Chapter 123: Some Just Need Convincing
The splash of a boot hitting a puddle snapped through the alley. Crates toppled behind him, glass burst underfoot, breath scraping out of a raw throat in broken pulls. A man ran blind through Shatterbay's backways...no plan, no direction, only terror.
"Fuck—fuck—fuck—!"
He slammed shoulder-first into brick, rebounded off it, and staggered into another alley. Sweat poured off him in ropes. His skin looked bloodless, his clothes half-rotted, his face the kind Shatterbay ignored, until you saw the Dead Hands mark stitched to his coat.
He hit a boarded doorway like a battering ram. Wood cracked. Nails screamed. He crashed through and rolled across the floor, scrambling backward until his spine hit a wall.
"Come on… come on…!"
He shoved his palms together. Blue light flickered between them, weak at first, then building into a sphere that pulsed like a dying star.
His hands shook. His eyes kept jerking to the doorway.
Far above, perched on the roof like a stain the night forgot to swallow, a figure crouched in the dark. Only two red eyes burned through the gloom.
'Kill him. Now.'
Back inside, the sphere finished forming, snapping into the shape of a corded phone. The man lunged for the receiver, fingers slipping from sweat.
"Please—please, Lord, pleeeaase—!"
"Begging's nice. Adds flavor."
He froze.
Three sounds cut the air, fast, and final. For a heartbeat he stayed kneeling, still holding the receiver. Then his head slid off his neck and hit the floor with a wet roll.
Panic stood behind him, tongue dragging across the flat of his knife.
"No head…looks good."
Watching through Soul Sight, Seo-jin turned from the rooftop edge and made for the docks.
'Don't leave a trace.'
'Yes, Broodfather!'
Even at this distance, he heard Panic's laugh and the frenzy of smaller bodies swarming in. Tearing. Chewing. Feeding.
Shatterbay swallowed the sound whole.
[You shouldn't have let him make his report.]
'I wanted to see who he was talking to.'
[And now they know you're back—and armed.]
He vaulted to the next rooftop and halted on the ridge. Dawn crawled over the horizon in a smear of red and gold, the first rays dragging across the roofs like claws.
'Word was gonna leak anyway. Now I know who gets my attention first.'
[Your plan better play out. Otherwise you'll be fighting two fronts—the Church of Light and the Woon Corporation.]
Seo-jin dropped from the roof, hit the street like he'd been poured into it, and walked toward the docks. The boards at the end of the pier groaned when he stopped.
Cold spray burst skyward as the surf crashed, stinging his face. He wiped the water away, but the chill never touched him, his excitement burned hotter.
Everything was moving. Last night had locked morale in place like welded steel. His men were loud with purpose. A rat was gone. Lynn clung to him like a fanatic, even while half the gang tried to get in her pants.
Even this forced ceasefire worked in his favor. He couldn't take Shatterbay yet...but no one could take a bite out of the Dead Hands either.
Perfect time to slip away.
He grinned as he heard two sets of footsteps approach, one of them heavy enough to shudder the boards.
"Thought you two would be sleeping."
Gregor dragged up beside him, brow sagging, eye-bags carved deep.
"You killed any chance of that. Could have warned me. That contribution system's going to be a nightmare for weeks."
Min stood a few paces behind, arms folded tight. She hadn't shaken the image of Lynn shedding her age. She felt a strange tension in her shoulders. Quiet. Brooding.
"So what's the plan? Woon's squeezing the city. How're we moving?"
He didn't turn. The sea held his eyes, steady against the spray.
"First thing is supplying the dwarves. In a bit, I want you to wake a handful of the men and gut our stores. Food. Tools. Every ore or scrap we've got. Haul it to the docks. I want us on the water by midday."
Gregor rubbed his scalp, jaw tight—but he didn't argue.
"Once we get back, our next move is leveling as fast as we can."
He turned toward the black tower standing over the city like a gravestone.
"We need to get stronger before the Woon Chairman ranks up."
Min sat on a soaked pylon, water dripping off her boots. She let out a dry laugh.
"We don't have time. If Gregor's intel holds, we've got a month at best. We'd need every scrap of luck in the world to pull that off."
Gregor spat into the waves, jaw tight.
"Maybe if we had kept Wire Dog territory. But with only ours? Hard to believe enough dungeons will drop before then."
It was true. Their numbers had been weak, the Church hit them at the worst moment, so holding extra turf had been impossible. Seo-jin didn't care.
"We don't need extra territory. Everything we need to level in time is already waiting for us."
Both lieutenants turned to him, confusion mirrored, until Gregor's face drained pale.
"Crazy son-of-a—Niet! Going out there is near suicide even when you tiptoe. If you go to level, you will only find your own corpse."
Min finally caught up. "Out there" meant one thing: beyond the city, into the freelands.
"You know what it's like out there. Seo-jin and I barely made it through, and we avoided fights like the plague. If you plan on going outside the—"
Bloodlight surged and cut her off, heat blooming off him like a furnace—then vanished just as fast.
"Wait to decide anything until we get back from the island."
He turned toward the rising sun, now clear of the horizon, inhaling the salt air.
"What you two see there will change your minds. I'm sure of it."
He walked off without waiting for argument, leaving them staring at his back. Min's fingers dug into her temples.
"One second he impresses. The next he shoves shit between your teeth."
She exhaled hard. The weight sitting on her chest had settled deep.
"Everything's fucked, Gregor. If that man hits S Rank, we're done. No one's dream survives that. And what are we doing? We're following a demon into the fucking wilderness."
Gregor clapped her back as he passed, hands sliding into his pockets.
"This is what we do, Min. We make the best of it. Everything else is fluff. Come. Let's wake the men. Truth is, I have never seen a dwarf. I am a little excited."
"At least one of us is."
She followed after him, shoulders tight. And when her eyes drifted toward the Woon tower, the weight only grew.
---
Midday glare hit the docks hard, carving sweat lines down every man hauling crates. Gregor and his crew moved fast, stacking food, ore, and scrap in rough piles until Seo-jin dragged the dwarven boat out of the storage pouch. The moment the hull hit the water, they filed in and packed the hold tight, the ship groaning under the weight.
It wasn't long until the city had shrunk behind them into a smear of metal and smoke. Now halfway to the island, the deck rocked under steady waves as Min and Gregor stood with arms crossed, still unconvinced that both of them needed to go.
He'd kept his tone even, but vague on purpose. Neither of them needed to know the truth. They didn't need to picture Panic nesting in the shadows above the docks, broodlings tucked into the rafters like loaded traps, waiting for his word.
The trip stayed dead quiet, none of them reaching for words. As the sun bled into the horizon and the air turned sharp with cold, the island's black shoreline began to lift out of the dusk.
Calling back to the two humans, he also pushed a pulse through the broodlink.
'Get ready to receive us.'
'Broodfather! At once! Should I inform Thragdur?'
The sound of Snare's voice hit him with that familiar reliability. The broodling never failed to impress.
'Tell the Forgemaster I've arrived. And that I'm bringing two humans.'
'Yes, Broodfather. And… welcome back. Grimm has missed you dearly.'
He muttered the dwarvish command to slow the ship, the runes shifting under his palm. The hull eased forward, carving a line through black sand. The thought of Grimm waiting for him stirred something low and warm in his chest, an ache he'd never admit out loud. Especially with Min standing next to him.
"It's a shame I didn't come with you the first time. I've always enjoyed killing the beast tribes."
Gregor didn't speak. His eyes flared with system light, scanning the treeline. Then his breath hitched, a grin slipping loose.
"Dwarves…"
Seo-jin cut him a look, annoyed to feel even a flick of envy when Gregor spotted them first. He narrowed his own eyes, catching the faint glow of aura beyond the trees, a cluster pushing toward the beach.
"We won't be here long. But while we're on this island, show respect."
The ship ground to a halt on the sand. Night swallowed the shore except where moonlight slid across armor plates deeper in the wood. Heavy footfalls thudded closer, the rhythm shaking through the sand.
Min coiled beside him, ready for anything. Gregor looked like a starving man smelling a feast.
"Coming?"
Seo-jin smiled, hopping over the railing. He hit the sand in a crouch, straightening just as the dwarves broke from the treeline. And at their head, towering, laughing, four massive arms thrown wide, Thragdur bellowed with raw joy.
"Just in time! Food!"
The reek of booze hit him before Thragdur's arms did. The forgemaster scooped him clean off the sand, ribs grinding under the hug as Min and Gregor landed behind him in a spray of grit.
Min didn't look impressed.
"Are they all drunk?"
Dangling in Thragdur's grip, Seo-jin looked past the dwarf's shoulder. Every warrior behind him wore the same rosy flush...eyes glassy, movements loose, breath hot with ale.
"Drop me, you drunk goat!"
Thragdur laughed and finally let him go. Seo-jin hit the sand, barely steadying himself before a hot blue glow slammed into his face.
No one else noticed. But he did.
Grimm latched onto him in a frantic blur, a cold weight smearing across his cheeks and brow.
'Hey, bud! Yeah, I missed you too. But let me see. Come on, calm down.'
The ghostling wobbled upward, quivering, then settled on the top of his head like he'd welded himself there.
"Broodfather! Introduce me to your friends! Especially this big one."
Thragdur tried to mutter the last part under his breath. It didn't work. Min's jaw flexed. Gregor snorted.
Seo-jin stepped in before anyone started swinging.
"These are the humans I told you about. Min. Gregor. This is Forgemaster Thragdur Dromkhur-urth."
It was painful to watch, the humans stiff and unsure, the dwarf beaming with drunken pride. But they got through it. Snare joined them moments later, and they traded quick words on the beach while Thragdur's men hauled off the supplies. Storage bags bulged, beards dripped with drool, and the dwarves marched them toward the fortress.
Thragdur talked the whole walk, boasting, cursing, reenacting their fight with the Snake Tribe and Lilid with wild swings of all four arms. Min and Gregor hung on every word, hungry for any scrap about the demon they followed.
But the second they stepped into the fortress, all the noise in their heads died.
Both humans froze. Mouths open. Eyes wide.
Forge-light roared from every wall. Kilns bellowed. Iron racks overflowed with weapons. Ale sloshed across stone floors. Dwarves stomped, drank, shoved each other, and howled as fresh food hit the tables, fuel for another round of chaos.
With meat to soak the alcohol, the madness only climbed.
Min and Gregor were dragged off by Thragdur the moment they stepped inside the hall.
Seo-jin pulled Snare aside while the humans were swallowed by the crowd.
'Report.'
Snare smiled at Grimm circling above Seo-jin's head like an overeager spark. The broodling straightened his posture, then spoke through the link with purpose.
'I couldn't confirm if more remain hidden, but Thragdur holds Brundar's Golem. Their forge can still produce new ones. Losing the foreman will only drop quality for a short time. I've narrowed down two dwarves who could be shaped into replacements.'
'Good. Now give me your threat assessment.'
Snare didn't hesitate. A small, pleased curl tugged at his mouth.
'Minimal. Only the Forgemaster poses any danger, but Broodfather could kill him alone. The fear you placed in them has also rooted deep. They know they're trapped under you.'
'Reliable as always, Snare. Even so, we still don't know what they've kept buried. Keep observing.'
'Yes, Broodfather.'
Across the hall, Thragdur waved a massive arm, a roasted limb of some beast dripping grease down his fingers. Seo-jin nodded and started toward him.
"You've done well. When we return, I'll pick a human myself to reward you."
Snare's eyes went wide, tears brimming instantly. He bowed so hard his head nearly hit the stone.
"Thank you, Broodfather!"
The night spiraled as expected, drinking until the floor swayed, eating until men belched smoke, fists and blades drawn for sport. The only surprise was Min vanishing with Thragdur near dawn, a sight Seo-jin shoved out of mind the moment it registered.
Sunlight eventually dragged everyone upright. Hungover, sore, some still bleeding, the dwarves and broodlings trudged back to the surface.
On the beach, Seo-jin filled his lungs with salt air. He'd delivered on his end of his bargain with the dwarves, he'd also left the first list of forging requests for them to fill. Everything was set...mostly everything.
"One last thing before we leave."
All eyes snapped to him, Gregor tense, Min guarded, Snare attentive, Thragdur swaying slightly, dwarves and lesser broodlings waiting like an uneven formation of hair and teeth.
He faced his lieutenants.
"You two still think going into the Freelands is idiotic. Even after seeing the forge, the gear, the dwarves—you're not convinced we'll survive it. Right?"
They didn't answer. They didn't need to.
"But that isn't why I dragged you out here. What I wanted you to see is how much stronger I've become."
His gaze locked on Gregor.
"Kill whatever comes."
Gregor's confusion hit like a slap. It only grew worse as Seo-jin stepped into the surf.
He waded to his waist. His nails lengthened, curving into a claw. He dragged it through his palm, splitting flesh clean and deep. Blood seeped into the sea in slow red tendrils.