Ruthless: Path of Conquest

James led his mixed team of humans and monsters over the border into the swamp.

Dave and Damien took up the leads to his left and right.

There was an immediately noticeable shift in the terrain. The firm soil of the Fisher Kingdom gave way to soft, moist ground, which eventually turned to a general feeling of mush beneath their feet.

It was increasingly reminiscent of James’s visit to the Dead Marsh, though he was glad that whoever the Ruler was, he or she hadn’t flooded this place with mist. It would have been difficult for James’s allies to navigate, to the point where he might have ended up having to leave everyone behind except the Mole People who remained far underground, digging cautiously to avoid winding up underwater.

James and his party trudged until James could no longer see the Fisher Kingdom, and they had yet to come upon any enemies. But the ground grew more and more moist. While the wolves managed to find passable places to put their feet and to tread lightly, the humans grew increasingly waterlogged until each forward step was harder than the last.

This place might be bigger than I had imagined, he thought. Where did we run up against the edge of this swamp last time? He estimated that point was perhaps half a mile East of where they now stood. So, if I assume this place expands in all directions just like the Fisher Kingdom, and assuming it’s constantly expanding like my territory is, which seems safe since we have a border with them now and we didn’t before, it’s at least a mile or so wide, with no clear outer limit for how large it might have become, except that if it was larger, we would have a bigger border with it.

But that didn’t tell him the shape of the territory, which might not be circular, so he couldn’t come close to guessing the dimensions.

As they walked, they came upon a noticeably firmer, raised patch of ground, and James led his allies up that elevation. Anything that got them a little further from the mushier ground was better than proceeding further and further into what would undoubtedly become a swamp.

They reached the summit of the small hill and looked down.

James heard muffled gasps from all around him, and he suppressed his desire to roll his eyes. These are my Hunters, and this is their reaction. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They need some more training to be able to really accomplish an invasion like this. Most of them were never soldiers.

In the sunken area the hill looked down on, they could see dozens of larger than normal alligators, averaging around fifty percent larger than the typical specimen. The creatures were in a large body of marshy water. Perhaps a lake. It was difficult to tell the exact size and depth with all the plant life growing up through the water—and the densely packed alligator flesh.

Identify. James picked a random alligator to focus on.

Mutant Sewer Alligator, Lv. 16

He quickly Identified a few more.

Mutant Sewer Alligator, Lv. 17

Mutant Sewer Alligator, Lv. 14

Mutant Sewer Alligator, Lv. 13

Hm. That’s not good. The average level here is going to be a challenge for my group. Not Damien, probably not Dave. Hopefully this is an opportunity for growth rather than something I’m going to have to save everyone from.

Of course, he had to remind himself, that was assuming that this encounter turned into a fight. So they should not yield to the temptation of launching a sneak attack. First, I need to establish what the situation is.

He sent a message to the Mole People to be prepared to tunnel up near where they were in case the team needed a speedy getaway.

“Hey, you down there!” James called out. He could feel people around him stiffening in surprise as he spoke. The wolves remained steady, though. Ready for anything, and calm. James felt his affection for his beasts intensify. When this was over, he promised himself, he would take time to bless every single one of them—after he blessed the rest of his family.

But now the alligators were turning their faces to look at James. A few slow-witted creatures were looking side to side as if wondering where the voice had come from. Their neighbors nudged them and pointed up at the human atop the hill. Gradually, all eyes shifted to stare at James.

“I am looking for the Ruler here,” he called down. “We come from the neighboring territory! We’re here to talk and establish a relationship.”

Some of the alligators began pointing with short, fat, sharp claws. They pointed up at James, it seemed.

No, he realized. They weren’t pointing at him. They were pointing at the hill.

Suddenly James felt life signs beneath his feet.

How did something this big hide? he questioned. There was grass growing on the elevated ground he stood on, and it was firm earth, but he could feel something moving now, beneath his feet. It has to have been suppressing its life signs!

“Everyone get off the hill!” James ordered.

The wolves and Duncan instantly sprang into action, running back down the way they had come. A few humans followed, but most of them just looked bewildered.

“What’s going on?” Dave asked in an urgent tone.

“The Ruler is beneath our feet,” James replied loudly.

“Hello!” A jovial, booming voice issued from the area beneath their feet.

James stood in place as the other humans finally began moving down. Fortunately, the creature under the soil wasn’t moving its body yet. Just talking—and no longer hiding its presence. James could tell from the heartbeat and other vital signs that he could suddenly hear and feel that the monster had to be massive.

The size of a T-rex maybe. The thought that something so large had been underfoot without him being able to notice shot a chill down James’s spine. The size of this thing, and it’s about as stealthy as I am. He could picture the monster sneaking up on him and his allies. If it had wanted to fight them, he would have certainly lost some people to this creature.

“Hello, Ruler of the swamp!” James said. His mind was quickly shuffling through options, considering what he could do here. Talking seemed like the best choice for now.

“What brings you into my swamp, neighbor?” The voice of the Ruler was almost a rumble. As he spoke, the nearby water seemed to tremble slightly at the sound of his voice. The words echoed through the surrounding trees, and birds began taking flight from their branches.

James could hear a hint of laughter in the monster’s tone.

This thing is confident.

“Here to decide what sort of relationship you and I are going to have,” James replied.

Identify.

Sewer Alligator Monarch Samuel, Lv. 38

Based on his level, he’s stronger than any monster I’ve fought before. James’s pulse began to quicken with excitement, but he betrayed nothing of his feelings on his face.

“Ah, I thought you were a Ruler!” This response was accompanied by a rolling chuckle that shook the ground beneath James’s feet.

He checked to confirm that his people were off the hill, and then James spoke again. “I am the Ruler,” he confirmed. “My territory is called the Fisher Kingdom.”

“Sounds delicious!” The chuckle turned into full-throated laughter. “I personally find kingfishers very tasty. Some of my little friends down there would tell you that the feathers get caught in their teeth, but I personally don’t have that problem.”

There was laughter now, coming from the alligator-filled water below James. The residents here all amusing themselves at his expense.

James gritted his teeth. I won’t let this thing mock me.

“Why don’t you show yourself, so we can have this conversation face to face?” he asked. “I like to see who I’m talking to.”

The ground moved much more radically than it had before, and James leaped off before he could be thrown. He oriented his body to fall and land gracefully. I can’t let myself look bad in front of my own people.

And as he descended, he saw the monster that he had been speaking to for the first time.

The earth tumbled from its body almost in a sheet as it rose from an apparently prone position to stand upright. An alligator with very dark green, almost black armor on its head, arms and legs. On the underside of its body, which faced him, it had noticeably thinner, cream-colored armor. James estimated the creature at around forty feet tall.

About the length of a medium-sized whale, with a voice I would expect to come out of a young Godzilla. And he must have used earth magic or a similar Skill to make the soil cling to his body.

“Impressive entrance,” James said.

“Thank you,” the giant alligator said. Its mouth barely moved as it spoke, though James could nevertheless smell its breath even from over thirty feet away. The monster emanated a faint odor of slightly foul chicken. It was easy to imagine that he might really have been eating kingfishers.

I don’t know why they gave such a small, un-intimidating creature such a noble sounding name.

“I was even more impressed with your Stealth Skill there,” James added.

“I was curious,” the monster replied, “what you would do if you believed I was not present. Would you and your little band attack my brethren? Or act as you in fact did?”

Well, I’m glad we didn’t take the former approach, he considered saying. And rejected the idea. Can’t project weakness to this thing. He undoubtedly already sees me as small.

“I wouldn’t want to annihilate your brethren and leave you all alone,” James replied, grinning wolfishly.

Samuel chuckled to himself. “A confident one, aren’t you? Even though you’re so small I might lose you between my toes.”

“Yet I’ve fought creatures that could crush you under their feet.”

This was technically true—though only if James counted his fight with Anansi’s children.

“I thought you might be here to surrender to me,” Samuel said, “but now I know you came to entertain me with silly stories instead.” He still sounded amused, but with an edge to his tone. James decided to move directly to business.

“I am far from here to surrender,” he said. “I came to establish the nature of the relationship between our two countries. Will we be friends, enemies, or indifferent neighbors who keep out of each other’s way?”

“What is this nonsense about two countries?” Samuel replied. There was a distinctly malicious note to his voice now. “Now that you and I have met, there can be only one Ruler. Do not pretend to believe otherwise. I can practically smell the blood on your hands—” He inhaled sharply—“and I know who and what you are. A conqueror. I am the same way. The only question is how we settle which of us is to be supreme over these lands. An all out war between our respective armies, or a duel between the two of us personally?”

“Well—” James avoided looking down at his allies—“naturally, to minimize bloodshed, I would prefer a duel between the two of us.”

I’m pretty sure my group would just get decimated if I had to fight with only the ones I brought, if not outright defeated completely. Need Mina, Mitzi, and any Mages I’ve got to make it a better fight. Or I could throw a tide of Goblins at the enemy.

“The other question to resolve, then,” Samuel said. “Do we duel to the death, or would you like me to spare you after I win?”

“In the unlikely event of your victory, I’m only concerned with making sure you don’t kill any of my people,” James replied. “But I am willing to fight nonlethally. I can imagine you would be a powerful soldier in my army.”

“It’s agreed, then,” the alligator said, chuckling. “We will fight until one of us gives up.”

“Any other rules we need to settle?” James asked. I am a little surprised how rules-oriented this big lizard is, honestly.

“None that I can think of,” Samuel replied, shrugging. Clumps of dirt that hadn’t quite dislodged themselves before fell from his shoulders with the motion. “You can use any weapons you wish, and of course magic. And I’ll even do you a favor. We can leave my territory and fight in yours. That way, you’ll have more of a chance.”

As he finished speaking, Samuel finally switched to standing on all fours, the posture James was used to from alligators. Even so, he remained at least a foot taller than James.

James snorted. “Wow. You’re so confident you’re actually willing to commit suicide. It might be hard for me to fight nonlethally if you give me that big of an advantage.”

“You want to fight here?” the monster asked.

“Why don’t we find some neutral ground?” James asked.

“How honorable,” Samuel replied, in the same tone with which someone might say, How droll. “I accept. Neither of us will have the terrain advantage that way.”

James might have imagined it, but he thought he heard a tinge more respect in the monster’s tone now that James had rejected the offered advantage.

I can’t win a fight we both agreed to on such lopsided conditions, he thought. It would lose me respect instead of enhancing my authority. The lizard would wonder if I could have beaten him in a fairer fight, and any difficulty I suffered would make me look weak to my citizens.

“I’ll lead the way to an area outside both our territories,” James said. He began navigating to the edge of the swamp, near where he, Dave, and the others had gone hunting the other day. Terrain that James knew, but that wasn’t infused with his or the Alligator Monarch’s power yet.

He began to assemble his plan for dealing with the giant monster.