Chapter 118 - The Glowing River

*(mood song: "METALLICA - Master Of Puppets")

Erik and his army discretely cleared fort after fort around the fire tribe, capturing hundreds and slaying thousands, his army dressing with the armors of the fire tribe, then Erik made his new army secure a perimeter around the fire tribe.

Erik then formed an elite team of one hundred formed by Erik, the elders, Inky, twenty rebel veterans, and forty-four shadow claw elites, between the rebels Erik noticed the serious look of Khroom and smiled at him "don't worry, if any of your family is still alive we will save them"

Khroom's hands trembled for a second and looked at the floor with his eyes closed, seconds later opening them with a determined look "... thank you my queen, if you manage that then I Khroom will owe you my life, and I always repay favors"

Erik was stunned by a second by the solemnity, putting a serious face himself "alright, if they are alive we will find them, if not we will at least relieve your burden" he then stepped on a rock with his bottom front legs and talked to the congregated elite troops "now we will attack the right side of the tribe first, our objective is to capture or rescue everyone inside the forge, you will all stand back while i do some recognition, while you identify all the guards in that area and their movement patterns, don't attack if there's more than one, just do it silently if there's someone alone" he gave some normal spearguns that had been loaded with a cocktail of the Elder's poisons back at the base "these are loaded with a powerful paralysis poison, so if you hit flesh it will inject it inside, as you have no practise with this weapon you can also use the arrow spears by hand and inject them with the poison, did everyone understood?" they all nooded as they picked up and inspected their new weapons "allright i will get going then" he turned to the elders and nodded at them, they would cover him along Rose's puppets from behind.

The exterior walls were made of solidified lava blocks, big and tall 20 meters high dark stone walls with some fire mushrooms and other beings growing on them, and also big 5 meters tall carved bone doors, with what appeared to be giant metallic mussels arranged in a scale like fashion.

Erik: 'hmmm there's a space where the river goes out... if only it was water..., and if I dig under the wall there might be lava, also this ground is too solid so it would be loud and take too long... hmmm' he observed the walls some more, caressing his chin as he thought of a solution, he then set his eyes on a barrel sized fire mushroom anchored near the entrance of the city '...that could work, feed it some sodium ammunition and see what happens, if it can hold on without exploding then it will probably digest it and start heating up the surrounding water, creating a commotion....' with a plan already, Erik used the times between guards to move the mushroom and rock below way closer to the city doors and then fed it a couple dozen shells, seeing how the surrounding water heated up quickly and retreated behind some nearby boulders, the elders and puppets also crouching and hidden nearby.

Minutes later the water around the mushroom started bubbling as the water around it was heated until it went from liquid to gas, creating a commotion as the big bubbling column came from right next to the city doors, soon four guards opened the door and saw the mushroom.

guard1: "...how did it get here... anyway it's a big one, I wonder what it ate to get like this..."

guard2: "maybe someone dropped a piece of armor, these things live digesting bone"

guard1: "sound plausible..., let's wait for it to calm down and move it aside-" *BRRRH!*

As they had been talking distracted though, Rose had confirmed Erik these were the only guards in this sector and he had crawled behind them, his pincers decapitating the two guards from behind, and before the two in front could turn around he shot a heavy harpoon bolt through the head of the one on the right, a bolt shot by a puppet killing the last one.

They moved the corpses aside, and took off their armors to wear as a disguise, dumping the bodies on the lava afterward, Erik couldn't fit on the armor, Erik, and while Shana, Inky, and Timberly had it easier with their smaller bodies, they just went on ahead without them as 4 of Rose's puppets put on the armors and pretended to be the guards, securing their exit while the rest kept advancing.

Past the doors Erik and the others went from corner to corner advancing when they saw a patrol passing by and hid in an alley, there they found a young scrawny crab boy munching on some long barnacles, the elders were alarmed, but Erik didn't overreact and squatted next to the boy, calmly asking "is it tasty?"

boy: "...it's mine"

Erik chuckled to that "of course it's yours" he saw the boy was using a rock to crack them open and lightly used his pincer to easily crack open a dozen, leaving them in front of the impressed kid "there, eat till you are full"

boy: "wow... lady you are really strong"

Erik patted the head of the kid "am I? hehe~ eat a lot first"

The boy's eyes illuminating as he munched on one after the other, meanwhile the patrol passed by without issue, Erik then had an idea and with a smile asked the kid "kid..., do you know the way to the smithy?"

The boy stopped eating as he nodded "yeah... It's next to the glowing river, mommy works there..."

Erik: "Oh, is she a smith?"

boy: "...no, she can't leave the forge and soldiers go see her once in a while and I have to go out, she told me they ask her to give them massages when they are tired..."

Erik: "...did you live somewhere else before?"

the boy nodded "we used to live somewhere else, but the soldiers came and brought the people from my tribe here"

Erik: "what about your father?"

The boy looked to the ground as he started to get sad "they... my mom said my father is a hero, I don't remember him much..."

Erik: "...I see...., can you take us to see your mother? I'm sure she will be really happy"

boy: "but she's giving massages to the guards, I can't go while they are there"

Erik patted the boy's head, "don't worry about the guards, this big sister will make sure they let your mother go, so can you take us now? we need to avoid the guards also, will you be capable of that?"

The boy's eyes illuminated as he grew determined, hitting his chest as he said "leave it to me, I will make mom happy! I know all the alleys in this place"

They followed the kid through alleys avoiding patrols and finally arrived at a big stone building near the river of lava, going to one side and seeing a line of 12 guards in front of a door, moans and shouts coming from inside, Erik then smiled to the kid and told it "alright, older sister can deal with the evil guards, you go hide a bit farther away okay?"

The boy nodded and retreated to a nearby alley, as soon as the kid disappeared Erik's face became cold and serious "...I might be a hypocrite but... those that I can help, I will help..." advancing to the guards.

The guards were in a great mood and disarmed, and as they saw Erik approach they were impressed whistling "wow, they sent a new one? the leader truly treats us great" the crab man approaching Erik with a shitty smile full of sharp teeth "come with me beauty, I like them big-" his expression froze as his head went flying from a chop of Erik's chainsaw pincers.

Erik saying "not interested" he then looked at the scared guards and smiled, lunging forward, they tried to use their pincers but his chainswords at full speed just cut them right through, they tried to escape to the sides, but the elders and Rose puppets blocked the alley entrance.

As he had finished them all, the door to the room opened, an ugly crabman coming out shouting "why are you so noisy!? I'm almost finished okay-..." he noticed Erik waving at him from a pile of his comrades corpses and grew confused for a second "what?-" but that second was his last as his head fell to the ground, the blood dying the surrounding water even redder, luckily the lava river created ascending currents of hot water, so the blood would dilute and flow up.

Erik came into the room, that was full of a musky smell in the water, and saw a tired looking crab woman looking at him with confused eyes "now they send women too? well at least it's better than those guards, so what do you-"

Erik interrupted her "I came here to rescue you lady, your son told me you are here against your will?"

The crab woman's eyes dilated "...my son... sent you? what did he offer you? I can do it instead, what do you need of me?"

Erik gave her a warm smile "oh, no one sent me, and I don't expect any payment, I have the entire city surrounded by my army, but before I start the attack I infiltrated to rescue the crafters and slaves, so since you probably know where the rest are... I only require you to guide me"

The crab woman nodded slowly and said "I can do that, but what about after that? what will happen to my son and I?"

Erik shrugged "well, what can you do? or what do you wanna do? do you wanna study a craft? I can give you a place to live and you can just do whatever you want"

The woman seemed relieved and nodded "alright, I understand... follow me" the woman came out of the room and saw the chopped up guards surprised, her worst nightmares killed just like that..., she then guided him to an armoured door in the back "this is where they keep their supplies, for what I saw on those corpses you can open this door, they won't be expecting an attack from here, there should be around 30 guards inside, and the leader crafter is called Maktar, he won't go from here though as they treat him really good, so you might need to convince him" she then looked at the elders and puppets confused "where is my son?"

Erik: "I told him to hide" he pointed at one of Rose's puppets "she will bring him here, you wait here while I go in" he then grabbed the door hinges with his claws, and in a shower of sparks and bubbles cut them off slowly, then setting the door aside and going in, the interior an spacious room of at least 20 square meters, full of armors, weapons, and unprocessed materials, Erik bent over and picked a big mussel shell from the ground, and it took the full force of his pincers to bend it slightly slowly.

Erik: [how the heck do they work this, if this was steel I could just bend it like nothing...]

Rose: [well, no everyone can have lava to work on, also your suit is protecting you but even this room is already really hot]

Erik: [hmm... they had the comfort woman here to make the guards here probably for that reason, this is a hard job, patrolling or just sitting on the walls as a watchman are much better, who would want to be here otherwise]

Rose: [well that's true ¯\_(´_ゝ`)_/¯]

Erik: [yeah, anyway can you scan the interior?]

Rose: [alright..., there seems to be three big areas, one big room with crab men and women hammering at shells and heating them on the lava river crossing one side of the room, and when they collapse they are taken to rooms in the back... some seem better than the others, also most guards seem to be in a separated barracks... resting and just talking, have they get used to no one causing trouble perhaps?]

Erik smiled widely: [well well, I'm here aren't I~? guide me there I have a plan]

He opened a second door and came to a stone hallway, the heat even permeating through his suit a bit as he discretely followed Rose's instructions and came to the door of a room, [so, what ventilation do they have inside there?].

Rose: [...it seems... just the vents on top of the door] Erik looked up, seeing a couple of metallic pipes running on the ceiling and both sides of the door [seems like it's pumping cold water inside somehow and then pumping out the hot water].

Erik smiled: [easy fix] he clamped both pipes with his pincers and closed them shut, then he firmly held the door in place as a spike came out of one of his pincers and he stabbed it in the space between the door and floor, scraping the floor and slightly bending the door, and then a black flood was quickly pumped inside, a pure black cloud enveloping the guards as they exclaimed and tried to open the door, only for them to fall dead soon after, so Erik then opened the door and saw crab men, most in full armor, meat leftovers and carved bone games scattered around as it was clear they had tried to run for the door.

Rose: [seems like the new mix is way stronger (◉ω◉)]

Erik: [yeah, kinda mixed all natural poisons available, from snails to elders poison, to even some wall hugger poison, chopped off the glands of one and took them home last time, so since all of them attack different bodily systems at the same time, that creates an organ collapse, making it really effective]

Rose: [well then, better finish with the rest]

Erik gave a look to the room, grabbing a bunch of metallic spears from a nearby cabinet [just in case, better be silent], and went down the hallway again, turning in a different direction this time and arriving in a wide room, thirty crab people working on their own anvils near the lava river as another 6 crab men gave them orders, while another crab man by the side worked without a guard around [well I guess that one is Maktar, one less problem on the list] he then threw one of the spears, nailing a guard to the wall as he charged and rendered in half the nearer one, with only 4 guards left and the spark of rebellion, the slave workers quickly rebelled and pinned down the guards, one been thrown into the lava river by a buff crab woman, his screams resonating as he was boiled alive.

Ge then went to Maktar and another two who just stood on the corner once the battle started, Maktar took out a sword then.

Maktar: "it's so hard to be popular, as I said before, I will only serve those stronger than me, take this!" swinging his sword at Erik.

Erik caught the sword with his left pincer though *Rrrrtak!* his chainsaws splitting the sword in half and then spewed a big plume of hormones on them and then putting his pincher around Maktar's neck "so? wanna work for me now?"

Maktar: "hmph! not yet, first you will-" he focused on the pincher and suddenly went silent as he noticed the moving teeth on the saws integrated on the pincers and grew enraptured "what?! so beautiful! who made that?! I demand to know!!!"

Erik: "you are loud... I made that, hehe~ wanna learn?"

Maktar: "It shall be my honor, my wives and children are still at the tribe though".

Erik: "well that was quick, but no need to worry about that for now, we will have time once it's all over" he then asked the other two and executed them after they refused, the twenty-one slaves accepted though, and went out with him.

Once outside he asked "well anyone of you knows Khroom?" he saw then the buff crab woman from earlier who threw a guard into the lava come forward.

crab woman: "...I do, is he your enemy?"

Erik: "nop, my subordinate, he asked me to rescue his family"

the crabwoman exhaled relieved and said "that's good... but maybe too late too... I'm the only one left, I am Khrooms sister, but the rest of our family died to the heat..."

Erik sighed: "well that's to be expected... lobsters working inside a boiling pot..."

crabwoman: "...what?"

Erik: "...nothing, we will escort you out"

He then took all the slaves and Maktar out, giving the signal as hundreds of elite troops infiltrated the city with its open door, silently taking over the city walls.

Meanwhile, Erik, the Elders, and Rose's puppets carved a bloody path to the Royal palace, no one able to stop them as they just concentrated fire on anyone remotely heavy armoured.