บท 29: Into The Tyrant Pt.III
Dorm had left Ooo.
That was all the goblins could think of. Their last line of defense had left them because of their selfish attitudes. They realized how grim their situation was and were arguing amongst themselves. They wanted to someone else to be chief but did not know who.
There was no goblin nearly as smart or as strong as Dorm was. Even his protégé, who was the closest to him had left alongside him. The goblins reached a consensus. They needed to find Dorm and beg him to come back.
Sadly when they tried, either the goblins came back with multiple injuries, or they didn't come back at all. They had sparked a very dangerous hatred in the heart of Dorm. That was why he left. He knew that if he had stayed he would have killed more of them.
Now, Dorm just spent his days in the forest, searching for his child. The spirit had said that the child was safe, so he had assumed that the child was in the care of the spirit. He could only think of searching for the Spirit Well, which is where all spirits are said to live. Naturally, it would be impossible to gain access unless one were a spirit himself, so it meant that his child was at least close to the Spirit Well, while being cared for.
If he could find her, then that was all. It had been a year since he left the clan, and both he and his protégé had been searching the forest tirelessly. His protégé had evolved into a Hob-goblin like himself, so he gave him the name, Gorm.
Finally, after a year of searching, they had arrived at a place that they believed to be the closest to the Spirit Well. It was a dark elf tribe that worshipped the spirits. They had told him that a certain albino Hob-goblin had been brought to their village by a spirit, but they were not allowed to see the girl.
"That's preposterous. She's my daughter!"
He slammed the ground as he snarled at the shrine maiden who maintained a calm and collected expression.
"I am sorry, but it's the will of the spirits."
"Dorm..."
Gorm tried to calm him down, but Dorm glared at him.
"I just want to see my daughter! Is that too much for a father to ask?"
The pain of having to hold his dead wife's body had been somewhat filled with relief when he found out that she had given birth successfully. To top it off, a spirit had confirmed that his daughter was safe. Then he knew that he only wanted to see his daughter at least once.
Suddenly the oddest thing happened. The Shrine maiden's eyes were filled with a white light and she begun floating in the air.
"Oh? You again? I last remember seeing you holding the corpse of your wife."
Dorm instantly recognized that voice and was filled with anger, anxiety, awe and fear at the same time. He didn't know how to react so his face remained guffawed.
"What brings you here?"
"..."
"Hurry it up. I don't have all day."
Dorm shook his head and was brought back to reality.
"I-I just wish to see my daughter."
"Hmmm? And why would I let you do that? I made a promise to your wife. I swore that I would protect the child from external threats. Threats such as yourself."
"But it's my child. Is it wrong for a father to see their child at least once?"
The spirit possessed dark elf put her hand to her chin as if in thought.
"Hmmm, very well. I will give you custody of the child on one condition."
"What is it? Anything. Ask and I shall try my utmost to do as you wish."
The spirit adorned a very devilish smile, then said.
"Give me the life of that hob-goblin right there."
She pointed at Gorm who had been quietly witnessing the scene unfold. It took a while for him to completely understand what was going on, but when he did, he looked at Dorm's face. Dorm had a horrified expression on his face, but Gorm smiled.
"Oh Great Spirit! You can't possibly be serious about this. I beg of you, anything else."
"You think I would joke about such matters? If you aren't prepared to give me the soul, you shan't see your child. Is that how you want it?"
"N-no, but-"
He knew how much his master had agonized about not being able to save his wife and not even being able to see his child. He had always wanted to repay Dorm for the kindness he had shown him, and if this was the way he could show it, he would gladly sacrifice himself.
"Very well, please take my life."
"Gorm-"
"The hob-goblin has decided for himself, so I shall be taking his soul"
The spirit said with a very joyous expression, but Dorm wouldn't allow it.
"Oh great spirit, would you not have my soul instead? I may not look like much, but I'm certain my soul would be tastier, for you see I have embarked on many adventures."
The spirit looked at him with a curious expression.
"That is true, your soul would have been my first choice, but.... I'm confused. Did you not want to meet your child?"
"Yes I do, but I cannot bare to lose a child for a child."
"Dorm! What are you sayi-"
Dorm raised his hand to silence the youngster.
"I just ask of you to give me at least one month with my child. After one month, I shall sacrifice myself to you."
The spirit began to consider the idea. In one month he would have the soul of the creature that had seen many situations and experienced many things. Normally spirits weren't creatures that ate souls. In fact it was a taboo to eat souls amongst spirits. Those who did were transformed into Devils. There were several merits to becoming a devils, such as the fact that devils were naturally stronger than spirits. Also the fact that they could eat human souls without worry of breaking any taboos. That was this spirit's purpose - to become a devil. So eating a very tasty soul would be a welcomed offer.
"Very well then. One month from now, I shall expect your soul. Return to this village and offer up your life to me."
The brilliant light faded from the shrine maiden's eyes as she settled back down on the floor. She held her head due to the sharp pain caused by the spirit possessing her body. She had heard their conversation, so knew what to do.
"Very well, I shall take you to the child."
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Dorm and Gorm had been led to where the dark elves had been keeping Dorm's daughter. Dorm was so happy he was filled to the brim with tears at the sight of his daughter. And just like what had been prophesied, she was an albino, but also a very cute Hob-goblin. She was truly very rare. Not only was she born an albino, but she was also a hob-goblin.
Even when Hob-goblins mated, they usually produced goblins as their children. If they were born Hob-goblins it meant that the child was very strong. Amazingly, she also had her mother's white hair and golden eyes. She was a splitting image of his wife, just with pale green skin that bordered the line of becoming grey.
She was wary of him, but was told that he was her father. Their reunion was not as extravagant as Gorm had expected it to be. He imagined Dorm running to his daughter and lifting her up, but instead, Dorm just went over and introduced himself to her with a smile. He told her that they were going to live together, and the girl looked to the shrine maiden for confirmation.
When it was all said and done, the girl was actually itching to leave the room. She had been kept in there for about a year and had never really seen the outside world, so she was willing to entertain the thought of going outside to live with a father she never knew she had.
It didn't take long for them to leave the elf village and head into the forest. The 3 of them were like a family. Dorm was the father, and Gorm was the older brother. They both taught her the survival skills that she needed. She was quite happy with her life, until one month later Dorm said he was heading off to the elf village to thank them for catering for her for a year.
Minerva wanted to go with him, but he said he would go alone and he had Gorm watch over her. Several days passed and Dorm hadn't returned so Minerva was curious. She asked Dorm about it, but for some strange reason he would never answer her. He would just say, don't think too much about it, then walk away.
This caused Minerva to get quite curious, so she snuck off to the elf village to find out about her dad. When she got there, she asked the shrine maiden who then told her that he was dead. The shrine priestess then explained her entire past to her. About how she ended up in the village and why her father had to sacrifice himself.
Minerva, stricken with anger assaulted the elven tribe. Little did she know, that in that moment, something deep within her had begun to awaken. That thing gave her unparalleled power, with which she used to destroy the village. The dark elves that fought back were decimated. In her fit of rage, she reduced the village to ash.
The scene of her executing wrath on the village was forever etched on the minds of the few survivors. They then gave her the title, The Mad Witch of the West.
It took a total three days and three nights, but she finally calmed down. She isolated herself to the north-west of the western part of Larm forest because she didn't want to see anyone. Gorm tried talking to her, but he was the last creature she wanted to hear anything from.
After that, Gorm had nowhere else to go so he returned to the Village of Ooo. Since he was the strongest there, he was made into the chief through tradition, and has been leading the goblins ever since then.
But ever since Minerva's rampage, there has been an unspoken rule amongst the forest. It started as a rumour but soon became common knowledge to all the denizens of Larm forest.
To the northwest resides a monster of terrifying power,
Lest you seek to die venture not to the North-West
The monster lays in sleep,
Beware not to awaken the Mad Witch of the West.
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It had been 2 months since Minerva had isolated herself to a cave in the North-West of Larm. She lived a relatively peaceful life in solitude. In her time alone, she had learnt of lot of skills and was already regarded as one of the most dangerous creatures in the west.
Fortunately for her, this earned her a bit of peace from weaker monsters who valued their lives. Unfortunately for her, monsters that always sought to battle tough opponents would come to her cave to fight her.
It was quite the stressful ordeal sometimes, but each time she would come out on top and get stronger, while also getting free meals from the corpses of her fallen foes. Had those who challenged her known that she was just getting stronger with every challenger she killed, they wouldn't have even bothered with her. Sadly, she had already become far too strong.
Still, humans couldn't get that fact through their heads. They believed that since she was not a Tyrant she didn't pose much of a threat. Adventurers from the Keimen Kingdom, West of Larm, had been secretly disposed to harvest resources from the forest.
Since the West side had no Tyrant available, the Keimen Kingdom had been prospering by stealing the goods from the forest, but Minerva noticed this and would kill the adventurers. No. It's not that she noticed them. Saying that it was always due to coincidence was more acceptable. But the truth was, there was a power at play behind the scenes.
A certain being had been watching Minerva's progress. He would intentionally lead the adventurers towards Minerva's cave, where they would always meet very gruesome deaths. This being was Larm, the Forest King. He had noticed that humans had been plunging from his forest and it infuriated him. Still, he did not want to intervene directly. That was the whole purpose in him creating the Tyrants, but it seemed his creation had ignored the West and had moved to the center of the Forest.
He understood that his creation wanted to monitor the other Tyrants to prevent them from going lose, and the only way to do that was to stay in the middle so he could react very quickly.
"Fret not Goliath, for now, the 5th Tyrant shall be born."
The Forest King thought to himself.
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