Page 68 of Nexus

“We could try it,” he mused as the overlord drew closer by the second. “It might throw them off long enough for us to kill them.”

We were about to face overwhelming odds, but he was perversely looking forward to it. From his malevolent grin, he intended to vamp out and wreak as much havoc as possible on our opponents.

Chapter Fifty

THREE PAIRS OF GLOWING red eyes appeared in the gloom. The overlord and his two main minions wore the metal armor from my dream, with red capes for embellishment. The faces that were carved into their torsos were more frightening in real life. Their mouths gaped open wide, ready to bite. They were almost identical to their helmets.

“These are the interlopers who you’ve been chasing?” the overlord asked in a deep, malevolent voice. His tone was incredulous and I was both horrified and fascinated to see the razor-sharp teeth of his helmet moving as he spoke. Then I realized he wasn’t wearing a helmet at all. He was completely made out of metal.

One of his soldiers hurried forward with a doglike creature on a leash. “Yes, my lord,” the lackey said. He bowed deferentially as the beast snarled, barked and fought to break free so it could attack us. “We tracked them all the way from the gate to here.”

“What is a vampire doing here?” one of the smaller metal creatures asked, pointing at Ruen. He and his counterpart were half a head shorter than their ruler, but wore the same type of armor that he did.

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out,” the overlord said. Looking beyond us, his glowing eyes widened when he spied the fallen guardian. “They killed the giant,” he said in amazement and uttered a harsh laugh. “It seems these creatures have accomplished my task for me. One of them has the scroll. Kill them and search their belongings.”

Exchanging a quick look with Ruen, I saw a crazed look enter his eyes. He subtly gestured for me to take a step back, then turned to face our foes. When he sucked in a breath, I backed away and put my hands over my ears. The vampire shrieked at the small army, making them reel backwards, screaming in pain and shock.

Even the trio of metal creatures were affected by the piercing noise. Dazed and confused, they stumbled off to the side as Ruen went on the attack. Pulling his knives, my assistant began carving his way through the soldiers. He slit the dog’s throat, then stabbed its leash holder through the eye. He didn’t even pause to feed as he uttered a gibbering, endless laugh of pure joy while unleashing carnage on our foes.

Seizing my chance, I put Aurora down, then barreled towards the overlord and his lackeys. Crashing into them with my gut, I sent them flying into the wall. I clubbed an underling’s head in before he could recover. Blood and brains gushed out through a deep crack in his metal skull. He slumped to the ground with the red glow fading from his eyes. I felt magic seep out of his metal corpse, then fade away to nothing.

I quickly bashed the second underling to death as the overlord rallied and climbed to his feet. Again, magic seeped out of the second metal corpse. The teeth on both of the ruler’s mouths began to gnash as he curled his hands into fists. None of the metal warriors carried weapons. They didn’t need them, since their hands were made from living armor. The overlord’s fist crashed into my gut and sank in up to the elbow. My air whooshed out from the force of the blow and I staggered backwards.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ruen slicing his way through the slowly recovering minions. Aurora was darting among them, pecking exposed flesh to induce them into a sex fantasy. As always, it ended with them falling unconscious to the ground after climaxing. Ruen killed them as well so they couldn’t snap out of it and resume their fight.

The overlord punched me again and his fist sank deeper into my gut. One of my organs ruptured and I gasped in agony. No one had ever managed to truly hurt me before, either on this world, or on my own. I found I didn’t like the sensation of pain at all and retaliated.

I swung my club towards the overlord and he ducked under it. Far faster than me, he punched me in the kidney when I swung too far. My knees buckled, but I caught myself with one hand against the wall. I kicked backwards, connecting with his knee. He bellowed in pain when the metal caved in.

Limping out of my range, he cast a glance at his decimated troops. A few were still standing and Ruen was toying with them. The vampire had messily fed on his last few victims and was covered in their blood. Aurora was keeping her distance now that they’d come out of their daze from his shriek. Their spears could easily skewer her to death.

“Who sent you here?” the overlord asked. “Was it the dragon who rules over Nexus?”

“Hungry,” I responded, pretending to be a dumb ogre.

“Is that filthy creature your master?” he asked, nodding towards Ruen. “I can kill him and free you from him,” he said enticingly. “Let me pass and you can roam this realm at will.”

“Eat you,” I replied and licked my lips, tongue skimming over my tusks.

“Not even ogres can eat metal,” he said derisively, falling for my ruse of being a moron. “If you let me pass, I’ll give you enough food so you’ll never go hungry again.”

My stomach rumbled and he smiled in triumph. “Want food now,” I said, wondering how I could kill this thing without him rupturing anything else inside me.

“I don’t have any food with me,” he said peevishly.

“Hungry!” I roared and he flinched backwards. I swung my club while he was distracted, but his fear was fake. He ducked under it, then tackled me to the ground, proving he was far stronger than I’d expected. Pressing himself against my gut as he held my hands against the ground, the mouth on his torso began to chew.

I screamed in pain when the metal teeth sheared through my thick skin and reached blubber. Blood sprayed both of us and I thrashed to try to knock him off. Laughing in delight, the overlord lowered his head to my chest and bit into my gigantic boob.

“Get him off me!” I shrieked.

Ruen was there in a flash, standing on my meaty thigh as he tried to pull the overlord off me. Aurora jumped onto my chest and pecked the metal creature on the head. Her beak bounced off his skull without affecting him.

Already weak from using so much energy to run here, blood loss would steal what strength I had left. Soon, he would chew through my fat to something vital and then my life would end.

Aurora went for the overlord’s eyes, beak darting at the glowing orbs. He brushed her away with a sweep of his hand, letting go of my arm in the process. I got my hand under his chin and pushed upwards just as I saw something huge and gray looming over us. Realizing the giant had woken from his short coma, I threw the demon under the bus. “The overlord stole the spell fragment!” I shouted.

The giant roared loudly enough to stun us all as the noise reverberated around the cave. He reached down and picked the overlord up. Holding onto his body with one hand, he pulled my enemy’s head off as easily as plucking the petals from a flower.