The last monster was slain by Artemis, meeting the same fate as its brothers, a slit to the throat where its blood poured out.
Covered in the blood of these monsters, Artemis returned to the beast's lair which was effectively under their control.
The knights had the goblinmancer in their custody, he was tied up between his legs and forced to kneel. When he arrived, the knights and Toby did not greet him verbally, they just nodded.
He then noticed that there was something missing in their eyes, the spark of humanity. Now, they were becoming more like the Man in Black and the only difference was that they had more humanity to spare.
Ignoring this development for now, Artemis walked towards where the goblinmancer was who was unconscious, when he lay his eyes on it, the goblinmancer's race seems very strange than any races Artemis seen or heard of, his skin appears green, he has several pig features like the nose and tye ears, he has green furs around his body and a tail that seems to be identified as a Bear. While his race mixed up several animals, he felt disgusted by it.
It was like someone mixed them up without giving much thought of it.
However, with no patience to spare and time ticking to save the remaining villages, or at least the survivors, Artemis raised his hand and slapped the goblinmancer awake. The slap was powerful enough to send him crashing into the ground and he screamed in pain.
The goblinmancer opened his eyes and was met by the deathly gaze of Artemis' heterochromia eyes which were locked on his being, as if he had been judged of all his sins and his punishment was at hand.
"W-What do you want!" The Strurruilk yelled but they fell on ears deaf to those whose beings did not deserve such a gratitude from their victorious foes.
Artemis then grabbed the goblinmancer's cloak and started burning it little by little using his palms, the cloth began to catch flames and heat slowly spread across his upper body.
"Gah! Stop! Stop it! It's hot as fuck!" The man begged and swirled about, trying to break away from his bonds and escape.
"I bet the women in your room said the same thing to you when you had your way with them," Toby suddenly said. Artemis did not know what he was talking about so he scanned the entire mountain from the inside out with his advanced cybernetic eyes and not before long he found more bodies of female humans.
With this new revelation of his actions, Artemis continued to torture him. At first, he intended to engrave into him that further resistance was futile and that any questions he were to be asked were to be answered with full honesty. Now, it was given a new meaning.
As if his conscience was returning from the depths of his heart, he could hear the screams and cries for help of his victims, not the goblinmancer's, his.
Artemis knew it would be hypocritical if he tortured this man for committing atrocities but he too had committed his own kinds of atrocities, the massacre of millions if not billions with the wars he waged and the efforts he undertook so blindly so that he could rebuild his home. After so many years of not caring, their souls seemingly crying out for vengeance, surrounded him and began to haunt him in his mind.
Yet, he was still uncaring, he heard the screams and wails but he did not flinch. What was he to regret? Will regret bring back what had already been done? It was already too late to do anything about it. He knew he had already taken the path where he could no longer turn back, there was no redemption, there was only the goal he was given.
And so, he chose to be a hypocrite. He tortured the goblinmancer due to his hypocrisy to look as if he was now the hammer of justice which served to undo the wrongs of the world.
After 30 grueling minutes, Artemis was finished. What was left of the man's skin were third degree burns as if he was baked inside a huge oven. His bashful face was all but gone and his head was bald.
The knights and Toby did not flinch even when the goblinmancer begged them, some even smiled when Artemis began to burn his skin.
"He deserved it," Were their thoughts of what happened to him.
It wasn't long until the questions started rolling in, why he did what he did. He told them out of pure desperation that he was tricked and that he was said to have been given immortality by the God of Death and that he would seek vengeance upon the people who exterminated his race to extinction.
But that Blessing is more like a curse. He could feel his god is here but he didn't do anything which he already expected, even when Artemis ordered his knights to beat the man senseless, his god only stood there and chuckled at his suffering.
But instead of being heart broken or felt betrayed, Strurruilk already knew he was betrayed by his own God, the same outer-god he once worshiped.
The entire thing wasn't complex at all, he just raised an army and sought many Magic Artifacts in lost civilization, ancient temples, and Dungeons for many years and tried to take over this region of Fordalt. Artemis soon learned that the other villagers were decimated as well, same fate as the rest of the eastern frontier.
To test the goblinmancer's claim that he was immortal, Artemis gave one goal, to kill him. If he was indeed immortal, then was he invincible? Like, would he die if his body had life-threatening injuries?
And so, he became Artemis' guinea pig, his immortality was tested and he was tortured for a few hours. Yet, he still lived on. Next, Artemis implanted the Haryo thousands of nanobots into his body.
For a few seconds as the operation is ready. Just one click, Artemis used the nanobots to shut down all of the man's vital organs(Brain, Heart, Lungs, etc.) at the exact same time. The man had fallen to the ground, unable to think or breathe, however, he didn't die.
So, he starts another test, using the nanobots to mess with his brain, DNA and bioelectricity to see if it proves his theories.
For several minutes of messing up his entire genomes and body, all of a sudden Artemis' scans show the Goblinmancer's cells began to recover and even resist the nanobots he implanted, even if he tries again, the results stay the same.
"Hm, interesting, in less than a minute of the nanobots after the jumbling of DNA and bioelectricity of the goblinmancer, suddenly new cells would replace old ones instantly with foreign or destroyed flushes out of the body. If the nanobots were still messing with everything in the body, it is likely that until the nanobots break, the Goblinmancer will be in an infinite state of rewriting their DNA over and over again." Artemis muttered.
[Fascinating. I've seen technologies that are capable of immortality but seeing something that is made by magic seems very fascinating to see.] Caitlyn said through Artemis' mind.
Ignoring Caitlyn's words, Artemis suddenly thought of something, thinking for a moment he decides it's time for something big.
[Wait, Zack. Are you sure you will use it for something like this?] Caitlyn asked.
"Of course, if that fascinates you more. I need to try it for the sake of science," Artemis replied.
[Aw, you're doing this for me,] Caitlyn said in a pitch tone.
"Yeah,"
Turning his gaze at Toby, the mages, and the knights, Artemis yelled at them to back away 10-20 meters from the Goblinmancer.
One of them questions but Artemis only replies is you'll see.
Then, placing a disk like device on the floor beneath the goblinmancer, Artemis activates it revealing a blue translucent force field bubble, trapping the goblinmancer inside.
"What is this? A prison?" The Goblinmancer asked.
"Not really, probably something worse…" Artemis answered nonchalantly.
This answer doesn't convince Strurruilk as he desperately try to get out but as he kept roaring and banging the forcefield with all of his strength, his eyes caught a small device beneath him, he looked at it and it appeared to be about the size of a Marble.
Curiously, picking it up, he inspected it for a moment before his 6th sense screamed at him.
But before he could react, the world around him flashed with a blinding white light.
There was a thunderous roar and an eruption of heat around him.
If not for the forcefield bubble that Artemis implanted, the bomb, would create a powerful explosion that will destroy 100km around everyone, it contains an explosion that is about 2 times stronger than Tsar Bomba itself.
In other words, the Marble sized Bomb is a Nuclear Weapon.
During the explosion, it created a huge earthquake that scared most of the knights and mages about it. They first thought it was an enemy attack but they noticed it came from inside the bubble forcefield.
Half a minute has passed, the environment has calmed down and we are left unscathed thanks to the forcefield bubble.
Artemis then deactivates the bubble revealing dust and smoke inside, several seconds later, as the dust and smoke disperses, it reveals the horrific conditions of the Goblinmancer.
"Gaaah, gaaah, gaaah..."
Since Strurruilk had been caught in the heat flare of the explosion, his throat had been burned away and he could not speak. No, it was not just his throat. His entire body had been scorched, he had lost all his furs and he looked like charcoal briquette.
Beyond the burns caused by the tremendous heat, the shockwave had lacerated his body.
The left side of his vision was completely gone. His right side was milky and blurred, but he could still make out vague shapes somehow. His body listened to one side because his right arm and shoulder were gone.
Pain stabbed through his entire body.
This was a bad pain.
This pain would destroy him.
But he was immortal, so he wasn't destroyed.
"Ahhhhhh"
Yelling in pain, the Goblinmancer felt an unimaginable pain that he never felt something for 900 years in his entire life.
[Hm, interesting, his body would have obliterated, but according to scans his matter would still be there causing him to regenerate, considering he's a regular immortal that still follows SOME of the guidelines of the world.] Caitlyn explained what she has observed so far.
"But for the radiation, can it kill him though?" Artemis asked as he subconsciously scratched his chin.
[That's a good question. Radiation works primarily as it's attacking his DNA, causing it to malfunction, but if he's immortal, then his DNA will likely stay the same and nothing really happens, however, just like the nanobots you implanted in his body, they kept replacing the mutated cells and the results were similar.] Caitlyn answered.
"Hm, should we try to use my Antimatter weaponry?" Artemis asked as he raised his hand, emitting red light.
[Artemis, compared to your other weapons, Antimatter weaponry on the other hand works entirely differently. It not only destroys atoms but also eliminates matter from space itself. You might completely kill him,]
"Unless his immortality is not a normal one, then he would be dead. You already saw Crow, he returned even after I blasted his entire atoms."
[Ah, you got a good point,]
After having a conversation with his wife, Artemis stepped forward towards the Goblinmancer who is slowly regenerating from his injuries.
"Haaa… haaaa… fool, how many times did I tell ya that killing me is fruitle—"
Disrupting the Goblinmancer's words is Artemis gripping the man's face with his palm, before he could react, red light was produce from his palm and within an instant, the Goblinmancer's entire body was blown apart, leaving red particles in the air until vanishes.
"And we'll wait…"
7 seconds have passed, and the Goblinmancer hasn't returned yet.
5 more seconds later, Artemis suddenly sensed foreign matter in the air and surprisingly began to reconstruct each other at a shockingly rate, similar to how his nanites reconstruct itself in his artificial organic tissue.
In an instant, the Goblinmancer appeared on the ground, his face was pale as if he saw things.
"Well, I've tried just about everything in my arsenal. It seems nothing can permanently kill this person. His soul has divine properties, so his Immortality must stem from a powerful God."
[So, what should you do with him next?]
"Nothing. I think my research is done, there is no use as his immortality is on another level, I doubt if his soul was destroyed, he will still return,"
[So, we gotta take him back to base once we return…]
"No, I don't think he'll be useful. Of course, he has the magic to create an army of goblins and monsters but you know we already have cybernetic goblins we used back in the Eastern Region."
[Oh…]
"So, Imma do what the late Elon Musk do,"
Stepping towards a spatial field, Artemis then touches the floor beneath him, and his entire arm's clothing and artificial organ tissue began to turn into metallic sands, moving like waves towards the spot, then the metallic sands grew in huge size, forming into a huge object.
Moments later, it finally formed into one of his powerful Military Vehicles, the Hypervelocity Artillery Tank. The same one during the siege of Zeticon City.
Facing back towards the Knights, Artemis yelled.
"You two, take him to this vehicle and I'll do everything next,"
Facing at each other, the two knights nodded at Artemis and grab Strurruilk from the ground.
Strurruilk, the Goblinmancer himself, his thoughts was disrupted by the knights and notice his surroundings, when he laid his eyes on the Hyper Artillery tank, his expression turn to immense fear, feeling even more frightened than any of his torture.
"No! No! NOT THAT!! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!" He yelled, begged, swirled about, trying to break away from his bonds and escape, but the Knights' strength were at the late-stages of <C+> rank.
"I bet the women in your room said the same thing to you when you had your way with them," One of the knights said as he grinned maliciously towards the Goblinmancer.
As they arrived in front of Artemis, they threw the Goblinmancer at him.
"Good, you can leave," Artemis said.
"As you wish, Lord Erik," Saying this, the knights stepped back.
Seeing them stepping back, Artemis then put his gaze back at the Goblinmancer.
"Any last words before I'll put you in there," Artemis said as he gaze at the Goblinmancer right in the eyes.
"You can kill me, take me to your base or whatever besides this, please, I beg you!" The Goblinmancer begged, he doesn't want to experience this again, he felt the large object behind the Man in Black is similar to the one he experienced a few years ago.
The same day he encountered these 7 hooligans, the Owl Beastmen, the man with the mask, the Pig beastmen, the Night man, the guy with the weird haircut, the human with green shirt, and the man has similar vibes as the Man in Black.
That day gives him the biggest traumatizing feeling in his entire existence.
And he was about to experience the same thing all over again.
In the scene, Artemis placed the Goblinmancer in the Hypervelocity Artillery Tank, the AI in the war vehicle readying its mechanisms and systems, readying to fire.
"Fire at will,"
*BOOM!!!*
Accompanied by a thunderous sound that startled Toby, the mages, and the Knights in surprise, the Goblinmancer was shot out from the barrel, directly aiming for the sky. Travelling at Massively Hypersonic speed, the Goblinmancer travelled through the air, having the strength of a D-rank, his not durable enough by the force of the speed as one by one, his skin and flesh split apart only leaving his skeleton.
Not before long, his body made it to space, within an instant, his flesh and skin regenerates back.
As he realized where he was now, Strurruilk was unable to breathe, however, he didn't die.
He tried to use his remaining magic to push himself back to the planet's orbit but was futile. Getting blasted by the Hypervelocity Artillery Cannon and launched into space at fast speed, he couldn't push further as the kinetic force overwhelms him, pushing him further into the depths of space.
Stucking in the middle of space for a while now, he stops thinking.
The God of Death, meanwhile stood in the depths of space in a physical body he created recently watched Strurruilk's freezing body floated in space, moving further away from the Planet towards the infinity and beyond.
"Well, this was a disappointment"