Capítulo 9: Captives [Minor Gore Warning]

Atlas lay sprawled on her cot, eyes barely open as she stared at the roof of her tent. The day had been long, pulling an all-nighter making sales and reviewing the loot in her possession. Now, all she wanted was sleep. She let out a long sigh, feeling the heaviness of her eyelids winning the battle.

Clink. Clink.

A noise from outside startled her, breaking the tranquility of the tent. Her skeleton laborers were usually restless on the construction, but this—this wasn't the sound of their awkward bones dragging through the dirt.

Voices. Human voices.

Atlas's muscles tensed. Her body snapped awake. There were people outside. No one was supposed to be there.

"Kelsey!" Atlas whispered urgently, her hand instinctively reaching for her staff. "What's going on?"

[Well… let's check it out, together.]

"Damn you, Kelsey."

Atlas didn't waste a second and bolted upright, yanking the flaps of her tent open. Outside, the scene made her freeze in place for a moment. A group of battered humans knelt in front of her, held at bay by her skeletons. Their weapons were discarded nearby, broken and useless. Her skeleton troop stood in perfect formation, awaiting her command.

"What the hell?" she muttered.

From the skeleton troop, a duo stepped out of the rest and faced each other as if about to duel. One of the two balled his fists by his skull and pointed upwards, then squatted down like it wanted to make itself shorter, looking up at her.

"Wh—what is this?" Atlas's mind whirred. "Pointed ears? Short?… Go—Goblins?" she spoke in uncertainty.

The roleplaying skeleton then stood back up, drew his sword, and began clashing blades with the other.

"That's right. Goblins! Battling goblins," she understood now. But where was all this headed?

Another group of skeletons stepped out, this time a trio, the one in the middle puffing its chest out with its shoulders raised high.

"This guy…?" Atlas, amused by the skeleton antics, turned to take a closer look at the captives, noticing one had knelt slightly forward from the rest, with a gaping expression as he watched the skeleton imitate his stature.

Knowing their master understood, the trio rushed forward and began hacking and slashing at the duo who had been clashing, knocking them both down. But then, more skeletons rushed toward the trio and began attacking until they overpowered them and dragged them back to their formation, where they all stood back up and maintained their positions.

"Oh, okay… you were out hunting and got into a scuffle with goblins. Then this guy and his crew attacked you, but you called for backup and captured them. Am I missing something?" She asked with a proud smile.

The skeleton who appeared to be leading the troop stood forward from the rest and gave a bony thumbs-up. He actually did that.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Lord—what should I call you?" Atlas asked mischievously.

The lord's smug face turned to fear as he looked up at her, but the fear quickly turned into recognition, then arrogance.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," the Lord sneered. "You're the GoblinQueen? I can't believe I got caught by a bitch like you!"

Atlas's expression froze, her eyes darkening as the insult hit. The skeletons around her stiffened, sensing her sour mood.

[He's live now. Let's make a quick buck out of him.]

Swiftly turning her back to the lord, "Seriously, Kelsey?" Atlas whispered sourly. "He just insulted me, and all you can think of right now is making a quick buck out of it," she spoke unhappily.

One of the skeletons—misunderstanding its master's behavior as a 'rough him up' go-ahead—raised its fist and struck the lord down. The others swiftly joined in, connecting their fists and feet with his body.

[Should I redirect the live stream, or should we rob him later?]

"What?" She blurted out in disbelief.

"You're nothing but a coward," the lord sneered, his voice rising. "Hiding behind these dumb skeletons, thinking you're tough—You've got nothing. You're just a bitch playing dress-up in a dead world."

"..."

The skeletons suddenly stopped at that statement, stepping away from the lord, who shut his mouth upon noticing the change in temperament. His followers—two male warriors and a female caster—shivered uncontrollably behind him, heads hung low, not daring to look up.

Cough!

The lord suddenly coughed, breaking the pin-drop silence in the domain—the construction laborers had long since stopped what they were doing to watch from a distance, along with those tasked with gathering resources.

Cough! Cough!

He coughed more frequently now, each one sounding worse than the last.

Atlas, who still had her back to the lord and her troops, her expression cold and numb, thought the lord was mocking her by coughing, but the more she heard it, the more it sounded like a terrible retch… like he actually needed help.

Thud!

"My—My Lord!?" she heard the female caster scream in terror.

For some reason, Atlas didn't want to look behind at whatever was happening. But her curiosity got the better of her, and when she turned around, her heart instantly skipped a beat, and her eyes widened in terror.

The lord, who had previously worn a smug look on his face, was now swollen all over, with pus excreting from his pores. A pool of disgustingly looking eggs, seemingly disposed from his guts, began hatching into what looked like spiders that quickly spread out and dug right back into his skin, devouring him from the inside out.

Atlas froze on the spot at the inhuman scene playing out before her eyes, but her skeletons, sensing the immense threat of the unidentified creatures, quickly surrounded her with their weapons drawn.

But on closer inspection, Atlas made them move aside as she noticed the creatures had only attacked the lord and ignored his followers, who were screaming in terror at the horrific sight. Neither did they make any move toward her. Their prey seemed to be him and him alone.

"Wh—what the hell?" she stammered in a chill.

[Who's the bitch now?]