《He who fights humanity》 prologue 1 - swamp The cold water drained his heat away and made his socks damp and cold. The boot-sucking mud slowed him considerably. The storm clouds above him flashed from time to time illuminating the crooked trees. Those things weren''t his immediate concern because the man in front of took in all The man was wearing a long blue coat with silver embroideries and a white blouse underneath. He wore brown pants, that were soaked and muddied under the knees. A revolver and a cutlass hung at his sides. Normally, the face of the man was expressionless except for his sparkling blue eyes. But today was different, his face was contorted in a grim expression and his eyes were cold and unwavering. He smiled to the grim man and shouted: "Hey, what got you in such a bad mood, mate? Not happy to receive your share?" He took a scroll out of his pocket, opened it and began to read: "I, Viktor Frost, captain of the royal army, have been entrusted with the power, by Her Royal Majesty, to prosecute in Her Majesty''s name when I suspect one of her subjects of committing piracy. Do you, Simon Blackheart, captain of the Black Rose, confess this crime?" "Hah! We both know what will happen. You say you couldn''t find me and I give you a share of the loot!" "I, Viktor Frost, captain of the Royal Eagle, bear witness to Simon Blackheart, captain of the Black Rose, confessing his crimes. The punishment for piracy and bribery of a Royal official is death. Do you have anything to say in your defense?" "Why are you doing this Viktor? We are friends. This isn''t necessary! You never cared about the law before!" Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! "No arguments have been set forth to change the verdict. Prepare for execution, pirate." Putting the scroll back in his jacket, he drew his pistol and shot in one fluent motion. "What in tarna....." A pain shot through the right side of his chest, cutting his curse off with a bloody gurgle. His heart thumped in his ears and his vision swam. Viktor came closer, holding his revolver aimed at Simon''s heart. Collapsing to his knees, another shot of pain went through him and darkness encroached. He couldn''t, no, he wouldn''t die. He had villages to plunder and ships to sink, beginning with the Royal Eagle. Biting through the pain, his right hand shot to his own flintlock pistol. Having hefted it halfway towards Viktor''s face, another bang sang through the air, followed by pain that shot through him. This time the darkness overtook him in an instant. He opened his eyes to the sight of Viktor''s intense eyes staring in his. With a somber tone he asked: "Any last words, Simon?" Simon opened his mouth, but only a gurgle came out. He tried again and this time an unintelligibly soft whisper came out of his mouth. Bowing forward to hear the whisper, Viktor was shocked to see Simon move. Simon jumped upwards with the dagger he had hidden in his boot in his left hand. Viktor''s shock cost him the ability to block the blow and the dagger pierced his right eye. Toppling forwards the corpse landed on Simon''s chest and pushed him under the water level. An insufferable pain shot through him when the water hit his wounds, making the world go black again. He opened his eyes and saw muddy water, being almost black, all around him. Pain shot through him when he tried to heave the body from his chest causing everything to become blurry. He felt the panic creeping into his mind as the world went blurry before his eyes. He pushed and pulled on the cadaver lying on his chest. Every time he used his right arm a flare of pain shot through him, but he bit through it. The pain didn¡¯t matter, he had to escape the water! His panic settled as his eyes were blurry from the pain in his chest and arm. Biting through the pain that shot through him time and time again he had pushed and pulled at the lieutenant''s body, never moving it more than an inch. After a minute of uselessly scratching a corpse he gave in to the void that had been growing in his mind. He breathed in the muddy water, coughed and flailed one more time. Then he saw a tunnel forming. The water moving farther and farther away until the darkness engulfed him hole. Chapter one - Unknown location The pain had numbed his whole system, he couldn''t feel anything anymore. It was a bitter end, killed by your best friend you have known for 58 years. At least he had put that dirty dog in the grave with him.... Hold up. Hold up! Somebody couldn''t think if they were dead! Could they? No he didn''t think so. He slowly opened his eyes. He looked around without moving his head. He had learned at many an occasion that playing dead had its benefits. He saw a ceiling with giant stalactites. Between those stalactites were spider webs as thick as his arm. He gulped when he saw something, as big as a small cart, with black hair, moving along the grey ceiling. He instinctively shivered when it disappeared in one of the shadows cast by the stalactites. How could such a large beast disappear into the shadows without an trace? When he moved his downwards he saw a boiling crimson lake. Inspecting it closer he saw that it was a lake made out of blood. Blood! He crawled back trying to get more distance away from the bloody boiling lake! God damned lakes should be made out of water not blood! He jumped to his feet and spun around when his back hit a solid object. His eyes fell in awe and terror not on the mountain of gold, gems and thousands of human skeletons but on the giant red dragon sleeping atop the it. Then a mighty and deep voice spoke to him: "Hello little mouse. Do you know what this is?" Taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself, he answered in an unquivering voice: "No idea. But I warn you. If you try to eat me, I''l fight back." "Hah hah hah." boomed through the cavern. "No little mouse. I am not the dragon, you are the dragon. You are everything here. The lake is your deeds; the ceiling is your character: the hoard your ambition and the dragon is your spirit, it''s unbeatable and proud. This is your soul!" After an awkwardly long silence Simon spoke up again: "So what are you? my conscience?" "Ha. No." Said a man, who shimmered into existence "I am the guardian of monsters. I have come here to give you a second chance at life." The man wore a long brown business coat. He had green, cat-like, eyes, with a vertical pupil. He wore a snow white blouse with a brown tie. In his hands, with long sharp claws, was a business case. But what was on his head crowned all, it were two giant black horns. The man opened his mouth, showing his sharp teeth, and began to speak: "You, little mouse, are one of the few people I find interesting. So I want to give you an offer. I give you a shot at a new life, one where you can plunder to your heart''s content and where the powers of nature lie at your fingertips, and you do me a little favor." A sly smile like he could boss me around however much he wanted crossed his face. This place was his soul, he was master over it, not this creepy man, he would not be bullied here! So he spoke up: "Sounds like you need me! If you are willing to resurrect me instead of just recruiting a living person. So what is your offer?"Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. A palpable pressure, like the being encased in water surrounded him, making him shiver and causing goose bumps to shoot up his arms. Three sets of tentacles grew out of the guardian¡¯s back; his claws and fangs grew half a meter longer and fur, as black as the night sky, sprouted all over his body, ripping his clothes asunder. "You question the intentions of a guardian, little rat!" hissed the guardian, a split tongue coming out of his mouth. "I can squash you like the little vermin you are. I can scatter your soul on the north wind. I can put your soul into a ruby place in a dungeon where you won''t see the sun in a million years. Reconsider your life choices." Simon sighed and responded in a bored tone: "So you begin with proclaiming that you do me a favor and then when I ask you a question: "what is in the offer for me?" you threaten me. Meanwhile I still don''t know what I get out of the deal" "You are not happy with a second chance at life?" said the guardian in a deep bear tone. "No! My last one was shit! you know that!" The guardian sighed and sat down on a chair, that appeared out of nowhere and said: "Alright, little rat, I give you an option for your new monstrous race, and give it an upgrade in return will you kill fifty thousand humans for me." After a minute of overthinking the offer Simon asked: "The question still arises: why won¡¯t you use an already living person?" "Two reasons, the first is that I think that you have the potential to grow strong enough to do it and the second is that normal monsters are too stupid and weak to do it, the stronger monsters in my area are strong enough to defy me and I have nothing to give to them. So what do you think?" "Does he fall under your jurisdiction?" "Who again?" "The enemy!" "I am not sure who you are talking about, little mouse." "His name is Viktor Frost, my bilge-sucking brother, a lily-livered mutineer, a son of a biscuit eater and landlubber to boot. That''s the one I am talking about!" "Ah, yes, I get it now. He is currently not under my domain but that can be arranged. At great cost may I add. If I do that, do we have a deal?" asked the guardian, that had shifted back into his humanoid form, hopefully. "No! I want Viktor and myself to have stronger racial options available to choose from. He wouldn''t survive without it and I have to be the one to strangle him. I want to choose his race, just so he can''t mess that option up to, and I want to begin my new life in the same area as he does." The guardian made a sour expression that turned thoughtful after a few moments. After another few moments of consideration a smirk crossed his face and he put forth his hand. When Simon clasped the outstretched hand in a handshake the guardian said: "agreed." Chapter two - Viktors soul Victor touched his throat were he felt a throbbing pain. His hand came back dry, meaning that he was healed. He sat upon a hard surface. It felt like a throne, not the medical bed where he would have expected to wake up. He straightened his back to touch the back of his seat and then he opened his eyes and looked around slowly. He saw the throne room of a castle. The floor was paved by white marble stones. Giant ice pillars went up from the floor to keep up a ceiling that was made out of many layers of ice. The layered ceiling reflected the light, that had no apparent source in many ways, giving it a depth while Viktor couldn''t see the other side. The walls were made out of white smooth granite, with an arch directly opposite of the throne he sat in. The arch was made out of the same stone as the walls but swirling runes were carved into it. The frozen lake beyond the arch had black moving shadows beneath the ice. His attention was redirected by a polity cough to an imposing man standing beneath his throne. before him stood a man in golden robes with a crown on his head and wings flaming Wings floating behind him. Viktor straightened in his throne and put his arms on the rests and said: "Welcome, how should I address you? " The man smiled and answered the question with a feminine voice: "You can call me your divinity or Elena." Viktor made a half bow and answered with an official voice: "I am honored by your presence, your divinity. I wouldn''t want to take too much of your time. I hope I am not too direct, but what is the purpose of your visit? " Elena nodded slightly "I shall let it slide this time cause you died and have no idea what is happening. I am here to make a deal, I resurrect you and you clear a den of orcs¡­.. " The ruby red eyes of the goddess went blank and she stared into space. A few moments went by and then she spoke up again. "I am sorry Viktor but I am giving you to the guardian of monsters. He would stop protecting the orcs in exchange for your soul. A bit of advice, do not trust him! A fire sprouted from where Elena stood melting a bit of the ceiling. Elena was gone but in her place was a puddle of melted ice, reflecting a hellish scene. He put his shin high and stared down at the puddle, where a man with a feathered hood, a torn and bloodied shirt and pants. A black beard crowned his face and emerald green eyes stared into him. It was his brother. He smiled sadly at him while curses and spittle flew his way. After a few minutes Viktor spoke up softly, silencing the tirade: "I am sorry brother. " "You sorry, ''ey. You''re sorry! Both of us will live in a new world, one with magic. Mark my words: ''I am gone find, I am gonna hurt you and then I will heal you. Over and over again.'' Viktor stammered to make a response but Simon spoke up again: "Show me his racial choices " "sure. " A man said with a sardonic smile and two horns on his head. A blue screen appeared in the pool
Racial choices Viktor Frost
Common races:
Goblin Goblins, a result of interbreeding between sapient species and beasts, are aggressive and hated by all.
Orc This Race is stronger than men in every way but is consumed by their bloodlust
Ogre A type of giant and Goblin. Ogres are large and stupid.
Kobold Crafty and nimble, Kobolds have the blood of dragons in them.
Uncommon personal races:
Ice Imp They are a variant of the Imp that live in Zamhareer, the coldest place in hell, where they torture with their bad jokes.
Ice wolf A monster from the snowy places that can grow as large as a battleship and that can shrug of blowsLove this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Dhampir Offspring of a vampire that lurks in the dark and a human a dhampir can sense the invisible and have the magical strength that vampires do.
Unique personal race:
Glacial dhampir thiefling A union between a Glacial thiefling, a result of an ice demon sacrificing humans, and a vampire made this race possible. BE AWARE: "This race has severe fire vulnerabilities. "
After reading through the races carefully he offered: "Man with horns, if he can choose my race, can I choose his? " The blue screen disappeared leaving a grinning man. "What can you offer me in return for that service? " He answered with the best retort he could imagine: "What did he offer " "To bring 50.000 people eternal rest. " "I shall help him in this¡­ " He tried to shout: ''wait'' but the man had already answered with a sardonic grin "Deal. " The puddle went from being magical to being a normal puddle made out of water. With the howl of a wolf the man with horns appeared before him. Speaking with a clear voice he said: "You both may not hurt each other until the task is complete. I can not choose where you appear but it will be a challenge. The world will always make everything challenging but possible. Just to force people to grow. You shall both still appear in the same area cause I have a pretty small domain. That is something I will be working on. You may ask three questions, little mouse. " The man''s green eyes were glossy and looking into the distance. "Why did you come to me instead of keeping an open conversation? " "Yes.. Easy¡­ no not that¡­. Oh, just so you two don''t choose a race to spite each other. " The man kept on mumbling, something about showing her wrong. "Could I now choose his race please?" "What? Yeah. Sure. "
Racial choices Simon Blackheart
Common races:
Goblin Goblins, a result of interbreeding between sapient species and beasts, are aggressive and hated by all.
Orc This Race is stronger than men in every way but is consumed by their bloodlust
Ogre A type of giant and Goblin. Ogres are large and stupid.
Kobold Crafty and nimble, Kobolds have the blood of dragons in them.
Uncommon personal races:
Drake A offspring race of the dragon that has lost its wings and can be found at the sides of adventurers.
Shadow A living shadow that will be hardly hurt by physical blows but who will be devastated by normal light or spells. It has the ability to leash someone''s strength.
Dark elf A kind of elf that lives underground and worships dark gods. They are hated and despised by all and are thereby outcasts. Cause of that hate they murder and rob.
Blood elemental An elemental being that is a mix of the elements water, earth and wind to have the elemental affinity blood.
Rare personal race:
Slime A common monster found in dungeons. They are able to live almost everywhere because of their adaptability in evolution. They are stupid but they are with many!
Unique personal race:
Bloody dragon spawn The race that was created when people swam and drank dragon blood was the dragon spawn. This is a subcategory of those that absorbed the power of a blood dragon.
"My last question: ''Will he be as dumb as a slime?'' " "No, both of you get a boon from me that will strengthen one aspect of the race. For the slime this will be the intellect. May I ask you a question? " "shoot. " "What? " "shoot, meaning: ''shoot your question at me'' " "Ah, okay. Why the slime? " Viktor leaned back in his throne and answered the question "The slime is the only option not related to darkness or killing. I want my brother back! " With a chuckle the man answered: "you know that he drowned, right...... " The guardian gave a few moments for that to settle in. Viktor hurriedly tried to correct his mistake:"Ah shit! wai¡­.. " Chapter three - Unknown place Simon found himself waking up after making his final choice. The bed was very soft and he found himself relaxing when age old injuries didn¡¯t come back to haunt him. He hadn¡¯t noticed before but he hadn¡¯t been able to feel anything in his soul. He felt so light that he could fly away. He tried opening his eyes but it didn¡¯t work. ¡®Ah, well, who would care if he would sleep another few minutes.¡¯ With that thought he rolled on his side. A great splosh followed when he hit another soft bed. After the trilling went through his body he tried to open his eyes once again. ¡®Shit, shit, shit.¡¯ He tried to count to ten but when he tried to move his arm all his calm broke away. A wiggle ran through his body making him sick. What the heck was this? He felt nothing inside his body except a rough stone. He felt all the cracks around him in the stone. thoughts raced through him like a wildfire but one blazed as hard as an inferno:¡¯ What the fuck did that asshole do?!¡¯ How could he check? He couldn¡¯t see his race cause he couldn¡¯t see. Would there be a blue box to check it in. ¡°Blue box.¡± ¡°Blue box!¡± No, that didn¡¯t work. Count till ten to become focused. One. Two. Three. That asshole. Four. Five. Six. What had he done. All of this to spite him?! Cause he wouldn¡¯t willingly walk to his own death. He would kill fifty thousand people. Just so he could mangle the face of that bastard. His body was shaking wildly making him feel all around. He was in a tunnel with water streaming down in the middle. What the fuck. All vanished again for his mind¡¯s eye. How should he go about determining his condition? After thinking those words a blue screen appeared again:
General:
Name: Simon Blackheart
Title: None
Age: 0
Race: Slime
Mana pool: 89/90
Health pool: 140/140
Stamina pool: 140/140
Class: None
Level: 0
Experience points: 0/100
Cultivation: None
Rank: None
Attributes:
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 8
Agility: 7
Constitution: 14
Willpower: 12
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 7
Alertness: 11
skills:
racial skills: Tremor sense (Unskilled - 1) Body manipulation (Unskilled - 1)
skills: Soul space (Unskilled - 1)
affinity¡¯s:
None
Mutations:
None
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Skill points: 0
Mutation points: 0
Stat points: 0
Boons:
Guardians boon: Sentient slime.
He needed to survive. He needed more information to survive. So he did the same thing he did to make his info screen appear. He focused his thoughts on one specific thing: ¡®Class!¡±
Classes: when you reach level 5 you may choose your first basic class, giving you unique bonuses. at level ten you may choose another one. From then on you may evolve your class into something better every ten levels. A class gives you bonuses to their specialization as well as skills and boons. The class you have will determine how many stat points you get.
That was a relief. He didn¡¯t have a disadvantage because he had just appeared. All people would begin without a class. That meant he could fight them. He summoned and skimmed through the information on experience. The gist of it was that you had to do one of three things to level up: ¡®The first was to kill things, the second was to complete quests and the third was to complete quests.¡¯ When he read through it better he noticed that there was one peculiarity: ¡®How harder it is to do, how more experience, meaning that if you killed vermin all day as a level hundred you would get almost no experience. He then read through his two racial skills, tremor sense and body manipulation, finding that he had accidentally used both. He hoped that ten mana a minute wasn¡¯t much, cause that was the prize he had to pay for tremor sense. Body manipulation meant that he could move around his body at the cost of stamina, just as all people did. Just as he tried to open the screens for soul space did he feel a ping at the back of his mind and did he feel his body wiggle as something sharp was pressed into it. A screen appeared, when he acknowledged the ping at the back of his mind, before his mind¡¯s eye.
Rat bites idiot: 19 attack, 14 blocked, damage 5. Health pool 135/140
How dare that rat! He was the terror of the ocean! That rodent would learn it¡¯s place!
Rat slashes idiot: 16 attack, 14 blocked, damage 2. Health pool 133/140
Rat bites idiot: 20 attack, 14 blocked, damage 6. Health pool 127/140
Rat slashes idiot: 15 attack, 14 blocked, damage 1. Health pool 126/140
What! counterstrike! Creating a tentacle out of slime he attacked back¡­. and missed. Maybe he should activate tremorsense!
CRITICAL HIT! Rat slashes idiot: 52 attack, 14 blocked, damage 38. Health pool 88/140
A flare of pain shot through him as a black clawed paw reached through his slimy body and scratched the stone inside his body. He bit through the pain, just as he had done many times as a pirate, and flowed up the body of the rat. He could sense every part of the rat that was encased in his slime. The rat was a female of its kind. It had many places on his skin where scars ran.
Rat bites idiot: 18 attack, 14 blocked, damage 4. Health pool 87/140
Ow! Stop that! Simon quickly activated tremor sense to see what was happening. Two rats still scurried around him. The rat within him tried to scratch him but the sticky slime that Simon controlled made sure that he couldn¡¯t get any force behind his blows. One of the rats tried to scratch at him but Simon shoved him aside with a tentacle. The rat found the wall with an impact that sent tremors through earth and air alike. The rat peeled down from the wall with a chest several centimeters smaller. The last beast turned his head to the ceiling. Tremors rang through the air a few moments later after it had opened its mouth.
Black rat¡¯s screech: 40 attack, 12 blocked, 28 damage . Health pool 59/140
The only indication the rat was alive was its chest weakly going up and down. Simon rolled over and slapped the corpse with a splash into the ground. Simon looked at his stats.
Mana pool: 83/90
Health pool: 60/140
Stamina pool: 76/140
After a few moments he noticed something odd. His health had regenerated. Also rat inserts are gross! Wait, what! Focusing on the rat in his body he saw that it had almost dissolved into nothingness. ¡°tak, tak, tak. tak, tak, tak. tak, tak, tak. tak, tak, tak.¡± Whas he just imagining it or was he hearing thuds? ¡°Tak, tak, tak. Tak, tak, tak. Tak, tak, tak. Tak, tak, tak.¡± No! It were definitely many things walking in ritme. ¡°Tak, tak, tak! Tak, tak, tak! Tak, tak, tak! Tak, tak, tak!¡± They were also definitely coming closer. Wobbling on he sensed a grate in the floor about five meters along. ¡°Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!¡± He could now make out the sound of the hundreds of feet rushing at him. Another meter further and he could identify the vibrations in the air as rat screeces. He concentrated most of his slime behind the stone and pushed it all out in a long tentacle.
Idiot hit wall: 17 attack, 14 blocked, 3 damage . Health pool 58/140
He launched himself forward another two times, when the rats rounded the corner. The blast of air that was there screeching pierced his mind, making it go blank for a second. He was so close to the grate. Ten centimeters! But he just couldn¡¯t go. His slime deflated into a puddle. how hard he willed it to didn¡¯t matter, cause it didn¡¯t react to any commands. The rats had halved the distance. He had to move! The rats were within five meters! With great effort he heaved himself into a blob once more. A darkness almost overtook him was it not for the pain shooting through his system. It felt like his body was on fire. He didn¡¯t even notice when his tremor sense cut off. He was almost there, almost at the grate, when they were there, hitting him with all there mass in him and cutting him with their claws.
Rat hits idiot: 12 attack, 14 blocked, 0 damage . Health pool 47/140
Rat slashes idiot: 15 attack, 14 blocked, 1 damage . Health pool 46/140
Rat hits idiot: 13 attack, 14 blocked, 0 damage . Health pool 46/140
Rat slashes idiot: 18 attack, 14 blocked, 4 damage . Health pool 42/140
Rat hits idiot: 11 attack, 14 blocked, 0 damage . Health pool 42/140
Rat slashes idiot: 15 attack, 14 blocked, 1 damage . Health pool 41/140
Rat slashes idiot: 19 attack, 14 blocked, 5 damage . Health pool 36/140
He fell down after the beating once more as a slime puddle. His body was spread evenly over the stone flour except at one place, where his slime was hanging down. Helping gravity with all that he could, Simon pushed his body down the hole while ignoring the notifications. After one last nasty bite he was through the grate. Falling into a happy nothingness.