Azazyel
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Diggy Diggy Hole Chapter 9
🕑 Added 2024-10-19 18:51:06 +0000 UTCCrawling through the pitch-black tunnel leading up out of my clan's mountain was a painful thing. Not only because of my feeling of loss, but I was... So beyond furious I now understood why dwarves would shave their heads and take the Slayer Oath.
But I wasn't interested in seeking a glorious death to regain my honor... Sure I felt some shame from fleeing the battle, but I was all too aware that me dying there would accomplish nothing.
No, all my fury at the loss of my parents, my bloodline, my clan, and my master was pointed at one simple state of fact. I wasn't going to rest until I committed genocide on the Thaggoraki race of Skaven.
And in order to accomplish my goal I had two maybe three paths before me. A- I roam the world as nothing but a Slayer in name as I do my best to slay every single horror and evil bastard I come across.
B- I become either an Imperial Dwarf where I work with the humans, the Umgi of all things. And submit myself to their rule as I worked to level myself up to as powerful as I could become.
Or C- I go to where I will be able to do the most with my powers. Going to Grand Cathay the land rules by the Immortal Dragons where I can use their human peasantry that's raised to be obedient and strong of heart to get all the fighting I need along with a very important fact.
If I go to Cathay and can curtain the Skaven's efforts in that land... That will cut into much of their Warpstone production, directly hurting Clan Skyre which focused on their mad science that used Warpstone as its fuel source.
It was only after I broke through the gate of stone plaster facade at the end of the tunnel a couple hours later that I made my choice. As I stared up at the moonlit sky for the first time in my new life.
"I may not be on the path of becoming a Slayer... But I am going to leave my own path of death behind me as I travel." I spoke with my breath causing a deep fog of smoke to billow out from the frigid air freezing my breath.
I turned to the East as I looked up at the stars and found the guiding stars I was always taught to follow and I took out the maps I had of the world that my Master Snorlot had.
'I am at the Worlds Edge Mountains closer to the East side anyway but I don't want to travel through the lands of Zorn Uzkul. Dealing with the traitor clans who fell to worshipping Hashut will wait for my grudge with the Skaven to be dealt with. So I need to go North-East through the Skull Road through Norscan Territory to enter the Ogre Kingdoms.'
Now with my mind cleared on where I needed to go, but knowing all too well that this journey would be long... Literally months if not years long I looked towards the North-East and began walking down the mountain.
'Thankfully I have Gamer powers. My body won't get or weary so long as I sleep and eat well. And Dwarves have hearty stomachs so I will be fine on the food front.' I mused as I had collected a good bit of food before I fled my hold.
And with my inventory, I would be fine with holding that food for however long.
Walking down the mountain even with my short strides was made a bit quicker as I was able to hop between rocks and it went fine until the whole mountain range seemingly shuddered making me slip a bit as I wondered.
'Did the Skaven use a doom rocket or something?'
But I kept moving as I knew if Doom Rockets were being used. That meant Ikit Claw himself was there in my hold and I needed to get well away from this mountain before I ran into any Skaven scouts that would be looking for any surviving dwarves that could have escaped.
Harsh rugged mountains soon gave way to thin forests as I entered the valley between the mountains and as I entered the dark forest that's canopy blocked off the stars I was enjoying looking at.
I realized my fear of Skaven scouts were correct as I could hear their snuffles as a party of about a dozen of them were eating a donkey they had killed from what was probably some of the Empire or Bretonnia traders that were within the clan earlier today.
My footfalls were all but silent across the stony ground as the thin trees didn't have a bunch of sticks falling about. And for a long moment I looked at the dozen Skaven tearing into the donkey's carcass and eating it raw.
Only two of the Skaven actually had leather armor, the rest were clearly just Clanrats if not just Skaven Slaves so I silently circled around the rats as I gazed at them coldly.
And once I got the two more armored leather-wearing Skaven in view I took out a couple of my crossbows and then with one hand I shot the crossbows one at a time with the bolts shooting into the chests of the leather-wearing Skaven making their kin screech.
""Argh! From shadows-dark, bolts fly-fly! Skewer-kill us, can't see-see! Hide-hide, they come for us-us!" A Skaven shrieked loudly and I let out a roar as I used the Lion's Roar skill which made all the Skaven flinch as they covered their ears.
In the time I had as the Skaven were covering their ears, I ran up with a warhammer that had the Runes of Strength on it and I used a Power Strike to smash my hammer directly into the heads of the Skaven who actually had knives at ready.
"Take it down, together-together! Tear the dwarf-thing apart!" Another Skaven yelled as it tried to leap onto me and I just smashed it on the shoulder my hammer smashing it backwards as I roared.
"Stone and steel, blood and fury! For the honor of mine kin!" I snarled with my childish dwarven voice as I howled out my fury as I used my smaller stature to my advantage in avoiding the diving Skaven to keep bashing them with my hammer.
And my hammer strikes weren't a joke, I was a fucking smith who was used to beating metal into shape. Some fucking Thaggoraki's bones weren't anything to my hammer which caved in, and shattered bones like dry kindling snapped in a fire while under their flesh.
But in typical Skaven fashion, when they saw me cave in the skulls of three other of their rat kin, one of two remaining Skaven howled as he tried to flee on a broken hip I had smashed with my hammer. "Smash-crush! Bones crack-crack! Can't stop it, can't fight! Run-Run!"
"Khazuk, Khazuk-ha!" I yelled out in turn as I took out my already loaded crossbows and began shooting the fleeing Skaven to prevent them from fleeing so I could smash their skulls in with my hammer.
Once the Skaven were all dead I quickly left the seen with my light footsteps taking me further northeast as I rushed through the valley towards the Norscan lands.
Though even as I was running I was looking at my stats closely as I had leveled up during the battle.
[Kharn Lvl 16 Exp 23%]
[Skills- Levels Crafting-28. Small Arms-19, Leather Working-19, Metal Armor-14 Enchanting-13] [Statesmen Skills- Leadership-15 Mineral Inspection-7] [Mana Skills- Mana Enhancement-8 Mana Burst-11 Ghost Hand 15, Lions Roar-4] [Combat skills, Archery-15 Small Arms-19, Large Arms-13, Hand to Hand-4]
[Stats Strength-14
Endurance-16
Agility-6
Dexterity-18
Mind- 10]
My mind/magic was finally growing with my uses of Lion's Roar along with my Mana Enhancement, Mana Burst skills at least.
My running through the edge of the Worlds Edge Mountains was only broken when the valley began to open up. The forests gave way to more snow covering the rocky ground and the I could feel something was seemingly watching me so I got myself some stone bread out of my inventory.
I began eating my stone bread as I had climbed up a good ways up a tree and with my eyes that were well used to the dark tunnels of the underground, I began taking in the surrounding dark forests.
Thick snuffles rang out through the forrest like a tide of great beasts running through the forrest and soon I found the source of the noises.
'Of fucking course... I am in the forest, of course. I run into Beastmen. Will I catch a damned break?' I thought with disgust as I took in the tribe of what looked like Centigors in being centaur-shaped Beastmen with a horse or oxen's lower body.
A more human upper chest and each had a mutated head of either horse-looking or horned oxen appearance.
However there were some smaller Centigors that looked to have been born of the bloodlines of mules or donkeys. But either way, I took in their filthy forms and their half dozen number of Centigor's and another dozen Caprigors with cold eyes.
Deep grunts escaped them along with dark growls and guttural noises... Making my skin crawl as they spoke in their Beastmen tongue that carried the tongue of the Dark Tongue of Chaos.
And all to soon my lips curled in disgust as my gamer power translated their words to my ears.
[Lost child here. Lost child is here!] The leading large Centigor huffed loudly as its glowing red eyes scanned the foliage clearly looking for me.
The terrible thing about Beastmen were how supernatural and bestial they simply were. They could sense lost children in their forests, especially the ones that had chaos taint and were then abandoned by their parents in the forest to die of exposure but were then saved by the Beastmen.
And they also had the ability to sense battle, conflict, or death within their forest so they could track all those things down within their forest and thus they were one of the worst horrors within the Old World.
I looked down at the Caprigors that were all wielding lighter weapons than the large Centrigors and I wondered how I could get out of this situation as the Centrigor leader loudly brayed out.
[Flesh of child is near! Succulant suffering orphan is near!]
They were wildly looking for me as though they could smell my anxiety and when a loud whine rang out I froze as I met the gaze of one of the goat-headed fucking Caprigors that howled and held its humanoid hand at me. [Flesh child in tree! It hides from us!]
"Umgak Dori." I hissed as I pulled the trigger for my crossbow and a howling screech rang out as the large bolt shot forward and it slammed into the chest of the largest Centrigore.
[Shoots it down! Send orphan down!] The Centrigore howled furiously as his Beastmen and especially Centrigore famous fury took over his mind as his stamped in place and rammed its humanoid top half onto the tree.
But the mountain tree was a thick bastard with roots my fellow dawi would appreciate in its reaching depths.
So it ramming into the tree did nothing but jostle me slightly as I swung to another branch to put the trunk of the tree behind me so the shitty archer capricorn Beastmen couldn't shoot me.
'Fuck I gotta go loud.' I thought as I took switched to my enchanted crossbow and as I pulled the trigger I hissed as what felt like a fist hit my arm as the arrow hit my leather and chainmail with the arrow being blocked by the two layers of chainmail.
But I closed my eyes as the Beastmen screamed in fear and pain as the firework I shot exploded violently sending multicolored sparks in all directions. I then snapped my eyes back open and then I shot the enchanted crossbow again.
Another powerful explosion rang out sending blinding sparks and burning lances of light that exploded against the Beastmen who fell into an animalistic panic.
As this was no great war host of the Beastmen, this was just a tiny pack of wretches that didn't belong to a greater tribe. But either way with my eyes protected from not opening and looking directly into the exploding fireworks I threw myself out of the tree and I grunted in pain as I slammed into the next tree over.
But I quickly slide the rest of the way down the tree with my gloved hands burning from the force.
And as I hit the ground I took back out the enchanted crossbow and another exploding rocket shot out with a mighty crackle before I was off. Running into the forest as I knew the sounds and light of the rockets would attract the other Skaven in the area.
A few moments later I heard the loud trampling noise of the hooves of the Centrigors as they charged at me. But then a loud shriek rang out. [Beastly Beastman! Rations food food for all!] A Skaven roared and towards the side, I saw a wave of red eyes gleaming in the darkness come out of the shadows of the mountains.
A horde of Skaven rushed into the group of Beastmen that bayed furiously as they defended themselves... But this time the Skaven far outnumbered the Beastmen so the Skaven weren't so cowardly and trying to flee.
The surface world... Wasn't a safe place, to say nothing of the Skaven that infested the mountains as they were obviously here for more than just destroying my clan. They were also clearly here for something else.
But there would always be Beastmen if there were forests, and I bet that I could probably find a clan of the accursed Greenskins as well within the mountain ranges valley.
But with the Skaven coming into battle with the Beastmen, I was left unmolested as I made my way further east until I left the lands of my clan.
After the long run I climbed up into another tree as I shivered slightly from the cold and to warm my body I took a hearty drink of the ale I had stocked up in my inventory.
"Ok... I need to keep heading northeast." I muttered as I looked at the map and gathered information on the surrounding mountain peaks and the valley I was in. I realized I would be leaving the Worlds Edge Mountains and entering the northern portion of Zorn Uzkul.
Where I would need to find the Skull Road which would lead me through the Ogre Kingdoms... As I didn't dare to tread off the beaten path as the Mountains of Mourne were filled with the worst horrors that didn't belong in the northern Chaos Wastes.
And after eating some smoked meat to fill my weary body with strength I kept moving knowing all to well that my journey wouldn't be a short one.
My travel continued without incident as I entered the deep valleys and gullies until I hit a trail that I followed as it was heading in the direction I was going in either way.
"The path is too well-trodden to be a mere game trail." I muttered as I paid more attention to the trail I was on. And soon enough I found out that the trail was instead made by more... Sentient hands as I could see cart trails where the wheels dug deeper into the hard valley ground.
And after following the trail for a long while while still generally heading northeast I frowned as I saw how the path leading to a large village or small town that was surrounded by a wall of tree trunks that were buried upright.
'Umgi construction... Now the most important question is whether they are of Kislev or more than likely Norscan descent.' I thought before I snorted as I needed to get some more supplies.
So I made my way to the town with a heavy voice yelling out. "Oi! Who goes there!?" A human shouted out and I couldn't help a slight exhale in relief hearing the lack of the Dark Tongue in their voice.
"I am Kharn! Of Clan Barrack!" I shouted back with my voice almost cracking at the volume I shouted back at.
There was a pause before the human shouted over. "Ah, you be one of them dwarven lads from deeper in the mountains. Come on in!"
I saw two men wearing thick furs and holding large pikes that were perfect for dealing with Beastmen pushing open the thick gate that was made from several tree trunks.
And as I got closer while being careful to look around for archers who may try to shoot me or something. I couldn't help but relax slightly seeing the men's pikes were actually dwarven make. And with how the scout noticed I was a dwarf. Then it was likely my clan had been trading with this human tribe.
Supplying them with weapons, armor, and tools in return for the meat they hunted, the grain they harvested, and news of the surface world.
"Woah, no offense to you promises, but ye... Ye don't even have a beard? Where are ye parents?" The scout captain it seemed asked as soon as he saw me more closely as he came down from his perch above the gate.
I paused hearing that and I was silent for a long moment before I said gruffly. "My clan has fallen Umgi... I was one of the smith's disciples and was hurried out through a secret passage when it fell."
The scout captain froze hearing my words and I shook my head as I took in the small town and saw it was definitely more Kislev in style with Eastern European themes and I could see hints of dwarven engineering where a fellow dawi had helped the townspeople reinforce their homes with hardy stone and metal.
The scout captain brushed a hand across his jaw before he said tiredly. "I am sorry for your loss young dwarf. But if I may ask, what brought your honored clan low, and will they follow you here?"
I shrugged and then said honestly. "The rat-men. The Skaven of Clan Skyre brought my clan low." And the moment I said 'rat-men' I saw the scout captain hold in a scoff before I continued.
"As for whether they will follow me here. I very much doubt the Thaggoraki will bother, I crossed any trails I made with those of the Beastmen in the forest leading out of the valley."
The scout captain nodded slowly and spoke cautiously. "Young master dwarf, did the... Monsters who destroyed yer clan, were they large and darkly green-skinned?"
I wanted to just break the damned Umgi's knees for not just calling me a liar, but I knew the vast majority of humanity simply didn't believe Skaven to exist and both the Skaven and higher-ups in the Empire's government wanted to keep it that way.
So I just took a breath to steady myself before I released it as I said. "Aye, some of them have green skin. But, I won't be trouble for your people. I would like to buy a horse or donkey to which I can ride along with supplies and maps to the East."
The Kislev man frowned before he said. "My name is Tzalist, and young dwarf you ain't no trouble for my people... Look, I can send a scout with the next caravan leading to the Empire to tell of your clan's passing. You can ride with the caravan and reunite with your people in the Empire."
I thumped a fist to my chest as I spoke from the heart. "Umgi listen to me well. I appreciate and do note your understanding of my people... But I am heading to the Far East. I am going to slay evil and I am ashamed of the fact my clan lost. I will not see my fellow clans in disgrace without the head of my clan's butcher riding on my hip."
Taking a breath I continued. "Now... Tzalist, please trade a horse, supplies, and a map with me. Otherwise, I will just walk out of your town with only what I have on my back."
The couple of other guards shared a look with one of them saying under their breath. "Tzalist's wife is going to box his ears no matter what he does. Letting a beardless dwarf out into the wild."
To which I retorted. "Much better than me breaking some knee's before I leave. Now Umgi, I has silver and a couple of dwarven weapons I can trade for the horse and some food for me and the horse."
The scouting captain looked awkward as hell as he scratched at his thin beard across the bottom of his jaw. "Alright alright, I will trade ye the horse and some other supplies. I understand the pride of a dwarf and won't stand in your way young lad."
I nodded and then I reached into the sack I had on my back that I put on before I walked up to the town so I looked like I had some supplies I brought out a couple of sealed skins of ale that I tossed one of them towards the scout captain who snatched it hurriedly out of the air.
"There! The ale of my clan, ale made by my father at that. Sip upon it slowly and enjoy for it is the last ale my father made for the clan. Now let us get me outfitted." I spoke.
But as the scout captain brought me deeper into the town he spoke with consideration. "Actually Kharn, your clan did leave a Mountain Ram's they rode in with that got sick during the trip down the mountain... Would you care to take that instead of a horse?"
For a moment I wanted to refuse, as I wanted a horse that would be fast... But I knew my clan's Ram's. They were hardy mountain goats who were strong enough to climb over the steepest of cliffs with a dwarf on their back and able to ram a damned Greenskin down a mountain.
Not to mention... The Ram already belonged to my clan, the humans were kind enough to help take care of it and I wouldn't leave such a debt unpaid along with leaving the mount of my kin to be slaughtered for simple meat and their horns made into drinking horns.
So I followed Tzalist towards the back of the town to where the mounts were kept in padlocked area's as it was not like they could have them outside the walls with the decent population of Beastmen in the area.
And after a minute as we came up to the padlocks Tzalist said with some wry amusement. "I am glad you are here though. The Ram is extremely haughty and doesn't even like the normal goats we have."
As soon as he opened the gate leading to the shed where the Ram was kept, my beardless face twitched as I saw what he meant... The Ram was a fucking monster in size.
About the size of a literal cow, it had thick front-facing curved horns for ramming into things or smacking them when its head was up. But it also had another set of horns curling upwards so that when it lowered its head and charged the thick hard horns would impale whatever was on the end of the horns.
The moment the door creaked open the large ram looked up from the thin grass it was being fed and its sideways goat eyes locked onto my form with the large Ram's cloven feet clattering on the stone floor as it moved to face me.
I stepped forward as tears unbidden to myself blurred my eyes as I raised up a hand. "Azulbak... I thought father lost you in the mountains." I whispered as I recognized the huge Ram. It was the one my father rode when he would go out for more special ingredients for his ale.
Although we didn't have too many interactions over the years... I knew he was older than I was and like dwarves these Mountain Ram Kings had a weird aging cycle as they had their own magic within themselves.
And I grew up seeing the goat every few weeks at the least, sometimes I saw him every few days when my father would take me around the hold while riding on the Mountain Ram King's back.
The Mountain Ram King snuffled my hand and I said quietly. "I... Azulbak, my father is gone."
And I felt the five-plus-foot tall Ram's rough tongue that could strip flesh from bone gently lick my hand before he huffed and pushed the bottom of his chin into my hand for throat scratches and I felt a weak chuckle bubble up as my rough hands began gently pulling out the knots in its thick coat.
"I see you know this Ram master dwarf... I am glad to see it come back into your families hands then." Tzalist said quietly and I gave a grunt of agreement.
After a couple of minutes, I brought Azulbak outside where a couple of other townspeople brought me the supplies I wanted, along with a couple of maps, and a few thick blankets to put on Azulbak's back for a sort of saddle.
"Ya sure I can't convince you to head over to the Empire? I mean there are even some of your kind in the wintery lands of Kislev. But that road is much more dangerous with the Norscan war bands." Tzalist spoke with defeat in his tone.
I made a couple of rough clicking noises and Azulbak hearing my father's old calling noise for him snorted and kneeled down a bit so I could climb atop his form.
"I appreciate your help Tzalist, your aid will not be forgotten for however long my line persists. Now I thank you all for the aid but I must be going. I have my own journey to take."
With that, I took out a couple of good steel hammers from my inventory that I disguised that I took from my bag. And then I handed them over to the men knowing they knew the value of a good dwarven hammer.
Those hammers would last these honest people for literal millennia so long as they didn't just leave them out in the rain and snow to rust.
With that I squeezed my knees around Azulbak's waist and his cloven feet clackered against the loose rock path as we left the town with Tzalist escorting us out.
From there we took the winding path around the town and began heading east... Toward the Ogre Kingdoms.
Comments
Rockinalice
Is he becoming Dwarven Thor?
Lonely Bear
Cinema ! Thanks for the chapter !
