Ep. 217 Whose Idea Was This? Part 7 (Patreon)

Vacker says "Not a bad idea. After all Lady Xinun went to the trouble of catching them for you."

"Yeah, don't want to waste her efforts. Well, her soldiers' efforts really."

Vacker says "True, what is with you and her anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

Vacker says "Well, treating you as a guest makes sense since you are temporarily an ally. But she is doing more than that for you, like getting you beasts and talking to you often."

"I don't know, maybe it's because her charms don't work on me. Or maybe it's curiosity because I didn't break when she tortured me."

Vacker says "You should really be careful, her partners tend to be very short lived."

"I wasn't planning to be one of her partners. As tempting as she may be, I am not interested in being anyone's plaything."

Vacker says "A wise decision."

"Although, as far as ways to die, I can think of a lot worse."

Vacker says "While that may be true, personally I'd rather not die at all."

"What, do you want to live forever?"

Vacker says "Not forever no, but as long as I can."

"I guess that's natural, but I have a time limit so I won't worry about living a long life."

Vacker says "Time limit? What are you walking about?"

"Because of how I was summoned, I won't live beyond the demon invasion."

Vacker says "That is harsh!"

"Nah, I was brought here for a single purpose, once that is done I will die."

Vacker says "And that doesn't make you mad?"

"No, I've made my peace with it. If it wasn't for this mission I would have never been able to see this world."

Vacker says "Well, whatever the case I for one am glad you are here."

"And you'll be even more glad once I earn your freedom right?"

Vacker says "Well, yes. But can you blame me?"

"No, I don't blame you."

Vacker says "Alright, get some sleep. We will train after your fight tomorrow."

"Assuming I win."

Vacker says "With that footwork technique if you let a mere beast hit you I will beat the stuffing out of you."

"I will keep that in mind."

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast I head out looking for a guard. When I spot a guard I inform him I am headed to the training yard and would like to fight again. He runs off ahead of me and by the time I reach the training yard the fences are already in place and soldiers have started to gather to watch.

Some of the soldiers that have already gathered give me a cheer when I appear. I still find it disconcerting to have enemy soldiers cheering for me, but it could prove useful. If I get enough reputation now it could affect the morale of the demon's forces when they invade.

Since they are likely to outnumber us, anything that hurts their morale is going to be of great benefit to our side. That being the case my best option right now is to put on an impressive show that the soldiers will never forget. With that in mind I enter the pen and turn to watch the soldiers bring out a caged beast for me to fight.

This time the thing in the cage is a large six legged lizard, about the size of a cow. As I size it up I notice it has spikes on the end of its tail like a stegosaurus. So bite and tail at least, it can also probably rear up like the bear did and attack with its claws.

Already anticipating all its attack routines I plan to give the soldiers a good show. As it is released into the pen I move to confront it, it immediately attacks with a bite and a tail attack. I use footwork to avoid both attacks letting them miss by only an inch or two.

As expected the lizard then rears up and attacks with its front claws which I also evade with ease. To the soldiers it looks thrilling since every attack just barely misses, they have no idea I am doing it on purpose. The lizard isn't intelligent and just keeps attacking the same way over and over.

After a few minutes of dodging every attack I am convinced of just how amazing these evasive steps really are. I imagine that at higher levels I will be able to easily move through a battlefield without even getting scratched. Unfortunately, this also means I owe Vacker an apology for all the nasty things I was thinking about him.

I let the lizard attack me for about five minutes before I summon my mind blade. In one beautifully smooth move I dodge its attack and behead the thing. The soldiers go nuts cheering and applauding as I kneel down to remove the lizard's heart and eat it.

Devour activated! Str +4 End +2 Wis +4!

'I'm starting to think, in the long term, devour may be the most useful skill I have gotten.'

As a couple of soldiers come into the pen to remove the corpse I look around at the soldiers. It is easy to tell the officers from the soldiers, but it takes me a bit to sort the officers. When I finally pick out the highest ranking officer I walk over to him.

"Captain?"

Captain says "Yes, sir?"

"How many more beasts do you have for me?"

Captain says "Just one more, sir."

"That one wasn't enough of a fight, bring out the last one."

Captain says "Right away, sir!"

For even their captain to be so respectful, I have definitely made an impression on them. As the last cage is brought out I can see it is easily twice the size of the other cages, big enough to have an elephant in it. However the walls of the cage are solid so I can't see what I am going to be fighting this time.