The tyrant descends

Crash

The sound tore through the camp like a thunderclap. Screams followed, sudden and sharp.

A boulder the size of a cart smashed into the edge of the clearing, crushing three slaves in an instant. Splinters of rock and ice exploded outward like shrapnel, cutting down those nearby.

Many slaves lurched away, many more falling as the chains pulled taut, the night echoed with the screams of men.

Sunny was among the few that remained upright, his attribute-enhanced eyes piercing the darkness of the night.

He took a few careful, measured steps back. In the next moment, a piece of ice nearly the size of a man exploded in front of him, showering everyone with sharp icicle shards.

Many lost their lives, and many were as good as dead as they lay on the ground, bleeding out and too weak to move.

"On your feet, fools! Get to the wall!"

It was the older soldier who had whipped the younger soldier earlier. He was shouting angrily at the slaves and trying to move them to the relative safety of the mountain slope.

But Sunny knew it was no use, because just a moment later...

BOOM

Something massive came crashing down, shaking the entire plateau they were standing on. The few slaves who were still upright fell on their backs in surprise.

At first, it could easily have been mistaken for a large dirty boulder, but Sunny wasn't fooled.

The creature unfolded its long limbs and rose, towering over them with such malice that it made Sunny shiver.

The creature had two stumpy legs, an emaciated, hunched torso and disproportionately long, multiplied hands — two of them, each ending with a set of horrifying bone claws, and another two, these ones shorter, ending with almost human-like fingers. The thing that at first glance looked like dirty snow turned out to be its fur, yellowish-grey and ragged, thick enough to stop arrows and swords.

'Oh, for fuck's sake,' Sunny was speechless, 'That thing is over 4 meters tall at least!'

On its head, five milky white eyes regarded the slaves with insect-like indifference. Beneath them were rows and rows of jagged teeth, each one at least as big as his palm. Drool was leaking from the beast's mouth as if in preparation for the feast.

What caught Sunny's eye was the endlessly moving worm-like growths under the creature's skin. He could see it clearly because, unfortunately, it had landed closest to him.

'No... but seriously?' Sunny thought, 'Is any part of this fair?'

Just as he finished that thought, all hell broke loose.

With terrifying speed for something so large, it lunged — one of its long, bone-clawed arms snapping outward like a whip. It struck the closest group of slaves.

Unfortunately, Sunny was a part of that group of slaves.

He barely managed to side-step the attack, placing the broad-shouldered slave between himself and the monstrous claws.

Blood erupted like a fountain in the air as many slaves met the same fate at the gruesome claws of the creature.

Sunny was soaked in the warm liquid. He quickly side-stepped the corpse that was about to fall on him and looked around.

Maybe six slaves and two soldiers had died from that attack alone.

He felt the chain grow taut as his world erupted into pure pain. He was dragged a few feet before the chain grew slack again.

Conveniently, he found himself next to the body of one of the dead soldiers.

'Oh?' Sunny was surprised, 'Has the spell grown a conscience?'

He grabbed the sword but let go quickly. This body was too weak to effectively wield a sword.

Instead, he grabbed a dagger from the soldier's pouch, but that's when he noticed it.

In the moments where he was grabbing the dagger, he saw something that made his blood run cold.

The body of the dead soldier... was writhing.

He took a measured step back, staring at the body as it went through a nightmare-inducing metamorphosis.

Strange bones grew from the skin; fingernails grew into sharp claws.

His face began to split open when...

'Yeah... no,' Sunny thought as he lunged forward.

He began immediately stabbing blindly. He wasn't going to wait until the thing became a threat.

He didn't stop stabbing until the thing stopped wriggling.

[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's larva]

[You have received a memory: Burrowing Claw]

Sunny's eyes widened. He quickly summoned the memory and inspected it for a second.

It was a sharp bone dagger that curved slightly.

With this, he could reliably defend himself at least.

But in the middle of his excitement, a thought wormed its way through his mind.

'The other corpses...' Sunny thought with a startle.

He turned around back to the broad-shouldered slave's body.

There he saw a confusing sight — Shifty and Scholar seemed to have somewhat bound the creature to the chains, pulling with all their might.

But Sunny could hear the chains creak as the creature struggled with all its might. It wouldn't take long before the chains snapped.

Sunny ran forward, the bone dagger in one hand and the soldier's dagger in the other.

He snuck behind the creature and shoved the bone dagger at the back of its head, then shoved the soldier's one where the heart should've been.

The creature howled and clicked violently. Sunny kept stabbing and stabbing until...

[You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's larva]

Sunny fell to his knees; he was drenched in both a mixture of red and violet blood. His already weak and ragged body was exhausted.

He had killed two larvae, which was awesome. He even received a memory!

But this was just the beginning.

That thing had clearly just created lesser versions of itself.

And that skill only belonged to a certain class of nightmare creatures...

'A tyrant...' Sunny was speechless, 'Just what have I done in my past life to deserve this type of treatment?'

Further away, torn bodies and pieces of flesh were lying on the ground. Many slaves were killed. A few had somehow managed to escape and were now running away.

'Idiots... all of them,' Sunny thought somberly.

Then, weakly, 'I want to wake up...'

With that thought, he closed his eyes...

Clink

"Get up and save yourselves!" a recognizable voice said somewhere above Sunny.

He looked up just in time to see the handsome soldier run off, his cape fluttering in the wind.

Sunny looked down and saw a key in the snow.

'A key. It's a key!'

His heart began to beat faster.

'A key to the shackles!'

With one last glance at the fierce battle starting between the young soldier and a larva, Sunny dropped on one knee and began to maneuver the shackles, trying to get his hand into a suitable position to insert the key. It took him a few tries to understand how the unfamiliar lock worked, but then, finally, there was a satisfying click, and he was suddenly free.

Not safe, but free.

"Hey! Over here!" the shifty guy beckoned him over.

Sunny thought of just leaving him to die but opted against it.

It didn't feel right to leave a slave shackled when you had the chance to free him.

Besides, there was strength in numbers.

He quickly unlocked the shackles of both Shifty and the Scholar.

Shifty pushed past him and did a little dance, singing something about being free.

'What a fool, free from what? Death is mere meters away!'

Scholar was a little better. He grasped Sunny's shoulder in gratitude and turned to watch the ensuing fight.

The young soldier was fighting another larva somewhere off. He gracefully decapitated it and turned to face the bigger threat.

The Mountain King, Sunny assumed.

Shifty and Scholar seemed to be in a debate about something — running or staying.

Scholar spoke.

"The monster might be satiated with those it had already slain. It might be defeated or driven away by the Imperials. In any case, if we stay here, we have a chance to survive, however small. But if we run away, our doom will be certain."

"So, what do we do?" asked Shifty with irritation.

Unlike Scholar, Sunny was sure that Mountain King would not be satisfied with killing just most of the slaves. Neither did he believe that a bunch of mortals would really be able to defeat it.

Even Awakened had little to no chance against that thing. What could a bunch of mundane do?

"Let's go take a look."

Shifty and Scholar glanced at each other, then at Sunny.

"Are you out of your mind? You want to get closer?" Shifty asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

Sunny stared at him and shrugged. He began walking to the rampaging monster.