261 Unfortunate accident
Furthermore, his petty spirit refused to waste materials, even if it was something free like his own body parts, he hated waste.
The skeletons moved forward to grab the other potions, even the monster generals, when a sudden cry of pain froze them in place.
The ogre patriarch once again fell to the ground screaming in pain and writhing, but this time it was different. The magic organ began to fall apart, the skin melting and dripping to the floor as the flesh peeled away from the bones.
The most sensitive organs detached themselves from the body and sprawled across the floor, the eyes falling out of their sockets while the brain spilled out of the sockets like mush.
“Hmm...it looks like the effects are only temporary and last for a few minutes at most. It’s a matter of lack compatibility with semi-human skeletons or maybe the potion is still incomplete and needs a few more ingredients for effects to be permanent ?” Athos muttered and scratched his chin thoughtfully.
“Anyway, I need more specimens to investigate what’s missing.” He concluded and turned to the skeletons frozen in place. “Hmm? You still haven’t had your potions?”
“And we never will, you idiot master!” Treevor exclaimed indignantly, throwing the potion to the ground angrily. “I thought you already tested this thing and kept it a secret just to brag about the result. Why would you use something untested on us instead of useless skeletons??”
“Maybe why I forgot about it?!” Athos said as if it were a plausible excuse, as indignant as Treevor.
Treevor wanted to strangle Athos in place, but the chains on his soul prevented him.
.....
“Haa... let’s look on the bright side. We’ve already taken the first step towards getting our bodies back, so let’s consider this a victory.” Emilia said to try to calm everyone down, but she was clearly disappointed.
‘I thought I’d finally get my chance with the master, but it’s still going to take a little longer.’ Emilia thought in frustration, looking at the ogre lying in agony on the ground.
The decomposition process was already over, but the ogre was still a pile of bones lying on the ground. The gray mass had replaced the darkness that moved his body, so he would remain unconscious until the darkness was restored.
To make matters worse, the ogre had felt the pain of having his brain turned to mush and it would take some time to recover from the trauma.
“Exactly, you should look on the bright side of things. It’s not because I almost caused all of you agonizing pain that you have to react in such an extreme way.” Athos spoke, refusing to accept his mistake and blaming his subordinates for getting angry over anything.
“Completely changing the subject, I need guinea pigs for an experiment that has come up out of the blue and I need them to be smart and high enough in the hierarchy to talk so they can answer all my questions. Any volunteers among your subordinates?” Athos asked with his best poker face and this time even Emilia glared at him.
“Hey, I’m not going to do anything to you guys, those captains with a few hundred skeletons below them should be enough for me. It’s not like you or I care about those nameless skeletons and they won’t die anyway, so it’s not a problem.” He shrugged it off like it was no big deal and the others had to agree.
None of them cared about any of the skeletons that were so low in the hierarchy, the only ones they cared about lightly were those around them, everything else was just weapons of war or manpower.
“I’ll stop there, but make sure you don’t give us those potions until the effect is permanent and free of side effects.” Treevor spoke as he scratched the leaves at the back of his head in annoyance.
The other generals nodded and dispersed to their respective tasks, but everyone’s mood was high. Even though the initial attempt failed, they had a glimmer of hope of getting their bodies back again.
************
Continent Caprio, in the beast realm Brumia.
The kingdom of Brumia was in the northeast of the continent, bordering Tivan and Evergreen. Its population was exclusively beastmen, a race of humans with characteristics of animals or monsters.
The church of Eishin said that beastmen were originally humans who performed blasphemous experiments to merge with monsters, while beastmen themselves believe that intelligent monsters had bonded with humans in the past and they were their descendants.
It was known that ancient and powerful monsters like dragons were capable of shapeshifting and taking on a human form, so it was possible that ancient intelligent monsters did the same.
The only ones who knew the truth were the old gods and their associates, but they kept the secret to themselves.
The kingdom of Brumia had been at war for centuries with the kingdom of Tivan, both over religious and territorial issues. The northeast of the continent was rich in magical and natural resources, much of its territory was fertile plains suitable for crops and the growth of magical plants.
There were also mines of metals and magic stones in the few mountains scattered throughout the kingdom.
They also had a commercial and military alliance with Evergreen, but it was called off decades ago when the elven dukes staged a failed coup attempt.
Three of the four dukes were killed and only the duke of spirits remained loyal to the yggdrasil sprout. The realm had been renamed Evergreen, the realm of spirits, and the surviving elves had become slaves to the spirits.
Despite Brumia’s extensive territory, there were only three major clans that held all the power in the realm, with a few smaller clans serving them.
The Sky Wing, Silver Fang, and Dragon Heart clans were the clans that ruled the kingdom of Brumia. They were respectively clans of white eagle beastmen, black werewolves and dragonewts.
Other small clans were all bird, canine or lizard beastmen and served their respective main clan.
One of the most famous and powerful was the Black Feathers clan, one of the clans that served the sky wings.
The clan was composed of black hawk beastmen and they were one of the most powerful clans just below the main clans, their power almost matching the main ones. They were a clan of mighty warriors, who had sired thousands of soldiers and mages to the realm over the generations.
Their ability to fly at high speeds and generate black flames from their energy-burning wings made them almost unstoppable in close combat.
Their territory also had fertile land and metal mines, so they were self-sufficient in almost everything. Even so, they were completely loyal to the sky wing clan, considering themselves the sword and shields of the clan.
They were incredibly honored and proud of their position as the right hand of the sky wings.
His clan’s headquarters was at the top of a mountain named after the clan’s name. The headquarters was built vertically on the mountain itself, as all its residents could fly and had no need for roads.
There were still a few paths and roads for visitors and members of other races to visit, but they were few in number and only led as far as the main buildings.
The houses had an oriental style, made mainly of wood and with curved roofs. It was the unique style adopted by winged beastmen, who preferred homes with more spacious rooms and long corridors.
Residential homes were built near the base of the mountain, while shops, workshops and markets were located in the middle of the mountain, with several training arenas for warriors and mages just above and the clan chief’s mansion occupying the top of the mountain.
The training arenas had five floors, but their central area was open to everyone, forming a large space for battles. The black hawk beastmen could fight both on the ground and in the air, so the arenas were built that way to allow for three-dimensional battles.
There were bleachers in all directions, allowing anyone to watch the battles and training. In one of the training arenas, several mock battles were taking place simultaneously, while several older beastmen watched the battles with interest.
The fighters inside the arenas were mainly young warriors who were about to join the army and wanted to demonstrate their skills to the older ones watching the battles.
It was an ancient tradition for young warriors who reached adulthood to flaunt their powers in front of the clan’s upper echelons, those who performed well would receive perks upon joining the army or a good commendation, depending on which department of the army they joined.
All of the youth currently fighting were the best of the best of the new generation, most having already reached the fourth tier of life, though they had barely reached the 25-year-old range where beastmen would be considered adults.
Beastmen aged much slower than humans and had a longer lifespan depending on their monster bloodline, so they took longer to reach adulthood.
Despite dozens of fights taking place simultaneously, all eyes in the audience were focused on one specific battle, where the two most promising young men were clashing with a ferocity that overshadowed the other battles.
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