"Hm..."

"…"

"?"

"Where….?"

The man stuttered waking up, still feeling dizzily after getting slammed against the cell bars.

"?"

"?!"

However, the man instantly awoken completely, as he realized he was bound to the stone like table, while having all of his limbs chained up.

"SHIT! LET HIM GO!" – shouted the human mage with broken limbs from the cell right next to the man, causing the bound beast-human to start looking around in panic as he realized that he was right in the middle the prison.

(W-what is going on?! Why I'm bound?!) – thought the beast-human as he tried breaking free from the restrains, only to then notice the six-armed puppet standing right next to him, before then putting down different kind of tools like hammers and daggers.

"…"

<<People.>>

<<Some of the people that I've captured were…. Cooperative.>>

<<I've made sure they are taken care of.>>

<<…>>

<<But it ended at one point.>>

<<The first prisoners, they had completely become "useless" and the only thing left to do with them was experiment.>>

<<So I took them and did it…. Well, those first experiments were less successful than I've thought, and I've kind of killed all of the test subjects, but hey. It was only beginning.>>

<<If anything, I may discover something if I continue the human experiments. I can feel it!>>

<<…>>

<<But that also made them be afraid of me even more.>>

<<Or more exactly, they were "rebelling.">>

<<Honestly, it was annoying.>>

<<I didn't tell them that they were gotten rid off…. Did they just figured out all on their own?>>

<<Either way, it made cooperation between us much…. Well, much harder…. So, I needed to do something.>>

"W-wait! W-what are you doing?!" – asked scared beast-human as he saw Thauma reaching for one of the knifes.

<<So I hit them.>>

<<I've threatened them.>>

<<I've wounded them.>>

<<And it worked.>>

<<When they felt "pain", they turned into obedient cowards... But they sometimes still rebelled against me….>>

<<Some even tried to get out by blasting me with magic, so I needed to punish them.>>

<<I've punched them and made them suffer…. But then I've realized, that the other were also scared, just from seeing the scene and from just hearing the man screams.>>

<<They became more obedient.>>

"NO! W -AAAAAAAAAA!"

<<Pain and fear.>>

<<Torture.>>

<<Torture is something about infilling pain and suffering onto the victim, in order to either punish them or make them more "cooperative".>>

<<Some forms of punishment is some simple form of physical punishment, while some others are more about mental punishment.>>

<<That what "Crime And Justice" book that I've read had.>>

"P=please…. Not…. Not my legs…."

<<By the looks of things while I'm torturing the culprit, I can make other prisoners more obedient by having them only need to see and hear the torture.>>

*Snap* *Crack* *Snap* *Crack*

<<It was effective…. But I've killed the first test subject way too quickly with my tortures.>>

<<And one of them even just bit off their tongue, killing themselves.>>

"Oh god…. What is he doing to him?" – asked the human mage prisoner as he saw puppet gagging up the prisoner with piece of cloth.

<<I needed to be careful not to kill them too quick.>>

<<Honestly, this was bit problematic, making them suffer as much as possible, while also making sure that they wouldn't die…. But honestly? It was also a great experience.>>

"PLEASE! LET HIM GO! IT WAS MY FAULT! IT WAS IDEA!"

<<By learning how to keep the test subject alive for much longer, I could possible experiment on them way longer WHILE they are still alive.>>

<<And experimenting on a corpse is much different compare to when I'm experimenting on a living being.>>

"…"

"?"

(Ah…. I think he is dead.) – thought Thauma as it stopped experimenting and torturing the pinned down man.

"?"

(Wait, did his own blood blocked his breath? He couldn't breathe?…. But I didn't... Hm… Weird…How I did that? Truly…. Weird…. But at the same time, interesting? I guess I still have to learn a lot when it comes to messing with living bodies in order not to kill them.)

"SHIT! LET ME GO! LET THE FUCK GO OFF ME!" – shouted the new soldier as a new batch of prisoners were dragged into the prison.

"HEY! DO YOU KNOW WHO I'M?! I'M…. I'm...I'm…." – the prisoner quickly stopped tracking around as he gazed right in front of him, spotting the stone like table in the middle of the room…. Where a butchered corpse of a beast-human was laying, while a six-armed puppet covered in the man blood just stood next to it.

(Ah…. Maybe I should had waited a bit and let the new prisoners see the torture?)

"…"

(Hm…. But their expressions…. "Fear", isn't it?)

(I guess just seeing this corpse is enough to scare them enough?) – thought Thauma before then walking towards the new prisoners in order to deal with them.

"…"

"…"

(Disposes...Deposed…?) – thought the human mage with broken ribs as he stared at his friend butchered corpse.

"…"

"hugh!?"

The man couldn't hold it anymore and just straight up puked, before then starting down at his own puke.

(H-he was just playing!? He just tore apart, broke -WHAT THE FUCK!?)

(Is that why they are looking…. So "dead"?! Why they have that kind of expression?!)

(They saw this thing doing it before!?)

"…"

(Just what the fuck was that?) – thought the man as his cell door started opening up once again, before moments later a pair of arms grabbed the man and started dragging him outside the cell.

[Meanwhile]

"Shit! Okay! I think you can stop…. Yea…. You can stop…" – said the Duke Wondan as the carriage arrived at the ruined village.

"...Y-yes sir." – said nervous carriage coachman as he looked around, making sure the area is secure, before then stopping the carriage.

"…"

"What the hell was that…." – said the nobleman as he tried sitting down as his body continues shaking.

(Those were not wolf monsters... And who were the people…. Or maybe other beings that fired these at us?!)

(People? Or monsters?!)

(But it doesn't make sense!)

(If there was…. Why wasn't I warned?!)

(Why I wasn't warned about any of those things that came out of the forest?!)

(And why didn't the soldiers warn us?!)

"…"

"Wait…. Were they... Were they wiped out?"

(No…. No, no, no…. This doesn't make sense!)

(….)

(And yet…. Is this the only possible explanation?!)

"…"

"We need to run…."

"You heard me?!"

"We are leaving this territory!"

"A-are you sure about this sir?" – asked shaken up coachman.

"Am I sure?! THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?!" – shouted nobleman.

"YOU SAW THOSE THINGS, RIGHT?!"

"The people that were with me are good as gone!"

"We need to run and report this!"

"Before either those creatures find us or we end up either getting devoured by wolve monsters or get ambushed by bandits!"

"You hear me!? GO!"

"GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

(Ash needs to know!)

(He needs to know what the hell is going on here!)

The nobleman fled in panic after realizing that his entire army was completely annihilated.

He didn't looked back or even dared to, as he truly believed that nobody was left alive.

And he wasn't wrong.

His army that he had brought with him? Annihilated.

They may not have been the best of the best, nor their numbers were great…. But there was quite number of soldier and there was also few stronger soldiers as well as knights mixed in… Which nobleman understood his facts.

He knew that even if the soldiers weren't the best and were already exhausted from the war, mentally and physically, they still had numbers.

And yet, none of them even left the forest.

He knew that King Ash needs to find out about this incident as soon as possible.

[Meanwhile: Dungeon]

"No! I'm not lying! I swear!" – said the injured human mage as it was getting interrogated by Thauma.

"…"

(So…. The war between two factions has ended? Interesting.) – thought Thauma, as it just found that the war outside had just ended with the Noble faction claiming the victory, and with the coronation of the new king, King Ash.

(I've heard about this "Duke Ash".)

(Well, they now call him "Kind Ash", yes?)

"But isn't previous king still alive? How can there be two kings ruling the same nation?" – asked Thauma.

"N-no. The previous king was dethroned during rebellion." – said the panicking mage.

"So he isn't really a king anymore, he is just…. Well… A guy without nation?"

"…"

(What the hell is this thing?) – thought the mage.

(He is asking questions over and over.)

(And not some mindless questions, but precise questions as well.)

(Just who the hell is this thing?)

"Question." – Thauma written down a question.

"Why did you came to this forest?"

(Honestly, at first I've thought the were rebels, just like the last guys.)

(The people I've captured before had told me that they came here to hide, but from what I do now realize, these people are not coward that escaped the army, but instead they are soldiers directly working for this "New Garmfon" kingdom.)

(And I need to know their "goal".)

"…"

"The…"

"…"

"Speak. I will understand." – said Thauma as the man was unsure what to say.

"…"

"The entire kingdom, it is in ruins." – said the mage.

"it isn't a well-known fact, but currently the kingdom of Garmfon is pretty much…. Well, at bring of total destruction."

"It is a secret, but the kingdom is way worse state that publics believe in."

"Not even soldiers knows about it…. Only few loyal soldiers that worked with the Duke Wondan knows this secret."

"Why? Why is kingdom in ruins? Didn't you won?" – asked Thauma.

"…. The war…. The war took much bigger tool on the entire kingdom than we could had expected." – replied mage.

"Both sides were trying to end the war as soon as possible…. But because they were going all out non stop in order to end the war, it ended up leaving scars all across the kingdom."

"Territories unstable, settlements rebelling or just straight up destroyed."

"King Ash ordered his loyalist to quickly restore order."

"…"

"Then why come here?" – asked Thauma.

"I don't have anything to do with your kingdom."

"…"

"Is it because I'm your source of income?"

"This dungeon? The one you want to turn into a national level dungeon, which can become one of kingdom main sources of income?"

"?!"

(He knows the dungeon's value?! Did the other prisoner told him that?!) – thought alarmed mage, as he realized he has to tell everything, or the puppet will torture the man the same way it did with the man from before…. Turning him into a "Example".

"…Yes…. That is why we are here." – said the nervous mage as the puppet gazed at him.

"The…. The dungeon was completely left unsupervised because of how much chaos was going on in this territory."

"Non stop battles made not only neither side truly possessing the forest where the dungeon was located… But now the new king wishes to finally claim the control of the forest and dungeon."

"This is the reason why we were sent here."

"…"

(So it began?) – thought Thauma who instantly got nervous.

(They are coming here, directly for me.)

(No more stalling.)

(No more waiting.)

(Am I strong enough to take them on?)

(Were these soldiers that I've fought just a bunch of weaklings? Or were they elites?)

(I don't know.)

"…"

(I've keep telling myself, that "it is over, they are coming". But this time they are really coming.)

(Honestly, I'm scared.)

"…"

(But that doesn't change anything.)

(Fight.)

(This is only option left.)

(It doesn't matter if I'm still a coward or not.)

(It doesn't matter if I know how strong my opponent or not.)

(None of matters.)

(This is just a fight for survival, just like any other fights so far.)

(And I'm planning on surviving this "war".)

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.