Page 56 of Nexus

When the disgusting process was over, I waddled away from the mess, then used a fluffy shrub to wipe myself clean. My roll of toilet paper had vanished along with my weapons, hairbrush toothbrush and toothpaste. I would have used the entire roll trying to clean myself up. “Boy, am I glad Ruen didn’t see that,” I muttered, casting a disbelieving glance at the mound of waste I’d left behind. The bird emerged from where she’d been hiding. She trilled a few notes that sounded amused. I picked her up and we continued our journey.

Finally reaching the foothills, I debated about whether I should check out the village, or avoid it altogether. So far, I hadn’t seen any guards. It might take days or even weeks for them to discover their comrades had been slaughtered, depending on how regularly they changed shifts.

As if in response to that thought, I spied a building through the trees. It was just off the path and was made from rough brown bricks. Stopping dead in my tracks, I strained to listen for voices. My eardrums had healed from Ruen’s piercing shriek. The only things I could hear were birds and insects.

“Do you think it’s safe to take a look at that building?” I whispered to the bird.

She peered at the roof we could just make out, then nodded. She knew this world far better than I did and she didn’t seem evil, so I decided to trust her. Intelligent animals could be common in the underworld for all I knew. Or she might just be responding to the sound of my voice. I guessed I was about to find out.

Thanks to my size, it was impossible to sneak noiselessly. I stayed on the path where I’d have less chance of stepping on branches or kicking rocks by accident. The building was larger than I’d expected when I reached it. I bent to peer through a window to see a row of ten cots inside.

“It’s a barracks,” I figured, unable to sense anyone in the area. My senses didn’t extend to animals. Not even ones from other dimensions.

Too big to fit through any of the entrances, I looked through the windows instead. From the uniforms and spare weapons, the gate guards kept their supplies here. A room full of sacks of food bolstered that idea.

“Why bother having bunks if they all guard the gate together?” I mused. There were enough beds for ten soldiers, but only seven of them had been headed for the gate. “Maybe three of them are heading back to the city,” I said.

It was possible they’d somehow known someone had come through the gate and had gone to investigate. Three of the guards might have been sent to report to the overlord. If so, then our presence here definitely wasn’t a secret.

I could smell bread, dried meat and other food stored in the sacks. Kicking the locked door to the room open, I squeezed my upper body inside. My gut and butt were too big to fit through it. I grabbed the nearest sacks, then heaved myself backwards. My boobs got stuck, then the bra broke and breasts the size of boulders swung free. I squashed them against my body with one arm and wriggled free of the doorway. Glad Ruen wasn’t awake to see this, I fished a spare bra out of the sack and donned it before moving on.

Now that I had a supply of food, I picked up my pace. The trail led me to the ruined village. The smoke was coming from the largest building that had probably been an inn. All of the structures were made from brick and had thatch roofs. Flaming torches had been tossed onto the roofs and had burned them to cinders. The inn’s roof hadn’t quite burned completely and was still smoldering slightly

Corpses were strewn on the ground. None of them had tattoos of their overlord on their foreheads. They were similar to the guards, with the same squished faces in their chests. Instead of leather armor, they wore crudely made clothing. The fabric was similar to the sackcloth tatters Ruen was wearing, but better quality. Most of the dead were lying near spears and knives. It looked like a neighboring village had attacked this one. If there were any survivors, they’d fled from the town.

It wasn’t a surprise to find the underworld was filled with savages. So far, the pretty bird perched on my shoulder was the only being that seemed even remotely friendly.

Speaking of the bird, she was currently grooming my bald head. She pecked at my skull, picking off the lice I must have picked up. They were going to have a hard time leeching my blood from me. My skin was far too thick for them to penetrate it with their tiny teeth.

Time was wasting and I had no idea where the spell fragment was. I returned to the trail and began loping towards the city, hoping to find inspiration along the way.

Chapter Forty-Two

AFTER TROTTING ALONG the path for a few hours, I heard voices far ahead and slowed down. They were too distant for me to sense them, but it sounded like dozens of people were heading in my direction.

I looked around to see the ruins of a town off the path. The bird chirped at me urgently, so I ducked down as low as I could go, hoping the trees would shield me. Hurrying as fast as I could, I sensed more guards arriving. They were all about the same strength as the ones we’d slain at the gate. None were powerful, but it seemed prudent to skirt around them.

The ruins gave me enough cover to block me from sight. I stayed low and hurried towards some distant hills. The guards must have a far larger settlement nearby for them to have gotten here so quickly. While the overlord probably didn’t know that someone had come through the gate yet, someone would inform him about it after the bodies were discovered.

“I’d hate to be in Drake’s shoes the next time the envoy from this realm pays him a visit,” I whispered. The bird cocked her head and cooed questioningly. “Drake Gilden is a dragon shifter. He’s in charge of the supernatural community in Nexus, the city where I live,” I told her. She nodded, then went back to scanning for danger.

I finally straightened up after I could no longer sense the guards, or hear their voices. I decided to head to the hills and to stay away from the road until it was safer. Snacking on the food I’d stolen, I was able to keep up my pace without my stomach rumbling loudly enough to give me away.

The hills were further away than I’d realized. It was late afternoon by the time I reached them. I slowed my pace when I sensed some dangerous creatures in the area. My monster scale told me they were towards the top end of my gauge.

Mom and I had created a scale for the creatures we’d fought. Rashes and scabs didn’t really count. Pimples were the lowest and were number one on my range. Gangrene was the highest at a ten. These things were possibly festering boils, which was about a seven. One alone would have given me pause and I could sense five of them.

The bird’s crest rose and she chirped softly in warning.

“I know,” I whispered as I looked around, searching for the creatures. “I can feel them, but I can’t see them.”

Four of the mounds I’d taken to be hills began to move, then stood up. My jaw dropped when I realized they were ogres, but they were far bigger than I was. Twice my height, their bellies and butts were grotesquely large. They were naked and carried tree trunks as weapons.

From Ruen’s description, they looked like me, with gray-green skin and tusks jutting up from their lower jaws. None of them had any hair, not even to hide their private parts. My eyes went to their junk that was swinging free. Even flaccid, they were ginormous and their balls were bigger than my head.

A snicker escaped from me and they turned in my direction. Freezing when they saw me, their heads went back and they sniffed deeply.

“Female!” one of the ogres said eagerly.