Chapter 47: Tunnel Confrontation

Tormund followed behind Soto as the man led him down a winding corridor. It was only three minutes of walking till a voice called out to them from the dark in front of them.

"Who goes there, state your name and business here."

"It's Soto, I am here with a gentleman who helped capture Cooper and kill the majority of the goblins. The remainder of his compatriots are clearing out the remaining goblins from the village as we speak."

"Come forward."

Tormund followed Soto forward for a few more feet until they reached a turn in the tunnel, expecting Soto to turn right. Tormund was thrown off when Soto walked through the stone wall directly in front of them.

Pausing to inspect the 'fake' wall Tormund hesitated a few seconds before taking a deep breath and walking through pushing his arms out in front of him. He found no resistance as he phased right through the wall and walked into a well-lit cavern.

Soto stood to his left as in a semicircle surrounding the two of them where another ten men and women all radiating auras of Evo 0, levels 4-10. Instinctively tensing and preparing to fight Tormund equipped his sword and shield. Soto feeling the tense atmosphere, stepped forward closer to the middle of the cavern as he tried calming everyone down.

"Calm down everyone. Tormund you do not need those, Evert please have your people stand down. Tormund is not our enemy and there is no reason for you to be brandishing your weapons at him. I brought him here as I wanted to prove to him, and his Lord that Sanctuary did exist. Also now would be a good time to talk to the chief about you all coming out of the dark and rejoining us on the surface of this beautiful planet."

The fighters all glanced at a man who had walked out to stand in front of Soto, even though he had approached Soto the man's eyes never left Tormund. This man named Evert stood around 6'0" (183 cm) tall and had a very muscular build. From what Tormund could see there was no body fat on the man at all just like Tormund's own clansmen. Everts most distinguishing features were his green eyes and almost orange colored hair. He was dressed in leather pants and a leather vest with no shirt on underneath. It was the same for the rest of the warriors in the antechamber, they all wore variations of leather armor.

"Couldn't you have come here yourself? Why did you have to bring him with you?"

"As you can imagine Evert, me being free to go about my duties as the advisor to Cooper makes it seem awfully suspicious that I am a good person and didn't have a hand in the horrors he wrought on our people. I offered to lead one of their members here to show them that I was not complacent in Coopers schemes and that I acted in my position to try and help others."

Pausing as he grabbed Everts attention making eye contact.

"We both know there are some things I did have to do that were not good, I sacrificed a few to save the many. I will confess my crimes before the village tomorrow and allow them to make the decision on my punishment. It is the right thing to do, I have a weight on my heart that I will now be able to lift with the village being freed from the Goblins."

Evert had begun frowning as he heard Sotos speech. "You know the decision those in the village will make. Other than the few who run the smuggling operation the others all think you are Coopers right hand man. They will kill you. Stay here, don't go back. I am sur the chief would be more than happy to turn over responsibility to you."

Looking over at Tormund, Evert continued.

"As for this man we can take care of him. Make sure that he never has the chance to leave this place. Alive that is."

With the last statement all the warriors brandished their weapons at Tormund and got ready to attack on their leaders' orders.

"STOP! STOP! STOP! You f*cking idiot, you will doom the whole village! STAND DOWN! I SAID STAND DOWN!"

Seeing the hesitation on the men and women's faces Soto tried what he could to prevent a massacre.

"He had completed his first evolution, he and only a few others killed ALL of the goblins in the village. If you attack him now I can promise you that even if you are victorious it will be at a great cost. Not to mention his orders are to flee immediately and alert his Lord if this was an ambush. The fact that he has allowed me to try and defuse this goes to show he is trying to avoid bloodshed. I saw the carnage his Lord can do, if he leaves and gets them or even doesn't show up his people will come. They will not ask questions they will kill."

Tormund, who had maintained a combat stance with sword and shield this whole time finally spoke up.

"He is correct, I am closer to the exit and before any of you were to land an attack I would be out of here. I wonder how quickly you could evacuate and hide the tracks of so many people if what Soto told me is true. My Lord would not have patience to allow you to live after threatening to kill me. Now why don't you call this chief you both keep bringing up to come talk. I am sure they are smarter than a soulless fodder like you."

Soto released a sigh of exasperation at Tormund's words. He knew Tormund was annoyed after being addressed the way he was, anyone would be annoyed if someone openly talked about killing them. But he couldn't help but feel annoyed that Tormund just had to go and hit Evert where it hurt.

Tormund's words hit Evert right where it hurt, his pride, with a wordless yell Evert exaggeratedly brandished his weapon above his head and began to charge at Tormund.

Before he even took two steps a new voice rang out with resounding authority.

"STOP!"

Everts body froze in place, all his momentum halted instantly. Seeing this Tormund became extremely alert as he felt someone on par with his power approaching.

Walking out from a tunnel that connected to the cavern on the opposite side from where Tormund stood was a hooded figure. Tormund watched as the figure walked up to Soto before taking their hood off and revealing the figure of a blue haired woman. Her eyes were as blue as the deep ocean matching her hair and eyebrows. Her face was tanned showing she spent a lot more time in the sun than someone who supposedly lived underground. He couldn't see the rest of her as she wore a ranger's cloak that hung loosely around her body obstructing one's view of her weapons and armor hidden underneath.

With a sigh and a wry smile aimed at Soto the woman spoke.

"Soto what trouble have you caused me now, all of this might have been avoided if you had come gotten me from the start instead of talking with this idiot."

She gestured at the back of Evert who was still frozen in place with only his eyes able to move. Soto sighing himself replied.

"I did not expect him to allow his pride to get in the way of his rational thought."

Turning to face Tormund she stared into his eyes.

"And you, you knew that would just set him off. Someone as powerful as us shouldn't be wasting their time fighting with those that have not even completed their first evolution."

Standing straighter now but still not putting away his weapon or shield Tormund replied.

"When someone is dumb enough to threaten the life of someone else more powerful they should be prepared to back their words. You should have taught your warriors better."

She stared at Tormund for almost half a minute in silence before nodding.

"You are right, I should have taught them better. I have allowed our sanctuaries guardians a bit too much leeway with their power. I will deal with that myself. Now let us talk about why you are here, my name is Naomi, and I am the current chief of this underground village."

"I am here on behalf of my Lord; Soto here had told us a fantastical story about how he had been smuggling people out of the village right under the goblin's noses. Of course, him being the advisor to the creep who was in charge made us a bit more than a little suspicious that he was just saying all that to save himself from being judged by his peers. It seems more like Soto saved some of the wrong people.

With the last sentence Tormund had looked back at Evert.

"Yes well Soto has a big heart, he will save who he can whether they are a**holes or good people. Come with me and let me show you what sanctuary is really all about and not just our antechamber. Soto you come too." As she began turning to walk back in the tunnel she came from she continued talking.

"The rest of you, you will be working double shifts of guard duty today. Evert you will be reassigned to latrine duty moving forward and will be required to turn over all essence crystals you have. Its time you learn that no matter how powerful you are there is someone more powerful to tell you what you can and can't do."

As her silhouette disappeared into the tunnel her voice trailed off.

"Someone like me."

Tormund who had begun following them woman stopped as he came alongside the immobile Evert. With a sh*t eating grin on his face Tormund taunted Evert.

"I like her, enjoy the latrines ill be sure to unload there latter, we had some mystery beef stew last night for dinner and I don't think it has agreed with my stomach too well."

Walking off with Soto next to him Tormund's laughter was heard down the tunnel even after he had disappeared. A few seconds later the mysterious force holding Evert in place disappeared and he was able to move again.