Chapter 7: An Acrimonious Intervention
It was evening now, and the three of us had sat down to rest and eat as the sun set.
Mark was busy showing me and Rose a map of the forest as he pointed out the "last stand location" designated for adventurers who were isolated in the forest.
"It's a small valley with a dugout in one of the cliff faces. It provides a small entrance big enough for a human to pass through and hide, while also preventing large mamono from brute forcing their way in. Inside is a large room with several rest stations and a first aid bay.
That is the most likely place for them to be, and should be a priority location of interest."
"Understood, Rose, are you finished eating?"
Rose, who was in the middle of swallowing some bread and water, gave me a thumbs up as she began to repack her bag.
I had decided not to eat, as I simply didn't need to.
My master had remade my body to be exceptionally efficient and require minimal maintenance once in peak condition. As long as I fought, ate, and drank water once a week, I could function at 100% efficiency for long periods of time. Of course this wasn't sustainable, and at most I could hold this routine for a year before different problems began to crop up.
As much as I may accept the title, the word "human" was a privilege granted to me by the unknowing and the ignorant.
I am human in upbringing alone.
…
As the sun set below the horizon, a sliver of crimson dusk illuminated our path as we ran towards the valley. Hopefully the party had taken refuge there, otherwise this rescue mission may run into some new issues.
Both me and Mark had noticed it, the fact that several sets of eyes were watching us from the shadows. And as the shadow of the mountain swelled and flooded the forest, these eyes began to multiply and follow us at a distance.
So we kept a steady pace and stayed on the beaten path as much as possible, unwilling to disturb anything that could slow us down.
And as the first night of my life on this world overtook the heavens, I heard something in the distance.
Frantic yells and the clang of clashing metal.
I had found them.
"Y'know, I feel really glad I'm travelling with a summon of Firmina in this darkness and not a normal adventurer."
"Really? You seem-"
"Both of you quiet, were approaching a battle."
"Alright, you two know the plan, Mark, take my bag"
"Oof!"
Throwing my bag at the jogging Mark, I eased into a full sprint, careful not to slip on the damp undergrowth.
Rose looked to her right and gave me a thumbs up as the both of us came upon a cliff. I sped up even further, my surroundings blurring as my feet now thumped against the dirt. The sounds of battle had begun to quiet, either signalling they had escaped, or surrendered. The valley was now right in front of me, and I knew what I had to do.
*thoom! Thoom! THOOM!*
Launching myself off the edge of the cliff, I was granted a clear image of the battlefield. Four massive Ogre mamono, each sporting green skin and black tattoos, stood before a cave entrance. The valley floor was covered in mist, with only the lonely husk of a tree as the sole possible environmental obstruction in battle.
I could not ask for a more perfect battlefield.
Reaching the apex of my leap, I grabbed my shield off back and ignited my plume and cape.
My sword swung out in my other hand as I ignited the blade.
Time seemed to slow as the fires I donned roared with a fury I could not deny.
The four Ogres seemed to turn like they were moving through thick muck, their eyes widening and their mouths agape in shock as I fell towards them.
At that moment, my perception of time returned to normal.
*BLAM!!!*
Hitting the earth with my shield first, I slid between them before shunting my fiery blade into the mud and grinding to halt.
"What in Liliths name…"
All the Ogre stood in shock as they watched me get to my feet between them and the cave entrance.
"That's far enough wretched. I will grant you a single mercy, here and now. Turn tail and flee, or I shall condemn your villainy to its grave… personally."
Behind me, I could hear muted whispers. The party seemed to be fine, and hiding in the cave where the Ogres were too large to fit.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
The sudden outburst of laughter from the ogres caused my brows to furrow beneath my helm. One of the Ogres, wiping tears from her eyes, stood to her full eight foot height and pointed at me with spiked iron mace.
"He's a real fool that one! He smells like a lot a' fun!"
Licking her lips, she looked to the tallest of the four as though she were seeking confirmation. The tallest one, almost eight and half feet, eyed me for a moment before lazily making a shooing motion.
"You can 'ave 'im."
The moment the tallest finished her sentence, the Ogre charged me.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!*
Her heavy steps echoed in the valley as she closed the distance. Her spiked mace glinted in the moonlight as she raised it high above her head.
"So be it."
Hearing my words, her mouth was curled in an outright grin as she came to stop before me and swung down like an avalanche.
*CLANG!!!"
Her mace smashed into my shield as I held up the weight of her blow with only one arm.
"You were warned."
Placing a second hand on her mace's handle, confusion slowly morphed into surprise as she slowly was driven back while I took step after step forward.
"Finish him and stop playing around! I haven't had a good dick in a year!"
"I'm tryin-"
Slanting my shield, I let the blow slip away to my left as she stumbled forward into a slash from my sword that landed between her breast and shoulder before sliding down her bicep.
"AAAGH-UCK!"
The Ogres blood curdling scream was cut short as I leapt up and threw a punch, my shield slamming into her mouth sending her flying backwards. Her smoking flesh left a horrid smell in the air as her sisters looked on in utter astonishment at the ease at which one of their number was dispatched.
"SISTER! GET HIM!"
The tallest one pointed at me with fear in her eyes before ordering the others at me. One which was wielding a large konda greatsword came stomping towards while the other followed not far behind me. They were surprisingly fast for there size, but-
*FWOOSH!*
The one with the greatsword had her head engulfed in flame as she stumbled towards, unable to scream as the flames seared her throat.
"I'm on my way Acros!"
Rose had made her way into the valley and was now coming up behind our foes.
*KRAKOOM!!!*
I sent another bone breaking blow straight into the oncoming Ogre's flaming head, extinguishing the blaze and knocking out one of her exposed fangs with the sheer force of the strike.
The Ogre's feet left the ground as the other one behind her dropped her spear and caught her flying comrade.
The tallest one, who had yet to engage either me or the oncoming rose, took a single look at the situation and made an split second decision.
"Take her with us! We're leaving!"
The Ogre who had caught her friend looked at the tall one's sister who lay in the mud beside me, before looking at her sister.
"But Yakeg-"
"Leave her, we can't fight them!"
Passing her friend to the tallest one, the trio fled as fast as their giant legs could carry them. I however could not care less.
"Mark! Don't bother with them!"
A quiet "yes sir!" from the distance told me all I needed to know as I turned to investigate the cave.
"We have driven away the Ogres. The guild sent us to get you."
The cave was quiet for a moment before a timid sounding voice came from within.
"Uhm, you don't sound familiar.. I don't know if we can come-"
"It really is safe you idiots."
Rose came up beside me as she peered down the cave entrance.
"Ms. Rose!"
One by one, a squad of five teens in leather armour crawled out of the cave sobbing and praising firmina.
At least until they laid eyes on me.
They took a look at me, my flaming sword, the ogre body beside me, and almost fainted from fright.
One of the girls, a teen in a grime coated priestesses gown and veil, managed to eke out a question to Rose before her voice gave out.
"Um, Ms. Rose, who is he?"
"A warrior of Firmina!"
"A knight of Firmina."
The five looked between us in a mix of confusion, fear, and bewilderment as they tried to understand what was going on.
Before finally I just gave up on waiting for five idiot teens to figure out whether they trusted me or not.
"Alright look, is one of you named Kent?"
One of the teens raised his hand, a short black haired boy at the rear of the group.
"Your mother Rita is waiting at home, worried sick. We gotta go."
The boy's green eyes widened at his mother's name, before he immediately struggled to stand and brushed himself. He then looked me directly in the helm as the rest of his friends seemed surprised he got over his fear so easily. I could tell that was not the case from his trembling knees, but I wasn't about to say anything.
"You came to save us right?"
"I did."
"Thank you."
The boy hung his head in both exhaustion and gratitude as the rest of his friends sighed with relief.
"It's not over yet though, we need to get you back to your mom."
Rose's words finally got the group to their feet as they brushed themselves. I however walked over to the fallen Ogre to inspect it. The wound I inflicted was not fatal, in fact it was less so than the blow to her head given that the sword wound was cauterized. Suddenly the Ogre took a shuddering breath, showing it still lived but was unconscious.
"Um sir…"
One of the teens' voices caught my attention as I turned to see them now ready to depart; however there was a certain sadness in his tone that told me otherwise. It was a brown haired boy with a spear, and sullen black eyes.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Two of our boys were taken by the Ogres, I know it might be impossible, but we want you to save them!"
"Please!"
The priestess girl from before also voiced her plea in the hopes that I would listen to their request. Those hopes were dashed by my response.
"We cannot, as I lack the manpower to face an ogre hoard and escort you all back safely. And bringing you back into their clutches would be a foolhardy decision."
Rose then began to comfort them as Mark came running up to me.
"Good work sir."
"Mhm…"
"I know it's not my place to inquire, but what are thinking about?"
Seeing me eyeing the Ogre, he seemed to have understood a plan was forming in my head.
"I do not wish to abandon the missing adventurers. That is why I am planning to take this ogre back with us as a hostage."
Mark raised an eyebrow as he adjusted his glasses, a skeptical look on his face.
"Would they even care?"
"One of them called her sister. And on my world, their tribe was their true family. The mere fact that they left her behind was already shocking."
"And what if that's because I'm right and they don't care? She would be dead weight that slows us down."
"Perhaps, but it is within the margin of risks I am willing to take. Now then, tell the others of my plan and get them ready to go. I'll carry the Ogre when I am done with the ransom."
"Alright then, I'll have some faith sir."
Walking away from me, he joined Rose and the teens as I walked over to the tree and inscribed the ransom with my burning sword.
'If you want your sister back-
Return the two boys you took-
To the town of Barow.'
Satisfied with the smoldering message, I walked over to the unconscious Ogre and looked over at others.
"You all ready to go?"
""Yes""
"Good, lets go."
Grabbing the Ogre by her undamaged shoulder, I flipped her over onto her front. She groaned a little from the pain, but it didn't faze me as I put her arm over my neck and began to drag her in the direction of the others who were already leaving.
…
As we made our way back to Barow, I extinguished my flames so as to not attract unwanted attention.
Even so, I could feel that we were being watched from every direction. The teens were nervous wrecks in the dark, barely able to see with the help of Mark's lantern. Every movement in the distance, whether it was the wind, or an unseen foe, seemed to cause them to whip in that direction with their weapons drawn.
This, in conjunction with our already slow pace due to me dragging an eight hundred pound Ogre behind me, had us moving at a snail's pace. It was past midnight now, and though the moon was high in the cloudless sky it offered little solace.
Suddenly, I felt something warm and wet hit my armor.
Calmly looking to my side I noticed that the charred flesh of the Ogres wound had opened from the constant movement. Blood was beginning to leak out in short spurts as the smoldering flesh dried.
"That's not good."
T'was a fairly large wound, and I would need to cauterize it again.
"Mark, hold for a moment."
The group came to an abrupt stop as I put down the Ogres body.
"You okay? You've been hauling her for a while now."
"I'm fine, but her shoulder wound has reopened and I need to cauterize it again."
"Alright, but try to do it quickly. I'll hold the lantern up so you can see."
Making a shoving motion with my right arm, my vanguard transformed into a short blade which ignited swiftly.
Once the blade had heated up, I then immediately stuck it in the wound to sear it close. And of course, my worst fears were realized.
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!"
The Ogre woke up in a disorientated state of pain and fury as she threw me off her with unnatural strength.
Tumbling back, I recovered just in time to see the Ogre get struck in the face by Rose's hammer sending her spinning back into the dirt.
However the Ogre simply groaned and began to push herself back up. Unwilling to do battle with the creature, I leapt forward and brought both of my hands together to strike her on the back of her head.
*Thump!*
The dull thud of me desperately bringing both of my fists down on the back of the Ogres skull echoed into the night as she immediately was once again rendered unconscious.
"Shit, we need to-"
Mark's words were cut off by rustling and the crunch of broken branches coming from all around us as we were immediately surrounded.
Raising my arm blade up, the flaming sword illuminated our opponents.
We were surrounded by Mamono. Some of which I could surmise what they were, while others were completely foreign.
There was no way out of this forest besides fighting anymore. We were completely cut off.
At least, that would be the case if I hadn't foreseen this event.
"Everyone to me now!"
At my shout, both humans and Mamono rushed to my side. Raising up my hand, a strange symbol appeared in my palm.
The claws of a gargoyle raked through the cold night air towards me just as we were all enveloped in a blue glow.
And then, less than a second later, we disappeared into nothing but a few shining blue particulates.
…
*Thud!*
We were dropped right into the town plaza as I landed on an uncomfortable stone. The very same stone that I had cast a teleportation anchor on earlier while talking with Rose.
"Ohhhh…."
"Ughhh…"
Groans from all around me showed that we had all arrived. Getting to my feet, I counted heads to make sure we all made it through.
"1… 3… 7… 9. Perfec- wait a minute."
As the others began to stand, an unfamiliar winged form began to rise with them.
"GET DOWN!"
Hearing my shout, the group barely managed to duck as a stone blur flung itself towards me.
*CLANG!!!*
The creature neither growled or roared as it slammed into me. Only the scrape of stone against metal could be heard as the two of us rolled down the street in a desperate grapple. Finally, I managed to get my palm on the creature's face and push it off me. Getting to my feet, I stood to see the gargoyle from before staring straight at me. In the light of my arm blade's flame, I could now see it perfectly. Two bat-like wings sat on its back, while the main form looked like a voluptuous woman with lizard hands and feet. Her fore arms were covered with broken bronze shackles, while a long, lizard-like tail that ended in a mace-like cluster of rocks snaked behind her as she stared me down. She looked as though she was sculpted from grey marble and smoothly sanded to perfection. But the fluidness with which she moved told me otherwise.
Igniting my plume and cape once again, I retracted my arm blade before putting my fists up.
"Stand down, or I will grind you back into pebbles."
The stone gargoyle tilted her head in seeming confusion before she donned a wicked smile and spread her wings.
"Don't do it!"
With a single flap of its wings, the creature flapped up and into the sky and landed on a nearby roof with a heavy crunch.
"Take the Ogre and the party to the guild and tell them the plan! I'll deal with this!"
"You heard him! Lets go!"
With Rose and the others out of the way, I turned my full attention to the gargoyle.
Its feet and hands dug into the roof's edge to support its weight as it eyed me up and down. Seeming satisfied with what it saw, it flexed its wings and-
*BOOM!*
The roof exploded into shards of tiling as she rocketed towards me.
Narrowing my eyes, I prepared to receive the charge.
*BLAM!!!*
She smacked into me less than a second later, a crazed smile on her face as she sent us flying through an alley and crashing into the cobble road on the other side.
I threw her off me as I quickly rolled to my feet. The Gargoyle on the other hand stumbled and stood, giving me time to think. Bladed weapons were all I had, so in order to beat a foe made of stone, I would have to do things in a more barbaric fashion than normal.
As the creature shook off its dizziness, its sharpening sight was met with my fist crashing straight into its face.
*KRAK!*
The next blow slammed into the side of the Gargoyles head, breaking off one of its horns. It began to panic, flapping its wings and trying to get some height.
I wasn't going to let that happen though. Grabbing it by the tail as it ascended, my plume and cape exploded into a full blown inferno as I swung her down and-
*KRAKOOOOOOMMMMM!!!*
The street shuddered and caved as I slammed her into the cobblestone.
When the dust cleared, her wings were shattered into a thousand pieces while the rest of her body was now scarred and etched with hairline cracks and chips.
The sound of her body hitting the road had echoed into the once quiet night, causing alarm bells to sound out around town.
Kneeling to inspect the gargoyle and catch my breath, I determined that she was in fact not dead. Simply in a state of suspended animation.
In less than five minutes, shouting and lights could be seen and heard as I looked to see Haley, Cynane, and a couple other guards I didn't recognize come running over to me.
"Firmina be damned! That's a Gargoyle isn't it!?!"
"Indeed it is."
Standing to my full height, I looked down at the incredulous guards.
"Though I don't believe it warrants you using a god's name in vain."
Cynane couldn't even be bothered to reprimand Haley for her words as she looked down at the broken cursed statue.
"I don't think you understand, normally the human is in the crater. Not the Gargoyle."
"And I am not normal. Now then, can I trust you six to clean this up?"
"Yes sir…"
Seeing that even though they were shocked, they were taking care of the scene, I decided to leave them and head back to the guild.
I had a lot of work to do if I wanted those kidnapped boys back safe and sound.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Vermillion_Robin
Vermillion_Robin So then, what did you guys think of those fight scenes? I was listening to the spiderverse soundtracks while doing it. Ogres was "Start a Band", while the Gargoyle was "My Name... is Miles Morales". Anyways now onto the important stuff. Some of you might be wondering how the Ogre threw him away when earlier he managed tank an ogre strike head on. Well thats because his plume and cape weren't activated. Without them, he is in his "Base" form. With them though, he can grow extremely powerful. Thats is why he made the Oath with Rita. You can see how he would have struggled if he hadn't. Alright, last order of buisness, please tell me what you thought about the length of the fights and their contents. Too short? Too long? Overdescribed? Needs more description? This is for your benefit as readers because there will be a lot of battles to come, and these small fights will set the precedent for larger ones in the future.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone