Shifter - Infinite Transformation-Chapter 51: Egg Carrier

A Hnoll slashed at me, missing my chest by a hair’s breadth. I barely managed to twist out of its way as it pushed closer, its superior speed and strength a struggle I failed to compensate for without my Power. That was when a flamelet conjured before the Hnoll’s face and exploded.

Heat surged outward in a burst, while the Hnoll screamed out. It was a grotesque sound, yet it rang like an angel’s voice in my ears. Drilling my feet into the ground, I switched tactics. No longer defending, I pushed forward, shot to the side, and slashed the Hnoll’s wrist. Its crystallized blade clattered uselessly to the ground.

Next up, a screaming Hnoll leaped in my way. Yet another flamelet materialized. The Hnoll, expecting the flame to explode again, shut its eyes without stopping its attack. But there was no explosion. Instead, a steel sword came swinging at the monster, slicing its neck.

The Hnoll collapsed to the ground as I pushed further once more, breath ragged, body screaming at me.

This was one of the worst fights of my life. First things first, I was not even in my main form. For the first time in a long time, that would have actually been best considering the human soldier’s Core saturation was lower than my main form’s. Alas, I couldn’t shift to human Xavier in front of dozens of soldiers.

Hence, I had to make things work with Ignite. That turned out better than expected. Several Hnolls fell victim to me, not without injuring me as well. Maybe that was for the best, though, because the newly inflicted wounds covered the hole in my weak arm – the arrow wound one of the hunters inflicted on me while in Kerink form.

Exhaustion caught up to me, but I continued and even helped that burly man against the monstrosities. To my greatest misfortune, I never managed to land a killing blow against the Tier-2 Hnolls, yet my help was greatly appreciated. The soldier – Captain(?) – cursed at me, but smiled from one ear to the other, exposing a disarray of teeth.

"Maybe you are not a failure. You can be worked with, you piece of shit!" He shouted, patting my back when the last burly Hnoll collapsed before his feet.

Is that supposed to be an upgrade? From ’failure’ to ’piece of shit’? Whatever. I maintained the forced smile a little longer.

"You did decent enough. Now, go and help Captain Anthea. There are too many pests to deal with, and we cannot afford to lose our merchandise." The middle-aged man added something, but it was muttered under his breath. All I grasped was an ’again’, and that was it.

Luckily, I didn’t have to ask who Captain Anthea was or where to find her. He pointed in a direction, and I walked off. Glancing back, I noticed the man ordering several soldiers to follow me. Then he turned away to order dozens of soldiers that emerged from all directions. They were all injured and drenched in blood, but their eyes were stoic. Like such fierce fights were nothing new to them.

Even if I wanted to, I had nowhere to escape to. Shifting now would end in my death or capture. One way or another, I’d die at some point.

The captain disappeared in a flash when I looked back again. We arrived near an array of tents that somehow survived the chaos. A woman, commanding soldiers, was already waiting for us.

"Get over here you lazy bastards!" She barked and handed out orders. "Get those crates out of the Devil Forest. Move them to Camp Ashton. Do not, under any circumstances, harm the assets. They are to be protected with your lives. One scratch, and I will have the entire unit skinned alive!"

I wasn’t the only one who shuddered at Captain Anthea’s words. She waved several soldiers to a few crates and had me and two soldiers help with something else.

That something else turned out to be exactly what I’d been looking for.

I found the young the dragon wanted me to protect; three eggs the size of watermelons.

"Bring them to Ashton. Do not let a Hnoll get to them." Captain Anthea whisper-shouted, her voice cutting through the air, "Then forget that they existed. Tell someone and I will find out about it. And when I do, you’d be better off begging me to skin you alive. Because getting skinned alive will be child’s play in comparison to the pain I will inflict upon you and your families!"

Scary bitch. I thought while nodding slowly and accepting one of the eggs.

As it turned out, this whole ordeal was a lot more complex than I’d feared.

First and foremost, it was unclear what the soldiers had been after. I highly doubted they would have hired hunters if this was all about the dungeon entrance. Did that mean the dungeon entrance hadn’t been the Zetrian Empire’s main target? That it had been the Nature Dragon – its blood, to be precise, and whatever was growing in those eggs?

I have no fucking clue. And it didn’t really matter. My head was hurting from all the thinking and fighting, maintaining another human form and using its Power more than a dozen times in short bursts. I was beyond exhausted, and now I was supposed to understand the Zetrian Empire’s schemes?

That was way beyond my pay grade.

Still, I followed the soldiers as we walked across a paved street further east of the Eserian, carrying crates and three eggs while dozens of soldiers surrounded us, protecting us from enemies that never attacked.

It felt like an eternity passed before the densely grown forest grew thinner. The towering trees were no more and a wide open plain unraveled before me.

I was back in the Zetrian Empire, as one of their soldiers at that, and I hated every moment of it. We walked into Camp Ashton, a place that contained no less than thousands of soldiers, and we deposited the eggs and crates without further ado.

Then, I disappeared into a tent and transformed into the old human soldier. But only when I was certain that I was alone and no longer watched.

Why did I transform? Because Captain Anthea had been watching us – the two soldiers carrying the other eggs, and I – the whole time.

If I had been the same young man I’d been before the Choosing, I wouldn’t have minded. Maybe I would have been grateful, thinking the Captain was worried about us and the eggs.

Now though? I was no longer the same, and I didn’t doubt for a second that Captain Anthea would kill us. All because we carried those damn eggs. That wasn’t fair, but life had its ways with fairness that I’d never understand.