Chapter 63: [Day 23] – “The Mauling” (1/2)
∼ Day 23 ∼
After slowly coming to, I groaned in pain. I wasn't sure what it was that I was laying on, but it definitely wasn't pleasant. Cracking open an weary eye, I saw an unfamiliar sight. I was apparently laying on a thin layer of sand.
Propping myself up slowly, I immediately got thrown into a cough that ridd of most of the sand that had gotten into my mouth. Looking to the horizon, I saw the twin suns glaring their splendor upon the world.
Oh- yeah... I was jus- ARGHH.
As my memory was slowly coming back to me, I was suddenly hit by an intense pulse of pain that flared in my head and coursed throughout my battered body. Grinding my teeth, I had to strain myself no to yell out.
The phantom pains...
To my immense displeasure, the phantom pains induced by the sadistic gremlin hadn't stopped. It was like a headache, just multiplied many times over, which pulsed every now and then. I couldn't help but let out a grunt of pain each time a pulse of pain claimed my mind for a solid second or two.
Looking around, I saw a few of the other captured monsters awake or asleep resting against the wall, with the rest sleeping in the open chambers to the side of the building where we got our food.
It was first now that I realized that someone had apparently put my shackles back together whilst I was passed out, as my memories before passing out didn't recall anyone doing so.
I began moving towards the nearest building, so I could rest my back against it. The ones awake had already taken notice of my awakening, but they only looked in apprehension and pity at my limping form.
To my surprise, I could even still see fear and respect directed towards me hidden subtly in their eyes. I wasn't entirely sure if it was just my strength or something else that garnered their recognition, but I simply couldn't care less so I ignored it.
Slumping against the wall, I could only lay my forehead against the metal hunk of my shackles as the phantom pains continued to rack my mind and body.
***
As time went by, the phantom pains didn't lessen even in the slightest. I could only sit and wallow in the ever pulsing pain incapacitating me. But as each wave went through my head, the irritation I felt about everything only got magnified, slowly turning me into a flaming ball of anger just waiting to go boom.
Suddenly, around midday, the high-pitched creaking of a metal gate being opened rang out and caused my pain-induced headache to flare. Looking up, I had to cover my eyes from the bright midday suns, as their light was also enough to provoke my headache even further.
It was almost like having the worst hangover ever, whilst being in the hospital from just getting hit by a truck. That's how much pain I was in, and that's just the aftermath of Jeerbal's quick trip down to sadism land...
Anyways... using my shackled hands to cover the suns' rays, I saw a large entourage of orc guards following another but larger and more heavily armored orc that I hadn't seen before.
Suddenly drawing a metal shield from his back, he began clanging it with the butt of his weapon. Cringing at the loud and invasive sound, I had to restrain myself from lunging and tearing his head off to simply get him to stop making this god-awful sound.
”Come on! Everybody up!” - ???
Everybody who was already awake shared annoyed looks, and those who had been still sleeping were quickly rocked awake. Slowly everybody gathered together in front of the head orc guard, or at least that was what I guessed he was.
In the crowd, there were a lot of sleepy and annoyed faces. But those expressions quickly faltered as the ones closest to where I approached began to hastily create a healthy distance between us as they saw the clear annoyance, pain, and anger contorting my face.
Offhandedly I pulled up the leading orc to note his strengths as what had become a habit by now.
-Appraisal!-
[Appraisal: Lo'gar]
Name: ”Lo'gar”
Race: Orc
Sex: Male
Rank: E+
Level: 33/35
Health: 322/322
Stamina: 122/128
Mana: 0/0
[Attributes]
STR - 62
VIT - 40
AGI - 22
DEX - ???
INT - 15
CHR - ???
WILL - ???
MAG - ???
[Trait, Titles, and Skills].
Skills - ???
Traits - ???
Titles - ???
[Resistances]
Phy. Resistance - ???
Mag. Resistance - ???
Men. Resistance - ???
Glancing over us all, the orc, Lo'gar, locked eyes with me for a few seconds before redirecting his gaze to the crowd while plastering a smile that reached from ear to ear on his green orc mug.
”It's time we get you ready... for the Mauling” - Lo'gar
As he said ”the Mauling” his voice became deep and his smile turned sinister.
***
Time went by as we all filed into a row surrounded by the many orc guards. Leaving the yard of the ”fodder” as they so pleasantly liked to put it, we're quickly met by the sight of a giant wagon that looked more like a cage on wheels than a wagon.
It was rectangular with thick wooden flooring and ceiling, only having thick metal bars surround on all sides, holding them up.
What else intrigued me was the giant beasts strapped to the wagon, like horses to a carriage. While the coloration of these beasts was a bit different from what I remembered, but these are definitely the same race as the swamp stowlers from back in my early days in this world.
There were a total of four of these massive beasts, and to be sure I appraised one of them.
-Appraisal!-