Wasps

D, Dean, and Mil road out of Nimil shortly after the fight. D was counting out the handful of coins he'd found in the pockets of the men. While Dean sat in the back sorting not only the few weapons the gang had but even their clothes. Dean wasn't sure if he should be impressed or disturbed by the boy's survival instinct. Even hardened soldiers would think twice about taking clothes from a deadman yet D even held them up judging their size before tossing everything not totally ruined in the back of the wagon. The fight also gave Dean a greater understanding of the boy's abilities. He knew of his magical inclinations, though he'd yet to see the boy use even a simple spell. His wards were definitely powerful, though.

Dean couldn't deny that the boy, or monster as he was forced to remind himself, was physically powerful. But his lack of combat skill was evident after just the one fight, he might be powerful but that was all he knew. Dean eyed the weapons they'd picked up. Two more knives and even a small axe, more a hatchet than a combat axe but right now they couldn't be picky. None of them seemed all that useful, the boy had tremendous strength and Dean had witnessed bursts of speed during the fight with the Destroyer that were beyond human. But from what he'd witnessed in the fight the boy lacked the dexterity to utilize it. Dean was caught in a debate on how best to train young D. Either focusing on overcoming his lack of attack speed or let him focus on using his greater physical strength. Looking at the assortment of crude weapons Dean wished he had a great sword. With the boy's overwhelming strength, it would have made a perfect weapon… plus Dean just missed his sword.

"Why don't you use spells?" Dean asked after he was finished sorting things.

"Too hard." D answered without looking back.

Dean tsked debating on the worth of questioning the boy more. But in the end, since he lacked the ability to instruct the boy more on spells even if he did try and encourage him, he let the subject drop.

"Have you had any training with any weapons before?" Dean decided to figure out if there was something D might already be proficient with.

"No." D again kept looking forward watching the road.

"Are you able to answer with more than a single word?" Dean growled from the back of the wagon.

"Yes." Dean's eye twitched as he glared at the boy's back.

'How did Larian get anything done. The boy seemed so loyal to him, what was the secret? Is it because I'm not a mage?' Dean sat in the back of the wagon glaring at D. 'Damn it, I need this monster on my side. I've got to whip him in shape before someone or something comes after the new god.'

Dean's inner monologue was interrupted by D suddenly standing up and leaping off the wagon to land heavily on the road. Mil reigned in the horses causing the wagon to skid and Dean with only one arm went sliding forward to thump against the front of the wagon. Mil looked back, his eyes holding more than a little fear as he mumbled out apologies to the glaring ranger.

"What ya be doin D! Just leaping… by the nine choirs what are those. Shit shit back back we go!" Mil went from yelling at D to cursing as he struggled to get the horses to turn around. From further up the road a loud buzzing was heard as more than a dozen huge flying insects rushed forward. Dean decided to keep a close eye on D trying to further appraise his abilities. With an explosive launch, D rushed forward closing the distance almost instantly. He skidded on the muddy road his body covered in dark scales with one of the monstrous sized wasps in his hands. With seemingly no effort he ripped the huge bug in half tossing the body parts aside then lashing out at another.

Again, Dean witnessed D's explosive bursts of speed capable of closing in on enemies but once engaged the wasps seemed to be too fast. D swatted and grasped for the beasts but the lightning fast insects always managed to dodge away. Several times the wasps darted in to snap their stingers into D but it seemed they had no more effect against his scales than steel knives had. Mil watched D battling more than a dozen of the wasps at once, his face clearly wearing an impressed expression. Behind him though Dean watched with a look of disgust.

'If it weren't for his impenetrable defense he'd never have made it this far. Does he just plan on waiting until he gets lucky or for his enemy to get exhausted? All that power is wasted if he can't use it!' Dean shook his head and leaned back to continue watching but felt as if he'd seen enough already.

D took another swing at one of the wasps that zipped right around his attack before darting in to jab him again with its stinger. D didn't care if they were too fast he just kept swinging, as far as he was concerned it was only a matter of time before he won. After all, they might be able to avoid his attacks but they couldn't hurt him. Still, the plan had been to wipe out the wasps then head back to town to collect their reward. They didn't want to leave the girls alone too long or the wards might fail. D was considering using his tail, with its fast whip-like attacks he felt even the wasps couldn't always avoid it. But that would still take a while and there was the nest to deal with.

Ignoring the wasps he focused inward, there was one ability he hadn't tried yet that should be perfect. Considering it was one of the first changes he thought it would be easier but he'd already tried several times during the fight. Dean and Mil watched confused as D grew still and the wasp's attacks grew bolder. "What's the boy doin?" Mil asked the ranger.

"Baiting them maybe?" Dean both answered and asked. True enough the wasps soon grew bolder. One was even hanging onto D's back, stabbing him repeatedly with its stinger. Then D moved startlingly at the wasps, yet the two men watching were confused as he didn't even swing at them once. Instead, D opened his mouth wide as if to scream at them but released a cloud-like spray. Dean remembered a similar attack that he had employed against the Destroyer and wasn't surprised when the wasps started falling out of the sky.

In a matter of moments, the swarm of giant wasps were twitching on the ground. Their delicate wings melted off by the acid attack. Dean shook his head, slightly annoyed the boy had found a way to easily defeat the speedy enemies. He'd wanted to use it as a learning experience to reference later. Mil was cheering on the boy right up until the point D crouched down and started eating one of the still living monsters.

"Boy! Don't do that! Come on, we just had breakfast…. You can't be that hungry!" Mil shouted while Dean watched and frowned. He recalled that the monster he'd been tracking had a perchance for eating its prey alive.

'I wonder if there is a reason behind it. Or is he just that much of a glutton?' When D ate only one of the wasps before turning and heading off in the direction the swarm came from, Dean began to suspect there was more to it.

Mil guided the wagon around the pile of wasps afraid of getting close to the still dying monsters. "Do you think they are edible?" Mil asked before adding. "I mean for regular folk."

"Let's hope we don't get desperate enough to find out." Dean watched the twitching wasps, their harder outer carapace oozing ichor from countless small acid borne holes.

From the wagon, the two men watched D in the distance making his way to a small shack barely bigger than an outhouse. Though huge amounts of baked mud were piled up on one side more than doubling its size. After circling it several times they watched as the scale covered boy backed up before leaning in and simply charged through the structure. After it was toppled he spent some time hopping up and down crushing it further. Only when everything was demolished did he return to the others. By the time he returned he looked normal, no signs of his monstrous nature. But his clothes were filled with countless holes the size of a silver piece and the front was covered in the yellowish ichor from the wasp he ate previously.

"You're a mess boy!" Mil shook his head.

"I forgot to undress first." D stated as he climbed up beside Mil on the wagon's settee.

Mil opened his mouth to say fighting naked was nuts before remembering D's nature. Turning the wagon around they started to head back, stopping only to grab a few wasp corpses as proof. The entire time they rode back D sat with his eyes closed and not speaking. Mil thought the boy must be tired from the fight and did his best to make the trip smooth. In truth, D was focused on his body trying to figure out what all he was capable of and more importantly what he might have gained from the wasps. He was starting to miss the way his body used to work, just selecting a new traits on its own. But that thought passed quickly, not because he felt his new method might be better but simply because he hated wasting energy on things he couldn't control.

By the time they pulled back into Nimil it was late afternoon and D had yet to make any progress. Annoyed, he hopped down to enter the guildhall, monster corpses in hand. 'I guess for now I'll focus on mastering all the older abilities. Maybe, that will help me find out how to use newer ones. I can feel something different… but it's like trying to catch minnows with your bare hands. It slips away whenever I try to grasp it.'