Chapter 41
Everyone was drinking and having a wonderful time. For the recently released newcomers this was an unbelievable paradise, a community that wasn't corrupted by the pervasiveness of the non-order races. A pure place, a safe place like in the old stories.
No needing to bribe anyone, no need to worry about anything you had to say, and no worry about people abusing the legal system to literally get away with murder, rape and theft.
The walls made them feel safe, the armoured dwarves made them feel really safe and the two Trolls in love really really made them feel safe… everything was owed to the trio.
Not one of them demanded loyalty or service. They just acted and became leaders of their respective races without anyone voting for them because it would have been unanimous anyways.
Maro didn't know if he enjoyed his session with the ladies… he got frostbite multiple times, pieces of his flesh torn off… thank goodness for the healing…
Kadrin had recounted his tale first… the dwarves and gnomes got stalled on sub floor 18…there were wayyy too many hobgoblins… they had started to experience severe injuries and the elf ladies had trouble keeping up. Luckily no deaths…
After going nowhere for a week, they retreated and created solid fortifications on floor 17 with a guard rotation.
Kadrin focused the rest of the men to do labour and start looting and clearing sub floors 1-16. They had enough armour and weapons to outfit a Thousand dwarf warriors in their ancestral armour, the ebony and ivory variant, they also found some ancient recipes for the long lost dwarven whiskey. It's said the only remaining specimens were some bottles in the older nobles' houses, not a barrel in existence.
If they could harvest all the ingredients for the beer and whiskey, the industrial brewery and distillery would be brewing 24 hours a day.
Not much else was found, however, to the dwarves any connection to their ancestors was worth more than any compensation. All the suits of armour would end up being passed down within the family, generation after generation.
Honestly Maro felt a kinship with the dwarves. His family had a set of samurai armour they had maintained for multiple generations… he also felt a connection to his ancestors… he especially liked the dwarf obsession with drink also… haha
Maro thought that recipe alone would be worth their troubles… he hadn't had much hard liquor since he came to this world… he was a whiskey man, he was excited!
After everything was locked down inside, they put their efforts into expanding the farming situation outside.
The most surprising part of his story was that a couple dozen people had arrived on their own. Word had spread about the reconquest efforts and their little rebellion against the Unity Kingdom.
A bunch of young dwarf males came out, and as soon as they heard someone was heading to reconquer the fortress they swore oaths to their ancestors and were duty bound to come. Kadrin welcomed them as young brothers.
The rest of the people were women, children and elderly of all order races, they had heard rumours of liberated work and prison camps… These people had everything taken away from them. They were welcome as well.
Despite how big of a degenerate Maro was… this was what warriors were meant to do… protect the people. Maro was happy at this new development, he wasn't that big of an asshole.
Gnarlo and Maro recounted their side of what happened…only the mission sensitive portions… no extra details to be mentioned…
Kadrin just went "aye"
I mean what could you possibly say…
"Amongst the 600, I've been watching them the last couple weeks… I'd take 300 for us… roughly 200 humans and 100 dwarves. The rest can go to general labour, farming whatever their expertise is"
They all chugged a beer.
Gnarlo was traumatized, didn't say much the entire night… and frankly no one wanted to know what he saw being that close to a Troll dance…
"I was thinking of moving the Gnomish crossbow team to more of a spy and scout network… what do you think Gnarlo"
"…sure…" Gnarlo chugged and chugged until he coughed up beer. His head plopped on the table, he was out… poor Jenny carried him home.
"I'll take a couple dozen of the best humans to be swordsmen and the rest I will make archers"
"Good thinking lad, we'll be at roughly 200 Spearmen, 50 of your swordsmen strikeforce and 150 bows… with this we can make good progress below".
"Kadrin… Katarina is an Ice mage, she can keep a blizzard going over enemy lines… slow, damage and weaken their on coming forces… also obscure the vision of any spell casters…she'll be our mvp"
Katarina quickly made a thumbs up Ice sculpture
Maro continued
"This is our final push, it will be done with this one… we'll seal all the mines. And open them up as we need in the future… it's the easiest and safest way… from what you said those mines can be tight… dwarf in heavy armour is a disadvantage in cramped quarters"
"We'll have deaths, tough to shake off a goblin on your back stabbing your neck when you can't even raise your arms"
Kadrin spat on the floor "Aye"
Kadrin raised his ale, "To reclaiming the fortress"
They all clinked their ale mugs.
They drank for a while… the entire time Katarina was whispering into his ear and tugging his sleeve to get him to come with her…
Be careful what you wish for… all three ladies had their class specialization unlocked… he couldn't overpower both the druids enhanced by their cat form, at the same time and his movement was limited by Katarina.
He thought about going to the sub-levels drunk to kill goblins… he would take less damage that way… until Katarina got fed up and whispered in his ear all the things the three ladies would do without him and how it was such a shame because she thought he was a real man.
They knew how he ticked, he immediately excused himself and picked Katarina up in his arms and walked off into the night…
"Kadrin" he yelled "we'll group up in the courtyard tomorrow, outfit everyone and head out asap…wish me luck"
Chapter 42
Maro woke up from a knightmare, sweating just before noon… he could have sworn he was being mauled and torn apart, trying to fight for his life.
Alleria and Valleria had used their nature magic to grow a large bed to fit all of their activities…He got up and looked at the giant bed and bedroom… Blood everywhere… His blood. He saw one of his ears on the floor… oh yeah one of the cats bit it off…
Luckily 3 people could heal, he had a brand new ear to replace the old… worst case scenario Katarina could ice it and they could heal it back on later… but he hadn't lost any 'large' limbs yet.
He headed straight for the courtyard…
It was impressive, Kadrin had everyone lined up and waiting… Maro slept too long again…
The dwarves looked way too impressive compared to everyone else… 200 lined up in a 4 by 50 formation so they could clog the tunnels. Their beautiful Ebony armour with Ivory trim, they were intimidating and powerful. The Red and gold trim was even more fearsome, their full plate helmets covered their heads entirely except for the eye slits and a mouth one.
By comparison the swordsmen and archers were still in basic leather armour still…
"As soon as we get access to a forge, we're upgrading these bums… the comparison isn't fair"
Kadrin laughed "its all thanks to you Maro… we're reclaiming our heritage and appeasing our ancestors, we will forge you whatever you like as gifts… slowly but surely we can take over the other outposts and fortresses along the mountain chain… one day I hope"
Maro looked all around "you think the kingdom will eventually make a move?"
"Not soon, they are too disorganized, any decent unit is busy on their lord's territory… The country technically doesn't even have a singular command structure… it takes the council to vote on a vote to discuss a vote… yada yada yada… we're also on the edge of the country… I mean their border ends at this mountain range, despite what the map says… They don't have a single town near the mountains"
"Good, we'll need as much time as possible… alright now on to business"
He turned to the men waiting in the courtyard
"We are here to make a peaceful place for us to live… no one is certain of the future… but we all know the Unity kingdom is a farce… they spit on actual unity every day they exist… the corruption and lack of care for our peoples is enough"
"We will conquer this fortress today, we are not coming out until we do… we will become a new bastion of true freedom, reclaiming the ancient Glory of our races!!! The majestic human kingdoms that put their chivalric code above their own lives, The ancient Gnomes who lived alongside humans and Dwarves forever leading Academia and industry forward and the spectacular Dwarf empire of old for which today would not be possible!"
A huge roar erupted, even the regular people who were working around the courtyard were cheering.
"We will show the world true unity!…Forward!"
At sub level 17, they were making amazing progress… no offense to the gnomish crossbow team but they could not keep pace at all with how fast the humans fired… also being taller than the dwarves they did not need to blindly fire over them. The archers would release a volley every couple of seconds.
Any goblin or hobgoblin that somehow managed to get over the dwarf line was immediately skewered by the swordsmen… and whenever there was a difficult target. The Dwarf lines would open up for the swordsmen to strike hard, fast and then retreat under the cover of the dwarves.
They hadn't encountered any trouble so far… in these tight quarters, numbers didn't matter. The goblins could attest to that… tens of thousands of them have died so far to only a couple hundred of them. The dwarves would be telling tales of this for a long time, the hundreds against thousands all to point to this moment as their second resurgence.
Maro had consecrated ground active… they had kept Katarina in the back until the hobgoblin mages would show up. Katarina would effectively keep them blind with a rolling small scale blizzard, while simultaneously hindering the goblin front line.
Maro did not want to use War cry… until after Katarina was in combat, he Pavlov'd himself every time he thought of using War cry he got a little excited. He did not want to have a boner in combat.
It didn't help that Katarina was extremely bored and messing with him… she had a small, ice tendril slowly climb up his leg and tease him…
He would break it and another one would slowly go up his thigh. Maro was sweating buckets despite being constantly Iced.
Maro had bloodrush active the entire time so he could hyper focus on the battle… luckily Bloodrush hadn't been ruined for him yet.
Just then, a volley of fireballs and boulders were launched from out of sight… be careful what you wish for… his will power was wavering before the hobgoblin mages launched their coordinated assault.
The Dwarven front line was separated by multiple explosions, the back lines and the swordsmen rushed to fill the gaps.
Maro grabbed Katarina and kissed her deeply, getting her back for the teasing.
Sarcastically he said "If I die, make an ice sculpture of me and go fuck yourself with it"
This is why you don't go to war with people you fuck… I don't know how the Greeks did it, he thought.
He turned around and ran with 10 of his best men to go behind enemy lines, just as the blizzard started falling… The archers were instructed to focus fire only on enemies they could see so the swordsmen weren't hit.
In the low visibility environment of the blizzard, chaos ensued. The hobgoblin mages were casting randomly not realizing the blizzard and the forces coordinated with their move forward. The hobgoblin mages were missing like they were blind, blowing up their own forces or shooting over his men.
In the midst of the chaos, Maro was on a blissful killing spree… when he was almost at the spot where the Mages were, he cast Warcry as strong as he could.
It looked like even the snow paused mid-fall in fear for a second. His forces were invigorated, his swordsmen all became blades of death.
The goblins however, hearing the shout come from in the middle of their forces, lost their shit… they got primal, they started lashing out at anyone and everything around them… the ones who had space to run, did so. The fear was overpowering, this close and this powerful.
Even the Hobgoblins stopped casting for a while trying to get their troops back… however it was too late… in the low visibility environment, against a mage. Maro cut their heads off with 0 effort, their staves couldn't block his swords, he was sprinting across the battlefield, unimpeded… no more spells were cast… the hobgoblins were dead.
And with that the rout started in full, the blizzard was lifted, their leadership was dead… thousands of goblins stampeded towards the staircase down, trampling over each other.
Meanwhile, Kadrin gave the order to break rank and switch to axes "Kill Them All!" he shouted
Maro let his men go have fun, he returned to where Katarina was to heal the wounded as she was freezing the larger wounds and encasing peoples missing limbs so Alleria and Valleria could heal it back on.
His bloodrush still active, after healing all the men he could he ordered a bunch of men left behind to start helping move the wounded back up stairs.
With the blizzard no longer needed during the rout, he entrusted Katarina to lead the wounded back in case stragglers were hiding around.
Before he ran off to join the rout, he grabbed Katarina by the waist, kissed her, bit her lip and then whispered to her "stay safe" and he took off after his men.
Chapter 43
The strategy was a huge success, the rout lasted until the 23 sub level, before the goblins reformed themselves.
They took a couple days to regroup and relaunched with the same strategy, this time they made it all the way to the bottom floor the 30th sub level and traditionally where the highest position of authority would have their personal chambers. They also sealed any mines they came across so the Goblins couldn't come from behind them.
It had taken weeks to go down a couple floors, but with Katarina they absolutely destroyed them.
But now they were in a dilemma again, the main room was blocked… not by the goblins but by themselves…
3 hobgoblins were left… these ones were special… all three had unlocked their specialization even further… A Hobgoblin King, a Hobgoblin Shaman and A Hobgoblin Marauder…
The King had an aura that seriously empowered the other two, the shaman could buff on top of the King's aura, heal them and cast devastating lightning spells that worked a lot better against the dwarven armour. The lightning spells would bounce between them, amplifying even further after each bounce between the dwarves. And the marauder was the worst, he had dual axes and being empowered by the other two, he was faster than Maro with unique Goblin accented warrior abilities…
As soon as they had entered the chamber, the lightning spell took 50 Dwarves out of commission and killed 2 immediately, they retreated right away and while sealing the room, the Marauder made minced meat of 3 of his swordsmen before the doors closed… Thankfully the room had only one exit and entrance.
Fuck they were too cocky, they were really deep down, it would take hours for his men to be escorted to the Elve's aid station… He buckled up and started healing every single one of them he could.
Luckily the lightning only really caused burns and nerve damage, no limbs needed to be frozen.
They took a day to formulate a plan and rest.
This entire time Maro had been leveling up but hadn't gotten a single new skill… He was a Paladin lvl 14 now… His attributes increased and his holy spells got significantly more powerful… but this was all marginal no qualitative change yet… he was pissed. Fucking deity gave him a shit class… a simple heal and a meh aura, nothing else.
They had been going back and forth on their strategy for a while, but Maro convinced everyone… he was a good fighter but spending decades studying and being part of military operations… he shined at strategy.
"Okay to summarize, Katarina will start a blizzard before we open the doors, as soon as doors are opened the Archers will launch two volleys through the blizzard. The blizzard will move forward, hopefully slowing down the Marauder. I will then use everything I have and run in, I will vanguard charge their shaman and hopefully kill him fast, 5 of my swordsmen with class unlocks will run in to keep the marauder and goblin king busy for a little bit."
He took a swig of wine
"Give it a minute, if the shaman is dead or too busy to help, the Dwarven lightning rods can come in, line up, separate the Marauder and King and back them into corners until they are dead"
Maro would be the one taking the most risk… it had Katarina a bit worried for real. She wanted to just siege the room and wait… but they were so close and they couldn't count on a siege… the grand room had only one entrance and exit but… they weren't completely sure… They had to strike before those three escaped. And the Dwarves were angry, they didn't want to wait.
Kadrin yelled "Get Ready! You have five minutes to get yourself together and line up"
Maro took this moment to console Katarina… she had lost all her family, all she had to remind her of her parents was ice magic… She wanted family and revenge. Maro was the only one to provide both of those for her. Nervousness and anxiety took hold of her again.
They walked around the corner for a bit of privacy
"Maro, please… I am worried, can we switch tactics where you don't charge in there by yourself first" she was gripping his hands in a cold vice.
Maro shook her grip, in these situations his Soldier side always came through "Katarina, we spent hours formulating strategy, this one has the highest chance of success with the least amount of risk to people's lives"
"Not yours Maro" she whimpered
He grabbed her hands back and then hugged her "Don't worry lady, I am Maro the liberator, Champion of Order and I shit in goblin skulls and I drink wine out of different Goblin skulls… remember" He smiled, kissed her forehead… he kinda got distracted and started biting her ear and then kissing her neck, she accidentally let out a little moan, trying to hold it in on the battlefield.
The moan snapped Maro out of it… he would reach a point where he wouldn't be able to stop himself… He kissed her on the forehead once more…
"Cast Blizzard" and Maro walked back to face the door. Maro used bloodrush and consecrated ground.
Snow started falling, Maro nodded to Kadrin who had his dwarves push the large doors inward.
"FIRE" Kadrin yelled
The 150 archers all launched a volley through the doors in unison.
Kadrin yelled "Again! and then pull back"
As the second volley was passing through the doors Maro used [Warcry] to its strongest, and ran in.
He sprinted forward, through the doors and into the blizzard. A lighting spell whizzed past him and blew up a piece of the wall behind him… he knew where the Shaman was.
He gambled by using his charge in the direction of the lightning [Vanguard Charge]
He collided into flesh and then into the wall behind him in full force, crumpling the goblin. He cut off its head to make sure no healing could help him now.
"Shaman's dead!" he yelled, faster than expected.
He heard metal clashing behind him, must be his swordsmen fighting the marauder…
Just then an axe was thrown into his back. Embedded deep he couldn't take it out in time, the Marauder jumped on his back trying to smash his axe on his head.
He rolled forward and they tumbled on the ground, the blizzard cleared up as the Dwarves were marching in… The goblin king was immediately cornered and speared so many times he almost became mush.
The marauder and Maro were rolling around too much for anyone to help him. Maro had dropped his swords as they weren't helping in the grappling at all.
This goblin was fierce and full of primal anger, he struck with the axe again this time partially cutting off Maro's foot.
The pain was immense but a weapon wasn't helpful in a grappling match, he flipped the goblin around as he was off balance from the strike… and got a rear naked choke on him. He choked him so tight the goblins blood vessels were bursting and his eyes looked like they were gonna pop.
Finally unconscious, Maro climbed on top of the goblin and started bashing his head against the floor over and over again. The back of the goblins head was mush along with its brain, he started punching the face over and over again until every bone in his fists were broken… nothing was left of the face but cracks in the solid granite beneath.
Maro yelled "You Green Piece of Shit, just fucking DIE!!!"
[Level increase - new spell acquired - Holy Judgement, you surge your weapon or yourself with holy power, unleashing said power causes a holy explosion that heals allies and blows away your enemies]
Everyone had watched his scuffle, the Dwarves couldn't have loved him any more… He was one of them… in fact he probably hated them more than any Dwarf.
Maro rolled over and passed out
Maro didn't know this, but after Katarina put him on Ice to save his foot and to stop the bleeding. Everyone in that room rushed to carry him out… 30 floors up and he wasn't put down once.
Chapter 44
Maro woke up to three angels sitting by his bedside.
"Hello Ladies" he said as he sat up
They all ran over to hug him
"Ladies, ladies please… I'm alright"
"Yeah only thanks to Katarina's Ice and our healing… you owe us big time" Valleria said while holding him tighter
"Thank you, to all three of you. How long have I been asleep?"
"Only one night… the sun came up an hour or two ago"
"Any developments on the underground front?" Maro scratched his head
"No, Kadrin is leading men to block off any mining tunnels and hunting down the last of the Goblins… they haven't started the looting yet." Katarina smiled
"Fuck, where is Gnarlo… that little thief is going to take everything when no one is looking, where are my clothes" Maro was flustered trying to find his clothes, the best part of combat was the looting afterwards, he didn't want to lose out on anything cool.
Suddenly a wine skin slapped him in the balls as he was bending over to pick his clothes up.
"Ooooooooffff" Maro collapsed
"Here I am" Gnarlo jumped out, "you're lucky I waited for you"
Maro healed his nuts, got dressed and then with 0 warning, smacked his crown off his head and then sprinted to the lower levels.
Gnarlo ran after it "No, I waited for you, it's not fair"
The ladies sighed, sad they couldn't keep Maro to themselves for a little bit… They each went back to their work.
It took hours to go up the stairs but Maro was jumping entire flights down… Gnarlo would catch up eventually. But Gnarlo surprised him a lot, he was somehow keeping up by jumping off the stairs and into the shadows.
Out of breath they found Kadrin instructing men to seal another mining tunnel.
"wheres … the … loot" they were exasperated
Kadrin hugged Maro deeply and then pat Gnarlo on the back
"It's done, this is the last major tunnel… let's go to the main room and check it out together" Kadrin calmed the two of them down.
In the fortress commander's room they found a hidden bottle of dwarven whiskey, which they promptly opened up and passed amongst each other in an early celebration.
They found the commander's journal useless to Maro as he couldn't read Dwarvish but Kadrin was ecstatic. The journal recounted the Commanders' last days up until the retreat against the demons…. The Dwarves had escaped via a tunnel going north to another fortress in the mountain chain… Nice, they had a clue as to where to eventually expand.
And then in a secret compartment embedded into the wall, they found a beautiful two-handed great maul… it was made of a weird white metal alloy with a lot of gold inlay… beautiful dwarf treasure. Maro handed it to Kadrin who gave it immediately back to Maro.
"Its yours… wield it… you are an honorary Dwarf… besides a maul that big isn't meant for group combat its more for individual combat… for you… besides you broke your greatsword" Kadrin thanked him
"Thank you Kadrin, I will cherish it…"
"What the hell, what do I get, the room is empty" Gnarlo complained
"You get fuck all, where were you anyways? Too busy being depressed after being tenderized by being in the middle of a Troll fuck session?" Maro laughed
"I was busy issuing orders to our new spies and scouts, as soon as brewery production picks up, we'll make their back story as merchants. They will get past any city guard with kegs of beer in the back… especially a delicious dwarven recipe that was recently found again" Gnarlo said with pride
"Okay you passed, but look harder if you want something for yourself" Kadrin muttered.
He slapped Maro on the back.
"I forgot to mention, we found the forges and good news, our ancestors had large warehouses of mined ore and even a lot of processed ingots of metal, guess Goblins thought they were useless… every Dwarven Forgemaster in our ranks would love to craft you proper Dwarven plate armour. We even found refined Mithril… it would look good with your new maul."
"In fact…let's take your measurements right away… I don't want the Dwarves' debt to you to grow any further… It's time to pay it back" He smiled and hugged Maro again.
Kadrin called in some Dwarves and while they were feeling Maro up, Gnarlo went off on his own to see if he could find anything for himself.
Maro kissed his teeth, seeing Gnarlo sneak away but he was happy. The fortress was theirs and he was going to get a suite of Mithril plate armour in Dwarven fashion. There hasn't been a new anything made of Mithril for centuries as the Dwarves lost access to their Mithril mines.
After the measurements were done, Maro practiced swinging the Maul in the air, already an expert using it due to his perk…
He wanted to test out [Holy Judgement] as well but when he started infusing his maul with the spell it started glowing golden yellow, runes on the maul became visible in a bright gold light… Kadrin instinctively kneeled.
Kadrin got up "I didn't know that was even real… the runes placed on the maul were ancient dwarven magic… this is a legendary weapon of the Dwarves, Maro… It responded incredibly well to your holy magic… I have to believe now you were fated to wield this maul… I have to read this journal to see if it is mentioned…"
Infused with Holy power, he wanted to see what the Maul and his spell did, so he gently tapped it against the solid stone door of the room… the door exploded into a million pieces and then holy energy radiated outward healing and inspiring everyone in the vicinity. Kadrin looked at his armour as the holy energy passed by, it shone and reflected the light, like it amplified the spell… They would have to run tests… but the maul was incredibly powerful… he strapped it to his back.
"Kadrin… when you and your men are done down here… one week of festivities… That's an order!"
Kadrin spat on the floor and laughed, took a swig of the dwarven whiskey and handed it back to Maro… here you finish it
Maro chugged the last quarter of the bottle, burped and handed it back to Kadrin.
Maybe he's just a tall dwarf, Kadrin thought, impressed.
Maro ran after Gnarlo
He found him looking at some iron and steel ingots…
"Gnarlo, one week of partying after Kadrin is done down there, lets head back up" Maro said, already slightly drunk
He cast a quick heal on his liver before he got even more drunk.
"Hey Maro, I think we should work to get a branch of the adventurer's guild to open up shop here… they are an independent organization, that way we can attract any adventurers in the area… also there would be a lot of missions posted for resource gather and killing beasts in the mountains… no one is close by."
"Also we are technically criminals, not like we can visit the guilds in the cities all the time… eventually we will be found out even more so when they link Maro the Gladiator to Maro the LIberator… dumbass"
Maro palmed his forehead… an oversight. He snitched out his own crimes to all the gladiators trying to impress Katarina
"Smart Gnarlo, then we can even pretend to be adventurers when we are bored… but lets do it after our party"
"Why the hell would I miss our party… I don't work during holidays" Gnarlo scolded him
Heading upstairs Gnarlo mused "we're like the three kings of our respective races and this is like our new mini kingdom… I'm king of two races actually and I've already had my crown minted haha"
"We're like a triumvirate" Maro said, while thinking of Rome
"A what? You idiot" Gnarlo punched his thigh
"A power sharing agreement between three great men"
The two of them chatted for a while as they climbed the massive stairs up.
They spread the news to everyone, once Kadrin and his crew were done securing everything down there, Party for one week.
Everyone began to prepare.
Maro headed back home to break the news to the ladies himself…
Chapter 45
Day 2
Last night was awesome, Maro thought and broke out a wineskin in bed… he planned this out perfectly so he could last the entire week.
8 hours of the day was drinking with his friends around the castle… 8 hours was for the ladies at night and 8 hours to try and sleep so he could be fresh for the next day of drinking.
For once, Maro woke up first in his giant bed… the ladies were spread across under the covers… Alleria was sleeping like a cat… She liked being a cat a bit too much. And, cat was an understatement, she looked like a jaguar the size of a tiger… How do you even fight something so agile and powerful?
Maro knew first hand, their half forms were strong enough to give him an issue…
Maro broke open a barrel of beer and dunked his mug in…
He was sitting at the table drinking when he began pondering… [Holy Judgement] said I could infuse myself or my weapon…
He slowly started pouring energy into his penis…. Woah woah woah
"Ladies wake up now!" they stirred awake.
"Look new sex ability" as he pointed to his glowing golden penis. "Who wants to be experimented on?" he winked
The druids were lazy cats getting up, so Katarina volunteered.
After a little bit of morning foreplay, all the ladies were awake and interested in how it would work.
At the time of impact, Maro used Holy Judgement to gather holy energy to his penis… and when he did the deed, Katarina's lower abdomen glowed gold and then the energy released in a small holy explosion. It reverberated within Katarina's body, she started convulsing in ecstasy, she couldn't control herself. Maro thought it was funny and kept recasting the spell, she convulsed so hard she passed out.
uh oh… did he go too far.
Valleria pushed him on his back and jumped on top of him "Me next"...
Haha he had the upper hand again in the sex game… no more being sadistically used for hours…
Valleria fell off of him convulsing after he used the spell only three times… he definitely overdid it with Katarina.
Alleria bent over the bed, gave him a wink and said "You know what to do big boy"
She completely passed out convulsing in ecstasy also.
Silence… All three of them passed out asleep in less than an hour…Yes, he thought no more was he a slave to their multi hour sadistic sex sessions. He was gonna go for a walk, beer in hand and enjoy the festivities
Day 4
Gnarlo's daily party schedule was to enjoy his night with Jenny, then going out to the courtyard to give a cask of wine to each of the Trolls. He felt good, 3 days of drinking and his body was holding up.
The Trolls had been busy… everyday the last 3 days, drunk and having fun… Traumatized enough, he left as fast as he could after dropping off the wine before the ground tremors caused him to trip and fall.
If anyone from outside the fortress came during this week, they would promptly turn right around and never ever ever ever come back. No one messed with Trolls first of all, they were just too stupid powerful. Never in history has anyone messed with two trolls at once… and thirdly most people to exist had never seen trolls have sex… It was a scary scary sight… but the last couple days it had been a daily occurrence.
He didn't know what to do if Bellina got pregnant, there weren't any books on troll reproduction… Hopefully.
After dropping off the casks, he went to grab breakfast and some beer. Food was freely found everywhere as was the alcohol.
After breakfast he actually held court for his gnomes… they just gave up challenging his Kingship, with two trolls under his direct command, he was the strongest person in the continent. And not only that, he was probably the richest Gnome in the continent as well.
Kadrin and Maro had no idea he did this, but the Custom crown detailing his taming of a troll and his Trollshead sceptre went a long way to make him look Kingly.
Most of the time Gnarlo settled any interpersonal disputes by threatening to have his Trolls eat one of the parties… The other times he threw silver for his subjects to scramble over. Many Gnomish women had thrown themselves at him… but Gnarlo wasn't interested.
His constituents wanted a proper Gnomish heir, if he was to secure his kingship… so much so he had to give in.
He promised them he would marry the fattest Gnomish maid, one year from now. He decided to also keep Jenny as Queen consort, since she was super tall and he was still into that.
Gnarlo just went about enjoying his days for the most part, he didn't really get super drunk unless he was with Maro and Kadrin. Which had been every evening almost.
Day 7
Kadrin had been in a drunk euphoria the entire week… this was the first step in appeasing his ancestors… Dwarves finally had a proper home in the mountains… not some small modern dugout going a couple feet deep.
The fortress went into the depths of the mountains, the mines went even further… so deep underground the Dwarves felt a sense of belonging and home… something most of them haven't felt in ages.
He couldn't wait to have this fortress fully manned and then continue re-settling everything from the smaller outposts to all the long lost Capital that was probably still infested with demons deep in the middle of the mountain range.
He was a former mercenary that became an innkeep and now he was the de facto King of the Dwarves. He wasn't as narcissistic as Gnarlo, so he never claimed to be but all the Dwarves recognized him as such… at over three hundred years old, he never had kids of his own so he personally oversaw the care of the Dwarf orphans and any new recruit who wanted to reclaim their birthright.
Ahhh but the seven days was almost up… and he had one last thing to do.
Kadrin had a crush, despite being king he had a horrible time talking to women.
Kassandra was a 100 year old maiden, with a thick blonde beard… she would give birth to the healthiest babies… he had tried to approach her multiple times during the week but everytime he came face to face with her, all he could say was "Aye" and he stood like a rock until she walked away…
But today that wasn't going to happen, he hadn't seen Maro in two days, but him and Gnarlo had been increasing his confidence… He decided to follow their advice.
Get to the point, get to the point, just get your words out.
He chugged the rest of his wine skin and then chugged a glass of beer. She was just a couple meters away.
He approached, shaking in his boots… somehow pebbles fell out of his pants again.
"Kassandra" he stated sharply.
"Um yes Lord Kadrin" she replied
Kadrin repressed the shaking.
"W-w-will you… I mean… do-do you… sorry… are you…sex… sorry I didn't mean to say that… umm I want you…" Kadrin finally got it out
Kassandra was laughing like crazy "that took a while my Lord"
She grabbed his hand and they walked off together…
Meanwhile… Maro had been 'missing' for two full days now… everyone knew where he was… he just wasn't allowed to leave.
The ladies were completely addicted… They wanted to make the most of this week before Maro left with Gnarlo.
At first Maro had been held down ice, they made him use Holy Judgement over and over… But when Maro was tired they started being completely evil… If he said no, he would immediately have 2 claws and an ice dagger to his nuts, they would cut him up with every no, they even stabbed him and healed him over and over until he gave up.
Eventually Maro started breaking out once they were all passed out… but being hunted down by Jaguar tiger things, he couldn't hide from their tracking and smelling abilities for too long… He was always found. No one had any pity for him, he did it to himself.
Tired of him breaking out, Alleria and Valleria grew living roots to hold him down permanently… That's why he hadn't been found in two days… he had lost almost 5 kilos of weight… They just force fed him wine all the time and no food.
They had become full force heroine addicts… Maro couldn't wait until the 7 days were up.
Chapter 46
Maro composed himself as he left the house, hungry as hell, he went for breakfast in the courtyard… he needed to be outside for a bit.
A small marketplace was forming in the courtyard, he smiled and went to a new vendor that was busy cooking up some bacon.
He ordered a shit ton of food, he tipped pretty well. He hadn't spent a cent in a while.
With a kilo of bacon on his plate and his morning beer, he started feeling normal.
Kadrin sat down beaming with a huge smile
"What's got you so happy" the contrast in their facial expressions was stark
"For the first time in my three hundred years of life, I think I found a wife" his grin was from ear to ear
Maro didn't want to bring down anyone's mood with his own
"Finally I'd thought you'd get to a 400 year old
Bachelor, happy for you Kadrin." They clinked their beers
"By the time you come back with Gnarlo we should have our first full harvest of beer and Gnarlo can start selling it! The world shall know of our revival through the sale of the best dwarven beer to exist!" Kadrin had a lot of good things going on right now.
"Please save me a barrel of beer haha"
"Don't worry, you'll get an entire barrel of our first batch of whiskey too" hell yeah Maro thought
They cheersed again and downed their beers
Gnarlo walked in
"When we are heading out, the gnomes are looking for me. Those little weasels over rely on me too much… go tame your own troll… be careful what you wish for" he muttered
"As soon as possible, I'm not sure if I'm not being stalked right now by a 300 kilo cat monster… two of them and an ice witch…"
Kadrin laughed at both of their misery
And then he spat.
"I knew you drunks would want to run away, cart and horses are both prepared… along with supplies and a bit of spending silver" Kadrin took a swig from a fresh beer
They both hugged Kadrin and rushed on out… Gnarlo quickly stopped to say bye to Rolf and Bellina
Both men were solemnly quiet, they never even decided which city to go too.
After a couple hours of travel "where are we going"
"I don't know" Gnarlo shrugged
Contemplating their life choices, both men kept quiet for a long time.
They kept going down the road until it became a bigger road and then a cobblestone road and finally after a couple nights and a couple hundred kilometres later they arrived at a city they didn't plan on going to and didn't even know its name.
It seemed lively enough, the energy was infectious and two men's moods got a lot better.
It was some time in the after noon, they looked at each other and in unison said
"Brothel?"
They high fived and nudged the horses to the city gates. The two guards at the gates were both dwarves.
"halt" the dwarven guard said
Maro wasn't going to judge the dwarf yet… a pay check is a pay check sometimes… just then he got a bright idea
"Purpose of your visit and we will have to inspect your cargo" the guard said
Maro smiled heavily and Gnarlo caught on fairly quickly.
"Some business and a lot of pleasure" he winked, the guard took it the wrong way and put his hand on his weapon
"But do we have something to share with you fine dwarves this beautiful after noon"
The Dwarves got more confused. Maro showed them around back and they had a couple of kegs of the original small batches brewed.
He poured them two fresh mugs of ale.
They looked at him with unease, so Maro poured himself one and chugged it.
They each took a curious sip, big gulp and then downed the rest… satisfied.
"That's really good Dwarven ale you have there" The guard said curiously
"Thats our business lads, We're trying to find a market to steadily sell this ale to, so we are shopping around for longterm vendors" Gnarlo informed them
"Where did it come from, who brewed it??"
"That's kind of a secret… the only way I can tell you, is to ask your opinion on the following statement… Orcs are disgusting savages and should be killed on sight"
They both glared at him with daggers, hands tight on their weapons.
"You can't say racist stuff here like that, you can go to jail…" the guard walked closer and whispered "I agree though".
"My new friends, let me tell you the story of Kadrin the Reclaimer… Him and his allies laid siege to an ancient Dwarf fortress and liberated it from the hands of the goblins, they slew tens of thousands of them… they recovered a lot of ancient Dwarf secrets… including an industrial scaled, in original working order, both a Distillery and a Brewery"
Maro made it a show, the guards were small boys being awed by their dads bedtime story.
"Gentlemen, Kadrin is always seeking volunteers… at the edge of the border on the ancient mountain range… a couple days travel due east of here. Gentlemen, Kadrin's plans don't end at that fortress… "
The guards looked at each other like they just heard the most beautiful fairy tale.
"Boys…They are brewing our first full scale batch of beer as we speak… did I mention it goes down 30 stories into the depths of the mountain… All the Dwarves I saw go down there came back changed. They all mentioned something about appeasing their ancestors"
The guards couldn't possibly believe it, but the beer told the truth…
"Its hard to trust strangers, but send someone there to check it out… we can even take someone on our way back if you want." Maro offered
"No no, we are fucking tired here… being yelled at by Goblins, beastmen and even Orcs giving us shit for doing our job… they have zero fundamental understanding of how to build… just to tear down… the beer is enough.. This beer brings tears to my eyes… we are grateful… we will have our loved ones and our things organized here and we will be on call until you are done… all dwarves will treat you as friends in the city, the word will spread"
The four of them nodded to each other and Maro took a barrel of beer out the back and gave it to the Dwarves to share amongst each other.
Chapter 47
The duo, reinvigorated in their mission after inspiring the dwarves, decided to put the Brothel and the heavy drinking after business was dealt with.
"Should we recruit more gnomes or something, the fortress is 60% dwarf, 30% humans and 10% gnomes right now." Maro asked curiously
"No, Gnomes are more stubborn than dwarves… in fact I guarantee if we ask any Gnomish community, we would actually deter them from coming… don't worry we're not a numerous bunch anyways… the Word of the Gnome king will spread with our Merchant spies, they will research on their own… Our people have been lied to a lot"
Maro nodded in understanding, it wasn't his place to interfere.
They busted in through the doors of the Adventurer's guild…
Immediately the air was tense… Everyone was looking at Maro and his super fancy maul… There were a bunch of Warriors, Mages, Rogues and Healers of all races… kind of all working together… It was disgusting… How could anyone trust a Goblin healer to not run away when things were tough or an Orc warrior not to lose his shit and kill a team member…
Stupid, no wonder everyone was tense here.
All thought he did see some pretty ladies around… maybe he should stick with people who don't have a class yet… much safer.
The duo approached the reception
The receptionist was a weebo's wet dream, super cute bunny girl… not his type… he hated furries… he rationalized the hypocrisy with the fact that the Elves used a druid transformation spell and they weren't permanently like that.
"Hello Ma'am, Gnarlo piped, we were wondering about how to get the process started to have a guild branch opened up in our new city"
They had to be careful, this was their first formal declaration of independence.
"Oh sir, it takes quite a while but it is possible… first step is to send an inspector out there to ensure that there are people strong enough to become adventurers"
No issue there Gnarlo thought
"Secondly we don't actually bring any job postings over with us unless there was a request specific to the area of your city, so local merchants and lords will have to put up the payout for job postings. The inspector will have to ensure there is a vibrant economy and enough people interested in posting"
That will take some time, but it's on its way, he thought… By the time the inspector comes well be all good on that front
"Three, an existing adventurer of Class B and above has to sponsor the request"
Shit… maybe the dwarven guards knew someone who could vouch for them…
She glanced at Maro who wasn't paying attention, just ogling a pair of beardless, tastefully thick, Dwarven females, who were covered in tattoos.
Too skinny and dangerous for me, no thank you and he turned back around
"I assume that the warrior accompanying you is your sponsor, he just has to show his Adventurers badge and we can schedule the inspector and pay down any fees".
Gnarlo replied "he is currently not an adventurer… but he is strong… a little dumb…actually a lot dumb, but then again I tell him what to do so he doesn't need his brain… what would it take to get him registered"
The rabbit girl checked her vast ledger quickly "umm if you have 5 silver, we currently have an assessor in the back, she's one of the few who's magic can identify your stats and abilities"
She paused for a second " if she assesses him at B rank, all he needs to do is finish one B rank mission and he can make the pledge.
He handed her the 5 silver coins and then smashed his sceptre on Maro's shin, who cried in paid "what the fuck Gnarlo"
"You have to get assessed, follow her to the back"
"Now… fine" Maro winked at the Dwarves, one of them threw a dagger at Maro who just let it embed into his chest… healed himself and then winked again as he went to the back. Not realizing the commotion he caused with that heal. Male healers were rare, male healers dressed as front line combatants were non-existent.
Maro entered one of the offices in the back, the rabbit girl introduced them quickly and took off.
Jintha was a gnomish mage in scholarly robes… she had to be a specialised mage… the first tier of magic was just the generic elemental spells. She had purple hair and a cute smile… Maro was curious he had never been with a gnome yet. Not because he didn't want to, he just thought he was too big for her… given this world she was probably 80 years old anyways.
"Excuse me, can we bring you back to the present please, meathead" Jintha was stern
"Okay, now that I have your attention, to start the assessment I have to extract some of your life force, this will get me exact details of everything I need to know"
Maro was confused, what did Gnarlo sign him up for… what was life force
"Sorry Jintha, but what is life force" he realized as she took out a huge crude and thick needle…
"Blood mixed with your energy and mana if you have it, I then cast a spell on it and the information in your blood comes to me" She explained
Before he replied, she stabbed him and took his blood.
After a couple seconds of casting her spell… she just stared at him for an uncomfortably long time..
Maro coughed "excuse me"
"Umm, you have the warrior specialization of paladin… there hasn't been a Paladin in centuries… not only that you are A rank in terms of power… there are a good chunk of people that are A rank but you are on the higher end of that scale… only a handful of S ranks in the entire continent too, none of which even leave the capital." She was still bewildered
"If you say so… now what's next" Maro asked.
Jintha was still staring, he was so young to be an A rank… most people at A rank were in their late thirties and forties on their way out and retiring from adventuring.
"I will tell the receptionist who will prepare your badge…" …
A short time later
"Fucking asshole, no way you are A-rank and I am C fucking plus… I am the King of Gnomes and Tamer of Trolls… Trolls with an S… multiple trolls…. Its rigged" Gnarlo was complaining out loud while they were staring at the mission board.
"You said just one mission at B rank and we can have the inspector?" Maro asked again
"Yes, how can you be A rank, you asked that question 3 times… she didn't take into account your lack of mental capacity"
Maro laughed at that one
"Well the reason I ask is, there is an SSS rank mission not far away and the rewards are pretty substantial… here take a look." Maro passed him the mission details
Gnarlo didn't even look "are you fucking stupid, you are A rank and I am C… and you want to do an SSS rank mission"
Maro interrupted him "Just fucking read it dickwad"
Gnarlo's brain was puzzling looking at the paper… "you think… your powers are suited to this… they definitely are… How confident are you Maro"
"100% confident… the assessor just said I'm probably the first paladin in hundreds of years" he replied as he was staring at the tattooed dwarf ladies. He wasn't actually 100% confident but it was the closest job that actually met the requirement… he didn't feel like sitting on a cart for a long time.
"Ok, I will inform the guild we are taking this mission and grab further details… do not fucking move from this spot" Gnarlo scolded him
Gnarlo took two steps, stopped, turned around and smacked him in the dick with the Troll head scepter. "Think with your brain, idiot" and walked away
Chapter 48
The two dwarf ladies came up to him… both had fire red hair and no beards… Kadrin could keep all the hairy dwarf ladies to himself. They were dressed in light leather armour… rogues or warriors he thought.
Their leather armour was form fitting and lets just say their forms need a fitting from Maro.
He smiled "Hello Ladies, my name is Maro, and what would be your beautiful name?"
They looked him up and down seriously and asked "Are you a warrior or a healer…?" they asked bluntly
Uh oh he thought, was being a paladin going to cause a scene. So decided to do what he did best
"Ladies, I will be anything you want me to be, if it will lead to night with the two of you" he put on his most charming smile
Both Dwarves immediately stabbed him in each leg with a dagger
Maro did his best to have a stone cold reaction, used to being tortured by an Ice mage and two Druids… this was nothing… but it fucking hurt.
"When do I get a chance to prick you back" he laughed as he healed himself
"He's just a priest, acting like a warrior, he had zero reflex when we stabbed him" one of the ladies said to the other
Oh Maro could have stopped the knives if he wanted to, but he was trying to get laid.
"Well now ladies, I've been stabbed three times by you now…"
He honestly wasn't expecting to get stabbed again, so when they stabbed him in the abdomen this time and ran off… he was genuinely caught off guard.
"Hahahahahaha" Gnarlo was laughing again
"I knew you couldn't help yourself, so I told them you had the Witches Nose and that you were shameless… hahahahah" Maro smacked Gnarlo's crown off his head with a tsk
"When did you even tell them" Maro was wondering
"Im invisible Maro, I could talk to them whenever I want without you seeing me" He placed his crown on his head just right
"So what did you learn about the mission?"
Gnarlo went into detail, 50 km north was an abandoned temple in the forest, devoted to some holy god or goddess… it had been a long time, no one knew… but this temple was taken over by an Orc Necromancer.
That was the scary part… An Orc that became a mage and unlocked a specialisation. That wasn't the difficult part… the Orc was essentially immortal and over the years he amassed thousands of undead minions from skeletons to undead monstrosities.
The Holy church of the Kingdom couldn't deal with it as the priests couldn't perform well in combat and any mercenaries assigned to be the front line would eventually die and join his undead army.
Everyone had given up or didn't try because the Unity Kingdom had to vote on it and they only cared for their own territories… not one chancellor wanted to send their own S rank champion to deal with it.
Maro was deep in thought "Thousands you say… I have to test out Holy Judgement and Consecrated Ground… I mean by all conventional wisdom Holy beats Undead right"
"Have you ever even seen an undead idiot? I haven't, I guarantee you the vast majority in the city haven't… because if they weren't strong enough… they'd be dead and not only that all functional knowledge regarding fighting undead is probably only with the Holy Order, and fuck those guys."
"You know how corrupt the Holy Order is… all they do is move and protect priests after they defile their congregation and keep it hidden… especially the Rabbit, Orc and Goblin priests… they just… look I don't even want to get into it… they are fucked and not helpful"
So just like his world, he had a mental laugh as Maro was super heated talking about it.
"Why Rabbit beastmen" he thought outloud
"They don't stop fucking… they can't help themselves and they somehow aren't banned from positions over seeing vulnerable people just because they are cute."
Maro understood.
"Ok so lets go test out my power on their intended target… if it works really well, we'll continue, if not, we'll bribe someone to sponsor us, no risk Gnarlo"
Gnarlo bashed his scepter against his own head "fucking idiot… I don't even want to get into it… but the guild puts up requirements for the job… It says here we need at least a group of Three to attempt this job and the recommended number of people to do this job is 25 people plus…"
"Okay so lets find someone quickly…pay them even to do jack shit" Maro scratched his head
"Not one person will accept… this posting has been here for years Idiot… people don't want to get turned to undead" Gnarlo was ready to hit Maro again
"I'll join you!" A voice piped up from behind Gnarlo who got startled enough to drop his scepter
"Hahahaha, how does it feel asshole" Maro laughed as Jintha revealed herself
"Why would you join us" Gnarlo asked as he picked up his scepter.
"Are you joking… this is the first Paladin in centuries, I want to see and write about what he can actually do… I know what his abilities are and I just have to see them" The Gnomish lady said
"You would be 0 help, just a spectator we would need to care for, not like you do anything combat related with your magic anyways." Gnarlo was being a bit of a dick…
But as soon as he finished the sentence… Maro noticed a stone floating between Gnarlo's legs and in a split second it launched up and hit him in his Royal Jewels… Gnarlo crumpled in pain
"Why do you keep this idiot around… he must be the stupidest gnome to ever exist… My information unveiling magic has nothing to do with my initial affinity to Earth magic" She fluffed her robes as Gnarlo was groaning
Maro didn't even laugh, he never felt it was appropriate to hit Gnarlo like that given the size difference… he was infatuated
Maro kneeled "Jintha, let me say that it would be my honour if you joined our party for this mission… also what you just did was so hot… I would like to fuck you but I will respect your wishes, as an honorable and righteous paladin, you have my word"
She laughed and told him "my magic also can determine the intent with how your magic is used…" She winked and helped Gnarlo up
"Alright boys" she said "when do you guys plan on going?"
"First thing tomorrow morning… I mean our plan was to go to a brothel after this and get drunk, so we usually wake up around noon and then we would head out" Maro kinda liked Jintha. She was fun, as long as she kept hurting Maro… it was enjoyable.
"Change of plans Maro… you and I are going to drop off Gnarlo at an 'amazing' brothel I know and you and your tight butt is coming home with me"
She went on her tippy toes to slap Maro on the butt
Gnarlo was muttering something under his breath, and it sounded like "Skinny bi...." before a rock slammed into his balls again.
Hahahahaha Maro bent over laughing
"You like that?" she said as she slapped him a little on the cheek "let's go boys"
Chapter 49
Jintha and Maro dropped Gnarlo off at a fine looking establishment… Gnarlo would find some way to enjoy his deviance.
As they started walking away, Jintha started laughing.
"That brothel only has Cow women that have recently given birth or are pregnant… people go to them for their milk… hahahah" She couldn't stop laughing like it was the best prank ever
However Maro let out a small chuckle and stared at the ground remembering what he put those poor obese women through… Gnarlo would 100% be into pregnant cow women…
Jintha raised a stone platform she was standing on, until she was near Maro's head… She jumped on his back and rode on his shoulders… she leaned over to Maro's ear "This isn't the ride I really want" and she gently bit his ear.
Maro was conflicted… the math didn't make much sense to him… the size difference was vast… but she was leading the charge so he just went with it.
When they got to her place, they had some wine and chatted for a while before they… went to… the… basement…
There was a bed there, but the floor was the solid stone foundation
"Now listen Maro… not everyone could handle me… but I think you can…" Jintha disrobed
Man mages really don't wear underwear under their robes, he thought… coming back from his thought, wow she was sexy.
She raised herself on a stone platform until her groin was at his face…
She pulled his hair and brought his face closer
"Use holy judgment on your tongue" as she slapped him
Hmmm Maro never thought of doing that… he could never let this information reach the ladies in the fort.
She slapped him harder this time "I told you to do it"
He used Holy Judgement and channeled the energy into his tongue… His tongue was golden yellow and emitting a bright light… he was honestly surprised it worked.
"Now for your dinner" and she grabbed his hair and pulled it in…
The holy energy exploded from the point of impact, holy light reverberating from that point. Her body was seized and locked. Maro was stuck in the position and Jintha's eyes were rolled back and she was unresponsive.
Maro tried to break her grip… nothing… He brought her over the bed to try to shake her off but she somehow managed to grip his head tighter.
"Don't…stop… casting…" she commanded
Meanwhile at the pregnant cow brothel.
Gnarlo was a bit weirded out how Jintha knew he would be into this but he was grateful.
Big giant, tall, thick, most were on the heavier side as per Cowmen preferences… Gnarlo was in heaven.
He was feeding the Cow women cake as he was drinking milk… he should have brought more silver… he wanted to rent out the entire brothel… but the silver he brought limited him to three cows in a private room.
He was running around naked aside from his crown and scepter drinking milk from each teat… making sure there was enough cake and pastries to last the cows the entire night.
He couldn't get enough of their milk, he wanted more.
Gnarlo had a tub brought in and milked the cows to his pleasure until the tub was full.
He had one of the cows pick him up so he could jump into it, milk splashed everywhere.
Then he commanded all the cows to bathe him…
This was how a king should be treated, he thought… he needed to remember to thank Jintha tomorrow.
Chapter 50
Gnarlo was in an amazing mood, his skin was glowing, he was refreshed… he even looked a couple years younger.
He woke up early from his amazing night, even got the cart supplied and ready to go.
He was busy whistling in between drinking a mug of ale when Maro showed up with Jintha on his shoulders.
Maro looked like an undead that he was supposed to kill… Jintha looked absolutely glowing and was in an amazing mood while riding Maro's shoulders…
Be careful what you wish for, Gnarlo thought while looking at Maro.
"Jintha, good morning, we got off on the wrong foot… thank you for your brothel recommendation last night… truly." Gnarlo raised his mug
Maro smiled like the undead only could and Jintha was incredibly confused… but okay.
They hit the road…
The entire trip to the desecrated temple didn't take them too long… they got their late evening… just enough time to scout around before the sun went out.
While Gnarlo was scouting with his stealth ability, Maro was pondering again about how he could charge head first into combat as soon as they fell asleep and hopefully die…
Jintha was more aggressive than his three ladies combined… she wasn't physically powerful… but her Earth magic made stronger bindings than Druid or Ice magic…
At one point while she was passed out, he thought he could sneak out but as soon as he was about to get up he was encased in a block of stone… only 2 holes were exposed… and there was a makeshift stone saddle created over his face and crotch. The saddle was made perfectly for female gnomes…
At least she would only stick around for the duration of this mission. He became highly motivated to kill this Orc Necromancer immediately, this was a one day thing tops… either he died or fought for his freedom.
Just as he confirmed his resolve… Maro popped back…
"Yeah undead everywhere all over the temple, we have to kill thousands of them before we even get to the temple steps… we can't do this… we should go back in the morning." Gnarlo warned
"No, this has to be resolved first thing in the morning… you guys will wait here until I get back… That's final." Maro scared both of them just a bit… like he had a deathwish
Jintha yawned "time to hit the hay if you're going to be fighting all day tomorrow"
She quickly made a makeshift shack out of stone and gestured Maro inside. He reluctantly went in.
As she was about to go in, Gnarlo piped up "Hey how come I don't get a house to sleep in?"
She summoned a lifesize statue of a cow by the cart "Have fun Gnarlo, life is short… I know I'll be having fun tonight" as she slapped Maro's butt again
And then she sealed the door with stone, no way in or out.
Luckily everyone around them was undead, because no one should be subjected to seeing what Gnarlo did to that stone cow.
Meanwhile the stone hut looked like it was hosting a disco dance party, intense bright light was flashing through the small windows for the entire night.
Chapter 51
Maro was giving himself a therapy session, as they were eating breakfast and enjoying their breakfast beers.
Maybe Maro liked pain? I mean it's always fun… You are a warrior Maro… you never give up… next time he would outlast her… he wouldn't be nice anymore… I'm putting her into a fucking coma and the rest of the ladies as well.
Feeling better already, he stood up while the gnomes were drinking their beer. He grabbed his heavy ornate Dwarven Maul… it felt good… he would crush skulls with this.
Maro looked focused… he spit on the floor like Kadrin would.
"I'll be back with the Orc's head in a couple hours"
And he walked off to his certain death… Gnarlo thought
Maro was a stone throw away from the undead…
He grabbed his Maul and gripped it tight… Im gonna put them into a coma for a year, he thought
He cast [Consecrated Ground] on himself… the energy was extra strong this morning. The aura of undeath burned away from the ground, dozens of meters in each direction.
The undead horde of skeletons and zombies noticed
He used [Bloodrush], he was singularly focused now… Im gonna put them into a fucking coma, he repeated to himself.
His blood was pumping, holy energy was surging. The undead horde started marching his way.
He cast [Holy Judgement] on his maul, until it grew so bright you couldn't even make out the maul. Im going to fucking put them all into a coma. He thought again.
He then used [Warcry] "IM GOING TO FUCK THEM INTO A COMA"
The horde was running towards him as fast as undead could.
[Vanguard Charge]
Once he made contact with the crowd of undead, the maul unleashed the power of Holy Judgement and amplified it.
The Explosion of holy light spread 100 meters in diameter, immediately vaporizing all undead and purifying the ground and air of the long held aura of undeath.
He didn't wait, he charged his maul again and used vanguard charge over and over again.
He had turned off his notification system in the periphery a long time ago, but if he had it up. He would be blind with all the kill and experience notifications.
He made it to the temple steps… angry… really angry… killing undead didn't satiate his anger. He wanted to fuck all the ladies into a coma to get back at them… no mercy this time.
He blasted away undead Trolls with one hammer blow, consecrated ground heavily damaged the weaker undead and weakened the stronger ones.
There was a giant blob of corpses sewn together, waving heavy weapons around and emitting death. He Vanguard Charged into the middle of it and exploded it with holy energy.
Nothing was stopping him, nothing could stop him at this moment. Gnarlo and Jintha who were watching from the distance were scared of him… he was soloing a SSS rank mission by himself.
When reached the pinnacle of the Temple, the Orc Necromancer tried to do his evil monologue but Maro shut him by imbuing his weapon great maul with as much holy energy as he could muster.
The ancient Necromancer got serious at the sight of the holy magic and summoned two Bone Dragons… Immense monsters with a 50 meter wingspan… Gnarlo felt fear in his soul at the sight of them from far away, and the fear was replaced by greater fear when Maro exploded them with one hit each.
The Necromancer started casting horrible death spells, raising disgusting creatures of pure death and rot to attack him, even trying to bribe Maro with eternal life… but nothing worked.
The Necromancer actually ran out of mana, mana he had been gathering and storing for centuries.
He fell to his knees in exhaustion he hadn't felt since before he became a necromancer.
He looked at Maro charging his Maul and walking up to him. He tried to plead for his life… he was immortal… he couldn't actually die he thought… but he knew.
Maro slammed the Great Dwarven Maul down onto his head and into the floor of the temple, the largest holy explosion happened… cleansing the temple and centuries of undeath that originated from it.
Even the gnomes felt part of the holy energy go through them from their hiding spot so far away… They had very different reactions to it.
Gnarlo in absolute awe of the power and a complete sense of inspiration as he sprinted to catch Maro.
Jintha meanwhile… quivered with excitement and fear knowing how powerful his holy judgement could really get.
Maro calmed down a bit after the Holy energy pulsed away. Easy, he thought.
Now it's time to loot this ancient temple that hasn't been explored in almost a Millenia… fucking Gnarlo. He checked whatever was left of the Necromancer and rummaged through his robes…
All he found was a weird amulet with a large black gem that was emitting the nasty aura…Fuck curses… he poured holy energy into the amulet. The aura of undeath was erupting and sizzling as the holy energy cleansed it all out.
It went, clear and lightless for a second and then surged with a beautiful blue light… it felt like Holy magic. Glad Jintha was around, her magic could identify it… he pocketed it and headed inside the lower levels of the temple.
He quickly checked his stats as he walked, damn… I'm already a level 25 Paladin… no new abilities…
Chapter 52
Somehow Gnarlo had caught up to him, so they entered the depths of the temple with greed on their minds. Whatever fear Gnarlo felt was completely offset by what he witnessed… even if he brought both of his trolls, they would have died before they even made it through the horde of undead.
Jintha caught up a couple minutes after as they were trying to make out the art on the walls of the desecrated temple.
It felt familiar to Jintha, like she saw it in a book before… her scholarly side took over.
She was about to touch the wall when Maro threw the amulet at her and said
"here I got this off the dumb orc, I cleansed the aura of undeath… I'm not sure what this amulet does but it is reacting to my holy magic."
She looked at the markings on the amulet intensely… "no way" she muttered as Maro and Gnarlo kept walking.
Maro kept Consecrated Ground active the entire time, the aura of undeath still wasn't completely cleansed. Gnarlo was pissed he didn't have holy magic, he was afraid to touch anything…
"I think I know what this temple is…" Jintha told the men
They were idiots and were only semi-curious only looking for treasure
"This is an original temple of the Holy order… from before the time of the demon invasion and before the Great Hero established the Unity Kingdom" She couldn't believe it herself
"Every temple that the modern Holy order operates is either a newly built knockoff or an older temple that has been completely re-built to reflect the Unity Kingdoms teachings"...
"There is not one depiction of anyone that isn't someone from the order races here… in fact the depictions at the beginning of the temple depicted Orcs, Goblins, Beast men of all sorts being slain."
Gnarlo laughed "haha the ancients knew better than us… fucking disgusting savages shouldn't be living around us…"
Maro's attention had been peaked… was his holy power racist by nature? He was suddenly pondering the Deity again… was it her that locked his class choice or someone else.
"What kind of spells do Goblin priests cast? If they don't have an affinity to holy magic?"
Jintha replied "calling them priests is just a formality… it's their version of a priest aka Shamans and Witch Doctors… They just call them priests but they don't use holy magic."
Stupid, Maro thought
"Whats next, they'll let in Necromancers…"
They kept exploring…
No treasure, just dumb art going on and on
Maro was now studying it as well
The murals basically depicted the Order races and the original Holy order cleansing the land of everything…
And then they came to the end of the grand hall and looked at the pair of massive ornate doors… It wouldn't budge… Maro was going to use his Maul to blow it open…
"Wait… try infusing the handle with holy energy Maro…" Jintha pondered
The doors sucked in the holy energy and released it again when it opened.
They all were shocked…The necromancer had never managed to defile this room, it had been protected for who knows how long…
Gold, gold everywhere… the Altar in the middle had Gold ceremonial Candle holders, bowls, holy order symbols, even the cloth cover on the altar was gold thread…
Behind the altar was a beautiful statue of Marble and gold inlay of the most beautiful women to ever exist… must be the original Goddess of the Holy Order. Maro thought as he was trying to touch the golden nipple on the nude statue.
"Bring me up there, I want to see…"
While Maro and Gnarlo were ogling the riches and the statue…Jintha went to the golden threaded tapestry, behind it all and stood shocked… "this will start a war…" she muttered
"Huh" they both looked at her and then the giant tapestry
"WOOOAH, I fucking knew it. Those fucks all need to be killed, Kadrin would appreciate art like this" Gnarlo steamed
The mural depicted that all species with intelligence that brought them trouble were created by demons…Orcs, Goblins, Beastmen and other unidentified demon species. Orcs and Goblins came from the same giant looking Orc Demon, Beastmen came from multiple different beast demons…
No depiction of Elves or Trolls… Maro and Gnarlo sighed in relief
On the other side of the Demon origin tapestry was the Order race Tapestry… It depicted the Three races in a triangle worshipping three different aspects of the Goddess…
"War is right, hahaha… by the way Jintha, do we know her name"
She shook her head, "everything just refers to her as the creator…"
Gnarlo had climbed to the top of the statue somehow and was trying to see if the solid gold hair would come off when he noticed that there was an indent on the neck of the statue… it seemed to resemble the amulet.
"Maro, Jintha, the amulet fits here… Maro you put in here, you're the one with the holy magic… I don't want to get zapped" he mumbled
Maro grabbed the amulet from Jintha
Grabbed the marble arm of the statue and pulled himself up on the statue base, he was eye to eye with the statue for a moment…
"Don't worry, this one won't bite" Gnarlo laughed at Maro and Jintha
Maro placed the amulet over the neck of the statue and suddenly a soft white light rippled from the statue… all the ancient candles lit up with light… not with fire but with a holy flickering. Golden yellow tears started falling from her eyes.
[Demon kill count has been met]
For Maro the room got brighter and brighter until he couldn't see anything, yet somehow his eyes weren't hurting…
He heard a voice speaking "I remember… I remember…"
Fuck it was the fucking deity, he would remember her sexy voice from anywhere
The deity continued "I don't have much time, this is the only temple that has been cleansed and dedicated to me again… I still think you are a degenerate… but now you must help me to save this world"
"I will make you my champion, I will empower you to cleanse my world of this filth, wage holy war in the creator's name!"
And just like that the light poofed
[Secondary Class Specialization unlocked]
[Knight Templar - Crusader] - You wage holy war in service to the Goddess of Creation and spread her worship wherever you go. You have been directly blessed to lead this new order… Maro the Liberator… Maro the Crusader… Maro the Racist.
[Skill unlocked] - [Angel's Wings] you grow wings of holy light, allowing you to fly as long as your energy lasts
[Skill unlocked] - [Smite] A holy beam of light strikes your target from above, empowered by the creator to burn away evil
His clothes felt tight again… he stretched the light leather to its maximum. It felt like he gained another 10 cm of height and a bunch more muscle. He was now on par with the largest Orcs… he was a human giant… He could wield his great maul with one hand if he wanted to now…
He felt… strong… but also a bit horny as he had been holding on to the statue's tits the entire time.
Gnarlo and Jintha were on the floor peacefully sleeping… unconscious.
Maro with a grin, wanted to try something… so he infused holy energy directly into the nipples of the statue.
He heard moaning in his head… the deity… she definitely made some hot asmr… Boom he was blown away from the statue with a force of light
Never do that again, he heard in his mind and it dissipated.
"HA HA, I got you!"
The deity pissed off at his celebration blasted him with her own smite and then receded from the realm to go over her returned memories and recover in peace.
Maro was blown to the floor again, still with a smile… but he didn't want to push it… He was just a giant sex addicted, alcoholic, meathead… so no change he thought haha.
Maro was racist… but it wasn't like it was his job… and now he has to lead a holy war… Great, all work and no fun…
If Maro could break down the time he spent in the future it would be ideally, 40% sex, 40% alcohol, 19% fighting and killing Green fucks and then 1% spreading the Goddesses message…
"Smite me if you don't like it" he said outloud wincing in anticipated pain… nothing happened… A deal's a deal Goddess, he thought.
He sat down and waited for the two gnomes to wake up.
Chapter 53
They had decided that they could not leave the artifacts in the temple…The temple was in the middle of the New Holy Order territory… As soon as it was found it would be demolished or worse, repurposed to serve whatever unity bullshit the new order spread.
So Maro tested his new wings and flew just outside the City and walked in.
He first went to the Guild and turned in his mission, took his reward in multiple chests of gold… This mission had been posted for so long, the gold deposited for the reward had been earning interest to try and entice adventurers to go after it.
He ran over to the City stables, bought as many wagons and horses as he could and then met up with the Dwarven guards who were still getting ready to leave with him.
He paid a bunch of the Dwarves to take the carts to the temple, when the Dwarves saw the tapestries, they all knelt before it… like a piece of them had been re-found… just like the Goddess of Creation.
They knew it was true, because no one aside from the dwarves could make gold thread and no one aside from the gnomes had the ingenuity to weave the metal and the humans did the design or something…
They loaded up everything, every single golden threaded tapestry, the statue, its base, the candle sticks… Gnarlo wore as much of it as possible, he found golden ceremonial bracers that covered both forearms, a couple of necklaces and some rings.
The large and heavy caravan took weeks to get back to the Fortress… but when they did… It was mania.
A religious re-awaking spread throughout the Fortress, they emptied out one of the giant unused buildings and made it into a temple. The truth of their origin hung proudly on the walls… Maro and Gnarlo didn't really take any of this seriously but Kadrin wept for an uncomfortably long time…
After the religious fervour died down, they held a grand feast, right away, in celebration of a new holiday.
With the first official batch of Dwarven beer done, the Trio drank their full. Even his lady friends were scared to try and kidnap him due to his new demeanor, every time they looked at him, he gave a look back that said 'enjoy the peace while it lasts, I will destroy you soon'.
Maro also came at just the right moment, the dwarves were still refining the alloy for his new suit of armour… so they re-took his measurements and had to refine even more metals.
Maro was happy to relax for a good while…
"Kadrin, is it just me or does it feel like our population doubled while I was gone…" Maro asked
"Aye" He spat "more like two and a half… some humans even took up prime spots on the second and third floors… meanwhile dwarves have been settling on sub level 1 and 2 mainly."
"Wow… we need some sort of bureaucracy and establish a formal structure… soon people will flood this place… we can't have spies setting up shops on empty floors. Lets limit people to 3 floors up and 3 floors down for now.
"Agreed" Kadrin nodded
Gnarlo had run off to feed his Trolls… he actually kinda liked them, despite what they involuntarily put him through.
Maro slammed his empty mug of ale down. "That's enough drink for me" he stated…
"Enough drink for you… really??" Kadrin thought Maro was turning a new leaf
"Enough drink for me here, I will have more drink elsewhere" they both laughed…
Maro was back at his house… he paused for a second and walked on through.
All four of his lady friends had been anticipating this and as this was their first moment alone, they took a good look at him… he was absolutely giant for a human… muscles rippling… suddenly he activated Bloodrush and the tight clothing, he wore on purpose for dramatic effect, ripped off.
They gasped.
He summoned his Angel's wings and unfurled them in their majestic glory.
They gasped even harder as he started to approach… every step he took they quivered in anticipation, every step he took a piece of their clothing fell off, almost by itself..
He used Holy Judgement… his ability to manipulate it had gotten better.
His tongue started glowing golden… he stuck his tongue out and winked
Then his Penis and finally his fingers turned golden…
He finally spoke "do you think you can handle the God of Sex in all his splendor" …
Katarina was the bravest… she took the smallest step forward in the nude. He kissed her on the lips and just touched her on the clit…the holy energy reverberated from mouth to loins… coursing throughout her body and amplifying. It felt like an eternity of unbelievable pleasure for her, but from the outside she passed out after a second convulsing in bliss on the floor.
He stepped over her body with complete disregard…
"Who's next?"
All four of his Lady friends had gone into a Divine Orgasmic Coma for a week. Maro enjoyed the peace and quiet… As he watched over the women while drinking a beer.
Epilogue
Over the course of the next three months.
The Trio had established their government… with a lot of help from way more qualified people who didn't only think about Sex, killing or alcohol. They had established their Triumvirate… Both the Dwarves and Gnomes agreed that Maro would have ultimate say as he technically was the mouthpiece of a God.
In one move he became both the head of a new religion and the King of Humans…
The population of the Fortress hit 5000 people fast and new people were arriving every day. The true religion, the stable government, the economy was growing extremely fast and they had their own Adventurer's Guild. People had all the reason in the world to come.
Plans were in place for expansion, mines were opened up again to fuel new industry.
They had regular raiding parties heading to destroy any signs of those Demons… one downside was that beastmen were a couple pegs above Orcs and Goblins but now they were killed without exception too.
They posted missions for adventurers to clear the smaller camps and to explore even more Dwarven settlements along the mountains.
The name for their church got a bit confusing, as to what to call the new and old Holy Orders, so they switched the name to the Holy Order of Origin and Creation… not much better but at least they wouldn't have to answer what was new and what was old anymore.
Life was good and it got a bit better, The Dwarves finished his armour finally… and just in time for the Triumvirate to hold their first Public court.
In the Grand hall of the first First floor, stood three thrones… Sitting on the left one was The King of Gnomes… absolutely covered in gold. He added jewels to his gold crown and scepter to make them even more gaudy. He was draped in jewelry across his neck, fingers… anything, every piece of his clothing that could be covered in gold was.
On the far right, sat the new King of Dwarves… his Armour blood red and full plate… trimmed with gold. Impressive and absolutely intimidating to all those who looked upon him, immovable and unbreakable steel. His grey glorious beard, somehow got back some of its colour; it was darker and fuller… braided into a Dwarven style fit for a king.
In the centre stood a giant figure… outfitted in pure white plate armour with intense gold trim as well. His armour matched the statue of the Goddess in all its beauty, the man underneath made it a terrifying sight… His Great Maul rested by his chair matching his armour and on the other side was a great circular shield in the same fashion… However the gold trim around the shield told a story… of how he liberated the people, rediscovered and reclaimed their lands and religion, and how he became the mouth piece of god…
Maro sat down… and hit his maul on the ground to indicate to everyone that the session had started…