My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 199: The Mountains Have Eyes

Kace led the group towards the mountains, nervousness blanketed his mind as he thought about the reunion with Yul. 'Even if I am stronger now, I can't match him. I can only hope that he has no interest in us anymore.' His eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of the behemoth. Only to find nothing unusual.

"Vaskra? Didn't he say that he would know when we made our move?"

"Yeah, I thought he would have shown himself by now." Vaskra looked around anxiously. Yul was their greatest shield right now. As long as they linked up with him, they would not have to worry about meeting any heroes too much.

"It's strange." Kace contemplated the matter while trying to figure out a reason. "Am I just overthinking things?"

He shook his head as if to dispel the thought. It was always better to consider the worst-case scenario, other than blindly placing all your faith in everything going the way you planned. Anything could have happened in the time since Vaskra had separated from him. For all they knew, Yul had grown bored and wandered off for a bit.

They were nearing the path that led through the mountains to the gate. An uneasiness assaulted Kace's mind. His senses went on high alert as he cast his eyes over the higher terrain. Wondering if something were waiting for them. He raised a hand to signal for everyone to stop. Earning him a lot of confused glances. Only those who knew him reacted differently. They prepared themselves for a fight.

The members that Vaskra had brought along reacted to the sudden change in their demeanours. Drawing their own weapons as they carefully scanned their surroundings. Shizran was the most excited amongst them. Mainly because he hoped to earn some achievements to have his name changed again. Being named after such an accident was extremely embarrassing. He would have died from shame if anyone had introduced him to Kace.

The orc stared at his back in reverence. He could sense how powerful Kace was, and it sent a shiver down his spine. He instinctively thought that he would earn a vast amount of honour for his clan by following this man. Then he would be received as a hero, maybe even be deemed a champion, or given the position of chief of his tribe. Such things were the goals of every orc. 

Kace could tell that someone was staring at him, but he chose to ignore it. Deciding that they probably did not want to miss any order that he gave. Although the place was naturally quiet, it was now at the level of making him feel like someone was deliberately trying to stop any sounds. 'Fuck, I think we would have been surrounded if we progressed a little further.'

'Now that you mention it,' Sylvan unleashed some mental energy to scan their surroundings. This was how the parasitic weapon perceived their surroundings. 'I feel the slightest traces of life behind some of the further away recesses in the mountains.'

Kace nodded at having his suspicions confirmed. Noting that Sylvan's voice in his mind sounded tired. 'Was he resting? I thought he didn't need to sleep?' Kace became slightly more curious about the exact details of Sylvan's existence. However, now was not the time to question him about it.

'If they are waiting for us a bit further in, we need to get in range to launch the first attack.' Kace sent a meaningful look at Shadow and then to several spots in the mountains that Sylvan had shown him. Shadow understood immediately and fell back to organise a raid group. The orcs amongst them were beginning to grow restless as they noted several of the dark goblins disappearing. 

Kace flashed an annoyed look in their direction to silence them, not wanting to give anything away to the enemy that was awaiting them. Most of them bowed their heads in submission at this single glance, realising that their lives would be forfeit if they displeased such an existence. Shizran was focused on stopping the sudden bowel movements that assaulted him under that gaze. 

'Did my stomach really become so weak after that experience!' Shizran lamented the lack of mental fortitude that he had. If it was to become a common occurrence for him to soil himself, then he would never be rid of this accursed name. 

Kace led them onwards into the mountain path, making many of the orcs believe that maybe they had been wrong. Maybe Kace was just being cautious and sent scouts out to make sure the path was clear. Their faces became dejected at the thought. They had not been giving the chance to kill anything at all since they had arrived here! 

Kace smiled when he noticed the change in their attitude. It would give any onlookers the impression of a broken and defeated force in full retreat. It should trick them into being confident enough to let their guard down. This, in turn, would allow Shadow's group to take them by surprise. 

After fifteen minutes of marching, they finally passed the spot where the first life sign had been marked, but no attack came. 'Good, let us get a bit further in. Believe you have us surrounded. And then. Your entire line behind us will be wiped out.' Kace's face warped in a wicked and smug grin as he imagined how things would play out.

He waited patiently until the rear line of their group passed by the initial furthest life sign. At this point, he activated Tracking. Allowing him to 'see' faint clouds of different colours hidden all around them. 'Hm, seems like they were well prepared. As he scanned the area, he counted more than a hundred areas where these scent clouds gathered. Here was the perfect spot to launch his plan. 

He held up his hand yet again to halt the army. He cast a mocking expression at the mountains around them. Causing a sense of fear to wash over the owners of the hidden eyes that had been following them.

"KILL THEM ALL!" He roared, as he charged forward