Worker Camp

Hekkeran, Imina, and Roberdyck appeared outside Nazarick, the workers camp around them.

Aarche's body violently shivered as the smell of burning flesh penetrated her lungs, her pupils dilated as she keeled over, vomit flowing out of her nose and mouth.

Hekkeran, shaken but in a better state, looked at the carnage around him as Imina stumbled back in horror, covering her mouth which too threatened to open the way for her stomach's contents.

The camp around could be seen burning with men and women both slaughtered, demonic and undead beings moving side by side, dragging the corpses away.

Only corpses and monsters filled the camp, but people could be seen appearing around, many looking not unlike Aarche, who had now fully emptied her stomach and stood up after wiping her chin.

The undead ignored the living as the various demonic beings seemed to feel joy at their suffering, the more powerful undead were too in jubilation at the horror their living counterparts felt.

To Hekkeran, these beings looked terrifying, but not all demons were humanoid as all sorts of abominations skittered through the camp.

A large centipede with hundreds of skittering legs could be seen stretching around, its long body being used like a conveyor belt for corpses, its face, deformed with hundreds of eyes and maws filled with insectoid claws, clicking against one another in a haunting melody.

A death knight threw a pile of corpses onto the centipede as another demon walked by, this one similar to a large bird, except blood seemed to be oozing out of its feathers, causing the grass beneath it to shrivel up and die as if acid was poured onto it. The creature had only two eyes, but that did not change the disturbing effect it held, especially as its eyes began drifting on its body as if its entire body was never a solid but closer to a liquid.

Suddenly, a man made a mad dash out of a tent toward the other workers, however, he did not last long.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a humanoid with a long serpent-like tail and round glasses appeared, shaking his head slightly.

"I hoped you would stay hiding for a bit longer... Oh well." (Demiurge)

The man looked Aarche dead in the eyes as desperation fueled his every step. Aarche watched in horror as the life left his eyes, leaving them a dead void as the demon made the man collapse instantly, one of the demons picked him up and carried him away as the demon looked on at his subordinate.

He then turned to the workers who had been spared and suppressed a smile.

Ah, to think Lord Ainz would devise such a devious plot! And Thoth could see through it and help make it happen no less...

Truly, he would have to put in more effort to prove his worth!

"Gather in the central tent." (Demiurge)

He spoke with a commanding and confident tone, his voice laced with magic, the bodies of the various workers moving without their consent.

Aarche is thankful for this, considering the sheer amount of mana each of these monsters held, she could have never walked toward any of them, let alone the large meeting tent, which is in the middle of it all.

They all entered inside, now fitting snugly with some room to spare, notably, corpses were still inside, attracting the attention of all who entered.

Demiurge stood on the platform, everyone staring at him in fear and terror.

"You have all been given the privilege of serving the Supreme Beings, and as such, I expect you to do nothing but succeed. Should you fail, you as a being no longer deserve to feel anything but raw suffering." (Demiurge)

Suddenly, Demiurge teleported behind the workers and started to speak while behind them.

"Since Lord Ainz himself has decided to give you vermin a chance, I believe it is only appropriate you show your gratefulness. [Kneel!]" (Demiurge)

And so they all kneeled, their foreheads dropping into the ground beneath them as their bodies ignored their desperate attempts to regain control.

"Good. Your mission is simple." Demiurge walked to the podium again.

"Stay here and become adventurers of the Kingdom, serve within E-Rantel for now, you shall receive further instructions in the future. Oh, and your families will also be moved to E-Rantel, so make it quick." Demiurge then disappeared after giving them one last command.

"[You are free to move after an hour.]"

Hekkeran and the other surviving workers stared in frozen horror as they stared at the monsters picking up bodies, quickly clearing out the entire camp. As if that vile demonic being wanted to show them the carnage just to see them suffer.

After this, slimes filled the area, sucking up all blood from the tents and ground, leaving behind no signs of the horrors unleashed here except the destroyed and damaged tents.

As the slimes also evacuated the area, only silence covered the air for a while-

"AAAA!"

-That is until a dwarf man with a thick brown beard dressed in full plate completely broke down, his loud unrestrained scream embodying the feelings of everyone around as he regained the ability to move.

His scream went on for a long time, roughly 10 seconds, followed by the sounds of people breaking down as sobbing and sniffling filled the air.

They had just escaped a fate worse than death somehow, but perhaps death would have been a mercy compared to their new destiny.

Some fell to their knees while others hugged themselves, shivering violently with goosebumps all across their skin, Foresight remained fairly intact somehow.

Of course, that did not mean they were unphased, oh Gods no.

Aarche shivered while Hekkeran's mind simply left, Roberdych could be seen fairly okay actually, but Imina on the other hand finally got the courage to empty her stomach onto the floor.

The dwarf man dressed in full-plate armor suddenly raised his voice, fear filling his tone.

"W-We can't stay here! We have to run!" (Dwarf)

Everyone agreed, but none held the courage to flee, knowing their fate should they do that.

"We cannot run." Roberdyck walked forward and onto the podium.

"Everyone, we have a new mission now, and we cannot run from it. This is our new purpose, your new destiny!" Roberdyck raised his hands in a triumphant gesture as he continued, "The Gods themselves have shown their might to us, I understand you are afraid, I am too, but we must prove ourselves in these trying times! This is a test from the divine, one we must succeed in!"

The workers listened to him, but they seemed to not be swayed into blind faith so easily, instead, those who nodded along were those intelligent enough to understand they never had a choice in the matter.

Nonetheless, even when the optimal decision is so obvious, fear is sometimes simply too powerful to overcome.

"Fuck this! I'm leaving and never coming back to this shithole!" The Dwarf spoke as he began walking out.

Everyone who agrees with me, come quickly, if we disperse in all directions and lay low, we should be able to hide!" (Dwarf)

Imina looked at Hekkeran and tugged his sleeve, her hesitation clear.

Hekkeran looked at her and then the Dwarf, this could be their last chance to leave, their last shot at freedom-

-Hekkeran suddenly looked down as Aarche grabbed his shoulder and pulled herself closer to his ear, whispering quietly, her voice shaking and eyes red and cheeks stained from tears.

"Don't do it... Please..." Her hands shook as she squeezed these words out, her eyes glancing at the tent wall as if she could see something.

"T-There is a demon outside..." (Aarche)

"What? Do they not know about your talent?" (Hekkeran)

As they continued discussing Imina nervously glanced at the Dwarf, who had managed to gather a small group.

"Is this everyone?! Fine! I'll see you cowards in hell!" The group then turned to leave the tent.

Imina pulled on Hekkeran's sleeve again, more urgent this time.

He turned and Imina motioned to the group leaving.

"Aarche, are you sure your senses are accurate?" (Hekkeran)

"No... I'm not sure about anything anymore..." She took a deep, shaky breath, "But we can't risk it can we?" (Aarche)

"...We can't," Hekkeran said bitterly.

"What are you guys talking about?" (Imina)

Hekkeran whispered into her ear, her face turning paler than before.

Yes, somehow it was possible. Many would rightfully question if there is any blood left in her blood vessels at this point, indeed, Imina had become a biological anomaly.

She put a hand over her mouth as she realized how badly she had messed up by having them almost leave.

"Oh, my Gods..." (Imina)

As they spoke, the "abandon party" left, the sound of plate armor and metal equipment going silent the second they left the tent.

Aarche could see the large mana of the creature outside moving toward theirs, silencing the worker's signatures one by one.

One of them almost got to the tent again, Aarche could see their hand through its flaps for a second, but they were dragged out again.

No one else seemed to notice. The silence was completely horrifying.

Hekkeran spoke to Aarche, yet he quickly noticed the fact she seemed to be tracing something outside the tent walls, so he called out to her, only to get ignored as she seemed to stare at the tent entrance.

He looked too, yet he saw nothing there, so he shook Aarche's shoulder. To which she reacted.

Oh boy, she reacted.

Aarche jumped back, recoiling at the sudden touch, her mana flaring, ready to cast a spell at a moment's notice. Seeing this, Hekkeran pulled back.

"Sorry, you seemed to be out of it." (Hekkeran)

Aarche, looking similar to a scared cat with her sharp gaze, lowered her guard and shook her head.

"It's okay. Oh, and the people who walked outside were killed by the way." (Aarche)

Imina and Hekkeran gulped at this and glanced at one another, suddenly, Roberdyck, still at the podium, spoke.

"Now, for those of us who have remained, which I am pleased to see is most of us, we must head to the Empire and relocate our families to E-Rantel. We should also get our reward from the noble." He turned to his teammates.

"Since Foresight has been the only group that made it inside and lived to tell the tale, we'll come up with fake reports and information on our own." (Roberdyck)

With that, the workers began packing up, all witnessing the occasional limb scattered outside.

And so, the workers began setting off toward the Empire, not before they saw a beautiful yet terrifying sight however.

Above them, as they began cleaning up, two beautiful dragons rose.

One is covered in scales of gold, oozing power and a sense of grandeur, whilst the other radiated divine purpose, its scales glowing white.

The two dragons roared as they flew, seemingly racing against one another.

...Today has certainly been a day for Aarche and all those who remain alive. It has certainly been a day.

-x-x-x-

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