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The Big Oof! Chapter 37: Enjoy Your Meal
🕑 Added 2023-04-19 07:37:36 +0000 UTCPushing his hand through his long and unkept green hair, Jini let out a sigh of relief as he watched the multitude of oars jutting out of a large ship start to row out further away from the dock. Not only did he successfully complete his job in acquiring a multitude of unknown magical items, but his boss deemed it important enough to sail off as well.
He grinned t o himself, finally feeling a sense of safety wash over him. Had the plan had gone wrong, the boss promised him the only thing they’d find was his body dangling from a tree. But now he was going to be a made man! The boss himself was going to talk to his boss and have him inducted into Kjadnar’s chosen!
Jini looked up to see the ship start to slowly turn around the bend of the river before turning his head to the rest of the deck hands that helped load the cargo. “You ‘ear ‘em? A made man!” Jini said jovially before his gaze returned to the ship.
“Ain’t no one touchin’ me!”
SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP
Suddenly a multitude of strange sounds erupted around him as everyone around him yelped in pain. Turning around, Jini looked down to see all of the deckhands had either hit the floor or were trying to crawl away, leaving trickles of blood on the ground. Snapping his head up, his face turned into one of horror as the brown and pale giant were pointing something at him, moving his way.
And they were moving QUICKLY
“Don’t move shit for brains!” The darker skinned one yelled.
However, Jini didn’t heed his word as he tried to make a break for it, but suddenly his legs locked up as he felt something slam into his pelvis.
SNAP
“AHHH!” Jini screamed in pain.
Elijah was already on top of him by the time his target hit the floor. With a powerful thrust, Elijah then jabbed the barrel of his rifles into the green haired man’s face. “Do you think you can just RUN AWAY, dipshit!?” He hissed angrily. “I’m not fucking with you, I’ll end you right here, right now!” The man yelled, shoving the barrel of his rifle with the still hot suppressor into Jini’s face.
“WHERE'S MY STUFF!?” Elijah continued to shout, searing Jini’s cheek.
Jini tried to move his legs, but everything below his waist didn’t seem to respond as he let out a scream of pain and terror. “WHAT ARE YE TALKING ABOUT!?” He replied as tears streamed down his face. "I-I-I’m just a deckhand!” He lied, looking up at his attacker.
Rage filled Elijah’s face as he turned around and looked at Yana. “BURN HIM!” He shouted, his voice booming with righteous fury.
Yana grinned fiendishly as she darted forward. A diabolical giggle escaped her lips as her hands fell on top of Jini’s face and with a flash of brilliant violet light, her new victim let out a shrill scream of agony.
“Do you think I’m playing games!?” Elijah yelled, pressing his knee to Jini’s neck to keep him in place as the green-haired man writhed and howled. “Do I look like a fucking comedian!? TALK or I’ll make you beg me for death!” He said, waving his hand at Yana to stop whatever she was doing to him.
Another brilliant flash spilled out of Yana’s eyes as Jini gasped for air, trying to scramble away, but the knee on his neck prevented him from moving. “O-okay okay! Please! Please just don’t do that again!” He nearly sobbed, covering his face.
"Your cart is on the boat!" he blurted out, pointing at the ship sailing down the river. “It’s going to Aldenshor!” He said preemptively, being as cooperative as he could.
Elijah looked up to see the ship was already disappearing around the bend of the river and slammed his hand into his face in frustration. “GOD DAMNIT!!” He screamed in unimaginable fury. Never in his life had Elijah felt this much anger and this much helplessness as he watched the distant ship slowly slink out of view.
Watching Elijah stand up and pace around, Bennett crouched down and stared into Jini’s eyes with disgust. "You have no idea how badly I want to kill you right now." he growled. "Now, you’re going to give us everything you know, who you talked to, who your friends are and who you work for. Or else our little fairy friend is going to make it feel like every strip of your skin is being slowly peeled off."
“Ohh! That’s a new one!” A sinister giggle came out of the demented tiny being as she floated over Bennett’s shoulder.
Tears started to roll down Jini’s eyes as he looked into the face of what looked like a demon. But just before he opened his mouth, the sound of metal footsteps echoed out from behind them.
“HALT!” A familiar voice rang out.
The crew quickly turned their attention towards the commotion, their weapons at the ready, and were greeted with the sight of Rhea and three of her knights charging towards them.Their weapons were drawn as the sound of their metal armor clanged together, filling the air as they closed in on the crew. clanked against each other as they moved. Just as the crew recognized who was running at them, they noticed further down the dock was another massive ship with five more knights carefully making their way down the planks connecting to the dock.
Jini took this opportunity to call in the hopes that this was a chance to be saved. “LADY INQUISITOR! PLEASE! THESE BRUTES ROBBED ME AND KILLED ME FRIENDS!”
“S-Sir Elijah!?” Rhea shouted in surprise as she and her group came to stop, just meters away. “Sir Elijah, what is the meaning of this!?”
Elijah looked back at the injured man with a scowl. “Oh, you fucked up.” He said flatly before turning back to the Knight Captain. “Lady Rhea! These pieces of shit!” Elijah gestured to Azeline’s prisoner before turning around and giving a full powered kick to Jini’s face. “Are the thugs I’ve asked you to take care of.” He said with Malice in his voice. “And these bastards have stolen every single one of my possessions including your lord's magical item.”
Rhea furrowed her brow as her gaze shifted between the thug being held by scruff and the obviously injured man on the ground. "H-Hold on, Sir Elijah," she said, her voice heavy with confusion. "I don’t understand, I-I need more information. What exactly is going on here?" Rhea asked while glancing towards the dead and dying deckhands on the ground.
With a contorted face, Elijah explained the situation to Rhea as he clenched his fist tightly. "In short, these idiots tried to kill us and stole our cart full of magical items, including the one we were supposed to give to YOUR lord. Then they decided to load it onto a ship and sail it to Alden-whatever-the-hell!” He finished, looking out further down towards the river.
Following his gaze, Rhea couldn’t see any ship, but she could see that the large man in front of her was shaking in anger. And if she thought about it for more than a second, this group had zero incentive to rob and steal from anyone, especially with the payout they received for that mana rich spine.
“Okay sir Elijah… I believe you and we’ll interrogate these miscreants and we’ll have the truth by the morning.” Rhea said, in a voice that tried to calm Elijah down. “But I need you to be in a calmer state if we are to be effective in any investigation.”
“We don’t have till morning!” Elijah turned around and snarled at her. “Our lives and our future is on the FUCKING BOAT! And you want us to just sit back and wait!? Are you out of your fucking mind!?”
Rhea raised her hand in a placating gesture. "I understand, Sir Elijah. But Salvanius will never allow us to act so rashly and without proper investigation," she said sympathetically while slowly walking forward. “Aldenshor is several days sail from here, and moving any kind of magical item will be noticed and traced once it’s docked. And since these fiends had stolen from his Grace, it’s guaranteed we'll take care of it, I promise.”
Elijah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The fact that there was the red tape of bureaucracy even in this shit hole of a planet was enough to drive him completely mad. He let out a frustrated roar before turning around and waving to the rest of his crew. "Leave them with her!." He ordered.
Instantly the crew reacted, releasing their hold on the prisoners and quickly making their way to Elijah's side. Rhea and her knights watched in bewilderment as the group stormed past them. “Sir Elijah, wait!” Rhead called out in concern. “Where are you going now!?”
Not even slowing down as marched further down the street, Elijah checked his weapon and growled, "Taking care of a couple of parasites."
Rhea’s hand fell to the side, unsure what to say as she watched Elijah and his crew disappear into the darkness of the night. An exhausted sigh left her lips as she turned her attention towards the two thugs. "Secure the prisoners," she ordered her knights, "If Sir Elijah is telling the truth, then we’ll need to raid that safe house he told us about sooner rather than later."
“Yes my Liege!” The squad of knights shouted as they quickly took custody of the still surviving gang members.
Taking a deep breath of air, Rhea gave one more glance down the dark street Elijah had raced down before turning on her heel and following her squad to the ship. She needed to inform Salvanius of what had happened, and if the magical tool his grace had indeed been stolen, then they needed to figure out what adjustments their plans are going to need moving forward. And one of those adjustments may very well be a deep investigation and a city wide purge of all its unsavory characters.
It seemed this small town had been much more than an irrelevant backwater than she had initially thought and Rhea made a mental note to be more cautious in the future. As she stepped onto the plank connecting to their ship, her mind lingered on Elijah for a brief moment, unable to help the mixed feelings of concern and frustration towards him. While she admired his brilliance as a Healer and his bravery even in the face of a Demigod and his veritable army, she also knew that impulsiveness could be dangerous.
“But then again…” Rhea muttered quietly as she glanced at the bodies on the ground. “Maybe they’ll be fine.” She finished, spinning on her heel.
A cruel look flashed across the Knight Captain's eyes the moment she laid eyes on her new prisoners. And seeing that this was a time-sensitive issue, Rhea knew she couldn't waste any time. Everyone here would have to brace themselves for a long, sleepless night, because she was getting the needed information by any means necessary.
“May the heavens have mercy on your soul.” She said coldly as they all disappeared into the interior of the ship. “Because if Sir Elijah is telling the truth, then I will not.”
-
“By the heavens…” Azeline gasped as they jogged down a narrow dirt path through a relatively thin stretch of forest.. “How… How are you able to keep going?”
Elijah and Bennett gave each other an odd look before they both turned their heads back to Azeline.
“We’ve barely even gone 2 miles.” Bennett said incredulously. “And we’ve even been going slow FOR YOU.”
It didn’t even register with Azeline that someone had spoken back as she struggled to maintain the current pace without toppling over. She just couldn’t believe how her two companions didn’t look even a little winded as they effortlessly quickly ran through the forest even though they were all running down a trail. A rough and uneven trail, but still a trail.
“I… I can’t.” She gasped as her balance started to falter.
Elijah managed to catch her by wrapping his arm around her waist as they all came to a sudden stop. A snarl of frustration spread across his face as he slowly sat her on a large fallen log off to the side.
“Ben, how much further?” Elijah asked, as Azeline sat there catching her breath.
Bennett’s eyes unfocused as he accessed his ocular implant. Suddenly, faint flickers of orange light danced within his pupils as his entire field of vision was encompassed by one of the satellites above. The only thing he could see now was a birds eye view displaying the surrounding terrain and their location in real-time.
Scanning the area as his eyes made small micro movements, Bennett focused on manually controlling the satellite in order to find their exact location. “We’re about 200 hundred meters out” He replied before his feed zoomed out to show several carts traveling down the main road. “And we have about 10 minutes to get to the ambush point before they pass us.”
Elijah nodded with a determined look on his face before turning to Azeline. “We only have just a little bit more to go.” He said gently, placing an arm on her back. “Can you make it?”
Azeline had a weak and unfocused look on her face as she tilted her head up the moment she heard her name. It took her a moment to fully process what was said, but with a deep breath, she nodded. "I can make it," she replied.
Elijah gave her a small pat on the back before turning back towards the path they were traveling down. "Just try your best, I’ll be right next to you if anything happens." he said as he heard Azeline stand on wobbly legs. “I’m sorry, but I'm uncomfortable with just leaving you when I have no idea what’s lurking around.” He said, looking back sympathetically.
Understanding the dire circumstance, Azeline shook her head vigorously and mustered whatever left of her willpower to power through the pain and exhaustion. She knew that they couldn't afford to waste any time, especially with the caravan approaching. However, she couldn’t quite understand how she was completely winded while the two in front of her looked like they took a simple stroll down the street.
While not being the strongest runner, her profession required her to be in impeccable shape. But she pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the task at hand. She picked up her pace as best she could, with Elijah by her side keeping a watchful eye and Bennett leading the way.
As they neared the ambush point, Bennett signaled for the group to take cover behind a row of overgrown roots that flanked the road as Azeline's legs finally gave out. Just as she began to stumble, Elijah reacted quickly, catching her before the woman managed to completely bite it and go face first into the ground. Lowering her gently against one of the roots, the two Human’s readied their weapons and pointed them towards where the caravan would be approaching while the poor elf woman gasped for breath.
“We really gotta work on that cardio.” Elijah said quietly to the woman who was too exhausted to pay attention.
Azeline managed to offer an annoyed look at the petulant man’s remark as her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. “I don’t…” She paused as her chest heavily went up and down. “Know what that mean’s, but… fuck you.” She shot back, knowing full well he was being rude.
“You two run like Wargs.” She complained, placing her hands on her head
Elijah eyebrow shot up, unsure if being compared to a very large wolf like predator was a compliment or insult. His thought couldn’t help but momentarily wander at the similarities between the two species even though they were realities apart. If Wargs were anything like Wolves, then that would imply Wargs were persistence hunters, using their endurance to run down their prey until they were exhausted.
“A biologist would have a field day with all the convergent evolution cases they would probably find.” Elijah muttered to himself as he adjusted his rifle.
“I think they’re a minute or two away, can you see them?” Bennett called out, his eyes unfocused and flickering with light.
Peering down his optic, Elijah looked further down the road and saw the row of carts being pulled by the same strange oxen-like creatures he saw at the village. Stepping over Azeline as he kept his head down, Elijah slowly made his way a little further down the treeline before the ambush began.
As he got closer, Elijah could hear the low rumble of the wooden wheels grinding against the rough dirt road and the grunts of the oxen as they pulled their heavy load. He watched as the first cart passed him and he could see the young Coachman let out a sigh of relief.
Seeing their targets finally get into the perfect spot for their linear ambush, Elijah voiced over their local subvocal network, "Go."
Suddenly, an impossibly bright strobing light shone from the tree line into the oxen and Coachmen’s face, while the two humans jumped out, weapons at the ready. The oxen immediately panicked and thrashed his head, causing the cart to violently rock from side to side, sending their goods all over the place.
The young Coachman yelped in terror as his hands went to block the light, but the act caused him to lose balance and go flying off. Ripping free from his reins, the Oxen heavily galloped forth in stark panic, bringing the driverless cart with it, careening down the road as Elijah and Bennett moved in.
“DON’T FUCKING MOVE!” Bennett yelled, pointing his weapon at the Coachmen who was gasping for air after hitting the ground.
Elijah had his own strobing light blasting at the screaming passengers, making sure to disorient as many people as he could. “You reach for any weapons and you're dead!” Elijah yelled at the terrified men and women looking around for their spears. “Where the fuck is Afton!?” He growled, sweeping all the carts with his rifle. Another scream of terror resounded as all of the villagers covered their eyes to block out the blinding light while Elijah kept his head on a swivel, trying to find the little bastard.
“I know you’re here somewhere you little shit! Did you think you could fuck me and live!?” Elijah bellowed, walking up and down the convoy while examining each face.
Just as turned to the last caught, he caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye. A small figure had jumped off the other side of the cart and just as they began to take off into a run, whoever it was had turned around and shown their face. “FOUND ‘EM, SECURE THE CONVOY!” Elijah shouted as he took off into a dead sprint after Afton who bolted into the tree line.
Dodging the low hanging branches and jumping over the thick foliage, Elijah followed the young man as he heard the pounding of his feat. Afton was running as fast as he could with the contorted look of fear etched on his face, but when he turned around, a high pitched squeal escaped .
Afton had always been the fastest running in the village, but the giant was gaining ground, FAST.
Adrenaline was coursing through his veins as Afton pushed himself harder. His lungs burned with exertion as he picked up speed and never felt like he had ever run faster in his life. However, one more look back showed that the fiend chasing him was closer than ever. His eyes clouded over with a mixture of panic and desperation, but just as Elijah was about to grab him, Afton suddenly changed direction and darted off into a very rough dirt trail.
The sudden move had caught Elijah by surprise as he slid to change course, giving Afton some needed breathing room. Looking back and noticing some decent ground had been made between him and pursuer, Afton let out an internal sigh of relief as he planned his next course of action. It appeared that due to his heavy weight, while fast, the demon behind him wasn’t nearly as maneuverable.
“WAIT TILL FATHER HEARS ABOUT TH- OOF!” Afton tried to gloat, but soon found himself falling face first into a void.
Afton's foot had caught nothing but air as he tumbled into a deep, pitch black pit, his hands frantically searching for something to grab onto but finding only rough dirt walls that scraped his fingers.With a thud, the young man hit the bottom of the inclined pit, but found his landing was a lot softer than expected.
A groan left Afton’s mouth as he unsteadily pushed himself up and started feeling his way around in the darkness. His heart raced as he realized that he just fell on felt fleshy and somewhat cool.
And that’s when another strange groan echoed out in the narrow inclined hole he was in.
“W-What?” Afton stammered and he continued to feel around.
Suddenly, something clamped down on Afton's feeling hand with a sharp pain, causing him to shriek in terror. Grabbing his knife, the young man immediately started stabbing at whatever was chewing on him, causing it to screech and pain before releasing its grip. Breathing heavily and whimpering, Afton could feel the warm blood trickling down his hand as he held it close to his chest.
After a few moments of panic, he spun around and looked up to see the star filled night sky and started to climb. up the walls of the pit. With each grip of dirt, Afton felt the searing pain in his injured hand, but he pushed through the agony and kept climbing as guttural barks erupted from further in the hole.
The noises only intensified his fear and desperation to escape as he recognized the kind of barks and growls coming from deeper in the pit.
“OH GODS! HELP!” Afton screamed in terror “THERE'S KOBOLDS! OH HEAVENS PLEASE HELP ME!”
Weeping his eyes out, Afton desperately scrambled up the dirt wall until he finally reached a part of the pit illuminated by moonlight. Looking down, he felt himself pale as he watched several furious looking kobolds scrambling after him, barking in their strange language. And with another scream of pure terror, Afton felt a burst of energy causing him to push himself up and grab onto the edge of the pit.
As Afton pulled himself up over the edge, he noticed the pair of kobolds had come to a complete stop and were now fixated on something above him. He took advantage of the distraction and pushed through the pain, mustering all the strength he had left to pull himself up and over the edge. But as he glanced up to see what had caught their attention, his blood froze.
A figure was standing over the edge of the pit, looking down at him.
"Man, that must really suck," Elijah remarked with a wicked smirk, as a mischievous fairy with a matching grin peered out from his jacket.
"It'd be quite unfortunate if he were to slip back down," the tiny creature chimed in, giggling mischievously.
Afton stared in utter shock as the man gradually lifted his boot, only to bring it down forcefully onto his face in a brutal stomp, sending tumbling back down into the waiting jaws below.
“Enjoy your meal.”
Comments
scribbles
You're just going to have to wait and see
prentice barry
I hope they get their stuff back, i was looking forward to seeing how their sci-fi tech shapes up against magical artifice crafting and how the two fields each have their pros and cons, it’d be a shame if it just becomes another “well time to forget that we are engineers and become wizards” kinda story
