For da Ovahlord!!! 4 (Patreon)

“There you are,” I muttered as I pulled out of my scrying spell.

It had taken several days, but I’d managed to find the Green Hive. I admit, I’d been expecting to find the Red Hive first, because that was how it worked in the video games. But nope, to make things even better, the Green Hive was right next to one of the freaky face trees that the Tower was able to connect to.

“GNARL!” I shouted, making the browns around me jump as I marched past them. “Ready the minions, I’ve found a Hive.”

“Excellent, Sire. It will be so good to have the Reds back, little pyromaniacs that they are,” Gnarl said, holding his clasped hands together against his face.

I turned to look at him, “When did I say I found the Reds?”

Biting the inside of my cheek was the only reason I didn’t burst out laughing at the utterly poleaxed expression on Gnarl’s face. The gray colored minion sputtered for a moment before he managed to say, “Sire, this is… unprecedented! Every time the minions have wandered off, it’s always been the Reds to be found first. Why, I can’t think of a single time it’s been the Blues or Greens that were recovered first. I-I-I… I’m simply speechless.”

I rolled my eyes as I put my helmet on over my head and secured it in place. A grin was on my face as I held out my arms and the browns began donning my armor. I was looking forward to this far more than I probably should, but fuck it. This was going to be fun, and who knows, maybe I’ll find someone who I could break in like my shota.

Probably not though, I don’t want to be too greedy. Not for some ‘appreciate what you have’ saccharine shit, but because being too greedy sucks all the fun out of it. I was just the right amount of greedy. Anyone thinks otherwise and I’ll just take your stuff.

I was soon fully armored and a group of five minions were bringing my glaive over to me. I reached down and took it before making my way to the teleporter, rolling my neck as I went. I could almost hear the sound of heavy metal ambient theme music as I went through the teleporter.

I came out the other side, a small squad of brown minions joining me. As I’d seen through the scrying spell, the Green Hive was right there in front of me. Smirking, I reached through to the gauntlet covering my left hand, sending orders to the minions around me. A batch of browns ran up to the hive and with more heaves and grunts than moving in day at a college dorm, lifted it up and hauled it to the weepy tree face.

“That was easy,” I mused. “But where are the Greens? It’s not like them to leave their hive abandoned.”

‘You’re quite right, Sire. Let’s get the hive back and I’ll have some more information for you,’ Gnarl’s voice rang inside my helmet. The Green Hive was whisked away, and I took the time to look around me. I was definitely in a forest, a pretty chilly one too. There wasn’t snow on the ground, but… the browns picked up on my unease, holding up their weapons and making their war cries.

I closed my eyes, releasing a faint, miniscule pulse of mana from my being, feeling the echoes as it bounced off the surrounding magic. I could feel the magic suffusing the minions, even this faintest touch of my magic infusing and energizing them. But I instead focused on the tree, magic pulsing through its roots and spreading throughout its boughs. It was as if the tree itself was alive with magic.

As I continued to focus on the tree, I noticed faint pulse trails leading away from it, snaking through the air and disappearing into the distance. I couldn't tell where they led, but it told me that I wasn’t the only one who’d been watching the hive. It had the taste of divination magic, reaching out beyond the confines of the tree and spreading throughout the land.

A single tendril wasn’t watching from the tree, but instead reaching out to a raven, perched on one of the branches. It felt similar to a spell I knew to possess one of my minions, and I smirked under my helmet as I wove a spell together behind my back. I, or rather, the Overlord whose body I’d been given (it was getting difficult to remember who I’d been before getting the boot into this body) had once been forcefully trapped in a minion’s body while possessing them. Upon killing the mage, because trapped or not I was still the Overlord, I’d made sure to steal and study every scrap of magical lore the mage had.

The result was the spell that shot from my hand as I whipped around and pointed at the raven. It cut through the air, sinking into the bird’s body and forming a metaphysical cage. The possessing mage threw their spirit against the bars of my spell, having realized I’d noticed them and trying to flee. As the spirit floundered, seemingly unable to understand that they were trapped, the raven remained perfectly still.

A second spell pulled the raven’s mind to the forefront, while shackling it at the same time. It was really an animal binding spell, something used by low ranking mages to assist in the training of kennel dogs, but with the other spell keeping the voyeur from leaving, it had a secondary function of keeping them from fleeing.

Holding the raven in my left hand, I took a couple bits of twine (like towels, never leave home without it) and bound its feet together before tying its wings to its body. I lacked a physical cage so this would do when the animal binding spell inevitably wore off. The spell was mostly used to reinforce commands, by making animals perform a certain action when a command was given, they associated the two. But by design it only lasted long enough for one, maybe two commands. Sure enough, the spell faded, and the struggling mage was back in control.

‘Well Sire, I’ve finished examining the Green Hive, and it appears that whatever magic blasted it to this location also sucked all the magic and life force out of it,’ Gnarl’s voice came through the communication line. ‘We’ll need to find someone or something that’s rich in the proper life force to sacrifice in order to rekindle the hive. It seems likely that we’ll have to do the same for the Red Hive and Blue Hive as well.’

“Fan fucking tastic,” I drawled, holding the still struggling raven up to my helmet. “How about the mage in this bird?”

‘Hmm… possibly Sire, I’d have to get a look at their actual body before I could say for sure.’

Well then, my next task was clear. As the minions crowded around me, I let out another pulse of magic, feeling the direction that the tether connecting the mage to his body was heading in.

[hr][/hr]

I was grinning like a madwoman as we reached the point where the mage’s body was. We were close enough that I could feel the mage’s body when I let loose a pulse. But more than that, I could feel nearly two dozen additional presences within. Presences that practically screamed life force. I was honestly surprised I couldn’t feel them just standing in close proximity.

“Minions,” I said, getting their attention. “I think we should knock on the door. I need a volunteer.”

The minions all started jumping up and down, pointing to themselves. The one in front, Maggot, was easily the strongest and toughest of the browns. Instead, I pointed to the one next to him, Fidget, who promptly let out a cheer and ran towards the cave housing the mage. Fidget was as close to useless as browns got, with one key exception.

“Mastah, why Fidget get to go?” Maggot asked, disappointed.

“Because Maggot, when you are expecting boobie traps,” I said, moments before Fidget stepped on something and was promptly engulfed in a ball of fire. “Always send a boob in first.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Fidget screamed as he landed in front of me.

I smirked under my helmet as the inhabitants of the cave realized we were present and started running out. Their appearance made me raise an eyebrow at them, they looked like the tween offspring of an elf and a raping willow. I blinked before double checking my memories and… huh, those trees actually are a thing that a previous Overlord had made. Talk about a weirdo.

Pushing thoughts about my predecessors aside, I turned my focus back onto the plant-elves staring at my and the minions. Their weapons were hilarious: stone spears and tiny glass bottles? Granted, those bottles probably had some sort of potion in them, so I’d be moderately cautious.

Stepping up in front, I announced to the plant-elves, “Freaky plant babies: I am the Overlord, and you are now my subjects. Surrender, and I will spare you the humiliation of having your asses handed to you by a bunch of homunculi who barely manage to understand that boogers are for wiping away not for eating.”

“But boogies tasty!” Fidget proclaimed as the soot covered and slightly charred minion dragged himself to his feet.

“Case in point,” I muttered as the apparent leader stepped forwards.

“You approach the last refuge of the Children of the Forest and the Three Eyed Raven. Leave now, human, or die,” they shouted.

“Right then, humiliation it is,” I said with a nod. Before channeling mana into my glaive, twirling it around and driving the blade into the ground in front of me.

There was a burst of magic, not enough to so much as snap a twig with physical force. But the magic based traps that they had were another story. Gouts and bursts of flame erupted all throughout the clearing between us, and the minions charged.

“Keep them alive!” I bellowed, pulling my glaive out of the ground and running forwards.

“For da Ovahlord!!!” the minions shouted as they crossed the now cleared clearing.

The plant-elves threw their spears and glass globes. Maggot had a spear deflect off his helmet. Fidget actually caught one of the globes in his mouth without it breaking, popping up from the ground where it had knocked him flat on his ass. A few of the minions died, spears flying through the gaps in their armor or having their faces burned off. The majority though reached the plant-elves and started to dog pile them.

Technically I only had a small squad of browns. That was still more than two and a half times the number of plant-elves, and they weren’t deadly enough to make up the difference in numbers. So I pretty soon had all twenty two plant-elves restrained by minions. Moving past them, I entered the cave to see the mage’s body. What I found was… a bit disappointing really.

“So this is your actual body? Sheesh, and I thought lichdom took all the fun out of immortality,” I said to the raven in my hand. I remembered the elf Oberon sleeping for so long that he merged with a tree, something similar was happening here. Only the mage was a human rather than an elf. “Well, time to relieve your suffering.”

I crushed the raven in my hand, sending the mage’s spirit flying back into his body. He gasped, arching his back as much as he was able to while entangled in the roots of the tree. As he wheezed and coughed, I reached out with a hand, mana coalescing around it as threads of magic reached out into him.

Evil Presence was such a useful spell, I thought to myself as I poured concentrated Evil into him. While I’m sure that he would have more than a few interesting pieces of lore I’d be able to learn, even with the enforced loyalty from the spell I would be an idiot to entrust a mage. Especially one who looked like a schemer. And this mage had such a schemer face, they always looked so punchable.

Within two minutes, the mage’s body turned to ash, and I stared at the spot where he’d been embedded, finger tapping the chin of my helmet. Nodding, I called out, “Gnarl, open a Gate at my position, I have a hunch about this place.”