Blood Berserker - [ A Litrpg Apocalypse]

Luckily for Tirmon — the lead rogue — his head was still attached to the rest of his body by the time he'd led Nathan and his squad to their stronghold — The Piper's Domain. All through the journey, he kept catching the eye of Pirlo; the rogue seemed like he just wanted Nathan to say the word and he'd unleash hell on their captors.

More like wannabe captors.

Pirlo alone would be a handful for all seven of the Piper's men who were taking them to their stronghold where they'd presumably stand trial for trespassing, which was something Nathan found to be ridiculous yet reasonable.

Daggers and bows were aimed in their direction, meant to intimidate them even as they followed the spokesman — Tirmon. The rogue blabbed on and on about the lack of respect from them, but Nathan simply tuned the big oaf out as he decided to focus solely on the road, trying to memorize it in case push came to shove at a later date.

"Look alive, children, we are here," Tirmon said.

The magic words by their lead captor were enough to snap Nathan out of his thoughts, the berserker very interested in finding out what 'here' meant exactly. Once he raised his head to actually take a look, he had to admit that their stronghold was definitely impressive.

The difference between theirs and his was significant; just from the gate, he could see the difference in manpower clearly. While his own stronghold — Blood Rock — struggled due to lack of manpower, the Piper's Domain had no such lack. Throngs of people moved about. Two guards stood at the sides of the big open gates.

"Whatcha got there, Tirmon?" one of the guards — a female — asked.

"None of your business, Tanya," Tirmon said.

The rogue simply walked past the guards without another word, much to the ire of the female guard. Nathan didn't get to see if a different expression replaced that one as he was prodded to move forward, the tip of a dagger at the small of his back.

Like a thief who'd been caught stealing in the market, the Berserker simply went with the flow his captors directed him to. He put one foot in front of the other as he followed Tirmon. As he walked, he looked around, and sure enough, a lot of people were moving about — some ogled at him and his squad while others barely paid any attention to them.

The biggest difference between Blood Rock and the Piper's Domain wasn't even the people; no, not really — it was the buildings that cemented the fact that Lady Piper was well ahead of him in terms of development. The realization made the entire thing more intriguing for the berserker, and now more than ever, he was glad that he'd held off from decapitating Tirmon.

A few buildings themselves looked man-made while others were system engineered. The man-made ones weren't too shabby, but all the same, it was clear that they were man-made. Above all, one building stood out to him — one that was system engineered and what he assumed was Lady Piper's seat of power, an assumption that was steadily gaining weight the moment he clocked that they were headed straight for the building.

He made sure to keep the grin that threatened to spill across his face in check the closer he got to the building that would no doubt house his opposite number. It turned out to be harder a task than he would've imagined, and so he settled for leaving a scowl on his face instead, as a grin would've been more suspicious.

"Alright children," Tirmon said, turning to face them. "There's a couple of ground rules that you should know while speaking to Lady Piper. One, keep your head down at all times. Two, do NOT speak unless spoken to, and three, do not for any reason reach for your weapons. Trust me, this information is for your own good."

Eisshhh, seems like an insecure leader.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nathan hadn't met the owner of the stronghold yet, but he was already getting the distinct feeling that Lady Piper was certainly going to be a very insecure person, judging from the ground rules that Tirmon had just laid down. Of course, he could be very wrong, and Lady Piper could be a tyrant — and worse off, a tyrant who actually had power.

"Okay, since you all have decided to keep mute. Welcome to The Piper's Court," Tirmon said as he pushed through the double-barreled doors of what appeared to be a small cathedral-like structure. Nathan took in the details, his head going side to side as he pieced together as much detail as he could.

The cathedral was olden days themed even though it was clearly system engineered. The walls held burning torches at regular intervals which lit up the cathedral; additional light also seeped through the few windows available. His scanning was almost complete with his gaze going to the figure in the center of the empty cathedral seated on a raised dais before a hand clamped down aggressively on his shoulders.

"What did I tell you, boy?" Tirmon whispered in his ear, the big man's terrible breath assaulting Nathan's nostrils. "Keep your head down, unless you are directed to do otherwise. Defy my rules one more time and you'll have no head to raise."

Against everything he'd ever stood for and everything that defined him, Nathan let his head drop as he fixed his gaze on the marble floor, much to the satisfaction of Tirmon who huffed but ultimately released Nathan's shoulder from his aggressive grip. The big man went forward to presumably discuss with whoever was on the throne.

If this turns out to be a waste of my time, Tirmon will be the first to die and the rest... the rest I might spare.

Nathan wouldn't even need a sword to handle the big oaf; he'd kill the bugger with his bare hands and feed his corpse to the worms. With a light snort, he dislodged the murderous thoughts and instead decided to get himself ready for the interrogation that would no doubt take place as soon as Tirmon passed whatever information he wanted to.

"Children, move forward," Tirmon called out. "Her Grace, Lady Piper will hear you now."

Finally, very soon I'll be able to punch through Tirmon's head or gain something valuable.

Nathan moved forward, head facing the ground, his entire squad followed right beside him, and he could hear Pirlo — who was to his right — whispering so many curses at once the rogue might as well have been a mage trying to cast a complicated spell.

"Alright, stop there," Tirmon ordered. "Her Grace will now decide your fates."

"Who is the leader of your group?" a soft feminine voice asked.

The voice was way too soft and nice to belong to anyone over the age of thirty, which meant the owner of this stronghold was relatively young — older than him sure, but still young. His first impulse was to look up and try to put a face to the voice, but he held himself back, opting instead to stare at the marble tiles like they were the most important thing in the world.

"That would be me," Nathan said, head down.

"Me who?"

The tone and the question made Nathan pause, and then after a few moments, he let out a chuckle. It had been asked playfully, and it was only at that moment that Nathan dropped the age range another five years; whoever this Lady Piper was, she definitely wasn't over twenty-five years of age.

"Lord Nathan Orion, Ruler of Blood Rock. Beside me are my Faction members," Nathan said after catching his breath.

"Lord Nathan Orion..." She said the words in a way that made Nathan shiver, but in a good way. "Look at me, O' Ruler of Blood Rock."

The young man who'd been keeping his eyes pinned on the ground for the most part needed no other words from the lady to motivate him to look up, and when he was finally able to put a face to the sultry voice, he had to admit he was impressed and slightly captivated. Heck, blood seemed to be rushing towards a previously calm part of his body.

Woah.

"Lady Piper," Nathan said calmly, mostly because he didn't trust himself to speak coherently before the beauty sitting on the raised dais.

He needed a moment to catch his breath, a minute for his mind to come to terms with the strikingly beautiful lady sitting on the throne he gazed upon smiling at him. Right beside her was the smug-looking Tirmon, which was enough to snap Nathan out of whatever was going on.

"Don't be a stranger, just call me Piper," she said.

"Okay," Nathan said. "I assume that your man told you that we don't want any trouble — we were just looking for the closest human settlement."

"Why?"

Shit, I definitely didn't think this far.

"To gather information," Nathan said.

"Ahan, so you are spies," Tirmon accused.

"No, of course not," Nathan replied exasperatedly.

"Tirmon," Piper called out.

"Yes, your grace?"

"Could you do me a favor and escort the rest of our guests to the free rooms?" Piper said. "I and Lord Nathan will require privacy for the next part. Oh, and on your way out, make sure that we aren't disturbed."

It was Nathan's turn to sport a smug expression, and he made sure that the surprised Tirmon saw it. No doubt the big oaf wanted to protest the decision; it was left to be seen if the big oaf had the balls to do so.

"As you wish, your grace."