Chapter 63: Heyo, I'm Shot and I'll be your savior for today!

The sound of screams, squeals, and shrieks kept most of the captives up the entire night in the pen. Or at least that was the best way Chelsea could describe the sad excuse for a cage they were in.

She looked around the large wooden structure she was forced into after that bastard Chris set her up.

Men and women sat sullenly at the edges of the large pen, some crying, injured, some shivering from anxiety and fear.

Chelsea on the other hand could only think of two people. Chris and Megan.

It had been a long time coming for Chris, and she had finally gotten enough support built up from helping out around in their group to get them to usurp Chris and get everyone to travel to the larger camp they all knew of. It was run by a younger boy, but it had hundreds of people within it making it the safest place they could go.

Chris had somehow gotten wind of it, and made an excuse to have Chelsea and a few others go scout out ahead. Little did she know that he had planned to kill her off.

Fucking asshole didn't even have the balls to do it himself! He sent goddamned Lenny to do it! She yelled internally, her face turning to a deep scowl.

"What's wrong Chelsea?" a man asked across from her.

She raised her head to look across at the man, Tom. He had been a good person all things considered. He came with her when they were forced to scout forward. She knew how he felt about her and Megan, it was no secret with how he looked at them, and how he treated them.

But he had been utterly useless during the fight. Which allowed them to be pushed away from the camp, and Megan. Eventually forcing them to run into a pack of Goblins at the worst time. And for some reason they captured everyone instead of killing them.

Chelsea realized later why. They pulled the women away, and had done unspeakable things to them. The ones that resisted like Chelsea were forced to fight against their party members and other beasts in an arena. She had been forced to fight several times, each one leaving a taste of disgusting bile in her mouth.

The men on the other hand, fared no better. It seemed some of the Goblins had some particular tastes. As well as many of them being brought over to certain tents where they would scream until they wouldn't.

That particular tent had many Goblins going in and out of it, bowls of food in hand.

"The same thing that's wrong with the rest of us you fucking twat!" spat a woman.

Tom recoiled, "I was just trying to be nice…"

"Yeah well maybe if you were a little fucking less nice, we wouldn't have gotten into this stupid shit situation. Chelsea did more work in that fight before the Goblins, and after. Might I add. Than your despicable ass, and she's a right Ranger class you fucking loser," she roared.

"That's going too far, Jacqueline. Even if it's true. We're all stuck here now and we need to get back somehow.." Chelsea said, intervening before the woman strangled the poor guy.

Jacoline was one of their group's healers, like Megan, but she specialized in active healing rather than the buff type magic and passive healing that Megan did.

Normally she would never have been allowed to leave the group's main camp, but Jacqueline had a very specific way of speaking to people and voicing her opinions. And she was very vocal about how she disliked Chris.

"No no, let me land here. This bastard literally came just to chase tail. And was nothing but dead weight when shit hit the fan. Doesn't that sound right?" Jacqueline continued, "You're supposed to be the front liner, innit? But all you do is make excuses and cower! Even with me right there with you!"

Tom looked down, unable to refute anything she said.

Chelsea just sighed. Everyone was on edge, not just Jacqueline. She panned over the cage again and while no one spoke, they were all thinking the same thing.

They were doomed.

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"Ok, coast is clear Theo. Time to go out and save some people," Drake said, his head popping in through the doorway, "Put your invisibility on and let's get going."

Theodore nodded furiously, "With all due haste my liege! What shall we do about the said party arrangements?" he asked.

Drake pursed his lips, "Oh, almost forgot about that..." Drake thought of sending a mental invitation like he was playing a game, a small chime sounded as he heard the familiar mechanical female voice.

Theodore Rotwood has joined the party.

"Not sure why that's so off putting… but thankfully it worked," Drake said, walking back out into the open of the outpost, Theodore concealing himself and following close behind.

Theodore spoke from beneath his veil, "My liege, how are thou going to keep track of where this one is, if I am to remain inconspicuous?" he asked.

"No problem, my new aura skill will let me know where you are vaguely. It is a bit disappointing there is no map function with the party though, but lead the way Theo," Drake said.

Are there any other party functions I should know about Natto? Drake asked mentally before they began opening the gate.

"No, unfortunately there are no other functions without a support class to facilitate them. It is essentially just a means of sharing experience. I suppose you could certainly use it for verifying someone's level and alias if you wished," she answered.

Ah bummer. Drake replied, pulling on the gate wheel using his earth-made arm, getting a better feel of it with the process.

"Alright Theo. I'm going to close the gate then follow. We're going to make this as quick as possible. We rescue Harley, you bring her back here, we go back inside the mines and sort everything out from there," Drake listed off rapidfire.

Drake didn't wait for a reply and got to work, he felt Theodore move outside the gate, and released the lock for the gate. It swinging close.

He made a leap to the top of one of the guard towers, then vaulted over the wall, landing on the yellow brown dirt with only the sound of loose ground barely shifting below his feet.

Drake then raised his hand in a motion to say 'lead the way', and the two were off.

They both moved through the forest at a brisk pace, Drake easily able to keep up with Theodore. Both passing by some of the left over corpses that still littered the ground, reminding Drake that he had to do something about them, as well as the ones inside the outpost.

After a few minutes of traveling Natto spoke up, "You know, I have said some things are bad ideas before. And evidence dictates that to certainly be true."

Drake rolled his eyes, keeping pace with the surprisingly fast Theodore.

Yeah and? Are you going to say this is a bad idea as well? He asked internally.

"No. I was going to say, this is the worst idea yet."

Drake gave her a mental sidelong glance.

"Well, if there is an F Rank Goblin King, amassing an army. That means the top of the Goblin hierarchy is present here," she continued.

Ok.. point being? Drake asked mentally, dodging an extended root.

"Please Drake, do not be intentionally dense. If a Raid Boss is present, what does that mean," Natto said, the feeling she tilted her head sarcastically inside his own.

Oh… So what kind of extra monsters are we talking about? A few Generals like the quest said, and what Lieutenants or something? Drake queried.

"Certainly, but with the amount the quest put in the bonus along with the description there seems to be a growing number of the green beasts. Meaning that there are going to be Generals, Lieutenants, Guards, Royal Guards, the list goes on. This is also not mentioning if they have brought their infrastructure with them as well. Remember the Kobolds?" she asked.

Drake nodded, still trailing Theodore, but they soon slowed.

"It will be that but much larger. We are talking about real roles, cooks, jailers, lumberers, butchers, real infrastructure for growth…" Natto trailed off.

They both looked out past the treeline to an endless sea of monsters, as far as they eye could tell. All along the side of the river, campfires, tents, walls, barricades. You name it they had it. And most of all, even from afar, Drake could see large cages lining the sides of tents, where people were. There were also pits that he could see the Goblins congregate around.

"Well, that certainly doesn't bode well.." Drake said.

"My word, that is a lot… That is far more than what the quest suggested. They must have nearly taken over the whole tutorial's population with that many, it really is an invasion," Natto added.

Drake smiled, and idea flashing in his head.

"No… No Drake! You are not him and you do not have Conqueror's Haki. If anything you have the weaker version at the moment. One might call, Ape's Little Bitch Haki," Natto interjected on Drake's daydream.

Drake frowned, a scowl forming, "Awe come on… Let me have my moment. You at least can't deny that the Time Skip reveal and Fishman Arc was pretty cool when he just flexes on them.

Natto was silent, bringing another smile to Drake's face. "Ok, plan set then."

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Chelsea looked outside of the cage, the background noise of Jacqueline berating Tom for being useless continuing on.

She had given up on trying to stop it, finding better use of her time trying to find a way to get out of the Goblin's ever growing camp. Her thoughts continued to fall back on Megan and hoped that she was ok with the scumbag Chris until she made it back.

The problem was that her skills relied on the use of her bow, and without one she had no chance of escape.

Tugging on the threaded rope of the cage, she clicked her tongue, her now dirty brown rust colored hair crusted in sweat and blood from the days of sitting in the sun and fighting in the small arena.

Turning back to the rest of the captives, she spotted a blonde girl who looked more fierce than the other sullen people among the cage, and walked to her. Plopping down next to her, she pulled a small container of water from her inventory.

Thankfully the Goblins like everyone else had no way of taking away their stored items, but as fate would have it, many people did not hold on to their older equipment or have spares of their main weapons lying around, leaving them mostly weaponless. And the ones they did have were held by cowards who had already given up and would not even retrieve them from their inventories.

Sitting down, she offered the canteen, "Harley, here. Your face is going to get wrinkles if you keep scowling like that," Chelsea joked.

As if pulled from deep thought, she grabbed the canteen gingerly with both hands, "Oh! Thank you Chelsea… I was just thinking of my husband.. He is a bit of an oddball, and I can't imagine him doing well in the tutorial… So I'm just worried," her voice had a beautiful feminine pitch, even when it was dripping with concern.

"I told you, call me Chels. I can't have friends calling me by anything but my nickname," Chelsea chided, wrapping her arm around the shoulder of Harley, "It's such a shame someone took you off the market. What did this man do to bag such a sweet cutie?"

Harley looked down sheepishly at the canteen, taking a long draw from it before answering.

"I- i'm a bit of a role player… or cosplayer if you know what that is, and I have a thing for Shakespeare. He is a stage performer and… it kind of just happened.." Harley said trailing off once again, her face slightly blushing as she handed back the canteen.

"Oh.. roleplayer huh," A cheeky grin creased Chelsea's face. "I'm sure he's fine and on his way right now to save you, who could leave someone like you alone?" Chelsea said, trying her best to comfort Harley.

"Yeah…" Harley replied.

Before they could talk more, a loud thundering of drums sounded from the other side of the large camp.

Slowly everyone in the cage stood up going to the edge of the container, doing their best to get a look at the commotion.

"What is it?!" someone asked.

"It's Bear or Shigure! I knew they wouldn't leave us behind!" another shouted, raising the hopes of everyone in the cage.

"Don't be fucking stupid! Do you know how many Goblins there are here? It's probably just more of those green bastards turning up to kill everyone…" a gruff man said, deflating everyone's hopes.

Chelsea looked over at the man glaring at him.

Asshole… She thought.

But soon the drumming stopped, and the mob of Goblins began moving in earnest, each one running in the direction the drums had just come from.

Screeches and shrieks accompanied the start of loud thunderous booms and cracks.

Chelsea raised a brow, looking over the row of people pasted close to the wall of the cage.

The screams and shouts began increasing in volume, booms and rumbles enough to begin shaking the cage sounded.

"Does anyone else hear boss music?" Tom said, his arms around himself as if he became cold.

Soon a wave of cold passed over the cage, almost as if fear had entered the area. It was palpable.

A whisper came from the opposite of the cage, nearly giving everyone a heart attack.

"Harley, my love! It is I!" the voice whispered, urgency in its voice.

"T-Theodore…?"

Chelsea looked over to her right at Harley, her hands covering her mouth as tears pulled at the side of her eyes.

They could not see the person producing the voice, but it seemed to be the man Harley spoke of.

"Theodore! I didn't even think you were in this tutorial!" she shouted running to the opposite side of the cage, everyone following her with their eyes but confused.

"Hush my love. My liege shall be here soon to release you all," Theodore said, anger and concern obvious in his voice that almost shook.

The stream of Goblins continued to pour past the cage nearly endlessly.

Until a louder than ever shriek rang through the area. The sound of something hurtling towards the cage streaked past colliding with the oncoming flow of Goblins, kicking dust and bodies up.

Each of the Goblins in front of the cage froze. The captives inside the cage in shock, their jaws left agape at the sight of their captors stone still.

The dust settled and a crushed corpse revealed settled inside another Goblin it had collided with.

Soon another figure was flung into the mass of Goblins, then another and another. A shout sound on the other side of the camp, pulling everyone's attention once again.

The loud laugh and cackling of someone or something began growing louder and louder, a dust cloud following behind it.

Booms and the crackle of thunder resonated inside the cage, a flash of bright white lightning shot across the front of the cage, the next moment another boom, crash and a plume of earthen debris shot up.

The loud laughing came from the impact in front of the cage, the outline of a man within it.

Frozen still were the Goblins as they pointed everything they had at the man, his figure slowly coming into focus for the people inside the cage.

"My liege! Thou said twere hast set the diversion did thou not?!" Theodore yelled his apparent invisibility breaking in the shock, revealing himself.

"I am doing it! And your doppelgangers are doing their job as well. I just want to make sure you're covered when you break them out," the man - the liege - answered.

The screen of dust and rubble revealed a young man in a black and gold trimmed robe, his hair shoulder length, and light blue? And he had pink animal ears? And a tail whipping back and forth?

Everyone scrunched up their faces in confusion and fear, which one the stronger emotion they were not sure as they stared at the man, a Goblin also in each hand, their skulls crushed in horrific mess, and green blood paining his arms.

The man turned to the cage, "Heyo, I'm Shot, and I'll be your savior for today!"