Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

~ Third Person POV ~

"That is the place he entered? A dingy cave?" The female knight scoffed as she got off her high horse, the sounds of two metal boots landing on the soft mud due to an early rain.

"This is what our magical trackers say, ma'am." Another soldier, but better equipped than the previous soldiers that raided the Dungeon, poked and prodded the device he was currently holding. "His magical signature leads directly into this cave."

"Then he is cornered. As far as I know, there is no exit on the other side of this mountain." The female knight smirked as she looked towards the veritable army she had gathered, all for the sake of pursuing a single heretic.

That's just how fanatical they are, and how numerous they are.

"Set up camp here. Scouts, head inside and get a general layout of the area. If you see him, do not initiate contact, and run." The scouts of the group saluted and went on their way towards the cave that was seen in the distance.

Only to be caught in a trap on their first few steps.

"Shit! We've got a trap here!" The scout next to the screaming scout did his best to pry off the iron bear trap that was cleverly hidden within the foliage of dense grass and trees.

"Traps? Lieutenant, is there anything about this cave you forgot to tell me?" The female knight regarded the soldier holding the magic device in his hands with a stern gaze. The lieutenant shook slightly, before breathing out his answer.

"Not that I know of, but I did hear something about the cave being a Dungeon, although it was spoken by those filthy demi-humans." The lieutenant scoffed at the mention of the demi-humans he personally tortured in the few days' past.

"… You imbecile. Demi-humans or not, information is information." The female knight quickly unsheathed her sword and held the lieutenant at sword-point, the tip of the blade grazing the unprotected neck of the lieutenant. "If you weren't useful, I would've beheaded you right now for your slight."

The female knight sheathed her sword, and the lieutenant heaved a sigh of relief, saved from a quick death by the hands of his superior.

"Scouts, new plan." The female knight addressed the scouts, who were now hesitating to advance forward due to their recently wounded compatriot. The scout that was caught in the trap had no other choice than to be subjected to the decapitation of his own limb. Apparently, the trap was laid with lethal poison, and the only way to make sure the poison didn't spread to inwards inside the scout's body was to amputate the limb, and hope for the best. "Postpone your current mission and help with setting up camp. This will apparently be a long mission."

The screams of pain and anguish caused most of the soldiers there to shudder.

"Healers! Get moving!" The female knight yelled and a few of the healers they brought moved as one to save the life of the scout. "The rest of you, double time! I want tents set up and medical tents ready! One of you, go back to Kazanpan and get some more able-bodies."

Once her commands were screamed out, all of the soldiers quickly went to work. Tents were erected, some medical, and others for quarters. Some trees were also chopped down to increase the space they were about to use.

Unfortunately for them, due to that, some of the soldiers also set off some other traps, more deadly than the last.

One soldier got punctured in the eye and had his brain skewered. Another was subjected to a pitfall trap that was at least 8-feet deep. Now that wouldn't that much of a problem if that was all, but take into consideration their heavy armor and iron pikes at the bottom, and you have a deathtrap ready and waiting.

The female knight watched all of this, and instead of making the sensible decision to retreat and find a different spot to camp in, she was too blinded by her zealotry that all common sense bounced off of her in the moment.

Once they were done setting camp, the resulting casualties numbered 7, with the wounded numbering more than 10. Taking into account the size of their group, which numbered more than a hundred, then it would not be that much of a loss, but a blow to their force for sure.

Not resting for a moment while the sun was up, the female knight then commanded the scouts to make their way towards the Dungeon and map out the paths safe enough to traverse and, if possible, deactivate traps along the way.

The scouts, fearing for their lives at the hand of this female knight, saluted and went on their merry (miserable) way to their possible deaths.

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~ First Person POV (Jionni) ~

The moment I heard the alarm going off, I quickly went into high-gear. Accessing the Dungeon Menu, I took a quick peek at the trespassers that were currently traversing my Dungeon.

"Well, they don't look like much. A scouting party, perhaps?" Catalina, who was looking at the screen from beside me, gave her two cents. I agreed with her, and decided to test the waters with the group of scouts that were threatening harm to my Dungeon.

"Primates, go give them your greetings. Leave one alive." I commanded the primates through the comms, and they gave me their salutes. I decided to leave it up to them on how to deal with the group of scouts, since I wanted to see what kind of strategy they were going to use.

There were at most 100 primates hiding within the forest just right in front of the entrance, and the moment I gave them the command and the scouts were deep enough, half of them quickly blocked their escape route by using the gorillas to form a makeshift wall with their tower shields.

This got the attention of the scout, and all of them panicked at the sight of a wall made out of shields now blocking their path out. Next came the roars.

Looking back to the front, they saw the gorillas charging at them, with the chimpanzees riding said gorillas donning light metal armor that only covered their vital parts, making it easier for them to move while perched upon the backs of the gorillas.

The chimpanzees wielded spears in both hands, while the gorillas brought tower shields. The gorilla would focus on defense, while the chimps would focus on offense.

Their primal yells and screams of fury made the scouts, who numbered about eight, pale and run for their lives. Only to be reminded of the wall that stood in their way to freedom.

"Yikes, that's a scary combo." Catalina said from beside me, but there was no pity to be felt from her voice.

"Indeed." I replied nonchalantly as I stared at the screen showing the bloodbath that was about to commence.

And what a bloodbath it was.

Since they were just scouts, they weren't equipped with regular armor. Instead, they wore leather vests that granted minimal protection, and some other leather garments. Their weapon of choice was a short sword, paired with a dagger in case of losing their primary weapons.

That short sword and dagger combo, however, was shit when going against towering tower shields and riders with spears.

Suffice to say, they were slaughtered in a matter of seconds.

The first to go was the frontmost scout that froze up, an iron spear skewering his midsection as he was made into a human flag by the chimp, who was now cheering at his kill. Seeing this, the rest of the scouts snapped out of their shock, and decided to make a final stand, since there was no other way out of this.

The rest of the gorillas made contact with the scouts, and two of them were trampled underneath more than 200 kilograms worth of meat and iron, their brief screams of pain soothing to the ear.

Now there were only five of them left, and one by one, they all fell, either to a spear, being trampled on, or crushed by a shield.

When only one was left, the gorillas stopped their advance and looked upon the scout, who was now a shivering mess.

"Weird, I thought fanatics were supposed to fight until their last breath. Must be a forced one then." I spoke out, which caused Domino, who was still perched on my shoulder, to nod agreeingly. Catalina and the rest did so as well.

"Bring the surviving scout to me. I have some questions I want to ask." The primates nodded at my command and proceeded to drag the shivering mess of a scout by the arm, uncaring for any pain he would endure as they travelled.

DP gained: 350

EXP gained: 315

DP: 27,355 => 27,705

"That's one helluva fighting force you got there, Jion. Mind lending some to me?" Catalina whistled as she looked upon the band of primates, impressed. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's the favor you want from me?"

"NO!" Catalina vehemently denied that as she looked at me with a pout. "There's no way I would ask some of your forces for a favor. You already know what it is."

She licked her lips, and my little Jionni twitched a little at her suggestion.

"Maybe after the raid." I said, and she beamed at me. Tigre was once again looking at me like he wanted to rip me limb from limb, which wasn't that far from the truth.

'Anyway, time to interrogate the scout.'