516 Guard Patrol
Karl pulled Thor to a stop as the warrior, who was carrying two narrow blades across his back, ran in their direction.
“Merchant. Did you encounter the undead during the overnight hours? We were informed they should be near here.”
Karl nodded and gestured behind him. “They were drawn to a depression over there, and we fought them for most of the night. There are no more around, but I wouldn’t hang around here for long. They’re likely to come back at midnight. The Beast Nation told me about those phenomenons.” Karl explained.
The Turtle man nodded in understanding, then gestured behind them.
“Were there others with you?”
Karl nodded. “We were camped by that big stone over there, then we heard the sound of battle over here. Once I realized we were both surrounded by the undead, we moved to help them defend their camp. Strength in numbers and all. It was just a small nomadic tribe, demons and humans. They moved on at first light, before full dawn.”
The Tortollan made a note, then tapped his chin with his pen.
“How many in total? Keeping the numbers of nomads under control is part of our job.”
Karl shrugged. “I didn’t count them, but I would say about two dozen fighting age adults and an equal number of elders and children.”
That answer seemed to please the soldier.
“So, roughly fifty, perhaps a few less? And mixed humans and demons?” With that, he looked at the ladies in the wagon.
Ophelia nodded. “That’s right, I would say just under fifty. Not much of a fighting force, as they didn’t have anyone stronger than a Commander, but they had a couple of magic users that made the fight a lot easier.”
The Tortollan made a note of that as well. “That’s normal for demonic Nomads. I’m just glad that you didn’t suffer any casualties from the undead or the demons. I will need to see the battleground. Can you tell me what sort of spells your team used?”
“I am an Elemental Shaman, so there was a large blizzard and flaming cyclones, as well as some lightning. The Naga Warriors use water magic attacks, so there will be lots of that, plus the attacks of our golems and the other guards.” Karl explained.
The Tortollan frowned. “Is there anything that you didn’t use? Something that we can use to pick out how much of a threat the demons are, and if there might have been advanced undead among the zombies?” “Oh, I forgot that there were thrown boulders as well. A specialty of the Golems. But there should be some fireballs and arcane attacks from the others. They’ll look a fair bit like ours, though. If you can pick out the power difference, most of the attacks by arcane type Commanders were from the other group. We just have one with us. Then a bunch of the fireballs were also theirs.
I don’t know if you’ll be able to tell them apart from my fire spells, though. The flaming cyclones come in two varieties, both at my rank and one below that.” Karl explained.
“Thank you, merchant. Please wait here while the unit Commander comes to speak with you.”
If the army unit was going to come to them to talk to get more details, that would give Prince Corbin and his Spellblade Clan plenty of time to escape. As long as they could make it past the patrol, they would be able to turn east and start heading for the border. They were not going to get there any time soon, but it would be safer every day that they moved away from the dungeon.
The whole military unit was coming towards the wagon, and Karl could sense the tension in the wagon behind them.
The monsters didn’t seem to suspect that Karl’s team had been doing anything wrong so far, but they also hadn’t gone looking for the battlefield yet.
Once they saw the outcome of the battle, they would certainly have some serious questions about what sort of combat power Karl and his team had.
The Commander of the unit, a Royal Rank Demon with tattered black wings that clearly wouldn’t be able to fly, stopped in front of Karl and took stock of the group.
“Merchant, I am told that your team has a surprising amount of combat power to be able to take out an entire undead horde with only the assistance of a small nomad tribe.” He greeted them.
“We do alright. You know how it is for merchants, we have to be able to take care of ourselves when we’re on the road.” Karl agreed.
The demon smiled. “I would imagine that it’s a lot easier to take care of yourself when you’re actually a Royal Rank human Elite with an active system and not a merchant at all. Tell me, what have you been telling everyone that you are, to pass so easily through half a country?”
“I think you might have misunderstood something in your dispatch. My father is a stone troll. As much as every kid loves stories of the system, that’s all they are. Stories.” Karl countered.
“So if I cut your hand off, it would just grow back, with no help from your cleric friends, would it?”
Karl chuckled at the demon’s attempt to call him out. “I am only half troll, but I regenerate well enough.”
Karl took his sword out of his storage space and held out a pinkie finger.
With a grimace, he severed the digit and held it up to the shocked soldiers. Then he held his bleeding hand up and watched with what he hoped was hidden shock as the original finger seemed to melt into mist while a new one grew out of his hand.
He had never tested [Void Body] before, but it worked exceptionally well. It did leave him hungry, though.
There was just one odd thing about it. He didn’t bleed red anymore. The blood that had poured from his severed finger and across his hand had been deep black, though most of it was already absorbed into his skin.
The Demon stared for a few more seconds, suspicious of Karl’s honesty, then dragged a young Minotaur forward.
“Is this the man that you saw?” He demanded.
“Yes, Unit Commander. That is the Dungeon Champion from the Golden Dragon Nation, I am one hundred percent sure of it now that I can smell him. Even if the trouble seer hadn’t said we would find him here, I would be certain that he is the human’s Champion.” The soldier insisted.
He was a Commander Rank Minotaur, likely still in his teens, or whatever the Minotaur age equivalent was. His horns were polished to a black sheen that greatly pleased Cara, who had been wondering for some time if you could polish them, and he did look vaguely familiar to Karl, though they had only seen each other once.
Karl hopped down from the wagon, and the Minotaur blinked up at him, then frowned. The last time they had met, Karl had been under 190 centimetres tall, but right now, he was well over two and a half metres tall, towering over the young Minotaur.
“Look, I’m sure this is an honest mistake. Perhaps it’s because we have a human guard and the Dragon Clerics with us?” He asked, gesturing to Dana and the others.
The demon turned to the Naga warrior on his side of the wagon.
“Did this man hire you to pretend that you were his guards?” He demanded.
The Naga gave him an unimpressed look.
[Are you retarded? We Naga have our own dignity. We have been his guards as long as he has been a merchant. There is no pretending involved.] He responded in Serpent.
The Demon’s eye twitched, and Karl watched carefully as he barely resisted going for the blade on his hip at the insult.
Karl looked through the soldiers, taking note of the ones in lighter armour, which wouldn’t interfere with their mobility when casting spells. The soldiers noticed where he was looking, and began to believe that Karl might be telling the truth. If he took out the mages before they could respond, the rest of the team would have a devil of a time trying to kill a Royal Rank Troll without fire magic.
The Demon frowned as he started to consider that they might have gotten the wrong target. But he couldn’t just let it slide when they had been specifically sent here.
“I will need to ask you to come with us until this matter is settled. You will be free to make your sales when we get to the city.”