered as we looked at the carnage around us. "Anyway, should we go back?"

"I'm tired, so yeah.. Let's go back."