Overlord
Minerva had finally calmed down and could think rationally. Although when she lost her rage she became a somewhat mindless beast, she was by no means stupid. She had been told about the king of the forest, Larm.
The creature that had single handedly created this forest to protect various species. The being that created a creature powerful enough to destroy an entire nation by itself. The existence known as god amongst most of the creatures in the forest. That very being now sat in front of her.
She would have to admit that Larm was very beautiful and she exuded a divine presence that was suffocating. Such a being would have nothing to do with a simple Hob-goblin. Which is why the words that came out of her mouth were all the more unbelievable.
"Y-you want to make Minerva, your child?"
Larm nodded with a pleased smile on her face.
"Of course as a child of mine it would also become your responsibility to protect this forest in my stead."
"Huh? But Minerva isn't strong-"
"Hmph. I have no weak children, Minerva. I've been watching you ever since you were born so I know the true depths of your strength which you haven't even began to touch. Also as a child of mine, you will acquire a boost in power."
"... What if Minerva refuses?"
"Hmmm? Then I guess the West side of my forest will be destroyed."
"West side destroyed?"
"Ah? Why yes. Humans will be attacking this forest as soon as possible. I'd say, at most in an hour's time."
Minerva shuddered when she heard that. No, she knew that was the least of her worries when she saw Larm's smile. She shuddered when she saw that smile on Larm's face. Although radiating a godly presence, that smile suggested wickedness. She had a feeling Larm was at work behind the scenes and she was also just a part of Larm's master plan. Still, she could never forgive the humans who killed her only friend.
"... Minerva accepts."
"Splendid!"
Larm snapped her fingers and plants that had trapped Minerva broke of and a wooden cup formed in her hand. She then cut her finger and a tiny drop of golden ichor dropped into the wooden cup.
"Now drink this."
She gave the cup to Minerva. Minerva drank it without asking any questions. When she did, she felt something explode within her. This was because her limiters were being shattered. She roared in pain for a moment, but then stifled it down. After a while, the pain completely vanished and Minerva could feel new power flowing through her body. The golden ichor had completely fused with her body, now Minerva was no longer completely mortal. She was now something like a demi-god, but not quite. More like a mutated being even more so than what a mutant she already was. T
"Now go my child. Rain hell on the foolish humans who dared to set foot in my forest even after my warnings!"
Larm had already disappeared, and that last sentence echoed in Minerva's mind for some time.
After an hour, the human adventurers made it into the forest. They had all gone towards Minerva's cave, led by the woman who claimed to be from the Dhijan Nation. When they got deep into the forest, the woman had disappeared and all the adventurers heard something in their heads.
"I applaud you imbeciles for becoming my new child's first achievement. To those of you lucky enough to survive this upcoming massacre, spread the news of the 5th Tyrant!"
When they heard this, the adventurers all got weak knees. They tried to run away from the forest, but it was too late. Minerva had already appeared before them. She didn't let even a single one of them go unscathed. She did let just one human run away with gruesome injuries, to tell the Keiman kingdom about the news of the 5th Tyrant.
This incident became known as the Worst Witch Hunt and the Keimen kingdom's unbelievable defeat. The king of Keimen blamed it all on the Dhijan nation for sending a scout mage without informing them. The Dhijan nation denied this and there was a big argument which caused them to close all diplomatic relations. The Keimen kingdom then became a very poor nation not strong enough to be considered by other nations. This further solidified the reasons for not attempting to extract resources from Larm forest.
It was around the time Minerva usually woke up from her sleep to go hunting for dinner. She was glad because she wasn't going to go hunting alone anymore. That was right. This time Hinotori was going with her, so she slapped herself awake and let out a yawn.
"... Time to go hunting for dinner, Tori-kun."
She stretched herself as she stood up. Strangely enough, Hinotori hadn't responded to her. She couldn't sense her presence in the cave.
'Did Tori-kun run way? No, it's impossible. Tori-kun would never run away from Minerva. Did something happen?'
Out of fear that something might have happened to her friend, Minerva used her [Overlord] skill to get a full picture of what was happening in the West side of the forest. The magical creatures in the forest were going about their daily business as usual. Some of the creatures were going to sleep and some of them were now waking up. Nothing seemed out of place.
Nothing, except for one of the goblin villages. Strangely it was Ooo and it looked like they were celebrating something. Using her [Overlord] skill she could hear the goblins talking.
"Those guys that brought 9 horned rabbits are so strong."
'Nineteen horned rabbits? Goblins aren't that powerful.'
This got her quite interested.
'Oh yeah. Even better they got us some chicken.'
"CHICKEN!?"
Minerva screamed. She shook her head. Maybe she hadn't heard it right.
"Hmph, the chief took that one. I'm sure he wants to eat it by himself."
"Oh I want to eat chicken too."
"Maybe one day when you are chief."
That was all Minerva needed to hear. They had kidnapped Hinotori and were going to eat him. Although she knew Hinotori was not so weak as to get captured by goblins, she also knew that it wasn't impossible that they caught her off-guard with cowardly tricks.
Grabbing her club, Minerva charged at the goblin village. They had taken her family from her. She wouldn't let them take her new friend. She had ignored that village ever since she found out the truth. No longer would she let them live their happy lives. Minerva planned on completely decimating that village.
The young goblin who had initially started a fight with Hinotori had been publicly humiliated when Oda had used her Water Magic to send him flying. He kept quiet about it, because he knew that she had saved his life at that moment. But when he heard that the chief had asked to be alone with the chicken in his quarters, the young goblin was very much interested in what they were talking about, so he went close enough to eavesdrop.
What he heard shocked him. The background of Minerva and why she hated the goblins so much. He then understood what she had to go through and felt a little guilty for the way he had been insulting her, but that guilt died almost immediately. At that point he didn't care anymore.
Then a much unexpected thing happened. There was an earthquake and his [Truthseeker eyes] reacted to a very powerful presence outside. He didn't even need his skill to tell him. His natural instincts had already warned him, and he ran towards the cave as quickly as possible.
"WHERE IS TORI-KUUN!!!?"
A shriek rang out as he ran, but when he got there, he saw 10 fully grown male goblins down on the ground, dead. Standing there was a female Hob-goblin with silver hair and golden eyes. He instinctively knew that she was the Tyrant of the West, he also felt that she was very beautiful. This was the person he had been calling an ugly boar? He felt a bit embarrassed, but knew that she wasn't here for a talk. She had killed a few of the goblins already. It meant that something had happened to make her angry.
"Aie! The Mad Witch has gone on a rampage!"
"Be careful of her [Demon Eyes of Death]!"
The [Demon Eyes of Death], exactly as its name suggested, a skill that allowed the user to kill its target with a mere glance.
The goblin prepared himself for battle and his brothers gathered next to him. He charged at Minerva and the most frightening thing happened. She suddenly appeared in front of him and a punch that screamed "Death" was thrown at him. He was paralyzed with fear and dropped his dagger. He was prepared for death, but just then, a voice called out
"Ugh... Minerva?"
Minerva stopped her punch mid-way.
Gorm had just told me about Minerva's history and it was... quite the story. At least I now understood why she hated the village and I now knew how she became a tyrant.
Long story short, the stupid goblins killed Minerva's mom. Minerva's dad who was a Hob-goblin chief at the time resigned to go search for Minerva, but searched alongside this guy, Gorm and found Minerva by sacrificing his soul to a spirit/devil one month later. Minerva found out and broke into a rage and isolated herself from the monsters in Larm. Later on she became a Tyrant, huh? That's some history she's got there. I felt like I now understood Minerva a little better.
In that case, the goblins were actual little douches, weren't they? The only one I could say was a good guy was Gorm, who was something like Minerva's big brother. And I kind of liked how calm and reserved he was.
I then let out a sigh of relief.
It meant that I could somewhat trust this guy to not attack me.
All of a sudden, Gorm prostrated himself before me.
'W-what are you doing?'
I jumped up in shock.
"Please... Can I ask of you to deliver a message to Minerva for me?"
'A message?'
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The ground shook furiously and I felt a cold chill ran up my spine.
<<Alert! Intense Bloodlust can be sensed in the area! >>
'Bloodlust? Did the goblins decide to kill me?'
"WHERE IS TORI-KUUN!!!?"
Suddenly I heard a familiar voice scream.
"Minerva!?"
Gorm stood up immediately and a sweat ran down his face.
"Looks like you really are Minerva's friend."
'Oi you thought I was lying? Tsu...'
I let out a dissatisfied sigh
"Looks like I have the opportunity to deliver the message to her myself. Kukuku. That is if she doesn't kill me first."
With that, we both left the cave and were met with a very visually disturbing scene. On the ground laid 10 dead goblins, and 4 were barely standing. They were covered in injuries. It was the group of goblins that tried to pick a fight with me earlier. I guess they weren't all bark if they could still remain standing after facing Minerva.
'Ugh... Minerva?'
Minerva stopped a punch she was about to throw to hit one of the goblins mid-way. The power behind the punch was like in a whole other league. The shockwave created a very powerful gust of wind that hit me right in the face. If I didn't have my strength and defense stat I would have been blown away. I felt sorry for the goblin that received the shockwave at point blank. His head was disintegrated on the spot.
She perked up when she saw my face.
"Tori-kun! Where were you? Minerva was worried."
She suddenly appeared in front of me and had open her palms. I guess she wanted me to climb on to them.
'Sigh, it ain't easy being a bird.'
I climbed on to them and Minerva brought me to her face level.
'Hey Minerva... you just woke up?'
I asked her, realizing that it was about 30 minutes past one hour.
"Hmhm, Minerva was surprised to see that Tori-kun was not here."
'H-how did you find me?'
"Hahaha! Tori-kun is really stupid! Very stupid. Minerva knows everything that happens in West!"
Oh, right. Tyrant of the West and all. Wait! Tyrants knew everything that happened in their territories!? That meant no animal can try to overthrow them without them knowing. Then again, I didn't think there was anyone stupid enough to face such beasts.
According to God's agent it was another effect of the skill [Overlord]. Minerva then began to walk back in the direction of her cave.
'Ugh, I don't suppose it's not possible to bring the goblins back from the dead, huh?'
I thought while looking at the dead bodies, bashed out brains and blood, but Minerva said something very scary
"You want Minerva to bring them back?"
'Eh? Don't say something creepy, you creepy creep. Bringing them back from dead? They aren't sleeping, you know? They are dead, you know? You killed them, you know?'
She then put one finger on her lip as if she were in thought.
"Hmmm, yes. Minerva can!"
What the heck? Didn't this Hob-goblina have too much power? No, no. She was probably trolling me. There was no way she could resurrect people. I would call her bluff.
'Sure, sure. Go ahead and bring them back.'
I dared her, then she turned to look at the dead guys.
"You guys, wake up!"
Suddenly all the goblins stood up from the ground. Even the goblin whose head had been blown off got a new head and stood up.
"Oi, oi, oi! You weren't trolling!?"
"Troll? Minerva is not a troll. Fufufu, Tori-kun is funny."
"No no, to troll is to.... never mind."
I was too tired to explain. My brain was officially blown. She could revive the dead?
'Yo, agent, what skill was that?'
<< [Overlord] >>
'For real? That skill is too overpowered. Doesn't that mean as long as one as long as someone was in their territory they were like a god?'
Minerva truly was something else.
I looked at her face and she was picking her nose.
'Cute girls aren't supposed to do that!'
I wanted to scream, but I was just too tired.
"W-wait! Minerva!"
Minerva paused and glanced at Gorm from the corner of her eye. He gulped and I mouthed the words, "Say it". I don't know how he was supposed to interpret my beak but that was his problem, not mine.
He cleared his throat then began,
"I am sorry for what the villagers did to your family and I know no amount of apologizing can ever change that, but please, don't let the elders' foolish actions affect the fate of the young."
Minerva heard his words. She then looked at the young goblins that were looking at her then said,
"..... Minerva will think about it."
I grinned although I was sure no one could see it. After that, Minerva and I went hunting for Dinner.
DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS
[Hinotori met Minerva]
[Hinotori became Minerva's friend]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Auto Regeneration]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Timber Wolf King's Howl]]
[Hinotori acquired the unique skill [Hunter]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Size Manipulation]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Charisma]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Devil Miasma]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Mental Pain Resistance]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Predator]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Slime body]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Pain Nullification]]
[Hinotori acquired the skill [Assimilation]]
[Hinotori added 10 stat points to strength]