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Chapter 140: The Idea

How good is a Wyrmling’s sense of smell? I never really had a reason to worry about that. I hope it doesn’t notice her –

The shadows passed over the guard, momentarily blocking him from view. By the time they’d moved on, the guard was no longer there. It took Arwin a second to find him – not standing but lying a foot away from where he’d been, his head severed.

“What’s going on?” Reya whispered.

Before Arwin could reply, a cloak of night passed over the Wyrmling as well. It remained there for several seconds longer before pulling back. The monster was dead, crumpled in a heap on the ground.

“They’re dead,” Arwin whispered as he lowered the looking glass and handed it back to Rodrick. “Go. Quickly – and quietly.”

They crept out from their shelter and headed to join Lillia as quickly as they could. She’d certainly made short work of the two. She stood in the shade of a tree, having pulled her protective darkness back so they could see where they were going.

“You made short work of them,” Rodrick whispered. “Remind me not to anger you.”

“Wyrmlings aren’t dangerous when they don’t know you’re there or when they’re alone, and the guard was half asleep. If there’s a horde of them, it’ll be a very different scenario.” Lillia handed the sword back to Olive, then frowned. “Also, the Wyrmling seemed… off. Like it was drugged or had a concussion.”

“Effects of the control, maybe? If someone’s keeping the Wyrms there, they probably aren’t as aware as they would be if they were acting on their own.” Rodrick guessed.

“Only one way to find out,” Arwin said. He jerked his chin toward the center of the forest. “Let’s keep moving. Rodrick, take up the lead and let us know if we’re getting near anyone?”

Rodrick nodded and they all fell in behind him. They did their best to avoid the sticks on the ground, but their path was far from perfectly silent. Arwin winced with every creak of armor or crunch of dry leaves beneath their feet.

A distant yell rang out and they all froze in place. It was followed by several more yells, and then muted conversation. It didn’t seem like it was moving in their direction. After another few seconds, they started moving toward the noise.

The yells and conversation grew louder the closer they got. Arwin strained to make out the words, but the trees muffled them to the point where nothing sounded clear enough to make out. Rodrick held a hand up and they all slowed.

Wordlessly, Rodrick pointed into the trees. He tapped his ear, then started moving again, even slower than he had been before and crouching low to the ground. Everyone else did the same. They were close.

A muted flash of light lit the forest up for a brief instant from just a few trees ahead of them. Arwin could make out dozens of people murmuring nearby, and another yell rang out through the forest. It sounded like some kind of battle cry.

A battle cry that ended with a loud crunch, followed by even more murmuring and muted conversation. Arwin slowly crept forward, making sure not to move suddenly and draw any eyes toward the shadows, and poked his head above the leaves of a bush in his way.

His heart froze in his chest. There must have been easily thirty or forty people gathered in a torchlit clearing before him, encircling two fully grown Wyrms. One of them rested its head on the ground, is eyes closed. Arwin recognized it – it was the monster that had nearly killed him.

The other Wyrm was wide awake and chewing on something. Around three dozen Wyrmlings were gathered in the center of the clearing. There were easily as many of them as there were people.

And, standing between the two Wyrms with one hand placed on each of their sides was Jessen. His black armor was nearly invisible in the night, but Arwin would have recognized him anywhere.

“Next,” Jessen barked, his voice cold and tense.

The Wyrmlings pushed a man forward. He stumbled into the center of the clearing, clutching a sword and staring up at the Wyrm in terror.

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“Guildmaster, I don’t think I want to–”

“You must fight to receive power,” Jessen snarled. “That was the agreement you made when you joined the Iron Hounds. I promised to give you power, should you be able to claim it.”

“But–”

“Fight!” Jessen ordered. “Or die. I can lead a parched man to water, but I cannot make him drink. You asked for the chance for greatness. I have delivered it to you. When will you ever find a better chance to strike down such a mighty monster? I have already delivered dozens of them to each and every one of you, trussed and prepared for the killing. You had no objection then. So now, when I bring you, a Journeyman, to fight a mere Apprentice ranked monster, why do you balk?”

The man looked around the clearing nervously.

“I’m fine with my current power, Guildmaster.”

“That is unfortunate. There is no complacency allowed in the Iron Hounds. We will grow powerful… or we will become fuel for those who do.”

A large Wyrmling stepped into the clearing, its lips pulling back to reveal rows of sharp teeth.

[Forest Wyrmling – Apprentice 9]

The man brought his sword up, but his stance was horrible. He held it out before him like a torch rather than a weapon – and it served about just as much use as one. The Wyrmling lunged forward and the man let out a terrified scream. He swung his blade wildly.

It bit deep into the Wyrmling’s body, carving through scale, but the monster’s jaws slammed shut on his neck and silenced him. The monster jerked its head back, swallowing him whole.

Arwin ducked back down.

“Godspit,” Lillia breathed. “He’s feeding his own guild to the Wyrmlings.”

“That’s why they were so high Tier but bad at fighting,” Arwin said, his skin prickling. “Jessen did the same thing to them that the Guild did to us. He’s pushing them up through the ranks, then putting them up against the Wyrmlings.”

“Killing something a higher Tier than you is definitely going to give you a lot of magical energy, even if they’re pretty incompetent at fighting. Not as much as if they were good, but with the amount of people he’s got here…” Rodrick swallowed heavily. “This is bad. He’s going to have a whole horde of boosted Wyrmlings.”

“Given the way he’s standing, he’s definitely the one controlling the monsters,” Arwin said, poking his head back up over the foliage just in time to see a mage shoot a bolt of flame into a new Wyrmling’s chest, shattering scales and leaving a deep wound – only to get consumed like the man before him. “And those idiots have power but no idea how to fight. Jessen has it set up perfectly.”

“For what, though?” Reya asked. “What’s he going to do with a giant horde of Wyrmlings?"

"And why isn’t anyone trying anything?” Olive added. “They could just run.”

A warrior let out a battle cry as he entered the clearing and charged the Wyrmling that had just killed the mage. He leapt into the air, fire gathering around his blade, and brought it down into the monster’s eye.

The Wyrmling bucked, throwing him to the side, but he hit the ground in a roll and sprinted at it again. He ducked the monster’s bite and slammed his sword through its other eye, killing it.

“Well done,” Jessen said, giving the man a terse smile. “Move to the side so another may get their chance.”

“Thank you, Guildmaster,” the man said, bowing his head before moving to join a very small crowd to Jessen’s left.

“That’s why,” Arwin said. “They’re either hopeful that they’ll do the same as that guy will – or they know that Jessen will kill them if they try to leave. Look at the other Wyrmlings. They aren’t just sitting around. They’re keeping people there.”

They all ducked back down and exchanged worried glances.

“Godspit,” Lillia said. “What do we do?”

Another scream and a crunch rang out, marking someone’s failed attempt to kill a Wyrmling. Arwin had to admit that Jessen’s plan was ingenious. He was getting rid of his weakest members, growing the power of his horde, and separating out all the people that could actually fight all in one fell swoop.

He wiped his ranks clean of the useless ones while making sure that he could count on the ones that survived to be competent. So long as someone was a heartless monster that was fine sacrificing their guild members, it was incredibly effective.

Now that I think about it, Jessen was always willing to sacrifice the members of his guild. He didn’t care at all that I’d killed Yul and Tix, and I suspect he was only mad that I killed Erik because he wanted to feed the asshole to his Wyrms.

“What do we do?” Anna asked. “If he manages to feed all those Wyrms, there’s no way we’re going to be able to take them out. Weakened from birth or not, they’re going to be terrifying – and that isn’t even counting the big ones.”

“If Jessen is actually controlling all of them, he’s got to be concentrating on it. They didn’t come from his class, which means they’ll return to their normal state if he loses concentration or dies.”

“How are we going to kill him from here?” Reya asked. “Didn’t you say he was too strong to fight?”

“He’s strong,” Arwin agreed, thinking furiously. They’d come a long way in the relatively short time since the fight with Jessen, but a fair head-on battle with him was still skewed against them.

Jessen was somewhere toward the end of Journeyman tier and he knew what he was doing. Even if they all attacked him at once, he was liable to win. That said…

“He’s weaker than last time,” Arwin said. “He’s controlling the entire horde. That’s got to be consuming an enormous amount of concentration and energy. He won’t be able to go all out against us without freeing the Wyrms from his control over them.”

“That’s true,” Rodrick mused. “But how are we going to put him at enough risk to make him lose concentration? He’s just going to sic all the Wyrms and the members of his guild on us the moment we make ourselves known.”

“That’s exactly what we need.” Lillia’s eyes lit up and she looked to Arwin. “Your bow. What are the chances it’s quiet?”

“Almost zero.”

“You’ve got a bow?” Olive asked.

“Haven’t had a chance to use it yet,” Arwin said. “It’ll definitely make a lot of noise or light – one of the two. There’s no way I’ll be able to draw it without people noticing.”

“That’s fine,” Lillia said, chewing her lower lip. “I have an idea.”

“What is it?” Anna asked.

She told them.