Showtime

Somewhere in the deep dark woods, where monsters lay, and naughty children go to die… a beast lurks in the shadows. With blood-red eyes, and rough, steel-like dark fur absorbing the light, the Warg is watching its prey.

Its gaze is sharp, and maw slightly open, letting toxic saliva drip to the floor in anticipation of a meal. Any time now…

The muscles flex, and the claws extend, digging into the soil of rotting leaves and bones. And the target... It moves!

"Go, boy! Fetch!"

Woof!

Toby hurled his body forward, sprinting at full power and leaving a cloud of dust behind.

Gerald attempted to teach him the game of fetch, but the Warg didn't seem interested in stick play and just stared at him in confusion. It took a while for Gerald to figure out his motivation.

Actually, he didn't have to do a thing. A lone Goblin came strolling through the forest, and before Gerald could even react, Toby dashed after him akin to a dog chasing a rabbit.

So now they were playing fetch, only instead of using a stick, Gerald was tossing an Ogre's bone. He tried to do the same with Orc's bones, but this damn gluttonous pet chose to eat it instead of bringing it back.

The femur of an Ogre was too hard to be damaged, and just the right size too. And so they played, working up a sweat.

"Go, fetch!"

Woof!

Now Toby was acting as he should, the only problem was that his aggression dropped to the lowest levels ever.

Gerald wanted to facepalm every time he heard the "Woof!" This was a Warg for heaven's sake!

He now just needed a bucket of red paint and he could rename Toby into Clifford, the big red dog! He didn't even look like a warg anymore! His fur was shiny and bright brow, like a walnut, and he smelled of flowers and summer. And he was becoming fat. Or cuddly, as some young Dark Elf lady mentioned once.

Having the bone dropped at his feet by the wail-wagging ball of happiness, Gerald sighed, "Alright, that's enough. Let's go, Toby, we still have to collect some stones."

They strolled through the dense woods until they found a rocky cliff.

It wasn't all that tall, but it was a solid bedrock wall, just as Gerald liked them. A few rocky boulders laid strewn about, from big stones the size of a watermelon, all the way to the size of an elephant.

Gerald gathered a few dozen of them at one place, moving them around with magic with relative ease despite them weighing a few metric tons each.

He picked the average ones to make it easier to maneuver them later on. Also, the Ring received, despite it being quite spacious, could only store about a hundred cubic meters of stuff. The space inside didn't have any particular shape, only the volume of items inside mattered.

It could store both food and poisons right next to each other without concern for the two mixing since they were frozen in time. And now the boulders joined the party, making the space feel cramped if it was an actual room.

Gerald made a few deep breaths, replenishing his Mana in big chunks. After crossing the imaginary barrier somewhere around 1000 MP/h regeneration, his abilities increased. Now he didn't have to meditate anymore.

He could just walk around, and with a thought, the Mana in the vicinity would be pulled into his body with ease. And despite some people having similar abilities to him, such as the Magic Eyes, he has not yet met anybody that could absorb the spirits of the dead as he could.

At least not to his knowledge.

There was certainly some missing information he lacked, but he was hoping he could get his answer in the Royal Library. If even that didn't work, maybe he could beat it out of the King?

Gerald smiled at the thought. "Maybe… But I can afford to wait a bit more."

He then jumped on Toby's back and tapped him on the shoulders, "Let's go toby, it's getting late already. If we hurry we should be back by the time for dinner!"

Woof!

Toby replied in agreement and quickly broke into a sprint, making the trees and branches wiz by like shadows. Anything for a good meal!

***

The following morning…

Somber silence made the usually lively city of Auralba appear gloomier than usual. The platoons of soldiers gathered along the northern wall, marching shoulder-to-shoulder with their comrades.

Colorful banners waved in the air, distinguishing the various armies that gathered there.

Lines of archers stood atop the wall with longbows in hand and arrows at the ready. Below them was a sea of foot soldiers kilometers long, and at each side, many hundreds of Paladins stood guard, armed with sharp swords and heavy shields, as well as Rune magic and spell scrolls.

The King's cavalry as well as the army of general Ulrich Aust rode their horses further ahead, forming a half-moon shape.

Beastmasters from the west gathered their beasts in a spear formation in front of the foot soldiers, ready to break through enemy defenses and create chaos among their ranks.

Gerald watched from atop a watchtower as the army took shape amid the shouts of their commanders, as well as the beating of drums and sounds of a horn.

It might have been a great opportunity to take a selfie with the army in the background if only he had the chance and it wasn't minutes away from a bloody slaughter.

He drew a few Fireball spell scrolls as a last-minute preparation and stuffed them in his pockets. Fireballs were cool, especially when raining from the sky on unsuspecting monsters. Beautiful, like Christmas fireworks.

Then, as the horns announcing the beginning of battle sounded in the distance, he stood up, cracked his back, emptied a Stamina potion, and flicked away the vial with a grin.

He took a deep breath of cool morning air through his nose, and his feet stepped off the ledge, hanging in the air.

It was finally time to say something he always wanted to, and so he smiled, a crazy kind of smile. "It's showtime!"