Caught

It was almost noon when Cliff had been led into the middle of the village, as he walked, the curious looks of the crowd of ogres had made every fiber of his flesh shudder, it was not the first time that he felt that way but every time he faced it the feeling was always so hard to deal with. This feeling of being overwhelmed, this feeling of being close to death.

Everyone here was equal in strength to him, not counting the two variant ogres he had encountered yesterday and even their leader whom he had not even encountered yet, just by their presence Cliff had felt the abyss who separated them, was not someone he could face alone.

Twenty-four, that was the number of hobgoblins he had killed in the room, the massacre was terrible, Cliff was forced to require his Chimerization skill, quickly taking the form of several creatures in order to make his attacks unpredictable and also because he actually had a time limit on the transformation he could take and it depended on the quantity of essence stones he had absorbed from this race.

Thanks to this voluminous amount of hobgoblin essence that he had just absorbed, the duration of transformation he could maintain had increased, he did not yet know how long he could continue to hold on to it.

The crowd had split in two, like a sea, the other ogre who accompanied Cliff had also joined them. Cliff was alone, lost, not knowing whether to move forward or not...

"SO… LITTLE, ARE YOU COMING YES OR NO?"

The voice was so loud and heavy that Cliff felt a slight shiver down his spine, an icy cold gradually took hold of his body, he recognized this voice, it was at once frightening, powerful and did not lack vigor.

This while he decided to follow the direction where the voice came from, the voice led to the other end of the crowd and at the edge of it three figures stood calmly there, one was sitting on a chair, legs crossed, supporting her head with her fist he had a scrutinizing gaze fixed on Cliff, his expression was calm, maybe even too calm, his eyes or rather his eye crimson because he had an ugly scar on his face which had even taken away his right eye, he looked at everything with contempt, even his peers were no exception, in front of him everything seemed so small, everything was only insignificant... unlike these two two-horned ogres who each stood next to him, had three on him, two on each of his temples and one in the middle of his forehead, considering his height, he was about six feet or more, compared to the others he seemed small in comparison.

Cliff was careful with each of his steps, it was a series of first times that he faced this moment, he swallowed his saliva, and began his walk, there was nothing else he could do about it in this situation it was all about Yadha setting up the magical device and the others should be ready to attack once they get the signal, all he should do right now is just hope that all this goes as they agreed to the plan.

Even though everything was going according to plan so far, Cliff couldn't help but feel some worry about the situation and also the sudden change in their plans.

"Hail O great master, may the strength of the trinity of your horns perpetuate and may you triumph over your enemies in your conquest." Cliff proclaimed, bowing deeply before him, he didn't mind his hobgoblin body being soiled by dust or the almost dry, foul smelling puddles of blood that lay on the ground, all he wanted was for his acting did its job.

"Rakahn would be furious if he saw me in this position. » Keeping his thoughts to himself, he waited for the three-horned ogre's response.

A subtle smile appeared on the ogre's lips, his disdainful look changed the moment Cliff finished proclaiming these praises, Cliff had managed to target himself with all his interest.

"I was told that you killed all those hobgoblins who were in the same room as you, why?" the ogre had asked him, his voice was authoritative but it didn't have a hint of anger, it was just curiosity.

"My lord, these inferiors did not know their place, upon arriving in the room I heard from their mouths, complaints from them, they showed forms of ingratitude towards your greatness, they dared to mock you then that you go out of your way to offer them the immensity of your grace..." For a few seconds, Cliff had stopped speaking, his trembling body still curled up on the ground, once there was no response, he continued without hesitation;

"I tried master, I tried to convince them, but they didn't listen to me but once I tried to appeal to the one who was responsible for supervising, they all attacked me at the same time time I had no choice but to defend myself, I am only a warrior after all."

The three-horned ogre had looked at his subordinate who stood to his left, the one who had grabbed Cliff by the throat, he had a pair of black horns and Cliff had used them to distinguish them, since they had not no name. The ogre smirked, as if confirming a theory in front of his companion.

"I told you so, didn't I!!?"

The three-corner then looked at him, the expression on his features had completely changed, his voice regaining its usual weight;

"WHAT KIND OF CREATURE ARE YOU!!!?"

Cliff felt a shiver to the end of his being, his whole self, his whole existence was screaming at him to run away, he was facing one of the most terrifying creatures he had encountered so far and he knew just one sudden movement on his part and he would be erased completely from existence.

The fact that the ogre so far had not reacted in anger towards him was not that he was too interested in him, but that he found him so insignificant that he didn't even deserve to be killed. 'annoyed for him.

Grinding his teeth loudly, a black mist suddenly covered his entire body, his shape, his mass everything seemed to diminish visibly, Cliff had returned to his initial form.

"I am a Human Chimera, I take the form of those whose essences I have absorbed" he said, his beautiful brown eyes staring at the tri-corner with an incomprehensible look.

"A human chimera? Never heard of it, I come directly from the underworld unlike those here who were born in this forest, I have never heard of such a race? Where do you come from and what do you want? "

Cliff stood up which had shocked the audience since he had not received the order, his gaze fixed on the tri-corn, becoming resolute by this situation, his mouth had stopped trembling, his expression had changed to calm , cold.

"As I told you, I am here to evolve, I myself no longer know where I come from." he lied but what he had said had an element of truth, he was really there to evolve.

"And you were thinking of tricking me with this little transformation skill?" The ogre asked him, his voice made everyone in front of him turn pale.

Cliff swallowed hard, all that came to his mind at that moment was to run away, he no longer had the courage to stay in these conditions.