My (Monster?) Hero Life

As the assailants lay on the ground and watched Kace approaching, their eyes went wide in horror. None of them wanted to fall into the hands of this monster! As they lay there thinking this, Kace's hydra-head hissed!

Kace quickly leapt backwards as a black arrow struck the ground where he had been standing! At the same time, black arrows found their way into the hearts of each of the black-robed figures that he had defeated, silencing them forever!

Kace quickly glanced in the direction of where the arrows had come from, only to see a black shadow disappearing over the nearby wall. Kace uttered profanity under his breath as he stood there without anyone to interrogate. 

His adversaries this time had come wholly prepared for the eventuality of him coming out victorious. It pissed him off to no end that they were so bold as to take a shot at ending his life. 'This just got personal.' Kace thought with a dark mood as his eyes narrowed into slits.

Without caring for the corpses, Kace delivered a vicious kick to each of their heads. Knocking their hoods out of the way in the process to at least get a good look at who he was dealing with. 

Three of the figures turned out to be human, most likely heroes that specialised in stealth. The fourth figure was a native of the city. 'It seems I was right to suspect that the Chamber of Merchants is working with the heroes.'

At least now, he had an immediate target that he could deal with. The heroes would have to wait until they marched their army up to their front doorstep. However, he was in a position where he could deal with the local threat right now.

'They probably sold the information about the past armies to the heroes. That's why they kept getting ambushed!' Kace's anger boiled over as he considered all of the monsters that would have lost their lives because of this betrayal!

'Where's Jal?' Kace took a look around only to find Jal resting, covered in wounds. 'At least my ride back is still alive...'

Kace was no longer in the mood to play nice. Now that he had confirmed that the natives were involved, he had to consider every one of them to be a potential enemy. Kace stalked towards Jal, who froze on the spot due to the dark aura that Kace was giving off. It was such a cold feeling that Jal could have sworn he had been caught in a blizzard.

"You! Get up!" Kace looked down on the native, who was breathing heavily. "I said, get up. Don't make me repeat myself for the third time!"

Jal's whole body trembled as he slowly got to his feet. He half expected Kace to kill him at any minute! Jal was too afraid to ask Kace what had happened for him to change so much.

"Take me back to the palace. Then, you're going to point out the Chamber of Merchants!" Kace growled in a low voice. He wanted Jal to understand that now was not the time to question his decision.

Jal could only comply with Kace's order despite his aching wounds. He could tell that Kace would not accept any reason to delay their return to the underground city. 

Jal took a firm hold of Kace's arm once they returned to the storeroom. Kace let his mind wander on how to approach the situation while Jal led them through the earth. 'There has to be retribution for this betrayal. Let's make it clear to every citizen that we won't tolerate anything like this.'

Kace set his mind on making an example out of the Chamber of Merchants. If they were quick about it, then they could make this bloodless for their side. As soon as they arrived back in the underground, Kace immediately marched off towards the barracks.

As he approached the building, he could hear the loud sounds of the troops chattering while preparing their gear and supplies. The Tu'Thrag tribe were patrolling the palace and its courtyard. Kace nodded in approval for their diligence. It would not be long till their opponents learned of the failed assassination attempt.

Kace marched straight past them and violently threw the heavy door to the barracks open. The crowded hall suddenly became very quiet as he unleashed an oppressive aura. Sophia poked her head out from the back as soon as she sensed that he had returned. 

Lilly and Grugda we're close behind her as the three of them stared at Kace with a questioning gaze. Excluding Lilly, the other two immediately knew shit was about to hit the fan just from the expression on Kace's face.

"Everyone! Forget your supplies! Gear up! We have blood to spill!" Kace roared over the heads of every monster present.

The room exploded with noise a moment after his short speech! Everyone quickly rushed to don their armour and weapons. As they ran around preparing themselves for battle, Sophia promptly made her way through the crowd to Kace's side.

"Are we under attack? Have the heroes appeared?" Sophia quickly yelled out as she tried to ascertain his intention.

"Yes and no," Kace growled. "There are heroes here, but they are not our target."

Sophia showed a perplexed expression as she slowly digested Kace's words. "If not heroes, then who are we fighting?"

"The natives. We're going to drag their leadership out into the open and execute them." Kace swept his gaze around the room to make sure nobody was slacking off.

"You can't be serious!" Sophia yelped as she thought about the impending repercussions of such an action. "Why would we do that!"

"They betrayed us, Sophia. The Chamber of Merchants who are ruling this city betrayed Lady Rysa and her child." Kace paused a home t to let that sink in. "If we marched from here with an enemy at our backs, we would have met the same fate as the ones who attempted this before us. I don't know how many are involved, but the higher-ups are definitely working with the heroes for their own benefit!"

Sophia took a sharp inhalation of breath as Kace dropped this bomb on her. They had come so close to being stabbed in the back without even realising it! Sophia finally understood why Kace looked so livid. How many lives would they have lost because of such a trick!

It just showed that they could not trust every race just because they were monsters as well! Sophia quickly ducked away to go and inform Grugda and Lilly of the situation. Kace would have to remain where he was to drive a sense of urgency into their troops.

Before long, Kace excited the barracks. The Tu'Thrag took their place in neat rows directly behind him. Kace raised an eyebrow when he noticed Lorget standing at the front as of them as if he were commanding the tribe.

"I'll be staying with you, my Lord. Lorget is more than capable of leading the tribe without me." Shadow knelt on the ground as he approached Kace's position.

"We're ready. When you are." Grugda spoke out for both Sophia and Lilly, along with himself.

Kace nodded to them as they took up positions beside him as the army marched in single file out of the barracks. There was a lot of noise from all of the metal as they got themselves into neat ranks as if they were on parade.

"If anyone approaches you, kill them. If anyone throws anything at you, kill them. You are not to show mercy!" Kace shouted at the ranks so that they all could hear him clearly. "Assume every native is an enemy! However, if they show no hostility, leave them be for now! Our main objective is to drag the leaders out into the open! Take them alive if you can!"

A monstrous roar went up from the ranks of the army as bloodthirsty expressions swept across their faces. The atmosphere projected by Kace's speech had an infectious feel to it as every monster felt the need to spill blood.

"Move out!" Kace roared as he pointed Sylvan in spear form towards the city!

The army began their march, the sound of their feet striking the ground in unison was like a deafening drumbeat of war. The citizens of the city could not possibly fail to notice the commotion as they watched a long line of monsters marching out from the palace.

Somewhere, a bell began to toll! The natives looked around with shock etched on their faces! That bell signalled that they were under attack! However, none of them realised that the threat was actually the machine of war descending on the city from the palace.

From his position at the front of the army, Kace had a clear view of a few of the city's districts. His hand shot out and grabbed Jal by the back of his neck and forced him to look into his eyes. "Where is the Chamber of Merchants?"

Jal shivered at the heartless look in Kace's eyes before pointing to a district at the city's far end. Kace's eyes narrowed as he looked at it in the distance. There was a dark spot in a clearing where an opposing force was clearly gathering to meet them.

"Let's see who has the deadlier fangs!"