"Nature's boon!" Upon the use of the skill, Kane's body was cocooned inside a pod of vines. "You'll recover sooner if you stay in for a while."
Provided with mana from the goblin queen, Kane's body was already on its path to full recovery. Hastened further by the effect of nature's boon inside the cocoon-like vessel, Kane's limbs stitched themselves together and even reattached his head back onto his body.
'Fucking hell…I never thought I'd have to resort to a goblin for help.' After staying inside the cocoon for a while, he felt the strain in his body being washed away completely, and when it was all finally gone, he tore out through the healing vessel.
"I smell like grass," he mumbled, feeling somewhat sick from the strong stench.
Looking down at the queen who was marginally shorter than him, he noticed the unamused expression on her face and realized she wasn't really in the mood for small talk.
"You have a plan?" He asked, subconsciously reaching to his back for his absent sword.
'Dammit, I don't know where my sword is.' Keeping his frustration to himself, he wore a weak smile.
"You're the monster hunter, aren't you?" Getting up on her toes, the queen clamped Kane's face between her fingers. "Shouldn't you be the one to figure that out?"
Glaring at him with her eyes flowing with a shade of red and green hue like aurora, flowing green and red, she tried to charm him to be her servant, but the spell failed before it could even be completed. Realizing what she'd just tried on him, Kane wanted to tear through her body with fortress, yet having no clue how to escape the dungeon, he decided not to ruin his chances.
"Are you done?" His eyes furrowed in a raging scorn, he glared her down with great contempt. "Show me where the king is and maybe I'll forgive you for what you've just tried."
'She's a monster too, so it's my own fault for trusting her that much.' Curling up his fist, he kept his rage confined within him.
'Humans, they're all so…annoying, and worst of all unpredictable.' Keeping her teeth gritted in rage, she turned around to lead the way to the king's lair. Stepping out of the barred prison cell, however, she locked it behind her before Kane could take a single step out of it.
"I know exactly what you're thinking," her eyes back into their crimson hue were sternly fixed on the prisoner inside. "How do I know I trust you? That you won't kill me right after the king?"
Drawing his right hand back, Kane activated Fortress to cover his arm in sharp rocks. Gaining enough momentum with his swing he tore right through the cell bars keeping the door intact. Having expected him to try something similar, the queen simply took a few steps back while keeping her eyes fixed on him.
"Help me kill that guy, and find a pair of runoff slaves and I'll let you off the hook," Jerking his hand to brush off all the rock from his fist, Kane extended his hand to her as a sign of truce.
Eyeing his hand, she took a moment to think things through before arriving at her end of the deal.
"How about we use a curse to bind each other to uphold that promise?" Circling a finger in the air, she conjured up a magic circle. Parting in two it floated right over both of their hearts. "Promise me, you'll leave me and my tribe alone once all this is taken care of and I'll help you kill the king and find those slaves of yours."
Letting out a chuckle, Kane took her hand in her and sealed the curse with a shake of hands. The moment their hands touched, the magic circles traveled inside their bodies and bound themselves to their hearts. Marked with the curse of the bound, neither of them could break the promise, and if they even so much as tried to, the curse would cut through their hearts like butter.
Once everything was said and done, the queen led the way to a nearby cave where part of her tribe was guarding the treasure the king had stripped from all the other species inside the dungeon. However, none of the glimmers caught Kane's fancy, since the only thing he was interested in was finding his sword that was supposed thrown somewhere inside the rubble.
Scanning through and rummaging through the pieces, he kept searching for his blade amongst a pile of gems and other ore, all the while the young goblin guards kept shuddering at the corner from the sight of a human warrior.
"Where the hell is it?!" Turning to the goblins he let out a growl, however, as the queen moved in between them, Kane was reminded of his promise. "Aren't they supposed to be warriors? If they are so easily afraid then I doubt they can survive a single hit from the king."
His plan to use their strength no longer seemed viable, especially since they were afraid of him even though the minotaur king looked much more vicious.
"They used to be warriors, but no longer…" Holding her breath, the queen's eyes squinted in pain. "We tried to fight the king, but he killed everyone else but them and a handful of others who're no longer here."
"What happened to the others?" Getting up on his feet, Kane noticed a small cave leading further into the place.
"They were killed by a party of humans currently wandering around in the dungeon," while her reply piqued his curiosity, he was a lot more curious about the foul stench coming from the dark cave.
The moment he took a step towards it, all the goblins around him threw themselves at his feet to try and deter him from going in.
"What the hell is in there?" he asked, glaring sideways at the queen.
The queen's lips parted to answer, but pressing them shut, she drew a deep breath, knowing that Kane wouldn't appreciate what was inside.
"I was going to tell you once we were done with the king, but I guess I have no choice but to show you now," walking past him, she gestured for him to follow behind.
Although a bit dubious about her intentions, Kane followed her deeper into the cave. The stench kept growing stronger with each step, and the buzzing of flies was almost deafening to the ears at this point. At the end of their walk, they came up to an opening with numerous deteriorating human carcasses hanging up with chains.
"Grimm Daumas, the runaway slave…" Kane mumbled looking at the rotting carcass of one of the slaves he was meant to retrieve from the dungeons. "Where's the girl?"
Frantically looking around, he tried to find a female corpse, but no matter where he looked there was no woman inside the damned place.
"Where is she?" He asked, grabbing the queen.
His fingers digging into her skin was enough indication for her to spit out all her secrets.
"The king, he likes to toy with women, be it humans, demi-humans, or monsters," just those words were enough for him to know exactly what she meant.
'I'm gonna fucking kill this monster before he claims another victim!' His heart of gold bleeding a crimson, pained from the thought of countless women being tortured by this monster.
"Take me to him this instant," even though he had no blade nor any companions, he was willing to risk it all again for the sake of what's righteous.
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