Azazyel
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Diggy Diggy Hole Chapter 10
🕑 Added 2024-11-17 18:27:53 +0000 UTCAzulbak's clipping clops across the stone path rang out like a percussive song across the mountain valley we were traveling through.
"Oh! Through stone and thunder, we march below,
Where ancient rivers of silver flow.
With hammer's call and pick's sharp bite,
We carve our tale in endless night..."
I sang to myself with my singing leveling up my charisma stat's and acting to bolster morale and increase other stats to people who could hear.
And then my voice deepened with it booming across the empty valley me and my goat were riding down.
"So strike the earth, and sing our song,
The mountain's roots are deep and strong!
We're sons of iron, forged in fire,
With hearts of stone and souls of pyre!"
A loud thump rang out and I saw from one of the few tree's in front of us dropped three Gnoblar's wielding sticks as weapons. "Ya think yer safe, don't ya? But ye're out in Gnoblar land now, little beardless!" One of the Gnoblar shouted out.
"Big ass-nosed goblins hiding in the tree's so their Ogre lord's don't eat them. Azulbak run them down!" I ordered with the Dawi-raised mountain goat breaking into a sprint as it ran towards the Gnoblars.
And as it came closer, first of all I noticed how the Gnoblar looked a good deal more different from normal goblins even though they had greenish-tinged skin. They had large droopy ears, and massive... I mean obscene-sized noses.
But then as we got closer I saw in front of the gnoblar's was a pit that had been poorly covered by the dead grass of the mountain valley.
So once we got closer I just squeezed around Azulbak's waist with my legs and the dwarven mountain got getting my warning saw the hole coming up and it gave a loud bay of fury at seeing the trap.
And I watched as the Gnoblar's beady eyes widened in horror as the war goat leaped over the trap by more than five meters and Azulbak slammed into the cousins to the goblins.
Loud crunching noises rang out as Azulbak's horns combined with its speed slammed into one of the Gnoblar's bodies with it's chest being crushed by the several hundred-pound high speed goats hard horns smashing into it.
Then from atop the war goat, I had an oversized war hammer that I used to smash into the nearby Gnoblar's with their goblin shrieks being quickly silenced by my warhammer.
"That was only one small hunting party... We need to keep moving before the larger packs come out of their caves." I muttered with my eyes taking in the Gnoblar's corpses before dismissing them as Azulbak ripped off one of their arms and begin eating it as it continued it's previous relaxed trot.
The world of Warhammer Fantasy was almost a match for Earth itself, but it differed from Earth in one major fact. The major continental land masses in Europe, Asia, and Africa were a bit changed in how they connected.
Most of western Asia was basically the Dark Land's where horrors were uncountable, including hordes of orks, skaven, monsters, and Chaos Dwarves lived. But to the north of that, were the stretch of the Mountain's of Mourn which were part of the Ogre Kingdoms.
And the Ogre Kingdsoms... Well they belonged to the Ogre's and their roaming tribes of fat bastards that no one in this world wanted to fuck with due to how stupidly strong they were, how magically resistant they were... And how stupid they were.
Not to mention the Ogre's habit of eating literally anything that entered it's eyes. Literally anything mind you, the fat oversized bastard's didn't give a damn if you were a demon, an ork, a dwarf, human. Or a bowl of literal puke.
"The question is if I hire some Ogre mercenaries to help me get to Grand Cathay." I muttered to myself as I knew I was looking at a long journey ahead of myself. And roaming as a lone dwarf on a goat mount was going to be dangerous.
Because to say nothing of the large population of Gnoblar's which were goblins essentially which I was duty bound to kill whenever I saw the fucking wretchs. But there were the Ogre's and of course the horrible... Horrible monsters fill the endless Mountains of Mourn like drakes, cockatrices, and among other things.
Me and Azulbak kept moving southeast when we could through the mountains for the next day with the only incidents being me seeing a flying drake get ripped out of the air by a dragon-sized eagle of some sort which I steadfastly ignored even if I wanted to tame a flying mount for myself.
And I knew eventually I could, as I already had a taming skill now after riding and ordering Azulbak around for the last few days.
[Kharn Lvl 21 Exp 38%]
[Skills- Levels Crafting-28. Small Arms-19, Leather Working-19, Metal Armor-14 Enchanting-13]
[Statesmen Skills- Leadership-17 Mineral Inspection-7]
[Mana Skills- Mana Enhancement-13 Mana Burst-15 Ghost Hand 16, Lions Roar-7]
[Combat skills, Archery-15 Small Arms-19, Large Arms-16, Hand to Hand-4]
[Support Skills- Beast Control/Taming-7, Beast Mana Enhancement-7]
[Stats Strength-16
Endurance-23
Agility-8
Dexterity-23
Mind- 18 ]
My stat growth had reflected my usage of my skills obviously. With the Beast Mana Enhancement skill, I could flare my mana out and all creatures I had tamed and within a certain range would gain a two percent increase to their stat's per level I had in the skill.
Which for now... Was good enough making Azulbak's already very strong Strength stat's even stronger along with his Endurance. But once I got the skill much higher level? I could imagine Azulbak becoming a terror on the battlefield especially when I had time to outfit him with some proper metal armor.
Rather than just the hardened leather armor and chain mail, I had armored him with, so the shit bows that the Gnoblar's had wouldn't hurt him.
My travels continued until a loud dull continuous rumble rang out making me look around as we had entered a lower valley and from the sparse surrounding forest came my worst nightmare.
"Ogres..." I muttered dully as I realized the wide host of probably fifty Ogre's were shaking the ground as their several-ton heavy bodies created a small trail of dust behind them as they marched across the earth.
The Ogre's seeing me obviously turned towards me in interest, but then I noticed something. They weren't basic ogre's they were Maneater Ogres! Which was fantastic despite their name as that meant they were mercenaries and not murder hobos!
And I could tell because they were actually dressed rather sloppily in Grand Cathay style clothes and wielding oversized Asian style calvery swords and maces.
"Hail! Maneaters, I bring gifts haha!" I called out powerfully using my Lion's Roar ability to make the Ogre's pause at the power of my voice.
And from behind the wandering band of Ogre's came a loud voice "Lookit that, boys! A nugget-sized stuntie on a billy goat! Guess today's feast is comin' to us!"
But I was undeterred even as my lips twitched at seeing how the leader of this warband was clearly a fan of Ninppon culture as it was dressed in ninja-like clothes that had several dozen pieces of samurai armor it had clearly looted haphazardly covering its body's vital spots.
While also having a half a dozen thick Odachi's hanging from its body in various places that it could reach.
"Look at me! Me and my goat I covered in armor and we won't taste good at all! But I can pay you in gold and food if you are willing to take a job for me!"
The leading Ogre tilted its rather misshapen head to the side before it got closer and kneeled down to squint at me. "Wat food does a little beardless stuntie like ya got? You ain't even gots any pockets on ye or da goat?"
Its breath was like expelled hot swamp ass against my face but I just took a breath and spoke firmly. "I have powerful magic to carry things outside of where the eyes can see! See! With some stuff, I can even make food very quickly! But I want to hire your war band for a job!"
The Ogre's face at seeing me take out the corpse of a beastman I had previously slain and then dropping a pile of Skaven slaves I had killed blinked before it grinned happily.
"Aye! Little Stuntie has food and gold for Goldmaw Tribe? What does little Stuntie want?" It asked curiously with Azulbak stepping back slightly as the Ogre made a heavy thudding noise as it fully sat down.
Taking a breath, I spoke out as clearly as I could. "I want you to bring me and my goat safely to The Great Bastion of Cathay. And although I can't feed your whole tribe for the job, I am a dwarf so I can make you all better weapons!"
The leading Ogre gave me a long look with its beady eyes before it took the beast-man corpse and began eating it messily before it stood up.
"Aye, we take you to the da big wall. With ya helping us make good belly shields and big smashing sticks." The Ogre said firmly nodding his head in agreement before one of the the Ogre's called out.
"Boss can we eat da big rats dere?" And the leading Ogre nodded with it bending over to pick up a couple more of the Skaven for a later snack while it gave the Gnoblar's who were following the clan gave me a dark look.
"Gnibblers! Da stuntie is da payer, no knifing or stabbing im ya hear!?" The gnoblar's cried out in understanding... And agreement as the massive ogre looked at them with his beady eyes.
So with that, I had hired a small Ogre warband and I coudn't help but feel all the more comforted in that knowledge. As now I had somewhat of a guide, and a fuck load more safety for myself.
Because for as fucking stupid Ogre's were. They at seeing a greater demon of Khorne would only think about how good the demon would taste... And odds are with half a dozen Ogre's they could win against an un-named greater demon of any Chaos God.
"Let's a keep moving! And ye Stuntie, what's ye name?" The Ogre asked me out of curiosity.
I patted my chest and said firmly. "My name is Kharn, of clan Barruk. What's your name tall one?"
The Ogre chuckled with great spittle escaping him as he began taking large multi-meter steps. "Aye I do-be a lot bigger than ya, but me's name is Shaggit Shadoweater." He finished proudly at saying his name so clearly.
And then Shaggit's steps increased in length as he left me and Azulbak behind him as the Ogre's fanned out to continue their wide march but this time towards the Great Bastion of Cathay.
Which was the massive wall that Grand Cathay had built in order to block Chaos and the monster's of the Northern Chaos Wastes from the top of their empire.
And thankfully I was aiming right for Nan-Gau which was right on the western border of the wall which would allow me to get to my grand plans... I was going to the City of Smoke that was the lifeblood of Grand Cathay's military structure.
The walk with the Ogre's went peaceful enough as some of the Ogre's talked with about the food my clan had, and I had to explain how my clan was over-ran by the Skaven which were the human-sized rat-men I had dropped for them.
Which had the conversation continued on with the Ogre's making conversation about the best way to skin a Skaven and eat it without the spicy filth that covered their forms.
So I happily explained that slow-steaming Skaven that were still alive were the best way to get the yuck out of them before you chopped them up and made soup out of them.
"Oi! Shaggit, the little Stuntie's got some good thinks on making good grub!" One of the Ogre's called out with cheer as he chortled at how the beastmen's animal portions could be eaten just like any cattle or normal animal.
Well for a dwarf or Ogre it would be fine. A human probably would get horribly sick, but a dwarf can live off mead, and eat rocks. Less said about Ogre's that can happily eat literal demons the better.
Shaggit's face became pinched as it rubbed its stomach which was covered in a dozen breastplates it had collected from the samurai of the land of Nippon.
And then it nodded and said. "Kharn, ye make a fire and start cooking up some good grub, while we hunt some food. Stompy, Gnobgobbler, ye watch him so the Gnoblar's don't stick im."
The two named Ogre's in Stompy and Gnobgobbler made long steps towards me before Gnobgobbler who had dozens, multiple dozen gnobbler's heads strung across his chest and waist spoke thickly.
"Aye bossum, the little hairless chinny stuntie be safe with un."
And with that, the Ogres quickly dispersed through the surrounding low valley forest as they began running down any prey that hadn't already caught wind of their foul stench and fled.
The two Ogre's then began eating some foul-smelling jerky they pulled out of the back of their loincloths. And seeing that, I decided to keep myself busy as I asked the bigger one. "Hey Stompy! Can ye bring down that tree right there? I will need the wood to make fires and stuff!"
Stompy who had brutal spiked metal boot's over his massive feet gave a misshapen grin with so many teeth missing in his mouth but he nodded as he got up and then he and Gnobgobbler just pulled the tree down with their simple physical might.
And with that, I took out my own enchanted axe and began cutting off the branches for fire wood. Then once I removed all the sticks and shit and debris I used my axe to begin wrenching the bark from the tree and after a while, I cut the base from the trunk leaving the thickest and hardest wood behind.
Then from there, I carved the Rune of Heat, not flames into the large thick block which made the large wooden block that was twice as tall as I was begin to steam as it dried itself out.
"Oi, little stuntie whatcha doin there?" Stompy asked in confusion.
I pointed at the large block of wood and I said calmly. "Making a hammerhead. The big trunk of the tree will be the handle. When I attach it, it is the big wooden hammer that smashes real good." I explained as simply as I could.
And both of the Ogre's watched as I worked for the next hour as the other Ogre's were cooking as I just had fun making a fucking massive mace of a wooden hammer with me engraving two more runes of durability, and impact on the hammerhead.
Then the two Ogre's got a bit spooked at seeing the hammer's head glowing as I then began nailing thick strips of metal across the wooden mallet head with large bottle-sized solid spikes of metal protruding from the bands of metal.
"You two think your chief will like this?" I asked proudly at the hammer that was easily literally like five times bigger than myself.
"Yes little Kharn, da chief will really like dis! He has been wanting a good clubbin too." Gnobgobbler said excitedly as he turned to me and said. "Oi Kharn, make me a big pointy stick so I can stick food on it and use for a poker for the nasty little un's!"
I raised an eyebrow before I grinned and looked at some of the Gnoblar's who were looking at me hungrily for my young dwarven flesh. "Aye! I can do that, just bring me a smaller tree and I make you a wonderful spear you can stick things on to cook them!"
And the fat ass Ogre quickly got me another tree trunk with the other Ogre's watching with intrest as they got from their hunting trips with everything from giant elk, to beastmen, to one of the Ogre's coming back with an entire brace of dozens of Gnoblars tied to his waist that he was clearly going to eat.
But either way I kept working on the wooden spear but this time I engraved the runes of fire, durability, and fortitude on the massive wooden spike/lance that was disguised as a spear.
"What does it do?" The Ogre demanded happily as he handled the massive spear with his hand going across it before howling with his hand shooting from the lance's halfway point.
"You stab things onto the spear, and while they are on the spear they will cook on the burning spear!" I explained happily with Gnobgobbler giving me a look of pain before his beady stupid eyes widened and he snatched up a screaming gnobbler and slammed it chest first onto the point of the spear.
And steam exploded from the front of the spear as the goblin screamed in horrible agony as a large fist-sized hole from his stomach opened with the mostly blunt tip of the spear boiling its blood and organs with its heat.
"Haha! It does cook the Gnobs!" The Ogre cried out happily.
And thus the Gnobblar's looked at me in fear with them quickly slinking away knowing that to be within my sights would gain themselves a painful death. As Gnobgobbler casually just ripped the Gnoblar's arms and leg's off its body to also impale on the thick lance to also begin cooking.
But before any more Ogre's could demand their own cooking spear which I knew would be a fucking massive hit with the Ogre's. The chieftain came back with it having dozens of Beastman corpses impaled on the multiple swords it was carrying on its body.
"Ayo, what that big hammer over dere!?" Shaggit called out happily as he dropped the corpses of the beastmen near the massive fire I had built up for making food.
"Chieftain, I noticed that for your great size you didn't have a good smasher so I made you something that will smash really good." I proudly explained with the chieftain of the Ogre warband picking up the large wood hammer that had bands of metal around it.
And I couldn't help a wry smile at just how fucking strong the Ogre was. As it was hefting up a several hundred-pound massive hammer without too much strain with it swinging it through the air with massive whooshing noises as the air screamed from the force of all the mass.
Then Shaggit noticed the glowing bits on the hammer and asked. 'Oi, what be the glowing bitties on da hammer? What they do?"
And so I quickly explained how they were magic that made his hammer stronger so it wouldn't break, along with making him hit things harder when he hit them with the hammer.
Shaggit hefted the hammer before he brought it down with a massive rumble rang out as the hard ground exploded outwards and he burst into laughter as the large Centrigore beastman corpse he smashed became a gory pancake of mulched flesh and fluids.
A scar-covered hand then grabbed the flesh pancake and I watched with some rising bile as Shaggit began munching on the compressed mass of gore. Uncaring of filth or debris entering it's slavering maw.
The ogre after finishing its food looked down at me with gore covered jaw and teeth with that face turning into an ugly grin as it said with something akin to kindness in it voice.
"Yousa a good little stuntie. I make sure you get where ya want, now get ta cooking up some grub for da lads."
And in response, I just took out the massive clay bowl I had burnt to the point it hardened up nicely with all the wood forging work I had done.
For the next couple hours I just chopped up the various kills of meat that the Ogre's gave me, regardless of whether they were beastmen, gnoblar, or other beast. And I threw the meat into the pot with several chopped-up herbs I had collected that I knew would have some flavor.
But then I also added some chilies that were from my stores from my clan while it was cooking.
'I help keep them fed, and I make them weapons occasionally when I am not too magically tired out. And they bring me to Grand Cathay, we all win.' I thought as I knew that the ogre's for all that were stupid and extremely gluttonous.
They had learned over the millennia that betraying and eating their employers was a good way for there to not be any employers who were willing to pay the Ogre's large quantities of food to do their bidding.
So I wasn't too worried about the Ogre's deciding to eat me alive... If anything I was more worried about the Ogre's looking at my large war-goat Azulbak with hunger in their gaze for something new to eat.
After the food was cleared up and eaten we headed towards a nearby river for the Ogre's to wash down the supposedly delicious but spicy soup before we continued heading East towards the 'Great Bastion' that totally wasn't the Great Wall of China.
Later that day when night rolled around Shaggit called out as I was feeding my Azulbak. "Little stuntie, you and da goat sleep over dere in that broken tree. I not roll over and crush ya and the Gnob's won't stick ya with meh close."
I nodded I pulled the exasperated large goat into the collapsed branches of a tree that had been knocked over many years ago. And then I took out a rune stone that would project an invisible wall of magic to surround me and the goat on all sides so we couldn't be snuck up on.
-
My day-to-day as an Ogre tribe's employer became... Somehow monotonous with even Azulbak getting used to the stupid fat bastard's with us only needing to kill a couple dozen Gnobblar's in horrific way's for the rest to understand that becoming goat food was a bad way to go.
At least ogres would eat them in a couple of bites after all. Azulbak? Nope, he liked to chew on them and eat them nice and slowly from the limbs up as my father's tales of Azulback's addiction to eating the bone marrow of goblins soon extended to Gnobblars.
But beyond Shaggit Shadoweater who was the chief of the tribe, there was also another Ogre of note who joined the small tribe who was wandering mostly on his own... One of the Firebellies. Ogre's who had gone through the horrible 'Flame Trial'
Which consisted of them eating horribly spicy food that would kill a human or even a dwarf, then eat a horse-sized beetle that could swim through molten lava. And then... Then they were lowered into a very active volcano where they would scoop up a bunch of lava from a metal skull that they would then need to eat when they got pulled up to the surface.
Only should they survive such an experience would they gain the blessings of the Fire Mouth and the Firebelly Ogre would be highly attuned to Aqshy. Or the Lore of Fire in the Wind's of Magic.
The Firebelly, Mongoth however was old, and he was as stupid as the rest of the Ogre's but he was an old bombastic ogre who was entertaining.
As he would eat the spiciest shit I could come up with and would then burp and shart flames out both ends at the same time making everyone cheer.
Mongoth however gave me a large slab of metal he had taken from an Ork group we stumbled upon before the Ogre's ran them down and ate them all.
Then I made the Firebelly very happy and earned a friend for life when I made a huge helmet that also doubled as a soup bowl for the giant.
And in a pinch the bowl could be turned into a hammer if he attached a couple rods to the side of the bowl.
So here I was like a week later sitting away from Mongoth as Abulak was chowing down on some Gnobblar's entrails that belonged to a tribe of the large nosed little monsters that we ran into this early afternoon.
"Kharn, we making good distance towards da Big Wall." Shaggit announced proudly and I nodded before I asked curiously.
"How long until we reach the wall?" I asked as the cold air of the Eastern Steppe's whipped about and tore the little warmth from my body as we were camping high above the valley's of the surrounding mountains
As the valley's below us had a clan of drakes that even the Ogre's didn't want to deal with without good reason.
Shaggit looked a bit constipated but he slowly said with some annoyance. "Da hobs are being stupid so we need to be away from Hob land... So probably three more seven-day thingies."
I nodded in understanding knowing that he meant that the Hobgoblins were being shitheels, and by three more seven-day thingies, he meant weeks... This was fantastic fucking news as we were traveling a good fifty-plus odd miles a day.
Which meant that we were crossing some two thousand-plus miles across this forty-plus day-long journey... And we were going to speed up a good bit when we started leaving the heartland of the Mourn Mountains and entered the flatter lands to the East.
"We are making good time." I spoke firmly with Shaggit shrugging and saying.
"Yah, for walking we be doing good. Though I heard about some other ogre's who went through an under-earth tunnel filled with water and came up somewhere super far away, real fast!" He spoke excitedly.
And I hummed in thought as I thought it was possible the Ogre's found either a chaos portal, or an intact part of the Underway.
But just as I was settling in to get some sleep again, I heard a loud rumble and I paused as the Ogre's got up and quickly armed themselves. With Shaggit yelling out. "Da the green skin's are coming!"
From the valley below where the drakes previously were. I saw a large host of... Literally thousands of Ork's chasing down the pissed-off drakes that were slaughtering the Ork's en mass but were still being brought down.
"Haha! We eat green skin and fire breathers!" Mongoth roared with a jet of flames escaping his mouth as he began jogging at high speed toward the Orc's and the few surviving drakes and I wondered if I should try to tame a drake in all this chaos.
But I exiled the idea as for one it's not like I had a pet system or space in my inventory despite my taming skill having gone up a good amount along with my level during the travel.
[Kharn Lvl 26 Exp 31%]
[Skills- Levels Crafting-34. Small Arms-21, Large Arms- 12 Leather Working-21, Metal Armor-22 Enchanting-19]
[Statesmen Skills- Leadership-17 Mineral Inspection-9]
[Mana Skills- Mana Enhancement-17 Mana Burst-19 Ghost Hand 17, Lions Roar-12]
[Combat skills, Archery-21 Small Arms-20, Large Arms-22, Hand to Hand-4]
[Support Skills- Beast Control/Taming-15, Beast Mana Enhancement-11]
[Stats Strength-21
Endurance-25
Agility-12
Dexterity-25
Mind- 23 ]
My stat's had grown a good deal from my journey and with how I had used large crossbows to deal with any enemies that got within my range to contribute to the Ogre's food stores.
And another large bolt snapped forward with a loud crack of displaced air with one of the hundreds of Orcs getting impaled on the bolt that exploded violently taking out another half dozen orcs in the resulting explosion.
Pulling the lever back on my crossbow I readied it again and frowned as I saw how the Orcs were chasing the drakes and trying to capture them as mounts more than anything. But I refocused on the largest Orc which was like four meters tall and fighting Shaggit rather poorly due to Shaggit having an extra three meters on him.
Not to mention the Orc and anyone near him were being blasted around and thrown literally hundreds of meters when Shaggit hit them with the side of the massive wooden hammer I made him.
I kept shooting the oversized croosbow with explosive rounds equiped until a loud screech rang out as from below the hill came a group of Night Goblin's that came out of the wood shadows of the nearby cliffs.
"Night Gobbo's!" Mongoth called happily as he literally just exploded with flames blinding all the hyper light sensative Night Goblins and then a loud clanging noise rang out as he smashed his 'helmet' hammer into an orc's head.
Then the Firebelly belched and shat himself with fire blowing out powerfully from both ends with the flames horrifically burning the tribal Orc's that were charging at the big Ogre.
I put away my cross bow as a dozen of the night goblins rushed towards me with their sharp teeth chittering in joy at the thought of eating me. But I pulled out my warhammer and roared out my fury! I squeaked out powerfully with my Lion's Roar skill. "Khazad Kharak!"
My mighty war hammer shattered bones like oversized wet noodles being hit by a sledgehammer with their forms breaking under my blows. While Azulbak kept to my side and simply rammed any Night Goblinds that tried to get to me from behind.
A loud hiss rang out and I glared at the drake that decided that my area was the easiest to break out of and as it came at me and blew a plume of flames at the night goblins and Azulbak as a warning I just roared in dwarven fury as I dove through the flames
And as I came close to the Drake, well below it's view I used a mana burst to slam the spike of my war hammer into the skull of the drake who didn't seem to see me below it.
My enchanted hammer, blessed with the runes of Force and Impact that I had learned from Snorlot met the drake's skull with a mighty cracking noise as the spike broke the drake's skull.
"Haha, the little stuntie can smash too!" Mongoth roared happily as he exhaled a large plume of flames that roasted another dozen larger green skins that were rushing toward him.
The rest of the battle was a chaotic whirl of violence as I got into Azulback's back and we began running down lone green skins with his armored head and horns cratering the chest's of whatever we hit. While I used my war hammer to smash everyone within reach.
I got a couple of levels during the battle and the only hiccup was when a night goblin got thrown onto me and Azulback by one of the larger green skins and I needed to beat the night goblin to death with my spiked gauntlets.
Which... To say the least was cathartic in the the extreme. But beyond that hiccup, I came out of the battle without a scratch as I was covered completely in enchanted armor with any exposed joints having two layers of chain mail.
And once the battle was done I watched as the Ogre's happily consumed the corpses of the greenskins, the night goblins, the drakes, and of course the two corpses of their own ogres who fell in the battle as some green skin's got lucky and got the ogre's down to the ground where they could hit the ogre's head and neck.
"Shaggit, can I have the skin from the drakes?" I asked as he had taken the lion's share of the drakes as he liked the stringy reptilian meat as it smoked really well supposedly.
The Ogre looked at the piles of skin he had ripped off and then he said. "Gimmie fifteen more greenskin and ya got a deal little Kharn." And my lips twitched at the that because the weight of flesh to eat compared to the drake skin's was obviously entirely slanted towards the greenskins.
But I didn't argue with the Ogre and just beat a couple gnobblar's to death with my war hammer to take a few corpses of the larger green skins with Azulbak helping me drag them over to Shaggit.
Allowing me to come away with a bunch of the skin's of the drakes and knowing the ogre's were going to be camping the rest of the night and well into the day with how they had so much 'fresh food' to devour I got to work.
Drakes no matter how distant, were in fact related to dragons at least here in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. Which meant that they had great magical and fire resistance at the very least.
Though, I was going to be careful in wearing drake/dragon stuff when I entered Grand Cathay obviously. As Grand Cathay is ruled by the Celestial Dragon's which were extremely powerful dragon's that could take on human form.
'And those dragon's are horny bastards and making dragon-blooded humans all the time.' I mused with some amusement at the thought of the Umgi's breeding with the dragon's though the human portion of my mind that remained from my reincarnation nodded proudly at the thought.
So I began tearing a good bit of the drake skin into strips so I could then reinforce my crossbow. And as I worked to make more strips and gather up the materials to make a large cloak and an under suit for under my chain mail to protect me more from magic.
My mind wandered as I could all but hear my mother Kungina holding me in her lap as she showed and explained to me how to sow, and especially how to turn skin into proper leather in the dwarven way of using the darkest of ale's as a tanning solution.
As Dwarves were independent creatures and my mother knowing I was destined to become a Runesmith had taken me in hand during my free time when I wasn't making ale with my father or smithing. To teach me how to live properly.
Because no matter how advanced dwarves were technology-wise compared to the rest of the world. We didn't have massive factories for things like clothes, and other consumer goods. That was all handmade when needed with love and care so it would last a long time.
So I was well aware of how to turn reptile skin into leather... Even if Drake's hide was a good bit thicker than the large cave lizards the clan typically dealt with.
But I did it all the same and the next morning while the Ogre's woke themselves up by eating their ample breakfast of the corpse slurry they had left to boil in several huge pots for a soup overnight.
I spent the next couple day's using the leather strips I had left to smoke overnight to begin making a large cloak of Drake leather and just smoked it out whenever the Ogre's would stop to eat their six to seven large meals a day.
"Kharn! We be passing nearby a big group of dem Hob Gobbo's so ya keep close as they have an old mean bastard named Bonesnatcher who rides a big Rhinox who loves to eat little dwarves."
I clicked my tongue hearing that, and I just nodded as we kept moving East towards the more patrolled lands of Grand Cathay. As this last large Hobgoblin tribe we were passing through its territory. It was likely the last big issue we had in getting to Grand Cathay.
As unlike most other territories in the world, Grand Cathay's 'gods' were very much on the field in the Dragon Emperor and his Lunar Empress who would smite too large of monster parties or send their armies to root them out.
'Gotta also remember not to point at how the dragons are practically gods.' I mused as I knew that the dragon's actually hated the gods of the world as they were literally far... Far older than the gods of the world as they had existed before the Old One's landed on this world.
We kept moving over the next couple of weeks as we got heavily slowed down by a random snowstorm moving more toward the North East. Heading closer to the Great Bastion on the edge of Mountain's of Mourne.
But in doing so, we straddled the edge of the northern Chaos Wastes and the Hobgoblin Kingdoms.
Basically one of the worst shitholes possible besides going straight for the north pole... Which in essence was impressive considering the South and North Poles of this world were literally portals into the very Warp and Chaos itself.
'Hmm... Maybe Sylvania with how it's over-run with vampires, necromancers, and the undead could be worse.' I mused with some amount of amusement before a loud roar rang out from our sides.
Turning my head to the side I saw a line of cavalry rushing towards us with Hobgoblins, being significantly larger goblins but still much smaller than proper orc's charging towards our group in a ragged line of the Hobogoblins riding squigs, giant spiders, and the one in the front was riding a Rhinox.
'That's the boss of this band.' I noted as the Hobgoblin had a large brutal morning star that it was swinging around his head in preparation to reach us on the massive Rhinox.
The Rhinox was larger than a large truck in my previous life, and its body was covered in natural bone armor plates and its lowered head was covered in brutal-looking horns that went chaotically in all directions.
"I call da Rhinox!" Mongoth called out happily as he charged towards the battle and I mentally sighed knowing that these damned Ogre's literally just didn't have real fear responses in their gene code.
"Damned Ogres... Why couldn't the Old One's finish making you before they fled the world." I cursed in dwarvish as I squeezed Azulback's waist to hurry up as we really didn't want to get singled out by the rushing horde of Greenskins.
Mongoth came up powerfully to the charging Rhinox and even as he bathed the giant rhino and ox mix of a pissed-off animal with lava-hot flames.
However, the thickly armored creature just ignored the flames and I noticed the Hobgoblin was protected by a magical barrier from the flames by a shaman that was riding in the background.
And the Mongoth was then bowled over by the rushing mounted hobgoblin and I winced as a mighty clanging noise rang out even over the battlefield as the leading hobgoblin's morning star smashed into the helmet/pot I made for Mongoth's head.
But after that, I was drawn into my own battle as a giant spider leapt over the battlefield and I mentally cursed seeing it was going to land right in front of me so I held out my explosive launching crossbow with one hand so when it landed with a comparatively soft crashing noise atop one of the Ogre's I was behind I blasted it across with the explosive bolt.
And then Azulbak jumped up the leg of the Ogre and he then slammed the spider off the back of the Ogre it was busy ripped the shoulder and neck muscles out of and as we hit the ground past the Ogre I snarled.
""Grobi-skarn! Azgal throni bar kadrin thazuk gromthi khazuk!" I roared with my Lion's Roar as I said. 'Filthy goblin scum, I will crush your skull with my hammer!'
The spider shot a stream of sticky webbing at us but I just pulled at my magic and I winced as I threw a wave of fire that destroyed the webbing, but I could feel my body scream in pain as my body rejected the use of Aqshy's Lore of Fire.
And I could feel the stiffness coming with the agony within the hand that had casted the fire spell as part of my hand turned to stone due to dwarves natural inability to cast magic through the Wind's of Magic.
But I was riding high on the battle adrenaline. My Warhammer sang in the air before it began the war song of my people as I poured my mana into Azulbak to use the Beast Mana Enhancement skill making Azulbak glow brightly before he slammed into the spider breaking one of its eight legs.
Meanwhile the song of my people my warhammer was simply the sound of said warhammer hitting the spider on it's long legs on it's join and the lock cracking and thudding noises making a symphony of my own personal song of violence.
I held up a hand as the damned spider rider shot an arrow directly towards my face with the arrow getting caught on my vambrace on my arm, but before it could reload Azulbak broke another of the spider's legs and then he jumped atop the large spider's body and his horns smashed into the chest of the hobgoblin.
And even as my Mountain Goat King's horns smashed into the Hobgoblin's chest, I swung around with my warhammer crushing his skull as well.
Then I squeezed around Azulbak's waist to tell him I was ready and then I held in a grin as the vicious goat jumped into the air with a Beast Mana Enhancement burst of strength and then it just came down on the spider with its powerful hoof's crushing the head portion of the spider.
A loud roar of pain rang out and I saw the older form of Mongoth holding his side as he had been clearly gored in multiple places by the magically protected Rhinox and his rider who was cackling sadistically in the way's only a goblin and hobgoblin could.
"Someone needs to get the Shaman." I muttered as I summoned back out my crossbow to blow up another spider rider with a lucky shot directly to the rushing hobgoblin.
Taking a breath I focused my will on the Hobgoblin Shaman who was on a massive spider that doubled as a sort of magical focus and was clearly corrupted to some extent by chaos with all the boils and tentacles crossing the body of the massive spider.
But... Shaggit, finally proving his name of Shadoweater showed what he had learned and taken from the land of Nippon. As he did the 'sneaky' strategy of yeeting a gnobblar like a ninja star into the Hobgoblin Shaman.
And I honestly just stared as a screaming gnobblar flew at speeds more than a hundred miles an hour before it smashed into the Hobgoblin Shaman with a loud crashing noise as it and the shaman were blasted into the shit-shack built atop the spider.
With that Mongoth roared with furious joy as the damned magical barriers around the leading hobgoblin broke with its furious flames washing over the furious Rhinox which gored the ogre again in the thigh as it's rider hit the ogre upside the head with it's morning star one last time before it fell from it's mount unable to even scream with all the flames consuming it.
With the tribe's Shaman and Boss being killed, the cowardly Hobgoblins quickly beat a retreat as they weren't that brave at all in facing Ogre's when it showed how their mount's couldn't overpower the massive Ogre's.
Still riding Azulbak I came up closer to Mongoth who came down to the ground with a groan as he began weakly ripping into the Rhinox's twitching burnt corpse.
'He is going to bleed out.' I noted a bit tiredly as I saw how the ogre's chest had been gored more times than I actually noticed in the heat of the battle.
And it seems like Mongoth knew that as well as even he stopped eating as it just hurt him and he instead drank heavily from the barrel of flesh-melting spicy and acidic liquid he called booze.
"Ah little Kharn, I see ya there haha." Mongoth chuckled as he gazed past me and up at the sky above us.
"Ya can't get even a nibble out of me until I am dead proper ya little stuntie." He teased as he just laid down on the grass with little licks of flame forming around him as the already burnt grass was reignited by the molten streams of blood leaving the ogre's body.
After a moment I myself gave a dead chuckle before I said. "No Mongoth, I am not going to eat you... I am just taking the helmet back when you are dead and proper." I spoke, as Mongoth never bought the helmet from me properly.
To my dwarvish mind, he was just renting it obviously and the Ogre just laughed fully belly like with sprays of blood leaving his body with the hearty laugh leaving his body.
"Aye aye little Kharn that's fine... Not like ah got anything to use it for now with how I am going to the Great Maw." He then looked over at Shaggit who had finished off the giant spider and approached the old Firebelly.
"Oi Shaggit, let Kharn have my stomach and heart. I want em to make something with them for me so he can burn some more hobgoblins alive haha!"
And Shaggit gave me a long look before he looked down at Mongoth and said dully. "Ehh alright, your stomach is going be too hot for us to eat anyway... Now Kharn take whatcha need as I am going to eat Mongoth after I finish cutting up da big spider."
My lips curled in disgust at the casual statement of how Shaggit was going to eat Mongoth without a care of whether he was dead or not... But I just swallowed my thoughts as I already had idea's of what I could use a Firebelly's core organs for in making very potent runes.
If I took the stomach and lung's from Mongoth and made a dwarven Flame Cannon which was a flame thrower that specialized in anti-siege battles where the dwarves sent large globs of exploding napalm into enemies. That could be a powerful weapon for me.
'But is it worth literally tearing open someone who has been teaching me the Wind's of Magic in the Lore of Fire?' I thought before I grimaced as Mongoth used the last of his strength to throw his booze casket into another ogre that wandered over towards us and began melting the dumbass ogre.
And I saw as Mongoth's eye's closed with his breathing stilling so I went over and made sure he was properly at rest by shooting a couple of oversized crossbow bolt's through his skull and into his brain matter to make sure he was dead.
As I wasn't going to cut him open and remove his organs while the poor bastard was still barely alive and just dying slowly.
'Better for me to use them, than for another Ogre to just eat them or worse. Just waste them.' I muttered as I got to work as I put on all the fireproof enchantment gear I had made to become a blacksmith.
And then with a large hacksaw I had for cutting down tree's I ripped open Mongoth's chest, with steam and boiling blood obscuring the view of myself and his internals as the molten blood which was part of his blessing from the Fire Maw ran through his body.
My saw bit deep into the Ogre's chest, sawing through bone, muscle, and gristle alike as I carved open the rib cage so I could take out his still lung's that were twitching along with his massive stomach that was bigger than my entire upper body.
Then with his lungs, and stomach... I went for the next most important thing. Mongoth's heart.
It was still beating powerfully, defiantly, and as I drew close to it... I could feel my mouth water as I carefully cut all the vein's to the heart well away from the heart.
'Damned magic... But this-' I thought as I held the huge heart in my hands and I could feel... Something calling to me, it felt like when I was just born. And I will never forget the feeling of being taken through my birth rituals and Grungi, Valaya, and Thungi accepted me.
Flames of the forge filled my mind as the steam around my body became hot bloody flames as Mongoth's body burned away and filled the heart with his entire life's essence
[̴T̸a̴k̶e̷ ̶b̴a̵c̵k̷ ̶y̷o̴u̸r̸ ̷c̷l̶a̸n̵ ̸K̷h̴a̷r̷n̶ ̸o̴f̴ ̶C̷l̶a̷n̷ ̵B̴a̶r̶r̵u̷k̵.̵]̷
"This is a sign from one of my ancestor gods!" I whispered in awe as the heart of Mongoth was reformed, no the heart was reforged into a different shape of a heart and glowed with veins of molten gold and silver making this unmistakably a blessing of Grungni.
When the creator of your race, and your ancestor god goes through the effort of dressing up your meal and makes it clear in a blessing vision and all... I literally had no other choice but to consume this heart.
I brought up the massive heart to my face and the moment the flesh met my lips my enchanted armor cracked, popped, and shattered as the enchantments failed as molten blood filled my mouth and I could feel my flesh melting internally as I cried bloody tears as I ate the heart.
But with each bite, each swallow of the molten flesh, my body was born anew. Born not of stubborn stone but more viscous magma which was more flexible and capable of change.
Not only that but the lungs and stomach that were in my inventory were also taken as well and merged into the heart I would find out later. As my lungs and stomach were also replaced with a pair that could only belong within a powerful fire dragon.
But the worst part was the feeling of my heart regrowing entirely from inside myself with the rune of Aqshy that looked a lot like a key being formed four times on all four sides of my draconic-shaped heart that had flakes of obsidian protecting the heart within my body.
[Race Change Acquired!]
[Kharn Lvl 26 Exp 31%]
[Race- Dwarf= Volcanic Dwarf
[Skills- Levels Crafting-36. Small Arms-22, Large Arms- 19 Leather Working-26, Metal Armor-22 Enchanting-27]
[Statesmen Skills- Leadership-17 Mineral Inspection-9]
[Mana Skills- Mana Enhancement-25 Mana Burst-27 Ghost Hand 21, Lions Roar-19]
[Combat skills, Archery-27 Small Arms-20, Large Arms-34, Hand to Hand-4]
[Support Skills- Beast Control/Taming-17, Beast Mana Enhancement-23]
[Passive Skills- Fire Immunity EX- Hostile Magic Resistance-9]
[Stats Strength-35
Endurance-39
Agility-19
Dexterity-32
Mind- 62]
And I realized what the transformation had done to myself, what Grungni had done to me. He didn't make me a 'magical' dwarf or something like a chaos dwarf who could cast magic. No, instead like dwarven runes themself, he made me a conduit to the Wind's of Magic.
More specifically I had the Lore of Fire's runes embedded within my body which would be like a rune-covered weapon that would filter out any chaos or bad things when I channeled the Lore of Fire within my body.
"Wait... Did Grungni take over the blessing of the Fire Maw when I was driven to eat the heart?" I muttered to myself in confusion.
Comments
Chichi son
So once we got closer I just squeezed around Azulbak's waist with my legs and the dwarven mountain got getting my warning saw the hole coming up and it gave a loud bay of fury at seeing the trap. goat getting? Then Shaggit noticed the glowing bits on the hammer and asked. 'Oi, what be the glowing bitties on da hammer? What they do?" mis matched quotes
Ethan Cohen
Tftc, our beardless jake is making good progress and developing well! Looking forward to the next chapter
Hmm is it time
Thanks for the chapter looking forward to more.
Azazyel
God's Imrik is a pompous ass... I completely forgot that whole kerfuffle mistranslation
Bishop7053
Not too hot to handle, just that only a certain dragon dommy mommy will be one of the only ones able to handle him. Convenient that he's heading towards her ain't it. He shall dig out her holes with his warhammer.... I mean his dick. the little dawi is gonna destroy Imriks dreams. You can't tell me he doesn't wanna bang her, and hes just gonna get cucked by a dwarf settling grudges the best way
ShinS0777
Love it great chapter as always
ZeroLink21
That was a great chapter feel only slightly bad about the death of the fire sharter now the tiny dwarf is to hot to handle lol tftc
Coffee Addict
Nice chapter, always happy to see more diggy
Coffee Addict
thats a sentence, competitive cannibalism.
Azazyel
Very... Casual Cannibalism frankly. Sometimes it's even competitive cannibalism
Bio_Bill
I look forward to the rumors that make their way back to Jake about a group of Maneater Ogres that are REALLY good at smashing and cooking things.
juugo
That's some good shit
Son-Of-Scorn
For a second I forgot how dark this universe is but then the casual reminder of the frequent cannibalism sorted that right out
