Ruthless: Path of Conquest

James turned and began walking toward the front doors.

“Well—hey, wait! Are-are you gonna do it or what?” Dean’s voice came through the air behind him.

I’m so profoundly disappointed in you, Dean. James didn’t bother answering the question. His answer would be obvious soon enough.

As he reached the door, James heard Alan’s voice. “Let me speak to him. The two of you are talking past each other. You could try to understand his point of view, you know?”

Then he heard the sounds of Alan’s old-man, shuffling footsteps following behind him.

James moved through the door and held it open for Alan. Mitzi was back there saying something else to Dean, but James focused all his attention on Alan for now.

“I thought that went well,” Alan said sarcastically.

James couldn’t help smiling. “I’m glad the end of the world hasn’t meant the end of your sense of humor.”

“You have to admit he has something of a point, James.”

“About?”

“These monsters attacked him and his allies without any warning that we’re aware of,” Alan said. “Why would he be willing to believe they’re trustworthy partners to form an alliance with? And—” He hesitated.

“And you think my governance structure is less than ideal,” James finished.

“Potentially,” Alan said. “I’m not as sour on it as Dean. I’ve seen you lead.”

James looked Alan in the eyes. “It’s a form of government for a harsher, more unpredictable time. We can’t have checks and balances in the world we’re experiencing right now. We have to make instant decisions. There can’t be any question of second-guessing me when we’re in the middle of a conflict. And you know how stupid people can be when they’re in groups. The ancient Athenians elected their generals, and they would try to remove them at the first sign of trouble. That’s probably why they lost to Sparta. The madness of crowds is practically a cliche. People need a strong source of authority.” He looked off to the side.

“I admit there is an element of personal ambition at work here. More than a little bit. But we’re all compromising one way or another. You might think that Dean has beautiful ideals. Even though he’s decided that it’s okay to have violent criminals in charge of his munitions, and that another possibly intelligent species shouldn’t be negotiated with. Despite the fact that the world is now populated with powerful non-human species. You might reasonably agree with him that we should be democratically governed. I used to think that, before the world turned upside down. But setting all that aside, he isn’t strong. Not strong enough. He’s not even seeing things clearly. That man tries to be a hard-nosed realist, but he’s delusional right now. Or he just doesn’t believe the truth I’m trying to show him.

“You know me, Alan. I’m not as idealistic as Dean, maybe, but I will always defend my own. And I have the power to back that up. The day is coming, and I suspect coming soon, when this place is going to get overrun by monsters or captured by someone stronger, or Dean gets shivved in the back and replaced by someone more ruthless than he is. What happens to his ideals then? He’s going to die or take orders, maybe from monsters, maybe from some contemptible people we haven’t even met yet.” James met Alan’s eyes again. “I’m not trying to sell you on myself as a leader. I am the leader in the Fisher Kingdom. That’s a fact. You know that I listen to advice when I’m acting as a leader—” He stopped himself—“Damn it, okay, I am selling myself a bit, I guess.” He chuckled a little before he started talking again. “My bottom line is: I don’t want to be wondering what’s happened to you and Mitzi. I hope you’ll decide to come back with me and not stay here with Dean in his ‘Gangsta’s Paradise.’ You don’t have to answer now. Please discuss it with her, and let me know what you two have decided when I come out of the pit.”

“So you’re actually going in?” Alan asked, raising an eyebrow.

James gave a bittersweet smile. “Well, I promised you I would, didn’t I?”

He began walking toward the fissure. He sensed rather than saw as the figure of Alan trailed along after him, with Dean and Mitzi walking further behind.

It’s a shame that Dean fellow isn’t joining you, Roscuro’s voice commented in James’s mind. Clearly not close to your level, but he would be one of the stronger members of your Kingdom.

I know, James replied. But what are you going to do? Pride is a killer.

“That was quite dramatic,” Hester said quietly. “Another great speech, sir. You missed your calling as a priest.”

“Thanks—I think,” James replied, quietly laughing to himself.

He reached the fissure and looked down into the inky darkness. It reminded him of a fall from a cliff he’d taken not too long ago. Even though he felt almost invincible now, there was a tiny splinter of doubt in his mind. The environment would be on his enemies’ side. There was another Ruler down there. He hadn’t faced one other than Roscuro before—and he knew the Soul Eater had genuinely possessed the power to put him down for good.

Quit worrying, master, the Soul Eater’s voice pronounced reassuringly. I can’t sense anything in there as dangerous as you. Certainly nothing as crazy as you are. If nothing else, just make sure you use me to kill a decent number of these Mole People. With their souls inside me, I’ll have enough power to protect you in the event of a landslide.

For a moment, I was almost reassured, James thought. But Roscuro just wants to eat souls.

He looked around and saw that a number of Dean’s people had gathered around the hole and were staring at James. It was the perfect chance to give them all the same information he’d given Dean.

“Alright, Dean,” James said, loud enough for his voice to carry. “I’m going to do you a favor and solve your monster problem, since I already came all this way.”

“Thank y—”

James cut Dean off and continued talking even louder. “There will undoubtedly be more creatures on the way once these things are gone, though. This place won’t ever really be settled or safe until it’s part of a Ruler’s territory.” He cast a quick look around at the assembled faces, and he saw many of them, including Dean, looked worried. “I’ll talk more when I’m back from exterminating the Mole People,” he added.

Then James leaped in. As he fell, he drew his Ego Spidersword from his magic satchel and ordered Roscuro to transform into the longest dagger he could—which wasn’t very long still, but James hoped to make the weapon a lot stronger over the course of the next several fights. James was already wearing the Royal Exoarmor and Solar Helm, though the latter would be of limited use here.

As he fell, he felt the Ruler’s aura getting stronger the further down he dropped. But not as strong, he was fairly certain, as his own. Roscuro was right. James should be able to win this, if he played it smart.

He wondered if it would be possible to capture the Ruler alive.

As he had that thought, James heard skittering in the darkness. Then he could make out a shape, rushing through a tunnel toward him. It managed to leap onto James before he fell out of reach. Then he was locked in combat with his first Mole Man.

The creature was shrouded in darkness almost up to the moment that it made physical contact, but James had a solid second to get a good look at it before it could attempt its first attack. He wanted to know what he was dealing with.

The figure that had attacked him was exactly what the phrase “Mole People” would have led him to expect. A six foot tall mammalian monster covered in fur, with big sharp teeth and claws, and no eyes that James could see.

It really is just a simple animal, he thought. Maybe I gave Dean too little credit for deciding he just hated these things and that negotiation wasn’t worthwhile. These things might be just like the Desert Centipedes.

Before he could give it any further thought, the monster hissed and tried to bite him. And James focused on killing the thing.

Fortunately, James’s Predator in Human Skin Class and his overpowered Stats were made for close combat. As the monster attempted to sink its teeth into the Exoarmor—they glanced off like plastic trying to cut through metal—James threw a single punch. He heard and felt the snap of bone and the ripping of meat—and then a ding.

[You killed Menacing Mole Man Lv. 11! You gained 110 exp!]

Well, that was super easy, James thought. I barely felt any resistance to my fist.

Could I please kill the next few, master? Roscuro asked gently.

Yeah, I’ll let you go ahead and do that, James replied. As he sent the message he caught hold of a wall to stop himself from falling.

And he Pillaged the Mole Man’s body for Stat points. Waste not, want not!

“Can you see what you’re doing?” Hester asked as the mole meat and fur floated into James’s bag. “I heard the sound of you killing something, and I saw a glowing body just now, but while you were fighting, I couldn't see my foot in front of my eyes!”

“It’s a little dark, but I can still see,” James replied. “I do have a trick for this situation, though.”

Hand of Glory!

Sparks of light emanated from his left hand, scattering to all sides within a large radius around James. Rather than falling with gravity, the lights hovered in midair, scattered at varying elevations slightly above, just below, and at James’s rough height.

For the first time, James took in the small canyon-like space he’d leapt into. He could see how the walls were pitted with oval-shaped tunnel openings that looked to have been dug with claws and teeth alone. They appeared to lead in all directions, and they appeared at different elevations as well. The sight reminded James of the game “Whack-a-Mole,” and it raised the question of whether monsters might pop out of any hole at any given moment.

How many creatures live in this place? James thought.

So many souls to eat… Roscuro observed at almost the same moment.

Well, I’m happy for you, then.

“I can see now!” Hester called out excitedly.

The effect of the sparks was limited to only those whom James allowed to see it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have used them, just in case there were non-mole enemies down here that might be drawn to light sources. James was fairly certain that he could fight blind with near complete effectiveness by relying on his other senses.

But he enjoyed Hester’s reactions a great deal.

“Oh my gosh, how did they make this place?” she gushed. “Didn’t they get back here at the same time as you?”

“Well, I put up a small apartment complex since I got back, and I only had a few people helping me,” James said. “The Mole People might have hundreds of workers in their number from the way this place looks.”

You’ll have an accurate picture after you’ve slain the Ruler, Roscuro suggested. Once you flood this place with your aura.

That would imply I want to keep this underground realm as part of the Fisher Kingdom, wouldn’t it? James replied. Is there anything down here worth the effort?

The residual aura fades if you don’t reinforce it after a few days, Roscuro told him. I have no way of knowing what’s in the midst of all these tunnels. There may be some sort of treasure that the Mole People are interested in harvesting. I would just think of it as a useful way of scouting the area, so you don’t leave any stragglers behind. You’re aiming to commit a Xenocide here, right, master?

Against my better judgment, probably, James sent. Definitely if I can’t talk to them and negotiate in any way. If there’s an army of intelligent creatures down here, I’d rather not kill them all off. If only the boss is intelligent, though, it might be unavoidable.

Then there were sounds of movement that came from several directions and cut off any further frivolous exchanges. James saw the gleam of reflected lights on bared fangs in several tunnels.

“Oh dear,” Hester murmured. James didn’t need to turn his head to recognize that there were Mole People coming from behind him, too. That was fine by him. More than fine.

They don’t appear to have numbers that would be hard to handle so far. And the one that attacked me earlier couldn’t piece my armor with its fangs, so it’s not looking good for the moles. James mentally prepared for what he was about to do.

He sent a message to Roscuro: Hey, if I can’t negotiate, I think I’m going to just smash these things apart with my fists. How about you turn into a shape like brass knuckles? He provided an accompanying mental image.

As you wish, master. There was no mistaking the bloodlust in Roscuro’s tone.

“I come in peace,” James said loudly and clearly “I am here to negotiate. Can you take me to your leader?”

Then the Mole People, moving almost as a body, leaped toward him.