In the end, they didn’t ask the monsters for wood or fire because they didn’t think they would understand. First, they got to work skinning the fur monsters, and when they were done, the monsters collected them.

They focused next on their food. The monsters had given them part of their fellow monsters to eat, which was both surprising and hard to watch as they also started eating their race.

"I can’t make fire. We can’t give away the weapons we have." If Azaroth made fire, then the monsters would know that he could do such things and be either wary of him or even attack him.

So they decided to eat the monster in another way, and it was Catena who brought up the idea. They cut up the meat and then cut it into thin strips like paper.

Obviously not as thin as paper, but thin enough, and that was how they ate it. The monsters gave them curious looks, and with more grunting from their leader, more of them wore white fur cloaks.

And it went like that. Azaroth studied the weather and noticed that cold and snow would come just as suddenly, and then hot sun would shine, and summer would appear just as suddenly.

They stayed in the cave with the scale monsters, and things went like that. In the brief winter, one monster would go to the others’ lair, and in the summer, the other would go.

Whatever Azaroth thought he would see from staying with them, he saw nothing. Just monsters going about their daily life and them, the captives, living it with them.

Eventually, Azaroth got tired, and on the morning of the eleventh day, he woke up early to wake the others and told them flatly, "We are killing the monsters now."

Everyone had been waiting for that, and they hurriedly stood. One thing Azaroth would commend the monsters on was that they were ever wary of their captives. They kept them in a separate cave and took their weapons to the leader’s personal sleeping place.

"What are we going to do first?" Stallus asked. Essence started to coat her body, blue and shiny.

One thing the monsters failed to realize was that their captives were living weapons.

"We make our way over to the leader to take our weapons and some fur. It’s that simple. Anything that stands against that should be dead," Azaroth said.

When they had forged every part of their bodies with essence, they came out of their cave, and the first monster they saw was the one that kept stealing the meat that was left for them.

Catena was especially angry with it and flew to meet it so fast the monster didn’t do more than blink before he snapped its neck. The monster dropped silently to the floor. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Are we using skills?" Alex asked.

"Anything to get the job done," Azaroth replied.

The place where the monsters slept was designed in a peculiar way. There was a massive chamber where all the monsters slept over each other and then another smaller one at the front where the leader slept.

To get to the leader, they had to pass the mass of sleeping monsters.

"Well then," Alex said and directed essence to his feet, and with a push off the ground, he was off and running. The others didn’t hesitate to make their own jumps and followed him.

They were almost through, but one monster raised its ugly head and Alex kicked it on the head, but not hard enough to kill it. The monster released two short, sharp whistles that reverberated through the room and woke the others fast.

Alex grinned and then jumped down, crushing two monsters as he did. "I’m finally free to do as I wanted!"

Stallus sighed as the monsters surrounded them. They hissed at them and tensed for battle, claws at the ready.

Alex raised his hand and his aura cracked like lightning. "Arrow lightning!" Blue flashed, and lightning came out, shaped like an oversized arrow.

It tore into the flesh of the ones in front of him, and another that touched it became paralyzed. Alex grinned. "Even without my weapon, I’ll take you all on!"

Catena was the second to activate his skill. He sent essence into the earth with his foot, and it was returned to him, giving him a very, very tiny bit of the earth’s strength.

He roared and smashed into the lines of the monsters surrounding them. His hand was like a hammer, and anywhere he hit, bones broke and flesh tore.

Their claws barely slowed him down as he punched and kicked. He was like a wall of earth, and he distracted everyone with the raw strength that he used.

Azaroth frowned. Are they that powerful, or are the monsters just that weak? That was a question for later because monsters were leaping towards him and their claws raking the air in front of him.

Azaroth exploded forward, and his two hands flashed forward and connected with their chests faster than they could bring their claws on him.

He activated his skill then, and the two flew backward as his fire hit them with a shockwave that sent them slamming into others. One monster clawed him, and Azaroth entered its space, his hand on its shoulder where compressed fire blew it away.

Azaroth smiled. It was cold and cruel. The monsters jumped him, but Azaroth was ready this time. He sent mana from his link to the formation in his mind, and fire blew from his hand in waves that burned the monsters.

They screamed, running into each other as fire burned them in waves. Those that tried to get through, he sent his chaos core to slam into them and sent them stumbling back where they met fire and also burned.

They ran from Azaroth then, fear on their inhuman faces. They edged back and were met with Catena’s fist that smashed them into each other.